Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

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How does a brand sell car-sized orders online? Discover the omnichannel, Amazon, AI, and customer acquisition strategies behind hundreds of millions in e-commerce sales.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it take to sell hundreds of millions of dollars online, and what happens when the average customer order can cost as much as a car? In this episode, Bradley Sutton catches up with Alvaro Lopez, SVP of Marketing at Flooret, in Switzerland to unpack his journey from studying international relations to becoming an experienced e-commerce operator. Along the way, Alvaro built and exited his own Amazon business, helped scale Solo Stove and its sister brands across international marketplaces, and managed an Amazon portfolio that grew to nearly $65 million in annual sales.

Today, Alvaro is applying those lessons at Flooret, a premium flooring company that built much of its success through direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Selling flooring online creates a very different customer journey than selling a typical Amazon product. Customers often begin by purchasing small samples before committing to a full flooring order covering around 1,000 square feet. That makes understanding customer acquisition costs, sample-to-order conversion rates, and the entire purchasing funnel especially important.

Now, Flooret is expanding further into marketplaces like Amazon and Home Depot by meeting customers where they already want to shop. Alvaro explains why sellers should stop thinking of themselves as simply an “Amazon brand” and instead focus on building a true omnichannel business. That means establishing a direct relationship with customers through a website, email, and SMS while still taking advantage of Amazon’s massive bottom-of-the-funnel demand. He also breaks down how Helium 10 can help larger brands estimate their realistic obtainable market and determine how much opportunity actually exists inside a category.

The conversation also dives into AI, lean teams, and finding opportunities that create the greatest impact with the least effort. Alvaro believes AI should amplify strong employees rather than automatically replace them, especially in areas like creative production, reporting, and business analysis. His final advice is simple but powerful: regularly step back and identify the highest-impact opportunities in your business. Sometimes the next big win is more revenue—but improving shipping costs, customer service, retention, or returns can be just as valuable to your bottom line.

In episode 760 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Alvaro discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
02:28 - From Diplomacy To E-Commerce
04:43 - Launching And Exiting His Amazon Brand
06:54 - Scaling Solo Stove On Amazon
08:41 - Building A Massive Flooring Brand Online
11:13 - Expanding Beyond Direct-To-Consumer
15:28 - How The Flooring Sample Funnel Works
18:31 - Bringing High-Ticket Flooring To Amazon
23:12 - Stop Being Just An Amazon Brand
24:11 - Building Your Website, Email, And SMS
27:53 - Using Helium 10 For Market Sizing
30:17 - Using AI To Amplify Your Team
33:16 - The Effort-Impact Scorecard Strategy

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After a multimillion-dollar Amazon exit, one seller lost almost $600K in a card scheme then rebuilt through reputation, resilience, stronger branding, and timely marketing lessons for sellers.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What happens when a multimillion-dollar Amazon exit is followed by a financial disaster that wipes out more than half a million dollars? In this episode, Bradley Sutton reconnects with longtime Amazon seller Mitul Patel, the person who first introduced Bradley to Helium 10 nearly nine years ago. Mitul shares how he went from working as a computer programmer to building Run Forever Sports, growing it to $2.5 million in annual sales, and eventually selling the business in 2020.

But after his successful exit, Mitul entered the sports card business and trusted the wrong supplier with a massive order. What appeared to be a legitimate operation was actually a Ponzi-style scheme, leaving Mitul with losses between $550,000 and $600,000. Rather than declare bankruptcy and leave his customers unpaid, he sold investments, liquidated much of his collection, borrowed money from his father, and leaned on his reputation within the card community to make things right. His experience delivers a powerful reminder that trust must be supported by proper safeguards, and that your word can become one of your most valuable business assets.

Mitul also explains how he rebuilt his career at Navira while creating a new business around his passion for sports cards. Unlike his first Amazon brand, which was built by identifying high demand, his newer products began with problems he personally experienced inside the hobby. Growth has been slower, but the brand has developed stronger loyalty and a more durable foundation. Mitul also shares strategies from managing approximately 45 brands, including using Meta and TikTok to build off-Amazon awareness, studying customer reviews to uncover product advantages, and increasing one product’s sales by 40% after highlighting its leakproof design in the main image.

Mitul’s story proves that success is not defined only by the size of an exit or the speed of a brand’s growth. It is also defined by how you respond when everything goes wrong. Through integrity, community, disciplined rebuilding, and a willingness to keep learning, he transformed a devastating setback into a new beginning. No matter how difficult the loss, your reputation, experience, and resilience can give you the foundation to rise again—and build something even stronger than before.

In episode 759 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Mitul discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:57 - Mitul’s First Failed Amazon Product Launch
02:26 - Building A $2.5 Million Amazon Brand
04:17 - Life After Selling His Amazon Business
06:00 - The $600,000 Sports Card Ponzi Scheme
08:02 - Why Mitul Repaid His Customer
10:38 - Rebuilding His Career After Losing Everything
13:21 - Turning A Passion Into New Products
17:53 - Demand-First Products Versus Passion-Driven Brands
22:43 - Why Cerebro Remains His Favorite Tool
24:46 - Competing Through Off-Amazon Brand Awareness
28:14 - One Main Image Increased Sales 40%

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How does an $8 Amazon product stay highly profitable? Today’s guest reveals his wholesale strategy, European sourcing advantages, AI workflows, and resilient multichannel growth.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Can an Amazon seller build a profitable business around products priced under $10? In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton sits down with Ivan Komashinsky, the entrepreneur behind the U.S. distribution of Pedag Insoles and the Meltonian shoe-care brand. Ivan shares how he went from working at Microsoft to acquiring an established seven-figure e-commerce business—and eventually tripling its revenue.

While Amazon remains Ivan’s largest channel, his company has built a much broader operation through its own websites, independent retailers, regional distributors, Walmart, eBay, TikTok Shop, and Faire. Ivan explains how wholesale volume, strong supplier relationships, and European manufacturing allow Meltonian to maintain healthy margins on products selling for as little as $7.99. He also breaks down why managing inventory in-house makes sense for a business carrying thousands of SKUs across multiple sales channels.

Ivan also reveals how his team uses Helium 10 tools such as Cerebro and Magnet to rank for valuable non-branded keywords and develop new products based on customer demand, competitor gaps, and search behavior. More recently, he has been using the Helium 10 MCP through Claude to investigate declining product sales, analyze trends, and explore profitability, traffic, conversion rates, keyword rankings, and advertising performance through natural-language conversations.

From building authority on Reddit to getting started with wholesale through Faire, trade shows, and industry associations, Ivan offers a practical roadmap for creating a more resilient e-commerce business. His story shows that success does not always require expensive products or a business built entirely around Amazon. With the right sourcing, volume, distribution strategy, pricing policies, and willingness to adapt, even a traditional brand can unlock new growth opportunities.

In episode 758 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ivan discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
03:27 - Buying An Established Seven-Figure Online Business
06:22 - Growing Pedag And Acquiring Meltonian
07:33 - Building A Diversified Multichannel Sales Business
09:59 - Expanding A Traditional Brand Into Sneakers
11:05 - Finding New Products Through Market Demand
12:25 - Making An Eight-Dollar Product Highly Profitable
15:29 - European Sourcing And In-House Inventory Management
20:01 - Ranking For Valuable Non-Branded Amazon Keywords
22:26 - Using Helium 10 Tools And MCP
27:00 - Building Brand Authority Through Reddit
28:26 - Expanding Into Wholesale Through Faire
31:24 - Protecting Retail Margins With MAP Pricing
32:38 - Live Meltonian Sneaker-Cleaning Product Demonstration

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How did a home-based reseller become a global e-commerce leader for a 9-figure K-beauty brand? Discover her Amazon strategy, future-customer targeting, TikTok tactics, and smart AI tools.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Bradley Sutton takes the Serious Sellers Podcast on the road, and onto a moving rail bike in South Korea, for a conversation with Jenna, Global E-commerce Team Manager at TONYMOLY. Jenna shares how she went from studying law and working as a programmer to spending ten years raising her daughter, discovering e-commerce from home, and eventually building a successful international selling career. She began by reselling Korean sporting goods to US customers through eBay before shifting her attention to Amazon, where one business reached as much as $10,000 in monthly profit.

Her success during the pandemic earned her recognition from Amazon Korea and opened the door to managing accounts for other companies. Jenna has now used Helium 10 for approximately five years, and her favorite tool is the Xray Chrome Extension. She uses Xray while browsing Amazon to quickly review estimated sales, keywords, and Best Sellers Rank, helping her evaluate products and marketplace opportunities without leaving the search results. Today, she applies that experience at TONYMOLY, a 20-year-old K-beauty company generating approximately $163 million in annual sales.

Jenna also reveals an unusual long-term marketing strategy: targeting customers before they become the brand’s core buyers. If current anti-aging customers are between 40 and 50, her team may create content for women closer to 35, building awareness years before the need becomes urgent. TONYMOLY and its newer brand, BONCEPT, also use TikTok and Meta to drive product discovery, while positioning Amazon as the more attractive place to complete the purchase. The company supports these strategies through close collaboration between its e-commerce, sales, and R&D teams, allowing it to respond quickly to fast-moving beauty trends.

From emerging ingredients such as PDRN, retinol, and retinal to the use of AI for copywriting, images, videos, and English-language content, this episode offers a fascinating look at how a global beauty company combines marketplace data, creative storytelling, and product innovation. Jenna’s journey proves that starting small does not limit where e-commerce can take you. By continuing to learn, adapting when marketplaces change, and understanding customers before competitors do, sellers can turn an unexpected opportunity into a truly global career.

In episode 757 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jenna discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:28 - Meet Jenna From TONYMOLY
02:38 - From Law And Programming To E-Commerce
03:34 - Starting A Home-Based eBay Business
05:55 - Moving From eBay To Amazon
07:52 - Reaching $10,000 In Monthly Profit
09:59 - Winning An Amazon Korea Competition
10:38 - Five Years Using Helium 10
10:46 - Why Xray Is Her Favorite Tool
11:28 - Managing Global E-Commerce For TONYMOLY
14:17 - Launching The New BONCEPT Brand
16:11 - Expanding K-Beauty Across Amazon Europe
17:58 - Targeting Customers Five Years Early
20:17 - Using TikTok To Drive Amazon Sales
22:00 - How R&D And E-Commerce Work Together
23:52 - Retinol, Retinal, And PDRN Trends
27:27 - Using AI For Global Content Creation

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How did a European Amazon seller use AI, logistics, keyword data, and Helium 10 to scale millions without selling in the U.S.? Today’s guest reveals the hidden plays most sellers overlook.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton welcomes Bartłomiej Piątkowski, better known as Bart, an Amazon seller and agency operator from Poland who has sold millions in Europe and helped other brands do the same. What makes his story especially interesting is that he has built this success without selling his own products in the U.S. marketplace.

Bart’s journey started far from the typical e-commerce path. Trained as a cook, he then worked in radio and electronics, and discovered Amazon in 2016 when his company was on the verge of shutting down. With only a small amount of money left, he began learning about Amazon through online communities, moved returned inventory from retail into Amazon Europe, and realized that marketplace margins could beat traditional retail margins. From there, his business expanded into private label brands, reselling, packaging products, textiles, and managing major brand relationships across Europe.

The conversation gets tactical as Bart breaks down how his team uses Helium 10, AI, keyword data, and advertising automation to move faster. He explains how tools like Cerebro, Magnet, Search Query Performance, Helium 10 Ads, and the all-new Helium 10 MCP help his team understand how Amazon reads a catalog, identify keyword opportunities, adjust bids based on performance, and even research hundreds of products in a fraction of the time. He also shares launch strategies using lower starting prices, Vine, coupons, inserts, and social proof to help products gain momentum.

Bart also reveals why logistics, mobile-first listings, and category attributes are becoming major advantages for sellers in Europe. From sending inventory directly into destination countries for faster Prime delivery to optimizing listings for mobile shoppers and browser filters, his message is clear: success on Amazon is no longer about doing one thing well. It is about connecting data, operations, AI, and customer behavior into one smarter system. For sellers willing to adapt, automate, and think strategically, this episode is a reminder that the next level of growth may come from fixing the invisible parts of the business others ignore.

To connect with Bart and learn more about his work, visit his website at https://bartlomiejpiatkowski.pl/en or check out his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@tdda_amzteam/videos.

In episode 756 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Bart discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
04:14 - Discovering Amazon In 2016
06:43 - From Reselling To Private Label
11:15 - Bart’s Favorite Helium 10 Tools
13:48 - Using AI And MCP For Amazon Research
15:22 - Automating Amazon Ads And Bids
16:46 - Scaling Keywords With SQP Data
20:58 - Launch Pricing And Social Proof
22:56 - Why Mobile-First Listings Matter
23:37 - Attributes That Drive Discoverability
26:01 - Europe’s Biggest Logistics Mistake
28:48 - Expanding Beyond Amazon Europe

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After losing Amazon accounts, brands, and $700K in inventory, one seller reveals how he rebuilt to 7 figures, and the costly mistake other sellers should avoid.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What happens when an Amazon seller goes from nearly hitting $10 million in annual sales to almost starting from zero? In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton welcomes back Swapneel Jain, an e-commerce entrepreneur from India who built a multimillion-dollar Amazon business, lost access to key accounts and brands, and then found a way to rebuild back to seven figures.

Swapneel’s journey started long before his Amazon success. While studying law in New Delhi, he was already selling online on eBay and other Indian marketplaces, sourcing products such as memory cards and pen drives from suppliers in China. What began as a small arbitrage side hustle eventually grew into a serious business, helping him pay for school and fund his lifestyle. Later, he expanded into Amazon private label, took some painful early losses, and eventually launched products during COVID that helped him scale into the millions.

But the real turning point came when a brand registry issue spiraled into a major Amazon nightmare. After trying to help a friend with a listing issue, Swapneel’s accounts were flagged for brand abuse, resulting in him losing access to multiple brands. Then, a separate inauthentic complaint tied to reselling Logitech products led to more suspensions across connected accounts. By early 2025, he had lost aged Amazon accounts, major sales momentum, and nearly $700,000 in inventory he could not remove.

Instead of letting that be the end of his story, Swapneel started again. He rebuilt with greater diversification, less risk tied to a single person or structure, and a sharper focus on inventory management, supplier relationships, and products with longer life cycles. His message to sellers is simple but powerful: setbacks are not the end unless you stop moving. The faster you decide to restart, the faster you give yourself a chance to win again.

In episode 755 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Swapneel discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:39 - Swapneel’s Early Life In India
02:19 - Starting E-Commerce In 2013
03:27 - Funding Law School Through Sales
04:14 - When E-Commerce Became The Future
07:05 - Splitting Reselling And Private Label
07:39 - First Private Label Failure
09:40 - The Year He Almost Hit $10M
11:29 - The Brand Registry Mistake
17:13 - Seven Amazon Accounts Suspended
18:46 - Losing $700K In Inventory
22:49 - Rebuilding With Less Risk
27:33 - Back To Seven-Figure Sales
28:33 - Inventory Strategy For Better Sales
34:48 - Why You Must Restart Fast

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Can a dying Amazon brand come back and double sales without new products? Bradley reveals the PPC, listing, image, and keyword fixes behind both turnarounds in this case study today.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it really take to bring an Amazon brand back from the brink? In this solo episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton pulls back the curtain on two real Amazon accounts he is actively managing, including one former seven-figure brand that nearly collapsed after losing its TikTok momentum and another account that doubled year over year without even launching new products.

Bradley breaks down how the struggling brand went from relying heavily on TikTok-driven sales to rebuilding Amazon as a channel that could stand on its own. He walks through the exact levers he focused on first: auditing PPC waste, negative matching search terms with clicks but no sales, splitting overloaded campaigns, setting keyword harvesting rules, tightening bid automation, using dayparting, and finding old keyword winners through Search Query Performance and Brand Analytics.

He also shares how listing optimization played a major role in both case studies. From testing main images with Helium 10 Audience powered by PickFu to refreshing A+ content and improving keyword coverage, Bradley shows why small improvements in click-through rate and conversion rate can create major revenue gains. In one account, a conversion rate lift of just over 1% helped generate thousands of dollars in additional sales.

This episode is a reminder that growth does not always come from one flashy hack. Sometimes, it comes from patiently fixing the fundamentals: better ads, stronger images, smarter keyword targeting, cleaner campaigns, and a listing that actually helps customers understand why they should buy. Whether your brand is struggling, stuck, or ready for its next level, this is proof that the right data-backed moves can change the trajectory. The comeback may not happen overnight, but with the right strategy, your Amazon brand might have a lot more life left in it than you think.

In episode 754 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Introduction
02:38 - The Brand That Nearly Went To Zero
05:21 - Why Better Product Images Still Matter
06:11 - Testing Main Images With Real Buyers
09:01 - How TikTok Drove Amazon Sales
12:50 - Fixing A 63% ACOS Problem
13:43 - Auditing Wasted Amazon PPC Spend
16:31 - Building Smarter Keyword Harvesting Rules
18:48 - Using Bid Rules To Control ACOS
22:29 - Dayparting Ads To Cut Wasted Spend
23:44 - Finding Lost Keywords That Once Converted
31:42 - Doubling Sales Without Launching New Products

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A legacy brand had never sold on Amazon. One launch strategy later, it hit six figures in year one. What made the difference? Here’s how…

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it take to bring a decades-old retail brand onto Amazon and turn it into a six-figure channel in its first year? In this episode, Bradley Sutton welcomes Spencer Gordon, an e-commerce operator who has built Amazon businesses from the ground up, including a premium beverage storefront and, most recently, the Amazon channel for Leanin Tree Greeting Cards.

Spencer shares how he went from working in his family’s logistics and beverage business to launching Amazon operations for a legacy greeting card company that had never sold on the marketplace before. Instead of randomly uploading products and hoping for the best, he started with proven retail winners, used Helium 10 to identify high-value keywords, and built his launch strategy around branded search, long-tail keyword opportunities, and strong catalog positioning.

The episode gets tactical with Spencer’s Amazon launch process, including how he uses test listings to check Amazon relevancy before launching a real SKU, why he relies on Amazon Vine for early reviews, and how he structures PPC campaigns for ranking momentum. He also breaks down his use of branded campaigns, product targeting, long-tail exact match keywords, fixed bids, and bid rules that raise or lower bids based on sponsored and organic rank.

Bradley and Spencer also dive into listing optimization, especially why the main image can be the difference between winning and losing the click. Spencer shares how AI tools help his team generate image concepts, while Bradley recommends pre-launch audience testing to avoid wasting traffic on weaker creative. The big takeaway? You do not need to be a brand-new startup to win on Amazon. Whether you are launching from scratch or bringing a legacy brand into the modern marketplace, growth comes from testing, learning, adjusting, and taking action before the opportunity passes you by.

In episode 753 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Spencer discuss:

00:00 - Introduction To Spencer’s Amazon Story
03:00 - Learning Business From The Ground Up
05:03 - Launching His First Amazon Store
09:18 - Moving Into A New E-Commerce Role
11:21 - Inside Leanin’ Tree Greeting Cards
13:34 - Starting Amazon From Scratch
15:59 - Hitting Six Figures In Year One
16:41 - Choosing Products And Keywords
22:03 - New Product Launch Strategy
23:05 - Testing Amazon Keyword Relevancy
27:37 - Long-Tail PPC Ranking Campaigns
37:06 - Main Image Optimization Strategy

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An Amazon seller from Singapore reveals how data-backed product research, AI workflows, Cerebro keywords, and a wild 50 auto campaign PPC strategy helped scale Amazon products to seven figures.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it take to walk away from a stable career, bet on Amazon FBA, and build a multiple seven-figure business in the Amazon US marketplace from Singapore? In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with Clarence Cheang of TheFBABros to unpack the mindset, strategy, and data-driven systems that have driven his Amazon journey. Clarence shares how he went from a civil engineer working on Singapore’s infrastructure projects to a full-time entrepreneur after setting a clear goal: to make his side hustle outperform his day job income for 6 straight months.

Clarence breaks down the product research process that helped him discover one of his breakthrough products: a Japanese egg pan that went on to generate over $1 million in lifetime sales. Instead of blindly chasing trends, he uses a highly analytical process built around 23 data points, competitor keyword weaknesses, and Helium 10 Cerebro research. His approach focuses on finding products where competitors may be making strong revenue but are weak in PPC, keyword ranking, or listing optimization.

The conversation also dives into how AI is changing the way sellers research, launch, and scale. Clarence explains how AI can reduce product validation from one or two hours down to just minutes, while still requiring human judgment to verify opportunities. He also shares ideas around AI agents, Helium 10 data, bundling opportunities, and using massive short-form video output to drive external traffic from TikTok to Amazon.

One of the biggest “wait, what?” moments comes when Clarence reveals his 50 auto campaign launch strategy. Instead of relying on one auto campaign, he separates match types, identifies what works, and duplicates winning campaigns across different bid levels to let Amazon find converting placements at scale. His message is clear: Amazon is still full of opportunity for sellers who are willing to use data, move fast, test aggressively, and serve customers better than the competition. For any seller wondering if it is too late to start or scale, Clarence’s story is a reminder that your next breakthrough may not come from luck — it may come from discipline, research, and the courage to take action before you feel fully ready.

In episode 752 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Clarence discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
05:15 - Government Engineer To Amazon FBA
08:39 - Turning A Side Hustle Full-Time
10:21 - The Breakthrough Egg Pan
11:30 - Shopping Method For Product Research
14:09 - Finding Weak Competitor Keywords
15:58 - Why Amazon Is Easier Today
17:48 - Using AI For Product Research
21:12 - TikTok, AI, And External Traffic
23:46 - Why Cerebro Is Essential
33:01 - Day One PPC Launch Strategy
34:15 - The 50 Auto Campaign Strategy

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An e-commerce seller for 25 years reveals how to protect profits, control inventory, rethink shipping costs, and use AI workflows without letting bad data quietly wreck your Amazon business today.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it really take to stay profitable after more than two decades in e-commerce? In this episode, Bradley Sutton welcomes back Rolando Rosas, a seven-figure seller with 25 years of online selling experience, to talk about the less glamorous but absolutely critical side of running a long-term Amazon business: operations, inventory, cash flow, shipping, and knowing your numbers.

Rolando shares how his e-commerce journey began in 2002, after the tech bubble burst, with his own website and Google AdWords, before expanding to Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and other channels. Today, Amazon makes up the majority of his revenue, but he explains why sellers should not rely on one growth lever alone. As markets shift, especially in B2B and IT-related categories, sellers need to pay close attention to profitability and not just top-line sales.

One of the biggest lessons from the episode is that great marketing cannot save weak operations. Rolando breaks down why inventory mismanagement can sink even large companies, how MFN (Multi-channel Fulfillment) can help certain sellers reduce cash flow pressure, and why treating shipping as a shared cost rather than a simple expense can add meaningful profit back into the business. He also explains how sellers should approach price increases by understanding margins, fees, categories, and customer behavior.

The episode also dives into practical AI workflows for e-commerce sellers. Rolando explains why sellers should not let AI handle messy data from start to finish, and instead should feed it clean, structured reports for more reliable analysis. From turning screenshots into spreadsheets to using AI to summarize business data, his message is clear: AI can save time, but only when paired with smart systems and human judgment. The big takeaway? Stay curious, think bigger, and keep looking for the hidden levers that can protect your profit.

In episode 751 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Rolando discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
02:05 - From Corporate Sales To Ecommerce
05:23 - Starting Selling Online Before Amazon
06:28 - Why Amazon Became The Next Move
08:18 - AI As The Next Business Shift
09:20 - Revenue Breakdown Across Channels
11:03 - Forecasting Sales In A Tough Market
12:11 - Why Operations Matter Most
15:37 - FBA Vs. MFN Strategy
19:23 - Rethinking Shipping Costs
23:22 - When To Raise Prices
27:03 - Building Better AI Workflows
28:43 - Beginner AI Time-Saving Tip
31:23 - Why Curious Sellers Win

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Learn the latest updates on this proven Amazon launch strategy using keyword research, Rufus or Alexa for Shopping optimization, PPC, TikTok Shop traffic, and relevancy signals to rank faster.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Wait! Before you dive in… this is part 2 of a 2-part series, so don’t be that person who starts a movie halfway through and asks what’s going on. Go watch/listen to part 1 on the AM/PM Podcast first, where Bradley breaks down the AI and product research strategies that set up this Maldives Honeymoon launch strategy: https://h10.me/am526

In this special episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton returns to the Maldives for episode 750 and breaks down his latest “Maldives Honeymoon” launch strategy. This time, he shares the exact tactics he recently tested to get new products to page one for multiple keywords in less than five days. From keyword research to listing optimization, this episode is packed with launch strategies for Amazon sellers who want to give their products the strongest possible start.

Bradley explains why a successful launch begins before PPC campaigns ever go live. Sellers need to study competitor reviews, analyze TikTok Shop reviews, look at Rufus questions (Quick note: Rufus is now rebranded as Alexa for Shopping), and understand what kind of images are working in their niche. He also walks through several ways to build a stronger keyword list, including Cerebro, Brand Analytics, Search Query Performance, historical keyword research, opportunity keywords, competitor PPC data, Etsy keywords, frequently bought together products, and Spanish-language keyword indexing.

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is the importance of testing Amazon’s understanding of your product before launch. Bradley shares how Amazon initially misunderstood two new products he launched, which caused poor impressions and weak Rufus visibility. By sending relevancy signals and checking Amazon Recommended Rank keywords, he helped Amazon better understand the products, leading to a major increase in PPC impressions and faster keyword rankings.

Bradley also covers launch execution, including how to choose keywords you have the “right to win,” set up exact match launch campaigns, use discounts strategically, monitor CPR numbers, activate alerts, and drive outside traffic through TikTok Shop creators. But the episode ends with a powerful personal reminder: while business growth matters, entrepreneurs should not lose sight of family and time. The strongest launch strategy may help you win on Amazon, but the strongest life strategy is making sure you do not miss the moments you can never get back.

Serious Sellers Podcast Episode 750

In episode 750 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley covers:

00:00 - Introduction
01:38 - Preparing A Listing For Amazon Launches
04:15 - Building A Keyword Research List
05:20 - Amazon Brand Analytics Keywords
07:50 - Historical And Off-Amazon Keywords
10:09 - Reverse Engineering PPC Strategy
13:14 - Amazon Recommended Keywords
15:17 - Frequently Bought Together Products
19:27 - Creating A Test Listing
22:37 - Sending Amazon Relevancy Signals
25:02 - Vine Prelaunch And PPC Campaigns
29:02 - Pricing, CPR, And Discounts
31:46 - TikTok Shop Launch Traffic
33:31 - Balancing Business And Family

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How did one Amazon brand go from overlooked to $7M? Discover the keyword, SEO, AI, and pricing strategies that helped unlock massive growth.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton welcomes Andrew Bell to talk about the real Amazon operator experience behind his AI and listing optimization expertise. Andrew shares his journey from growing up in small-town Indiana and studying ancient Greek and preaching to eventually diving deep into business, SEO, Amazon strategy, and AI-powered workflows.

Andrew breaks down how he helped Touch of Class, a niche home decor brand, grow from around $100,000 annually on Amazon to $7 million per year. He explains how he used Freedom Ticket, Helium 10 tools, keyword research, listing optimization, FBA, competitor tracking, and category-level keyword lists to turn thousands of niche products into a much stronger Amazon catalog. He also shares how the Amazon Brand Store became a major growth driver, with around $1 million in sales coming through store activity after treating it like an SEO page that could rank on Google.

Bradley and Andrew also dive into the relationship between Amazon SEO, PPC, and Rufus, now Alexa for Shopping. Andrew explains why keywords still matter, but sellers also need to optimize for customer intent, use cases, benefits, pricing transparency, and the questions shoppers are asking. He believes Rufus and traditional Amazon search are connected, meaning sellers should not ignore either side when building listings.

The episode closes with practical AI strategies sellers can use now, including using ChatGPT or Claude to organize Helium 10 keyword lists by intent, structure PPC campaigns, and analyze search term reports. For Amazon sellers trying to future-proof their listings, this episode is a reminder that growth comes from combining strong fundamentals with new AI-driven workflows.

In episode 749 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andrew discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
04:32 - Finding A Hidden Amazon Goldmine
06:43 - Learning Amazon The Right Way
07:24 - Optimizing Thousands Of ASINs
08:37 - Tracking Niche Competitors
10:08 - Ranking Brand Stores On Google
13:22 - Keywords That Drove Organic Growth
15:40 - Tracking Rankings At Scale
16:45 - How SEO And PPC Work Together
18:30 - Growing Another Brand 600%
20:18 - How Rufus Impacts Amazon SEO
25:46 - Future-Proofing Listings With AI

Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast.

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Seven-figure Amazon sellers from Bulgaria and Romania reveal EU marketplace strategies, Prime Day tactics, ranking tips, Rufus optimization, and how they built brands across Amazon marketplaces.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it take to build a seven-figure Amazon business from Eastern Europe? In this episode, Bradley Sutton travels to Sofia, Bulgaria, to speak with experienced sellers from Bulgaria and Romania who have built successful brands across Amazon Europe and the U.S. marketplace. From workwear and cosmetics to pet supplements and ranking services, these sellers share how they found opportunities, scaled their businesses, and adapted as Amazon continued to evolve.

The first story follows Iliyan Ivanov, a seller who started in advertising and eventually turned local workwear demand into a multi-million-euro Amazon brand. He explains how starting early in Amazon Europe gave his listings maturity, how Germany became his top marketplace, and how keyword research helped uncover unexpected seasonal demand around Germany’s carnival season. He also shares how tools like Cerebro and Managed Refund Services helped his team with listing strategy, keyword targeting, and recovering money from Amazon reimbursement opportunities.

Next, Bradley talks with another Bulgarian seller, Milcho Vasilkov, who used product research to enter categories he was not personally connected to, including maternity products, cosmetics, grocery, and pet supplements. His story highlights why sellers do not always need to be passionate users of their own products to succeed. Instead, he focuses on demand, customer behavior, marketplace fit, and smart inventory timing. He also shares Prime Day strategies for Europe, including building keyword position ahead of major events, using account managers for top deals, and extending promotional momentum after Prime Day.

The final guest brings a Romanian seller, Marcel Marculescu’s perspective on selling in the U.S. marketplace, and how Amazon ranking has changed over the years. After early product failures, he built a seven-figure Amazon business and now focuses on more sustainable launch and ranking strategies. He discusses using Vine, PPC, external traffic signals, keyword research, and Rufus optimization to help listings perform in today’s Amazon ecosystem. The episode closes with a powerful reminder for sellers: success does not come from a single hack or a single marketplace, but from adapting early, watching the data, and building strategies that can survive the next Amazon change.

In episode 748 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Iliyan, Milcho, and Marcel discuss:

00:00 - Seven-Figure Sellers From Bulgaria And Romania
00:50 - From Advertising Agency To Amazon Seller
03:20 - Launching A Bulgarian Workwear Brand
04:07 - Growing To €3 Million In Revenue
05:04 - Finding A Carnival Keyword Opportunity
07:43 - Expanding Across Amazon Europe
11:36 - Cerebro, Refunds, And Helium 10 Wins
14:21 - Building Mature Listings Against Copycats
18:41 - Product Research In Pregnancy And Baby Niches
23:00 - A Half-Million-Euro Product Launch
27:20 - Prime Day PPC And Deal Strategies
31:04 - Ranking, Rufus, And Modern Amazon Launches

View Details

Three real sellers share how they found winning products, scaled across Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop, used AI, and grew brands from early traction to millions in sales.

Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton sits down with three entrepreneurs at the Ecomm Mastery AI event in Nashville to unpack very different paths to e-commerce growth. From a toy brand built around functional products for kids, to a niche supplement company scaling through Amazon and TikTok Shop, to a lawn and garden brand navigating Vendor Central, 3P selling, Walmart, and AI-driven advertising, this conversation covers a wide range of seller experiences.

First, we hear how one founder combined an engineering background from MIT, toy industry experience, and digital marketing skills to build the kids’ toy brand Quiggly that hit $850,000 in its first full year. Her hero product, a functional toy spray mop, came from identifying long-tail keyword demand around Montessori-style toys and creating a standalone product customers were already searching for. Her biggest lesson: product-market fit matters more than launching a wide product catalog.

Next, Bradley talks with a supplement brand owner who has been selling on Amazon since 2016 and later saw major growth through TikTok Shop. He shares how niching down, solving the customer’s “next problem,” and building AI-focused content systems helped drive traffic from LLMs and answer engines. From schema markup to press releases, Reddit research, and modular blog content, his strategy shows how brands can start preparing for the future of search.

Finally, we hear from an experienced e-commerce director managing large lawn and garden brands across Vendor Central, Amazon advertising, and Walmart. She breaks down the operational differences between 1P and 3P, how Born to Run works, why content contributions can be difficult for brands, and how tools like Pacvue, Amazon Performance Plus, Brand Plus, and Claude are helping her team improve advertising and listing optimization. The episode closes with a clear reminder: whether you’re launching your first product or managing millions in revenue, success comes from understanding your customer, validating demand, and adapting quickly to new tools and platforms.

In episode 747 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kim, Damon, and Sadie discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:13 - Turning Experience Into An Amazon Brand
04:06 - Building An $850K Toy Business
06:09 - Finding Demand With Helium 10
11:24 - Launching With PPC And Long-Tail Keywords
17:48 - Building A Niche Supplement Brand
22:30 - Scaling Through COVID And TikTok Shop
24:30 - Winning By Solving Customer Problems
25:53 - Driving Traffic With AI And AEO
30:47 - Managing Multi-Million-Dollar Amazon Brands
34:00 - Comparing 1P And 3P Selling
37:08 - Optimizing Ads And Listings With AI

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In this episode, our guest shares how his men’s underwear company grew to 8-figures using Amazon, TikTok Live, Shopify, Reddit, product drops, and a customer-driven brand strategy.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with Jared Mortensen, founder of Real Men Apparel Company. Jared’s journey is anything but traditional. After growing up in a small town in Southern Utah, spending 20 years in aerospace, and later helping scale an e-commerce pet product company, he made an unexpected leap into men’s underwear. What started as a niche product idea became an eight-figure brand built around solving an underserved problem in men’s apparel: better fit, comfort, and size inclusivity.

Jared shares how he used research, Amazon reviews, and Helium 10 tools to identify a specific customer pain point and launch into a highly competitive category dominated by billion-dollar brands. Instead of immediately competing for broad keywords like “men’s underwear,” he focused on long-tail keywords, underserved customer segments, and highly specific product benefits. Real Men Apparel Company hit $1 million in sales within its first calendar year, eventually growing to $8.5 million in 2025 across Amazon, Shopify, and TikTok. Jared also explains how a 40% return customer rate, strong branded search, and memorable branding helped the company gain momentum in a crowded market.

A major focus of the episode is Jared’s unique TikTok Live, Shopify, and Reddit strategy. TikTok Live began as a necessity during a serious cash crunch in late 2023, but it quickly became one of the brand’s most powerful growth engines. Jared explains how going live with just an iPhone, ring lights, and a simple setup helped save the business, generate fast cash flow, and create a major halo effect on Amazon and Shopify. He also shares how the brand uses TikTok content across Meta, builds email and SMS lists, works with over 2,000 affiliates, and uses live streams to build a loyal community where customers interact directly with the founder and even influence future products.

Jared also breaks down how his Reddit strategy has become a long-term brand-building and AI search play. Rather than creating a subreddit focused solely on his own brand, he built a broader men’s underwear review community where customers, competitors, and shoppers can discuss products openly. He explains how this transparency builds credibility, drives high-intent traffic to Shopify, and helps position the brand in conversations that may influence future AI recommendations. The episode closes with Jared’s plans to grow from $11 million to $12 million in annual sales, expand Shopify, continue weekly limited-product drops, and deepen supplier relationships. For Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Shopify sellers, Jared’s story is a reminder that, even in a crowded category, the right niche, product, community, and content engine can create a brand customers keep coming back to.

In episode 746 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jared discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
02:36 - Discovering Amazon Selling And The E-Commerce Opportunity
04:34 - Finding An Underserved Niche In A Competitive Apparel Category
07:29 - Using Keyword Research And Reviews To Validate Product Demand
09:18 - Hitting $1 Million In Sales And Learning From Early PPC Mistakes
10:50 - Why Long-Tail Keywords Helped The Brand Compete Against Big Players
13:16 - How Product Quality And Repeat Customers Drove Growth
15:09 - Sales Channel Breakdown Across Amazon, Shopify, And TikTok
18:01 - Building Shopify Through Branded Search, Meta Ads, Email, And SMS
20:24 - Using Reddit As A Community, Credibility, And AI Search Strategy
26:44 - How TikTok Live Became A Major Sales And Cash Flow Engine
34:13 - Practical TikTok Live Tips For E-Commerce Sellers
41:16 - Using Limited Product Drops To Drive Urgency, Margins, And Repeat Sales

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

View Details

A husband-and-wife team shares how they survived crushing setbacks, pivoted beyond Amazon, and built a $20 million brand with smart product pivots, TikTok Shop, and resilience.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it look like to go from barely being able to pay the bills to building a $20 million business? In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with Josh and Becca Hadley, the husband-and-wife team behind Hadley Designs, to unpack the journey from side hustle beginnings to a multi-eight-figure brand. Their story starts with custom wedding invitations, a few early Amazon experiments, and a whole lot of late nights spent building together after work.

Josh and Becca explain how their different strengths helped shape the business from day one. Becca brought the creative talent, teaching herself graphic design and designing every product herself, while Josh brought the entrepreneurial drive and business strategy. Their first real breakthrough came when they turned their invitation design experience into physical products, launching recipe cards on Amazon and quickly realizing they had something much bigger than a small side project.

But their path was anything but smooth. When COVID hit, their party-focused business dried up almost overnight, forcing them into a painful but necessary pivot. That shift led them into the early education space, where a new line of preschool posters completely changed the trajectory of their brand. Then, years later, another financial crunch pushed them to rethink growth again, leading them to TikTok Shop, where they found success by building real relationships with creators instead of chasing one-off influencer posts.

This episode is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and long-term thinking. Josh and Becca prove that growth does not come from avoiding hard seasons, but from responding to them with creativity, focus, and action. Whether you are trying to survive your next setback or scale beyond Amazon, this conversation shows that the biggest breakthroughs often come right after the moments when quitting feels easiest.

In episode 745 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Becca, and Josh discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:05 - Josh And Becca’s Background And How They Met
03:00 - Early Marriage, Day Jobs, And Learning Graphic Design
04:20 - Josh’s First Amazon Experience Selling Textbooks
05:47 - How Wedding Invitations Became A Real Business
07:09 - Launching Recipe Cards On Amazon And Selling Out
08:25 - Their First Full Year On Amazon Hit $1 Million
11:17 - Why Josh Stayed At American Airlines For Five Years
12:27 - How COVID Forced A Massive Brand Pivot
15:49 - Building A $20 Million Business Across Platforms
17:09 - The $300K Credit Card Bill That Changed Everything
20:29 - Why TikTok Shop Became Their Next Growth Engine
22:08 - Building An Affiliate Army Instead Of Chasing Influencers
29:46 - Balancing Four Kids, Full-Time Work, And Marriage
31:42 - How Helium 10 And Data Guide Their Growth Strategy
41:53 - Josh’s Framework For Scaling Beyond Amazon

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A seller in an unexpected niche and a Chinese entrepreneur who once farmed in Africa reveal how Chinese Amazon sellers think, launch products, build brands, and compete today.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with two China-based Amazon sellers whose stories are anything but ordinary. Freeman Cui is a Helium 10 employee and seven-figure seller who first saw Amazon’s potential while working around the bondage products niche, while Yohan’s path to e-commerce began after farming in Namibia. Their backgrounds are unusual, but the lessons they share are highly relevant for any seller trying to understand the global Amazon landscape.

Freeman gives listeners an inside look at how many Chinese sellers really operate today. He openly discusses the reputation Chinese sellers have for black hat tactics, but explains that the environment is changing fast. Account crackdowns, tax pressure, and a more mature Amazon marketplace are forcing more sellers to think long-term. He also breaks down how he built a seven-figure business while working a full-time job, leaning on diversification, smart keyword targeting, and careful ad spend instead of trying to chase only the biggest keywords.

Yohan brings a completely different perspective. After years in Africa working first as a translator and then as a farmer, he returned to China in 2020 and got pulled into e-commerce by the freedom it offered. He shares how he helped grow the Bont brand, why roller skate wheels became a winning product, and how he approaches launches today through a mix of Amazon PPC, website traffic, and social media promotion. Like Freeman, he stresses that long-term brand building matters far more than shortcuts.

What makes this episode stand out is how both guests flip the usual narrative. Instead of only talking about why Western sellers fear Chinese competition, they explain what Chinese sellers admire about US and European brands: better storytelling, stronger marketing, and deeper customer understanding. The message is clear: the future belongs to sellers who build real brands, know their audience, and play the long game. This episode is a reminder that strategy, not stereotypes, is what wins on Amazon.

In episode 744 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Freeman, and Yohan discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Bradley Sutton Introduces The China Special
01:13 - Freeman Cui’s Background In Advertising And E-Commerce
03:03 - How Freeman First Got Into Amazon
04:17 - Starting An Amazon Brand During COVID
05:20 - Freeman’s Role At Helium 10 And China Seller Insights
06:22 - The Truth About Black Hat Tactics In China
07:49 - Tax Crackdowns And Compliance Challenges For Chinese Sellers
09:13 - Freeman’s Marketplace Expansion And 7-Figure Growth
11:04 - Freeman’s Amazon Launch Strategy And Keyword Targeting
14:33 - What Chinese Sellers Fear About U.S. Brands
17:18 - Yohan’s Journey From Farming In Namibia To Amazon
20:23 - Yohan’s First Products And Building The Bond Brand
22:18 - How Yohan Uses Helium 10 To Launch And Track Products
24:29 - Yohan’s Product Launch Strategy Using PPC And Social Media
28:26 - Factory Concerns, Brand Building, And Protecting Market Share
29:27 - What Chinese Sellers Admire About American Sellers

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How do you turn a niche product into an 8-figure Amazon brand? The founders of Naoki Matcha share the branding, keyword, and supply chain decisions that helped them scale worldwide.
:moneybag: Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it look like when two childhood friends turn a side hustle into an eight-figure global brand? In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with Samuel Loo and Singchuen Chiam, the co-founders of Naoki Matcha, to unpack how they went from selling generic glass teapots to building one of the most recognizable matcha brands on Amazon. Their story starts in Singapore, stretches into Japan’s tea-producing regions, and becomes a masterclass in patience, product-market fit, and long-term brand building.

Sam and Sing did not stumble into success overnight. Their first products were fragile, generic, and easy to copy, forcing them to rethink the kind of business they really wanted to build. That search led them to matcha, a category with higher barriers to entry and far greater complexity than a typical private-label product. Instead of sourcing from a marketplace and calling it a day, they had to knock on digital doors, travel to Japan, build supplier relationships, refine taste profiles, and learn how to create a product customers would come back for again and again. Their growth was slow at first, but their commitment to quality and feedback gave them a durable edge.

As the brand grew, so did its sophistication. They expanded from Amazon into other marketplaces, built teams across Singapore and Japan, invested heavily in in-house creative, and began thinking beyond Amazon PPC into upper-funnel channels like Meta, DSPs, and TikTok. They also shared how Naoki Matcha navigated the recent matcha shortage without major price hikes, using strong supplier relationships and careful supply chain planning to stay in stock while competitors struggled. It is a reminder that real brand power is not just built through ads and listings, but through trust, consistency, and operational depth.

This episode is a powerful example of what can happen when founders play the long game. Sam and Sing did not chase shortcuts. They built slowly, learned deeply, and stayed obsessed with product quality as they scaled into an eight-figure business. For sellers who want to move beyond quick wins and build something that lasts, this conversation shows that the biggest advantage is not speed. It is discipline, vision, and the willingness to keep improving long after the first sale.

In episode 743 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Sam, and Sing discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:05 - Meet The Founders Of Naoki Matcha
03:25 - Their First Amazon Product Before Matcha
04:28 - Why They Chose Matcha As The Long-Term Play
07:18 - Slow Early Growth And The Mindset That Kept Them Going
08:40 - Finding Japanese Suppliers Through “Digital Door Knocking”
10:23 - Expanding From Amazon USA To Other Marketplaces
12:30 - Why TikTok And Brand.com Are The Next Growth Channels
14:42 - The In-House Creative Strategy Behind The Brand
16:31 - How They Navigated The Matcha Supply Shortage
21:20 - Upper Funnel Marketing And Growing Branded Search
35:04 - Supply Chain Control, Factory Relationships, And Future Growth

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

View Details

An 8-figure seller in China reveals what US sellers get wrong about Chinese competition, black-hat tactics, global expansion, and the data-driven moves behind his Amazon growth.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What is really happening behind the scenes with top Chinese Amazon sellers? In this episode, Bradley travels to Shenzhen, China, to sit down with Bennett, an eight-figure seller who shares a rare inside look at how serious Amazon sellers in China are building and scaling brands. Helping guide the conversation is Freeman Cui from Helium 10’s Shenzhen office, who serves as Bennett’s translator throughout the interview. From launching his first cleaning product in 2017 to growing one brand to $15 million in annual sales, Bennett breaks down the mindset, systems, and strategies behind his success.

One of the most eye-opening parts of the conversation is Bennett’s take on black hat tactics. He confirms that those tactics still exist but says Amazon is making it harder for bad actors to survive in the long term. His belief is that the future belongs to compliant sellers who focus on quality products, strong branding, and long-term stability. That alone makes this episode a must-listen for sellers who assume all Chinese competitors play the same game.

Bennett also opens up about how his team uses data to make smarter decisions across product research, market expansion, keyword strategy, and advertising. He shares how Helium 10 tools like Market Tracker 360, Search Query Analyzer, Cerebro, and Helium 10 Ads help his team spot trends, avoid bad opportunities, optimize PPC, and launch products with more precision. He also walks through how they research trends from Amazon, Etsy, customer feedback, and even physical retail stores.

This episode is packed with practical insights on global expansion, AI-driven advertising, and product launches, but it also gives listeners something more valuable: perspective. Bennett explains why Brazil could be one of the biggest untapped Amazon opportunities, why patience is one of his company’s unfair advantages, and why his team is aiming to grow from $15 million to $50 million in the coming years. If you want to understand how elite Chinese sellers actually think, this episode pulls back the curtain.

In episode 742 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Bennett, and Freeman discuss:

00:00 - Why Chinese Sellers Envy US And European Sellers
00:41 - Meeting Bennett In Shenzhen, China
01:04 - Bennett’s Background And First Amazon Product
02:17 - Building A $15 Million Cleaning Brand
02:52 - How He Uses Market Tracker 360 To Find Opportunities
04:12 - A Product Win And A Market Shift That Saved Money
05:50 - The Truth About Black Hat Tactics In China
07:48 - How Search Query Analyzer Changed His PPC Strategy
10:07 - Three Unique Strategies Behind His 8-Figure Growth
12:28 - Why Brazil Is His Top Expansion Market
14:02 - How He Uses AI Advertising And Where It Still Falls Short
17:53 - His New Product Launch Strategy And $50 Million Goal

View Details

A law student launched painter’s tape on Amazon, built a mid-7-figure business, bought another brand, and found a surprise TikTok Shop shortcut he almost paid extra for.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
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In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down in Long Island City with Shaff Qureshi, a New York-born entrepreneur who built a mid-seven-figure Amazon business after launching with something as simple as painter’s tape. What started as a side hustle during law school quickly became a serious business, even though his immigrant parents initially hoped he would follow a more traditional career path. Shaff shares how he discovered Amazon through a friend connected to a retail business, saw the opportunity early, and jumped in while still in school.

The conversation follows his progression from that first painter’s tape launch in 2019 to building multiple brands, including his planner and journal brand, Insight. He explains why he stayed focused on growing in the U.S. instead of expanding internationally too soon, and how that discipline helped him keep scaling year after year. Shaff also talks about recently acquiring part of a larger educational poster brand, revealing that his long-term vision is not just to sell products, but to build a portfolio of household brands.

A major highlight of the episode is Shaff’s detailed breakdown of how he launches and grows products. He discusses using auto campaigns aggressively at launch, driving outside traffic from Google, Meta, and email, and relying on keyword rankings as the core success metric for his team. He also explains how Helium 10 tools like Search Query Analyzer, Keyword Tracker, and Helium 10 Ads help his business track market size, measure ranking retention, and identify which ad types are actually driving efficient results.

Shaff also shares lessons from both painful losses and unexpected wins. He talks about taking on a large loan for a product expansion that underperformed, and how that failure forced him to improve his systems and decision-making. On the other hand, one supplier mistake accidentally created a product variation customers loved, which became a breakout success. The episode also touches on his TikTok Shop expansion plans, including how Helium 10 Diamond saved him from adding more software subscriptions by already including influencer outreach tools he was about to pay extra for.

In episode 741 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Shaff discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:05 - Shaff’s New York And Pakistan Background
02:30 - Law School, Family Influence, And Starting A Business
04:05 - Why His Parents Doubted Amazon At First
05:17 - How He First Discovered The Amazon Opportunity
06:45 - Launching Painter’s Tape In 2019
08:28 - Building Insight And Growing Multiple Brands
10:06 - Revenue Breakdown, TikTok Shop, And U.S. Marketplace Focus
11:32 - Buying Another Brand And Building A Portfolio
12:28 - How He Uses Helium 10 For Growth And KPIs
15:19 - His Product Launch Strategy And Off-Amazon Traffic
24:18 - Biggest Losses, Surprise Wins, And TikTok Shop Software Savings

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Her first big Amazon win should have ended when the pandemic did. Instead, it sparked a bold pivot, lean launches, AI image hacks, and a $1M fashion brand scaling fast now.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

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Shan Shan Fu joins Bradley in New York to share how she went from working in tech to building an e-commerce brand from scratch. She started selling stylish face masks on Amazon and Etsy during the pandemic, quickly gaining traction as demand surged. That early success gave her the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship full-time and showed her what was possible when she combined market timing with fast execution.

When the face mask boom faded, Shanshan had to reinvent the business. She pivoted into women’s clothing accessories, especially tights and stockings, and used a volume-based launch strategy to find winning products. Instead of betting everything on one item, she launched multiple products at once, knowing only a percentage would succeed. That approach helped her grow Millennials in Motion into a high six-figure brand that is now on track for seven figures.

Throughout the episode, Shan Shan explains how Helium 10 became central to her growth. She used Helium 10 tools like Cerebro, Keyword Tracker, Search Query Analyzer, Profits, and Ads to research products, track rankings, monitor profitability, and automate PPC decisions across more than 100 SKUs. She also shares how she manages a highly seasonal catalog, controls cash flow, and makes launch decisions with lean budgets.

Another major theme is speed through AI. Shan Shan talks about using AI tools like Nano Banana to improve listing images and boost click-through rates, while also using ChatGPT to help create optimized listings at scale. Her story is a strong example of how sellers can adapt when markets change, use data to reduce risk, and build a real brand by staying flexible and moving quickly!

In episode 740 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Shan Shan discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
02:38 - Why She Started Selling During The Pandemic
03:01 - Launching Face Masks On Amazon And Etsy
06:06 - Pivoting Into Women’s Tights And Accessories
07:35 - Discovering Helium 10 And Researching New Products
09:11 - Why She Kept Her Day Job At First
10:35 - The Biggest Challenges In The Pivot To A New Product
12:16 - Revenue Growth And Marketplace Expansion
15:04 - Managing A Seasonal Brand On Amazon
16:12 - Finding Winning Products And Variations With Data
22:42 - Launching 33 Products In One Month With AI
30:41 - The Goal To Hit $1 Million And Beyond

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From Project X to seven figures, and from clean snacking to Amazon UAE growth, two e-commerce sellers from Dubai share lessons on product research, branding, and scaling.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

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In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley Sutton sits down in Dubai with two entrepreneurs building businesses in very different ways. Abdallah Hesham shares how he went from two failed Amazon products and thousands of dollars in losses to building a seven-figure brand inspired by Project X strategies. He explains how shifting away from basic low-review product hunting and toward deeper niche research, smarter validation, and stronger differentiation completely changed his results.

Abdallah also breaks down the tactical side of his success, including how better listing images transformed a struggling product, why he believes sellers should chase winning categories instead of just winning products, and how he uses Helium 10 tools like Magnet, Cerebro, Index Checker, Keyword Tracker, and Listing Optimizer. He also shares a smart relaunch strategy for products coming back in stock, using pricing, coupons, exact-match campaigns, and lightning deals to rebuild momentum and recover rankings.

Later, Bradley talks with Rashi Dewan, founder of Nothing Silly, a Dubai-based clean snack bar brand made with natural ingredients and no refined sugar, palm oil, or preservatives. Rashi shares how a personal passion for healthier eating turned into a business opportunity after she struggled to find truly clean snack bars on store shelves. From slow first-month sales on Shopify to steady growth on Amazon UAE and a new retail placement, her story highlights the power of conviction, branding, and persistence. Together, both guests show that whether you are building an Amazon brand or launching a food product from scratch, long-term success comes from spotting real demand, staying resilient through setbacks, and actually putting smart strategies into action.

This episode is a reminder that success rarely starts with instant wins. Sometimes it begins with failed launches, slow first sales, tough lessons, and the willingness to keep refining. Whether you connect more with Abdallah Hesham’s Amazon comeback or Rashi Dewan’s passion-driven product journey, the takeaway is the same: real growth happens when you stop chasing shortcuts, trust the process, and execute with purpose.

(Time Stamps) -

In episode 739 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Abdallah, and Rashi discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
01:24 - How Project X Helped Spark A 7-Figure Product
04:43 - Why The First Two Product Launches Failed
06:06 - Finding The First Winning Product After Early Losses
07:19 - How Better Images Turned A Weak Launch Around
10:35 - Why Sellers Should Chase Winning Categories, Not Just Products
13:36 - Favorite Helium 10 Tools For Research And Optimization
16:16 - PPC And Relaunch Strategy After Going Out Of Stock
19:39 - Big Goals: Pilot License, New Brand, And Family Success
21:49 - How A Passion For Clean Eating Became A Snack Brand
24:43 - Launching On Amazon UAE And Building Steady Growth
29:17 - Final Lessons On Persistence, Product Research, And Taking Action

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Sustainability became his unfair advantage on Amazon. A veteran textile designer reveals the data-first moves, fee-saving AWD shifts, and the tester story behind the explosive growth.

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Isa is a Germany-born textile manufacturer who has spent decades in Turkey building his production capacities. After the post-pandemic market shift disrupted his B2B world, he made a bold move into selling direct on Amazon. His edge was clear from day one: sustainable materials, verifiable certifications, and total control over quality.

Instead of launching what his factory could make, Isa used Helium 10 data to decide what his factory should make. With tools like Black Box, Cerebro, and Magnet, he identified a long-term gap in premium, sustainable blankets. That research led him into a surprising niche as well: certified organic blankets. The result was fast traction, including multiple products ranking strongly in Germany and climbing in the US.

Isa shares that 2025 gross sales hit about $1.5M across Europe and the US, with plans to push toward $3M in 2026 and a longer-term goal of $5M. At the same time, he wants to keep the brand positioned as premium and controlled growth, based on production capacity and design standards. He is also expanding beyond Amazon into marketplaces like Otto in Germany, as well as Walmart, Wayfair, and eBay in the US.

The episode does not dodge the challenges. Storage and fulfillment fees became an expensive lesson in 2025. Isa explains how switching to AWD in the US, keeping a backup 3PL option, and moving into Pan-EU with additional VAT registrations reshaped his 2026 strategy. He also credits packaging and presentation as key differentiators, treating the unboxing like a premium experience and building listings that balance compliance with strong visuals.

In episode 738 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Isa discuss:

00:00 – Introduction
01:23 – Isa Dal’s Backstory
02:39 – PhD Textile Manufacturer Spots A Gap In Sustainable Products
03:55 – Amazon Selling Timeline
05:19 – The Brands Behind His Success
07:35 – Growing Beyond Amazon
08:03 – Fulfillment Plan: FBA & AWD Infrastructure
08:29 – Going All In On Helium 10
10:29 – “Completely Data Driven” Product Selection
18:13 – Biggest 2025 Challenge
27:09 – Focusing on the Unboxing Experience & Main Image Insights

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Two Dubai sellers reveal how they built seven-figure brands via duty-free, Amazon UAE, and quick commerce. Plus lessons for cold-chain fulfillment, PPC scaling, and expansion lessons.

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Recording live from Worldef Dubai, Bradley Sutton sits down with two UAE-based ecommerce operators who built seven-figure businesses in very different ways. One through iconic local products and duty-free dominance, the other through acquiring and scaling an Amazon-first brand across markets.

First up is Rami Rabia of Al Nassma Chocolates, a Dubai chocolate pioneer known for camel milk chocolate and giftable products. Rami breaks down the region’s offline-heavy reality (with duty-free as a major growth engine), why COVID forced rapid channel diversification, and how Amazon UAE’s cold-chain logistics solved the biggest hurdle in selling chocolate online: heat and product sensitivity. He also shares how he uses Helium 10 to track seasonal search behavior tied to Dubai’s nonstop calendar of holidays and gifting moments, plus his interest in TikTok Shop once it launches locally.

Then Aslam Yousuf, founder of S2C, explains how he acquired an Amazon UAE brand (instead of starting from scratch), scaled it beyond $1M, and used “quick commerce” via Noon to accelerate growth. He dives into the systems behind scaling in competitive categories—brand positioning, packaging upgrades, content overhauls, marketplace expansion (India and KSA), and a hard-earned logistics lesson from choosing the wrong shipping partner. The episode wraps with his view on Helium 10’s impact and what it takes to build a regional winner that’s ready for bigger markets.

In episode 737 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Rami, and Aslam discuss:

00:00 – Seven-Figure Brands… on Amazon UAE (Live From Dubai)
00:55 – Meet Rami Rabia of Al Nassma Chocolates
01:17 – Camel Milk Chocolate Origin & Product Line Breakdown
02:10 – Online vs Offline Sales & Dubai Duty-Free Dominance
03:11 – COVID Forced Channel Diversification
04:41 – How Amazon UAE Solves Chocolate Fulfillment (Cold Chain)
05:48 – Helium 10 for Seasonal Keyword Demand in Dubai
08:48 – TikTok Virality & TikTok Shop Plans
09:38 – Meet Aslam Yousuf, Founder of S2C
13:42 – Acquisition to Brand Growth
14:21 – Noon Explained: 15-Minute “Quick Commerce”
24:19 – Biggest Mistake: Wrong Shipping Partner & Customs Nightmare

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Corporate job by day, Kaffe Products by night. How Robert built an Amazon brand into Walmart shelves before he ever went all-in. Get all his strategies in this episode!

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

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Robert Gomez from Kaffe Products is the definition of “build it while you’re still employed.” He started selling online back in 2012 (including an early mistake that got him banned), then worked his way back into Amazon the right way and launched Kaffe Products in mid-2019. The wild part is he scaled the brand while holding down a full-time corporate career, finishing as a senior finance manager at Microsoft. He didn’t go all-in until early 2023, and by then, Kaffe already had nearly 15 employees and real momentum.

In this episode, Robert breaks down why he chose the coffee niche and how he positioned Kaffe differently. Instead of competing with endless coffee bean brands, he focused on the accessory ecosystem: grinders, frothers, tools, storage, mugs, and the full coffee-making process. His very first product, a sleek coffee grinder, became a long-term winner with massive review volume online and eventually turned into his first product placed in Walmart stores nationwide. Along the way, he shares how keyword research changed his thinking, including discovering meaningful Spanish search volume on Amazon.com, and why tools like Helium 10 helped his team move faster, defend against competitors, and save serious time.

The biggest lesson is that omnichannel isn’t optional anymore; it’s leverage. Robert was thinking beyond Amazon from day one, even landing a major retail-style purchase before the product officially launched online. He explains how being “everywhere” (Amazon, Walmart.com, TikTok Shop, wholesale, and more) helps customers find you where they already shop and makes retail buyers take you seriously. He also gets real about expensive mistakes (like a $30K influencer spend that didn’t move the needle), then flips to unexpected wins like niche channels that generated hundreds of thousands in profit-heavy Q4 sales. If you want a playbook for going from Amazon to omnichannel to big-box shelves, this one is packed.

In episode 736 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Robert discuss:

00:00 - Building A Multi-Million Amazon Brand While Working Full-Time
00:44 - Meet Robert: Selling Since 2012 & Launching Kaffe Products In 2019
01:40 - Microsoft Career & Why He Didn’t Quit Until Early 2023
02:58 - Why Coffee: From Planners To Home & Kitchen Opportunity
03:56 - The Real Angle of His Business
05:08 - First Product To Now In Every Walmart Store
07:02 - How Helium 10 Fueled His Business
08:10 - Keyword Surprise: Spanish Searches On Amazon.com
11:36 - Omnichannel From Day One
16:13 - Kaffe’s TikTok Shop Strategy
17:38 - Biggest Mistakes He’s Made
19:35 - Surprise Wins of Kaffe
24:45 - What’s Next for Kaffe

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Discover how NeuroGum’s founder turned a college nootropics experiment into a 9-figure brand, dominating Amazon and TikTok Shop and outselling 5-Hour Energy drink at CVS.

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NeuroGum’s journey from a college dorm room experiment to a 9-figure brand is one of the most compelling success stories in modern eCommerce. Founded by neuroscience student Kent Yoshimura at UC San Diego, NeuroGum was born out of a personal need for clean energy and sustained focus without the crash of traditional energy drinks. By combining natural caffeine with L-theanine in a convenient gum format, the brand introduced a new category: functional energy gum designed for mental clarity, productivity, and performance.

After launching on Indiegogo in 2015 and gaining traction through early biohacking communities, NeuroGum rapidly expanded onto Amazon, where data-driven keyword strategies and smart positioning helped accelerate growth. The brand later gained national attention through Shark Tank and organic mentions from Joe Rogan, further solidifying its authority in the nootropics and energy supplement space. Today, NeuroGum not only dominates Amazon in its category but also outsells 5-Hour Energy at CVS, proving that innovative product development combined with strong eCommerce execution can disrupt even the most established markets.

NeuroGum’s rise highlights key lessons for entrepreneurs: solve a real problem, leverage community validation, use marketplace data to guide expansion, and build a brand that prioritizes both performance and authenticity. What started as a dorm room biohacking experiment has evolved into a nationally recognized energy brand redefining how consumers think about focus, productivity, and functional supplementation.

In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kent talk about:

00:00 – NeuroGum Introduction & Brand Overview
05:26 – Discovering Nootropics & Product Idea
10:29 – Indiegogo Launch & Early Viral Success
12:36 – Scaling NeuroGum on Amazon
12:39 – Shark Tank Experience
18:09 – CVS Retail Breakthrough & Polar Vortex Crisis
19:11 – Post-Shark Tank Lawsuit Battle
20:56 – Joe Rogan’s Organic Endorsements
22:47 – TikTok Shop Growth Strategy
27:30 – Celebrity Investors & Partnerships
29:02 – Using Helium 10 for Amazon Growth
31:28 – Entrepreneur Mindset & Motivation
34:34 – The Future Vision for NeuroGum

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

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7-figures on Amazon…while working full-time and spending 5 hours/week? Our guest breaks down his TikTok-to-Amazon product strategy, Helium 10 moves, and Q4 playbook.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

How do you build a 7-figure Amazon brand without quitting your day job or hiring a team? In this episode, Bradley sits down with Jason Ross from Puproar, a longtime listener turned first-time guest, who hit seven figures while working full-time and spending roughly five hours a week on the business.

Jason shares the real origin story: he didn’t start with a perfect product; his first launch (pickleball paddles) fizzled fast. But while that was happening, a dog toy idea started gaining traction, so he cut the loser and went all-in on pets. His unfair advantage is his product strategy: watch what’s trending for humans, then build the pet version and design every product with virality in mind so it performs naturally on TikTok and with affiliates.

You’ll also hear how Jason runs an ultra-lean operation: using Helium 10 tools like Profits to track margins daily, leveraging Search Query Analyzer to find high-converting terms (and attributing six figures in extra revenue to that data), protecting the brand with Amazon Transparency, and navigating seasonal challenges like Q4 inventory and Amazon capacity limits. If you want a blueprint for scaling without building a huge team, this one delivers.

In episode 734 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jason discuss:

00:00 – Introduction
00:21 – 7-Figure Amazon Business In 5 Hours Per Week (No Employees)
03:30 – How He Discovered E-Commerce (And Why He Delayed Starting)
04:01 – First Launch In 2023 And Why Pickleball Paddles Failed
05:10 – The Pivot: Dog Toy Idea Takes Off, And He Commits To A Pet Brand
06:11 – 2025 Results: Seven Figures With Over 90% On Amazon
07:04 – Puproar Strategy: Human Trends Turned Into Pet Products
08:32 – TikTok Virality: Hero Product And Millions Of Views
10:01 – Still Working A Full-Time Job While Using An Ad Agency
12:28 – Favorite Helium 10 Tool: Profits And Margin Targets
16:57 – Using Search Query Analyzer And Attributing Six Figures To Keyword Data
23:58 – TikTok Shop Playbook: Affiliates And GMV Max Ads
27:54 – Counterfeits And Amazon Transparency ($0.05 Per Unit)
30:54 – Seasonal Inventory And Bidding For Amazon Capacity
37:03 – 2026 Goal: Flat Revenue, Higher Profit (Efficiency Focus)

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Learn Elizabeth’s data-driven go-to-market framework for Amazon launches: how to define your true market, use customer insights, leverage AMC overlap reports, and plan ads with confidence.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Elizabeth Rivas returns with a behind-the-scenes look at how brands that sell millions (and even tens of millions) actually approach Amazon growth. Instead of relying on gut feel or “big keyword volume,” she explains how modern go-to-market has shifted to a question-driven approach, starting with what you need to know and using data to answer it clearly enough that even senior leadership can buy in.

A huge part of her edge is what she calls “storytelling data”: turning overwhelming reports into decisions. What to launch, how to position it, and what messaging will actually resonate. She also breaks down how customer reviews (and real customer language) can uncover product development wins, copywriting angles, and creative direction, so your listing speaks the way shoppers speak.

From there, Elizabeth walks through a practical launch workflow: validate demand with keywords, then use tools like Helium 10’s Market Tracker 360 tool to narrow a massive category into your real market—your price tier, your feature set, and your true peer ASINs. Finally, she dives into how AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) overlap reports and advertising intel can sharpen everything from targeting and creative to retargeting strategy and launch structure—plus what smaller-budget sellers can do right now to apply the same principles and win.

In episode 733 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Elizabeth discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
02:02 - Elizabeth’s Backstory
04:00 - How She Entered Amazon (2017)
06:40 - Her Superpower: Storytelling Data
09:02 - Better GTM Than Gut & Keywords
10:35 - Review Insights For Copy & Product
13:00 - 5-Step Go-To-Market Framework for Amazon Brands
15:22 - Define Your True Market
21:47 - AMC Overlap Reports Explained
26:00 - Launch Ads: Week-One Structure
31:49 - Low Budget: Test & Document

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Amazon UK niche leader for nearly 16 years shares how a single mom built a multi-7-figure brand, survived copycats, ditched unprofitable markets, and grew with influencers + smart keyword research.

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What does it take to dominate a niche for over a decade without building a giant team or becoming a “warehouse CEO”? Bradley Sutton heads to the UK to visit Cara Sayer at her home in Surrey and unpack the real story behind SnoozeShade: a product used by members of the Royal family and a brand that has stayed on top of its Amazon category for nearly 16 years. Cara’s journey is a classic “scratch your own itch” case study. She needed a better way to protect her baby in a pram from sun, wind, and cold, so she created a stroller “blackout blind” solution that simply didn’t exist at the time.

Cara shares her path from working in PR and marketing (including being on the team that helped launch Amazon in the UK back in the early days) to building a physical product business the hard way—trade shows, prototypes, and getting orders before modern Amazon tools even existed. As competition grew, she explains how the brand evolved through distributors, Amazon Vendor Central, and a messy reseller situation (including 37 resellers on her best-selling product) before she took control and moved into Seller Central. Then comes the lesson every seller needs to hear: revenue isn’t the goal—profit is. When the US market turned into “shark-infested waters” full of unsafe knockoffs and price attacks, Cara made the tough call to exit, protect margins, and refocus on what actually made the business stronger.

This episode is packed with long-game strategy: why being obsessively good at product quality and customer service beats shortcuts, why market focus matters more than “go global fast,” and how Cara uses influencer relationships to build real brand awareness. She also shares how Helium 10 helps her organize keyword research, spot competitor moves, and avoid international keyword mistakes (because US/UK/AU English is not the same). If you want a blueprint for building a durable brand that survives copycats, this one’s gold.

In episode 732 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Cara discuss:

00:00 - Introduction
00:41 - We’re In The UK: Welcome To Cara’s Place
04:31 - The Real Reason She Started: A Product Didn’t Exist
05:55 - What SnoozeShade Is & Why It Took Off
07:13 - #1 In Category For Nearly 16 Years
10:22 - Copycats Killed Profit: “Turnover Is Vanity, Profit Is Sanity”
12:14 - Her Best Year: Nearly £3M (Now Around £2M)
15:48 - Lean Team Setup: Freelancers + VA In The Philippines
18:00 - Competitor Tracking + Why Competition Calmed Down
21:09 - Royal Family Customers
23:42 - TikTok & AI: Awareness Over Amazon-Only Thinking
25:16 - International Keyword Differences (UK vs US vs AU)
29:25 - Influencers: Relationship-First
34:04 - Helium 10: Time Savings and Smarter Keyword Testing

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He quit Amazon, then launched One TikTok Shop SKU to 7-figures. Our guest breaks down content systems, creator outreach, FBT, cash flow, and scaling his product into the US.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Jonny Bradley didn’t “quit Amazon” and disappear. He rebuilt from scratch on TikTok Shop and took one SKU to a seven-figure run rate. After years of selling on Amazon (and using Helium 10 for keyword research, review insights, and day-to-day optimization), he intentionally sunset his Amazon brands following a life-changing personal season, then leaned into a new mission: health and longevity. The twist? He didn’t launch the traditional way with Amazon-first or Shopify-first. He went straight into TikTok Shop, where distribution is driven by content, not listings.

The core lesson for sellers: on TikTok, you’re not a product company, you’re a content company that monetizes through a product. Jonny explains how they started with founder-led content to create social proof (because creators won’t care about you at zero), then “pattern-broke” with a hook that flipped what everyone else was doing in the niche: instead of “I took NMN for 30 days and feel amazing,” he led with “I’ve been taking NMN for 18 months and I’m sick…” (sick of the shady industry). That approach drove views, comments, and a reply-to-comments content loop that turned into shoppable videos, while a handful of high-performing affiliates helped accelerate momentum.

Scaling brought real-world seller headaches: inventory, cash flow, and fulfillment. They moved from a 3PL to FBT (Fulfilled by TikTok) as soon as possible and managed growth with tight reorders and aggressive cash flow cycles. Jonny also shares an underrated edge: treating creators like partners, not disposable traffic with WhatsApp groups, direct support, and small gestures that build loyalty in a space where creators can promote your competitor tomorrow. Now he’s applying the same playbook to a US launch from zero, proving this isn’t “TikTok luck”, it’s a repeatable system Amazon sellers can learn from.

In episode 731 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jonny discuss:

00:00 - Quit Amazon, Build 7-Figure TikTok SKU
00:24 - Jonny Bradley’s Backstory
02:12 - Job Lessons and Brand Mindset
05:22 - Early Amazon Wins and Differentiation
08:48 - Using Helium 10 For Amazon Growth
10:24 - Why He Sunset Amazon
12:12 - Pivot To Longevity and Choosing NMN
16:17 - TikTok Launch: 1 SKU To 7-Figure Run Rate
24:24 - TikTok Isn’t Set-And-Forget
25:00 - “We’re A Content Company” Reality
29:12 - Creator System: Samples and 50–70 Videos/Day
32:09 - US Expansion Plan: Social Proof, Ads, and Affiliate

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Discover how to leverage AI recommendations for your Amazon product using GEO-targeted tactics, including PRs, Reddit mentions, website files, and listing/image optimization. Plus, PPC-only launch wins.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

AI is quickly becoming the new “front page” for product discovery on Google, in ChatGPT/Gemini-style engines, and even inside Amazon with Rufus. In this episode, Bradley sits down with Leo Sgovio, a longtime seller who’s sold tens of millions online, to break down what it actually takes to get your product recommended by AI (not just ranked on Amazon).

Leo shares a practical GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) approach: build your brand around a domain you can own, publish AI-readable assets (like spec PDFs, schema, and other crawlable files), and then earn mentions where AI systems pull real-world signals, especially Reddit, press releases, and other trusted sources. The big takeaway: in many categories, showing up in AI answers can prompt shoppers to search for your brand directly on Amazon, creating demand that doesn’t require paid ads.

We also dive into what sellers should do within Amazon to stay ahead of the AI curve. Such as using competitor questions to guide listing copy, treating Rufus as new “search real estate,” and optimizing A+ and image assets (including metadata and keyword placement). Additionally, Leo discusses launching products in competitive niches using PPC-only (no giveaways) and why Amazon fundamentals remain important despite the impact of AI on the discovery process.

In episode 730 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Leo discuss:

00:00 - Leo Sgovio’s Seller Story: Tens Of Millions Sold Online
01:22 - From Italy To Engineering And Early Hustles
03:12 - First Online Sales: China Sourcing Before Alibaba
04:34 - First Amazon Brand (2015): Skincare In Canada
05:50 - SEO Throwback: The “Write To Santa” Website
08:09 - The $7M Year And The Brand Crash To Zero
10:41 - Pivot To Games + Winning In Competitive Niches
12:22 - GEO Strategy: Website Files That AI Can Crawl
13:48 - Mentions That Matter: Reddit, Wikipedia, PRs
16:13 - Tools Leo Uses: Black Box, Cerebro, QPD Alerts
20:24 - PPC-Only Launch: 3,000 Units With No Giveaways
24:48 - Optimizing For Rufus + Next-Gen Amazon AI
29:06 - Image SEO: A+ Keywords, Metadata, And Ranking

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Meet this Amazon seller still selling his first product. He shares how Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 tools sparked instant success, which then scaled in two years through B2B sales, AMC, and lean operations.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Andrew Engle transitioned from mechanical/manufacturing engineering to becoming an Amazon seller after identifying where the real money was: selling products on Amazon, not services. In 2019, he launched his first product, found using Helium 10 (Black Box) and guided by Freedom Ticket, and it took off quickly. Within about two years, the “side hustle” out-earned his job, and he went all-in.

Today, he and his wife run a lean operation doing roughly $3.2M/year, with about 90% coming from Amazon North America (including remote fulfillment into Canada), plus a growing Shopify slice. A significant driver of their next-level growth has been leveraging Amazon Business, which has expanded B2B sales to around 30% through business pricing rules, dedicated business campaigns, and, in particular, separating out Sponsored Brands for business use to maintain a strong TACoS and ROAS.

Andrew also shares the behind-the-scenes realities: how taking on debt during a hot streak got stressful when a major competitor arrived, and how they’ve worked back out of it. He breaks down what they’ve changed to protect profitability amid tariffs and fee pressure (including shipping strategy and AWD), as well as how Amazon Marketing Cloud audiences are helping them run smarter top-of-funnel Sponsored Display and reach campaigns without wasting spend.

In episode 729 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andrew discuss:

00:00 – Seller Story: Freedom Ticket To $3M on Amazon
03:06 – Andrew’s Backstory
03:56 – $3.2M Revenue And 15% Net Profit
05:23 – Platform Breakdown: Amazon, Shopify, Canada
06:18 – First Product Found With Helium 10 Black Box
07:40 – Amazon Business Scaled To 30% B2B
10:02 – Business Pricing And Ad Structure
13:05 – Sponsored Brands (Business) Breakthrough
18:16 – AMC Audiences And Sponsored Display Reach
22:24 – Debt Mistake And Profitability Lessons

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An 8-figure Amazon seller shares the boring blueprint to reach 9 figures. Amazon Business (B2B), Remote Fulfillment, and AWD, plus hybrid warehouse systems, pricing, and PPC that just work!

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode, Bradley sits down with Brian Jines, an eight-figure Amazon seller on a clear path to nine figures. Brian breaks down the “boring” reality behind big growth: consistent execution, understanding your numbers, and building systems that scale without relying on hacks. His story starts as a side hustle, but quickly becomes a real operation built on repeatable processes.

A big focus is on underused Amazon levers most sellers don’t talk about enough: Amazon Business (B2B), Remote Fulfillment, and AWD. Brian explains how Amazon Business isn’t just for giant companies, and how simple moves, such as enabling business pricing (even small discounts) and offering case-pack options, can unlock larger orders, better margins, and fewer returns. He also shares how his team now uses PPC adjustments to lean further into B2B performance.

Finally, Brian gets tactical on fulfillment and scaling operations. Why AWD requires patience, why timelines matter as much as cost, and how a hybrid model (AWD + your own warehouse) can reduce workload while keeping control. The takeaway is clear: the sellers who win in the long term aren’t chasing quick wins, they’re building unsexy systems that compound.

In episode 728 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Brian discuss:

00:00 – Introduction and Backstory
05:40 – Why switching to FBA mattered
06:30 – Parent-child Listings and Ranking
08:00 – Omnichannel Growth Beyond Amazon
10:10 – Canada Remote Fulfillment “bulk NARF”
14:40 – Amazon Business (B2B) Explained Simply
19:20 – Why B2B is 30% Sales
21:00 – Amazon PPC Tweaks to boost B2B
24:30 – When AWD is Worth It
27:40 – Hybrid Warehouse + AWD Workflow
30:20 – The Boring Blueprint That Wins

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From Project X newbie to a $3M Amazon seller, our guest shares product research, Helium 10 tactics, TikTok Shop commissions, and how she defends her profits from copycats.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley sits down with Kseniia, a Project X success story who went from knowing nothing about Amazon to building a multi-platform brand doing millions in revenue. Born in Russia, she later moved to the US and now lives in Panama. She shares how discovering Project X on YouTube provided her with a clear, step-by-step roadmap to launch her first successful product and ultimately build a real business. Today, her brand sells hosting and event accessories across Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shopify, Walmart, and more.

Kseniia opens up about early missteps, including a “bad” reusable paper towel product and a nightmare 3PL situation that forced her to remove her main seller from FBA. She breaks down how she used the original Project X process: Black Box research, competitive analysis, and design differentiation to find her first true winner, and then leveled up by validating every new idea with Helium 10 Audience. She also explains how tools like Keyword Tracker and Cerebro help her repeatedly mine new keywords and refine listings. A unique champagne tower product she launched in 2025 alone has already generated over half a million dollars in revenue.

From there, the conversation shifts to multi-channel strategy and defending margins in a world of fast Chinese copycats. Kseniia shares how she combats low-price clones with better images, real lifestyle photo shoots, constant product improvements, and external traffic from Meta ads and TikTok content that send warmed-up shoppers straight to Amazon and Shopify. She details her TikTok Shop approach, starting with high affiliate commissions, utilizing GMV Max ads, and allowing creators to drive momentum. And explains why she’s intentionally shifting more volume to her own site for long-term resilience. She closes with encouragement for newer sellers: it’s absolutely not too late to start on Amazon in 2026, as long as you’re willing to differentiate, build a real brand, and eventually expand beyond a single marketplace.

In episode 727 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kseniia discuss:

00:00 – Intro
02:45 – Russia to Panama: Kseniia’s backstory
04:03 – eBay Flips and First Failed Product
05:32 – Using Project X Steps to Find the Winner
07:31 – Hosting and Event Products
10:14 – 3PL Disaster and Wrong FBA Inventory
11:36 – Favorite Helium 10 Tools and Workflows
16:50 – Beating Chinese Copycats with Better Branding
17:20 – TikTok Shop playbook: Commissions and Creators
23:50 – Driving External Traffic with Meta ads
33:00 – Shifting Sales to Shopify for Resilience
36:51 – Why It’s Still Not Too Late

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Bradley Sutton shares his wild journey from sumo wrestler and Zumba instructor to Amazon launch expert, revealing the Amazon seller grind mindset, resilience, hustle, heart, and hard-won lessons.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Bradley Sutton has never taken a traditional path into e-commerce. In this episode, he shares how a childhood split between California, Japan, and the Philippines, early public speaking in multiple languages, and an obsession with being “different” led him from Korean car parts to nationally ranked sumo wrestling and international Zumba tours. Along the way, a “Crazy Sock TV” YouTube persona racked up tens of millions of views and proved that you can turn fun, strange ideas into real opportunity.

Bradley then dives into the Amazon chapter of his story, scaling a phone case business to 1,000-2,000 orders per day, running his own warehouse, and facing a surreal crisis when a business partner was kidnapped by the Chinese mafia over unpaid factory debt. That experience forced him to rethink partnerships, visibility, and risk. With almost no money, he flew to an Amazon conference, slept in a rental car, and decided to go all-in on understanding launches, keywords, and ranking. He launched hundreds of products for brands and eventually joined Helium 10.

From there, Bradley breaks down what he calls the “Maldives mindset”: getting obsessed with the game, using your unique advantages, and turning weaknesses into strengths. He shares case studies, such as Demon Slayer-inspired party products and wooden egg trays, that win in “saturated” niches by being unique, as well as how he utilizes Helium 10 data to revive demand for out-of-stock winners. He also opens up about a heart attack that left him clinically dead for 15 minutes and the regrets that come with kids growing up fast, reminding entrepreneurs that health and family matter more than any sales chart.

In episode 726 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 – Sumo, Zumba, Amazon grind teaser
03:20 – Childhood travel, Japan, and public speaking
06:50 – Korean car parts million-dollar hustle
10:50 – Zumba weight loss and Crazy Sock TV
14:40 – Phone case boom and FBM chaos
15:55 – Partner kidnapped by Chinese mafia
21:30 – Discovering Amazon product launches
24:50 – How Helium 10 discovered Bradley
29:50 – “Maldives mindset” and loving the game
33:40 – Demon Slayer–inspired products and niches
41:30 – Regret, family time, and perspective
43:20 – How to be featured on the podcast

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Amazon truckload hijacked, TikTok Shop creator tactics, new AI tools & strategies, Amazon PPC recovery, and a full revamp of the AM/PM & Serious Sellers Podcasts.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode, Bradley Sutton kicks off a brand-new era for both the AM/PM Podcast and the Serious Sellers Podcast with co-hosts Carrie Miller and Shivali Patel. This simulcast episode sets the tone for what’s coming next: more Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, and AI-driven strategies designed to help you make money in the AM and the PM. Bradley also shares the new format for both shows, including Weekly Buzz moving to AM/PM Podcast, expert-led trainings, and a renewed focus on real seller stories on Serious Sellers Podcast every Monday.

From there, things get wild. Carrie tells the story of a truckload of her Amazon inventory being hijacked on the freeway like a scene straight out of Fast & Furious, complete with a fake carrier, turned-off tracking, ransom demands, and a loss that ballooned to around $70K after tariffs. She breaks down what she learned about freight, tariffs, switching manufacturing from China to Turkey, and why sellers need to be more hands-on with carriers and agencies alike. Shivali then shares her own hard lesson: a high-margin product that kept failing customers, forcing her to pull the listing and rebuild the brand off-Amazon using a digital-first strategy that pairs a makeup mastery course with a physical product bonus and a new funnel powered by Google Ads.

To round out the episode, Shivali walks through exactly how she became a TikTok creator in just 12 days, qualified for the Creator Pilot Program, and started monetizing with TikTok Shop using existing camera-roll content, smart reposting, and product tagging. She also reveals some under-the-radar AI tools like Higgsfield and Arcads that can help sellers generate before-and-after content, influencer-style videos, and scalable creatives without always needing the physical product on hand. Carrie closes with one more key reminder for Amazon sellers: start paying attention to Rufus and optimize your listings around the real questions shoppers are asking, because AI-driven search is already changing how people discover products on Amazon.

In episode 725 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Carrie, and Shivali discuss:

00:00 – Bradley kicks off the new era of the AM/PM & Serious Sellers Podcasts
02:03 – Fast & Furious moment: an Amazon shipment gets hijacked
03:20 – How the thieves impersonated the carrier and held the load for ransom
05:14 – $70K in losses and what sellers MUST know about subcontracted carriers
07:48 – Turning a product failure into a digital-product-first business model
15:50 – Carrie moves manufacturing from China to Turkey - costs vs. tariffs
16:55 – Major announcement: Weekly Buzz moves to the AM/PM Podcast
22:10 – How Shivali became a TikTok Creator in 12 days &
27:45 – Carrie’s Amazon PPC agency disaster & how she rebuilt with Helium 10
34:05 – AI tools sellers haven’t heard of
36:45 – Optimizing Amazon listings for Rufus AI
37:55 – The future format of both podcasts moving forward

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In this episode, discover Amazon’s newest AI creative tools for PPC, including Creative Agent and Sponsored Products Video, and learn how sellers can generate high-quality ads faster than ever.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this episode, recorded live at Amazon Unboxed in Nashville, Bradley sits down with Jenny Liu, one of the Amazon Ads’ product managers behind the latest wave of AI-powered creative tools. Jenny’s team builds the systems that are transforming how Amazon sellers create videos, images, and ad assets across Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. If you’ve heard about Amazon Advertising’s new Creative Agent and wondered how it actually works, this episode gives you the insider perspective.

Jenny walks us through the evolution of Amazon’s creative ecosystem: from early one-click image generators to today’s full conversational, agentic workflows that let sellers input nothing more than an ASIN, a simple goal, and a rough idea. The agent then learns your intent, pulls from your product detail page, and automatically generates polished videos, lifestyle imagery, and ad-ready creative concepts. Whether you’re not “graphically inclined” or you’re a creative pro trying to scale variations and testing, these tools are designed to unlock high-quality output for all skill levels.

Bradley and Jenny also dive into real-world applications, how custom creatives now influence performance, what makes shoppers stop scrolling, and why strong visuals matter even in Sponsored Products. Jenny explains why Amazon’s creative philosophy is shifting toward storytelling, brand authenticity, and giving sellers more flexibility to express what makes their product unique. As she puts it, AI is not here to replace the marketer; it’s here to take away the manual work so sellers can focus on what message they want their brand to communicate.

To wrap up the episode, Bradley is joined briefly by longtime SSP guest Destaney Wishon, who shares her two biggest takeaways from Unboxed: the scale-changing impact of Creative Agent and the rollout of Sponsored Products Video placements.

In episode 724 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jenny discuss:

01:40 – Meet Jenny Liu
03:20 – The Evolution of Amazon Ad Creatives
06:00 – Why Creative Matters More Than Ever in PPC
08:10 – Introducing Creative Agent: Amazon’s New AI Creative Partner
11:10 – What Inputs Creative Agent Uses (and Why You Don’t Need Prompting Skills)
15:00 – Real Use Case: Creative Ideas for Bradley's Brand
24:00 – Jenny’s Core Message: These Tools Are Free, Simple, and Ready to Use
27:30 – Destaney’s Take: Her Top 2 Favorite Announcements From Unboxed

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Black Friday & Cyber Monday results for Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok, plus the rise of livestream selling, and Amazon’s biggest seller fee cuts ever!

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Principal Brand Evangelist, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon Owns Black Friday
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-owns-black-friday-160933179.html

TikTok Shop had our Biggest BFCM Weekend Ever
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/tiktok-shop-had-our-biggest-bfcm-weekend-ever?lang=en

Walmart Reports Strong Black Friday And Cyber Monday Performance
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/walmart-reports-strong-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-performance

Passkey verification for Seller Central sign-in is coming on December 2
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTExQV1VSOTY0TDZFNTlW

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:55 - Amazon BFCM Results
04:13 - TikTok Shop BFCM Results
06:15 - Walmart BFCM
07:48 - Smart Complete (Strategy of the Week)
10:18 - New Lower Fees
11:35 - More Amazon Security

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Stuck or slowing down on Amazon? Three expert mentors share the 2026 ad, creative, and analytics tactics that helped a brand experience explosive sales growth, causing it to run out of stock.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What if you could transform your plateaued Amazon business into a thriving powerhouse by 2026? Join us as we unravel the secrets with our expert mentors Kamaljit Singh from AMZ Onestep, Vincenzo Toscano from Ecomcy, and Jason McLellan from Prime Team Agency. Together, we explore transformative strategies to skyrocket sales, featuring the real-world Helium 10 Scale Stories case study of the InMotion Hemp brand, which experienced such explosive growth that their Amazon shelves were left bare. Kamal, Vincenzo, and Jason reveal their insights on optimizing click-through and conversion rates, refining PPC strategies, and venturing into international markets to breathe new life into stalled projects.

Our conversation takes a deep dive into David's journey with his InMotion brand, uncovering how strategic enhancements to product listings and advertising approaches can lead to increased sales and better brand performance. We discuss the power of updating visuals with modern lifestyle and infographic images, optimizing A+ content, and crafting compelling brand stories. By isolating successful keywords and refining advertising tactics, David's brand overcame challenges, including hemp product restrictions, to lay a stronger foundation for Amazon success.

Listen in as we further dissect Amazon's advertising ecosystem, highlighting innovative approaches to brand optimization. From experimenting with main images and leveraging AI for video ads to harnessing the untapped potential of Sponsored Display and Sponsored Brand Video ads, we cover it all. Our Scale Stories mentors emphasize the significance of understanding your audience and addressing customer pain points to improve customer acquisition and retention. Discover how even small incremental improvements can lead to substantial increases in revenue, and learn practical steps to refine your packaging and maximize Amazon advertising spend.

In episode 723 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Jason, Kamaljut, and Vincenzo discuss:

00:01 - Strategies for Amazon Business Growth
01:41 - Boosting Sales and Profitability on E-Commerce
03:28 - Amazon Brand Scaling Agency Strategy Discussion
04:51 - Boosting Amazon Sales With Strategic Changes
08:37 - Amazon Advertising Strategy Evaluation and Improvement
11:16 - Amazon Brand Optimization Strategies
12:28 - Room for Improvement in Brand Growth
18:46 - Optimizing Amazon Listing for More Sales
20:27 - Amazon PPC Strategy Optimization
27:23 - Amazon Customer Acquisition Strategies
34:16 - Optimizing Product Packaging for Amazon
37:00 - Understanding Customer Sentiment in Product Design
41:58 - Product Optimization Explorer for Success

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Learn Mansour’s latest Amazon strategies, from Search Query Performance to new sponsored product video features, AMC tips, pricing tactics, and launch strategies to scale your brand.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What if you could crack the code to scaling a million-dollar business in a fiercely competitive market? Join us as we chat with Mansour Norouzi, Director of Advertising at Incrementum Digital and a passionate supplement seller from Canada, who has already surpassed $1 million in revenue and is aiming for $2 million. Mansour shares the secrets behind his success in the e-commerce world, particularly on Amazon, revealing his strategic approaches to launching and promoting products. From the importance of enhancing search query performance to the exciting new features like sponsored product videos, Mansour's insights are a goldmine for anyone looking to boost their business in the consumer packaged goods industry.

Our conversation unfolds with a deep dive into the Canadian e-commerce market, where Mansour navigates the complexities of launching a supplement brand. He sheds light on the potential expansion opportunities awaiting sellers with the anticipated growth of TikTok Shop in Canada. By focusing on scaling his Amazon presence, Mansour explains why he's holding off on other channels for now. We explore effective pricing strategies, the power of the Amazon Vine program for gathering reviews, and the aggressive use of PPC advertising to make a mark in competitive niches. Mansour's experience in leveraging Amazon's tools for product ranking provides listeners with actionable insights.

We also explore the transformative advancements in Amazon's data analytics tools, which have become more accessible inside platforms like Helium 10. These insights allow sellers to make informed decisions, with tools offering unprecedented views into conversion rates and keyword performance. The episode also highlights the strategic use of Amazon Sponsored Product Videos, noting how advancements in technology have made impactful video content creation more accessible. Mansour's journey and expertise offer invaluable lessons, making this episode a must-listen for both seasoned sellers and those just starting their e-commerce journey.

In episode 722 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Mansour discuss:

00:00 - Helium 10 Black Friday Deals
04:44 - Strategies for Competitive Amazon Launches
06:12 - Entering Competitive Supplement Market Success
12:13 - Maximizing Amazon Sponsored Product Videos
13:38 - Exciting Unboxed Announcements
20:07 - Amazon Data Insights and Profitability Strategies
21:01 - Amazon Data in Helium 10
27:07 - Amazon Pricing and Deal Strategy
30:56 - Comparison of Black Friday Deals
33:01 - Focus on Basic Business Principles

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Amazon may have closed your Black Friday offer. Copy full media sets to sibling variations, and find out which fulfillment center is shut down. More buzzing news on this episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon sellers are facing a hidden glitch suppressing approved Black Friday and Cyber Week deals without warnings or alerts. Learn how to quickly check your listings to avoid losing traffic, badges, and Q4 revenue.

Copy media sets to sibling products with new Amazon Image Manager feature
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVFU1M1RYMlk3SEtTSDRW

Helium 10 New Feature Alert! Our Keyword Tracker now allows you to sort and tag at both the product and keyword levels for cleaner, more efficient research. Carrie demonstrates how this new feature enables sellers to organize catalogs, filter more efficiently, and stay focused during peak season.

New features for Fulfillment by Merchant sellers
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSkVZTlRDTVBRTUJXRjZG

View updated Customer Service Insights in Feedback Manager
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNVFNUlJSMkI2SEpaV1dK

Amazon has temporarily closed its LIT1 fulfillment center in Arkansas due to structural design errors, which may impact FBA inventory stored in the central US. Sellers should verify whether their stock is impacted, monitor refunds, and use tools like inventory heat maps to ensure their listings remain active during the shutdown.

Helium 10 is offering its biggest sale of the year! 35% off Platinum or Diamond plans for up to 12 months during Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Sellers who upgrade to Diamond and mention the broadcast even get access to Bradley’s personal sourcing agent, making now the perfect time to level up their tools. Go to http://h10.me/blackfriday for more information

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:44 - Amazon Black Friday Glitch?
03:06 - Image Manager Upgrade
04:46 - Organize Keyword Tracker
07:25 - FBM Seller Controls
09:47 - Share of Voice
12:51 - Customer Service Insights
14:33 - FBA Center Closure

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Retired exec turned Amazon seller! Hear how our guest scaled his hemp brand, boosted sales with listing upgrades, and turned mentorship into massive growth after his Scale Stories by Helium 10 episode.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

David Mead, a seasoned professional with nearly five decades of experience in the electric utility sector, shares his extraordinary leap into the world of e-commerce. After experiencing the benefits of a hemp-based pain relief product, he embarked on an unexpected entrepreneurial path, purchasing a hemp seed oil company, which has since flourished under his leadership.

Listeners will learn how David, working in conjunction with his Scale Stories mentors, made strategic decisions that propelled his brand, InMotion Products, to remarkable success. By upgrading product images and refining the brand narrative, his company not only witnessed a surge in sales but also faced the enviable challenge of stock shortages. David's story underscores the significance of mentorship and collaboration, highlighting how external expertise in areas like Amazon advertising catalyzed growth and prevented him from feeling isolated in the e-commerce landscape.

Through candid conversations, the episode sheds light on the crucial role of innovation and adaptability in brand management. David's humility in seeking external insights and his emphasis on data-driven strategies offer invaluable lessons for any business owner aiming to rejuvenate stagnant sales. Whether you're an established seller or just starting out, the strategies discussed, backed by tools like Helium 10, reveal how minor adjustments can lead to significant business growth. Join us for a compelling discussion that promises not only to inspire but also to equip listeners with actionable insights for e-commerce success.

In episode 721 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and David discuss:

05:50 - Motivation for E-Commerce After Retirement
09:01 - Exploring Paths to E-Commerce Success
12:31 - Sales Breakdown and Online Platforms
16:01 - Business Growth Through Product Innovation
20:50 - Learning E-Commerce Selling on YouTube
23:58 - Brand Growth Through Collaboration and Innovation
25:49 - Significant Sales Increase Through Listing Optimization
31:36 - Expanding Market Reach for a CBD Product
37:58 - David Discusses Brand Growth

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In this episode, Kevin King reveals how he made $700K from a new venture, the AI press release strategy boosting ChatGPT rankings, and the exact methods that helped one seller triple their sales.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

E-commerce OG Kevin King returns to the Serious Sellers Podcast, bringing his wealth of experience and innovative strategies to the forefront. Discover how Kevin's unique approach helped him achieve a staggering $700,000 in sales this year, and hear about a fellow seller who managed to triple their sales using similar tactics. Adding a personal touch, Kevin shares his passion for college football and his unwavering support for the Texas A&M Aggies, showcasing the dedication and intensity that drives both his business and personal pursuits.

Excitement builds as we preview the upcoming Ecom Mastery AI event in Nashville next April, where AI and e-commerce strategies will intersect in groundbreaking ways. Reflecting on past events in Austin, Iceland, and Hawaii, we spotlight impactful presentations and behind-the-scenes moments, including a standout talk by Anthony Cofrancesco on image creation with Midjourney. AI-driven press releases are put under the microscope, with insights into how these innovations are rapidly boosting rankings and sales for Amazon and TikTok sellers.

Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at an exclusive event that places entrepreneurs in the "hot seat" for personalized advice from a panel of experts. This intensive e-commerce growth summit is more than just formal sessions; it's an opportunity for networking and engaging workshops, all held in a luxurious setting. As we wrap up, we reflect on his journey with the AM/PM Podcast and hint at new ventures, including a potential project with Bradley that merges newsletters and podcasts. With a ton of strategies, personal stories, and future prospects, this episode is one you won't want to miss!

In episode 720 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Kevin King's Entrepreneur Passion
06:37 - Billion Dollar Seller Summit Legacy
07:27 - EcomMastery AI Event and Business Strategies
10:49 - Cutting Edge Content and Memories at BDSS
12:28 - Maximizing AI Impact for Amazon Sellers
20:54 - Navigating Information Overload in Business
22:06 - Intensive E-Commerce Growth Summit
26:54 - Scaling Stories and Expert Assistance
30:44 - Advanced Email Marketing Strategies
33:48 - AM/PM Podcast Legacy and New Ventures
39:13 - Email Marketing Mini Case Study with Bradley?

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Amazon’s Black Friday deals are live! Rufus just got smarter, and TikTok Shop hits a record-breaking quarter. All this and more on this episode of the Weekly Buzz!

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Amazon’s next-gen AI assistant for shopping is now even smarter, more capable, and more helpful
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-rufus-ai-assistant-personalized-shopping-features

TikTok Is Making a Major Holiday Shopping Push
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktoks-making-a-major-push-on-holiday-shopping/805710/

Seller Challenge launches for Account Health Assurance
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHV005OU5XUEtXSFM4U0U3

Helium 10’s Scale Stories follows real entrepreneurs overcoming roadblocks and scaling their Amazon and TikTok Shop businesses with expert help. Watch Scale Stories episodes now on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ-e6UGh_I8&list=PLZhJ7LRjHHEU4iGcpDAXZ1kHVlGUrELTV

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:41 - Black Friday Week Live!
02:34 - New TikTok Shop Tools
04:58 - Rufus Gets Upgraded
12:20 - Ebay Listing Check
14:38 - TikTok Holiday Push
16:13 - AI Assistant
17:51 - Seller Challenge

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In this episode, we welcome our Scale Stories TikTok Shop mentors to share how 30-second vids hit 10M views, the 3-bucket scaling framework, pricing/bundles, and live-selling tactics that turn views into sales fast!

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

In this Serious Sellers Podcast episode, host Bradley Sutton dives deep into the world of TikTok Shop with three top experts and mentors of our TikTok Shop Scale Stories episode — Ryan Maya, Michelle Barnum-Smith, and “Hurricane” Liz Herrera. Together, they break down exactly how sellers can build and scale profitable TikTok Shop businesses, even if they’re starting from zero. From short, 30-second videos that have driven 10 million views and six-figure sales, to proven frameworks for content, affiliates, and advertising, this episode is packed with actionable insights for e-commerce entrepreneurs ready to tap into TikTok’s explosive growth.

Listeners will learn the three-bucket strategy for scaling on TikTok Shop, which involves consistent content creation, building an affiliate network, and running smart GMV Max ads. The guests reveal how to pick “TikTok-able” products that are visual, problem-solving, and impulse-friendly, priced between $30 and $50, to drive fast conversions. They also discuss why free shipping and clear discounts are essential, how to use faceless videos if you’re camera-shy, and the right posting cadence to feed the TikTok algorithm for consistent reach.

The episode wraps with a deep dive into live selling, creator recruitment, and real-world ad spend optimization. Whether you’re an established Amazon seller or launching your first product, this conversation will show you how to turn short-form videos into real revenue streams and leverage TikTok’s tools to expand your brand. For a full visual breakdown of these strategies, make sure to catch the Scale Stories case study on YouTube, where our TikTok Shop mentors guide a new seller from zero to hero on TikTok Shop.

In episode 719 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Liz, Michelle, and Ryan discuss:

00:00 - TikTok Shop Expert Strategies
07:56 - Strategies for TikTok Shop Success
13:53 - Creating Engaging TikTok Shop Videos
22:05 - TikTok Live Selling Strategies
25:55 - TikTok Shop Pricing and Strategies
33:21 - Optimizing TikTok Shop Posting Frequency

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In this episode, let’s talk about how AI is transforming Amazon selling, from product research and listings to ads, Rufus optimization, and TikTok Shop growth.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Could AI be the game-changer for Amazon sellers striving for efficiency and scalability on a budget? Join us as Shivali Patel from Helium 10 and e-commerce expert Leo Sgovio unpack the transformative role of AI in revolutionizing e-commerce. We'll explore how AI tools are streamlining essential processes like product research, SEO, and ad creation, eliminating the need for large teams and hefty budgets. From AI-generated graphics to Helium 10's innovative Listing Builder tool, discover how sellers are now empowered to generate content and optimize their listings effortlessly, making it possible to launch products even with modest budgets.

Shivali and Leo also shed light on the evolving strategies for optimizing Amazon listings with AI tools such as Rufus. We'll discuss the importance of maintaining a safety stock and leveraging Amazon's FBA for seamless inventory management and fulfillment. Learn how the integration of Amazon with TikTok Shop can significantly expand market reach and maximize sales potential. Finally, understand the power of competitive analysis tools to enhance visibility and sales performance across multiple channels, and how real-time optimization and bidding strategies are being revolutionized by cutting-edge AI solutions.

In episode 718 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Leo discuss:

00:00 - AI's Impact on E-Commerce
05:15 - Keyword Research and Content Creation Efficiency
10:48 - Discovering Market Trends With AI
12:00 - Optimizing Listings With AI Strategies
16:44 - AI Applications for Amazon Ads
20:26 - AI Advertising and Rules-Based Automation
21:19 - Maximizing Sales With AI Strategies

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On today’s Weekly Buzz episode, we cover the biggest Amazon Unboxed announcements, an important TikTok shipping policy update that impacts all sellers, and new EPR requirements for selling in the EU.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Show your products in action with Amazon Sponsored Products video
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/unboxed-2025-sponsored-products-video/

Boost advertising efficiency with Ads Agent
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/unboxed-2025-introducing-ads-agent/

Streamline campaign analysis with the new unified reporting experience from Amazon Ads
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/unboxed-2025-campaign-analysis-with-unified-reporting/

Bradley Sutton and advertising expert Destaney Wishon discussed the biggest takeaways from Amazon Unboxed 2025, highlighting the new Creative Studio Agentic Partner as a powerful tool that helps sellers easily create ad assets using their ASIN data. They also spotlighted Sponsored Products Video, which introduces interactive video placements in search results to expand ad inventory and improve engagement.

Amazon just dropped major updates at unBoxed — a suite of new AI tools designed to simplify campaign management, speed creative production, and deepen insights. Here are the highlights: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helium10_unboxed-activity-7394117119078068224-kOof

TikTok announced that starting January 2026, all USPS shipping labels must be purchased directly through TikTok Shipping, as outside USPS labels will no longer be accepted. This change signals TikTok’s push for sellers to adopt its own fulfillment system, though it may create challenges for those using third-party logistics or integrated tools like Shopify or ShipStation.

Manage returns more easily with new dashboard
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHU1k4SlA2NVFZNFlKTkFX

For this week’s Strategy of the Week, let’s discuss the Helium 10 Insights Dashboard, which automatically monitors your listings and competitors 24/7, alerting you to important changes such as budget limits, ranking drops, or listing issues. It saves sellers time and money by providing real-time insights that help them respond more quickly to opportunities and threats in their Amazon business.

The final update of the week covers Amazon’s announcement on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements for sellers in the European Union. Amazon is expanding its EPR Pay on Behalf service to simplify compliance across countries like France, Spain, Italy, and the UK. Automatically managing eco fees and reporting for eligible sellers to ensure they can keep selling without disruption.

And that wraps up this week’s Helium 10 Weekly Buzz! Stay tuned for next week’s episode to catch all the latest Amazon and e-commerce updates. See you then!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:50 - Unboxed Announcements
05:02 - Unboxed Reactions
09:53 - TikTok Shipping
12:10 - Manage AMZ Returns
13:32 - Insights Dashboard Tip
17:12 - Amazon EU EPR

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In this episode, a top influencer joins us to reveal what’s new in social media, how creators can pivot in 2025, and her experience launching products on Amazon and TikTok Shop.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Gracey Ryback, a standout influencer in the Amazon and TikTok spheres, graces our podcast to share her compelling transformation from a social media influencer to a savvy e-commerce entrepreneur. With her recent and upcoming Amazon and TikTok Shop launches, Gracey sheds light on her changing focus in the volatile world of social media. Her journey reveals not only her own evolution but also insights into the growing acceptance of TikTok live, a trend even high-profile creators like David Dobrik are embracing.

The conversation heats up as we dissect the January 1st, 2025 algorithm shift that has reshaped the social media landscape. Organic growth has become a Herculean task, pushing creators to explore paid strategies to stay relevant. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts are mimicking TikTok’s discovery model, leveling the playing field for those without a large following. New creators eager to capitalize on this shift are encouraged to repurpose content across platforms and carefully choose products that resonate on both TikTok Shop and Amazon.

In our exploration of e-commerce growth strategies, we tackle the nuts and bolts of affiliate marketing and influencer outreach. From the importance of deep linking to innovative, camera-shy-friendly content creation methods, Gracey shares actionable insights. She also recounts her entrepreneurial journey, offering listeners a window into the trials of product development and the balancing act between data and intuition. As we look to the future, Gracey ruminates on AI's potential in influencer marketing and the importance of income diversification, leaving listeners with inspiration and practical tips for thriving in this ever-evolving landscape.

In episode 717 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Gracey discuss:

00:00 - Gracey Ryback on Social Media & E-Commerce
03:27 - Changes in Influencer/Affiliate Strategies
04:42 - Evolution of Social Media Algorithms
11:37 - Effective Strategies for E-Commerce Growth
16:36 - Amazon Seller Journey
19:18 - Navigating Challenges in Entrepreneurship
24:07 - Future Career Goals and Income Streams
25:18 - Future of Influencer Marketing
27:21 - Income Diversification Goals and Strategies
31:05 - Video Creation Tips for Content Creators
31:35 - Creating High-Converting Faceless Video Content

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In this episode, AI expert Andrew Bell joins us to show step-by-step how to turn a single Amazon product photo into a polished, scroll-stopping video using AI tools like Sora 2, Amazon Ads’ AI video generator, and Gemini.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

How can still product photos evolve into mesmerizing cinematic experiences, such as Amazon product videos? AI expert Andrew Bell joins us for a captivating discussion on the transformative power of AI in e-commerce. Andrew shares his insights on how AI can elevate brand content by seamlessly turning static lifestyle images into dynamic videos without losing the essence of traditional production values. We explore the storytelling artistry and strategic complexities involved in using AI tools to create engaging motion content, offering e-commerce sellers innovative ways to captivate their audience and enhance product presentation.

We also navigate the intricacies of generating product videos with AI, focusing on items like blankets, and the challenges of rapidly producing multiple versions. Our conversation dives into refining Generative Business Templates (GBTs) to evoke themes of elegance and sophistication. From blending AI-generated visuals with real assets to utilizing cutting-edge tools like Sora 2, Google Gemini, and Runway, listeners will gain practical tips on maximizing creative possibilities even when resources are constrained. Join us for this informative journey into the future of AI-driven video content creation, packed with insights and strategies for aspiring digital storytellers.

Want to see the AI magic in action? 🎥 Head over to our YouTube channel to watch this episode and see Andrew Bell create videos from still photos, live on screen: https://youtu.be/ea5pqM1QmxY

Want to try Andrew Bell’s AI video GPTs and tools yourself? 🚀 Access his custom GPTs for video creation using the link in the show notes and start turning your product photos into cinematic videos today: https://andrewbell.craft.me/hip1qvfS5vkZ9Y

In episode 716 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Andrew discuss:

00:00 - Creating Cinematic Videos From Still Photos
01:51 - AI Enhancing Brand Motion Content
11:33 - Product Photography for Water Bottles
13:34 - Exploring AI-Generated Video Creation
15:53 - Creating Visual Content for Business
22:36 - Optimizing Video Generation for Amazon
28:32 - Creating Videos on Google Gemini
32:53 - Video Generation Model Options Considered

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Amazon’s Rufus drives $10 billion in extra sales, while Amazon sues Perplexity to block AI browsers from scraping Amazon.com. These stories and more on this week’s episode of the Weekly Buzz.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Amazon.com announces third quarter results
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-earnings-q3-2025-report

Amazon Rufus on track for $ 10 billion in sales
https://channelx.world/2025/11/amazon-rufus-on-track-for-10-billion-in-sales/

Amazon Sues Perplexity As AI Browser War Escalates
https://www.pcmag.com/news/amazon-sends-perplexity-a-cease-and-desist-over-its-ai-agents-shopping

Amazon introduces Kindle Translate, an AI-powered translation service for authors to reach global readers
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/books-and-authors/amazon-kindle-translate-books-authors

New Brand Store page views metric for Sponsored Brands
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/new-brand-store-page-views-metric/

From sellers to solution providers: fueling business expansion
https://sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/from-sellers-to-solution-providers-fueling-business-expansion

Register for Amazon Ads unBoxed, our flagship advertising conference
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWVZGWTRNR0hIVDhXU1ZY

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:47 - Amazon Rufus Generates $10B In Sales?
03:43 - Perplexity Sued by Amazon
05:41 - TikTok Product Finder
09:25 - KDP Translation
10:44 - Customer Polls
13:42 - Sponsored Brand Update
14:54 - TikTok Hot Videos
17:38 - Amazon 25 Year Anniversary
18:30 - New P&L Tool
22:14 - Amazon Unboxed

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Learn from top Amazon mentors as they reveal the exact steps they're taking in a live case study from Scale Stories to help a brand double its sales in 2025 and how you can do the same.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Unlock the secrets to doubling your e-commerce sales with insights straight from industry expert mentors. In our latest episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10, Bradley Sutton is joined by Leo Sgovio and Melissa Burdick, two experts who have navigated the complex waters of e-commerce and are here to share their wealth of knowledge. We dive into the Scale Stories episode 2 case study with Essential Candy, addressing common challenges such as competition, tariffs, and inflation, while providing actionable strategies to overcome them. With Leo's expertise in SEO and Amazon and Melissa's impressive journey from Amazon ads to Pacvue, this episode is packed with practical advice suited for brands looking to thrive in the digital marketplace.

Discover the game-changing role AI plays in revolutionizing advertising on platforms like Amazon. Imagine having an army of assistants to refine your marketing strategy. AI makes this a reality. From manual bids to automated intelligence, we explore how technology has advanced and opened new doors for advertisers. We reflect on the evolution of Amazon advertising and share personal anecdotes about pioneering advertising efforts, such as Unilever's Amazon homepage video ad. This transformation has not only leveled the playing field but also advanced ad optimization and market analysis to new heights.

We also dive into optimizing your e-commerce basics for growth and improving your brand's Amazon presence. Leo and Melissa evaluate a brand's strategies and provide insights on leveraging tools like Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer to gain a competitive advantage. Enhancing product listings, utilizing customer insights, and considering new platforms like TikTok Shop are among the strategies discussed. Whether you're looking to refine your advertising, streamline business processes, or explore new marketing channels, this episode offers a comprehensive guide to scaling your e-commerce business. Listen in and equip yourself with the strategies you need to propel your brand to new heights.

In episode 715 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Leo, and Melissa discuss:

00:00 - Scale Stories AMA With Expert Mentors
05:17 - AI Impact on E-Commerce Growth
17:41 - Starting Small Business Success Journey
21:26 - Improving E-Commerce Basics for Growth
27:47 - Focus on Basics Before Advanced Strategies
33:24 - Evolving Accessibility and Targeting in E-Commerce
35:44 - Amazon's Rapidly Changing Marketplace
37:00 - Improving Sales Through Customer Insights
42:20 - Strategies to Boost E-Commerce Sales
46:21 - Discussion on Creative Sample Packs
48:17 - Utilizing Helium 10 for Sales Growth

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In this episode, unlock 10 powerful strategies to boost your Amazon sales. Discover hidden keywords, spot listing hijackers instantly, and master Helium 10 features no other software offers.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Could unlocking the full potential of e-commerce tools like Helium 10 revolutionize your business strategy? In an episode packed with game-changing insights, we explore how Helium 10's arsenal of features can elevate your presence on major platforms like Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Walmart. Learn about the power of advanced keyword research strategies, including eight unique data points from Helium 10’s Listing Builder tool, which could help you outrank competitors. Whether you’re a seasoned seller or new to the platform, these strategies promise to provide a significant edge.

Journey with us as we navigate the dynamic world of TikTok Shop and Amazon marketing through Helium 10's Influencer Finder and Managed Refund Service. Discover how to connect with the right influencers by leveraging specific criteria, such as follower demographics and niche interests, to effectively promote your products in creative ways. We also uncover how sellers can reclaim lost revenue from fulfillment errors with Helium 10’s Managed Refund Service, streamlining processes and returning potentially significant sums to your business.

Finally, we get into the art of product discovery and demand analysis with Helium 10's Chrome extension, uncovering market potential and advertising opportunities on Amazon. From analyzing the rise of trending products on TikTok to mastering complex Amazon PPC strategies, our episode covers a plethora of resources available through Helium 10, including their renowned Amazon PPC course, Ads Academy. Join us to transform your e-commerce strategies with advanced tools and insights, helping you maximize your earnings and outpace the competition.

In episode 714 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley covers:

00:00 - Seller Strategy Masterclass With Helium 10
02:46 - Listing Builder 8-in-1 Keyword Research Tool
07:42 - Influencer Finder & Influencer Messenger Tool
11:27 - Managed Refund Service
14:08 - Search Query Performance Analyzer
17:13 - Demand Analyzer
20:23 - Tracking Advertising on Product Pages Using Xray
22:02 - Ads Academy
23:53 - TikTok Shop Product Finder Tool
27:18 - Catch Amazon Hijackers Fast with Helium 10
29:20 - How to Translate Amazon Keywords Instantly in Helium 10

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Black Friday 2025 is right around the corner. There are new Q4 features to help you and customers drive record sales this holiday season, and next-gen delivery is here.

💰Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Senior Brand Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

When is Black Friday 2025? Here’s everything you need to know
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/when-is-black-friday-2025

Amazon Reigns: The Most-Visited E-Commerce Sites of 2025
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/amazon-reigns-the-most-visited-e-commerce-sites-of-2025/

Walmart Announces 2025 Black Friday Deals Events Wrapped in the Magic of WhoKnewVille
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-announces-2025-black-friday-182700386.html

Amazon links up with USPS for doorstep returns
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/amazon-us-postal-service-doorstep-returns/803544/

Amazon’s delivery glasses: The newest innovation designed to enhance the delivery experience
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/smart-glasses-amazon-delivery-drivers

Amazon’s new AI-powered shopping feature ‘Help Me Decide’ makes it easy to quickly pick the right product
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-things-to-buy-help-me-decide-gen-ai

Get fast mobile alerts for account issues with the Amazon Seller app
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQ05RTkJRQkUzUlRFWkE3

New Amazon AI tool helps you optimize existing product listings
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVVhKRDIyVjlSMjhHS1pV

Customize and analyze key data in one tool
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVkVEOEEyVjc3R1BENkJB

Amazon says India's e-commerce exports top $20 billion, despite US tariffs
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-says-indias-e-commerce-exports-top-20-billion-despite-us-tariffs-2025-10-27/

Follow the Serious Sellers Podcast on TikTok http://h10.me/ssptiktok

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:45 - Black Friday Countdown
02:49 - Walmart Deals Events
05:03 - Smarter Delivery is Here
07:19 - AI Purchase Feature
09:00 - Barcode Creator (Strategy of the Week)
11:46 - Seller App Alerts
13:00 - Enhance Your Listing
14:19 - Quick Seller Tips
15:33 - Custom Analytics
17:04 - India Exports Top $20B

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In this episode, let’s talk about how one brand is doubling its Amazon sales while generating $10K weekends from just a $400 investment, and adding 500-1,000 new customers to their list every weekend.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What happens when you mix culinary creativity with entrepreneurial spirit? Meet Dean and Tracy Ernst, the masterminds behind Essential Candy, who turned a heartfelt gesture into a thriving e-commerce success story. Tracy's culinary background and a personal mission to aid a friend battling cancer gave birth to Essential Candy's unique botanical lozenges. Through strategic e-commerce maneuvers, they've doubled their sales and significantly expanded their customer base with a mere $400 investment over a weekend. Their innovative thinking doesn't just stop there. With the help of the Scale Stories by Helium 10 mentors, will they crack the code to thriving on Amazon? Let’s follow their journey in this e-commerce venture.

Craft shows and farmers' markets might seem like an unexpected venue for a booming online business, but Dean and Tracy have found gold where others haven't looked. By setting up booths at these local events, they engage directly with customers, test new products, and foster relationships that drive recurring revenue, often surpassing their online sales. Listen as they reveal the logistics behind this strategy, including the use of technology to capture customer data through SMS, which leads to an ever-growing marketing database and long-term sales growth.

As we dive further into Essential Candy's journey, you'll learn about their eye-opening experiences with Amazon FBA optimization and the potential of local retail opportunities, including sharing tales of pitching their products to Walmart. Their story is not just one of immediate success but of ongoing growth, with plans to multiply their achievements by 2025. This episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiration for anyone looking to elevate their e-commerce game. Don’t miss out on the chance to learn from a brand that’s reshaping the industry landscape, one lozenge at a time.

In episode 713 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Dean, and Tracy discuss:

00:00 - Scaling E-Commerce Business From Scratch
01:50 - Transitioning and Succeeding in E-Commerce
12:51 - Benefits of Selling at Craft Shows
19:17 - The Perfect Circle of Customer Transactions
21:21 - Exploring Local Markets and Retail Opportunities
23:54 - Selling Products in Walmart Retail Stores
28:57 - Meeting Buyers With Unexpected Recognition
32:38 - Amazon FBA Optimization Strategies
34:34 - Exploring TikTok for Revenue Growth
37:13 - Future Growth and Collaboration

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In this episode, let’s learn how to master Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and discover how to connect, set up, and manage AMC ads to improve targeting, boost conversions, and scale your Amazon sales.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Unlock the secrets of Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) with insights from PPC expert Destaney Wishon, and transform your advertising strategies to outpace the competition. Discover how to harness the power of AMC to not only make it to page one of keyword search results, but to also thrive there. Destaney shares her expertise on curating audience segments beyond traditional keyword targeting, providing you with a competitive edge in a market where costs and competition are constantly rising. By leveraging AMC's audience features, you can focus on engaging customers who have shown interest in your products, turning casual browsers into committed buyers.

Explore advanced strategies within AMC as we discuss the balance between improved conversion rates and scalability, pivotal for targeting AMC audiences. Learn about the impact of Amazon's shift to contextual and behavioral search results on your conversion strategies. We dive into how to create tailored audience pools and the importance of engaging customers before they're ready to purchase. With Destaney's guidance, you'll navigate the nuanced role of analytics in justifying campaign efforts and understanding customer behavior, all while exploring opportunities beyond sponsored products, like utilizing sponsored brands and DSP to amplify customer education and conversion rates. Tune in to craft strategies that are not only effective but also insightful, as we explore new-to-brand metrics, cross-platform impacts, and more.

In episode 713 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Strategies
07:10 - Maximizing Conversion Rates for Profit
12:54 - Optimizing AMC Audience Selection
13:56 - Advanced Amazon Marketing Cloud Strategies
16:48 - Non-Linear Path to Amazon Purchase Journey
19:48 - Optimizing Marketing Strategies With Data
20:11 - AMC Audience Strategies
26:46 - Utilizing AMC for Enhanced PPC Results

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ChatGPT launches a new browser that can browse Amazon, an AWS outage may have affected sales, and sellers can soon reserve branded searches for Sponsored Brand Ads. These and more buzzing news on this episode!

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Atlas browser, sending Alphabet shares lower
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/21/openai-browser-alphabet-stock.html

E-commerce sites see low sales from ChatGPT traffic, study finds
https://www.modernretail.co/technology/e-commerce-sites-see-low-sales-from-chatgpt-traffic-study-finds-but-that-could-change/

Amazon customers report delivery delays after major AWS outage
https://www.geekwire.com/2025/amazon-customers-report-delivery-delays-after-major-aws-outage/

Drive top-of-search visibility and engagement by reserving branded share of voice through Sponsored Brands
https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/release-notes/index#drive-top-of-search-visibility-and-engagement-by-reserving-branded-share-of-voice-through-sponsored-brands

Analyze your Multi-Channel Fulfillment performance with new dashboard
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVjdCM0JFOE5DTTNGVkdR

Lastly, join Bradley Sutton at the Seller Summit 2025 Taiwan Cross-Border E-Commerce Summit on Oct 29, 2025 in Taiwan. Go to http://h10.me/taiwan

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:46 - New ChatGPT Browser
04:47 - AWS Outage
06:01 - TikTok Product Finder
09:14 - Sponsored Brand Update
11:02 - FBT Product History Tip
15:23 - New MCF Dashboard
16:31 - Taiwan Event

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Three expert sellers who’ve sold tens of millions on Amazon reveal what it takes to launch a successful business from scratch in 2025. Strategies, tools, and real seller insights.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Scale Stories Mentors and Amazon selling veterans Leo Sgovio, Melisa Vong, and Clarence Cheang take center stage, sharing how they collectively amassed tens of millions in sales and offering a roadmap for aspiring Amazon and TikTok Shop sellers aiming for success in 2025. Melisa is navigating the launch of new brands with groundbreaking marketing strategies, while Leo's expertise in SEO and influencer marketing sheds light on connecting with audiences like never before. Clarence, with his knack for product research and algorithm mastery, underscores the evolving landscape of Amazon selling and the endless opportunities for those ready to innovate. Together, they paint a picture of a marketplace ripe for those who can harness its potential.

The conversation takes a deep dive into the transformation of Amazon's product launch strategies from the days of Project X in 2019 to now. The discussion emphasizes the significance of reliable data and the efficiency brought by AI advancements in research and A/B testing. With the ever-changing dynamics of e-commerce, the trio stresses the need to extend reach beyond Amazon, exploring platforms like TikTok and Google Ads to gain a competitive edge. They share insights on avoiding pitfalls like patent issues, underscoring the critical role of data-driven decision-making in successful product launches.

Shifting gears to brand storytelling, the episode unpacks the art of building engaging narratives that captivate customers and drive sales, even with limited budgets. The guests dive into the nuances of selling subjective products, such as perfumes, and the challenges of standing out in competitive spaces like supplements. They highlight strategies for differentiation, rapid market entry, and sales channel diversification, exploring platforms like TikTok Shop and emerging technologies like OpenAI's Instant Checkout. As the episode winds down, listeners are invited to connect with the guests across social media platforms, offering a chance to learn directly from their experiences and stories, adding an inspiring touch to the episode's conclusion.

In episode 711 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Clarence, Leo, and Melisa discuss:

00:00 - Launching a Successful Amazon Business in 2025
01:32 - Amazon Industry Experts on Scaling Stories
04:56 - Launching on Amazon in 2025
08:10 - Starting on Amazon
14:15 - Evolving Strategies for Amazon Success
16:09 - Evolution of Amazon FBA With AI
23:08 - Analyzing Competitors for Private Label Launch
28:14 - Building Brand Stories for Success
31:24 - Struggles With Perfume Sales
33:40 - Diversifying Strategies for E-Commerce Growth
36:00 - Marketing Strategies for New Products
39:34 - Optimizing E-Commerce With AI Recommendation
44:05 - Maximizing Visibility With Shop App

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In this episode, learn how AI personas and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) help sellers turn data into deeper customer insights, build emotional connections, and boost conversions on Amazon.
💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: https://instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What if you could turn Amazon’s endless data into real customer understanding and use AI to speak directly to what shoppers feel?

In this special episode recorded live at Amazon Accelerate in Seattle, host Bradley Sutton sits down with two Amazonians who reveal how sellers can combine AI-driven customer insights and AMC’s advanced advertising analytics to supercharge growth.

First up, Isaac Quiros, Senior Customer Success Manager at Amazon, breaks down how sellers can escape what he calls the “operational trap”, getting so caught up in logistics that they lose sight of their customers. He demonstrates how to transform Seller Central data into human stories using tools like Market Basket Analysis and Demographics Dashboards, revealing why customers make purchases, not just what they buy. Isaac shares how AI can analyze reviews, surface emotional triggers, and even help sellers build “AI personas” that mirror their real buyers. Then use those insights to craft A+ content that truly connects.

Then we’re joined by Alan Lewis, Director of Product for Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), who pulls back the curtain on one of the biggest announcements from Accelerate: AMC is now available to every Sponsored Ads advertiser, no SQL required. Alan explains how this powerful tool enables you to track the entire shopper journey, discover which campaigns drive conversions, and build high-performing custom audiences, such as retargeting shoppers who have already added your products to their cart.

Together, these conversations reveal the future of selling on Amazon: where data meets emotion, and where tools like AI and AMC work hand in hand to help you understand, reach, and retain your ideal customers. Whether you’re refining your A+ content, building your first audience segment, or simply learning to “talk to your data,” this episode delivers actionable insights to help you grow smarter and faster in the evolving world of selling on Amazon.

In episode 710 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Isaac, and Alan discuss:

00:00 - Harnessing AI for Customer Growth
08:38 - Customer-Centric Sales Strategy
14:14 - Customer Personas Through Market Basket Analysis
17:07 - Getting Started With AI in Amazon
21:44 - Utilizing Data for Customer Insights
25:22 - Understanding Amazon Marketing Cloud for Advertisers
29:09 - Audience Targeting for Sponsored Ads
32:49 - Empowering Sellers With Unique Insights
36:16 - Utilizing Audience Insights for Amazon Advertising Success
39:15 - Successful Coffin Shelf Case Study
42:55 - Enhancing Advertising With Helium 10

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Amazon announces 2026 FBA fee increases, Walmart partners with ChatGPT for AI-powered shopping, and Amazon rolls out a new inbound shipment list view. All this and more buzzing news this week!

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Sr. Brand Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

2026 US Referral and FBA fee changes summary
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201411300

2026 US FBA fulfillment fee changes
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GABBX6GZPA8MSZGW

Walmart is incorporating ChatGPT into online shopping. Here's how.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/10/14/walmart-chatgpt-openai-shopping/86688757007/

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:49 - Amazon Raises Seller Fees!
11:03 - How to Sell Elsewhere
12:25 - Pay with OpenAI at Walmart
15:22 - A New FBA Feature to Appreciate

View Details

In this episode, let’s meet our first contestant on Scale Stories, Natalie, and learn about her story and about what is in store for her brand-new Amazon and TikTok Shop product launch.

💰 Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Meet Natalie Dorsey, our inspiring contestant from the new Helium 10 series Scale Stories. With a background that spans a move from Columbus, Ohio, to the tranquil Hocking Hills and a passion for fashion design, Natalie is on a mission to take the e-commerce world by storm. She's courageously ventured into entrepreneurship with various businesses and is now preparing to launch her Amazon FBA venture. Her story is one of determination and a relentless drive to break free from the traditional 9-to-5 grind, as she seeks to dictate her own professional and personal path.

Join us as we pull back the curtain on product research and launch strategies with a live "Ask Me Anything" session featuring three seasoned mentors. Discover how these experts guide aspiring sellers like Natalie in making data-driven decisions, whether it's considering unique items like cauldrons or tea sets. Go to http://h10.me/ssama1. Budgeting is addressed with thoughtful insights into starting investments of $5,000, later expanding to $10,000. The discussion navigates the balance between passion and market demand, stressing the importance of validating multiple product ideas to ensure success.

Networking and personal goals round out our discussion, exploring the power of connections within the sales and Amazon communities. We celebrate the importance of building lasting relationships and outline the transparent process of documenting the highs and lows of starting an Amazon business. With personal aspirations such as achieving financial freedom and supporting family planning at the forefront, listeners will gain an in-depth understanding of setting significant income targets. As we follow Natalie's ongoing journey, we eagerly anticipate sharing her progress and future victories.

In episode 709 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Natalie discuss:

00:00 - Entrepreneurial Journey With Natalie
07:24 - Inspiration to Accept Challenge
12:43 - Overcoming Challenges in Entrepreneurship
17:09 - Product Research and Data-Driven Decisions
21:29 - E-Commerce Strategy
22:50 - E-Commerce Goals and Networking Strategies
24:37 - Amazon Business Journey With Natalie
29:58 - Future Updates on Natalie's Products

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In this episode, let's talk about Amazon’s latest launch tools. Vine pre-launch reviews, Product Opportunity Explorer insights, and shoppable A+ Content. To validate faster and scale your first or next Amazon product.

💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What if you could revolutionize your Amazon product launches with insider knowledge straight from the builders? In this episode, Bradley brings together Jeff Nickerson, Director of Product from Amazon’s Brand Experience & Excellence team, and Zhen Li, Sr. Product Manager from Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer team to show how to simplify, de-risk, and boldly accelerate your Amazon launches. They unpack the newest tools, including Amazon Vine pre-launch access and AI reviewer matching, as well as Product Performance Spotlight. Explaining how early demand testing, benchmarks, and focused research turn signals into growth. Amazon is investing in better data, faster feedback loops, and tailored guidance so brands can spot high-potential products sooner and make smarter calls.

Speed and strategy work best together. Regional launches place inventory near customers for day-one delivery, while the New Selection Program eases testing with fee relief and simpler exits. On the review side, Vine now enables pre-launch distribution to Vine Voices, paired with AI that matches products to reviewers who know your niche, creating social proof on release day. Alongside performance alerts and comparable funnels in Product Performance Spotlight, these updates help you decide whether to scale, iterate, or sunset.

We blend research and execution with the latest from the Product Opportunity Explorer. Zhen details two years of niche metrics and the new Identify Market Demand experience, which surfaces underserved customer intents and translates them into development guidance and positioning cues. Add shoppable A+ Content to cross-sell and strengthen brand storytelling. Throughout, Jeff and Zhen highlight Amazon’s mission to give sellers the confidence to launch, learn fast, and grow. We close by looking ahead to more personalized AI insights and pre-validation tools and invite them back next year to share what’s next.

In episode 708 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Jeff, and Zhen discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Launch Strategies and Support
03:35 - Amazon's Features for Seller Launching Success
07:20 - Regional Inventory Testing for Faster Delivery
10:01 - Exciting Enhancements to the Amazon Vine Program
14:15 - Strategies for Product Launch Failure
19:02 - Upcoming Amazon Seller Central Innovations
23:35 - Amazon's Support for Product Launching
24:33 - Discovering Product Opportunities With AI
34:49 - Identifying Market Demand for Product
39:56 - Enhancing Business Success on Amazon
41:19 - Amazon Data Insights and Opportunities

View Details

Get preliminary Prime Big Deal Day results, a new TikTok shipping integration, and a button that could boost Amazon order values. All this and more buzzing news on this week’s episode!

💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcast On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

AMAZON PRIME BIG DEAL DAYS EARLY READ RESULTS ARE IN; CONSUMERS FOCUSING ON HOUSEHOLD ESSENTIALS, NUMERATOR REPORTS
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/10/09/3164227/0/en/AMAZON-PRIME-BIG-DEAL-DAYS-EARLY-READ-RESULTS-ARE-IN-CONSUMERS-FOCUSING-ON-HOUSEHOLD-ESSENTIALS-NUMERATOR-REPORTS.html

Helium 10 has launched a new series called Scale Stories, which follows the journey of new and current Amazon sellers as they start and grow their businesses with guidance from mentors. The series aims to inspire and educate viewers on how launching products on Amazon and other E-commerce is still very possible and rewarding today. http://h10.me/ss

PS - You can join the live AMA for Scale Stories Episode 1 to ask the mentors your questions and get firsthand advice! http://h10.me/ssama1

Amazon October Prime Day Underwhelms Shoppers, Signaling Caution For Holidays
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/10/09/amazon-october-prime-day-underwhelms-shoppers-signaling-caution-for-holiday-2025/

Amazon Prime launches ‘Add to Delivery’ feature in app. How it works.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/10/07/amazon-add-to-delivery-prime/86567603007/

Bradley Sutton shares this week’s training tip on Customer Intelligence, a powerful Helium 10 feature that helps sellers track key metrics, such as customer lifetime value, acquisition cost, and purchase frequency. This data-driven tool helps advanced sellers make smarter advertising and profitability decisions based on real customer insights.

Shippo Launches TikTok Shop Integration to Help Merchants Save Time, Minimize Costs, and Ship Reliably This Peak Season
https://www.streetinsider.com/PRNewswire/Shippo+Launches+TikTok+Shop+Integration+to+Help+Merchants+Save+Time%2C+Minimize+Costs%2C+and+Ship+Reliably+This+Peak+Season/25438548.html

TikTok Announces New Automation Updates for Advertisers: Smarter Ads, More Control, and Measurable Impact
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/tiktok-announces-new-automation-updates-for-advertisers?lang=en

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:54 - Prime Big Deal Days Results
03:50 - Scale Stories
05:07 - AMZ Add to delivery
06:27 - Customer Intelligence Tip
09:27 - Shippo/TikTok Integration
11:22 - TikTok Ads Updates

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He’s back! Tomer Rabinovich reveals his latest e-commerce strategies, including mastering PPC, TikTok launches, optimization, and creative packaging, as well as a few magic tricks for achieving viral success.

💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

E-commerce aficionado Tomer Raabinovich returns to the podcast, sharing his groundbreaking journey in launching Messless, a brand crafted to supercharge the productivity of digital entrepreneurs. With the audacious goal of hitting eight figures, Tomer breaks the mold by offering a candid look into his brand's development, a rarity in a world where most Amazon sellers guard their secrets. Tomer's story is not just about launching a brand; it's about revolutionizing the way we think about transparency and innovation in the e-commerce landscape.

Get ready to uncover the secrets behind a successful product launch on TikTok. Tomer walks us through his strategic use of this vibrant platform to captivate audiences with minimal competition on Amazon. By focusing on creative campaigns, magician-inspired packaging, and a unique 30-day productivity challenge, he demonstrates the power of blending creativity with tactical marketing. Tomer’s approach includes cold outreach to creators, leveraging TikTok's potential for virality, and utilizing meta ads for upselling, offering a masterclass in modern digital marketing techniques.

Finally, we explore advanced strategies that are reshaping the e-commerce industry. From the cutting-edge use of AI in product development to the critical management of PPC campaigns, Tomer emphasizes the importance of maintaining control over core operations. With tools like Helium 10 and an in-house PPC strategy, he paints a picture of how brands can build competitive edges and drive growth. Action over perfection is the mantra here, Tomer’s experiences remind us of the value in taking risks, learning from missteps, and consistently pushing forward to turn aspirations into reality.

In episode 707 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Tomer discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Brand Launch Strategy Discussion
08:49 - Product Launch Strategies and TikTok Marketing
09:24 - Productivity Challenge and Amazon Keyword Research
15:04 - Utilizing Challenges for Shopify Traction
16:53 - Advanced E-Commerce Product Strategies
22:35 - Amazon PPC Advertising Strategies for Brands
23:58 - Amazon Sellers' Profit Growth Strategies
25:25 - Evolving Strategies for Amazon Success
36:10 - Overcoming Fear of Failure

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🚀 Project X is back with a new name, Scale Stories! Join us as Helium 10 GM Zoe shares insights, lessons, and big plans behind this next-level season for Amazon sellers.

💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1
► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Join us as we bring you an exciting new chapter with the return of Project X, now reimagined as Scale Stories. We welcome back Zoe Lu, the General Manager of Helium 10, who shares her inspiring journey from VP of Product to leading Pacvue's SMB side. Zoe opens up about her journey and the power of leveraging social media, particularly through employee-generated content, to connect with ambitious women and inspire entrepreneurship. Emphasizing the importance of content creation in fostering business growth and personal connections in today's digital world.

In another segment, we highlight the incredible success and growth of Helium 10 in the e-commerce space, driven by its strong customer and community connections and a forward-thinking approach to innovation. Helium 10’s new series, Scale Stories, captures the emotional and human aspects of the entrepreneurial journey, featuring real entrepreneurs at various stages. Unlike Project X, this series offers expert guidance to navigate challenges and achieve growth, ensuring a broader connection with our audience by bringing diverse narratives to the forefront.

Tune in to discover the unique stories and challenges faced by contestants in our upcoming series, introduced through a casting call. In the first episode, we follow Natalie, who has overcome significant personal hurdles and now advocates for mental health through her budding business. With guidance from mentors like Melissa, Leo Segovio, and Clarence, the series aims to demonstrate that success in e-commerce is accessible to everyone, regardless of background or experience. Don't miss the live premiere of the first episode on YouTube, set for October 7th at 9 am Central time, prepare for more insights and inspiration with episode two on October 21st, and more episodes to come. Go to http://h10.me/ss to watch the premiere of this exciting series!

In episode 706 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Zoe discuss:

00:00 - Project X, Scale Stories, and Entrepreneurship Insights
05:02 - Boosting Engagement With @Leadwithzoe's Content
14:04 - Helium 10's Success Through Community and Adaptation
19:57 - E-Commerce Strategy Beyond Amazon
21:10 - Scale Stories Episode 1 Trailer
23:05 - Casting Calls and A New Helium 10 Series
28:55 - Business Scaling With Mentors and a Couple
31:58 - E-Commerce Success Strategies and Feedback
34:08 - Launching Products and Strategies With Mentors

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Has ChatGPT changed e-commerce forever? New Amazon ad tax updates, the return of a new Project X series, and more top stories on this week’s Weekly Buzz.
💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

Listen to the Serious Sellers Podcast on your favorite platform:
► New YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast

► Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1453455876

► Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/31CTCHQGSghLavsf0otYQq

OpenAI rolls out ‘instant’ purchases directly from ChatGPT, in a radical shift to e-commerce and a direct challenge to Google
https://fortune.com/2025/09/29/openai-rolls-out-purchases-direct-from-chatgpt-in-a-radical-shift-to-e-commerce-and-direct-challenge-to-google/

‘Expect compliance chaos’: Sweeping new sales tax law on digital ads in Washington takes effect
https://www.geekwire.com/2025/sweeping-new-sales-tax-law-on-digital-ads-in-washington-takes-effect-amid-compliance-confusion/

MercadoLibre Sinks as Rival Amazon Boosts Presence in Brazil
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-01/mercadolibre-slumps-as-rival-amazon-boosts-presence-in-brazil

Helium 10’s Chrome extension now lets brand-registered sellers instantly see the top three most-clicked products on any Amazon search results page, along with their share of sales. This quick insight helps sellers identify competitors, assess their own performance, and adjust bids without requiring a comprehensive review of brand analytics.

Amazon unveils the next generation of AI-powered Echo devices, purpose-built for Alexa+
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/amazon-new-echo-devices-alexa-plus

Helium 10 is launching a brand-new case study series called Scale Stories, created with a professional film crew and featuring real contestants at different stages of their Amazon and TikTok Shop journeys. Premiering on YouTube with a live watch party, this series builds on the legacy of Project X, promising next-level insights and inspiration for sellers.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:47 - Chat GPT Instant Purchases
07:02 - New Advertising Tax?
10:17 - TikTok Creator Search
13:50 - Amazon Brazil Push
15:59 - Brand Analytics Hack
18:40 - Alexa+
20:28 - New Project X

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

AI search traffic is booming. Discover how to rank in AI engines, leverage core data sources, and keep your products visible where today’s shoppers are searching.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Digital marketing veteran Joanna Lambadjieva shares her expertise on the transformative power of AI in e-commerce. Known for her impactful work in the E-commerce space, Joanna takes us on a journey through the rapidly evolving world of AI, revealing how platforms like ChatGPT are not just reshaping how products are discovered but also massively boosting referral traffic for big players such as Amazon and Walmart. Her insights unravel the core data sources behind these large learning models, providing businesses with the knowledge to ensure their products appear right where customers are most likely to look.

As the e-commerce landscape shifts, a holistic approach to AI's role in platform strategies, especially on Amazon, becomes essential. With AI-driven search traffic surging and the complexities of the buyer's journey more pronounced, Joanna emphasizes the importance of adapting to AI's ranking preferences. We unpack the necessity of establishing a strong presence on user-generated sites like Reddit and Wikipedia, underscoring their influence on AI recommendations. Joanna's methodical strategies highlight the shift from hack-based tactics to more sustainable, customer-focused marketing efforts that align with AI's evolving capabilities.

In a world where authentic engagement and media presence hold the key to visibility, we explore practical strategies that businesses can adopt. From leveraging HARO for media coverage to using AI tools for automating journalist communication, we discuss building meaningful relationships in this AI-driven world. Joanna also emphasizes the importance of optimizing product information to align with AI's needs, ensuring content is both accessible and credible. This episode promises a ton of strategies to not just navigate, but thrive in, the dynamic AI-infused e-commerce landscape.

In episode 705 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Joanna discuss:

00:00 - AI's Impact on E-Commerce Marketing
01:17 - Global Ecommerce Expert Shares Insights
04:00 - Future Impact of AI on E-Commerce
05:37 - AI Traffic Trends and High Intent
10:29 - AI Search Engines Favor Reputable Sources
13:48 - Using SEMrush for Keyword Research
22:34 - AI and Paid Options for PR
25:45 - Effective PR Strategies for Building Relationships
31:24 - Simplifying Marketing Tools and Costs
33:40 - Optimizing E-Commerce With AI Insights
36:32 - Analyzing Customer Reviews in Cloud
39:46 - Table Creation for Product Analysis

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💎 Try Helium 10’s Top Plan FREE for 7 Days – Start here: https://h10.me/h10

Boost Amazon CTR & conversions with price testing, smarter content, and 17 image types. Get split-testing workflows, experiment tips, and quick wins for E-commerce sellers.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Anthony Cofrancesco returns with a ton of insights on revolutionizing your e-commerce game. Renowned for his expertise in split testing, Anthony unpacks how this once niche strategy has become a cornerstone of modern marketing for Amazon sellers. He advocates for creating "high-volume variations" of creative assets to push boundaries and outperform competitors. Anthony also sheds light on the role AI plays in making these strategies more accessible and affordable, while addressing the challenges faced by larger sellers who are hesitant to change their successful tactics.

Get ready to elevate your e-commerce visuals with Anthony’s advanced image optimization strategies. His detailed four-phase approach offers a roadmap for categorizing, generating, validating, and executing image assets to boost click-through and conversion rates. Anthony dives into the power of AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, alongside competitive testing platforms such as Helium 10, to systematically refine and implement winning strategies. He underscores the importance of analyzing competitor images to discover untapped opportunities, illustrating how AI can streamline these efforts to achieve significant improvements.

Stepping beyond Amazon, Anthony explores the potential of expanding into new marketplaces like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot. Through compelling case studies, including the impressive rise of Pink Miracle's revenue, Anthony illustrates the transformative power of upgrading product images and leveraging direct-to-consumer strategies. His personal travel experiences and reflections on the evolving e-commerce landscape provide a unique perspective, encouraging listeners to act before automation reshapes the industry. Anthony’s tales of global adventures, from skiing in Niseko to revisiting favorite European spots, add a personal touch and inspire listeners to embrace the dynamic world of e-commerce.

In episode 704 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Anthony discuss:

00:00 - Optimizing Conversion Rates With Split Testing
03:59 - Utilizing High-Volume Variations for Marketing
06:02 - Optimizing Listings With Manage Your Experiments
09:10 - Optimizing Image Strategy With AI
12:09 - Image Optimization Strategies in Marketing
18:06 - Effective Hypothesis Testing in Optimization
22:51 - Expanding Beyond Amazon for E-commerce Success
24:27 - Simplified Multichannel Selling With Technology
32:20 - Strategies for Growth and Social Media
32:44 - Global Travel and E-Commerce Insights

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This week on the Weekly Buzz: Prime Big Deal Days dates, Bradley’s latest product launch strategy, and Helium 10’s new PPC series to help you manage and grow your Amazon business.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

Prime Big Deal Days is back October 7-8: Here are 5 shopping tips to save big during the event
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-big-deals-day-when-october-7-8

Walmart Deals is officially back this October — here’s everything you need to know
https://www.nbcnews.com/select/shopping/walmart-oct-deals-announcement-2025-rcna233259

Amazon invites Walmart product sellers to use its warehouses for orders
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/18/amazon-walmart-order-shopify-shein

Outsourced to Optimized: It’s Time to Run Your Own Ads
Tired of outsourcing your ad spend and not seeing results? This video series will empower you to confidently run your own ads using Helium 10 Ads.
https://pages.helium10.com/outsourced-to-optimized-webinar-2025

New FBA fulfillment fee discount on Amazon Business bulk orders
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUE43QU5XQ1BHR1JaSk1C

Watch Amazon Accelerate 2025 sessions on demand
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVTgyWVpQRUFKNVg2MlZB

And for those ready to turbocharge their product launches, Bradley's updated Maldives Honeymoon Amazon Launch Strategy in episode 700 might just be the edge you need. Go to http://h10.me/700. Tune in to stay ahead in the e-commerce arena with these compelling updates and strategies.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:57 - Prime Big Deal Days
01:50 - Walmart Deals
02:27 - Amazon Fulfills Walmart Orders
03:41 - Outsourced to Optimized
05:15 - FBA Business Bulk Discount
06:17 - Strategy of the Week with Bradley
08:39 - Accelerate Replays
09:16 - Launch Strategy Update

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Live from Amazon Accelerate, discover how Amazon Global Logistics and Global Selling help sellers streamline imports, expand into EU markets, and scale worldwide with confidence.

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

From the vibrant stage of Amazon Accelerate in Seattle, we’re bringing you a special double feature. In this episode, Bradley sits down with Alex Berry, Director at Amazon Global Logistics, and Mike Stiles, Head of US-EU Global Selling at Amazon. Together, they pull back the curtain on two major pillars of scaling your Amazon business: moving products smarter with AGL and selling beyond US borders with Amazon’s global marketplaces.

Alex shares his intriguing journey from journalism and finance at the University of Missouri to leading Amazon Global Logistics (AGL), the program helping sellers import goods seamlessly from China (and soon Vietnam, India, and beyond) straight into Amazon’s network. He explains AGL’s role in simplifying freight forwarding, shipment rerouting, and customs, while unveiling innovations like the upcoming “time-to-prime” promise and Amazon Managed Placement, tools designed to give sellers speed, reliability, and visibility across their supply chain.

Then, the conversation shifts with Mike Stiles, who has spent more than a decade helping US-based sellers expand globally. He breaks down the Sell Globally workflow, the Marketplace Guidance tool, and strategies to tap into Europe’s 10 Amazon marketplaces (and 30+ consumer countries) through programs like Pan-EU FBA and remote fulfillment. Mike also shares how Amazon is listening to seller feedback, simplifying VAT and compliance hurdles, and equipping brands with resources to confidently scale into international markets.

Whether you’re looking to optimize freight forwarding into the US or unlock new revenue streams in the EU and beyond, this episode is packed with practical insights, upcoming innovations, and step-by-step guidance to future-proof your Amazon business.

Where can Sellers learn more about selling globally and the EU? Where can I share feedback?

(Evergreen) Sharing a few links here to get you started:
1. https://sell.amazon.com/blog/amazon-usa-vs-europe
2. https://sell.amazon.com/global-selling/europe

In episode 703 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Alex, and Mike discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Global Logistics and AWD
04:10 - Benefits of Using AGL as Forwarder
11:03 - AGL Program Expansion and Future Vision
11:42 - Improving Logistics Through Dynamic Routing
14:39 - International Shipping Destination Expansion Strategy
16:06 - AGL Program Enhancements and Innovations
18:57 - Origin Splits for Cost Efficiency
21:40 - Global Expansion and Seller Feedback
22:35 - Global Logistics for International Expansion
30:03 - EU Marketplace Expansion and Global Selling
33:39 - Expanding Sales Into the EU
40:00 - Amazon's PanEU Program Overview
44:28 - Bradley's Cross-Border Expansion Commitment

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Struggling with Amazon flat files? Learn how to download, edit & master them step by step as Sasha Zubitov shares tips, fixes, and answers to common seller questions.

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

What if mastering the nuances of Amazon flat files could transform your e-commerce success? Alexander “Sasha” Zubitov, an expert in consulting and managing Amazon businesses, takes us on an insightful journey through the intricacies of these powerful tools. He reveals how recent Amazon updates have increased the importance of flat files, making them essential for bulk edits, SEO enhancement, and variation management. Sasha's experience with defending against hijackers and resolving compliance issues makes his insights invaluable for both newcomers and seasoned sellers eager to optimize their Amazon listings.

Sasha sheds light on the often-overlooked impact of "product type" on flat file attributes, a crucial detail that can unlock new editing possibilities. By understanding how product type influences product display, sellers can effectively manage variations, even as Amazon phases out certain options. Sasha guides listeners through the process of creating new SKUs or variations, ensuring they maintain control over their listings amidst these changes. The detailed exploration of listing violations further equips sellers with strategies to address and overcome compliance challenges.

The conversation doesn't stop there. We dive into effective listing management, from handling violations to deletion strategies. Sasha discusses how to strategically use deletion and re-uploading as troubleshooting methods, emphasizing the need for patience to allow changes to propagate. He also shares advanced recovery strategies, offering a roadmap to quick listing reinstatement. With Sasha's guidance, you're not just surviving the complex world of Amazon Seller Central, you're mastering it.

In episode 702 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Sasha discuss:

00:01 - Utilizing Amazon Flat Files Effectively
02:50 - Optimizing Amazon Category Listing Reports
13:23 - Amazon Flat File Attributes and Variations
14:27 - Amazon Listing Optimization Tips
21:02 - Amazon Deprecation Announcement Overview
28:55 - Effective Listing Deletion Strategies
33:01 - Effective Amazon Listing Recovery Strategies
34:38 - Listing Recovery Process With Agencies

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In this episode, we are live at Amazon Accelerate 2025, recapping all of the hottest new releases that are going to affect Amazon sellers and entrepreneurs worldwide.

► New YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon and E-commerce space for serious sellers of any level.

Join us for a thrilling recap of Amazon Accelerate 2025, where we uncover the latest releases and initiatives that are reshaping the seller landscape. With Andrea Marquez, Senior Producer and Host of the This Is Small Business Podcast by Amazon, as our special guest, we reflect on how the event has grown to offer sellers an increasingly valuable experience. Andrea shares insights on the importance of attending Amazon Accelerate, not just for learning about new product releases, but also for the unparalleled networking opportunities and direct support through the Amazon Seller Café. Sellers can resolve complex issues face-to-face with Amazon experts, turning potential problems into quick fixes. The event is a community-building hub, enhanced by social activities like the popular block party.

We explore Amazon's efforts to improve the customer experience, emphasizing the new measures that ensure customers receive the exact product they ordered from brand owners. The discussion covers enhanced return policies that allow for partial refunds and the option to send missing pieces rather than entire replacements, offering sellers increased flexibility and cost savings. These changes, coupled with the strategic use of AI as highlighted in the event, aim to enhance both customer satisfaction and seller profitability. The conversation underscores how these developments enable sellers and entrepreneurs to better incorporate returns into their business models.

Celebrate 25 years of independent sellers on Amazon with us as we highlight key milestones and future aspirations. The introduction of an AI creative studio is democratizing access to high-quality creative assets, empowering entrepreneurs to compete with larger companies by reducing the barrier to entry. This innovation allows sellers to focus on product quality and customer satisfaction while reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape. Listen in as we discuss regional product launch testing, A+ content enhancements, and the transformative potential of the Amazon Marketing Cloud for targeted marketing. Discover the inspiring stories of innovative entrepreneurs like Brendan from Lalo and the honor of presenting the Sellers Force for Good awards, recognizing entrepreneurs making a positive impact through their ventures.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley and Andrea cover:

00:00 - Amazon Accelerate 2025 Recap of New Releases
02:35 - Impact of Seller Cafe at Accelerate
09:06 - Amazon Labeling Changes Impact Sellers
10:28 - Improved Customer Experience and Returns Flexibility
13:13 - Celebrating 25 Years and AI Advancements
17:09 - AI's Impact on Entrepreneurship and Creativity
20:23 - Product Launch Testing and A+ Content
26:09 - Enhancing Customer Experience and Targeted Marketing

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

View Details

AI or rules, what really wins in Amazon PPC? Uncover the truth about Amazon ads automation, smarter bidding, and scaling Amazon strategies sellers need to know today.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Curious about how AI and Rules can revolutionize your Amazon advertising strategy? Imagine harnessing the power of emerging AI tools to supercharge your PPC campaigns and keep your brand ahead of the competition. Join us as Destaney Wishon shares her expertise on striking the perfect balance between AI, automation, and rule-based approaches to unlock the full potential of your Amazon advertising efforts.

Our conversation takes an insightful turn as we explore the complexities of managing advertising campaigns for brands with intricate SKU lines and varied objectives. Destaney unpacks the nuances of using AI and rules-based systems, revealing how to leverage these tools without losing sight of your brand's unique insights and goals. We get into the importance of contextual understanding when evaluating key metrics like ACoS, ensuring that your strategies align with your specific product types and campaign goals. Plus, uncover the trade-offs between automation and manual control, and learn how agencies can enhance operational efficiency while maintaining that all-important personal touch.

But that's not all. We offer a comprehensive guide to optimizing your advertising strategies with Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and audience targeting techniques. You'll learn how to use Helium 10 Ads to set up AMC instances and discover practical tips for building profitable audience segments. From increasing your Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) to avoiding campaign cannibalization, we equip you with the tools and insights necessary to thrive in a competitive Amazon marketplace. To top it off, we invite you to subscribe to the Serious Sellers Podcast’s new YouTube channel for a chance to win a one-on-one session with either Carrie, Bradley, or Shivali, offering personal insights and a unique opportunity to enhance your advertising game.

In episode 701 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:59 - AI vs Automation in Amazon Advertising
06:47 - Optimizing AI for Different Goals
09:30 - Advanced Strategies for Amazon Advertising
10:14 - Interpreting ACoS for Amazon PPC Success
15:53 - AI vs. Keyword Harvesting in Marketing
18:38 - Importance of Video in Amazon Advertising
22:37 - Strategies for Amazon Ad Console
31:23 - Optimizing PPC Campaigns for Improved ROAS
34:24 - Engagement Incentives for Video Viewers

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It's episode 700! You know what that means: It's time for another edition of the Maldives Honeymoon Amazon launch strategy, where we talk about everything that's working for launching products on Amazon for 2025 and 2026.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Can you imagine launching a product on Amazon and seeing it soar to page one with minimal sales effort? Join Bradley Sutton from the beautiful Milaidhoo Resort in the Maldives as he uncovers the secrets of the Newest version of the Maldives Honeymoon Amazon Launch Strategy for 2025 and 2026. Bradley dives deep into the nuances of keyword research amidst evolving AI search behaviors and how sellers can leverage this to optimize product listings. Discover why the honeymoon period offers a unique competitive edge and how to maximize visibility during this crucial timeframe.

Unlock the secrets to keeping your product on Amazon's first page with the right strategies and tools. We unravel the mystery of title density and how to utilize Helium 10's Listing Analyzer for evaluating your SEO power against competitors. By choosing strategic keywords and understanding your "right to win," you can maintain sustained visibility beyond the initial launch boost. Explore how analyzing competitor strength prepares you to stay competitive in your niche and maintain top rankings.

Optimize your Amazon launch with a toolkit that includes Helium 10 tools, TikTok launches, and influencer marketing. Learn about the power of test listings and other strategies in enhancing product relevancy signals and maximizing exposure. We explore managing reviews with future launch dates and handling SEO challenges while launching on TikTok. With insights into tracking keywords and monitoring changes, we guide you through efficiently managing your advertising budget and ensuring a successful product launch on Amazon. Dive into this resource-rich episode and take your Amazon selling game to the next level.

In episode 700 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - A New Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy Episode
03:15 - Step 0.5: What the Amazon “Honeymoon Period” Really Means
10:20 - Step 1: Check Title Density
11:30 - Step 2: Analyze Competitor Strength with Listing Analyzer by Helium 10
12:40 - Step 3: Audit SEO Strength with Listing Builder by Helium 10
13:40 - Step 4: Explore Bundling via Frequently Bought Together & Black Box
15:10 - Step 5: Pick the Right Variation using Xray's Child-level Sales Data
16:10 - Step 6: Review Mining, Rufus Questions, & POE
18:30 - Step 7: Optimize Images & Split-Test with Helium 10 Audience
20:20 - Step 9: Build a Fully-Optimized Test Listing
31:00 - Step 10: Set Real Listing’s Launch Date in the Future
32:00 - Step 11: Enroll in Vine Pre-Launch Reviews
33:00 - Step 12: Create Single-Keyword Campaigns
34:10 - Step 13: Add Broad/Auto/Exact Low-Bid Harvesters with Helium 10 Ads
35:20 - Step 14: Track Rankings & Ads with Keyword Tracker with Boost Feature
35:50 - Step 15: Turn On Alerts by Helium 10
36:20 - Step 16: Day-1 List-Price Purchases + CPR Pacing
37:20 - Bonus: Check Inventory Heat Maps
37:50 - Bonus: Parallel TikTok Shop Launch (MCF tie-in + Influencer Finder)
38:06 - Case Study: Trademark-Constrained Launch & Rufus vs. SEO (Demon Slayer product example)
42:26 - Outro & Offers (Helium 10 Discount Codes and TikTok Tools)

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Amazon AWD is out of space. A really cool new keyword research tool from Helium 10 might be the coolest thing in the last few years. Plus, Amazon is experimenting with virtual multipacks.

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Multiple sellers are reporting issues with sending inventory to Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD), with messages saying there’s no capacity available. Some were told by seller support to wait seven days, raising concerns across Facebook groups.

Helium 10’s new Listing Builder feature consolidates keyword research by pulling data from eight unique sources, including brand analytics, search query performance, and historical rankings, directly into one workflow. This streamlines the process of optimizing or creating listings, saving sellers time while giving them access to exclusive insights competitors can’t get elsewhere, outside Helium 10.

Netflix turns to Amazon to make its ads easier to buy
https://digiday.com/marketing/netflix-turns-to-amazon-to-make-its-ads-easier-to-buy/

Sellers can now easily fulfill TikTok Shop orders using their existing Amazon FBA inventory through Helium 10’s MCF integration. By mapping TikTok SKUs to Amazon SKUs, orders are automatically shipped by Amazon, with options for safety stock and fulfillment speed, all without manual tracking or order creation.

Amazon Virtual Packs
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GK2U2WZY6GSSTJZY

Helium 10 Elite Q3 Workshop at Amazon Accelerate
http://h10.me/q3workshop - Use Code: Elite100 for free tickets

Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this episode offers valuable insights and strategies to maximize your success in the ever-evolving world of e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:48 - AWD Out of space?
01:35 - 8 In 1 Keyword Research
10:52 - Netflix x Amazon
13:15 - MCF For TikTok
16:08 - Virtual Multipacks
18:11 - Amazon Accelerate

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It's time for another Bali Blast Strategy episode. Where Bradley Sutton gives you the most comprehensive Amazon keyword research strategies for your listings in 2025 and beyond.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if a single tweak to your Amazon listing could skyrocket your sales in 2025? In this episode, we uncover powerful Amazon keyword research strategies that are transforming the way sellers approach e-commerce on Amazon. Broadcasting from Jakarta, Indonesia, I take you on a journey that bridges past and future, drawing inspiration from the famous Bali Blast Strategy episodes. Discover how the dawn of AI and Amazon's own Rufus are reshaping the landscape, demanding we rethink our tried-and-true methods for optimal product visibility.

Join me as we unravel the intricacies of Amazon's evolving search ecosystem. Despite the buzz around AI, traditional keyword research remains a cornerstone for success. We dissect examples like the "noodle camera" to illustrate the power of keywords in product indexing and visibility. Moreover, we’ll examine the impact of Amazon’s Rufus, revealing why sticking to foundational keyword strategies is still crucial amidst technological advancements.

As we journey through advanced tactics, you'll learn how to leverage the Helium 10 tools to not only identify top-performing keywords but also capitalize on seasonal trends and competitor strategies. From using Etsy's related searches to uncovering niche opportunities with Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer, this episode shares a ton of insights. Whether you're launching a new product or refining an existing Amazon listing, these cutting-edge tactics will position you ahead of the curve in Amazon’s competitive marketplace.

In episode 699 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - A New Bali Blast Episode
01:57 - New Approaches to Amazon Keyword Research
03:39 - The Importance of Amazon Keyword Research
11:50 - Amazon Product Page Usage Analysis
12:25 - Impact of Rufus on Amazon Search
25:27 - Maximizing Keyword Research for Amazon
28:10 - Brand Analytics Keywords in Helium 10
30:42 - Advanced Amazon Keyword Research Techniques
36:25 - Comprehensive Amazon Keyword Research Guide
39:31 - Leveraging Keywords for Complementary Sales

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Those awkward videos might be the key to 7-figure sales. Learn how one entrepreneur used raw TikTok content to grow two brands past 8-figures a year with simple, viral video strategies.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: h10.me/sspyt

Join us on this TikTok Thursday episode as we explore the transformative impact of TikTok Shop on business growth and brand visibility. Today’s host will be Shivali Patel, Senior brand evangelist at Helium 10, and our guest Ryan Maya, an accomplished entrepreneur with two successful brands, Beyond Braid and Professor Pickleball. With over 400,000 followers, Ryan shares how TikTok Shop has become a game-changer, contributing to a remarkable 100% increase in revenue year over year. Discover how creating viral content on TikTok can lead to a “halo effect”, boosting sales across other platforms like Amazon and the brand's website.

Listen in as we discuss effective content creation strategies that drive engagement and sales on TikTok Shop. From crafting clear calls to action to utilizing the power of raw, unedited content, I share insights on how simplicity can captivate audiences. Ryan and I also explore the iterative process of refining video-making skills, highlighting the importance of persistence and experimentation. Whether you're creating your own content or collaborating with influencers, engaging with the platform can unlock significant potential for your brand.

Finally, explore the strategic aspects of optimizing your TikTok Shop presence. We touch on authentic content creation, leveraging affiliates, and the integration of Helium 10’s suite of tools for TikTok Shop sellers. Learn about the challenges and opportunities of collaborating with influencers and the power of live shopping. Ryan's experience with pickleball products on TikTok Shop offers a glimpse into the potential for success, underscoring the importance of creative content and compelling offers. Tune in to discover how TikTok Shop can revolutionize your E-commerce sales strategy and propel your Amazon brand to new heights.

In episode 698 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Ryan discuss:

00:00 - Leveraging TikTok Shop for Sales Success
03:55 - Creating Effective TikTok Shop Videos
16:30 - Maximize TikTok Shop Sales With Authentic Content
20:21 - Content Creation and Strategy Insights
24:50 - Influencer, TikTok, and Advertising Strategies
29:48 - TikTok Shop Sales Strategy Discussion
35:39 - Video Performance Sustainability and Success

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Amazon opens submissions for Prime Big Deals Day, Walmart doubles down on AI with new super agents, and the US ends the de minimis exemption, reshaping global trade. This and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast/videos

Create deals now for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHS01KNVc1UkdNSkQ0WVI4

Walmart’s latest AI innovations represent a shift for big retail
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/30/walmart-stores-ai-innovation-retail-shopping-shift.html

Helium 10 Academy YouTube Channel - http://h10.me/ytacademy

Introducing Amazon Lens Live: Instant scanning, real-time product matches, and insights from Amazon's AI Shopping Assistant
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/search-image-amazon-lens-live-shopping-rufus

Amazon launches first-ever Second Chance Deal Days, offering customers high-quality returned and refurbished items at great prices
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-launches-first-ever-second-chance-deal-days-offering-customers-high-quality-returned-and-refurbished-items-at-great-prices

Retail panic: What the end of the 'de minimis' exemption means for brands across the globe
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/retail-panic-end-de-minimis-exemption-means-brands-globe-rcna227990

New Serious Sellers Podcast YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast

Amazon cracks down on Prime free shipping sharing
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/02/amazon-eliminates-prime-share-shipping.html

Final call: Don’t miss Amazon Accelerate 2025
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/final-call

Join the Elite Workshop a day before Amazon Accelerate 2025
http://h10.me/q3workshop

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Prime Big Deals
01:53 - Walmart AI Agent
04:10 - All New Academy
04:52 - Amazon Lens Live
06:29 - Second Chance Deals
08:09 - Competitor Sales without SQP
12:09 - De Minimis Ends
13:32 - SSP New Channel
14:00 - Prime Sharing Restriction
14:55 - Amazon Accelerate 2025

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Shut down for trademark infringement, this seller pivoted from print-on-demand to Amazon FBA, doubling revenue four years straight and now projecting $3M this year.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

E-commerce seller Ranno Tasane from Estonia joins the Serious Sellers Podcast to share his fascinating journey from print-on-demand to skyrocketing private label Amazon sales. Imagine doubling your revenue every year for four consecutive years and reaching a projected $3 million! Despite Estonia's modest population, Ranno is part of a vibrant e-commerce community that thrives on innovation and tenacity. This episode also includes a chuckle-worthy tale from the host about a prolonged identity mix-up between Ranno and another Estonian seller, Neeme.

Ranno's story is packed with entrepreneurial wisdom as he recounts the challenges of managing multiple brands and the strategic pivots that led to his current success. During the pandemic, Ranno made bold decisions that involved phasing out brands and selling others, propelling him to concentrate on a flourishing fruit powder business. Listen as he details an unexpected move to Kenya and the intricacies of building a sustainable business model between Estonia and Poland, all while keeping a sharp eye on inventory management.

The episode also uncovers Ranno's aggressive marketing techniques and niche strategies that make his Amazon ventures stand out. From the Subscribe and Save program to sourcing rare ingredients like the wild blueberry, Ranno's focus on market dominance is unwavering. With a customer-first approach, Ranno emphasizes the importance of turning potential negative experiences into positive ones, maintaining a robust brand reputation. As the conversation wraps up, the Bradley shares his admiration for Estonia, considering it one of their top 10 favorite countries, and looks forward to seeing if Ranno's impressive growth trend will continue.

In episode 697 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ranno discuss:

01:41 - Estonian Seller Community Growth
04:24 - Ranno's Backstory
07:46 - Copyright Infringement and Revenue Growth
12:46 - Struggles of Launching Multiple Brands in Amazon
16:28 - Brand Phasing and Selling Success
20:40 - Steps to Scale a Brand
26:06 - Optimizing Subscribe and Save Discounts
28:39 - Aggressive Marketing Strategies for Unique Products
30:59 - Customer-Centric Amazon Success Strategy
32:06 - The Jungle Powders Brand
34:32 - Future Growth and International Success

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In this episode of TACoS Tuesday, we’ll examine the latest Amazon Ads updates, from smarter targeting and AI tools to new keyword harvesting and bid strategies, which are reshaping how sellers run campaigns today.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Vince Montero, former senior product marketing manager at Helium 10 and now CEO and Founder of Evinced Digital, joins us to uncover the transformative updates in Amazon advertising that are revolutionizing campaign management for sellers. Vince breaks down the latest innovations, including the game-changing keyword harvesting update in Helium 10 Ads, which clears the path for more efficient and focused advertising by eliminating redundant keyword suggestions. With Vince's expert insights, you’ll learn how to leverage the new automation toggle to streamline your campaign efforts and maximize the potential of Amazon Marketing Cloud for smarter audience targeting, as well as benefit from new-to-brand bid adjustments.

Explore the future of Amazon advertising with advanced AI-powered creative tools that are setting new standards for campaign strategies. From the AI video generator that crafts engaging, dynamic content in no time to the AI audience query generator that refines targeting precision, these tools are reshaping the way sellers approach advertising. Alongside these creative advancements, we discuss Amazon's strategic pivot to long-term metrics and forecasted ROAS, offering a fresh perspective on the enduring impact of ads beyond immediate sales. This episode promises a ton of actionable strategies and forward-thinking insights, essential for anyone eager to outpace the competition in the evolving Amazon PPC landscape.

In episode 696 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Vince discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising Updates for Sellers
02:14 - Automating Keyword Harvesting for Campaigns
06:52 - Amazon Ads Brand Bid Adjustments
10:14 - Amazon Ads Audience Capabilities Update
13:41 - Amazon Advertising Strategies and Audience Targeting
14:55 - Testing Bid Adjustments for Successful Campaigns
18:01 - Introduction to Audience Management Console
20:25 - Advanced Creative Tools and Long-Term Metrics
23:59 - Amazon Video Ads with AI

View Details

Updates to variation listing Armageddon, Walmart is now tying its online offerings to its retail stores, and our brand new YouTube channel has just launched! These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Update to irrelevant or redundant variation theme removal
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUEszWTIyTko1MktORVVQ

New YouTube Channel for the Serious Sellers Podcast and Weekly Buzz by Helium 10
https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast

Amazon resumes Google Shopping ads – but not in the U.S.
https://searchengineland.com/amazon-resumes-google-shopping-ads-international-domains-461238

Walmart ties marketplace to stores, debuts AI seller tools
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-ties-marketplace-stores-debuts-122600640.html

Walmart Rolls Out Faster Deliveries for 3rd-Party Sellers
https://www.pymnts.com/walmart/2025/walmart-rolls-out-faster-deliveries-for-3rd-party-sellers/

Send meltable inventory to FBA starting September 22, 2025
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVTROUlI3OFIzRFZLSkta

Enrollment changes for FBA Liquidations and Donations programs
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQ0dHSzlXWFhVNlo2Q0g2

Protect your account from deactivation with Account Health Assurance
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSFpFSlU0SkFXOEJBRlJQ

Optimized targeting for Sponsored Display Conversion campaigns
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-display-automatic-targeting-for-conversions/

Don't miss out on these crucial updates and insights for sellers looking to thrive in the e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:51 - Variation Armageddon Update
02:29 - New YouTube Channel
03:23 - Amazon Google Ads
05:02 - Black Box Update
08:00 - AI Walmart Tools
09:52 - Walmart Next Day Delivery
10:50 - Meltable Inventory Update
11:42 - FBA Liquidations Update
12:57 - Custom Ads Rules
19:05 - Protect You Account
20:47 - Optimized Targeting

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In this episode, discover how Amazon sellers can use patents not only to protect their products but also to uncover hidden opportunities for new product ideas and long-term success.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Ever wondered how to protect your products and discover new opportunities simultaneously? Join us as we chat with patent expert Rich Goldstein, who makes his fourth appearance on the Serious Sellers Podcast. Fresh off our adventure at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Hawaii, Rich and I dive into the dual nature of patents, not just as shields for your products but as keys to unlocking new market possibilities. Plus, Bradley shares how Rich has been his travel guru, transforming his journeys through airline loyalty strategies that have made my trips not only frequent but comfortable.

Our discussion takes a turn towards the modern challenges of intellectual property management with Amazon's increasing reliance on AI to handle infringement complaints. We uncover the inefficiencies and pitfalls of AI-driven decisions and the hurdles sellers face in this tech-centric landscape. Listen as we provide practical guidance on navigating these complex waters and ensure your innovations don't unintentionally step on existing patents, using tools like Google Patents as a starting point.

Wrapping up, we strategically dissect the considerations for obtaining patents, with a keen eye on cost-effectiveness and market impact. From the nuances of small vs. large-scale product launches to the significance of securing patents across different jurisdictions, Rich shares wisdom from his book, "The ABA Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent." We sprinkle in some light-hearted banter about our travel adventures, promising to bring Rich back for more insights into the ever-evolving patent world.

In episode 695 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Rich discuss:

00:00 - Travel Hacking and Patent Strategies
03:54 - Travel Hacking Success From Rich's Tips
08:31 - Impact of AI on IP Infringement
12:01 - Patent Search and Infringement Concerns
17:27 - Timing and Considerations for Patent Applications
21:13 - IP Strategies and Product Development
25:37 - Foreign Patent Filing for US Applicants
33:28 - Benefits of Enforcing Patents
35:36 - Patent Book Recommendations

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Discover how to snap a photo of your product and instantly generate professional Amazon listing images and A+ content with AI. The future of e-commerce is here!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an exciting exploration of the future of AI image generation as we introduce you to a revolutionary era where ChatGPT-5 transforms how Amazon sellers create professional-quality images for their product listings. In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10, we’re joined by AI expert Andrew Bell to discuss the latest advancements in AI technology. Learn how ChatGPT-5 combines the best features of previous versions to enhance image generation and listing creation, providing tools that could potentially replace traditional photography. Whether you’re new to selling on Amazon or a seasoned veteran, discover how these innovations can optimize your listings with AI-generated visuals, avoiding costly photo shoots and improving your product presentation.

Listen in as we explore the intricacies of maximizing image generation quality and prompts. Uncover the secrets behind ensuring your AI-generated images meet the highest standards by specifying "maximum quality" in prompts. We’ll discuss strategies for using uploaded images as reference points and emphasize focusing on environment, mood, and composition. Andrew shares insights on a custom GPT model designed to generate precise prompts from product images, using examples like a water bottle to demonstrate its versatility. Additionally, learn about the use of Sora for generating multiple images simultaneously, enhancing productivity and creativity in your design process.

Finally, we dive into the practical applications of custom GPT tools within ChatGPT for e-commerce optimization. Discover how to navigate the ChatGPT interface to access features like Sora for creating lifestyle images, and how the $20 monthly ChatGPT plan can generate multiple product images quickly and efficiently. We’ll guide you through the process of using Helium 10 Audience tool’s feature to test and identify the most effective product images for increasing click-through and conversion rates. This episode is packed with insights that promise to enhance your understanding of AI tools, offering cost-effective strategies to boost your e-commerce success.

👉 Access Andrew Bell’s custom GPT models for Amazon listing image and Premium A+ Content image generation here: https://h10.me/andrewbell-imagegpt

In episode 694 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andrew discuss:

00:00 - Future of AI Amazon Listing Image Generation
03:05 - Improving Instruction Following With GPT-5
06:28 - Maximizing Image Generation Quality and Prompts
09:47 - Making Changes for Office Use
12:58 - Generating Image Decks for Podcasts
18:27 - Discussion on Premium A+ Content
19:25 - Enhancing Image Generation With Prompts
26:19 - Enhancing AI Prompt Generation for Graphics
28:02 - AI Image Generation for Amazon Optimization
30:44 - Andrew's Custom GPT for Amazon Listings
36:01 - Amazon Main Image Requirements for AI-Generated Images

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Amazon will soon break up your variation listings. Sponsored products are now showing up on Alexa. Soon, all TikTok Shop sellers will have to use a native AI-based PPC tool.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Removal of irrelevant variation themes will start September 2
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRVozVFk2UlpLQ0xSUk05

Alexa+ tests product discovery through conversational AI
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/alexa-test-product-discovery-through-conversational-ai/

TikTok's new AI mandate is getting backlash from big advertisers
https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-gmv-max-september-shop-ads-big-brand-pushback-2025-8

Amazon Deal Types
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQlFYRTJDR1RLTVlBS1lG

Protect your account health by preventing trademark violations
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVUZVVFlUWFhENE5VQlJB

Boost Labor Day sales with Outlet deals
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNDVYMks1RlU4NE4zRzNU

Update to percentage-off promotions without claim codes
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTEdEQzc0UzRKOTVZQlZR

As we prepare for episode 700 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley is excited to share our new global launch strategies and keyword research adventures. From an upcoming Maldives trip to a Bali blast episode, we offer insights into optimizing listings and securing top search results for key product launches. With practical tips and strategies, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to thrive in the evolving e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:04 - Huge Variation Update
05:46 - Alexa + Showing Ads
09:21 - EU Inventory Heat Maps
11:07 - TikTok AI Ads Change
12:29 - Amazon Deal Types
16:19 - Amazon Influencers
20:39 - Trademark Rules Reminder
21:43 - Labor Day Outlet Deals
23:00 - % Off Promos
23:41 - 2 PPC Workshops Next Week!

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Dive into a unique chat on sumo wrestling, Shopify, Amazon, AI, and scaling e-commerce. Legendary seller insights and heavyweight strategies every serious seller needs.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an engaging episode as we sit down with E-commerce legend Ezra Firestone, where our shared passion for sumo wrestling takes center stage. We explore the fascinating journey of sumo wrestlers like Koto Shoho and Anishiki, highlighting the surprising rise of Ukrainian athletes in this traditionally Japanese sport. Ezra shares his personal connection to Ukraine, influenced by his business ties and extensive work with Ukrainian professionals. Listen in as we reminisce about the Hawaiian sumo champions who inspired Ezra during his childhood in Hawaii, where Japanese culture played a significant role in shaping his interests and career path.

This conversation then transitions into the dynamic world of e-commerce, focusing on the importance of resilience and adaptation. Ezra and Bradley discuss the parallels between maintaining physical well-being and thriving in a competitive business environment. Drawing from personal experiences, we discuss the journey from being sedentary to embracing a healthier lifestyle and how this transformation mirrors our strategic decisions in e-commerce. The shift from Shopify expertise to embracing Amazon's dominance showcases the necessity of staying agile in an ever-evolving market landscape.

Finally, we explore the transformative role of AI in e-commerce and the strategies for maximizing growth. AI-powered tools like Zipify are revolutionizing Shopify store performance, but not without raising concerns about the impact on traditional job roles. Our discussion touches on the strategic expansion from Amazon to Shopify, emphasizing the importance of adapting to technological advancements while considering their broader implications. We also dive into effective marketing strategies, highlighting the power of email and SMS in engaging audiences and the importance of balancing business success with personal fulfillment. Join us for a thoughtful conversation that bridges the worlds of sumo and e-commerce, offering insights and inspiration for sellers at any stage.

In episode 693 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ezra discuss:

02:03 - Sumo Fans Discuss Wrestlers From Ukraine and Japan
04:30 - Rediscovering Judo in Upstate New York
06:57 - Resilience and Adaptation in eCommerce
12:00 - Amazon as an Extension of Brand
16:40 - E-Commerce Strategy and Amazon Growth
16:50 - AI-Powered Shopify Store Optimization Strategy
27:24 - Marketing Strategies for E-Commerce Growth
29:33 - E-Commerce Marketing Strategies and Goals
35:03 - Rock Star Mentality and Enjoying Life

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In this episode, let’s talk about all things KDP. How can you utilize it for your own Amazon brand, help boost your sales, and create your own books for another source of income.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Unlock these secret strategies for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and transform your Amazon entrepreneurial journey with insights from our conversation with Shivali Patel. You'll discover how KDP can become a powerful tool for brand expansion, offering sustained royalties with much less hassle than traditional publishing. Shivali shares her incredible path from a teenage entrepreneur to a successful KDP author and Amazon FBA seller, emphasizing the importance of creative control and the freedom from traditional publishers that KDP provides.

Throughout the episode, we tackle the nuances of maximizing success on the KDP platform. From the necessity of thorough research in the Kindle Store to the savvy use of tools like Helium 10, we provide a roadmap for aspiring authors. Learn from industry veterans like Dominic, who has mastered the art of selling over 1.5 million paperbacks, and uncover strategies for identifying trends, optimizing keywords, and breaking into lucrative niches. Whether it's conducting manual research or harnessing AI tools for book creation, this episode is packed with practical techniques to elevate your publishing game.

The conversation takes a strategic turn as we explore keyword optimization and competitor research to enhance book visibility. With the assistance of Helium 10 tools like Cerebro and Magnet, we dive into methods for refining search results and selecting high-impact keywords. Explore how AI can streamline the writing process, from organizing content to crafting compelling descriptions. By integrating creativity with data-driven insights, this episode serves as your guide to capitalizing on KDP's potential and achieving lasting success in the publishing world.

In episode 692 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Shivali discuss:

00:01 - Utilizing KDP for Online Sales
01:58 - Leveraging Amazon KDP for Passive Income Potential
10:22 - Analyzing Kindle Store for KDP Books
13:20 - Researching Book Niches for Success
16:09 - Inconsistent Revenue Data on Amazon
17:46 - Strategic Approach to Amazon Keywords
23:35 - Competitor Research With Helium 10's Chrome Extension
29:04 - Keyword Research For KDP With Magnet and Cerebro
34:09 - Custom GPTs for Brand Promotion
39:13 - Benefits of Enrolling in KDP Select
44:02 - Utilizing KDP As An Amazon Seller

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Amazon Accelerate’s full agenda is live with a limited-time discount. Amazon is taking on Walmart and Instacart with a massive same-day grocery expansion, and Q4 inventory deadlines are here!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Plan your Amazon Accelerate 2025 experience!
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/plan-for-accelerate

Amazon Accelerate Agenda Builder now available to customize your experience
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTVNGUzVGVDRURlVFTlVH

Helium 10 Elite Q3 Workshop at Amazon Accelerate - https://h10.me/q3workshop

Amazon now offers same-day perishable grocery delivery in over 1,000 cities and towns with plans to double that reach by year's end
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/grocery-delivery-amazon-same-day-store

Helium 10 Ads now supports TikTok advertising, allowing users to create, manage, and analyze TikTok ad and live campaigns alongside their Amazon and Walmart ads in one dashboard. Currently available for Elite members, this version lets you connect your TikTok accounts, view performance metrics, and manage campaigns, with more features planned for future rollouts.

Strategy of the Week: Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker lets you instantly view historical keyword ranking data from past years, even if you just started tracking today. This feature works for both your products and competitors, making it easy to see rankings from key events like past Prime Days or Q4 without losing any historical insights.

Get ready for the holiday shopping season - Q4 Inventory Deadlines
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQlFYRTJDR1RLTVlBS1lG

You can now enroll heavy and bulky items in Amazon Vine
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRUY5UThOTUE4R0RNTTg5

Monthly AI Webinar by Helium 10 - Amazon Image Generation with Chat GPT-5 Register here: http://h10.me/aimaugust

Helium 10 Ads now includes a powerful update to keyword harvesting that prevents duplicate keywords or ASIN targets from being suggested across campaigns with the same match type. This automation saves sellers significant time by ensuring new targets are only added where they don’t already exist, eliminating the need for manual cross-checking.

Whether you're looking to optimize your current strategies or explore new avenues, this episode has the buzzing insights to help you thrive in the evolving e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:47 - Amazon Accelerate Discount
03:03 - TikTok Ads Boost
06:01 - Prime Grocery Expansion
07:12 - Spy Competitor Sales
09:54 - Q4 Inventory Deadlines
11:24 - Ads Keyword Harvesting
16:02 - More Vine Reviews
16:22 - Monthly AI Webinar

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What service can help sellers potentially increase sales by projected $20,000, like it did for one of my products? It uses Helium 10 Audience, which is powered by PickFu.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if a simple change in your product imagery could skyrocket your sales? Join us for an insightful episode with Justin Chen, the visionary founder of PickFu, as we unpack the power of split testing in e-commerce. Gain first-hand insights from Helium 10 Audience and discover how data-driven strategies can revolutionize your approach to Amazon product presentation. Learn how to harness the power of consumer insights to refine your packaging designs and creative elements, ensuring your product stands out in a saturated market. Through engaging anecdotes and compelling case studies, we reveal how small, informed changes can lead to substantial business advantages.

We explore the intricate world of visual testing and its crucial role in optimizing product listings. From selecting dog models in pet-related items to the subtle art of tweaking packaging text, we emphasize the importance of ongoing feedback and iteration. Discover how comparing your offerings against competitors can yield valuable insights and drive enhancements in click-through and conversion rates. Whether you're a seasoned seller or a newcomer, our discussion underscores the necessity of continuous adaptation and strategic decision-making to thrive in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape.

Looking ahead, we will talk about the exciting future developments of PickFu and its strategic collaboration with Helium 10. Explore how PickFu is breaking new ground by expanding into global markets, offering native language feedback, and tailored testing solutions. With a commitment to high-quality data and innovative testing methodologies, PickFu is setting the stage for the next wave of e-commerce optimization. As we anticipate the new features and international capabilities, we encourage you to connect with PickFu and join us at upcoming Helium 10 gatherings for more enriching conversations and shared growth opportunities.

In episode 691 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Justin discuss:

00:00 - Increasing Sales With Split Testing
02:42 - Evolving Trends in Amazon Selling
10:52 - Optimizing Product Listings Through Visual Testing
11:29 - Dog Models Impact on Sales
13:30 - Optimizing Product Images for Competition
16:28 - Improving Listings Through Image Testing
20:47 - Evolving Amazon Seller Product Validation
21:45 - Expanding Features for Global Sellers
28:57 - Testing and Optimization Strategies for Listings
37:33 - Future Plans for PickFu and Helium 10

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In this episode, we talk to one of our all-time favorite guests, and she'll discuss everything from her current e-commerce launches to brand strategy to making money with real estate franchises and even oil wells.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Ever wondered how strategic partnerships and innovative ideas can turn humble beginnings into e-commerce superstardom? Join us as we catch up with our favorite guest, Janelle Page, who opens up about her incredible journey. From launching a supplement line with Dr. Sten Ekberg to designing stylish safety eyewear with influencers like John Malecki and NataLee from Designed to the Nines, Janelle's story is a testament to the power of creativity and collaboration. She also shares her latest real estate adventure, renovating a historic Victorian home in Utah.

Discover the magic of transforming hobbies into thriving businesses as we discuss the rise of niche audiences. By channeling passion and utilizing innovative content strategies, we explore how her pickleball newsletter amassed 1,100 subscribers in just eight weeks, unlocking unexpected opportunities like creating content on a luxury yacht in Croatia. Janelle shows us the importance of marketing prowess in scaling a pickleball facility, "The Kitchen," and establishing a strong e-commerce presence, proving that with the right mindset, even pastimes can become entrepreneurial goldmines.

Branding and storytelling take center stage as we delve into the art of launching successful products. Learn about creating the three-in-one charger, Alpha Charge, and the Mess Less brand, both tailored for entrepreneurs. Janelle illustrates the importance of knowing your audience and utilizing platforms like Kickstarter and TikTok for impactful product launches. Drawing inspiration from successful branding strategies, the conversation highlights how personal branding, strategic investments, and networking at business events can lay the groundwork for long-term success. Tune in for an episode brimming with insights and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs!

In episode 690 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Janelle discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Success Strategies With Janelle Page
05:30 - Testing Product Market Fit Before Investment
06:26 - Building Niche Audience in Pickleball
09:40 - Becoming Co-Owner of Pickleball Facility
15:25 - Entrepreneurial Brand Strategy and Product Launch
18:07 - TikTok Launch Strategy for Product Launch
20:21 - Investing in Branding and Diversification
30:01 - Investment Opportunities and Strategies
31:59 - Building Strong Brands Through Storytelling
38:12 - Amazon Seller Networking at Business Events

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On this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz. There's a new worldwide de minimis rule, e-commerce sellers might be scrutinized more closely by the IRS, and Amazon might start delivering ads through conversations with Alexa.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Shein’s and Temu’s prices will get hit even harder by the new de minimis rule
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-suspends-duty-free-shipments-temu-shein

Expand your reach with the new global selling experience
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWkM3N0dIMlVOWDJUTFhH

New Feature Alert: Helium 10 Ads Now Supports Store Spotlight and Video Campaign Creation!

Sellers can now create Sponsored Brand Store Spotlight and Sponsored Video ads directly within Helium 10 Ads, without jumping to Seller Central. This makes keyword and ASIN harvesting for these campaigns more streamlined than ever.

IRS Targeting E-Commerce Sellers in 2025: Clear Start Tax Warns Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon Vendors to Prepare
https://www.usatoday.com/press-release/story/11793/irs-targeting-e-commerce-sellers-in-2025-clear-start-tax-warns-shopify-etsy-and-amazon-vendors-to-prepare/

Amazon CEO wants to put ads in your Alexa+ conversations
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/31/amazon-ceo-wants-to-put-ads-in-your-alexa-conversations/

Amazon’s latest actions against fake review brokers: Amazon secures largest-ever legal win against global fake review network
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-latest-actions-against-fake-review-brokers

Amazon.com announces second quarter results
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-earnings-q2-2025-report

Finally, discover how Helium 10's Inventory Heat Maps can revolutionize your inventory management, ensuring you outpace customer expectations. Get ready for insights tailored to boost your e-commerce success!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:51 - Worldwide De Mimimus Rule
03:05 - Star Rating Update
04:59 - New Amazon Global Experience
06:46 - Sponsored Brand Video Ads
08:59 - IRS Targeting Ecom Sellers
11:09 - Alexa Ads
12:39 - Fake Reviews CrackDown
14:33 - Strategy of the Week: Inventory Heat Maps
16:35 - Amazon Earnings

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In this episode, we go over 10 more unique strategies that 95% of your competitors aren't taking advantage of, such as how to measure share of shelf for your brand, how to find keywords you can easily get on page one, how to monitor competitor price changes, and more!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Are you ready to unlock exclusive Amazon strategies that could revolutionize your e-commerce game? This episode reveals ten game-changing Helium 10 tools and features that your competition is likely missing out on, from understanding the nuances of title density to tapping into the powerful insights offered by Helium 10. We also venture into international expansion, sharing practical tips to broaden your market reach and tap into a global customer base. These essential strategies are designed to propel you forward in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape, ensuring Helium 10 users stay at the forefront of innovation.

As the conversation unfolds, we tackle the impending changes to Amazon's barcode labeling requirements and the advantages of factory barcoding, a must-know for serious sellers. Learn how Helium 10's cutting-edge features, like the barcode label design tool and Helium 10 Audience tool powered by PickFu for split testing, can optimize your product listings and catapult your conversion rates. Dive into advanced tools like Magnet’s "Smart Complete" for exhaustive keyword research and Listing Builder’s sync for smooth Amazon listing updates. Whether you want to streamline operations or discover untapped product ideas, our discussion offers many insights to enhance your Amazon selling experience.

In episode 689 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

02:47 - Title Density
04:47 - Expansion Ticket
06:08 - Customer Intelligence
08:47 - Barcode Creator
11:17 - Audience
13:53 - Insights Dashboard
16:31 - eBay Price checker
18:23 - Share Of Voice
20:50 - Smart Complete
23:03 - Listing Builder Sync

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Are you just getting started on TikTok shop? In this episode, we have an expert on the show giving you your first 60-day blueprint for launching on TikTok shop.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us on this exciting episode as we welcome Delaney Del Mundo, VP of Account Strategy at Vendo, to explore the dynamic world of TikTok Shop. Delaney shares her expertise on crafting a successful 60-day blueprint for launching on TikTok Shop, a platform with significant potential to rival Amazon in sales. Discover how TikTok Shop not only creates demand but also enhances branded search volumes on Amazon, benefiting existing businesses. Delaney emphasizes the importance of patience and strategic planning, suggesting that TikTok Shop needs at least six months to establish a solid proof of concept.

Listen in as we discuss building robust affiliate and influencer partnerships to boost sales on TikTok Shop. We dive into strategies for launching GMV Max campaigns and constructing an effective affiliate pre-sale funnel. Discover how to utilize top-performing creatives as ads and the significance of setting optimal target ROAS. We highlight the importance of clear communication with affiliates, competitive commission rates, and tiered incentive programs. By creating leaderboards for affiliate performance, brands can foster healthy competition and learning among creators, ultimately enhancing engagement and driving sales.

Finally, we explore strategies for maximizing TikTok Shop growth through influencer collaboration and optimizing sales across various e-commerce platforms. Delaney shares insights on the nuances of TikTok Shop, including creator network effects, ad amplification, and affiliate incentives. Discover how to overcome new brands' challenges in attracting affiliates and the importance of securing initial sales to establish proof of concept. Learn about setting strategic commission rates and the potential for success with high-ticket products through proper discounts and incentives. This episode is packed with valuable strategies to help you thrive on TikTok Shop and beyond.

In episode 688 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Delaney discuss:

00:00 - TikTok Training for Sellers
01:30 - Strategies for Launching on TikTok Shop
03:18 - Driving Demand From TikTok to Amazon
08:09 - Utilizing Helium 10 for TikTok Trends
11:19 - Optimizing Listings for TikTok Shop
13:13 - Building Affiliate and Influencer Partnerships
23:24 - Optimizing Affiliate Engine For TikTok
26:47 - Maximizing TikTok Shop Growth With Influencers
31:52 - Optimizing Commission Rates for TikTok Shop
36:34 - Discounting Strategy for High-End Products
40:31 - Utilizing TikTok for Business Growth

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A new Amazon review and seller feedback policy has sellers up in arms. Amazon is no longer advertising on Google. You might start seeing TikTok videos and ads in your local shopping mall.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Update to Amazon seller feedback experience: Introducing star-only ratings
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHOU1HS0pZSkJERVVBTVBD

Amazon Halts All Google Shopping Ads Globally in July 2025
https://www.webpronews.com/amazon-halts-all-google-shopping-ads-globally-in-july-2025/

Walmart bets on AI super agents to boost e-commerce growth
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/walmart-bets-ai-super-agents-boost-e-commerce-growth-2025-07-24/

No More Amazon Prep
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201023020

Temu Hits Roadblock in Efforts to Compete With Amazon
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2025/temu-hits-roadblock-in-efforts-to-compete-with-amazon/

TikTok expands efforts to move beyond the phone
https://www.retaildive.com/news/tiktok-out-of-phone-westfield-malls-rockbot/756324/

Offer faster regional deliveries with Premium Shipping
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTERCUENBVThUSDdBMjQ0

With these insights, we aim to equip our listeners with valuable strategies and knowledge to navigate the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:01 - Seller Feedback Change
06:23 - Amazon Says Bye to Google
07:39 - Auto Keyword Harvesting
11:01 - Walmart AI Super Agents
13:12 - No More Amazon Prep
15:02 - SQP With AI
19:21 - Temu Trouble
20:20 - New TikTok Placements
22:09 - Premium Shipping

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In this episode, discover how to access Amazon Marketing Cloud, create custom audiences, and launch high-impact ad campaigns using AMC’s powerful data tools.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Unlock the potential of your Amazon advertising with insights from expert Destaney Wishon. Discover how the Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is revolutionizing the way sellers approach their strategies by shifting from traditional keyword-based ads to advanced audience demographic models. By tapping into AMC's rich customer data, sellers can align their ads more closely with audience needs, leading to increased conversion rates, reduced costs, and enhanced profitability in an ever-competitive marketplace.

Explore the art of balancing audience targeting with bidding strategies to maximize the impact of your advertising campaigns. While targeting specific audiences offers unmatched precision, it's crucial to avoid overly narrow strategies that may limit your reach. Learn the advantages of aiming for the Top of Search placements, where higher CPCs can translate to greater visibility and conversion rates. We'll also dive into techniques for calculating bid boosts and setting base bids that drive optimal results, leveraging Amazon's proprietary audience data to elevate both ad revenue and product sales.

Finally, we discuss the strategic use of high-traffic search terms to enhance organic rankings, especially for premium brands. By targeting audiences who have interacted with your brand through channels like TV ads or registries, you can significantly boost conversion rates. With tools like Helium 10 Ads, sellers can customize their AMC instances for more precise audience targeting, leveraging exact match campaigns and keyword harvesting for greater accuracy. Whether you're a seasoned Amazon seller or a beginner, our conversation provides hands-on tips and strategies to help you navigate the intricate world of Amazon PPC with confidence and creativity.

In episode 687 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Unlocking Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) for Sellers
07:14 - Amazon Advertising Audience Targeting Options
10:53 - Optimizing Amazon Marketing Cloud Audiences
15:40 - Optimizing Amazon Ads for High-Traffic Terms
16:15 - Leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud Audiences
18:42 - Targeted Advertising Strategies for Brands
23:04 - Creating Audiences for Amazon Ad Console
24:51 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising Audience Targeting

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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In this episode, Carrie and Shivali give the top 15 New Features that Helium 10 has launched in first half of the year.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we explore the top innovative features and tools Helium 10 has rolled out this year. We kick things off by discussing the return of a crucial data point that alerts sellers if their products are classified as adult items—a status that can severely impact advertising and keyword indexing. Additionally, we explore the significance of managing inventory levels with rules-based advertising, allowing sellers to adjust their bids based on stock availability, thereby maintaining visibility and sales momentum. Our discussion extends to the introduction of the Amazon Influencer Bootcamp, which equips sellers with resources to create income-generating video reviews.

We also examine the market expansion opportunities for Amazon sellers, particularly in emerging regions like the Middle East. Furthermore, we delve into the nuances of entering new marketplaces with the Expansion Ticket tool, which aids in compliance and regulation navigation across different regions. To ensure competitive pricing, we highlight the utility of the eBay Price Checker and discuss the advantages of keyword translation tools for creating multilingual listings, thereby expanding market reach.

In our final segment, we shift our focus to optimizing e-commerce listings through influencer collaborations and platform integrations. We explore strategies for finding and engaging with TikTok influencers, emphasizing the potential of smaller followings to drive virality. The ease of converting Amazon listings for TikTok Shop is also showcased, offering a streamlined, time-saving approach compared to traditional methods. Lastly, we highlight the seamless integration of Amazon and TikTok platforms for inventory management and order fulfillment, along with leveraging Helium 10's Black Box Brand Analytics to optimize keyword strategies and uncover market opportunities. Listen in as we share practical examples and insights designed to maximize your business potential in the dynamic world of e-commerce.

In episode 686 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Shivali discuss:

01:12 - Helium 10 Alerts Adult Checker
02:01 - Rules-based Advertising
04:30 - Helium 10 Influencer Bootcamp
09:26 - Helium 10 Saudi Arabia
12:13 - Helium 10 Expansion Ticket
13:26 - eBay Price Checker
14:25 - Keyword Translation
17:17 - Manage Refund Services
19:03 - Helium 10 Ads Academy
21:15 - Helium 10 TikTok Shop Training
23:31 - Influencer Bootcamp
27:51 - TikTok Shop Listing Converter
30:34 - Connect your Amazon Listings to TikTok Shop
32:19 - Black Box Brand Analytics
36:58 - Search Query Analyzer

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Amazon may have quietly raised prices on low-cost items, while Walmart lowered its prices. Accelerate early bird pricing is ending soon. This and more are in today’s Weekly Buzz.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon Raises Prices on Low-Cost Goods Following Tariffs
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2025/amazon-raises-prices-on-low-cost-goods-following-tariffs/

Amazon Accelerate speaker lineup announced and early bird pricing ends soon
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWVpWWVhURFk2RzYzMlQ5

New Fee Explainer tool breaks down charges to your selling account
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRlA2UVc5QllKWENDWUtS

In our final segment, we introduce new tools from Helium 10 that can transform your marketing efforts. The Share of Voice feature and the upgraded Amazon Influencer Finder tool offer insights into brand visibility and influencer outreach, helping you navigate the competitive landscape. With these tools, you'll be equipped to connect with niche influencers and secure authentic reviews, enhancing your brand's presence in the digital marketplace. Join us as we unpack these powerful resources and set you on the path to success.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:51 - PPC Targeting Hack
05:11 - Price War Twist?
07:06 - Accelerate Savings Alert
08:20 - Amazon Fee Explainer
09:26 - Share of Voice
12:15 - Influencer Finder

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In this episode, we explore how to create AI-powered product listings that don't just rank, they convert. Now we're not ditching keywords, but we're making them smarter and more aligned with how today's shoppers search, ask, and buy.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

AI in e-commerce is evolving rapidly, and we're thrilled to have Ritu Java, CEO of PPC Ninja, sharing her unique insights on how sellers can adapt. Ritu discusses using Amazon's AI tool, Rufus, which transforms customer queries into high-converting listing copy. The shift from traditional keyword searches to conversational searches is not just a trend but a paradigm shift that sellers must grasp to remain competitive. With Ritu's vast experience in e-commerce and Amazon advertising, she provides invaluable advice on making your product listings AI-ready, ensuring they rank and convert effectively.

Amazon's AI ecosystem is more robust than ever, with tools like Rufus and COSMO leading the charge. We explore how these systems, in conjunction with Alexa Plus, create a more personalized shopping experience by understanding user intent beyond simple keyword matching. Rufus, with its Q&A format, assists shoppers in an intuitive way, enhancing the overall shopping journey. By diving into the intricacies of these AI models, including advancements in semantic understanding and personalization, you'll gain a clearer understanding of how these technologies can be leveraged to enhance product discovery and customer satisfaction.

But how do you make sure Rufus notices your listings? We unpack strategies to optimize product visibility and engagement, from using synonyms in listings to transforming FAQs into compelling visuals that address customer concerns. A standout main image can significantly influence both search visibility and consumer interest, and utilizing all available image slots can cater to a diverse audience. Ritu offers creative solutions for presenting additional product information without overwhelming potential buyers, including the strategic use of comparison slides and detailed specifications. Tune in to discover how to stay ahead in the AI-powered e-commerce landscape.

In episode 658 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Ritu discuss:

00:00 - AI-Powered Product Listings for High Conversions
03:34 - Shifting to Conversational Search on Amazon
09:00 - The Future of Rufus Search
14:46 - Understanding COSMO and Rufus on Amazon
20:50 - Customized Ranking and Personalization on Amazon
25:43 - AI Strategies for Rufus Engagement
31:58 - Optimizing Responses to Product Questions
33:08 - Maximizing Product Listing Keywords for Rufus
36:35 - Maximizing SEO With Your Main Image
43:38 - Frequency of Extracting Questions From Rufus

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You may have seen NeuroGum on Shark Tank or seen Joe Rogan using them, but today, we have them on our show. They'll discuss their Amazon and TikTok Shop strategies and even how they've been using Helium 10 for years.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us in a captivating discussion with Jonathan from NeuroGum, the popular brand recognized for its appearance on Shark Tank and use by personalities like Joe Rogan. We explore NeuroGum's impressive strategies on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and TikTok Shop, revealing how they leverage tools like Helium 10 to enhance their online presence. Jonathan shares his personal journey from Korea to Texas, then New Jersey, and how his diverse academic background in communications, entrepreneurship, and art history has shaped his perspective on business and travel. Discover NeuroGum's ambitious growth plans and their recent move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

Listen in as we explore the entrepreneurial journey of an e-commerce success story. Beginning with a modest role at Bed, Bath & Beyond, our featured entrepreneur stumbled upon a life-changing YouTube video that propelled him into the world of Amazon selling. This narrative intertwines with the origin of NeuroGum, crafted by college friends Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen, who turned their dorm room creation into a thriving e-commerce product. Despite the allure of Shark Tank, they opted to focus on Amazon and TikTok, proving the power of strategic decisions in online retail. Their story illustrates the dynamic shift from traditional keyword ranking to innovative product offerings like nootropic gum and caffeine gum, tailoring marketing messages across platforms for maximum impact.

Gain insights into the evolving landscape of e-commerce and the strategies that propel brands like NeuroGum to success. Discover how influencer marketing tools, such as Helium 10's Influencer Finder for TikTok and Amazon, can amplify business growth when paired with the right creators and organic content. Uncover the logistical considerations of fulfillment strategies, balancing personal warehouses with TikTok's services. Additionally, we share a compelling tip for enhancing your Amazon brand’s presence through personal TikTok accounts centered on unique interests. This episode offers many strategies for aspiring sellers, emphasizing the importance of networking, collaboration, and strategic product offerings to achieve e-commerce success.

In episode 684 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jonathan discuss:

00:00 - NeuroGum Amazon Strategies and Origin
04:25 - Entrepreneurial Journey in E-Commerce and TikTok
05:00 - Late Start Leads to Successful Career
10:00 - Optimizing Advertising Spend for Sales Growth
16:56 - E-Commerce Platforms and Fulfillment Strategies
17:49 - TikTok Viral Video Success
25:06 - E-Commerce Strategies and TikTok Marketing
26:58 - Unique Approach to Amazon Business
30:24 - Amazon vs TikTok Subscription Savings
33:29 - "Employee Generated Content" for Brand Success
35:49 - TikTok Strategy for Amazon Success

View Details

In today's buzzing episode, we've got Prime Day results based on data collected by Pacvue, is OpenAI entering the e-commerce game? And new updates to flat files for uploading products in bulk.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Commerce Accelerated: Prime Day 2025 Preliminary Wrap-Up
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/commerce-accelerated-prime-day-2025-preliminary-wrap-up-burdick-xmbtc/

Prime Day event drives over $24 billion in US e-commerce sales, sees AI-driven boost
https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/07/15/prime-day-event-drives-over-24-billion-in-us-e-commerce-sales-sees-ai-driven-boost-465082/

OpenAI Seeks Piece of ChatGPT-Driven eCommerce Sales
https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2025/openai-seeks-piece-of-chatgpt-driven-ecommerce-sales/
Amazon Bulk Upload Improvements
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHR044TEY0VEJOVVM0VDdC

Amazon’s AI brand name tool now includes personality field
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRVMzOERTVFI0RVZQS0VC

Amazon’s new guide helps you enroll in Brand Registry
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHM1lKV1I1OUZXR1g5QktZ

FBA Inventory page updates will temporarily affect reports
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHS0pRWUQ5QjNRRVRFVDgy

Use vacation mode to protect your Amazon account’s health
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSERQR1A5TlZOVFZOOFY5

In this week’s strategy, Bradley shares a quick strategy for Amazon sellers to effortlessly convert their Amazon listings into TikTok Shop listings using Helium 10's Listing Converter tool, saving significant time and leveraging AI to optimize content for TikTok’s unique format. This fast, bulk conversion process can help sellers tap into TikTok’s growing e-commerce potential and even surpass Amazon sales.

Thanks for tuning in to the show! If you found value in today’s episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow E-commerce entrepreneur. For more tips, tools, and strategies to level up your e-commerce game, check out our other episodes and stay connected with us. Until next time, keep pushing forward and keep crushing it!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:49 - Prime Day Results
04:54 - Prime Day and AI
07:13 - Chat GPT Ecommerce
08:41 - Chrome Ext for KSA
12:10 - Bulk Upload Improvements
13:18 - AI Brand Name Tool
14:33 - Brand Registry Guide
15:06 - Strategy of the Week: How to Convert Your Amazon Listing to TikTok Shop
17:20 - FBA Inventory Updates
18:36 - Vacation for Sellers

View Details

How does Bradley Sutton manage over 300 PPC campaigns in less than 30 minutes a week? He opens up all of his processes to show how he sets them up using Helium 10 Ads.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Can you really master over 300 PPC campaigns in just 10 minutes a week? Bradley Sutton reveals how, using the power of Helium 10 Ads. This episode is packed with transformative strategies that have catapulted users from $6,000 to an astounding $250,000 in monthly ad sales. Through the magic of automation and the right data, discover how you can boost your advertising efficiency and profitability with minimal effort. Plus, we tackle your burning questions in a dynamic Q&A segment aimed at unlocking new levels of Amazon advertising success.

Ever wondered how to cut down your advertising costs while boosting performance? Bradley shares his personal journey managing his own Amazon accounts, demonstrating the power of optimizing ad strategies using Helium 10 tools. This episode shares practical insights, including auditing existing accounts to find quick wins and maximize the value of your advertising efforts. We spotlight efficient keyword harvesting and reveal the secret sauce to transforming manual processes into time-saving automated solutions, ensuring your advertising is consistently on point.

Finally, take a deep dive into the world of automating bidding strategies and mastering rules-based advertising. Learn how to set up personalized bidding rules that reduce ACoS incrementally, maintaining both visibility and profitability. Tailor your strategies to suit different accounts with unique algorithms and explore the concept of Dayparting to significantly cut wasted ad spend. This episode equips you with customizable strategies for managing ads, launching new products, and understanding the nuances of keyword management. An essential listen for anyone looking to elevate their Amazon advertising game.

In episode 683 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:01 - Maximizing Amazon PPC Campaigns Efficiency With Helium 10
03:16 - Leveraging Helium 10 Ads for Amazon PPC
11:10 - Helium 10 Ads Optimization Strategy
16:02 - Efficient Keyword Harvesting With Helium 10 Ads
18:19 - Cross-Campaign Keyword Optimization
22:37 - Automating Bidding Strategies for PPC
24:05 - Setting Up Automated Bid Rules
27:12 - Gradual ACoS Reduction Strategy
30:52 - Mastering Rules-Based Advertising With Helium 10 Ads
31:26 - Bidding Optimization Strategy for Amazon Advertising
37:20 - Maximizing Profitability With Helium 10 Ads
41:33 - Implementing Customized Ad Campaign Strategies
46:10 - Keyword Harvesting Automation and Conversion Analysis

View Details

Selling only in the US or Europe? Discover key insights on global e-commerce expansion, including VAT rules, packaging requirements, and strategies for success.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Are you ready to unlock the secrets of international e-commerce success? With Natalia from Avask as our expert guide, you'll gain invaluable insights into the essential considerations for global expansion. Natalia's multicultural upbringing and rich professional background offer a unique lens on the complexities of international market entry. From understanding VAT regulations to the nuances of packaging requirements, our conversation uncovers the pivotal elements that can make or break your cross-border ventures.

Our deep dive into global e-commerce tax considerations will give you the knowledge to navigate the European market and beyond. Discover why obtaining a VAT number is crucial and how Amazon's role as a marketplace facilitator can alleviate some tax responsibilities for non-EU sellers. We also shed light on the hurdles European sellers encounter when entering the US market, stressing the significance of mastering regional tax regulations to ensure your business thrives internationally.

Finally, we explore promising avenues for expansion beyond the familiar territories of the US and EU. Markets like Australia present unique opportunities with less saturation and favorable tax thresholds. As Natalia reminds us, global expansion isn't just a growth opportunity; it's a smart hedge against market fluctuations. With the right preparation and expert support, expanding your Amazon business across borders doesn't have to be overwhelming. From understanding VAT rules to knowing where (and where not) to store your inventory, success lies in the details. Don’t wait for Q4 panic or Prime Day regret to start the process. Lay the groundwork now, so you're ready when the moment comes.

And if you’re ready for step-by-step guidance, don’t miss the Expansion Ticket course inside Freedom Ticket! Available to all Helium 10 users. It’s your fast track to global readiness, whether you're scaling from the U.S. to Europe, or vice versa.

In episode 682 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Natalia discuss:

00:00 - Global Expansion Strategies for E-Commerce
04:29 - Natalia's Backstory
11:16 - VAT Requirements for Amazon Sellers
13:47 - Global E-Commerce Tax Considerations
15:59 - Understanding State Taxes and VAT
19:56 - European Sellers Expanding to US Market
21:32 - International E-Commerce Expansion Considerations
27:03 - Global Expansion Opportunities in E-Commerce
30:45 - Optimizing E-Commerce Shipping for Profit
33:35 - International E-Commerce Strategies

View Details

Prime Day results, more details on Amazon’s Vine review system, and major updates on the TikTok app’s future. All covered in this week’s episode of the Weekly Buzz.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast
► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension
► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)
► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft
► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon Prime Day Kicks Off With $7.9B In U.S. Online Sales On First Day
https://stocktwits.com/news-articles/markets/equity/amazon-prime-day-kicks-off-with-7-9b-in-us-online-sales-on-first-day/chFUCoOR500

Amazon Vine frequently asked questions
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GX3CEV63Y4ZZAP37

Helium 10 Launches Bulk Keyword Uploader for Seamless Migration from Other Tools
Users can now upload hundreds of keywords across multiple products instantly. Plus, retain historical rank data and benefit from Helium 10’s superior, full-page tracking.

A new TikTok app may be coming. Here’s what we know so far
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/09/tech/tiktok-new-app-us-sale

Instantly See Amazon’s Top 3 Clicked Products with Helium 10's Chrome Extension
Carrie reveals how sellers with Amazon Brand Registry can view real-time click and conversion data straight from Amazon while casually browsing, with no deep dive required.

Amazon Supercharges Influencer Earnings for Prime Day
https://influencermarketinghub.com/amazon-supercharges-influencer-earnings-for-prime-day/

Helium 10 Ads Launches “Super Wizard” for Custom Campaign Creation
Sellers can now build multiple ad campaigns at once with personalized naming structures, making campaign management faster, easier, and fully customizable.

Join Helium 10’s New TikTok Shop Facebook Community for Sellers
In this growing Helium 10-hosted Facebook group, you can connect with fellow TikTok Shop sellers, ask questions, share tips, and compete for future prizes. http://h10.me/tiktokgroup

Helium 10’s Monthly AI Workshop Returns Next Friday with Ritu Java
Join top AI expert Ritu Java for July’s AIM workshop, where she’ll share advanced strategies to use AI for keyword and product research in your e-commerce business. Sign up here: https://h10.me/aimjuly

Helium 10 Elite Gets AI-Powered Search Query Performance Analyzer
The new AI analysis toggle delivers instant charts and insights, such as top-converting keywords and high-value, low-visibility opportunities, streamlining data review for sellers.

Last Call: Apply Now for Project X Season 2 - Casting Contestants and E-Commerce Mentors
Helium 10 is filming a high-production case study series to help new and scaling sellers on Amazon, TikTok Shop, and beyond, with $10K in product funding and expert mentorship. https://h10.me/px2

That’s it for this week’s Weekly Buzz. Stay tuned, stay informed, and as always, keep crushing it in your e-commerce journey!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:03 - Prime Day Results?
02:56 - Big Vine Update Details
10:13 - Bulk Keyword Migration
13:05 - No More TikTok App?
15:45 - Search Results Strategy
18:13 - Amazon Influencer Increase
19:22 - Custom Campaign Creation
21:08 - TikTok Shop Community
21:56 - AI Workshop
22:54 - SQP AI
26:12 - Project X

View Details

Prime Day secrets, AMC insights, keyword hacks & listing tips. A popular guest returns with advanced Amazon strategies to boost clicks, conversions, and improve post-Prime Day momentum.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an engaging conversation with our returning guest, Benjamin Webber, as we explore a spectrum of e-commerce strategies with a spotlight on Amazon Prime Day tactics. Known for his innovative and entertaining approach to Amazon listings, Ben shares insights from his journey of transitioning from managing his own Amazon businesses to becoming a strategic advisor at ClearAds Agency. We discuss his role in expanding their services beyond advertising to provide full-service Amazon solutions. Alongside his current ventures, including partnering with a friend to scale a business and launching a product with Matt Altman, we speculate on how the timing of Prime Day near the 4th of July and its extended duration could impact traffic and sales.

Listen in as we uncover effective strategies for optimizing Amazon Prime Day sales. We outline tactics such as leveraging frequently bought together deals, utilizing Prime exclusive discounts, and targeting deals of the day. Ben offers a unique perspective on capturing conversions from cautious shoppers by running deals on the fourth day of Prime. Post-Prime Day, we emphasize the importance of using DSP for retargeting and employing coupons to convert pending sales and engage customers beyond the Prime Day excitement.

We also discuss enhancing Amazon listings for conversions and sales optimization through diversification. With tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud, we examine how businesses can gain a competitive edge by refining audience targeting and adapting to new algorithms. We touch on the potential of international market expansion, particularly in high-barrier markets like Germany, and the importance of strategic pricing. Ben shares valuable insights into analyzing sales data for optimal bidding and recognizing different customer behaviors throughout the day. Lastly, we highlight the benefits of exploring other sales platforms like Walmart and TikTok, while focusing on core competencies to sustain growth.

In episode 681 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Benjamin discuss:

00:01 - Amazon Prime Day Strategies and More
00:54 - Discussing E-Commerce Strategies
04:22 - Impact of Extended Prime Day
10:53 - Optimizing Amazon Prime Day Sales
13:13 - Post-Prime Day Sales Strategy
16:07 - Enhancing Amazon Listings for Conversions
19:42 - Enhancing Product Listings With Emotional Connection
24:01 - Optimizing Images for Amazon Conversion
28:35 - Amazon Sales Optimization and Diversification
29:00 - Optimizing Dayparting Ad Bids for Peak Times
34:04 - Expanding Market Reach With Pricing Strategies
39:21 - Product Management Strategies for Conversion Rates

View Details

Top AI & GPT expert shares tips on ChatGPT, AI agents, Rufus, and more. Plus, exclusive access to his private Amazon seller GPTs just for Serious Sellers Podcast listeners.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Andrew Bell, a standout figure in the realm of AI and custom GPTs, kicks off our very first installment of AIM, our Monthly AI workshop on all things artificial intelligence. In this episode, Andrew opens up about his journey from the Moody Bible Institute to becoming an e-commerce maestro on platforms like Amazon. Growing up in the quirky town of Santa Claus, Indiana, and now living in Kentucky, Andrew captivates with his unique perspective, connecting the dots between local sports rivalries and the debates surrounding artificial intelligence. His pioneering work with Touch of Class and his learnings from the Freedom Ticket course by Helium 10 laid the groundwork for his success, making him a voice worth listening to in the fast-paced world of e-commerce.

As we engage with Andrew, we discover the fascinating world of AI-driven tools designed for Amazon listing optimization and product research. With over 350 custom GPTs under his belt, Andrew discusses the art of prompting and how robust strategies can mitigate errors. The conversation takes a turn into the challenges faced when AI relies on outdated data, such as the myths surrounding the Amazon A10 algorithm. By blending AI with reliable resources like Helium 10’s data, the episode reveals how sellers can enhance the accuracy and trust of their listings, amidst a landscape of evolving AI capabilities.

Rounding out the episode, Andrew shares strategic insights for maximizing AI in product research and listing optimization. From the intricacies of using Amazon's generative AI-powered shopping assistant Rufus to the innovative application of AI reasoning models, Andrew highlights ways to maintain accurate and engaging Amazon listings. We explore the benefits of visual label tagging and new features for price alerts, all aimed at boosting conversion rates during key sales events. Don't miss Andrew's reflections on the continued evolution of AI technology and its growing impact on both personal and professional realms.

For those eager to try out Andrew Bell’s custom GPTs firsthand, listeners of the Serious Sellers Podcast get exclusive access. While many of his 350+ custom GPTs are still gated for private workshops and Helium 10 events, Andrew makes a few powerful ones available for our audience. Go to https://h10.me/andrewbellgpt to access a curated selection, including GPTs for product research, demand validation, e-commerce script agents, and even one cleverly titled NoMDashes, designed to remove those pesky AI giveaway dashes from your copy. These GPTs aren’t available to the general public yet, so this is your chance to explore cutting-edge AI tools before they’re widely released. Just one more perk of tuning in.

In episode 680 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andrew discuss:

01:00 - Andrew Bell's Backstory
04:55 - Success in Amazon Seller Optimization
09:03 - Pricing Strategies Across Different Niches
11:57 - Leveraging AI for Amazon Listing Optimization
14:35 - Trust in AI and Misconceptions
17:29 - Keyword Generation in ChatGPT
20:41 - Maximizing AI for Product Research
22:36 - The Future of Data Augmentation
26:29 - Leveraging AI for Comprehensive Product Research
34:07 - E-commerce Sellers Optimizing for AI in 2025
34:19 - Amazon Listing Optimization Strategies
37:51 - Visual and Textual Content for Conversions
40:39 - Click Training Data and Customer Questions
46:04 - Advancements in Reasoning Models and AI
47:00 - Amazon Rufus and AI Reasoning Models

View Details

Amazon may have just changed the game by letting you collect Vine reviews before your product launches. Project X is back with the $10,000 casting call, and KDP sellers are finally getting in-browser sales data inside the Chrome extension.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Get Amazon Vine reviews before your product launch
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUkVFTDNBUEtNVEdTUFlZ

Project X Casting Call - h10.me/px2

New Product Announcement: Introducing Amazon Ads Enhanced Video Generator
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffreycohen_amazon-ads-launches-enhanced-ai-powered-video-activity-7345838124293345280-AjIG/

Tariff Pressure Hits Temu and Shein in U.S. as European Growth Accelerates
https://www.modaes.com/global/companies/temu-and-shein-users-plummet-in-the-us-over-tariffs-rise-in-europe

US user base of Chinese E-commerce platforms Temu & Shein plummets amid US-China trade conflict
https://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html

Alternative options when West Coast ports are congested
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQ1ZMS0JMVjNDR1JUWjRO

Maximum box length for FBA orders to increase
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRExXTTMyVVhTVEdFNUM2

TikTok Shop opens for business in Japan as US fate hangs in balance
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3316505/tiktok-shop-opens-business-japan-us-fate-hangs-balance

Trump says he has 'a group of very wealthy people' to buy TikTok
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20nqdl5ydjo

From insightful updates to valuable KDP tools, this episode is packed with everything you need to navigate the evolving e-commerce landscape.

(Time Stamps) -

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:50 - Prelaunch Vine Reviews?
02:16 - Project X Casting Call
03:47 - Ads AI Video Generator
05:16 - Helium 10 New Feature Alert
08:33 - Temu & Shein Tariff Fallout
10:17 - Port Congestion Warning
11:18 - FBA Box Dimension Change
13:28 - TikTok Shop Japan
14:37 - TikTok US Buyer Found?
16:41 - Training Tip of The Week

View Details

This episode is another seller strategy masterclass. We'll discuss 10 unique strategies that most of your competitors are not using.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we explore innovative seller strategies in the ever-evolving Amazon and TikTok Shop marketplace, with a special focus on leveraging Helium 10's exclusive tools. We'll uncover how understanding the history of products frequently bought together can open up new bundling opportunities and product lines. For instance, finding out that bat-shaped shower curtain hooks are often purchased with bat-shaped bath mats can spark ideas for unique product offerings. By tapping into these insights, sellers can enhance their advertising strategies and target customers more effectively, ultimately gaining a competitive edge in a crowded marketplace.

We'll also discuss the transformative power of Helium 10's features, like automated keyword harvesting and heat maps. These tools not only streamline the process of discovering new keywords but also help manage inventory challenges. By automating notifications for relevant keywords and illustrating how shipping times are affected by stock levels, sellers can save time and optimize their listings. This provides a competitive advantage, allowing sellers to focus on strategic growth rather than tedious tasks. Additionally, we'll touch on TikTok Shop fulfillment tips, exploring how to distribute inventory effectively and utilize Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment for a seamless order processing experience.

Lastly, let’s dive into the impact of influencer marketing and Amazon advertising on boosting brand reach and conversion rates. The Helium 10 influencer finder becomes an invaluable resource for identifying potential collaborators, while the widget provides insights into the most clicked products in search results. These tools, along with exclusive Amazon seller strategies, make Helium 10 an indispensable suite for optimizing business operations. By harnessing these resources, sellers can uncover opportunities that might be missed when relying solely on traditional methods, significantly reducing the time spent managing ad campaigns and positioning themselves for success. Listen in as we unpack these strategies and more, equipping you with the knowledge to thrive in the e-commerce world.

In episode 679 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Unique Seller Strategies Masterclass
09:48 - Automated Keyword Harvesting and Heat Maps
12:15 - Automated Keyword Tracking for Competitors
15:44 - Amazon FBA Inventory Management Tips
19:06 - Amazon Data for Competitor Sales
24:34 - Easily Migrate and Track Keywords
25:54 - Influencer Marketing and Amazon Advertising
30:06 - Wooden Egg Holder Advertising Confusion
32:43 - Optimizing Amazon PPC Campaigns Manually
37:39 - Exclusive Amazon Seller Tools and Strategies
37:57 - Helium 10 Bid Suggestions for ACoS

View Details

In this episode, we talk with Alibaba’s US GM about powerful new AI tools, fast domestic sourcing, and how you can become a US-based supplier on Alibaba to reach global buyers.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we sit down with Justin Liu, the General Manager for Alibaba.com in North America, to uncover some exciting new AI features on the Alibaba platform. Justin shares his journey from growing up in China and studying at Georgetown University to his experiences at Amazon, where he gained valuable insights into the needs of sellers. Now at Alibaba, he focuses on helping North American suppliers set up storefronts and list products to access a global network of retailers and distributors. This conversation highlights how Alibaba is not just a sourcing hub but a gateway for North American manufacturers to reach international markets, addressing common misconceptions about its services.

In another segment, we explore the challenges of managing tariffs and supply chain risks for sellers expanding their businesses on platforms like TikTok Shop. With Alibaba's vast network of suppliers from various regions, sellers can confidently navigate international trade. We emphasize the importance of risk management tools, such as Alibaba's trade assurance program, which safeguards transactions. Additionally, we introduce Accio, the world's first AI-supported sourcing platform that transforms product discovery through a conversational interface similar to ChatGPT. By integrating with B2B platforms like Alibaba, Accio is setting itself apart as an adaptive resource for sellers worldwide. Listen in as we unpack these strategies and tools that empower sellers to grow their E-commerce businesses.

In episode 678 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Justin discuss:

00:00 - Alibaba's AI Features and Supplier Opportunities
03:39 - Alibaba's Expansion in North America
06:36 - Changing Landscape of E-Commerce Market
13:08 - Account Managers and TikTok Shop Services
13:59 - Managing Tariffs and Supply Chain Risks
18:48 - Managing Risks in Global E-Commerce Sourcing
23:24 - AI-Supported Sourcing Platform for Sellers
23:46 - AI-Based Sourcing Tool

View Details

Walmart and Target announced competing Prime Day sales. There's a new AI tool to optimize your listings in Seller Central, and Amazon is waiving some MCF fees for Walmart orders. These and more buzzing news this week!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Walmart, Target announce competing Prime Day sales
https://www.retaildive.com/news/walmart-target-competing-amazon-prime-day-summer-sales-events/751328/

Amazon temporarily waives seller fee tied to Walmart orders
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/amazon-mcf-walmart-surcharge-waived/751236/

Amazon Seller Central: Update product listings with new Fix Recommendations tool
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNU5XTFdHUVNUUzNNN0Ja

Amazon Seller Central: Ensure compliance documentation comes from compliant labs
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWE5LQVZaRjk3SkQ1NE41

Amazon Seller Central: Add or change price discounts in bulk with new template
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRldHV0JMUk5HWUJNS1VT

Amazon Seller Central: Quality guidelines for promotions
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUVNMM1MzNzMyMzQ2SDVM

Walmart testing ‘dark stores’ to fill online orders, according to report
https://chainstoreage.com/walmart-testing-dark-stores-fill-online-orders-according-report

Wrap up the week with us as we share insights and highlights buzzing through the e-commerce world, preparing you for the upcoming trends and discussions.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:54 - Big Box vs Amazon
02:22 - Training Tip: Index Checker
05:53 - Waived MCF Fees
07:22 - New AI Listing Tool
08:16 - New Compliance Req
09:22 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
16:25 - New Buk Template
17:19 - Promotions Guidelines
19:16 - Walmart Dark Stores

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In this episode, let’s learn how to advertise on TikTok Shop, choose the right creator commission, and convert your Amazon listings to TikTok Shop in seconds.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if TikTok Shop could be the next big thing for your e-commerce business? Paul Harvey of Rankster, a seasoned expert in both Amazon and TikTok Shop, joins us to unravel the hidden potential of TikTok Shop's dynamic platform for sellers looking to break new ground. Discover how Paul's transition from teaching to mastering e-commerce reveals insights into leveraging TikTok Shop's distinct marketplace, offering fresh opportunities for brands to thrive. We touch on the power of Helium 10's tools that simplify integrating your Amazon inventory with TikTok, streamlining your sales strategy across platforms.

For those eager to maximize their sales, understanding TikTok's unique environment is key. Not all products will shine here. While quirky and first-to-market items may capture the spotlight, more mundane offerings might fall short. We share intriguing success stories, like the unexpected popularity of premium sunflower seeds, underscoring the need for tailored strategies that resonate with TikTok's unique audience. Learn from common pitfalls as we discuss why some Amazon sellers struggle to replicate their success on TikTok without adapting their approach.

Finally, we tackle the art of optimizing ad campaigns on TikTok, highlighting the game-changing GMV Max ads that promise impressive returns. Paul shares the significance of forging strong affiliate partnerships, and how features like Helium 10's Influencer Finder tool can amplify your reach with the right creators. Whether you're a veteran Amazon seller or a newcomer, these insights equip you to harness TikTok Shop's potential, ensuring your business not only survives but thrives in this vibrant new landscape.

In episode 677 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Paul discuss:

00:01 - Mastering TikTok Shop for Amazon Sellers
01:40 - TikTok Shop Experience
06:14 - Aggregator Era Software Limitations
09:13 - Maximizing Sales on TikTok Shop
13:39 - Maximizing Sales Across Different Platforms
22:30 - Maximizing ROI With TikTok Ads
26:27 - GMV Max Delivery and ROI Optimization
31:51 - Fulfilling Orders Using FBA and TikTok
32:04 - Optimizing TikTok Sales and Fulfillment
37:40 - Maximizing ROI With GMV Max Ads
39:44 - TikTok Influencer Finder Tool for Sellers
41:28 - Creating AI-Powered Influencer Campaigns

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On this TACoS Tuesday episode, Destaney Wishon shares expert Prime Day tips to help you target smarter, bid stronger, and maximize your ad spend during Amazon’s biggest sales event.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if your Amazon Prime Day PPC strategy could skyrocket your sales like never before? Join us for an enlightening TACoS Tuesday session with Destaney Wishon, CEO of btr media, as she unveils the secrets to making the most of this bustling shopping event. As Prime Day continues to gain traction akin to a national holiday, Destaney shares unique insights into consumer behavior, comparing it with other major shopping events such as Black Friday. Tune in to understand how deal-seeking tendencies and burgeoning search intentions can be your golden ticket to optimizing ad performance and capturing a broad audience.

Together, we dissect the art and science of Amazon PPC campaigns. Destaney takes us through the intricacies of advanced keyword targeting, emphasizing the power of long-tail keywords that drive higher conversion rates due to their specific search intent. Discover how diversifying your approach with various match types can set you apart from the competition, enhancing both impressions and bid management. Avoid common pitfalls by learning the importance of not over-relying on core terms, and instead, optimize your campaigns through comprehensive keyword research. It's time to rethink your strategy and master the tools at your disposal to enhance your brand's visibility.

For those looking to maximize advertising efficiency during high-traffic times like Prime Day, this episode serves as your roadmap. Destaney explains the benefits of both automatic and manual targeting, offering tips for effective campaign management using tools like Helium 10 Ads. From search term report analysis to strategic budget management, you'll gain actionable insights to refine your approach. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this conversation is packed with expert advice to ensure your Amazon advertising strategy is primed for success.

In episode 676 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Maximizing Amazon Ads for Prime Day
03:34 - Prime Day's Impact on Amazon Customers
06:22 - Advanced Amazon PPC Keyword Targeting
09:18 - Customer Intent and Long Tail Keywords
12:08 - Maximizing Amazon Advertising Efficiency and Performance
19:11 - Amazon Search Query Performance Data
20:10 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising for Prime
22:49 - Optimizing Advertising for Prime Day
27:36 - Amazon PPC Strategy for Prime Day
27:58 - Advanced Prime Day Campaign Strategy
30:18 - Advanced Audience Targeting and Rule-Based Bidding
32:06 - Amazon Prime Day Advertising Strategies
35:25 - Customizing Budgets for Prime Wee

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Amazon Prime Day 2025 dates are here! TikTok Shop's deal day. Temu is back shipping directly from China? And free AI workshop tickets at Helium 10 HQ. All on today’s Weekly Buzz.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Prime Day is back July 8-11, with double the days and millions of deals
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-day-2025-date

Chinese-backed Temu resumes direct sales to US after Washington-Beijing trade truce
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3314334/chinese-backed-temu-resumes-direct-sales-us-after-washington-beijing-trade-truce

TikTok Shop is where shoppers come to discover
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-shop-is-where-shoppers-come-to-discover

Helium 10 just upgraded its Influencer Finder tool, making it easier than ever to discover Amazon and TikTok creators who’ve already made videos for products like yours. With new Chrome extension features and detailed influencer insights like email, video stats, and social links, you can now connect with relevant creators in minutes instead of hours.

TikTok Rolls Out New Badges To Highlight Seller Performance
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-adds-more-seller-badges-highlight-customer-service-performance/750637/

Helium 10’s Cerebro gives you unmatched visibility by showing keyword rankings across all seven Amazon search result pages—not just the top two or three like other tools. It also reveals where products appear in Amazon’s ad placements, helping you uncover competitor gaps, monitor fluctuations, and make smarter PPC decisions.

Resellers can now generate reviews with Amazon Vine
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNjZKNlRDRzUyVVFDOVo4

Roku And Amazon’s New Deal Will Target 80% Of US CTV-Watching Households
https://www.adexchanger.com/tv/roku-and-amazons-new-deal-will-target-80-of-us-ctv-watching-households/

TikTok Shop to launch e-commerce service in Japan as soon as this month
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/06/17/companies/tiktok-shop-japan/

Amazon may be extending its Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to a surprising 12-day window, from November 20th to December 1st, based on what's showing in Seller Central. Sellers should check their dashboards now to see if they qualify and can start scheduling deals for this extended event.

Helium 10 is hosting a live, in-person Elite AI Workshop on June 26th at its Irvine, CA headquarters, featuring top experts like Ritu Java and Andrew Bell— Go to h10.me/q2workshop free tickets are available with code ELITE100.

For virtual attendees, join the free TikTok Shop success webinar with Paul Harvey on June 25th at h10.me/ttwebinar, and don’t miss the AI Arsenal beginner workshop with Andrew Bell and Bradley Sutton on June 23rd at h10.me/aiwebinar.

This episode is packed with actionable insights to keep you ahead in the fast-evolving world of e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:50 - Prime Day 2025 Dates
03:11 - Temu Shipping From China Again?
06:19 - TikTok Shop Up 120%
09:58 - Influencer Finder
16:26 - New TikTok Badges
17:59 - Training Tip of the Week
21:59 - Vine For Resellers
22:57 - Roku X Amazon
25:17 - TikTok Japan
25:37 - Amazon Black Friday Week?
27:14 - Webinars/Workshops

View Details

In this episode, we talked to a seller who began as a newbie on Amazon, asking questions in the Helium 10 Facebook group way back in 2019, and is now on pace to make $3 million in sales this year.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if you could transform from a complete novice to a $3 million Amazon seller within a few years? Join us as Amina Solohova, a vibrant member of the Helium 10 members Facebook community, unveils her incredible journey from an international relations student in St Petersburg to a thriving entrepreneur navigating the bustling world of e-commerce. With stops in Thailand, Spain, and now Ireland, Amina shares how her relentless pursuit of a fulfilling career led her to Amazon, despite having no background in business. Listen to learn how community involvement and determination can propel you to unprecedented heights.

Amina’s story isn't just about selling products; it’s about mastering strategies and tools that ensure success in competitive markets. Together with her husband, she’s managed to maintain a healthy profit margin, even in Europe’s challenging market landscape. She opens up about the pivotal role Helium 10 has played in streamlining her operations and how they’ve effectively handled PPC and product design. Plus, she gives us a glimpse of her ambitious expansion plans, which include potential ventures onto platforms like TikTok Shop and launching in new markets across the US and Europe.

But that’s not all—experience the camaraderie and local flavor as Amina recounts hosting a memorable meetup with Irish sellers. As she anticipates breaking sales records and invites us to future discussions on her ongoing success, Amina’s insights become a beacon for aspiring Amazon sellers. This episode is not just a testament to innovation and resilience in e-commerce; it's an invitation to embrace the power of community and the endless possibilities it offers.

In episode 675 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Amina discuss:

00:00 - From Newbie to $3 Million Seller
01:07 - Helium 10 Community Engagement Yields Amazon Success
13:13 - Optimizing Amazon Sales and Strategies
13:51 - Utilizing Facebook Groups for Amazon Sellers
17:35 - Expanding Business to Europe and Online
22:59 - Localizing Amazon Listings for Higher Conversion
23:30 - Global Amazon Seller Strategies
26:32 - Keywords in Amazon Sponsored Brand Targeting
32:05 - Importance of Native-Sounding Listings
34:17 - Ireland Meetup and Future Plans

View Details

Learn how to convert your Amazon listings to TikTok Shop quickly, find influencers to promote your products, and fulfill TikTok Shop orders using Amazon MCF — all in just a few easy steps.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Curious about tapping into new markets without breaking a sweat? What if you could seamlessly expand your Amazon business onto TikTok Shop with minimal effort? We've got just the episode for you! Join us as we chat with Helium 10's Bradley Sutton, who unveils the secrets to effortlessly listing your Amazon products on TikTok. With these new suite of TikTok Shop tools for sellers, you can find and connect with influencers who can skyrocket your brand's visibility and manage order fulfillment through Amazon MCF, ensuring your TikTok Shop venture runs like a well-oiled machine.

This episode is your key to unlocking the potential of TikTok Shop by leveraging Helium 10's powerful suite of tools. We walk you through each step of setting up your TikTok Shop account, from signing up and connecting your token with Helium 10 to adapting your Amazon listings for TikTok's unique format. You’ll gain valuable insights into the nuances of listing migration, fulfillment options, and product compliance requirements. Whether you're on the starter plan or a seasoned seller, our conversation promises a ton of strategies to help you optimize your product listings for maximum profitability.

But that's not all! Discover how to find and collaborate with influencers whose audiences align perfectly with your niche market. Whether your products cater to spooky-themed enthusiasts or a more general crowd, Helium 10’s TikTok Influencer Finder tool will help you build successful partnerships with influencers, maximizing your outreach and sales. Plus, learn how to map your TikTok products to Amazon FBA SKUs, ensuring a seamless multi-channel fulfillment process. Bradley also shares tips on syncing inventory and managing orders efficiently, paving the way for a smooth and profitable expansion onto TikTok Shop. Don’t miss this opportunity to broaden your e-commerce reach and enhance your brand’s presence on one of the world’s most engaging platforms!

Thinking about selling on TikTok Shop—or maybe you are already in it and ready to scale? Unlock all of Helium 10’s brand-new TikTok Shop tools with our Diamond plan—everything from bulk Amazon to TikTok listing conversions to instant Amazon MCF fulfillment. Best of all? You use the discount code TT10 to get 10% off Diamond for 6 months — even if you've used a coupon before. So go ahead and upgrade and let Helium 10 do the heavy lifting so you can focus on what really matters. For more info on our new TikTok shop offerings, visit h10.me/tiktok.

In episode 674 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:35 - Seller Strategy Masterclass for TikTok Shop Tools
01:48 - How to Learn How to Sell on TikTok Shop
04:12 - How to Check TikTok Shop Profitability of Your Amazon Products
06:52 - How to Connect Your TikTok Shop Token to Helium 10
10:30 - How to Convert Your Amazon Listings in Seconds to TikTok Shop
16:41 - How to Find and Message TikTok Influencers
27:22 - How to Map Your TikTok Products to Amazon FBA SKUs
36:25 - How to Use Amazon MCF to Fulfill TikTok Shop Orders

View Details

Amazon sunsets Posts, Temu’s U.S. traffic drops 48% post-tariff shift, Walmart fee waived for MCF, and new Ads tool. These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

The Posts API will be discontinued as of June 3, 2025
https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/release-notes/index#posts-are-deprecated-as-of-june-3-2025

Create up to 100 coupons at once with new bulk upload feature
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUlc5Q0FTQjZGUVVVUjk1

Set automated ad rules in Ads by Helium 10 based on inventory levels—pause, bid adjust, or trigger actions as stock changes.

Floor loaded shipping now available for Amazon Partnered Carrier program
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHOUtGQlk0WUxITEI3Uk1B

Surcharge waived for use of alternative carriers to fulfill Walmart orders
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSFYzUEtXODg5Q0NMWURE

Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker with Boost lets you track keyword rankings hourly—24 times a day—for real-time insights across browsing conditions.

Temu sees 48% drop in US users after de minimis loophole ends
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2025/06/04/temu-user-base-plunges-tariffs/84028372007/

Prepping for Prime Day 2025? Don’t miss our complete Prime Day checklist—stay organized and boost your momentum! Go to h10.me/primedaychecklist

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:46 - Bye Amazon Posts
01:57 - Bulk Coupon Upload
02:42 - PPC Inventory Rule
08:38 - No Pallet? No Problem
09:38 - Walmart Fee Waived
10:35 - Hourly Keyword Tracking
13:19 - Temu Traffic Drops 48%
14:27 - EU Battery Ban Incoming
15:58 - Prime Day Checklist

View Details

In this episode, we're talking to one of the TikTok Shop sellers who has probably been one of the most successful with TikTok Shop live selling. He has sold millions on the platform!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Can you imagine turning your side hustle into a million-dollar success story on TikTok Shop? Discover the inspiring journey of Jared Mortensen, Founder & Chief Designer of Real Men Apparel Company, a former aerospace industry professional turned e-commerce powerhouse. With a background in finance and engineering, Jared's story takes us from his Southern Utah roots to working with industry giants like Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems, before making a pivotal shift into the world of e-commerce. It's a transformation fueled by innovation and learning, as he shares the early challenges and ultimate triumphs of launching his own business on TikTok Shop.

Navigate the ups and downs of starting an e-commerce business, as we explore Jared's initial foray into Amazon selling and his eventual pivot to TikTok live streaming. He candidly shares the hurdles of cash flow issues and overstocking, which led to his revolutionary approach to live selling. Just before Black Friday 2023, Jared's live streaming strategy exploded, generating nearly $2 million in revenue. He uncovers the impactful role live commerce plays in the digital marketplace, inspired by its booming success in China, and the remarkable achievement of selling 12,000 units in a single hour.

Unpack the tactics and strategies that make TikTok live sales a game-changer in today's e-commerce environment. Jared offers valuable insights into creating engaging content and the importance of maintaining authenticity without striving for perfection. With practical advice on setting up streams and connecting with audiences, he emphasizes the power of affiliate outreach and consistent experimentation. Learn from his experiences and those of brands like Real Men Apparel, who leverage TikTok live selling to build a devoted fan base and redefine success beyond platforms like Amazon. Join us as we explore the evolving landscape of e-commerce and the limitless potential of TikTok.

In episode 672 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jared discuss:

00:00 - TikTok Shop Seller's Success Story
07:28 - Product Launch Success and Market Confidence
10:23 - Successful Amazon Business Growth and Marketing
14:52 - TikTok Shop Live Sales Strategies
19:56 - Trends in Handwritten Content Marketing
23:25 - Demonstrating Products With POV Shots
26:28 - TikTok Live Streaming Strategies
29:40 - Creating Content for Live Streams
32:50 - Maximizing TikTok Engagement Through Content Volume

View Details

Helium 10 just launched an entire suite of tools for TikTok Shop, Prime exclusive discounts, and how TikTok wants to be your next bookstore. These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Submit Prime-Exclusive Price Discounts for Amazon’s Prime Day 2025
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHR0FMQkJBTUg2UVlZSE1I

TikTok Shop Wants to Be Your New Favorite Bookstore
https://www.insidehook.com/books/tiktok-shop-your-new-favorite-bookstore

TikTok Introduces AI-Powered Seller Assistant to Streamline In-App Shopping
https://influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-ai-powered-seller-assistant-in-app-shopping/

Our conversation takes a deep dive into the practical aspects of using AI-powered tools to transform your Amazon listings for TikTok Shop. We guide you through the user-friendly process of converting listings, selecting products, and setting up multi-channel fulfillment to ensure smooth operations. By connecting your Amazon inventory to TikTok Shop, sellers can optimize their formatting and streamline their expansion on this dynamic platform with confidence.

In the quest to amplify your product's reach, harness the power of TikTok influencers with Helium 10's latest tool. Learn how to manage your inventory effectively to ride the wave of viral success and use AI features to identify influencers who best match your brand's needs. Finally, we spotlight the significant role of keyword rankings in driving sales, using real-world examples to show how strategic optimization through Helium 10's Cerebro tool can lead to improved business decisions. Join us as we explore these transformative strategies and the new Helium 10 TikTok suite of tools to elevate your e-commerce game.

Ready to get started using these powerful tools for TikTok Shop? Get 10% off on the Helium 10 Diamond Plan for 6 months, use this special discount code TT10

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:18 - Prime Day Discounts
03:06 - TikTok Bookstore?
04:42 - AI Seller Assistant
07:19 - TikTok Shop Course
09:18 - TikTok Profitability Calculator
11:00 - Connect Your TT Account
12:12 - Bulk Convert to TT Shop
15:17 - Connect MCF to TT Shop
17:23 - TikTok Influencer Finder Tool for Sellers
22:46 - Sales Fluctuations? Find out Why

View Details

Learn how to protect your Amazon and E-commerce business from tariff risks as top experts share strategies for long-term success in tariffs, sourcing, and shipping on this episode.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if navigating the complex world of tariffs could become your competitive advantage? Join Carrie Miller as she hosts industry veterans Steve Simonson, Chad Rubin of Profasee, Burak Yolga of Forceget, and Rob Hahn from Pattern share invaluable strategies for Amazon businesses grappling with the ongoing challenges of tariffs. We tackle the pressing issues of adapting sourcing practices, ensuring supply chain visibility, and building resilient operations amidst political and economic changes. Whether it's mitigating tariff impacts or exploring new sourcing opportunities, our experts equip you with the tools to thrive in an ever-shifting global market.

This conversation takes a deep dive into the art of negotiation with suppliers. Discover the power of clarity and specificity in agreements, and learn how persistence can lead to advantageous deals. We also explore the concept of Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) importing, weighing its convenience against potential risks. Building long-term, cooperative relationships with suppliers is crucial, and our discussion highlights strategies to ensure mutual benefits in dynamic environments. Additionally, we delve into the intricacies of international trade, examining the shift from China to other manufacturing hubs like Vietnam and Mexico.

As we explore global manufacturing diversification, we emphasize the need for strategic, long-term planning in response to geopolitical and economic disruptions. From the challenges of relocating production to understanding HTS codes and tariffs, we offer actionable insights for setting up your business for success. Our discussion also touches on the nuances of bonded warehouses and free trade zones, providing guidance on optimizing costs and cash flow. Tune in to gain practical advice on maneuvering through the complexities of the global trade landscape and ensuring your business remains resilient and future-ready.

In episode 670 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Burak, Chad, Rob and Steve discuss:

00:01 - Navigating Tariffs for Long-Term Success
05:23 - Brands' Pricing and Supply Chain Strategies
09:06 - Amazon Pricing Strategy Considerations
11:09 - Negotiating Terms and DDP Importing
14:12 - Navigating Tariffs and Import Strategies
16:35 - Navigating Tariffs in E-Commerce Space
19:43 - Navigating Supplier Pricing and Taxes
23:36 - Understanding Bonded Warehouses and FTZs
25:15 - Importance of Shipping and Invoicing Carefully
30:03 - Global Manufacturing Diversification Trends
30:30 - Exploring Opportunities and Managing Volatility
33:12 - Trade-Offs and Market Targeting Strategy
35:24 - Global Manufacturing and Tariff Strategies
38:51 - Navigating Tariffs and Economic Trends

View Details

A big Walmart policy change might have made it easier for you to start selling on the platform. Amazon cut sellers’ FBA capacity limits again, and Helium 10 launches a new TikTok influencer finder tool. These and more buzzing stories in this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Big Amazon Walmart Policy Shift
https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Policies%20&%20standards/Shipping%20&%20fulfillment/Shipping-and-fulfillment-policy

Amazon Ads Summit: Prep for Prime Day
https://h10.me/primeads

Nike to return to Amazon, raise prices
https://www.retaildive.com/news/nike-amazon-marketplace-raising-footwear-prices-tariffs/748986/

Helium 10 launched the Expansion Ticket course inside Freedom Ticket to all members to help sellers expand to global Amazon marketplaces with guidance from Avask experts.

FBA Capacity Change
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/inventoryplanning/manageinventoryhealth?ref_=xx_invplan_dnav_xx

Helium 10 just launched the new TikTok Influencer Finder tool, which allows users to bulk search and message influencers for TikTok Shop collaborations!

Sponsored ads and Stores launch in Ireland
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-ads-and-stores-launch-in-ireland/

Helium 10 Size Tier Alerts Feature
https://youtu.be/0zKf-czW2q8?si=ls9ZzCvXFz2NqKXE&t=2028
Helium 10’s Alerts tool can flag products close to a lower Amazon size tier. Bradley saved $5,625 by shrinking packaging and reducing FBA fees by $3.75/unit.

Amazon FBA $4 billion investment in rural delivery
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUTNXUDNMSkFBQVU1S01X

Join us as we explore these dynamic shifts in the e-commerce landscape and equip you with strategies to stay ahead of the curve.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Big Amazon Walmart Policy Shift
03:23 - Prime Day Ads Prep
03:59 - Nike Back on Amazon
05:22 - Expansion Ticket
07:26 - FBA Capacity Change
09:06 - Influencer Finder
12:56 - Ireland Sponsored Ads
13:34 - Size Tier Alerts
17:32 - FBA Rural Delivery
19:16 - Estonia Event

View Details

In part two of our Seller Strategy Masterclass, discover how to use Helium 10’s Chrome Extension to uncover Amazon sales data, find product opportunities, and dramatically cut FBA costs—all with just a few clicks.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join Shivali Patel as we continue our Seller Strategy Masterclass, where we focus on the power of the Helium 10 Chrome Extension for Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop sellers. In this episode, Shivali explores how to harness this tool to estimate product sales, locate Alibaba suppliers, and optimize packaging to reduce costs. By highlighting lesser-known features like child-level variation sales and seller location insights, she offers guidance on leveraging these tools to gain a competitive edge. We'll also discuss the Amazon search bar as a product research strategy, utilizing long-tail keyword suggestions, title density analysis, and the significance of Amazon's related searches. Plus, Shivali introduces the Smart Complete feature, which offers fresh keyword suggestions from real user data. It provides new opportunities for sellers to enhance their product research and discover new niches in the Amazon marketplace.

Listen in as we explore advanced product research techniques with the Xray tool from the Helium 10 Chrome extension. We’ll show you how to use it beyond the typical search results page, applying it to Amazon's best sellers page and seller storefronts to validate product demand efficiently. We'll examine key metrics like seller location, listing age, and fulfillment type to assess market competitiveness and opportunities. By customizing product opportunity criteria with the two-factor success score, you'll learn how to evaluate niches efficiently. We also focus on understanding the intersecting factors influencing profitability in Amazon selling, like price and FBA fees, while exploring strategies to detect review manipulation. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting, this episode is packed with strategies to optimize your E-commerce business.

In episode 668 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali talks about:

00:00 - Amazon Sales Strategy the Helium 10 Chrome Extension
08:11 - Real-Time Keyword Validation and Product Idea Generation
11:00 - Maximizing Amazon Keyword Data With Helium 10 Xray Keywords
12:18 - Advanced Product Research Techniques
16:39 - Efficient Product Opportunity Qualification Strategy
23:48 - Importance of Product Dimensions for Profits
23:52 - Amazon Product Profit Analysis
27:16 - Assessing Review Manipulation Risk Factors

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Amazon's new small business report reveals exactly how the marketplace is doing for independent sellers, TikTok users reveal who's really shopping on TikTok Shop, and Amazon is issuing surprise refunds dating back to 2018. These and more buzzing news on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

New Amazon report shows small businesses have created millions of US jobs and built thriving communities
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/small-business/amazon-2024-small-business-empowerment-report

Are US TikTok users turning to TikTok Shop?
https://business.yougov.com/content/52193-are-us-tiktok-users-turning-to-tiktok-shop

Got a Surprise Amazon Refund? We Now Know Why
https://www.pcmag.com/news/got-a-surprise-amazon-refund-we-now-know-why

EU plans 2 euro fee for low-value parcels in setback for Shein, Temu
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/eu-eyes-2-euro-handling-fee-online-parcels-customs-reform-2025-05-21/

Shopify launches AI tool that builds complete online stores from keywords
https://www.reuters.com/business/shopify-launches-ai-tool-that-builds-complete-online-stores-keywords-2025-05-21/

Boost sales with Memorial Day Outlet merchandising
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHMjlOQ1RLUUIyVEZFSzJQ

Manage shipments easier with new Send to Amazon features
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSEFZSzlLRkszTFI5S0hG

Change to Buyer-Seller Messaging options
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNENSQUpOSzJENkQ0VFJO

For our new feature alerts, Helium 10 has introduced a powerful update to its Helium 10 Ads Campaign Builder, now supporting Sponsored Display Audience Targeting with options to optimize for impressions, visits, or conversions, along with expanded audience targeting and multiple ad formats, including video. Additionally, the revamped Ads Academy. Hosted by Bradley Sutton and Destaney Wishon, offers a comprehensive, beginner-to-advanced course on Amazon advertising, accessible to all Helium 10 paid subscribers.

This week's strategy highlights how sellers can use Helium 10’s Search Query Performance Analyzer tool to identify every keyword that generated a sale over a specific period directly from Amazon data. Unlike Amazon Seller Central, this tool allows for efficient filtering by product, keyword, and time frame, offering a faster, clearer view of what’s truly driving sales. As we wrap up this episode, we invite you to stay tuned for the latest trends shaping the e-commerce landscape, equipping you to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:50 - $2.5 Trillion Milestone
02:52 - TikTok Shop Truth
05:23 - Refunds from 2018
06:52 - EU Hits Back
08:50 - Shopify Builds Stores
10:08 - Amazon Adds Audio
12:08 - Homepage Outlet Push
13:34 - Send-to-Amazon Updates
14:50 - Message Marked Gone
15:38 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
18:29 - Training Tip: Search Query Analyzer by Helium 10

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In this episode, we're talking to a seller who sold over $100 million on Amazon about why tariffs haven't affected him at all, what's more important to him than initial reviews, and more!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Meet Neeme Rõõs, a trailblazing Amazon seller hailing from Estonia, who shares his fascinating journey from a childhood in the Soviet Union to becoming a heavyweight in the Amazon-selling arena. Neeme opens up about his transition from managing thousands of affiliate websites to launching a successful private label venture on Amazon. With over $100 million in sales under his belt, Neeme provides invaluable insights into how he achieved early victories with essential oils and navigated the dynamic shifts in the e-commerce landscape to keep his business thriving.

The episode dives into the nitty-gritty of operating a successful Amazon business amid rising fees and advertising costs. Neeme reveals his strategies to focus on product quality and customer satisfaction, even as the e-commerce arena becomes more competitive. We discuss the benefits of manufacturing in the U.S. for brands in the beauty and health sectors, a choice that has helped Neeme's business sidestep adverse tariffs and supply chain hiccups. Learn about the meticulous crafting of unique products and algorithm-friendly listings that capture customer attention and stand out in the marketplace.

In an enlightening conversation on market strategies, Neeme emphasizes the role of customer feedback and keyword optimization in product launches. We explore how securing initial reviews and targeting specific keywords attract informed buyers and reduce negative feedback. This episode also highlights tools like Helium 10 Audience, powered by PickFu, and Market Tracker which aid in optimizing product listings and understanding market share. As a final treat, we offer a glimpse into an upcoming Amazon seller conference in Estonia, Ambizion, showcasing the immense value of connecting with peers and exploring Estonia’s vibrant history and culinary delights. Use code HELIUM10 to get 100€ off your tickets!

In episode 666 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Neeme discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Success and Expansion Strategies
01:00 - Impact of Tariffs on Amazon Sales
07:19 - Amazon Sales Growth in EU and Amazon US Expansion
13:33 - Amazon Business Strategy Success Factors
15:35 - Long-Term Product Strategy Approach
19:09 - Impact of Tariffs on Competitors
21:41 - Product Feedback and Keyword Optimization
26:09 - Slow and Steady Growth Strategy
28:46 - Catch Bradley at the Ambizion Event
32:41 - Market Share Strategy and Estonia Travel
34:48 - Helium 10 Market Tracker

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China tariffs were slashed—but what about de minimis? Plus, how to fulfill Amazon Ireland orders without local inventory. All this and more on today’s Weekly Buzz episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

U.S. and China Agree on Tariff Pause in Major Trade War Rollback
https://time.com/7284765/us-china-trade-war-pause/

US slashes 'de minimis' tariff on small China parcels to 54%
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-cut-minimis-tariff-china-051520824.html

US-China trade reprieve buys Shein and Temu time to restock US inventory
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/ecommerce-packages-left-out-us-china-tariff-reprieve-2025-05-12/

TikTok Shop brings pre-owned to continental Europe
https://ecommercenews.eu/tiktok-shop-brings-pre-owned-to-continental-europe/
Amazon Remote Fulfilment with FBA is now available from UK to Ireland
https://channelx.world/2025/05/amazon-remote-fulfilment-with-fba-is-now-available-from-uk-to-ireland/

Upcoming changes to Seller Fulfilled Prime
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GXCRLXHNJNPE2DHM

Amazon Fee adjustments for partnered carrier shipment measurements
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUjlRUFJDQ1FNN1o4V1c3

Amazon signs up FedEx for residential deliveries
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-strikes-partnership-fedex-ups-204255139.html

Amazon Drops 3 New CTV Ad Formats Ahead of Its Upfront Presentation
https://www.adweek.com/commerce/amazon-drops-3-new-ctv-ad-formats-ahead-of-its-upfront-presentation/

Catch Bradley at the following events:

Worldef Istanbul 2025 - https://h10.me/istanbul
Amazon Ads Korea Event - https://h10.me/adskorea
Tech Partner Day Tokyo 2025 - https://h10.me/tokyo

View Details

Amazon shares how its SIPP program helps sellers cut FBA fees and boost sustainability through more innovative packaging. Learn how to save costs and improve customer experience.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an insightful discussion on Amazon's Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP) program, where we explore the intersection of cost efficiency and environmental sustainability. Our special guest, Kirsten Freiheit, who leads the North American Division for Selling Partner Engagement for Sustainable Packaging at Amazon, shares her expertise and passion for innovative packaging solutions. Listen in as we discuss how the SIPP program not only helps sellers reduce fees by optimizing packaging but also enhances brand value and aligns with Amazon's goals of fast, efficient, and environmentally conscious delivery.

Discover the sustainability benefits of Amazon's SIPP program as we highlight its positive impact on sellers and customers. Brands like Cool Life are leveraging sustainable practices to boost sales. Kirsten shares creative examples of custom packaging, such as reversible boxes and cat playhouses, that enhance the customer experience. We also discuss the program's success in reducing packaging waste and eliminating single-use plastics, which represents a significant step towards combining sustainability with efficient brand representation.

Streamlining enrollments in the SIPP program is another key topic, focusing on enhancing the Seller Central portal through product family groupings and portfolio analysis. Kirsten explains how these tools simplify the process of managing ASINs, making it easier for sellers to participate in the program. We also touch on testing requirements for e-commerce fulfillment and the importance of securing packaging to prevent damage. This conversation underscores the SIPP program's role in fostering innovation and excellence in sustainable packaging, all while maintaining a strong connection to Amazon's broader mission.

Learn More About Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging Program:

Amazon Packaging: https://www.amazon-packaging.com/sellers
Seller Central SIPP enrollment page: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/sipp-enrollment

In episode 664 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kirsten discuss:

00:00 - Amazon's SIPP Program
01:53 - Amazon Background and Sustainable Packaging Program
07:15 - What is the Ships in Product Packaging Program by Amazon?
13:51 - Sustainability Benefits of SIPP
17:00 - Innovative Packaging Enhances Customer Experience
19:33 - Enhancements and Benefits of this Program
20:06 - Streamlining Enrollments in the SIPP Program
27:53 - Amazon's Sustainable Cost-Saving Program

View Details

Temu is halting shipments from China and Amazon is reporting on pricing changes on the platform due to the tariffs. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Temu halts shipments from China to US, shifts to selling from American warehouses
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/05/05/temu-us-china-shipments/83456690007/

Shein, Temu ramp up advertising in UK and France as US tariffs hit
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/shein-temu-ramp-up-advertising-uk-france-us-tariffs-hit-2025-05-05/

Amazon addresses tariffs, fulfillment as it reports Q1 sales growth
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/amazon-sales/

Introducing Amazon Haul – thousands of products for £20 or less, with the majority under £10
https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/news/retail/amazon-haul-uk-affordable-products

TikTok Shares Data on IP Detection and Shopping Safety
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-shopping-safety-ip-protection-report/747077/

How to use Prime Video’s new 'Shop the Show' feature to discover products from your favorite series, movies, and live sports
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/shop-the-show-mobile-shopping-prime-video

Generate brand names with Amazon’s new AI tool
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSDVDRVVaNllNSDJWUlRa

Road to Walmart’s Open Call 2025
https://corporate.walmart.com/suppliers/investing-in-american-jobs/events/annual-open-call/open-call-2025

his episode is packed with actionable insights, including Helium 10 training tips from Bradley and Shivali. Plus, we present our all-new tariff hub—a one-stop resource for navigating the complexities of international trade. Whether you're an e-commerce veteran or a newcomer, these updates are invaluable in shaping your strategy. Tune in for an engaging session packed with strategic insights and valuable updates for sellers at every level in the e-commerce world.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:50 - Temu Halts Shipments from China
03:50 - Shein and Temu Increase EU Advertising
05:47 - Amazon Reports Tariff Impact
08:45 - Amazon Haul UK
09:40 - TikTok Protecting IP
11:37 - Amazon Shop the Show
13:08 - New Amazon AI Tool
13:57 - Road to Open Call
15:43 - Training Tip #1: Child ASIN Sales Estimates
17:52 - Training Tip #2: Filter Amazon Brand Analytics Keywords
20:46 - Helium 10 Tariff Hub - h10.me/tariffhub

View Details

This episode is part one of this two-part seller strategy masterclass that shows how to find product opportunities, keyword research, and spy on competitors using Helium 10’s Chrome Extension.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Could the Helium 10 Chrome Extension be the secret weapon in your Amazon selling arsenal? In this episode, Carrie Miller joins us to unveil the transformative potential of this powerful tool for sellers at every level. With features like the Xray tool and ASIN Grabber, you can discover how to analyze sales, target PPC campaigns, and track competitor inventory with ease. Carrie shares her expertise, shedding light on identifying product opportunities and gaining insights into competitor strategies across platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Shopify.

Explore advanced strategies for product analysis and competition monitoring with us. Learn how to leverage competitor inventory levels and keyword density analysis to uncover gaps in the market and optimize your product listings. We dive into the significance of understanding product variations, seller strategies, and fulfillment methods to enhance your marketplace positioning. Plus, we provide practical advice on utilizing tools like Helium 10 Alerts to stay ahead of the competition and maximize profitability.

Our conversation also highlights the importance of optimizing product packaging, especially for those using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Discover how small changes in packaging dimensions can significantly impact your profit margins and learn how to assess costs accurately using the Profitability Calculator. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced seller, this Helium 10 Chrome Extension masterclass offers invaluable insights into boosting your sales, optimizing advertising efforts, and much more. Don't miss the opportunity to elevate your Amazon business with these strategic tools and techniques.

In episode 662 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about:

00:00 - Seller Strategy Masterclass on Helium 10 Chrome Extension
00:29 - Leveraging Amazon With Chrome Extension
04:39 - Supplier Finder Chrome Extension Analysis
07:34 - Analyzing Product Demand and Competition
12:25 - Marketplace Analysis for Amazon Listings
15:06 - Product Analysis Strategies for Amazon
19:46 - Pricing History and Stock Monitoring
22:18 - Maximizing Profitability Through Packaging
23:44 - Amazon Profitability Calculator for TikTok Shop
28:58 - Product Bundle Strategy for Increased Sales
31:25 - Chrome Extension Masterclass Part Two

View Details

You might not be able to send inventory to FBA next month. Tariff surcharges could appear on Amazon listings, and TikTok Shop expands again. All this buzzing news and more!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon Slashes Your FBA Capacity!
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/inventory-storage/storage-request/limit-increase

Create deals for Amazon Pet Day
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/pet-day

Amazon denies plans to list tariff prices after President Trump calls Jeff Bezos to object
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/29/amazon-tariff-costs-trump-white-house/83340801007/

Grow With US: How Walmart's New Program Aims To Help Small Businesses Go Big
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/04/29/grow-with-us-how-walmarts-new-program-aims-to-help-small-businesses-go-big

France urges fees on cheap e-commerce parcels in EU
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/france-urges-fees-cheap-e-121540875.html

Walmart to Offer 3-Hour Delivery to 95% of Americans
https://www.pymnts.com/walmart/2025/walmart-to-offer-3-hour-delivery-to-95percent-of-americans/

Exclusive: Some Amazon sellers are pulling out of Prime Day amid Trump tariffs
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/some-amazon-sellers-are-pulling-out-prime-day-amid-trump-tariffs-2025-04-28/

Walmart, Target resume business with some Chinese factories after tariff-related halt, suppliers say
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/29/business/walmart-target-chinese-orders-tariffs-hnk-intl/index.html

TikTok to enter Japan's e-commerce industry, Nikkei reports
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/tiktok-enter-japan-e-commerce-nikkei-reports-2025-04-26/

Did you know Helium 10 has a forum? While our Facebook group gets more traffic, we want to grow the forum community too! It’s a great place to ask questions and join discussions about e-commerce, Amazon strategies, and more. Remember, it’s not for Helium 10 customer support—that's available 24/7 through our website. To participate, sign in to your Helium 10 account and head to forum.helium10.com.

Helium 10 has rolled out several powerful new features this week, starting with the brand-new Tariff Analyzer tool in Profits. This feature gives sellers a detailed breakdown of how tariffs impact their net profits on a product-by-product basis. By inputting the country of origin and cost of goods sold (COGS), users can instantly see pre- and post-tariff profit margins, estimate the price adjustments needed to maintain margins, and even compare how switching manufacturing to another country, like Vietnam or Uzbekistan, might improve profitability. It's a game-changing tool for sellers looking to stay agile amid rising import costs.

Another major upgrade is the expansion of Managed Refund Services, now available to both Platinum and Diamond users. Previously reserved for Diamond subscribers, this service helps Amazon sellers recover funds owed by Amazon due to lost, damaged, or mishandled inventory. Helium 10’s team handles the tedious claims process, scanning accounts, filing cases, and staying compliant with Amazon’s policies. Sellers only pay a small percentage of successfully recovered funds, making it a zero-risk way to reclaim potentially thousands in lost revenue. On top of that, Helium 10 has added support for Cerebro and Magnet in the Amazon Saudi Arabia marketplace, with built-in translation tools to help sellers understand foreign-language keywords and rank data, opening up new international expansion opportunities easily. Tune in for a wealth of knowledge and strategies to keep your Amazon business thriving.

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Learn how leveraging Amazon’s Search Query Performance data and strategic split testing can drive more sales and potentially earn you thousands in additional revenue.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if a slight tweak could skyrocket your Amazon sales? Join us as we unpack the transformative potential of Amazon's Search Query Performance data with our special guest, Destaney Wishon of BTRmedia. Together, we shed light on the often-overlooked metrics like conversion and click-through rates (CTR) that can dramatically boost revenue when optimized. Picture this: a mere 4% increase in conversion rate translates into an additional $1,200 in sales for a $30 product. These insights are as vital as traditional PPC, keyword research, and AI advancements in scaling your Amazon-selling success.

Ever wondered how powerful your product images can be in driving sales? We dissect a fascinating case study on a hemp pain cream to reveal how various images impact click rates. By leveraging tools like Helium 10 Audience, powered by PickFu, we gather audience feedback and discuss the importance of regularly updating images to cater to the preferences of specific customer segments. The results highlight the critical role of understanding your target audience and tailoring product presentations to meet their needs for improved market performance.

Unlock the secrets of optimizing your product's visibility with search query analysis, even if you don’t have access to advanced tools like Helium 10’s Search Query Analyzer tool. We guide you through using Amazon's Seller Central to access valuable sales data and discuss strategic optimization of keywords and conversion rates. A real-life example illustrates how focusing on specific keywords, such as "CBD roll on," and boosting ad placements can increase sales. By understanding the relationship between organic rankings and ads, you can make informed decisions that enhance your product's profitability.

In episode 660 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Leveraging Amazon Data for Sales Growth
00:29 - Amazon Search Query Performance Strategy
06:45 - Optimizing Amazon Images for Increased Sales
08:01 - Impact of Listing Images on Conversion Rate
11:26 - Search Query Performance and Product Optimization
11:50 - Analyzing Amazon Data for Optimization
15:06 - Helium 10 Search Query Analyzer Tool
19:55 - Amazon Search Data Insights
23:19 - Maximizing Amazon Search Query Data
25:00 - Search Grid Performances
30:14 - Keyword Rankings and Sales Optimization
33:03 - Improving Sales Through Search Query Analysis
35:40 - The Power of Organic Ranking
38:51 - Enhancing Product Images for Sales

View Details

Temu & Shein hike prices on April 25. Amazon 1P offers more to tariff-hit vendors. TikTok Shop sales dip in US before the de minimis loophole ends. All this and more on this week’s Weekly Buzz!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Temu and Shein are increasing prices starting April 25: Here's what shoppers should know
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/04/21/temu-shein-prices-tariffs/83194905007/

Amazon makes urgent move to avoid US-China trade war impact
https://www.thestreet.com/retail/amazon-makes-urgent-move-to-avoid-us-china-trade-war-impact

TikTok Shop’s sales in US plunge as Trump’s tariffs hit Chinese imports
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/tiktok-shop-s-sales-in-us-plunge-as-trump-s-tariffs-hit-chinese-imports/ar-AA1D3hzz

OpenAI and Shopify poised for partnership as ChatGPT adds in-chat shopping
https://www.testingcatalog.com/openai-and-shopify-poised-for-partnership-as-chatgpt-adds-in-chat-shopping/

Walmart makes nationwide delivery change
https://www.al.com/news/2025/04/walmart-makes-nationwide-delivery-change.html

Amazon 2025 Force for Good application is open!
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/force-for-good

Maximize Impact with Amazon DSP bid adjustments
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/maximize-impact-with-amazon-dsp-bid-adjustments/

Cargo freight forwarding services made easy with Amazon Freight
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/transportation/cargo-freight-forwarding-services-made-easy-with-amazon-freight

Lastly, we deep dive into tools that could redefine your selling strategy. Meet the Influencer Finder, a groundbreaking feature for Helium 10 users, simplifying how sellers can discover and collaborate with influencers. Plus, Helium 10's historical Cerebro tool is empowering sellers to mine past keyword data, uncovering trends that can inform future product launches and optimizations. This episode is packed with actionable strategies that are bound to sharpen your competitive edge in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape. Don't miss these essential insights to stay ahead and seize new opportunities!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:49 - Tariffs Trigger Prices
03:07 - Amazon Absorbs Tariffs
05:13 - Forced Seller Discounts
06:58 - TikTok Sales Slide
08:40- Chatbot Becomes Store
10:40 - Faster Walmart Delivery
11:50 - Get Featured on Amazon
12:51 - Smarter Ad Bidding
14:02 - Freight Goes Global
14:50 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
21:01 - Strategy of the Week: Cerebro Historical Trends

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Discover a powerful, rarely used strategy to gain customer insights for product launches—no PPC, no need to look at reviews, and possibly more effective than AI tool insights.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an enlightening episode where we sit down with the extraordinary Izabela Hamilton of Rank Bell. Izabela shares her unique approach to gaining valuable customer insights without relying on PPC or traditional reviews. She opens up about her personal journey over the past couple of years, highlighting the importance of taking time off to focus on personal growth and wellness. This candid conversation emphasizes the significance of listening to our bodies and the universe, recognizing when to step back to recharge and come back stronger.

Listen in as we explore the shifting landscape of Amazon's product ranking, focusing on authentic and customer-centric strategies. Izabela and Bradley discuss how brands are moving away from manipulated tactics and embracing the power of understanding shopper perspectives. With Helium 10 and RankBell, brands can now predict customer preferences more accurately and ensure their products earn their spot on page one. The episode highlights the importance of aligning products with customer needs and how a holistic approach to ranking can lead to significant revenue without heavy reliance on ads.

Lastly, we dive into the power of customer feedback in product improvement, illustrated by a client's journey in overcoming design challenges with an anti-aging red light mask. By conducting thorough pre-launch testing and addressing issues early, brands can ensure product success and customer satisfaction. We also explore strategies for creating compelling Amazon listings and the unique opportunities for new brands to compete with established ones in the evolving online shopping landscape. Don't miss this episode packed with insights on adapting to changes, leveraging AI tools, and proactively meeting customer needs for long-term success.

In episode 658 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Izabela discuss:

00:00 - Customer Insights Without Reviews or PPC
07:00 - Customer-Centric Ranking Strategies for Amazon
12:23 - Brand Optimization and Marketing Strategies
15:22 - Customer Feedback for Product Improvement
18:27 - Product Testing and Feedback Loop
22:30 - Customer-Centric Approach in Entrepreneurship
23:25 - RankBell Client's Amazon Success Story
25:14 - Amazon's Future in Search and Advertising
30:20 - Audit Your Listings for Longevity
34:46 - Customer Feedback and Competitor Insights

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A popular Amazon Vine hack was just killed by Amazon. Tariffs are causing lots of changes on most E-commerce marketplaces, a special workshop for Amazon Search Query Performance. These buzzing stories and more on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Clarification of Amazon Vine review policy
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHU1NZVlVHVEhDUTZYR01L

Report: Amazon Cancels Orders From ‘Multiple Vendors’ After Tariffs Announcement
https://www.pymnts.com/amazon/2025/amazon-cancels-orders-from-multiple-vendors-after-tariffs-announcement/

Shein and Temu Face Massive Roadblock With New Package Duties
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2025/shein-and-temu-face-massive-roadblock-with-new-package-duties/

Temu pulls its U.S. Google Shopping ads
https://searchengineland.com/temu-pulls-us-google-shopping-ads-454260

TikTok Shop flags US risks, promotes EU market as Trump triples tariffs on small parcels
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3305864/tiktok-shop-flags-us-risks-promotes-eu-market-trump-triples-tariffs-small-parcels

Amazon launches inbound-only LTL service
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/amazon-launches-inbound-only-ltl-service

Sponsored Display updates all existing campaign to optimize for Conversion opportunities
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-display-reach-and-page-visit-campaign/

The most valuable datapoint that Amazon has ever given sellers is their Search Query Performance reports! Join Bradley + Destaney Monday at 11AM for a workshop to learn about how this data can grow your business.
h10.me/sqptraining

We wrap up with exciting updates from Helium 10, featuring new tools and features like the translation feature in X-Ray Keywords and a Helium 10 widget for bestseller pages. Listen in as we provide actionable strategies for sellers to optimize their Amazon presence using Helium 10's latest offerings, including understanding the crucial difference between indexing and ranking.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:01 - Amazon Vine Hack Dead?
04:35 - Amazon Tariff Repercussions
06:46 - Temu/Shein Tariff Repercussions
10:56 - TikTok Tariff Repercussions
13:02 - Amazon LTL Freight
14:56 - Sponsored Display Update
15:45 - SQP Workshop - h10.me/sqptraining
17:16 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
20:05 - Strategy of the Week: Index Checker

View Details

In this episode, we've got two expert guests on our TACoS Tuesday advertising show. We're going to talk a lot about how to rank when you're launching with PPC and some advanced forms of advertising, such as sponsor display.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an insightful episode featuring Marcel Marculescu, the CEO of IntelliRank. From his early days in Romania crafting browser-based games to becoming a cornerstone in the Amazon selling community, Marcel’s journey is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit. We unpack his expertise in Amazon ranking and advertising, examining the evolution of strategies for product launches and the importance of a harmonious blend of organic methods and PPC advertising.

Our conversation ventures into the world of Amazon keywords, where Marcel sheds light on the power of targeting long-tail keywords. We explore how user-generated content, like reviews and Amazon Posts, can amplify product visibility — especially crucial during the initial stages of a product's life. Marcel also emphasizes the significance of testing product listings through Amazon experiments, providing a fresh perspective on customer insights versus personal biases. The essence of community comes to life as we discuss Amazing Days in Bulgaria, fostering a vibrant network for Amazon sellers in the region.

In the realm of advertising, we have Vincenzo Toscano, CEO of Ecomcy live in the Amazon Ads booth in Prosper Show to share advanced techniques for harnessing Amazon's Sponsored Display ads and audience targeting. We discuss isolating campaigns to refine bidding strategies, and an innovative approach using Helium 10’s Black Box tool to focus on complementary products. The episode wraps up with the undeniable value of seller networking and community events like Amazon Accelerate, highlighting how these connections fuel both personal and professional growth in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape.

In episode 656 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Marcel, and Vincenzo discuss:

00:30 - Amazon Advertising Strategies for Ranking
04:08 - Romanians Dominating Ranking Companies
08:18 - Amazon PPC for New Products
11:55 - Optimizing Amazon Keywords and Strategies
12:40 - Leveraging Amazon Post for Visibility
18:51 - Europe Event Travel Opportunity
22:28 - Amazon Advertising Strategies Beyond Basics
27:16 - Maximizing Amazon Advertising With Basket Analysis
32:32 - Global Amazon Advertising Strategy Insights
34:05 - Helium 10 Ads Strategy and Growth
36:42 - Global Marketplace Advertising Strategies
41:04 - Amazon Seller Networking Value

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Trump just imposed a 104% tariff on Chinese imports. The de minimis loophole will officially close next month, and Amazon quietly rolled out a beta feature that lets its AI shop off of Amazon using your account. This and more buzzing news are on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Trump officially raises retaliatory tariffs against China – including 90% fee on cheap goods from US adversary
https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/us-news/trump-officially-raises-retaliatory-tariffs-against-china/

The LATEST UPDATE is just hours after the 104% tariffs took effect and this video was filmed. President Trump announced a surprise three-month (90-day) pause on all reciprocal tariffs—except those on China, which have now increased to 125%. While global markets are surging on the news, note that the harsher penalties on Chinese imports remain in full force. We recommend sellers keep a close, watchful eye as news develops.

Trump's 'reciprocal' tariffs plan kicks in; China vows again to impose countermeasures
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-china.html

Amazon’s new 'Buy for Me' feature helps customers find and buy products from other brands’ sites
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-shopping-app-buy-for-me-brands

Amazon is already changing its ultra-cheap Temu copycat
https://www.theverge.com/news/645465/amazon-haul-temu-ultra-cheap-tariffs-trump

Walmart+ Goes All-In With Week of Exclusive Member Benefit Savings for Walmart+ Week
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/04/08/walmart-plus-goes-all-in-with-week-of-exclusive-member-benefit-saving-for-walmart-plus-week

Temu partners with DHL for local-to-local in Europe
https://ecommercenews.eu/temu-partners-with-dhl-for-local-to-local-in-europe/

TikTok bidders pile up as deadline looms with Amazon, OnlyFans founder in mix
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/amazon-has-bid-buy-tiktok-new-york-times-reports-2025-04-02/

Save the date for Amazon Accelerate, September 16–18
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUTlBOUJXUEhHQTlQWENE

Best Buy launches creator platform with shoppable storefronts
https://chainstoreage.com/best-buy-launches-creator-platform-shoppable-storefronts

Helium 10 just released a powerful new feature for influencers using the Chrome extension. By navigating to your Orders page and selecting the Influencers tab, you’ll see a history scanner that breaks down all your past purchases, showing which listings include your videos—categorized by top, bottom, both, or none. It also displays key performance metrics like onsite/offsite commissions, 30-day revenue, and carousel saturation, helping you track what’s working without leaving the page.

Helium 10’s Cerebro is the only reverse ASIN tool that shows all seven pages of Amazon search results—covering all 306 organic and 110 sponsored positions—so you never miss keyword shifts due to Amazon’s search shuffle. In addition to comprehensive keyword tracking, Cerebro uniquely reveals where a product appears in sponsored brand ads, video ads, and Amazon-specific widgets like “Amazon’s Choice,” giving sellers unmatched insight for competitive targeting. Join us for insights on these pivotal developments shaping the future of trade and e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:48 - 104% TARIFFS?
02:40 - Loophole Slammed Shut
05:31 - Amazon’s Buy For Me AI
08:57 - Haul Gets a Makeover
10:41 - Walmart+ Week Returns
12:29 - Temu Eyes Europe
13:39 - Amazon Wants TikTok?
15:26 - Accelerate 2025 Confirmed
16:44 - Best Buy Goes Creator
18:09 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
20:13 - Strategy of the Week

View Details

Kian Golzari returns for a record 6th time on SSP to share sourcing tips, tariff strategies for 2025, Canton Fair insights, & stories of custom iPhones for Real Madrid stars!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

World-renowned expert Kian Golzari makes history with his sixth appearance on our show, bringing unparalleled insights into the world of product sourcing and development. Discover his journey of delivering custom gold iPhones to Real Madrid's soccer icons, and explore innovative strategies to navigate the tariffs landscape in 2025. Kian offers a rare glimpse into the Canton Fair's pivotal role in global supply chains and extends a special opportunity for our listeners to connect with his personal sourcing agent in China, alongside a complimentary one-on-one call with him.

Listeners are in for a treat as we explore the importance of self-care amid the entrepreneurial hustle. Kian shares his commitment to fitness through cold baths and workouts. We dive into the world of functional strength and endurance with events like Hyrox and embark on travel tales from the scenic landscapes of Wales to the cultural vibrancy of Scotland.
Navigating the complexities of global sourcing and evolving tariffs becomes a breeze with our comprehensive guide, spotlighting platforms like Alibaba and the strategic "China plus one" approach. Kian shares his wisdom on building strong supplier relationships and leveraging the Canton Fair for direct connections with industry leaders. Embrace the future of product development as we discuss the role of AI, while reminding listeners of the irreplaceable value of human judgment in selecting the right factories. This episode promises a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for anyone in the e-commerce landscape.

In episode 654 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kian discuss:

00:00 - Expert on Product Sourcing and Development
01:56 - Connections With Global Superstars in Sports
06:01 - Discussing Hobbies, Travel, and Tariffs
16:35 - Navigating Global Sourcing and Tariffs
19:34 - Strategies for Beating Tariffs in 2025
20:45 - Navigating Canton Fair and Sourcing Strategies
24:09 - Traveling to China on a Budget
26:32 - Product Sourcing with AI Innovation
31:15 - Issues and Innovations in Product Development
32:30 - Amazon Conference, Summit Collaboration, Sourcing

View Details

The new tariffs announced this week have Amazon sellers up in arms. In this episode, Bradley will show you some numbers on why it might not be as bad as you think and things that you can do to keep your profitability and avoid issues on Amazon.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Can a new set of tariffs reshape the landscape for Amazon sellers, potentially leveling the playing field and offering unexpected opportunities? Join us as we explore this complex and rapidly evolving situation, where countries like China, the EU, and Vietnam are hit with varying rates, and the de minimis loophole is no more. As sellers grapple with these changes, we highlight the need for strategic approaches to maintain profitability, such as re-evaluating HS codes and collaborating closely with suppliers and freight forwarders. Listen in to hear insights from our community, who are finding ways to stay resilient amidst the upheaval.

Let’s break down how these tariffs are impacting product pricing and profit margins, using real-world scenarios to illuminate the path forward. From a $10 item to a $25 item, we reveal the calculations needed to keep your business thriving despite increased production costs. The message is one of optimism and adaptability—while the road may be bumpy, it’s not the end. Embrace this opportunity to reflect, adjust, and strategize, ensuring your business not only survives but thrives in these challenging economic times. Tune in and become part of our community navigating this journey together.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:00 - New Tariffs' Impact on Amazon and E-commerce Sellers
04:36 - Navigating Tariffs as Amazon Sellers
08:07 - Navigating Tariff Impact on Profitability
12:48 - Maximizing Cost Savings in International Trade
19:51 - Global Tariff Impact and Adaptation

View Details

This week on The Weekly Buzz: Amazon's new AI helps shoppers find products by interest, Prime Day deal details revealed, and how AI images are reshaping e-commerce.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon’s AI-powered ‘Interests’ feature automatically finds new products that match your passions and hobbies
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/artificial-intelligence-amazon-features-interest

Get ready for Prime Day: Deal scheduling is now open for our longest US Prime Day event ever
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUDNTNVRVU05QWUJITUJN

Walmart Seller Summit 2025
https://www.walmartmarketplacesellersummit.com/event/adb13902-f010-48fe-96c0-64f9d165dba5/welcome

Drive business-to-business growth with new Business Price action panel
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWFpCWVRQSkJIRU5ERlk1

Major Temu move announced for millions of Australian businesses from today
https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/major-temu-move-announced-for-millions-of-australian-businesses-from-today-211318441.html

Then, we explore the latest updates from Helium 10, with Shivali Patel introducing four new feature alerts. The search query analyzer now supports multiple marketplaces and offers the ability to save filter presets for efficient business management. Integration with Helium 10 Ads allows for enhanced PPC metrics visibility. Lastly, the product launchpad tool is enhanced with adjustable rules, enabling users to tailor the tool to better fit their business strategies and preferences.

This week's strategy highlights Helium 10's new Search Query Analyzer tool, which simplifies filtering and analyzing Amazon search query data. Unlike Seller Central, this tool allows users to compare multiple products, track high-converting keywords, and assess conversion rates against market averages. Additionally, Bradley Sutton will be speaking at two upcoming conferences: Amazon Business Know-How in Warsaw, Poland (April 24-25) and Amazing Days Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria (April 25).

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:54 - Amazon's AI Interest Feature
02:54 - Schedule Prime Day Deals Now
06:00 - Walmart Seller Summit 2025
06:56 - AI Images
09:20 - New B2B Price Panel
10:36 - Temu Open to Australian Sellers
11:03 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
16:04 - Strategy Of The Week: Search Query Analyzer Data Imports

View Details

Live from the Prosper Show! Get top strategies, tips, and discover a marketplace you never considered selling on. Tune in for expert insights and game-changing advice!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we bring you a special podcast recording from the Prosper Show in Las Vegas, where we sit down with multiple guests starting with Michael Shaffa, an accomplished Amazon seller who has transformed his company's e-commerce strategy. Michael shares his journey from selling only a few units per month to achieving $1.2 million in annual sales. Learn how his team harnessed tools like Helium 10 and strategies such as keyword indexing and the Maldives Honeymoon launch strategy to find success. Michael's story underscores the significance of understanding your target market and adapting your strategies, shifting focus from a general audience to a specialized niche, and leveraging graphic design to create engaging authentic content.

We also explore the role of AI in revolutionizing various aspects of Amazon selling with Kevin King. Discover how AI agents transform customer service, PPC, and product sourcing, potentially automating significant portions of an Amazon seller's business. As the industry evolves, these technologies promise significant advancements. Additionally, the episode touches on the psychology of marketing and its impact on sales strategies.

At the Prosper Show, we spoke with Vivian Sun, head of business development at Shein Marketplace, about their expanding platform. While Shein is widely known as a D2C fashion brand, it has been developing a marketplace over the past two years, inviting local sellers to offer products beyond clothing. Shein Marketplace now supports a wide range of categories, including beauty, home goods, electronics, and even food and supplements. With a flat 10% fees and flexible fulfillment options, including self-shipping and Amazon MCF, sellers have multiple ways to operate. Interested sellers can sign up through the Shein Marketplace website or connect with Vivian (Wenjia Sun) and her team via LinkedIn.

Finally, we explore effective bidding strategies and the importance of brand awareness in advertising campaigns. With insights from industry veterans, including Bojan Gajic, former CEO and CTO of Helium 10 and now CEO at Avask. You'll learn the benefits of low bids and branding campaigns. The episode also introduces an upcoming initiative called "Expansion Ticket," designed to guide sellers in expanding their businesses internationally. As we navigate these strategies and innovations, we emphasize the importance of leveraging expertise and existing knowledge to grow in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

In episode 652 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and his guests discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Seller Strategies at Prosper Show
05:53 - Smart Showdown
06:27 - AI Agents and Shein Marketplace Expansion
17:28 - Amazon Success Strategies With Lem Turner
17:59 - Amazon Brand Strategies and Advertising Success
25:28 - Amazon Expansion Strategies for Growth
30:35 - Amazon Seller Success Story
35:35 - Keyword Research and UGC Impact

View Details

Amazon is raising fees again. The Amazon big spring sale is now live. These buzzing stories and more on today's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon is making it easier to try using deals and coupons to create additional demand for your products
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHM0EyTUgyRjQ1S1lZRzY2

Amazon’s Big Spring Sale 2025 starts March 25
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-big-spring-sale-2025

AI startup Perplexity confirms interest to buy TikTok
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-03-ai-startup-perplexity-buy-tiktok.html

Catch Bradley Sutton at the Prosper Show!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/h10bradley_see-you-guys-at-prosper-this-week-here-activity-7310218411182026752-m4Al?

For our new feature alerts, Helium 10 has introduced two highly requested features in Blackbox. The first caters to wholesale and arbitrage sellers, allowing them to search products using UPC, EAN, or GTIN codes, even by uploading bulk lists of 200–300+ identifiers. This streamlines the process of evaluating wholesale opportunities by quickly identifying which products are on Amazon and their estimated sales. The second feature is designed for Amazon influencers, enabling them to find high-ROI products for video content. By switching to “Influencer Mode,” users can filter products by category, price range, reviews, and the number of videos in the carousel, helping them identify listings where they have a strong chance of earning commissions.

Lastly, our strategy of the week features Helium 10’s Keyword Sales Estimate feature, which goes beyond search volume to show the actual sales estimates a keyword generates. This helps sellers prioritize high-converting keywords instead of just high-traffic ones, ultimately improving ad efficiency and product targeting. For instance, while two keywords may have similar search volumes, one might convert at a much higher rate due to buyer intent. This level of insight, exclusive to Helium 10, ensures sellers focus on terms that drive actual sales. If you’re headed to the Prosper Show in Las Vegas, don't miss out on the chance to meet us and share your story—there might even be a spot for you on the Serious Sellers Podcast!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:38 - Coupons/Deals Skyrocket?
17:25 - Big Spring Sale
18:31 - TikTok Buyer?
19:31 - Prosper Show
20:22 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
24:24 - Strategy of the week: Keyword Sales Estimates

View Details

Ready to launch your Amazon product? In this episode, we discuss the essentials of optimizing your listings and the best ad strategies for driving more sales immediately.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us in our monthly TACoS Tuesday episode, as we explore the essentials of launching Amazon products, featuring expert insights from Destaney Wishon. We start by discussing how to make your product retail-ready, emphasizing the importance of indexing your listing for the right keywords to drive sales. From match types and targeting to effective keyword research methods often overlooked by sellers, we cover fundamental Amazon advertising strategies for 2025. With Destaney's extensive expertise in Amazon PPC and Bradley Sutton’s experience launching over 600 products, they provide valuable guidance for both new and seasoned Amazon sellers.

Listen in as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of Amazon advertising. They recount the evolution of strategies from two-step URLs and giveaways to modern methods that are currently non-compliant with Amazon's TOS. By sharing Bradley’s recent success story of achieving top keyword rankings within three weeks, they provide practical insights into adapting to market dynamics while leveraging core strategies for sustained success. They also focused on optimizing keywords for seasonal products, using mason jars as an example to illustrate the need for specificity in targeting audiences and identifying seasonal trends and opportunity keywords.

Finally, let’s tackle the art of optimizing Amazon PPC strategies, focusing on understanding customer feedback and incorporating emotional touchpoints into product listings. They discuss bid management strategies, the importance of balancing profitability and scalability, and how successful bidding can enhance organic ranking. Additionally, they cover the significance of tailoring marketing strategies to fit specific product niches and maintaining brand loyalty amidst the shift from organic to paid search on Amazon. Throughout the episode, we aim to equip you with actionable insights and strategies to boost your product's visibility and success on Amazon.

In episode 650 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:02 - Amazon Advertising Launch Strategies Workshop
01:22 - Navigating Amazon's Ever-Changing Advertising Landscape
10:08 - Optimizing Keywords for Seasonal Products
13:12 - Keyword Research Using Helium 10
18:41 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising Strategy
24:49 - Importance of Keyword Research in Advertising
26:52 - Effective Bid Management for Targeting Types
28:50 - Finding Balance in Amazon Bid Management
35:37 - Bid Management for Sales and ACoS
38:23 - Mastering Amazon Bidding Strategy
45:41 - Discussion on Algorithmic Love and Relaunch

View Details

Upcoming spring day events, Amazon ads integrating with Adobe Photoshop, and Walmart's got an AI guy of its own. These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon, Walmart to host spring savings events
https://chainstoreage.com/amazon-walmart-host-spring-savings-events

Amazon Spring Deal Days 2025 is coming March 25-31
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-spring-deal-days-2025-is-coming-march-25-31

Prepare for Prime Day: Send your inventory to AWD by May 15
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/awd-prime-day-prep

New Product: Exciting news from the AdobeSummit! Amazon Ads announced it’s expanding your creative possibilities through a new partnership with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Express. Soon, you’ll be able to access your Amazon Creative Assets library and leverage our pre-moderation capabilities directly within these Adobe tools.
Via Jeff Cohen on LinkedIn

Walmart Develops GenAI-Powered Assistant for Walmart Merchants
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2025/03/18/walmart-develops-genai-powered-assistant-for-walmart-merchants

Amazon launches Amazon.ie in Ireland
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-ireland

Request to remove meltable FBA inventory by April 15, 2025
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUTZGWExSWUhXUlhFWEFV

Forever 21 store closures accelerated by competition from Shein and Temu
https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/forever-21-store-closures-accelerated-competition-from-shein-temu

Join the TikTok Shop Sellers Group by Helium 10 - https://h10.me/tiktokgroup

Enhance your competitive edge with Helium 10's new powerful tool, the Search Query Performance Analyzer, offering an in-depth look into Amazon’s SQP data and more. Discover how monitoring keyword fluctuations inside Cerebro, such as with "emo decor" and "coffin decor," can be pivotal in maintaining or boosting sales momentum. By understanding the link between keyword trends and sales, you'll gain invaluable insights for forecasting and strategy adjustments, ensuring you stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Spring Deal Days
04:42 - Amazon Ads x Adobe
06:28 - Walmart's AI Revolution
07:59 - Amazon Expands to Ireland
10:17 - Meltable Inventory Purge
11:38 - Goodbye Forever 21
13:01 - TikTok Shop Sellers Group by Helium 10
13:39 - Helium 10 New Feature: Search Query Performance Analyzer Tool
23:41 - Strategy of the Week: Cerebro Historical Trend Monthly Comparison

View Details

Is AI changing the game on Amazon—for better or worse? Discover the right and wrong ways to leverage AI in e-commerce and how smart strategies could boost your sales by 30% or more!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Is artificial intelligence reshaping Amazon selling for the better or leading it astray? In this episode, we scrutinize the nuanced impact of AI on Amazon sellers, posing the provocative question of whether AI is indeed ruining Amazon. We dive into the labyrinth of AI's potential benefits—boosting sales and streamlining operations—while also exposing the risks of over-reliance on AI without human input and data. As AI tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent in product and keyword searches, we emphasize the crucial role of specialized tools such as Helium 10 in ensuring accuracy and effectiveness.

Our discussion highlights the pitfalls and promises of using AI for Amazon keyword and product research. Through real-world examples, we dissect the challenges that arise when relying solely on AI-generated data, underscoring the necessity of feeding AI robust and relevant information. Exploring the risks of AI-written Amazon listings, we stress the importance of informed technology use to achieve optimal results. By illustrating the limits of AI tools in identifying trending products and optimizing listings, we advocate for a balanced approach—melding AI's capabilities with human oversight and specialized data.

Finally, we turn our focus to enhancing the synergy between AI and Helium 10 for your Amazon brand’s success. Through a case study of a wooden snack organizer, we demonstrate the power of integrating comprehensive data with AI to boost keyword indexing. With insights from Andrew Bell's customized GPT tool, we reveal pathways to even greater performance. We invite listeners to engage in this conversation, sharing their thoughts and experiences on enhancing AI integration to better serve the community's needs. Whether you're a seasoned seller or a curious newbie, this episode offers valuable insights into harnessing AI's power with precision and care.

In episode 648 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - AI Usage in Amazon Selling
03:44 - AI's Impact on Amazon Sellers
06:56 - Using Amazon Tools for Product Research
12:08 - High Demand Snack Bar Organizer Product
15:09 - Amazon Algorithm Changes and Keyword Indexing
18:50 - Importance of Keywords in Listing
19:09 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With AI
21:57 - Keyword Optimization for Amazon Listings
27:29 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With AI + Helium 10 Data
31:22 - Andrew Bell's GPT Boosts Listing Performance
35:18 - Enhancing AI Integration for Brand Success

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Amazon is giving sellers a credit for FBA. Another Chinese marketplace is gaining market share. There's a new way to make money with Helium 10. These buzzing stories & more on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

New return credits for Remote Fulfillment with FBA
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWFpKODlZQUhLSjRQRjha

How to get free delivery on Amazon
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-free-delivery

New recommended product groups for Ships in Product Packaging program
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHSjQ4SkdTRjNWNVlBQUYz

TikTok To Integrate More 'Local Services' Into Its US Commerce Push
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/403951/tiktok-to-integrate-more-local-services-into-its.html

Goodbye Amazon and Temu – Aliexpress is ahead of the game in bringing these incredible deals to technology
https://eladelantado.com/news/aliexpress-spring-tech-sales-2025/

Plus, we talk about Helium 10's affiliate program, offering lifetime commissions for those who refer new users, and our new Facebook group for Amazon & TikTok influencers to foster community and knowledge sharing. To wrap things up, we highlight the latest features of the Helium 10 Chrome extension, including a new visual search tool that uses images to find similar products on Amazon, enhancing your product research and discovery efforts. Don't miss out on these insights and strategies designed to elevate your e-commerce skills.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:59 - FBA Return Credits
02:35 - FBM Pricing Hack
05:12 - SIPP Program
06:19 - TikTok Local
08:00 - Ali Express
09:15 - Helium 10 Referral Program - h10.me/crushit
10:55 - Influencer FB Group - h10.me/influencerFB
11:49 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
13:52 - Strategy of the Week: Child ASIN Variation Sales Performance

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Have you heard lately of people who've had their Amazon accounts hacked? In this episode, we'll discuss different methods for keeping your Amazon accounts safe.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon seller account security has never been more critical. What if your business could be halted by a single phishing scam or misplaced credential? In light of recent hacking incidents, we've invited Chris McCabe from EcommerceChris to share expert advice on fortifying your Amazon accounts. He uncovers common mistakes sellers make, such as sharing credentials and missing out on two-factor authentication, and offers actionable steps to avoid them. Join us as we discuss the importance of creating unique user permissions, the necessity of revoking access when it's no longer needed, and the benefits of deploying tools like Helium 10 Alerts to monitor and protect your accounts.

Navigating the aftermath of an account flagged as compromised can be daunting, but it doesn't have to spell disaster. We explore strategies for quick resolution, including the right Amazon teams to contact and how SAS Core representatives can assist in regaining control. Chris provides insights into managing accounts that are linked to both buyer and seller profiles and shares advice on keeping them secure. We also address the use of VPNs while traveling and the potential impact on account visibility, stressing the importance of maintaining primary email access for appeals.

Managing multiple Amazon accounts doesn't have to be risky if done correctly. Discover why using subaccounts with unique logins and enabling two-factor authentication is vital for security. We'll also discuss leveraging remote servers to protect personal devices while handling admin tasks. For sellers looking to expand, we touch on the potential within the arts and crafts category despite inflationary pressures, offering tips on finding low-competition niches. To wrap up, we highlight how Helium 10 Black Box can be an invaluable tool for effective product research, helping you identify seasonal top sellers and capitalize on market trends. Tune in to ensure your Amazon selling endeavors are both secure and successful.

In episode 646 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Chris discuss:

00:00 - Keeping Amazon Accounts Safe
04:40 - Amazon-Related Account Security Concerns
08:36 - Resolving Amazon Account Compromise Quickly
12:34 - Amazon Account Termination Warning
14:43 - Preventing Amazon Account Compromises
17:58 - Secure Amazon Admin Account Setup
22:57 - Amazon Account Responsibility Clarity
24:16 - Managing Multiple Amazon Accounts Securely
33:09 - Questioning Competitors' Tactics on Amazon
34:10 - Utilizing Helium 10 for Product Research
38:00 - Product Analysis for Top Keywords
40:42 - Identifying Seasonal Top Sellers for Amazon

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There are new changes to how Amazon agencies and service providers can access client accounts and a new date change for FBA reimbursement policies. These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon’s Solution Provider Portal (SPP) is a dedicated gateway for third-party developers and service providers to onboard and manage their offerings for Amazon seller and vendor customers.
https://developer.amazonservices.com/solution-provider-portal

You can now use a credit card as your Walmart Marketplace billing method.
https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Taxes%20%26%20payments/Billing%20Information/Billing-Methods:-Add-a-credit-card

New effective date for FBA inventory reimbursement policy
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVkYyU0M5NldVQ1BWQ0NO

Track and prevent product return badges
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHMlZVVzZXTkc4N1Q0OEtD

TikTok Shop welcomes merchants in Germany, France, and Italy
https://ecommercenews.eu/tiktok-shop-welcomes-merchants-in-germany-france-and-italy/

Amazon eyes global expansion for its Temu, Shein competitor
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/28/amazon-eyes-global-expansion-for-its-temu-shein-competitor.html

Amazon Introduces Alexa+, the next generation of Alexa
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/new-alexa-generative-artificial-intelligence

4 ways to shop faster on Amazon using Amazon Lens
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/how-to-use-amazon-lens

Helium 10 has been recognized as a Walmart Connect Partner Program - Premium Partner!

In our new feature alerts, Helium 10's new eBay Price Checker lets you instantly compare Amazon vs. eBay prices to prevent buy box issues and spot unauthorized resellers. Lastly, Helium 10's Keyword Tracker with Boost checks your keyword ranks 24x daily, showing real-time fluctuations across browsers and locations—crucial for tracking launches and ad performance. Stay ahead by monitoring your most important keywords hourly!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:52 - Solution Provider Portal
02:51 - Now You can use WM CC
04:10 - FBA Reimbursement Update
05:31 - Amazon Return Badge
07:06 - TikTok Shop Europe
08:16 - Amazon Haul Global Expansion
10:39 - Next Gen Alexa
13:07 - Amazon Lens Updates
15:00 - Update Emergency Contact
15:50 - Walmart Connect Update
16:36 - Helium 10’s eBay Price Checker
18:07 - Keyword Tracker with Boost

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Discover how sellers generate millions in sales on TikTok Shop in just days! Our guest, Liz Herrera, shares her strategies for helping creators go viral on TikTok.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an exciting conversation on the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10, where we explore strategies for going viral on TikTok and harnessing its e-commerce potential. Our special guest, Liz Herrera aka "Hurricane Liz," a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur, shares her incredible journey from selling Pokémon cards in her college dorm room to becoming a successful figure in the Amazon world. Liz opens up about her early ventures in retail arbitrage, the challenges she faced during the Black Friday poker incident, and how she adapted by launching her first private-label product. Her story is one of resilience and adaptability, offering valuable insights into building a thriving online business.

Listen in as we discuss the evolution of TikTok as a powerful platform for business growth, transitioning from organic reach to leveraging TikTok Shop. We'll explore the nuances of working with influencers and creators, as well as strategies for managing these relationships effectively. Learn how businesses can build in-house content creation teams to reduce reliance on costly external creators and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of TikTok Shop and influencer marketing. An upcoming event in Vegas will also be highlighted, focusing on taking control of content to maximize commercial opportunities.

Finally, we'll uncover the potential of AI in marketing and sales, challenging traditional notions of content creation. Discover how AI can be leveraged to generate a high volume of content on platforms like TikTok, enhancing brand presence and driving sales. We share practical tips for maximizing TikTok strategy, such as using multiple accounts and the shotgun approach in advertising. Be inspired by a success story where a client generated $1.5 million in just four days through strategic e-commerce tactics. Join us to gain a comprehensive understanding of TikTok's e-commerce potential and learn how to implement these strategies for brand growth.

In episode 644 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Liz discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Going Viral on TikTok
04:13 - From Thrift Stores to Private Label
08:32 - Navigating TikTok Shop and Influencers
12:35 - Tapping Into TikTok's E-Commerce Potential
13:57 - AI-driven Brand Growth Strategy
20:54 - Standing Out to Influencers on TikTok
23:43 - Maximizing TikTok Strategy for Brand Growth
24:36 - Monetizing TikTok Reach & Strategies
27:52 - AI With Green Screen Strategy

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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A change for the Serious Sellers Podcast, Walmart has caught up fast to Amazon in something, and Is Amazon Rufus meaningless? These and more buzzing news on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Walmart CEO delivers alarming news for Amazon
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/walmart-ceo-delivers-alarming-news-for-amazon/ar-AA1zHNTw?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds

Amazon Alexa event live - Alexa Plus officially announced, with more news still to come
https://www.techradar.com/news/live/amazon-alexa-event-2025-live

TikTok Shop eyes 100% growth in 2025
https://jingdaily.com/posts/tiktok-shop-eyes-100-growth-in-2025-amid-us-uncertainty

Is Amazon on course to upend LTL industry?
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-amazon-on-course-to-upend-ltl-industry

Online marketplace Temu allowing Canadian businesses to sell through platform
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/online-marketplace-temu-allowing-canadian-151954793.html

Launching sponsored ads for authors: India, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-products-and-sponsored-brands-ads-expansion/

We also take a closer look at the advanced features in Black Box and Helium 10 Ads, emphasizing new strategies for keyword harvesting that allow you to fine-tune your targeting criteria and adjust cost per click to boost your campaigns. Learn how utilizing these features can maximize your impressions and improve efficiency. Moreover, discover how Helium 10's Alerts tool can help you identify opportunities to save on fulfillment costs by making small adjustments to product dimensions. These tweaks could potentially save or earn you significant extra profit over the year.

This episode also explores the controversial Amazon Rufus AI and its impact on Amazon listing optimization. While Rufus shows potential, it has limitations, particularly in generating accurate search suggestions for niche products and identifying deals. We highlight the importance of ensuring that product descriptions are comprehensive to improve customer experience and sales. Listen in as we analyze Rufus' keyword suggestions, examining their current relevance and potential future significance as more users adopt these recommendations. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next week!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:42 - SSP Schedule Change
02:47 - Walmart Same Day Delivery
04:36 - New Amazon Alexa?
06:07 - TikTok Growth
06:57 - Amazon LTL?
09:43 - Temu For Canadians
10:30 - PPC For Authors
11:06 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
15:22 - Strategy of the Week: Size Tier Alerts
18:55 - Hot Take Of The Week: Rufus is Meaningless?

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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In this episode, learn how to create a podcast to grow your brand and community. Discover the steps that helped the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10 reach 5M+ downloads.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if launching a podcast could be the game-changer you need for your personal or E-commerce business brand? In this episode, we explore the transformative power of podcasting, sharing insights from over seven years of experience and success stories like Helium 10, which started with the AM/PM podcast before evolving into an e-commerce software powerhouse. We reveal how podcasts can build vibrant communities around niche interests, from pet care to other e-commerce topics, turning listeners into brand advocates and opening up new revenue streams.

Dive into the essentials of crafting a podcast strategy that resonates with your audience. We discuss the significance of maintaining a consistent theme, memorable tagline, and engaging format while ensuring your podcast is easily discoverable through effective SEO techniques. Our discussion guides you through selecting the right equipment for high-quality audio, whether you're recording solo or hosting multiple guests. Plus, get practical tips on logistics, from scheduling with tools like Calendly and Zoom scheduler to streamlining guest preparations, ensuring a smooth production process.

Learn how to leverage analytics to fine-tune your podcast and expand your reach by repurposing content across platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Hear how collaborating with other podcasters can organically grow your audience and enhance your brand presence without heavy reliance on ads. Whether you're an Amazon seller, consultant, or simply passionate about a topic, podcasting can be an invaluable tool for promotion and engagement. We invite you to start your own podcast journey with us and discover the endless possibilities it offers.

Bradley's Podcast Equipment List:
Rodecaster - https://amzn.to/43pwtY7
Rodecaster Duo - https://amzn.to/4gQGwbI
El Gato Camlink - https://amzn.to/4ibTjXf
Shure SM7B Mic - https://amzn.to/435H2iM
Shure MV88+ Mic - https://amzn.to/3Xfz2YD
Godox Light - https://amzn.to/3EP2kqR
El Gato Wave XLR - https://amzn.to/3QwoFMp
Rode Pod Mic - https://amzn.to/4gSRH3m

In episode 642 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Mhel discuss:

00:00 - The Power of Starting a Podcast
01:57 - Building Community and Revenue With Podcasts
06:19 - Podcasting in Education and Credibility
10:05 - Developing a Successful Podcast Strategy
15:33 - Importance of High Quality Audio
15:58 - Choosing the Best Podcast Equipment
19:00 - Benefits of Using Headphones for Podcasting
23:36 - Importance of Audio and Video Quality
26:13 - Scheduling, Prepping, and Editing Podcasts
29:17 - Podcast Editing Process Basics
35:47 - Leveraging Podcast Analytics and Repurposing
36:55 - Repurposing Content for Multichannel Engagement
40:53 - Promoting Brands With Podcasts

Elgato Cam Link 4K, External Camera Capture Card, Stream and Record with DSLR, Camcorder, ActionCam as Webcam in 1080p60, 4K30 for Video Conferencing, Home Office, Gaming, on OBS, Zoom, Teams, PC/Mac

RØDE RØDECaster Duo All-in-One Production Solution for Podcasting, Streaming, Music Production and Content Creation

RØDE RØDECaster Pro II All-in-One Production Solution for Podcasting, Streaming, Music Production and Content Creation,Black

Godox SL60W Kit with Soft Box Softbox (Special Design for SL-60W) 5600K Studio Continuous LED Video Light Lamp 5600K Bowens Mount for Video Recording,Wedding,Outdoor Shooting

RØDE PodMic USB Versatile Dynamic Broadcast Microphone With XLR and USB Connectivity for Podcasting, Streaming, Gaming, Music-Making and Content Creation

Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone for Broadcast, Podcast & Recording, XLR Studio Mic for Music & Speech, Wide-Range Frequency, Warm & Smooth Sound, Rugged Construction, Detachable Windscreen - Black

Elgato Wave XLR - Audio Mixer and 75 db Preamp for XLR Mic to USB-C, Control Interface with 48V Phantom Power, Tap-to-Mute, Digital Mixing Software for Streaming, Recording, Podcasting on Mac and PC

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Amazon shutting down its TikTok-like shopping feed, TikTok shop beginning its global expansion, and what is up with Shein and Temu? More buzzing news stories in this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Senior Brand Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon kills ‘Inspire,’ its TikTok-style feed for discovering products
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/amazon-kills-inspire-its-tiktok-style-feed-for-discovering-products/

TikTok Shop expands to Europe, Japan, Brazil
https://www.techinasia.com/news/tiktok-shop-expands-to-europe-japan-brazil

TikTok Shop surpasses Shein, Temu in US sales growth
https://www.techinasia.com/news/tiktok-shop-surpasses-shein-temu-in-us-sales-growth

BillingPlatform Teams With Quickbase to Automate Revenue Management
https://www.pymnts.com/partnerships/2025/billingplatform-teams-with-quickbase-to-automate-revenue-management/

TikTok Looks To Promote Livestream Shopping in More Regions
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-live-stream-shopping-push-brazil-japan/740389/

In our final segment, we unlock the secrets of keyword research to supercharge sales spikes. By analyzing seasonal and year-round product trends, we reveal strategies using Helium 10's powerful features, such as historical trend analysis and reverse ASIN searches. Learn how to harness these insights for a competitive edge, ensuring your products thrive in both peak and lull sales periods. As we conclude, we highlight the latest updates to Helium 10's Magnet tool, designed to elevate your Amazon business strategy as an essential step forward in the ever-evolving e-commerce world.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:46 - Amazon Kills Inspire
03:28 - TikTok Shop Expands
05:07 - TikTok Beats Temu
06:52 - Shein, Temu Shift
08:41 - TikTok Live Surges
09:39 - Follow Helium 10 On TikTok
10:38 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
14:56 - Training Tip: How to Check an Amazon Product’s Organic and Sponsored Rank History

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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In this episode, we unlock shopper insights to help you master your click-through rate strategy, grab attention, boost clicks, stop the scroll, and stand out on Amazon.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Ever wondered how to make your Amazon listings more irresistible to shoppers? Join us as we welcome John Aspinall from PickFu, who spills industry secrets on optimizing listings for maximum click-through rates. Learn how compelling imagery and strategic elements can capture attention on Amazon’s bustling search results page. John provides valuable insights into the visual dynamics of competitive categories like supplements, guiding sellers on how to stand out amidst different SERP layouts and leveraging these insights for a marketplace edge.

But getting the click is just the beginning—converting that interest into a sale is the real challenge. Discover the art of crafting product detail pages that communicate essential information succinctly, especially for products like supplements. John and I dissect the importance of using real images over illustrations and how to harness "dead pixel real estate" on packaging to convey key benefits. From hero images that grab attention to tailoring strategies for various product categories, we explore the nuances of engaging potential buyers and boosting click-through rates.

Visual appeal can make or break a sale on Amazon, and we explore how packaging design can influence consumer behavior. John sheds light on how subtle differences in color and design can tip the scales between commoditized products and unique offerings. Learn how professional color choices can sometimes outshine cheaper, brighter options, and why clear, easy-to-read packaging is vital for a successful shopping experience. By addressing customer pain points and presenting relatable scenarios, we guide you in crafting a foolproof product detail page that enhances conversions and resonates with your target audience.

In episode 641 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali, Kevin, and John discuss:

00:00 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Better Click-Through Rate
02:15 - Brand Influence on Consumer Decision Making
07:00 - Optimizing Product Listings for Conversions
07:49 - Enhancing Product Detail Page Engagement
13:47 - Alt Text and Brand Story Module
17:29 - Amazon Merchandising and CTR Strategy
20:59 - Visual Packaging Increases Sales
23:47 - Maximizing Amazon Brand Ad Clicks
30:37 - Enhancing Product Listings With Creative Merchandising
33:44 - Optimizing Product Listings for Higher Conversion
34:38 - Improve Product Detail Pages for Conversions

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In this episode, Carrie Miller reveals a new secret marketplace where she sells 30 units daily and shares powerful health hacks that kept her feeling her best for 3 years.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we welcome Carrie Miller, Principal Brand Evangelist at Helium 10, back to the show, where she shares her exciting journey navigating the e-commerce landscape. Carrie has been thriving on a lesser-known platform called Flip, selling an impressive 30 units daily. She talks about her strategic approaches, including leveraging product inserts to collect customer emails, which has significantly boosted her Shopify sales. Additionally, Carrie shares insights into her ongoing ventures on Amazon with two family brands and her exploration of TikTok Shop, while addressing the challenges she faced with Walmart listings and her plans for improvement.

Explore the world of e-commerce with us as we discuss the rising trend of social media platforms becoming major shopping hubs. We talk about a popular new app that's capturing the attention of sellers and influencers alike. The app allows anyone to earn commissions by creating product-related videos, providing exposure and sales despite daily unpredictability. The conversation touches on the potential shift of influencers to this platform due to TikTok bans, and the exciting opportunities this presents for sellers seeking to diversify their strategies.

Listen in as we analyze the complexities of manufacturing and logistics within e-commerce, focusing on Carrie's decision to move to a closer 3PL in Reno for enhanced inventory flexibility. We discuss the challenges of transitioning into a Flip influencer and the potential for earning extra income through creative content. The conversation also highlights Carrie's experience with manufacturing decisions, from Turkey to future plans in the U.S., and the strategic use of Helium 10 tools to optimize product listings and maintain a competitive edge. Finally, we touch on health hacks with the powerful benefits of black seed oil and the latest features of Helium 10 that aid sellers in maximizing their marketplace success.

In episode 640 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Carrie discuss:

00:00 - New Marketplace Success and Health Hacks
02:28 - Warehouse Logistics Flexibility and Accessibility
05:16 - Introduction to Flip Platform for Sellers
06:41 - E-Commerce Success Strategies
08:58 - Social Media Platform Migration and Influencers
14:58 - Manufacturing and E-Commerce Strategy Analysis
15:47 - Making Money Through Social Media Platforms
22:14 - Strategies for Keyword Analysis and Advertising
26:07 - Navigating Amazon-Selling Challenges and Strategies
29:35 - Carrie's Health Hacks
30:23 - Favorite Helium 10 Features Discussion

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Amazon announces its second-ever big spring sale. TikTok shop is opening in Mexico this week. Amazon is actually sending traffic off the platform. These buzzing stories and more in this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Submit your deals and Prime-exclusive discounts for the Big Spring Sale
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNkwyM0xXSDRFOURZM0RL

TikTok Expands In-Stream Shopping Push to Latin America
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-shops-expansion-mexico-latin-america/739717/

Helping customers discover even more selection on Amazon
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/search-products-amazon-shopping-feature

Automatic minimum thresholds for order handling capacity
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHVDlDMlEzTTJTTlFNWUtE

And don't miss out on quick updates through the Serious Sellers Podcast Instagram, where we share more bite-sized content. Helium 10 New Feature Alerts talks about Helium 10’s new Listing Converter for TikTok Shop. Now available for Helium 10 Elite members. Lastly, understanding the intricacies of Amazon's recommended rank can be a game-changer for your product visibility and sales. We've got real-life examples of how correcting irrelevant keyword associations can enhance PPC impressions, using tools like Helium 10's Cerebro for effective keyword optimization. For niche markets, such as coffin and Gothic-themed products, learn how to use data insights to improve your marketing strategy while maintaining a balance between business growth and personal well-being. Join us to unlock the full potential of these e-commerce strategies!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:13 - Amazon Big Spring Sale
02:45 - TikTok Shop Mexico
03:48 - Amazon Sending Customers Off Platform
06:36 - FBM Order Capacity
08:48 - Follow Bradley on Instagram
09:43 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts - Listing Converter for TikTok Shop
10:05 - Join Helium 10 Elite
12:49 - Training Tip: Amazon Recommended Rank

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In this episode, we've got a couple of first-time guests. They started selling on Amazon in the last couple of years and are part of a community where thousands of moms have come together to learn how to sell online.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an exciting episode where we introduce two inspiring first-time guests, Laken Hardin-Is and Tiffany Nicholson, who have embarked on their e-commerce journeys with a community of entrepreneurial moms. Laken, an art major and graphic design enthusiast from South Carolina, shares her transition into the world of Amazon selling, blending her creative background with her newfound entrepreneurial spirit. Tiffany, from Akron, Ohio, narrates her path from communication studies and speech-language pathology to exploring e-commerce on Amazon. Both women discuss their unique paths and motivations, highlighting the blend of creativity and business acumen needed to succeed in the e-commerce world.

Listen in as we explore the process of building a brand from scratch, moving from retail arbitrage to establishing a private label brand. We talk about the initial hurdles of managing logistics and inventory and the breakthrough moments that came with the guidance of the Rainmaker family. Discover how tools like Helium 10 play a pivotal role in identifying product niches and opportunities. We also touch on the innovative strategies Laken and Tiffany employed to overcome challenges, such as product dimension issues, and how they now manage five SKUs with improved inventory systems, including the use of a 3PL in China. The conversation underscores the significance of brand building, social media presence, and leveraging customer insights to stay competitive.

This episode also highlights the importance of community and networking in the e-commerce industry, particularly for those entering a predominantly male space. The Amazon Influencer Program emerges as a potential entry point for generating additional income, utilizing everyday items to create engaging content. We discuss alternative avenues like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and digital products for those seeking initial capital. Laken and Tiffany's experiences illustrate how community support and shared learning can accelerate success, providing invaluable encouragement and guidance along the way. Finally, they invite listeners to connect with us and the Rainmaker Family community to further explore these insights and follow the journeys of our guests.

In episode 639 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Laken, and Tiffany discuss:

00:00 - New Sellers Sharing Their Amazon-Selling Journeys
08:27 - Growing Sales Through Product Diversification
11:40 - Building a Brand is Important
17:09 - Product Research and Overcoming Competition
20:16 - Community Success in Amazon Selling
27:59 - Amazon Success Stories and Growth
31:04 - Connecting With Rainmaker Family Community

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In this episode, we're bringing back one of the first-ever guests on SSP from 2018. He'll discuss a wide range of topics, such as AMC, TikTok shop, influencer marketing, and more.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Can understanding the latest trends in Amazon ads and influencer marketing transform your Amazon-selling and brand-launching strategy in 2025? Join us as we welcome back Liran Hirshkorn, CEO and Founder of Incrementum Digital, one of our earliest guests, who brings his expert insights into the rapidly evolving world of Amazon selling. This year marks a transformative period for platforms like Amazon, where changes in fees and advertising dynamics have forced sellers to realign their focus toward profitability. Liran shares compelling strategies for navigating these shifts and highlights the innovative use of Amazon AI search, Rufus, which is personalizing shopping experiences by customizing search results based on individual habits.

Explore the power of enhanced data visibility in Amazon advertising and uncover the secrets to optimizing your strategies. In this episode, we unravel how understanding the customer journey through expanded data insights can significantly boost purchase rates and ad efficiency. Discover how Amazon's strategic expansion beyond its own marketplace opens new avenues for sellers familiar with its advertising platform, allowing them to broaden their reach across different channels. Liran’s insights into leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud to create lookalike audiences for more targeted advertising are not to be missed.

Finally, we navigate the dynamic relationship between TikTok and major retail giants like Amazon and Walmart. Hear the captivating story of a seller's transition from Amazon to TikTok, illustrating the platform's impact in driving demand through engaging content and viral potential. We discuss how TikTok's algorithm enhances product discovery, especially for visually appealing items, and the implications of strategic partnerships that could reshape the e-commerce landscape. Throughout this episode, we emphasize the importance of building a strong brand identity and utilizing diverse marketing channels to stand out in today's competitive market. Tune in for a plethora of insights that promise to redefine your approach to e-commerce success.

In episode 638 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Liran discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Trends and Strategies for 2025
01:29 - Amazon PPC Changes and Current Challenges
03:54 - Personalized AI Shopping Experiences
11:00 - Shift in Search Results and Analytics
11:46 - Amazon Advertising Trends and Strategies
14:32 - Amazon Advertising's Expansion Into Other Retailers
17:59 - Advanced E-Commerce Strategies and Influencers
21:52 - Influencer Marketing's Impact on Brand Launches
27:57 - TikTok and Amazon Integration Strategy
29:57 - Beauty Product's Success on TikTok
36:04 - Amazon Sales Boosting Strategies

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Is this the end for Temu, Shein, & Amazon Haul? Secret Amazon pilot programs hint at big changes. Plus, Amazon may edit your listings next week! All these buzzing stories on today’s episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos.

Shein, Temu, Amazon Haul set for price hikes as US shuts trade loophole
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shein-temu-amazon-haul-set-price-hikes-us-shuts-trade-loophole-2025-02-04/

What New U.S. Policies on Imports From China Mean for Shein and Temu
https://time.com/7212903/shein-temu-usps-china-hong-kong-tariffs-trump/

Secret Amazon Pilot Programs
Apollo pilot program
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GA263VSD6RXPYBMC
StockSmart pilot program
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GLQWZVYJH5K6X6HE

Review Amazon Listing Updates
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/selectiongaps/review-listing-updates

Upgrade to a higher Amazon Vine enrollment tier within first 30 days
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHS1RVRVNCQjlVTFc2NjNE

Amazon Prime members enjoyed fastest-ever delivery speeds in 2024
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-prime-members-enjoyed-fastest-ever-delivery-speeds-in-2024

Amazon Prime members enjoyed fastest-ever delivery speeds in 2024, and US members saved on average over $500 on delivery fees
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/prime-members-us-savings-fastest-delivery-2024

Amazon announces February product event
The long-delayed smarter version of Amazon’s Alexa could launch at the event this month.
https://www.theverge.com/news/606622/amazon-february-event-announced-alexa

Create bulk listings with your own template format
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUE5BQjlFQ1A1NENDWkVY

We wrap up with exciting updates on resources like the Amazon Influencer Bootcamp inside Helium 10’s Freedom Ticket course to help Amazon influencers maximize their success. This week's strategy highlights Helium 10's Black Box feature for Amazon Brand Analytics, see verified sales by keywords over weeks or months, not just estimates but verified sales numbers for any product or group of products. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this episode is packed with insights and strategies to help you navigate the rapidly changing world of Amazon and the e-commerce world.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:15 - Temu, Shein, Amazon Haul Dead?
07:50 - Secret Amazon Pilot Programs
17:31 - Amazon Changing Listings
19:15 - Amazon Vine Change
20:13 - 2024 Prime Delivery Stats
21:48 - Amazon Alexa Update
23:01 - Bulk Listing Update
23:35 - IDR For EU and JP
24:30 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
26:11 - Training Tip: Helium 10 Black Box x Amazon Brand Analytics Strategy

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In this TACoS Tuesday episode, Bradley and Destaney Wishon discuss different Amazon advertising strategies, campaign types, how to measure Share of Voice, and more.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an enlightening TACoS Tuesday discussion on Amazon Advertising Strategies for Success with our expert guest, Destaney Wishon, CEO at BTR Media. Together, we explore advanced techniques to elevate your advertising game on Amazon. We unpack essential tools like the Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and Demand-Side Platform (DSP), as well as campaign segmentation strategies. We also highlight the significance of understanding the time gap between clicks and purchases, shedding light on common misconceptions about dayparting Amazon ads. With insights from Amazon Marketing Stream data, we provide actionable strategies to optimize your advertising efforts, ensuring you can effectively apply these techniques to your business.

As we move forward, we focus on maximizing Amazon ad type expansion, emphasizing the competitive edge gained by utilizing unique ad formats such as sponsored brand and display ads. Destaney shares insights into the effectiveness and costs associated with sponsored brand videos, particularly on mobile platforms. We also address audience experiences with video ad performance, clarify targeting options, and explore the potential overlap in ad real estate. Our conversation also covers optimizing these ad types for conversions, offering strategies to combine various ad formats for enhanced conversion rates and discussing creative content's role in driving success.

Finally, we highlight the importance of understanding Share of Voice on Amazon, a crucial metric for both large and small brands. We discuss how tools like Helium 10’s Share of Voice tool can provide valuable insights into brand positioning relative to competitors, helping inform strategic investment decisions. We explore organic versus paid presence and the impact of owning more "real estate" on Amazon's search pages. Our session wraps up with an overview of best practices for utilizing brand metrics and share of voice tools, offering guidance on campaign management, bid strategies, and maximizing profitability. Don't miss this opportunity to refine your Amazon PPC strategies with insights from our engaging conversation with Destaney.

In episode 637 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising Strategies for Success
02:22 - Timing Discrepancy Between Clicks and Purchases - Dayparting
05:54 - Optimizing Bid and Budget Strategies
09:16 - Maximizing Amazon Ad Type Expansion
12:20 - Comparing Amazon Sponsored Brand Ad Performance
13:30 - Amazon Sponsored Products Conversion Analysis
18:35 - Optimizing Amazon Ad Types for Conversions
26:56 - Optimizing Bid Management Strategy for Campaigns
29:52 - Understanding Share of Voice on Amazon
31:57 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising Through Keywords
35:33 - Importance of Amazon Rank Strategy
36:24 - Amazon PPC Best Practices Overview
40:17 - Fixed Bids vs Other Bid Types

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In this episode, we've got a couple of representatives from Amazon who work in a department that has now made it available for all sellers to quickly produce and upload 3D renderings of your products.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if you could transform your Amazon listings with the power of 3D technology? Join us for an insightful episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast where we explore this very possibility with Leon Tsivin and Chris Anderson from Amazon's Visual Innovation Team. These trailblazers are reshaping the e-commerce landscape by introducing Amazon sellers to groundbreaking advancements in 3D product renderings. Discover how these new interactive models, a leap beyond traditional 360-degree spin files, are set to enhance customer experience and boost purchase confidence, leading to a more engaging shopping journey.

Leon and Chris share their expertise on the evolution of 3D imaging, taking us through its fascinating journey from augmented reality furniture features to virtual try-ons for eyewear and shoes. Get an insider's look at the technical process behind creating these compelling models, from constructing the geometry to the final lighting touches. This episode also demystifies how customers can now explore products in a more immersive way, and how sellers can capitalize on these advances to gain a competitive edge on Amazon.

In the final part of our discussion, we dive into the practicalities of creating and managing 3D models on Amazon. Leon and Chris explain how sellers can utilize Amazon's mobile scanning tool to create free 3D models of their product using just a smartphone. We also cover important aspects like the submission and review process, device compatibility, and options for sellers without physical products ready. By the end of this episode, you'll understand not only the technicalities but also the strategic advantages of integrating 3D models into your Amazon listings, ultimately empowering your brand's presence in the fast-paced world of e-commerce. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the visionaries at the forefront of visual innovation.

In episode 636 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Chris, and Leon discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Representatives Discuss 3D Product Renderings
07:13 - Introduction to 3D Product Imaging
05:57 - The Impact of 3D Shopping Experiences
12:09 - Amazon 3D Product Demos
13:59 - Creating 3D Models for Amazon Sellers
19:08 - 3D Scanning Process for Products
22:30 - File Download Limitations on Amazon
25:14 - Uploading 3D Models to Amazon Seller Central
29:33 - Submitting and Reviewing 3D Models
30:18 - Leveraging 3D Images for Amazon Success

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Is Microsoft buying TikTok? Amazon Ads Brand+ launches for DSP users. A UPS change may impact how much you have to pay to send inventory to Amazon. These buzzing news and more in today’s episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok, Trump says
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3z55zz7xo

Amazon Ads Launches Brand+, A Way For Marketers To Leverage Shopping, Browsing And Streaming Data From Amazon’s Total Footprint
https://deadline.com/2025/01/amazon-ads-launches-brand-plus-tool-shopping-browsing-streaming-data-1236269306/

NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT: Amazon Ads launches Brand+ in beta for the Amazon DSP, an industry first AI-driven optimization capability for brand awareness campaigns
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffreycohen_amazonads-aiadvertising-streamingtv-activity-7289739667539668994-m1US

UPS announces major cutback in Amazon relationship
https://www.ajc.com/news/business/ups-to-cut-amazon-partnership-by-more-than-50/IP7G7JFWUJDWVCBAB4YE53M5AI/

Flip, the TikTok Shop rival, launches a creator fund that grants up to $100M of equity value
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/24/flip-launches-a-creator-fund-that-grants-up-to-100m-of-equity/

Freedom Ticket By Helium 10 - Amazon Influencer Bootcamp:
https://learning.helium10.com/products/freedom-ticket-4-0/categories/2156270528

Listen in as we uncover the latest tools for Amazon influencers using Helium 10, offering valuable insights into enhancing their earning potential. This new Helium 10 feature allows influencers to track video placements on Amazon, optimizing their strategies for maximum visibility and income. Switching to influencer mode on the Helium 10 Chrome extension provides further advantages, with data on existing influencer video placements. In our training tip of the week, we clarify the distinction between indexing and ranking on Amazon, highlighting the importance of these concepts for improved searchability and strategic planning. Discover how influencers inside the Amazon Influencer Program can harness Helium 10's tools to boost their content's performance and thrive in the Amazon Influencer Program.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:06 - MicroTok?
02:59 - Amazon Brand+
04:47 - Amazon / UPS Cutback
06:53 - Flip Marketplace
09:18 - Freedom Ticket: Amazon Influencer Bootcamp
10:27 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
14:01 - Training Tip: Check if Your Indexed for Keywords

View Details

In this episode, we discuss two killer product and keyword research strategies. One of them found a product that has sold tens of thousands of dollars, but I found this product opportunity nine months ago.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Ever wondered how some Amazon sellers manage to uncover hidden e-commerce gems while the rest of us are left playing catch-up? Imagine having the tools and insights to identify high-performing products, long before they hit the big time. On this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, we break down the art and science of Amazon products and keyword research for 2025. From Bradley’s personal success with the "Meat Resting Blanket" to the specifics of navigating Amazon's algorithm, this episode has strategies that can elevate your Amazon-selling game.

Join me as Bradley walks you through the power-packed features of Helium 10. We’ll explore niche markets that are ripe for the picking and how to harness the potential of Amazon's brand analytics. You'll get insider tips on dissecting search results to identify products with high click rates but low conversions, a surefire way to uncover untapped opportunities. This episode is not just about finding products; it’s about mastering the art of listening to what the market is quietly whispering.

Last but not least, we dive into the nuances of product visibility and keyword relevance. Discover advanced strategies for optimizing your Amazon listings with Helium 10’s Magnet, Black Box, and Cerebro, and learn how keyword seasonality can impact your sales cycles. Plus, a sneak peek at how Amazon's AI is reshaping product listings and why understanding its algorithm could be your secret weapon. Are you ready to transform your approach and maximize your e-commerce potential? Tune in for actionable insights and a fresh perspective on the game-changing Amazon tools for 2025.

In episode 635 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Amazon Product and Keyword Research Strategies
01:36 - Keyword Research Tools for Amazon Sellers
07:18 - Identifying Niche Products Through Brand Analytics
12:46 - Exploring Unfamiliar Keywords and Products
17:25 - Keyword Research Strategies and Historical Data
19:49 - Discovering Top-Selling Products in Brand Analytics
23:48 - Advanced Keyword Research Strategies
24:53 - Discovering Top Keywords With Amazon Data
31:57 - Amazon AI for Product Seasonality
35:15 - Amazon Product Sales Analysis & Seasonality

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In this episode, learn Bradley’s top 10 all-time money-making strategies that you can't do with any other tool outside of Helium 10. Including one strategy adding $5K profit from a product selling just 5 units a day!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join Bradley as he shares his top 10 unique money-making strategies exclusively available to Helium 10 users. These strategies, often overlooked by the average Amazon seller, are designed to provide a competitive edge and significantly boost your profits. He shares how one particular strategy added over $5,000 in profit for a product selling just five units a day. By comparing Helium 10's functionalities with other Amazon tools out there, Bradley highlights the potential for substantial gains by utilizing features available to Helium 10 users. This episode is packed with insights into lesser-known techniques that can supercharge your Amazon business for maximum profitability, even during off-peak times.

Listen in as Bradley reveals advanced Amazon product research techniques using Helium 10's tools that can revolutionize your approach to analyzing product performance and keyword effectiveness. Discover how to leverage the historical Cerebro feature to track high-performing seasonal products currently out of stock and understand what drove their sales during their peak season. We also dive into Amazon Brand Analytics tools inside Helium 10 to streamline the process of identifying top-clicked keywords for seasonal products. By analyzing a broader date range, you can uncover a comprehensive list of keywords that led to significant clicks and conversions, enhancing your product's market strategy.

Finally, Bradley guides you through strategies to determine if your product is indexed for a keyword on Amazon. Learn how the Index Checker tool can efficiently identify which specific keywords are preventing a product from being indexed for certain phrases. He also explores the importance of understanding shifts in keyword ranks and how these shifts can explain changes in sales performance. With insights into optimizing packaging size for immediate savings. This is a look at 10 strategies most Amazon sellers and Helium 10 users overlook, this episode offers a comprehensive guide to maximizing your profits and refining your Amazon-selling and e-commerce strategy using Helium 10.

In episode 634 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

03:19 - #1 Cerebro Historical Trend
08:39 - #2 ABA Top Search Terms
11:40 - #3 Cerebro Historial Search Volume & Rank
15:21 - #4 Amazon Recommended Rank
20:11 - #5 Child ASIN Variation Sales Performance
21:55 - #6 Cerebro Data Shows All 7 Pages
24:59 - #7 Helium 10 Index Checker
29:07 - #8 Keyword Sales Estimates
31:17 - #9 Keyword Tracker with Boost
33:48 - #10 Size Tier Alerts

View Details

An Amazon FBA shipment change, TikTok shop not allowing dropshipping anymore, and Walmart launching an in-home testing program. These and more buzzing news on this week's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon FBA Shipment Change
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GC3Q44PBK8BXQW3Z

TikTok Shop Drops Dropshipping

The TikTok outage caused TikTok Shop sales to spike, not sink
https://digiday.com/marketing/the-tiktok-outage-caused-tiktok-shop-sales-to-spike-not-sink/

Apple, Google remove TikTok from stores as app halts service in U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/18/apple-google-remove-tiktok-from-stores-as-app-halts-service-in-us.html

Apple won't return TikTok to the App Store until it's sold to a U.S. buyer
https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/01/21/apple-wont-return-tiktok-to-the-app-store-until-its-sold-to-a-us-buyer

Walmart will now let suppliers test products in its customers’ homes
https://www.modernretail.co/operations/walmart-will-now-let-suppliers-test-products-in-its-customers-homes/

Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal now available
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHRkVaMk1ZR05KWFNDSEw2

New Features for Amazon Advertisers
https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/release-notes/index

New Amazon product title requirements effective January 21, 2025
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNEJGOUZIUUs4SFBXWkRV

In the next segment, we turn our attention to exciting new Helium 10 product features and updates in the Amazon marketplace. We introduce powerful features inside Helium 10 Adtomic like the Share of Voice tool. This tool is designed to enhance brand visibility and streamline advertising campaigns. Furthermore, Shivali guides us through a compelling strategy for expanding product offerings by leveraging niche book topics by using Helium 10’s Black Box tool for KDP allowing sellers to tap into new markets and diversify income streams. By identifying high-potential keywords with low competition, sellers can capitalize on existing skills and broaden their market presence. Don't miss this episode for a comprehensive look at these critical updates and strategies to enhance your e-commerce success.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:47 - Amazon FBA Shipment Change
02:34 - TikTok Shop Drops Dropshipping
04:23 - TikTok Sales Spike
05:36 - TikTok App Unavailable
07:06 - Walmart’s Scintilla
08:59 - IDR Portal LIVE
10:33 - New Features for Advertisers
12:06 - Title Policy Reminder
12:51 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
19:09 - Training Tip: Black Box For KDP

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In this TACoS Tuesday episode, we answer over 20 of your top Amazon PPC questions with the help of our first-time expert guest who brings a wealth of knowledge to our show.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

How can you elevate your Amazon advertising game and maximize your e-commerce success? Join us as we welcome Anne Harrell, Head of Product Evangelism & Enablement from Pacvue, to answer over 20 of the most pressing PPC questions from our listeners. Bradley and Anne's deep expertise offers a fresh perspective on how Helium 10 and Pacvue can complement each other, helping brands at various stages of their Amazon-selling journey. She dives into the latest innovations Amazon has lined up for 2024, like AMC and expanded sponsored ads, which aim to give sellers unprecedented insights into customer behavior.

Throughout the episode, Anne shares actionable strategies for mastering Amazon ad campaigns. Bradley and Anne also break down the complexities of setting up effective campaigns, sharing how tech tools like Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker can fine-tune your bids beyond basic estimates. We also touch on the power of automation with tools inside Pacvue, which can alleviate the burdens of manual campaign management and enhance overall efficiency. Anne emphasizes the role of external traffic and audience maximization within Amazon's ecosystem, offering a balanced approach to boost organic sales alongside advertising efforts.

Finally, we explore the nuances of Amazon PPC strategy, from mitigating rising ACoS to the strategic use of AI in campaign management. Anne shares her fascinating journey from the advertising world to her pivotal role at Pacvue, along with resources like TACoS Tuesday for those keen on deepening their PPC knowledge. Whether you're working to optimize your PPC campaigns or looking to learn effective strategies, this episode is packed with insights to fuel your Amazon success story.

In episode 633 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Anne discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising Solutions
02:57 - Helium 10 and Pacvue
06:32 - Amazon Ads, CES Announcement
08:30 - PPC Campaign Optimization Strategies
09:25 - Optimizing Keyword Bids for Product Launch
12:42 - Optimizing Amazon Campaigns for Keywords
16:05 - Optimizing Campaign Management Frequency
22:56 - Effective Ad vs. Organic Sales Ratio
23:34 - Driving Sales Through Advertising and Optimization
28:34 - Finding Trending Keywords for Sponsored Products
32:22 - Product Display Ads Optimization & Competitor Avoidance

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In this episode, an Amazon seller shares how creating products to save his dog launched his brand, leading to Amazon featuring his inspiring story on its website.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Santiago Gelvez of PetCultures.com, a Colombian-born entrepreneur whose heartwarming journey to save his dog Tango sparked an innovative adventure in the pet product industry. Santiago's transition from a career with giants like Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo to founding a thriving e-commerce brand is a riveting tale of passion and perseverance. Discover how a personal crisis and a collaboration with a veterinarian friend led to the creation of a groundbreaking pet probiotic that not only improved Tango's health but also caught Amazon's attention, turning Santiago's entrepreneurial dream into a flourishing reality.

Santiago opened up about his strategic expansion into the European market, sharing key insights into the unique challenges and opportunities he faced. Learn about his experience relocating to Europe and how it unveiled lower competition and cost per acquisition, proving crucial for growth in the pet supplement sector. Santiago emphasizes the importance of Amazon's Subscribe and Save feature, which has been instrumental in fostering customer loyalty and achieving profitability. Through his story, Santiago underscores the need for patience and strategic planning in the competitive landscape of online supplements.

Marketing is at the heart of Santiago's success, and he generously shares his strategies for brand growth. From offering enticing discounts to crafting compelling personal stories, Santiago's approach is both innovative and relatable. He discusses the power of storytelling in branding, particularly the role of his journey with Tango, and explains how workshops with industry experts like Kevin King have fueled his brand's expansion across European marketplaces. This episode is a treasure trove of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make their mark in the pet product industry and beyond.

In episode 632 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Santiago discuss:

00:00 - From Procter & Gamble to Pet Products
00:00 - Seller's Amazon Success Story
04:27 - Ineffective Probiotics for Pets
07:44 - Starting a Business and Making Profit
09:47 - Expansion Through European Markets and Strategies
18:31 - Pricing Strategy and Amazon Subscribe & Save
18:37 - Pet Products Marketing and Global Expansion
26:30 - Amazon Mexico Regulatory Challenge
29:59 - Pet Supplement Brand Marketing Strategy
30:38 - Expanding Brand in European Amazon Markets
33:50 - Private Label Product Launch Strategy

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TikTok Shop sellers are looking at backup plans in case it's banned. Temu is now going to start charging for advertising. Amazon discontinues two programs. These buzzing stories and more on today's episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Tech war: China’s TikTok sellers eye Amazon and Shein as US ban looms
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3294719/tech-war-chinas-tiktok-sellers-eye-amazon-and-shein-us-ban-looms

Temu Trials Amazon-Killer Search Ad Business
https://www.tipranks.com/news/temu-nasdaqpdd-trials-amazon-killer-search-ad-business

Updates to packaging requirements for sharp products
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHM0EzVzhSV0ZGQ1VQSzla

Amazon to shut down ‘Try Before You Buy’ rival to Stitch Fix
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/10/amazon-to-shut-down-stitch-fix-competitor-prime-try-before-you-buy.html

Boost sales of more sustainable products with Climate Pledge Friendly
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTERTQUJEUktKQ0NTOVFB

Amazon’s 360-degree image experience to be discontinued
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQkVLSzJKWTZRTEtGU1hD

Amazon Autos launches online sales
https://www.automotivedive.com/news/customers-can-add-vehicles-hyundai-shopping-cart-amazon-autos/736716/

In the final segment, we shift our focus to cutting-edge tools and events that empower sellers. Discover how Helium 10's newest feature enhances keyword research, helping sellers identify high-converting keywords and uncover lucrative market gaps. We share strategic insights for manufacturers, like those in the bamboo niche, to capitalize on market opportunities. Don't miss the details about our upcoming Helium 10 Elite workshop and AMZ Hacking Live Event in Berlin, where industry luminaries like Kevin King will provide indispensable insights into the e-commerce world. Prepare to elevate your e-commerce game with the knowledge and strategies shared in this episode.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:01 - TikTok Shop Alternatives?
03:42 - Temu Ads
05:57 - Amazon Sharp Products
09:58 - Try Before You Buy Gone
10:54 - Climate Pledge Friendly
12:11 - 360 Images Gone
13:27 - Amazon Cars
14:25 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
22:58 - Strategy of the Week
27:36 - Germany Events for Sellers

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In this episode, the author of Profit First for eCommerce Sellers shares strategies to calculate, manage finances, and ensure profitability to fund your Amazon business and lifestyle.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if you could dramatically enhance your e-commerce business's profitability by making a simple shift in your financial strategy? In this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10, we sit down with Cyndi Thomason, the mastermind behind "Profit First for E-Commerce Sellers." Cyndi opens up about the intricacies of cash flow management and the vital principle of paying yourself first, a step often neglected by Amazon sellers. Drawing from her extensive experience at Books Keep, Cyndi provides an in-depth analysis of the current e-commerce landscape, highlighting an intriguing scenario where revenues are climbing, yet gross profits dwindle due to rising costs.

We unravel the secrets of proactive financial planning, diving into the innovative use of multiple bank accounts to streamline your business finances. By establishing separate accounts for operating expenses, inventory, and profits, you can achieve a crystal-clear view of your cash flow and tackle the unique hurdles of inventory management. Cyndi guides us through the practicalities of this method, emphasizing the importance of setting aside funds for future inventory needs in the ever-changing market conditions.

As we dive deeper, the conversation shifts to the transformative "Profit First" model. Cyndi passionately advocates for entrepreneurs to reward themselves with regular profit distributions, likening this practice to the enjoyment of dividends from stocks. This not only celebrates success but also builds financial discipline. We also explore strategies for funding inventory and product development while keeping operational expenses in check. From understanding the nuances of real revenue to maintaining a healthy balance for taxes and owner pay, Cyndi equips us with essential tools for sustainable business growth and personal financial well-being.

In episode 631 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Kevin, and Cyndi discuss:

00:00 - Maximizing E-Commerce Profitability Strategies
01:28 - Profit First for E-Commerce With Cyndi Thomason
05:36 - Impact of Ad Spend on Profitability
08:38 - Understanding Profit First Behavioral Strategy
11:55 - Optimizing Profit Through 3 Bank Accounts
13:31 - Setting Up Multiple Bank Accounts
18:46 - Implementing Profit First Financial Strategy
20:00 - Building a Profit Reserve for Business
24:52 - Credit Cards in Business
29:00 - Financial Strategies for Business Growth
30:56 - Mindset Shift for Business Success
36:25 - Strategies for Business Financial Growth
37:20 - Managing Expenses for Product Development
40:45 - Cash Flow Management and Profit Maximization

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This episode is a two-in-one special, with two guests for the price of one. One is one of the world's top experts on TikTok shop, and the other has sold hundreds of millions of dollars online and is even an accomplished DJ who plays at music festivals.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for a fascinating conversation as we welcome Ali Grey, a remarkable e-commerce expert and globetrotter, to our podcast. Ali shares his journey from London to living in Taiwan, after having worked from an impressive 70 different countries. Discover how he started his entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 15 by coding his own dropshipping website, which led him to leave school and pursue e-commerce full-time. Ali talks about his success on Amazon and his early investments in Bitcoin, which were driven by his interest in cryptography and a desire to break away from traditional financial systems.

In another exciting chapter, we explore Ali's creative side as GRY, a DJ who transitioned from organizing underground raves in London to performing at major festivals around the world. He reveals the four key strategies that propelled his e-commerce business to impressive revenue growth, including acquiring ASINs, leveraging affiliate marketing, building a strong community, and creating patented products. Ali emphasizes the importance of community and patent financing while sharing his personal preference for social media platforms.

Finally, listen in as Bilal Sirbuland, a trailblazer in the TikTok Shop space, joins the discussion to share his journey from Amazon to becoming a top seller on TikTok Shop. Bilal highlights the simplicity and opportunities TikTok Shop offers, and shares strategies for launching and scaling a business, such as focusing on viral products and leveraging TikTok's algorithm for advertising. This episode is packed with valuable insights and strategies from both Ali and Bilal, providing a comprehensive guide for aspiring e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to thrive in the ever-evolving digital selling marketplace.

In episode 630 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Ali, and Bilal discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Experts Discuss Success Strategies
06:39 - Teen Entrepreneur's Million-Dollar Gaming Venture
12:32 - From Raves to Festivals
17:43 - Value of Building Patents in Business
19:58 - Successful Transition to TikTok Shop
21:50 - Selling Brands on TikTok for Virality
26:27 - Selling Brands Without Influencers
32:47 - TikTok Shop Strategy and Pricing
39:52 - Selling Products on TikTok Shop

View Details

Amazon changes the game for retail advertising. TikTok Shop is opening in a surprisingly new country. eBay makes a move to join a popular social media network. These buzzing stories and more on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Amazon aims to expand advertising business by letting retailers use its ad tools on their stores
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/09/amazon-to-expand-ad-unit-by-letting-retailers-use-ad-tools-on-stores.html

Title Rule Clarifications
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/3c9f0b3c-4594-4efc-a05f-0f8d371fa466

How TikTok Shop is changing the way brands reach customers
https://www.retaildive.com/news/how-tiktok-shop-is-changing-the-way-brands-reach-customers/736726/

EBay shares soar after Meta allows listings on Facebook Marketplace in U.S., Europe
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/08/ebay-shares-soar-as-meta-allows-listings-on-facebook-marketplace.html

Conversion Path Reporting (beta)
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/ad-touchpoints-drive-sales-with-conversion-path-reporting/

TikTok expands e-commerce operation into Mexico amid potential US ban
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-expands-e-commerce-operation-093000468.html

Switching gears, we explore the new features in Helium 10’s Magnet and Cerebro keyword translations, designed to aid sellers operating in multilingual marketplaces. The training tip of the week highlights Helium 10's exclusive Amazon Recommended Rank feature in Cerebro, which evaluates how relevant Amazon considers specific keywords for your product, scoring them. This tool helps sellers identify potential ranking, indexing, or advertising issues, especially for new products, by analyzing the top 20 keywords and ensuring Amazon correctly understands your product's relevance. Listen in for these crucial updates and insights that will help you stay ahead in the competitive world of e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:54 - Amazon Retail Ad Service
02:27 - Title Rule Clarifications
06:46 - TikTok Shop Stats
08:50 - eBay x Facebook
10:02 - Amazon Conversion Path Reporting
11:07 - TikTok Shop Mexico
12:24 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
14:19 - Training Tip: Amazon Recommended Rank

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon changes the game for retail advertising. TikTok shop is opening in a surprising new country. eBay makes a move to join with a popular social media network. These stories and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. We give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features that Helium 10 has. That will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing All For serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing All. Right, this is the first buzz of the new year, or second buzz of the new year, I should say. Let's go ahead and hop into it.

Bradley Sutton:

The first thing we're going to talk about is an announcement they made at CES this week. The one who's reporting on it is actually CNBC, and the article is entitled Amazon aims to expand advertising business by letting retailers use its ad tools on their store. So some of the TLDR here is that Amazon is letting other retailers now use its own homegrown advertising tools to run sponsored ads on their own website. The service is designed to make it easier for other retailers to run targeted ad campaigns on their online stores. All right, so, as we know, ads has been big, you know, for Amazon over the years. We know that as Amazon sellers. But this is this is different. All right, so basically, like, let's say, I've got my own retail website, I can now use Amazon's advertising console to use the ad tech or the technology the advertising technology that Amazon has to run ads on my product pages on my website, on search, and this is going to help Amazon. You know like build it's like and how it can anticipate buyer behavior and things, but it's going to help. You know retailers as well, because you know, obviously, amazon's advertising system is very robust and you don't even have I believe you don't even have to be selling on amazon to take advantage of this service. So, uh, this is going to be interesting to watch as it rolls out and how this this changes the game for retailers. Perhaps you know, like, how many are going to adopt the amazon advertising um, as opposed to whatever they were using before. How many might start advertising more because of what's going on be definitely worth taking a look at.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, last week we talked about the new title requirements and there was an Ask Me Anything in the Amazon forums a few days ago that kind of clarified some things and even some things that I was confused about. I'm not sure if I said it wrong last week, but like I probably read it right, but for sure I understood it wrong last week. But like I probably read it right, but for sure I understood it wrong. All right. The way I understood the title was that you can't duplicate words in the title. Did some of you guys get that too out of what their announcement was? But actually the fine print says you can't have more than two. All right, it's not, it's not. You can't have two or more, it's more than two. Little bit of dyslexia there, um. So basically that means if I have the word in the title you know, coffin shelf uh, for home decor, something, something coffin, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's okay. Last week, when I read this, I thought that wasn't okay, um, because I just must've switched the words when I was looking at it.

Bradley Sutton:

But that's the first big thing that came from this AMA, but let's go ahead and open up some more of the questions and answers. There's some things that you guys might have had that I think are notable. Here is one question that I know a lot of us had. It said are the plural and singular versions of a word considered the same and count towards the maximum? And this seller said for example, if I had cake pan, loaf pan and muffin pans, is the word pans counted as the same as pan? And then that would make it three times, meaning that it's above two, meaning that that's against Amazon terms of service. And Jim from Amazon replied plural of the same word would be considered redundant. In the example you provided, pan and pans imply the same and thus it would be considered duplicate. All right, so there's the. I know people are asking about that. How are plurals considered? That's the answer, right there.

Bradley Sutton:

Another question was from what impact will it have if we don't update? Changing the title like this could significantly affect our search traffic. And Jim says if the title is not updated, amazon will modify the product title to comply with a new policy, while retaining all relevant information. All right. So there you have it? It like you're not going to get your listing suppressed per se, but amazon's going to go in and change your title. Sounds like Another question by PTC Tim Do words that are part of the brand name count towards the count of reusing a word?

Bradley Sutton:

For example, if the brand name is Muffin King, could they have a title such as Muffin King Beginner's Kit includes chocolate chip and banana nut muffin mixes and a 12 muffin pan. All right, so muffin is there three times in singular version. So you might think, oh, that can't be allowed. But Jim from Amazon says no, this will not be considered a policy violation, because the word or phrase is considered duplicate only when there are three or more instances in the same context. But muffin, the first instance is a brand name and the other two describe the product. So if you have a word that's part of your brand like maybe my brand was Manny's Coffin Shelves that first coffin doesn't count as the use of the word coffin in the title. That makes sense.

Bradley Sutton:

Another person asked a question and says you know, there were some punctuation marks that were listed, like dollar sign, question mark, underscore, et cetera, and it says are these the only special characters allowed? What about dash colon, open parentheses, close parentheses, et cetera, and Jameson actually answered. He said hyphen, colon and regular brackets are allowed as they often have functional value. Uh, there actually were some other uh characters not allowed that Amazon didn't announce. And these are the tilde, you know, like the little ñ that goes over the N in Spanish when you say baño right. The greater than and less than symbols, those are not allowed. The semicolon is not allowed and the I don't know how you describe it, but it looks like a top of a house, the roof of a house. That symbol is not allowed. There were more different kind of like specifications and questions that people had that you might want to look at. So make sure to check the link in the comments to see some of the more the other clarifications on this new title policy.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article we have here comes from Retail Dive and it's entitled how TikTok Shop is Changing the Way Brands Reach Customers. All right, so there's I brought this up because there's a lot of just interesting kind of like factoids here, and one of them it says 70% of TikTok users say they discover new brands and products on the platform 70%, that's crazy and 83% report TikTok playing a role in users' purchase decisions. I guarantee you we're not seeing that kind of stuff on Temu, right? The company also reports that three in four users are likely to buy something while using TikTok. Think about that, guys. How many users of TikTok are there? And three in four are likely to buy something. You might think, well, that's not something that you know. All marketplaces everybody should be buying something. But remember, TikTok is not a marketplace, TikTok is a social media. If you think three out of four people on Instagram are buying something, three out of four people on YouTube are buying something, it's like I don't know what the number is. It's probably like less than one in 10, one in 20. So this is like kind of an astronomical number.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, why is TikTok so powerful? One reason is here. It says nearly three in five Gen Z consumers say they trust recommendations by local or micro influencers. Per a survey, over a quarter of US consumers who responded to the survey reported buying a gift directly based on an influencer's recommendations. That's kind of crazy and that's what drives, you know, TikTok shop sales is influencers and micro influencers. So, guys, if you're not selling on TikTok shop, you know, get out and do it. We have some, uh, some training on how to get started. We're going to have some more training. We're going to have, like, different tools that, uh, you guys might ask for that that would help you sell on TikTok shop. But, um, I was trying to. I'm starting to ramp up. I launched a couple more products on TikTok shop last night. I'm going to keep launching some products and let you guys know what I find, but I really think that TikTok shop is going to be one of the major marketplaces moving forward.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of different marketplaces, let's switch gear and talk about a marketplace that I barely ever talk about but I actually personally sell on. That's eBay. All right, so this is articles from CNBC. It says eBay shares soar after. Meta allows listings on Facebook marketplace in US and Europe. All right. So in Germany, France and the US. What's going to happen is eBay listings are now going to be able to show up in Facebook marketplace. All right. So like that's going to give eBay listings a lot of visibility. So let's say I'm browsing on Facebook and I go to the Marketplace or maybe, who knows, maybe there'll be some way to put ads like in my Facebook feed. I'm going to be able to click on that product and then purchase it by signing in on eBay, I believe right there on the Facebook app still. So imagine being on Facebook, going to the Helium 10 members Facebook group, because you're getting all the good information there, and then you see an ad or something for an eBay product and while still on Facebook, you go ahead and purchase. I mean, if that's the way it's going to work, that's going to be, I think that might be a little bit successful for eBay. I'm definitely going to look into it for my eBay listings that I have. How many of you guys sell on eBay out there? Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to the Amazon marketplace, last week, in case you missed it, there was a new conversion path reporting, a beta program that Amazon has. It kind of like reminds me of how AMC is set up, but now you're going to be able to see the ad touch points on a customer's 30-day path to conversion, starting with the purchases. All right, so this is available in sponsored ads and DSP. Make sure to check the link in the article below for more links on where you can find it, but like you'll be able to see oh, they saw the streaming TV, then they went to a sponsored display ad and then they went to a sponsored video ad. They saw a sponsored product ad. Now, this is good information, but there's definitely some things missing. Like you can't see the ACOS, like all right, great, I see that this kind of ad is what drove my sale, but my ACOS on that exact ad was like 400%. It's not exactly viable, right. So I mean, it's not perfect, but this is great, you know, step in the right direction as far as visibility goes with your advertising.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to TikTok, now guess what? TikTok is opening up a new marketplace and it's right here in North America. It is opening to Mexico. Per Yahoo Finance says TikTok expands e-commerce operation into Mexico and it says that they've already started inviting merchants to open stores on the platform ahead of the expected startup transactions in February. Now, who can sign up for Amazon or TikTok shop Mexico? Merchants with a locally registered entity are eligible to sign up. Now, that's interesting, because what's the requirement for USA? As we know, you could have a local entity being a US corporation, but if you're a foreigner with no US employees and nobody with a social security number, you can't sign up. But if this is to be taken at face value, you maybe can be a foreigner, but as long as you have a Mexican entity or business, it looks like you might be able to sign up on the platform and the first 90 days of activity for TikTok shop Mexico zero commission, zero commission fee in Mexico, or have a Mexican entity. Make sure to go ahead and consider starting up on the platform.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's go into our new feature alerts now. This one is going to be for, I believe, all plans, Platinum and Diamond. It's been for elite for a while because it was actually elite members who first asked for this, but this is going to be in Magnet and Cerebro, um, at the start. It might be in other tools, but what sellers were looking for was a way to translate keywords. All right, like this could be, for, let's say, you're in the US marketplace and you see a whole bunch of Spanish keywords and you're just curious what it means. Well, what people were doing is that they would copy the keywords from Helium 10 and then put it to Google Translate or something like that.

Bradley Sutton:

Or let's say you're doing keyword research in a marketplace that is not your native language, like maybe you're trying to make a listing for Amazon Japan. Of course, you can use Helium 10 Listing Builder to make a listing in Japanese, but you want to make sure you're feeding it the right keywords and you don't know what the keywords mean in Japanese. Well, this is what you can do. If you go into Listing Builder or into Cerebro, there will be a translate button right here, all right. So if you got the results in Magnet or Cerebro, just hit that and then you can go from, like English to Spanish, to German, to Chinese, et cetera, and you're going to have an option Like I'm going to pretend that maybe I'm somebody from China and I'm not. I don't speak English that well. Well, I'm going to go ahead and translate these English results into Chinese by default. It's actually going to show up right underneath the actual English keyword or whatever keyword or language you're looking at, but I can also change it where I can have it in a separate column, all right. So here now, all of a sudden, side by side, I've got the English keyword and the Chinese translation side by side. So this definitely helps English speaking people who are doing research in other languages or are curious what kind of meaning some of the keywords that are coming up in your own marketplace that are in different language, or if you speak a different language and you need just some quick translations, this is going to help. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's talk about the training tip of the week, and this is actually. I'm still going to stay right here in Cerebro, actually, and I want to show you guys something again. Only Helium 10 has this, and what it is the Amazon recommended rank. So actually here in Cerebro, I've got my coffin shelf here Now. This is especially helpful if you ever start getting ranking issues like you start losing your rank, or if you maybe like lose indexing somehow, or maybe there's some keywords that you know you're relevant for in your index for, but you just can't get PPC impressions. This is especially helpful when you are first launching a product. As a matter of fact, you know, like this is what I've been teaching for the last two years, where if you launch a product, I say that you almost should always do a test listing first that you're not really going to sell, but just to check this metric and this is Amazon relevancy.

Bradley Sutton:

Everybody always uses the term relevant and we can kind of insinuate hey, what is relevant for a product due to the keywords that are ranking for it. But until Helium 10 had this, you never knew what is really relevant to Amazon. What does Amazon think the product is? This Helium 10 is the only tool that's tying directly to Amazon to give you how relevant Amazon thinks a keyword is for your product and it's called Amazon recommended rank. It's listed from like a score of one to 900. The number one means it's the most relevant according to Amazon, et cetera.

Bradley Sutton:

Now is the number one and number two and number three keywords always the top keywords for your product? No, but looking at the top 20, I always sort it in helium 10. And I look at the top 20 ones and it will tell me is Amazon confused about my product, especially if it's a brand new product, right? So let me just show you, for example, this is my coffin shelf here and if I go to this column of Amazon recommended rank and I hit it, it's going to sort it by the top ones and like look at this number one keyword that Amazon says I'm relevant for coffin shelf wall Manny's mysterious oddities coffin shelf coffin shelf small. So just by looking at these top you know 10 keywords, top 20 or so. Um, I can tell that. Hey, amazon pretty much knows what my product is. Now, something concerning is the actual keyword. Coffin shelf is the only the 28th keyword, so you know what that tells me. I might have some issues with advertising on my product. I might have to look at what's going on, but at the very least Amazon isn't very confused about my product.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let me give you a contrast here. I went to the search results of coffin shelf and obviously my product is on page one. But here I scrolled all the way down to page four and then I saw just some random coffin shelf. Where did it? Here's a coffin shelf very similar to mine Pachyon floating shelves, coffin shape, shelf, wall mouth. This is a terrible title, but you see, their BSR is like 7 million. They are not selling any units at all of this, and they are right, even though this is one of the few coffin shelves. I mean, page two and three and four don't even have that many coffin shelves, because there's not even seven pages worth of coffin shelves.

Bradley Sutton:

So you might be wondering why in the world is this product ranking so low? Well, outside of listing optimization, one of the reasons is the relevancy. Take a look when I run this product in Cerebro and I sort it by Amazon recommended rank. Let's go to that column right here. Look, do you remember what my mind was? Let's just look back here. Remember the top ones coffin wall shelf. Coffin shelf small spooky hanging coffin shelf Halloween decor indoor home. Look at the top keywords of what Amazon thinks is relevant for this poor. Selling coffin shelf. Floating shelf wall. Floating shelf. Selling coffin shelf. Floating shelf wall. Floating shelf. Wall shelves, room wall. Do you notice something? These are just generic keywords. So, for whatever reason, they must not have their listing optimized. Or maybe there's a category issue. But Amazon is not even picking up the word coffin in the top keywords that it is saying it's relevant for. So this product is probably never going to rank very well for coffin shelf. Nor are they going to be able to advertise if they wanted to.

Bradley Sutton:

You can see right here with Helium 10, they're not advertising. But this just kind of like illustrates what can happen if you, if Amazon, gets confused about your product, you're going to have some issues. So make sure to check that out. All levels of Helium 10 can access that platinum diamond and above. Go into Cerebro. Run it on your own product, especially your brand new products. Or if you ever have trouble ranking or indexing and check sorted by the Amazon recommended rank, take a look at those top 20 keywords and see hey, does Amazon kind of like have a good idea about what your product is, or is it confused? And then you can take action from there. All right, guys, that's it for this week's Weekly Buzz. Hope you enjoyed these articles and also these new features and training tips. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Let’s learn everything you need to know about two of Amazon's fastest-growing marketplaces UAE & Saudi Arabia, plus a bonus story of somebody who learned from Project X strategies and now has a thriving 6-figure business.

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Unlock the secrets to thriving in the blossoming Amazon UAE and Amazon Saudi Arabia marketplaces, where a remarkable 12% e-commerce growth awaits eager sellers. Journey with Bradley and Krystel Abi Assi of Amazon Seller Society to the bustling city of Dubai, as we uncover how international brands are leveraging early market entry to build a strategic edge. Supported by the WorldEF Conference and Dubai Commerce City, we discuss how Dubai is cementing its status as a global hub for innovation and e-commerce, providing unparalleled opportunities for global sellers looking to make their mark.

Gain insights into the essential steps for international sellers aiming to conquer Amazon's Middle Eastern markets. With minimal barriers to entry, you can seamlessly utilize existing business structures without requiring a local presence, while understanding the nuances of VAT registration. As Saudi Arabia's platform evolves with Arabic language enhancements, the potential for sellers is rapidly expanding, offering fertile ground for those ready to adapt and seize the moment in these vibrant regions.

Join us as we introduce our next guest Abdallah Hesham, an inspiring Amazon seller from Egypt, who shares his compelling journey from failed products to discovering success in car accessories. Abdallah's story illustrates the power of adaptation and innovative research methods inspired by watching Helium 10’s Project X Amazon Product Case Study series on YouTube, such as Pinterest and ChatGPT, in finding profitable niches. We emphasize the critical role of precise keyword selection in representing products effectively on Amazon, with stories and strategies that underscore the transformative potential of this approach for ambitious sellers worldwide.

In episode 629 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Krystel, and Abdallah discuss:

00:00 - Amazon UAE and Saudi Arabia Insights
03:07 - Emerging E-Commerce Market in 2025
05:31 - Selling on Amazon Middle East
10:12 - Arabization of Amazon Platform
15:53 - Amazon Sellers in UAE
19:40 - Success in Amazon Business Strategies
22:23 - Discovering Hidden Product Opportunities
27:34 - Amazon Sales Strategy With Niche Product
30:22 - Amazon FBA Content Strategy Discussion
30:27 - Effective Keyword Selection for Amazon

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In this episode, we're giving you the best Amazon and Walmart strategy clips of 2024 so that you can start off 2025 with a leg up on your competition.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Welcome to this special annual recap episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast, where we bring you the most impactful strategies from the past year to give your e-commerce business a competitive edge in 2025. Join us as we explore the essentials of selecting verified manufacturers and the importance of third-party verification in ensuring accurate information. We'll discuss the advantages of trade assurance for payment protection and the significance of management certifications like BSCI and ISO, which indicate high-quality factory standards and social compliance. Additionally, we touch on regional manufacturing specializations, exemplified by the production of egg dispensers, and the importance of measuring the halo impact of ad strategies on total sales and rankings using metrics like TACoS and cost per customer acquisition.

Listen in as we discuss strategies for international Amazon success, highlighting a thriving American brand's expansion into Amazon Japan. We'll explore the strategic benefits of entering the Japanese market, such as lower PPC costs and favorable tax conditions, which contribute to higher profit margins. Patience, quality products, and strong supplier relationships are emphasized as key differentiators from competitors. We also explore optimizing Amazon PPC campaigns with lifecycle-based rules and the power of using index images with numbered benefits to effectively communicate value in product listings.

Discover effective strategies for online marketplaces as we recount past challenges and successes in sourcing and selling products in the U.S. market. Learn about creative approaches to finding less visible suppliers and the importance of clear communication and relationship-building. We also highlight the effectiveness of Target's marketplace and the strategic advantages of being indexed on Google to enhance Amazon rankings. Finally, we'll cover the critical importance of using correct HTS codes to avoid costly import tariff mistakes, sharing a personal experience that led to significant cost savings. Tune in and equip yourself with these valuable insights to kick off 2025 strong.

In episode 628 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, we discuss:

00:00 - SSP Top 20 Strategies of 2024
02:02 - Selecting Verified Manufacturers for Trust
09:53 - Keyword Analysis and Visibility Tracking
12:25 - Strategies for International Amazon Success
19:36 - Effective Strategies for Online Marketplaces
20:06 - Leveraging Google for Business Growth
23:43 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Google Images
25:40 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Sales
32:12 - Enhancing Amazon Listings With COSMO
33:29 - Avoiding Costly Import Tariff Mistakes

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're giving you the best strategy clips of the year so that you can start off 2025 with a leg up on your competition. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And, like we do every year and we have been doing this since we started in what was it 2018, 2019? we do a recap episode where I handpick some of the best strategies of the entire year. Every year, we go through about 100 episodes a year, not including the weekly buzz, where we have a lot of guests and everybody has great strategies. It's really hard to pick some of the top ones, but what I did is me and the team got together and pulled out some of the top strategies that you guys had talked about in social media and such that you liked, and we put it together so that you could get a leg up on the competition now that we're at the beginning here of 2025.

Bradley Sutton:

And so these are strategies that are not out of date. They're still valid. There are some that already, within a few months, became out of date. They're still valid. There are some that already, within a few months, became out of date. We're not including them here. So, guys, I hope you enjoy this episode. Get your pen and paper out. I want each and every one of you to make it your homework to pick five, at least five of these that we're about to get. I think we're doing about 20 here, but do five that most apply to you and your business. Not everything applies to everybody equally. Pick five out of these and implement it this month in your business, or at least make a plan for it. All right, so let's go ahead and see the top strategies of the year.

Kian Golzari:

So the first thing you did was you selected verified manufacturers. And what's that for? It means any information that they provide on their listing, whether it be number of years in business, how many staff they have, what certificates they have, what patents they have, what products they have, what does their production line look like, the images and videos in the factory. That's all been verified by a third party, meaning InterTech, SGS, TUV. One of these very reputable companies have gone in and verified all the information is true, whereas if we didn't work with verified suppliers, then whatever information they want to put there, we just have to sort of take their word for it. So verified is the most important thing to search for first. Then, on the left-hand side of the page, you'll see trade assurance right, I would always click that as well and trade assurance just means that your payment is protected. So if you've ordered an egg dispenser which holds, you know, 20 eggs and you do the production and you receive one which only holds 10 eggs, then the trade assurance will protect you and it will refund your order because you've selected that right. That's just a little bit of a safety net important for, like you know, new sellers, right. And then, as you scroll down on the left-hand side of the page, you'll see something that says management certification, right. And if you scroll down a little bit more, yeah. So you see like BSCI and you see Zedek, you see ISO. I always like to select BSCI and ISO. So BSCI is your business social compliance initiative and ISO is just a really high-quality standard and this just basically means these are factory certificates that they have. So, uh, BSCI will go in and they'll check, like you know, um how many years you've been in business. Do you have, like, fire extinguishers? Do you have adequate lighting? Do you have safety exits? Like we've checked the dormitories, we've checked like the canteen where the workers eat. So it's kind of like gives you confidence that you're working for a very, very good factory, right. So now, if we go back to the top of the list, right, we've. Now we've searched by manufacturers, we've got verified manufacturers, we've got trade assurance and we've got factories which have, you know, BSCI and ISO certification. So now, as I'm scrolling down the list, like if you zoom in on the company names, like the first word in the company name is always the city or the province in which that factory is located.

Kian Golzari:

So sometimes, like the factories, like electronics are made in Shenzhen, backpacks are normally made in like Shenzhou. Like furniture, like steel tubing for furniture, chairs is made like Yongkang. So I'm just trying to get familiar. Is there an area which specializes in egg dispensers? Maybe not because it's such a niche product, right, that maybe you could make it, make it anywhere. But as I scroll down, I'm trying to see, like, is there one name that pops up more frequent than others and in that area which specializes in that product? But I see Ningbo has probably popped up a few times, right? So, but anyway, it doesn't matter. If Ningbo had popped out like eight out of nine times, I would say, right, well, that's the region we need to be ordering from.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting.

Gefen Laredo:

You know ACOS is great, but obviously this is TACoS Tuesday and TACoS is the metric of your total sales.

Carrie Miller:

Yes.

Gefen Laredo:

And so when we're looking at total sales something that we brought in and I know it's a little vague, but we really looked at the halo impact of ad strategies and how they impacted ranking and total sales, right. And so when we focused our ad strategy, maybe on a cost per customer acquisition model, maybe on a TACoS model, and we look to really prioritize, hey, where are we showing up, right? So, if, if, if we're driving all this traffic and we have a 20 percent conversion rate, let's say, on this keyword, are we tracking using, using uh, using a Helium 10, of course, um, are we tracking that ranking properly? To say, hey, we started running these ads aggressively on August 1st and if we have been tracking ranking on that keyword for the last two months since going aggressive on that term, where are we ranking now and how have sales changed? and are there broader KPIs that we're measuring outside of just direct ad revenue? And that worked really well for us because we centered that around tentpole events and this is a really big strategy of ours. That is incredibly complex, it takes a whole village to actually execute. But when we focus our customer acquisition and ranking models around major times in the year so think Prime Day, think Fall, Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday and then, of course, if you're a one-off brand, if you I don't know are ski related, then obviously your season is January to March. You know like there are differences, but really peak seasons. If you're able to focus your growth model around the times that are going to give you the most reward, then that worked really well for us last year and we expect to see a lot more of that this year, especially as we all expect people are going to be more deal oriented. It's a constant battle for margins, so the better rank you are, the more organic sales you drive, the better your TACoS is.

Ben Webber:

Several years ago we were about to stock out of as you know, we sell a lot of fourth quarter products and kind of joke toy products and we're about to stock out of one that we sold between 800 and 1000 units a day of which is a fairly substantial issue. So we actually loaded up a cargo van and drove the cargo van to Amazon, talked our way through the front gates to deliver it and they took it, and so we did that once, then we did it again and we got through again. The third time they're like no, you can't do this, and so like okay, but somehow, like no, you, you can't do this, and so like okay, but somehow, we have to be able to do this. So we looked into carrier central and figure out how we could become a last mile rider, which is incredibly easy it takes about 15 minutes to fill out a form and then you have to show that you can back in and out of a parking spot incredibly, incredibly easy. But so in that January we bought a truck and the rest is history from there. But it came about because we were about to stock out and panicked and we're like, well, what's the worst that can happen?

Silas Moestrup Pedersen:

And one of the things that I recommend to every time that we have a new client or meet someone is to narrow in on fewer skills. It sounds quite simple, right, but what we do every time is that if you have a big catalog A, B, C and D products and then A products they get a special treatment compared to B, C and D. It could even be, if your catalog is massive, you only focus your ad spend on A products. Same thing from a content perspective. Those are the ones that get the most love in terms of title, bullet point, backend attributes, et cetera, descriptions. So it's just having that focus on fewer products, I think, is number one. Then, if you can automate your reporting, we have that in Looker automated so that you don't have to necessarily sit and look at the data and pull Excel spreadsheets et cetera it just saves you so much time. If you're capable of doing it and spending time on it, then I think. Thirdly, we talked a little bit about it, but I think taking the time to do super solid keyword research from the get-go Like get into Magnet, get into Amazon's data sources, get into Cerebro, look for all your competitors' keywords et cetera understand what those A keywords are, and those A keywords are the only thing that you focus on in the start. Those are the ones that go into your rank campaigns, that they go into your manual campaigns, et cetera, and that those are the ones that just like where you track everything through Like a little hack could be for your A products. Every week you use a repro. Every other week you put in your A product and then you export all the data for that. You take a spreadsheet. In column A you say this is the date when I pulled the. This is the date of either. I pulled the data, this is the ASIN you put in the ASIN that you pulled the data for. Then you make a formula.

Silas Moestrup Pedersen:

You can just ask ChatGPT where, based on the paid and organic rank, you say whether you classified the keyword as being on page one, two, three or four, and then you pull this data in this way every single week for maybe two months when you're running a new test or something like that. You take all the data, you put it into a pivot table and boom, then you would have an overview and a graph of how many like your all your page one, two, three, four positions across your entire catalog and you could even put a filter on up in the top and then you can sort by ASIN and then you basically have your own visibility tool where you can see your paid on your organic visibility on a weekly level at an Asian level. And you can use that to take all those keywords If you're ranking let's say page three or two or something like that put them into a rank campaign. If you feel like they're good, you can take all the keywords where you're on page two, maybe put them in the title, et cetera. So, like building those systems, that allows you to scale something consistently.

Bradley Sutton:

What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash profits.

Cara Sayer:

So one of the biggest things was the fact that I do think a lot of Amazon sellers don't really have a brand. They just have a name for a business or a name for something that they use and they don't really have a what I'd call a true brand. And they don't always. I think sometimes also, existing only on Amazon makes you lose perspective on you know how normal businesses work, like businesses that aren't based on Amazon, and so you know a lot of businesses. I mean, I think throughout life, people buy from people and I think that's so important to remember that, even on Amazon, one of the reasons why Amazon focuses so heavily on A plus listings and now they're bringing in the premium A plus and all the rest of it because Amazon knows right. You know me quite a few years now and I've always banged on about brand. I've always banged on about having a story. Tell your story. It doesn't have to be your story necessarily, it could be the product story, but you need to have something that differentiates you. And even then, I was chatting to someone at the conference earlier on and I was saying the thing is that sometimes it's not even the fact that you're selling different products, it's the way that you curate them right. So it's the collection of products that you've chosen to sell under your brand name says something.

Nick Katz:

So one of our clients is an international brand. They're an American registered company and they last year they cleared seven figures and we're definitely looking to do a lot more this year. That's in two years. They're doing very, very well in America, they sell in Europe and they sell in Canada. But the Japanese sales are now almost comparable to the to the us sales, but the profit margins are a lot higher.

Bradley Sutton:

That was about my second question.

Nick Katz:

Yeah, because you know things like the PPC is a hell of a lot cheaper. The ACOS for the account is about uh, I think it's about eight, nine percent now. The TACoS is about three or four percent. It's the kind of figures you can't really get in the US. So actually in theory you could sell a lot less in Japan and still end up with the same kind of profit as you could in the US. But obviously if you're getting sales close to the US you're probably going to have much, much higher margins. Japan generally is cheaper. It's cheaper tax as well if you are off the threshold to pay tax. But if you're under 10 million yen, which is probably about 60,000, 70,000 US, if you're under that in sales, you don't have to pay consumption tax. There is no tax. So anybody like me selling in Europe who gets absolutely lost by the tax authorities there, paying 19, 20, 21, 23% in some of the regions in Europe, you could be selling 50, 60,000 US in Japan and not have to pay any consumption tax whatsoever. So there are definite advantages to selling in Japan.

Bradley Sutton:

What are some of the things that set you apart from maybe the 10 other matcha people who maybe have started and gone out of business, you know, because they didn't have your strategy? What do you think set you apart from others?

Sam:

Well, I think a handful of things. The first one is okay, so I think you can use. You can rely on Amazon PPC. You can look at your search term impression share reports, you can look at your keyword ranking and all that kind of stuff and that will help you in the short run. But honestly, the thing that really helped us the most was patience and making sure that your product is on a sensory level it's actually good and people like it. Once you have those two things covered, then you just need to get people to try it, get them to tell their friends, and then their friends who are interested in Marchable buy. Then they are buying again and then this whole thing kind of grows by itself. Your PPC and all of these other tools that you have are really just like fuel that you add to this engine.

Singchuen:

And on the other side of things is, obviously you kind of need to make sure that you treat your suppliers well as well. Make sure that they understand what you're going through and make sure that you try to understand what they're going through. If language is a barrier, hire an interpreter, right, it's not too difficult. Decency goes both ways. So you may be pressed, but you've got to recognize that the factories themselves, they are pressed as well. So working together for a compromise, understanding each other and not throwing too much Just to be a little bit more understanding towards each other, goes a long way. A bit more understanding towards each other goes a long way. I think what tends to happen is that if you're not patient, as Sam has mentioned, you may cut off communications with factories that may help you in the future, and you don't want to do that.

Destaney Wishon:

I think the biggest things that we look at is we create rules for the different outcomes we want. If we're launching a brand-new product, then we're creating rules that are based off sales. So we're going to be taking a deep dive into, hey, what is the conversion rate and what is the sales? And we're going to build rules for maximizing that increased bid when I have a certain conversion rate. On the flip side, if our goal is profitability, we're going to work backwards from our ACOS or RoAS goal. We're going to say, hey, let's build rules that are based on lowering bids when our ACOS is too high, and maybe layering in our conversion rates also low, let's go even lower, right. So those are the two simplest ones that we look at, but it really needs to be strategic. You can create rules that are based off the phase your product's in, whether it's launch, consistency, profitability, organic rank. You can create rules based off your overall business outcomes. Which is always an important one is what is that key RoAS that you're going to optimize for all of your campaigns, but just making sure not to overcomplicate it in the beginning, right. Once you start to understand the correlation between CPC and RoAS, then you can start building in a little bit more customization around lifecycle and things like that.

Kevin King:

This is how you been converting like crazy with what? what do you call an index image? This he calls it the uh, it's the image in your listing that will be the top reasons why your product is the best. This is not your main photo. This is not your photo number one. This is what he calls this photo number two and it's an index of of your products is why I think it's why he calls it the index image, and what he says is you need to number the benefits. A lot of of people are using call-outs, they use infographics, but they don't number them. So you want to actually have numbers like this. So this should be something like this should be your second image the five reasons you love, or the seven reasons or the three reasons.

Odd numbers are always better than even numbers. Three, five or seven or nine always work the best. But here he's got the five and look, there's big, there's numbers. That's important. He just doesn't list them. People like order and when they see numbers, their mind can sort it and they can read it quickly and it makes sense to them. So the numbering system here is critical, not just the fact that he put the main point, the main benefit and capital, and then explained it in. I mean in bold and a little bit larger than explained everything else below it in light blue, but he's got these numbers. That's the critical thing is numbering it.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe this is a little bit of the sexy side of patents, but you've talked before about how patents doing patent searches can actually be a form of product research and finding a product to sell on Amazon. How in the world is that possible?

Rich Goldstein:

Yeah, absolutely it's true, because the way that the patent system works, once a patent expires, it's fair game for anyone to use it. So a utility patent lasts for 20 years and a design patent lasts for 15. But once that patent expires, anyone can make that product and, at the same time, keep in mind that a lot of people have an idea for a product, they get it patented, but they never do the research, they never learn about the process enough to actually get that product launched, and so there are a lot of great ideas that have been patented that are just in the patent archives and they've never actually been put on the market. There are some lousy ideas, but there are also some great ideas, and so if you know how and you search the patent record for expired patents, you can find ideas for really great potential products.

Tom - Honest FBA:

We dabbled with the US a few times in the past and Thomas Net is really popular. You see, it's spoken about quite a lot as a place, as a resource. Honestly, we never had any success there. There was a time when we were the MOQs are always insanely high and there was a product previously that we agreed to the MOQ. It was something like 10 or 20,000 units. It was pretty high. And there was a product previously that we agreed to the MOQ. It was something like 10 or 20,000 units. It was pretty big. And we were like, okay, we'll go for it, but can you just repackage them into a different kind of mix? And they just said, nah, nah, don't fancy it. And we were like, right, okay. So we kind of banged our head against the wall. So now a little-known site called Google is honestly the best bet, so like, but I'm not talking page one at Google. You've got to dig. So put on a VPN. If you're somewhere like we are, like in Spain, put on a US VPN and then get down to like pages five, six, seven, eight, get in there. And then I just hammer a lot of emails out, but a lot of the websites that you find down in those stages or those pages. They're not good at SEO, they're generally kind of old sites, but you're finding older, established businesses so and often you'll find a phone number. So one of the best lessons I say is like get on the phone and just ring them up and you can save months of time, like the guy who ended up.

Tom - Honest FBA:

One of the guys who ended up working with had a phone call with him on the first day. I found it and we ended up. We're now doing two products with him already. We've got another three lined up and he had nothing to do with the niche we're in. He was in so we're in pets. He was in humans. He was in food. I just gave him a call, explained the brand vision, what we're trying to do. He got really excited. He's now helping us source new ingredients. He's coming to me with product ideas. He's now going to do a whole range of products for us. So that was one of the beauties is like having that communication line and being able to really explain yourself has been massive. We are still sourcing in China, by the way. We still think it's a really viable option, but having this US option as well, there's so many benefits to it.

Grace Kopplin:

In terms of Walmart, that's always been a strategy for us. Transparently, Walmart just hasn't been a volume driver for us. It's been steady but it hasn't really been a place that's warranted a ton of focus for us. But another marketplace that has been great for us is actually Target's marketplace, target Plus and that's been a key, key piece of our success, especially with working with brands who are looking for store placement at Target. For example, we've had a few items that we've listed on Target's marketplace that have done really well, that have gotten the attention of a buyer and actually got store placement, which is really exciting. And, at the end of the day, getting an item placed on shelves most of the time can drive more volume than a mid-tier listing on Amazon. So we tend to try to use that strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you get on target these days? Wasn't it invite only back in the day or now that Target is adding that 360 or some kind of like yeah.

Grace Kopplin:

I think it might still be invite only, but I know they've been actively adding a lot of sellers. I know that their backend is still quite archaic compared to what Amazon is. It's probably what Walmart was like four years ago. But I think it is still invite only, but definitely something to reach out to your connections and see if you can get a connect with a Walmart e-comm buyer.

Leo Sgovio:

So there are a few reasons why you want to be indexed on Google, and for the most, let's start from the most advanced ones, right? Advanced sellers they normally try to send traffic to Amazon, especially during the launch period, using external traffic, right? So Google, we know, is a good referral that tends to help your rankings, and so Amazon tends to reward you if they see traffic coming from Google. So if you're not indexed, you lose a chance to show Amazon that you are getting traffic from Google. Now, I have a theory that paid traffic has a little bit more weight than organic, but the reason why you want to be indexed and the reason why you might want to be indexed for certain keywords is so that when you drive traffic through the URL to Amazon, you can actually give attribution to that keyword. That's number one, right? So you can actually use these URLs as your two-step.

Leo Sgovio:

Number two if you do a good job with your indexation and your listing is optimized, you actually also appear in the images, right? And so if people are looking for specific products, sometimes I search on Google using images because I'm looking for specific products that might be hard to find on Amazon. But if I look through the Google images and I find the product, then I go to Amazon and so if you're not indexed, you're also not going to be able to be found there, and Google images actually gets a ton of traffic. So here are some of the reasons why, two of the reasons why. I can think of many more, but the most important are these ones. Google is still one of the largest search engine, and so missing out on that opportunity search engine and so missing out on that opportunity, I'm afraid it causes a lot of missed visibility for an Amazon seller at a listing level.

Carrie Miller:

I think one of the things that sets us apart is that when I've created our listings, or whenever I create our photos, I think about what are the main benefits of the product, the main selling points of it, and I realized this isn't something that everyone can easily do, and so the way I kind of have been teaching it is that you can take your competitor's listing, download their reviews, download their best reviews, their five-star reviews, and say ask ChatGPT, like, what do people like most about this product? What are the benefits of this product according to reviews? What do people like? Basically, ask a bunch of questions to ChatGPT and you'll get a bunch of kind of selling points and you'll kind of see a trend of like the top selling points or top benefits of your product. And that's what you want to focus on is like what's in it for the customer? You've got to kind of appeal to their emotions. How is it going to make their life better, easier, are easier, are they going to be more beautiful? Are they going to you know what? What is it, what's in it for them?

Carrie Miller:

And I think that that is going to be the key that sets you apart, and I know it's. It sounds pretty basic, but I've actually been doing some looking at different listings. People have been asking me hey, can you take a look at my listing? And when I look at the listing, I'm like, well, these aren't, these are not actually selling points or benefits. Like, these are features of the product. Right, you can always put the features in right later on, but how are you appealing to the person when you were? If you're telling somebody about your product, are you being like oh hey, the dimensions are 14 by 14. Like that's, that's like an afterthought, right? You, you want to. However, you would even just sell to a person, like talking face to face. That's how you're going to do that. Your first image shouldn't be a dimension photo. It should be a selling point, your main, like best selling point, main benefit in that first image. So I think that's a huge thing that a lot of people are kind of missing.

Bradley Sutton:

What would you say is the most actionable things from search career performance? That kind of closes out like, hey, this is actually something that is not just, oh, it's good to know, but hey, I'm actually going to take action, uh, on this.

Mansour Norouzi:

Taking action. I would say, even when I look at my own brand one is that for the main keywords, what I actually I do this on a weekly basis I have a list of the main keywords which is for my, for one of my aces are like 10 uh, 10 uh keywords and actually I go into the detail of week over week what is happening to my click share for those keywords, because they are very important for me and I want to be on the top and like top five for these turns. I want to be aware of what is going on with my competitors and what's my need. So if I see I have a track of my click share for the keywords, if I see it is going down, right away I'll figure out what's going on and maybe push with my advertising, for that for me would be our main keywords and what's going happening for my click share rate, conversion rate and click share just on my top keywords. Honestly, I will go, I think, by myself going with all for all the keywords, just like top five to 10 keywords, what they are, and I'll keep it very close overview and monitor them to see exactly what's going on, because you see that search volume going up or down, but I want my click share and my conversion share that I have I'm generating. Either they are consistent or going up. So if I see this trend is down, right away I start doing maybe I run coupon code or I push with my advertising to make sure I'm getting them back into track.

Bradley Sutton:

What is your favorite? Helium 10 tool Ksenia or function of a tool.

Kseniia Reidel:

Probably the audience. That's the one that I use all the time. Is it called audience?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, the split where you ask the questions to the people and say, how are you using that Like for your images, or just for product ideas, or what are you using that?

Kseniia Reidel:

Honestly for everything. For both for the product ideas, for your images, or just for product ideas or what are you using that? Honestly for everything. But both for the product ideas, for the images, because I just think it's so easy. You know, when you're thinking about like the product we find, then I usually do um, like the drawing and uh, 3d, you know the 3d image of the product that doesn't exist yet. Then usually all my products are like, really designed differently, that's what's on the market right now, and I just upload the image there and I see what people say and ask them would you buy this product? And if you wouldn't buy this product, why, why not? Or what would you change in this product? And sometimes I see the things that I didn't even you know, I didn't even think about that.

Bradley Sutton:

So you're launching just the 3d rendering and just asking a question on that image, or you're launching it like, or you're launching it, you're putting it in a poll next to like existing products and asking them, or which one are you doing?

Kseniia Reidel:

I'm doing both. Actually, the first, I just do the rendering and ask them would you buy this product? And if you would not buy this product, what would you change Like? How would you make it better for you? And then sometimes I also compare it to the other products that are on the market and ask them which one would they buy?

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting.

Kseniia Reidel:

And a lot of times I do the changes on the product based on what the people say.

Bradley Sutton:

What was the results of those search, find, buy in order to send those relevancy signals? Again, not for rank, but to send those relevancy signals to Amazon. Take a look at this when I ran in Cerebro on June 19th, just three days after they did that relevancy single, you know, push those three coworkers here at Helium 10,. Take a look now at the Amazon recommended rank. Remember how it was only showing two keywords for Amazon recommended rank. Now it was showing multiple ones and it put that keyword that I sent the relevancy signal for egg holder countertop. It had Amazon recommended rank number three, which basically means that that was the third most important keyword according to Amazon for this product. Now do you remember what I was getting for impressions in PPC? Like 200 total impressions over three days. What did sending those relevancy signals to Amazon do for my PPC impressions? Take a look at this. To amazon, do for my PPC impressions. Take a look at this.

The next three day period from June 19th when my relevancy got fixed to June 21st instead of 200 impressions, 5 000 impressions, 4 000 of that. How? What keyword was it for? Egg holder countertop, that one that I sent those relevancy signals to Amazon for? This works, guys.

Ryan King:

So Walmart has the equivalent would be brand portal, and I would absolutely recommend, if you're the seller, if you're the brand, to register through brand portal, and the main reasons are there are certain advertising opportunities that are only available to brand registered brands, so sponsored brand videos, sponsored brand ads that go across as banner displays. Another major one would be brand shops, brand shelves we can talk about later as well and then IP protection, and so the advantage of being registered in Brand Portal is that you can file IP infringement claims, and in this case, the most successful one to do is to file claims against those alternate listings for using your copyrighted imagery, and so we see success of getting those pulled down within 48 hours, typically when that happens. Now you can still file that IP claim even if you're not registered through Brand Portal. There's a link to file that claim, but you can't track its progress, you can't see the history, all those kinds of things. So it just gives you greater credibility in those and greater ability to look back at the progress. And the last one I'd say is if you're a registered brand, it's going to give you the highest content ranking for your listing. So even if there are other sellers that have tried to change that listing content. You're going to outrank them as the registered brand and chances are you're not going to have to deal with things changing on your listing in that regard.

Kevin Dolan:

Cosmo is a specific tool and I think that the function that it performs is valuable to enhancing Amazon's understanding of a listing. So I certainly would not be surprised to see Amazon implementing this in a production capacity on a large swath of searches. That would not be surprising to me, but it's not as massive as the shift that we've seen into semantic-focused search. Cosmo in particular discusses essentially a mechanism for enhancing Amazon's understanding of a product by taking into consideration things that aren't expressed in the query and things that aren't expressed in the listing. The example that they use in the paper, the canonical example, is if you're looking for shoes for pregnant women, a listing might not literally say shoes for pregnant women. It might produce a specific type of open toed shoe that has good support, good comfort. That might not literally be listed as a keyword in the listing, but it might be something that the system can infer based on its knowledge of the universe, about what it's like to be a pregnant woman and the types of products that they might benefit from.

Norm Farrar:

Out of everybody that we've looked at, it was up to 80. But 70% of Amazon sellers do not have the proper HTS code. They let their Chinese seller set an HS code and it's wrong. So when they get in here and guess what, nobody, nobody is calculating that as a part of your cost of goods. So they're going out, they're sourcing in China, they're not calculating, and this could be as high as 400%. Now, I've never seen it that, but it can be. So you know you're 25, 40% of your cost of goods. Is that not something that should be calculated? And like for me, I was doing natural soaps and I was paying 17%. So we were taking a look at it and Afolabi says can you consider this Castile soap? And I said yeah, it's olive based. And he goes well, how about I give you some good news. Pay zero. I just stuffed 17% back in my pocket. So out of the 70% of people that are missing the boat, they don't have the proper tariff code and the average person that gets the proper tariff code on an order the average that we've been able to calculate has been $7,800.

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Amazon makes a big title policy change that could cause some of you to have to update up to half of your listings. Is this move that Amazon is about to make, essentially not allowing sellers to sell on Temu? These two buzzing stories and more on this episode!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

New Amazon product title requirements effective January 21, 2025
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHNEJGOUZIUUs4SFBXWkRV

Amazon effectively bars sellers from Temu marketplace
https://channelx.world/2025/01/amazon-effectively-bars-sellers-from-temu-marketplace/

TikTok Shop Order Cancellation, Return and Refund Update
https://channelx.world/2025/01/tiktok-shop-order-cancellation-return-and-refund-update/

Prime-exclusive discounts are moving to the Price Discounts tool
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHQzRCMkFMNkdLNTZSRVNT

Mexico unveils new tariffs, popular e-tailers like Shein, Temu may be in crosshairs
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-unveils-new-tariffs-popular-e-tailers-like-shein-temu-may-be-crosshairs-2024-12-31/

APEX – An Alternative Patent Resolution Procedure on Amazon
https://natlawreview.com/article/apex-alternative-patent-resolution-procedure-amazon

Get more details on image issues with Compliance Issue report updates
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHODdFWE1BQ0pTREVCQVpG

The Year (2024) in Amazon vs Walmart, and a Look Into 2025
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2024/the-year-in-amazon-vs-walmart-and-a-look-into-2025/

Lastly, we share insights from Helium 10 on product misclassification alerts and provide upcoming training tips on how to use our Amazon Inventory Heat Maps to maximize your e-commerce success.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:19 - BIG Amazon Title Policy Update
08:48 - Amazon BANS Temu?
11:24 - TikTok Shop Refund Change
13:56 - Prime Exclusive Discounts Moving
14:50 - New Mexico Tariffs
16:32 - Amazon APEX Procedure
18:11 - Image Compliance
19:03 - Amazon V Walmart
20:56 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
23:23 - Training Tip: Amazon Inventory Heat Maps

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In this episode, let’s talk about Amazon’s A9 algorithm with Brian Johnson and all the details about how to rank on Amazon based on his research.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if understanding Amazon's A9 algorithm could transform your Amazon-selling game? Join us in a captivating conversation with Brian Johnson, Co-Founder and CPO at DeepM AI, as we unravel the secrets to mastering Amazon’s search rankings. Brian shares the essential strategies sellers need for maintaining and regaining their positions in Amazon’s fiercely competitive marketplace. Discover how data-driven approaches can offer powerful insights into tackling ranking challenges.

Explore the nuanced world of Amazon's A9 algorithm and the myriad of factors that shape product search rankings. From sales velocity and inventory issues to the surprising influence of TikTok-driven search term trends, we cover it all. Brian provides a deep dive into the phenomenon of search term bleed and how emerging platforms shift consumer behavior. Learn how to leverage these insights to stay ahead of competitors and adapt to shifting marketplace dynamics.

Finally, we discuss practical tactics for optimizing your Amazon listings and advertisements to boost sales and profitability. Understand the critical metrics—like click-through and conversion rates—that drive success. With a focus on competitive analysis and innovative metrics like "tacos sauce," we highlight how to comprehensively monitor and enhance your e-commerce performance. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting, these insights will empower you to optimize your strategies and thrive on Amazon.

In episode 627 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Kevin, and Brian discuss:

00:00 - Ranking on Amazon Algorithm Strategies
02:39 - Decoding the A9 Algorithm
06:31 - Improving Amazon Search Rank Control
09:36 - Factors Affecting Amazon Search Rank
11:46 - Influencer Impact on Search Terminology
14:02 - Amazon Search Rank Factors Analysis
15:45 - Understanding A9 Algorithm Factors
21:47 - Amazon Ranking Algorithm and Conversion Rate
25:28 - Amazon Search Ranking Optimization Strategies
28:59 - Product Profitability Analysis Strategy
33:54 - Commitment Required for Amazon Success
38:37 - Analyzing Past Ad Performance for ROI
40:21 - Competitor Monitoring and Metric Analysis
42:29 - ACoS Sauce Concept and Visibility

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What is the hottest marketplace in the world right now? TikTok Shop. In this episode, we bring one of the world's foremost experts on TikTok Shop success to help you get started on the platform.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if exploring the latest trends on TikTok Shop could redefine your business strategy? Join us as we unpack the secrets of thriving on one of the world's fastest-growing marketplaces. We welcome a top-tier expert in TikTok Shop success, Michelle Barnum-Smith of TTshopsellers.com who lays out a complete roadmap for navigating this dynamic platform. From leveraging powerful tools like Helium 10 to hearing firsthand success stories—like a couple whose sales soared after adding TikTok Shop to their go-to online marketplaces—you'll gain insights that could transform your approach to e-commerce. Plus, we tackle the buzz around a potential TikTok ban, sharing insider reassurances to keep your mind at ease.

Our discussion takes a strategic turn as we explore the mechanics of integrating TikTok Shop with platforms such as Shopify and Amazon. Discover how to tap into the "halo effect" where viral TikTok products can boost sales on Amazon. We also highlight the importance of abiding by TikTok's community guidelines, especially when it comes to directing users to Amazon, to ensure your shop's integrity. Listen closely as we share content strategies that don't rely on going viral but instead focus on crafting engaging, quality content that resonates with your audience and amplifies your brand's presence.

And if you're wondering how to spark impulse buying, we've got you covered. Learn the art of balancing ads with organic content and the power of influencer partnerships, which can yield substantial returns. We offer practical advice on starting with small-scale affiliate efforts and building robust creator networks that align with your brand's ethos. With tips on aligning your marketing efforts with trending events and using AI tools to supercharge your outreach, this episode is packed with actionable strategies designed to elevate your TikTok Shop success. Tune in and revolutionize your approach to this exciting marketplace!

In episode 626 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Michelle discuss:

00:00 - TikTok Shop Success Strategies
01:30 - TikTok Ban Not a Concern?
03:44 - Rapid Growth on E-Commerce Platforms
08:31 - Steps to Start TikTok Shop
11:43 - Navigating TikTok Shop Strategies
12:50 - Impact of TikTok Virality on Amazon
18:07 - GMB Max for Ads Optimization Strategy
24:32 - TikTok Shop Sales Strategies
29:57 - TikTok Shop Affiliate Strategy Tips
37:30 - Content Performance Metrics and Strategy

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In this episode, we discuss the top 10 newest strategies for leveling up on Amazon, including one brand-new one that maybe only 10 people have used so far.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

In this week’s episode, Join Bradley as he explores the latest strategies and features designed to supercharge your Amazon selling experience. This special episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast highlights the top 10 innovative strategies and tools released by Helium 10 in the second half of 2024. We kick things off with a groundbreaking PPC strategy that can enhance your campaign management by focusing on optimizing auto, broad, or phrase campaigns. By negative matching keywords that generate clicks without resulting in sales, you can prevent unnecessary spending and ensure a more efficient budget allocation. This approach is not limited to Helium 10 users, as even those employing other tools can benefit from these actionable insights.

As we continue, discover how Amazon influencers can seize new opportunities by leveraging video reviews to earn affiliate commissions. By utilizing Helium 10's Chrome extension and influencer tool, content creators can identify chances to get their videos featured prominently on product listing carousels. Additionally, we delve into the revamped keyword tracker that offers advanced features like heat maps and keyword harvesting. These tools, along with Cerebro, allow sellers to track competitor keywords and optimize their listings effectively, saving time while maximizing sales potential. With these insights, you can uncover valuable market dynamics and boost your Amazon performance.

Finally, explore the exciting updates from Helium 10 that enhance product analysis and sales estimation. With features like keyword sales estimates for European Amazon sellers and detailed insights into sales at both parent and child item levels, you can strategically target high-converting keywords and identify top-performing variations. Learn about the reintegration of Adtomic into the Helium 10 Diamond plan, which offers AI-driven advertising capabilities to streamline campaign management. With accurate sales estimates and superior competitive analysis, Helium 10 equips sellers with powerful tools to navigate the ever-evolving Amazon landscape. Don't miss this opportunity to gain practical strategies and make the most of the latest features available to you.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Top 10 New Helium 10 Features
06:19 - Automating Helium 10 Adtomic Strategy
08:55 - Amazon Influencer Program and Profitability Calculator
14:17 - Keyword Tracker for Competitor Analysis
19:23 - Keyword Value Comparison in Amazon
23:15 - Helium 10 Sales Estimates Accuracy
29:11 - Amazon Brand Analytics Key Features

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In this episode, our expert guest answers your Amazon PPC questions. Learn how a seller scaled from $200K to $4M during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Get actionable tips to optimize holiday sales and achieve remarkable growth!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

What if you could transform your holiday sales from hundreds of thousands to millions? Destaney Wishon of BTR Media, our expert guest, reveals the art of crafting your own demand and skyrocketing sales with strategic off-platform investments, such as TV and video ads. We dissect the tactics that took one brand from $200,000 to a whopping $4 million, focusing on differentiating branded and non-branded sponsored product campaigns, and structuring these campaigns based on search intent to maximize their impact.

We also break down Amazon advertising strategies for those looking to boost performance and profitability. Discover how to make the most of tools like the Search Query Performance report and Amazon Marketing Cloud for comprehensive insights into conversion rates. Learn to balance profitability with traffic through dual campaigns, explore the potential of DSP for bigger budgets, and navigate the nuances of keyword targeting. With Destiny's insights, you'll be equipped to optimize your strategies using metrics like TACoS and tools like Helium 10 Adtomic for periodic assessments.

As we explore the intricacies of Amazon PPC campaign optimization, we cover everything from keyword volumes to match types. Learn how to effectively manage budgets with keyword volume, and understand the importance of automatic and manual campaigns, especially for new product launches. We also touch on the importance of influencer collaborations and product targeting to improve conversion rates in high window-shopping categories. Join us as we conclude with a special Q&A, where Destiny continues to share her expertise and engage with our community.

In episode 625 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Amazon Holiday Sales Success
00:35 - Welcome to TACoS Tuesday
06:17 - Optimizing for New Product Launch Strategies
10:26 - Optimizing Amazon PPC Campaigns for Higher Sales
16:56 - Amazon PPC Campaign Optimization Strategies
17:57 - Optimizing Keyword Match Types in Campaigns
21:14 - Influencers and Organic Sales on Amazon
27:02 - More Q&A and Follow-Up Questions

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

In this week's episode of the Serious Sellers podcast, we have expert Destaney Wishon with us and she's answering all of your questions, and we're going to be talking a little bit about Black Friday and Cyber Monday and how one of her clients actually went from $200,000 to $4 million this holiday season. This and so much more on today's episode of the Serious Sellers podcast.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think, think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. Well, that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and this episode is our monthly live TACoS Tuesday show, where we talk about anything and everything Amazon and Walmart PPC and advertising related with different guests, and today's host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, Welcome to TACoS Tuesday. We have our expert guest here, Destaney Wishon. Thanks so much for joining us, Destaney.

Destaney:

Happy to be here. Very excited. I mean the chaos of the holidays Black Friday, Cyber Monday, what better time to get all your questions in?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, exactly.

Destaney:

On our end, almost across the board, we saw Amazon's extending this holiday period, you know, taking some pressure off of their shipping for two days. So for the first time ever. You know, if we're just comparing Black Friday to Black Friday, year over year, this Black Friday was a little bit lower, but the overall holiday period was up. I don't know if consumer sentiment around shopping is higher, but sales were almost incredible and I would say our ROAS was pretty in line. We had one brand go from $200,000 to $4 million in sales month over month. It's obviously a giftable item, but it was pretty crazy to see that. So it's been really strong now.

Carrie Miller:

Oh, that's amazing.

Destaney:

Didn't run deals whatsoever. You did nothing for lead-in CPCs are up and your sales weren't that much stronger. But for the brands who leaned in, they did fantastic.

Carrie Miller:

That's amazing, was there a specific strategy you think that they changed, because that's a pretty substantial jump.

Destaney:

They did a fantastic job. And this is kind of the new topic I've been coining in my training is when you list on Amazon, you're just capturing the demand. Amazon's doing all the work. They're driving the people that are searching for your product. You're just, you know, you got a little bucket and you're capturing it.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah

Destaney:

What they did incredible was they created their own demand, so they went off platform, they invested in TV and video and they educated their customer based on why they need to buy their product. So when Black Friday, Cyber Monday came along and they typed in their search term, they stood out in the page because the customers were already familiar with their products.

Carrie Miller:

Wow, that's, that's pretty incredible. Yeah.

Destaney:

Yeah, it was insane to watch.

Carrie Miller:

I was. I've been curious about the tv ads and how. You know how those are going for people, so that's sounds like they. You can do a really good job with them, depending on-

Destaney:

100%. We're seeing a lot of success. It's also just like rewiring your brain. I think a lot of brands are spoiled because sponsor products are so successful. But I'm like, of course they're successful, a customer's already planning on buying you. You didn't do any work, you just fit on a keyword. Like Amazon did the work of bringing people on the platform.

Carrie Miller:

Very true, so would you like to get on and start answering some of the questions from the audience?

Destaney:

Let's do it. I mean, typically these run over, so we might as well start strong.

Carrie Miller:

Well, yeah, okay, this is from Spencer, and he says What is considered best practice for branded sponsored product campaigns. Do you make a separate campaign for each SKU or do you make one campaign and put all the SKUs in it?

Destaney:

It kind of depends. Your branded searches aren't always the same, right, if someone's typing in Coca-Cola Diet Coke versus regular Coca-Cola, you can change your strategy. So we segment based off search intents. We almost always separate branded versus non-branded, like that is table stakes. You have to separate branded versus non-branded campaigns. But when it comes to lining up your SKUs, we depend on search intent. But also from a reporting perspective, it's sometimes nice to break out into single SKU campaigns because then you can look at your TACoS per brand and you can say you know SKU A is doing really well. Maybe I should increase my branded search investment on this SKU and increase my budget on that campaign while pulling back on my branded investment for SKU number two. Breaking out into single SKU campaigns as a whole just makes it really easy to control your budget distribution if you have good naming and good organized campaign structure.

Carrie Miller:

Daniel says afternoon. Is there a I think it's morning for me, but afternoon probably for you guys Is there a golden ratio of CTR to CVR for measuring effectiveness of ad campaigns?

Destaney:

I'm not going to give a golden ratio per se because it's really dependent on category. Click-through rate's also really difficult because it depends on things like pricing and reviews. So your advertising is going to be influenced by that. Same for your conversion rate, but your conversion rate. You can figure out what your category is converting on really easy using tools in Adtomic or using the search query performance report and clearly see using brand metrics. Hey, my category is converting at 20%. You should be converting better than category average, like that's kind of the standard. If you're going to increase your ad investment, you need to be converting better than category average. That being said, again, it's also dependent on search intent. Probiotics is going to be a lot more expensive than probiotics for kids back to school, right? So you can't just blanket look at your conversion rate across the board. You have to understand intent.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Okay, let's go to Joshua. He says if you came to Helium 10 from an agency and had hundreds of their old campaigns in your account, what is the best practice? Should I delete all of the non-performing campaigns and start over? I am not sure how to proceed.

Destaney:

Great question. No matter what software you're transitioning to or an agency you're transitioning to, we don't ever recommend just pausing everything and hard stop. It's really bad for relevancy and it's difficult for the transition. What we do recommend doing is pulling your search term report for the last 60 days. Pull out all of your keywords that are successful and build them out into the new structure that you want to move forward with using the new software and then slowly rolling those out at the same time. As your new campaigns pick up traction, you can slowly pause out your old campaigns that are maybe a bad structure or maybe they're a weird single keyword structure that you don't want to move forward with. You slowly transition them over. First thing pull all your good keywords. Second thing pause all your bad keywords. Third thing slowly launch and transition your budgets over from old to new.

Carrie Miller:

What are the best practices for 2025 for new product launches. What's changed? I mean, I don't know if that's in regards to that's what I would put it, as I think.

Destaney:

I mean I don't know if that's in regards to me, but I would put it as yeah, I think quite a few things have changed. In terms of product launches, I would say driving external traffic is still doing really, really well and something that I think needs to be leaned into. A lot of brands cannot afford the CPCs in the category on a product that has zero reviews, so any way you can use external traffic that's maybe a bit cheaper to get your reviews up before leaning really heavy into Amazon advertising is a little bit more profitable. I would also say we're seeing this transition to creative matters so much more. So, making sure your click rate and conversion rate is good with your main image, but on the Amazon advertising side, really focusing on your sponsor brands, your sponsor brands video, your headline search ads, anything that makes you stand out on the Amazon advertising side. Really focusing on your sponsor brands, your sponsor brands video, your headline search ads, anything that makes you stand out on the page, because when you're launching, you don't stand out on the review perspective, so find unique ways to stand out within the search results.

Carrie Miller:

My product launched in October and I'm struggling to get sales. I've been using auto and manual campaigns, spending between 30 to 50 per day on a $20 product. I've launched the product in another territory where it's selling well. So feel confident with the product and listing. Any suggestions?

Destaney:

Yeah, so I would say the first thing is to look at the keywords and really make sure they're the right keywords. Type them into Amazon. Do you see similar products? Once you see similar products, are those products priced at the same as you or are they cheaper than you? Do those products have a lot more reviews than you? Figure out the competitive advantage that they may have over you and improve your listing in that way. On the advertising side, it's really as simple as again looking at the keywords and trying to expand the keywords in which you have that competitive advantage and then optimizing your bids to make sure you can be profitable. The biggest thing, though, I would say, is understanding that competitive advantage. When you type in your main keyword, what do your competitors look like? What's the price? What's the reviews? Is the main image different?

Carrie Miller:

And the next question is from an Elite member of ours. Hi, Andrew. For SB product collection campaigns we find basically all our sales come from top of search. Is that common? Also, is it worth spending time bidding on other placements for those campaigns? Great question.

Destaney:

In general, I would say it is common. If you think about how the search results are set up on desktop and mobile, what is the biggest ad on the page? It's the sponsored brand top of search ad. The headline ads, the sponsored brand ads on the product detail page are typically video. It's not typically product collection, it's sometimes store spotlight and video. The only other sponsored brands that show up on page one are way down in the middle of search, sometimes the bottom of search. So this is very typical, not surprising. You can bid on the other placements. It's not going to drive a huge difference. Just know that the majority of your traffic and visibility comes from top of search because that's where all of the customers are clicking and viewing before they scroll down the page.

Carrie Miller:

All right. The next one is from Keith. He says my BSR is improving and my PPC is converting. However, the organic ranking for my main keywords are not improving much. Any advice on how to improve rank?

Destaney:

Yeah, the two biggest factors that you can then break down is sales velocity or conversion rate. So again, figure out your category conversion rate. That's super easy with brand metrics, insights and planning or Helium 10 Adtomic, it's Amazon given data, it's first party data. So look at brand metrics. If you're converting lower than your category, you're going to need to drive a lot more traffic to your category, so you're probably going to need to spend more in order to improve that organic rank. On the flip side, let's say that you are spending more than the category or driving more in the category. Then it comes down to again like improving that conversion rate. It's traffic or conversion. Those are the two levers you really need to consider. So again, traffic the easiest thing to do is spend more it's not always the best answer or improve your listing and convert better, so that way you can easily spend a little bit more.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10's index checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker. More information go to h10.me/indexchecker.

Carrie Miller:

Hello, 80 to 90% of my PPC campaigns coming from SBV. I see the CPC and SBV a lot lower than sponsored. I am thinking to double down on I'm assuming that's sponsored brand video and let the SP sponsored on the second plan. Would that be a good way of going?

Destaney:

This is. I'm not going to say this is wrong, but this is really really unusual to see because on page one there's one sponsor brand video ad, so it's very limited in terms of advertising inventory. On page one there's 15 to 20 different sponsor product camp placements, so almost actually across the board. As an agency with over $100 million in spend, 70% of sales almost always come from sponsored products because they have more real estate and inventory on the page than anything else. Very unusual. Also, sponsored brands view can get competitive really fast because since there's only one placement on page one, when everyone starts increasing bids for that placement, you can kind of lose control as CPCs go up and you're going to lose a lot of your sales velocity. So I love sponsored brands video. It's a great format, but it's very, very limited in terms of advertising inventory and you should be investing more in sponsored products. That is, across the board, the highest sales driving tactic because there's so many more sponsored product placements than anything else.

Carrie Miller:

Keith says or asks what is the best way to check my conversion rate versus competitors on keywords?

Destaney:

I would say your search query performance report is probably like one of the easiest ways as a whole to look at search query performance. It's not specifically related to advertising. When you're specifically looking at advertising, you can't compare directly on the keyword level. You can look at it at the subcategory level but you cannot see directly on the keyword level. You have to use SQP and then overlay it with the rest of your data.

Carrie Miller:

How can you measure the effects of having a loss leader to help bring in additional traffic into your brand or variation listing?

Destaney:

Great question. I would probably dive into AMC for a lot of that. AMC is going to help you understand if someone clicks on one product, do they then end up buying another product? That's the easiest way. Without that, you could probably use depending on where you're advertising the sponsor product to advertise product report to see if people are clicking on one and then buying another. That's a really easy way to justify. It's just limited to only your advertising data where, if you use the appropriate AMC report, then you're gonna be able to see all of your organic data and that's gonna help you understand much better.

Carrie Miller:

My sponsor campaigns are doing well when I have a lower bid. Whenever I raise my bid to try and get more juice out of them, my budget gets blown and they become unprofitable. Do you know what I should do in order to make this work for me?

Destaney:

There's really no perfect answer here. I mean is the balance that is Amazon advertising. One of the things that we do to help this is we'll create two campaigns with the same keywords. One of our campaign will be lower bid, focused on profitability, and the other campaign will be higher bid, with focus on sales, and we'll shift our budget back and forth. You know, 70% of our budget is going to go to profitability, 30% of our budget is going to go to the high traffic. That way we're not having to constantly fluctuate our bids. This kind of allows us to move the budget from both to maximize profitability and then, when we're done with that, it's okay, we can shift more and turn on higher sales. It's just easier budget distribution. The other things that you could look at is your bid management strategy. Maybe there's a better middle ground. Are you optimizing for placements? Are you moving broad phrase and exact? Sometimes your long tail keywords are going to be a little bit cheaper from a CPC perspective, so you're going to be able to drive more profitability from your long tail keywords. All of those additional measures are going to be hugely beneficial for the strategy.

Carrie Miller:

The next question is what's your take on DSP and data from AMC?

Destaney:

I'm going to start with data from AMC, because it is now available for everyone. Brian Lee asked later on in the chat who can use AMC. Helium 10 has actually rolled it out, so you first need to request your instance being set up, but you do not need to run DSP ads to get access to AMC now. AMC is basically analytics and audience platform that just gives you a ton of insights into your Amazon advertising data. If you're not incredibly familiar with Amazon ads, it's gonna be probably a shiny object syndrome and I don't recommend you dive into it just yet. But if you understand sponsor brands and sponsor display. The second part of this question is what's my take on DSP? DSP has a bad reputation in the space because agencies and or Amazon managed services haven't been running it well, but DSP as a tool is incredible. It's one of the most powerful Amazon advertising tools out there, I would say, if used appropriately. You do need to be spending at least $10,000 on DSP a month for it to make sense, but DSP is incredibly, incredibly powerful for brands that are ready for it.

Carrie Miller:

What do you recommend for Ad campaigns when you have separate listing variations. Do you recommend to merge or manage in each campaign??

Destaney:

Again, it depends on search intent. In my opinion, if I have a black t-shirt versus a red t-shirt, and that's how they're variated, I like to separate out my campaigns so I can create search terms based off the variations. So I can create search terms based off the variations. If my only variation difference is size. No, not size price $20 variation, $10 variation I may not segment them. I would typically put my lowest price first because that's going to have the highest click-through rate and then lead customers to my other variations. If it's flavor variations, weight variation, something with different search intent, I recommend segmenting campaigns so you can curate your keyword experience.

Carrie Miller:

What is a good way to determine keywords that you are ranking for, then comparing them to PPC campaigns to determine which keywords you may not be advertising for? Any quick way to do this.

Destaney:

Quick way is the fun part of this question. So the biggest thing I would say is to 100% 80-28. We kind of look at if we're ranked in the top four. We're going to pull back on sponsored product spend and move budgets to our sponsored brand, so we're winning the top of search and showcasing our brand. That's our overall strategy. You can use TACoS correlation to do this. If you have a TACoS objective, you'll see that when you spend on a sponsored product ad that you're ranked for, your TACoS is going to increase because you're cannibalizing your organic sales. So you can almost use TACoS as a lever to push and pull. It's not a perfect solution but it will help. The second thing to do would be to dive into you know, using Helium 10 and on a monthly, quarterly basis, pulling probably those terms, that on average you're above number four, number eight on, and then we create segmented campaigns for ranking that we can turn on and off as needed. So I don't want to turn off that keyword as a whole, I just want to lower the bids. So I'll shift my budget for my ranking campaigns to my profitability campaign. So I'm still running, but I'm not showing up in the top four sponsored ad placements.

Carrie Miller:

Jason says what is an optimal amount of keywords per exact campaign. I started with 15 or so, but as keyword harvesting creates new targets, the list has grown quite a bit. Break them into new campaigns question.

Destaney:

Absolutely I personally don't love harvesting new keywords into an old campaign because it's going change the performance of your old campaign right. If you have 10 new keywords that aren't proven, then your overall campaign may stop, start performing worse. So 15 is a great number. This is one of those fun like depending on what influencer you follow in the space, you're going to get a different number. It's really dependent on your budget. You know we've had brands that are spending a million dollars a month and they're able to have 100 keywords in a campaign because their campaigns had a thousand dollar budget. So we could afford from a budget perspective to drive traffic to every keyword. If you don't have that budget and you're only at $100 a month or a day, then you're going to need a lot smaller group of keywords to make sure you're collecting data on those keywords. So start with 15, maybe go to 20 to 30, depending on how high you want your budget to be, but then always break them out to new campaigns past that point.

Carrie Miller:

Are exact keywords generally expensive than broad? What, according to you, is the right mix of keywords, match type within a campaign and how many can should be added?

Destaney:

This is a fun one. There's a ton of misconceptions around this. In my opinion it just depends, because it's an auction model. If someone is bidding more on their exact match term than they are their phrase match, then maybe your exact match keywords are more expensive because your competitor is bidding more. We test all three match types across the board. They all three run in a very similar ACoS or ROAS because we control the bids to what's converting best at that certain point in time. I think for us, phrase match is one of our highest selling match types right now because broad sometimes goes too broad and doesn't convert as well. Exact match typically converts the best but can be the most expensive. If we're in a category where our competitors are bidding a lot more on exact, highly recommend running all three. Later on, someone asks can you put them all in the same campaign? You can. It's not necessarily going to hurt. We break ours up most of the time. There's instances where we won't, just so I can control again where my budget's going. But we continue to test every single keyword and every single match type and then just negate and or pause or lower bids depending on the performance in the CBCs.

Carrie Miller:

I recently launched, about two weeks ago. I'm running an automatic and manual campaign. Is there any other campaigns I should be running?

Destaney:

No, I'd say that's fine unless you have a really high budget and look at maybe video or sponsored brands. Those are going to do really well for you. It's unique advertising inventory but considering it's only been two weeks, I think an auto and a manual is good. An auto is going to be used for keyword research and data collection for you. Use your manual campaign to really control where your traffic's going and then just continue adding those automatic keywords you're finding into your manual campaign.

Carrie Miller:

Mike says, I'm in a category where there's a lot of window shopping, so my advertising spend is high as lots of clicks, no and low sales. Long tail keywords have low traffic and the keywords with higher search volume are very general, expensive and saturated by competitors. Any other strategies to consider?

Destaney:

Yeah, I would say, like the home decor, apparel, puzzles those categories can be really difficult because of the window shopping. So you got to think how do you stop someone from window shopping? Video does really really well because then you're educating them on why your product's better and why they're interested. And the good thing with sponsor brands video is if they're just watching the video you don't get charged. You only get charged if they clicked, and if they click they're interested. But again, I'd put this back on you to ask why are people clicking on your listing but not buying? Like even in high window shopping categories, you need to have a competitive advantage. The second thing I would say is product targeting, sponsor product product targeting, sponsor display product targeting can do really well. Target all of the competitors who have lower reviews than you, a higher price point than you, worse reviews than you. These do really well in window shopping categories because, as you mentioned, people are looking at competitors and then clicking on other listings and other listings. So this is a good opportunity to kind of take advantage of that mentality.

Carrie Miller:

Would you also say influencers are probably really the best way for those particular categories.

Destaney:

Yeah, I think influencers do really well because they're again, it's the same as the video concept. You don't want to just capture the demand and be compared to every other product in your category by price or reviews, which is what Amazon's known for. How do you educate a customer on why they need your product before they even click? Influencers, video ads, off-platform traffic does that job.

Carrie Miller:

Do you think Amazon rewards or gives more ranked juice for organic sales more than PPC sales, or do they treat them the same?

Destaney:

I would probably say more to organic sales. This is why your big retail brands your Johnson and Johnson's, your Pepsi or Coke's can get away with having listings that maybe aren't as fantastic because their organic conversion rate is so much higher, right? Even before they were spending a ton like seven years ago when I got started in this space those brands did so well because their conversion rate was higher. Customers were searching for their brand name and buying right, so their organic is already inflated and doing much better. Nowadays, PPC of course plays a role, but Amazon knows that they're going to max out on how much PPC opportunity they can have within the search results, so I think organic is weighted a little bit heavier in terms of conversion rate and click-through rate.

Carrie Miller:

Do you ever increase budget on a PPC campaign, even if it isn't maxing out?

Destaney:

It doesn't hurt. I don't think it necessarily helps. It can. I've seen a few people kind of make statements like I ran a campaign at $50 a day budget and it did nothing. When I increased it to $500 a day it did something. I've never really seen that, but it doesn't hurt anything.

Carrie Miller:

Joshua says wait. So I thought it was best practice to segment campaigns, as in keywords and such, to determine the performance. So is it best practice to clump keywords together for campaigns in groups of 10 to 15?

Destaney:

It doesn't really matter. Single keyword campaigns are okay, they don't hurt, but they're a pain to scale. We have brands that have 500 keywords doing well, so I'm not going to create 500 campaigns when it doesn't drive that much added value. We do 10 to 15 because it's controllable, it's easy to scale, it's easy for us to build out. Because it's controllable, it's easy to scale, it's easy for us to build out. In an absolutely perfect world, single keyword campaigns could be the best solution, the most value added, because you can do your placements at the same time, but they're not scalable for most people. Most people don't have the operations to run it appropriately and the software's out there that are recommending single keyword campaigns have a really terrible bid management strategy that doesn't make sense for them. So I would say if you're a small brand, only have one product, go ahead and run single keyword campaigns if you want. Just make sure you have a good system for naming and structuring.

Carrie Miller:

This is a good question. If you're new to Helium 10 Adtomic, what's the best place to start? I feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the system.

Destaney:

I would start by saying that that is the nature of Amazon and Amazon probably going to feel overwhelmed. So the biggest thing is to actually go through, like the videos that are directly within Adtomic. Like that's what I would say one of your best bets and start learning each piece individually. That's something that I kind of got overwhelmed with, like in the beginning. Keyword research and bid management that should be our core focus when it comes to advertising. So go through those segmented videos and help yourself understand the system that way. Do you have anything else, Carrie?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I mean we do have kind of a PPC Academy. If you are a paid subscriber to Helium 10, you can go into that course. But Bradley also has done some. He did some masterclasses on Adtomic and then there's also kind of learn videos, like you were saying, just like watch those little videos for each different thing within the actual tools. There's kind of little training videos. I would suggest doing that. We also have it in our academy. We have videos in our academy that show you how to use Adtomic.

Destaney:

General, it just takes time and, to not get overwhelmed, you have to hop in and you have to test and learn. By the time you learn something Amazon will change some button or some switch. So don't get overwhelmed by like. We have incredible comments and questions that are being asked that I would say are pretty advanced here. So, like, don't get overwhelmed by all of that. Just start simple, start small and you'll figure it out as you go.

Carrie Miller:

I think we'll do maybe one more here. I think this is a good one. I use Cerebro to extract keywords from competitors ASINs and then include those as exact and phrase match within the same campaign. As a result, my campaign sometimes ends up with 500 plus keywords. Is this approach okay, or should I create smaller, more segmented campaigns?

Destaney:

I'm going to assume what's happening with your 500 plus keywords is only 10 of them are actually getting impressions and clicks. That is the problem with that strategy. Unless you have a thousand dollar a day budget, you cannot afford the data across all those keywords. And what I mean by that is the industry standard is you need anywhere from 10 to 20 clicks per keyword before knowing whether or not it's a keyword that can be optimized right. So let's say 10 clicks at a $1 bid across 500 keywords. I can't do that math. What is 500 times $10? Like 5000?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah.

Destaney:

Please, you guys I just got the zeros. This is one of those memes I was like what is the most embarrassing thing you typed into your Amazon or your calculator this year? I was about to say you cannot afford to collect data on all those keywords. You're going way too big and you're going to have campaigns that only have 5 to 10 keywords getting clicks, because that's where all of your budget's going. Your budget's only going to go to those keywords. Amazon's not going to spread it across all of your keywords. So there's no point in doing any of that keyword research when 480 of those keywords you cannot afford to get impressions on. That is why we break them out in a segmented campaign. So I can have a $10 campaign focus on one to two keywords, collecting data. I can turn on and off as my keywords are successful versus your 500. Again, you can't necessarily afford it unless you're going to be spending 5 to $10,000 to collect data on all of those terms.

Carrie Miller:

All right, I think that's the last question. I think you've done an amazing job for pretty much 45 minutes straight answering questions. So thank you. And Andrew says Destaney is the GOAT. And then Cory said “Agreed, this is awesome!”. So thank you so much for joining us for TACoS Tuesday and thank you to everyone in the audience. We had lots of I mean, we still have questions we haven't answered. I'm sorry about that. We just don't have time to do all of them every single time, but if you join next time early, you can get your questions in early, right when we start and get them answered. But thanks again for everyone who joined and also Destaney. If anyone wants to reach you, where can they reach you?

Destaney:

Facebook or LinkedIn is probably the easiest. I see a few like good questions that came in last minute. Cory Benson, like all of my content is pretty much on LinkedIn, based around your question, so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms or reach out in the Helium 10 groups. I'm pretty active in those groups, so if you have any questions that we missed, we'd love to hop in and help.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, if you're not following Destaney on LinkedIn, you're missing out, so you got to go go follow her there. So, all right, thank you again, and we'll see you all again next time on TACoS Tuesday.

View Details

Learn how to audit old Amazon listings to uncover new keywords, drive sales, and gather valuable customer data that can help in listing optimization to boost your conversion rates.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Could Amazon listings that you haven’t touched in a while be the hidden goldmine you've been overlooking? In this episode, Bradley Sutton reveals his tried-and-true method for breathing new life into overlooked product pages and uncovering keywords that boost sales and conversions. As 2025 approaches, it's vital to stay ahead of trends and search habits to refresh your listings. Using the Project X egg trays, he demonstrates how to effectively audit and optimize your Amazon listings using tools like Search Query Performance and Helium 10. We'll explore how examining new reviews and tweaking your advertising and product images can align your listings with consumer trends, ultimately driving profitability.

Keyword optimization isn't just about throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Instead, it's an art form, and Bradley is here to guide you through crafting a keyword strategy that resonates. With a focus on a wooden egg tray example, we'll uncover unexpected opportunities by analyzing platforms like Etsy and Search Query Performance. Discover how an overlooked keyword like "porcelain egg holder" can unlock new potential. By analyzing click-through rates and impressions with Helium 10’s Cerebro tool, you'll learn how to capture untapped markets and expand your advertising reach.

Understanding sales dynamics is crucial for any Amazon seller. By leveraging BSR history, we can pinpoint sales spikes and identify the keywords that fueled them. Bradley will show you how to use Helium 10's historical data tools to track keyword sales and ranking changes over time and outsmart competitors. It's not just about finding what works but creating a Standard Operating Procedure to efficiently manage the process across multiple products. Get ready to unlock hundreds of dollars in additional sales by strategically optimizing your keyword usage. Let's make tangible financial gains a reality.

In episode 624 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Auditing Amazon Listings for Optimization
00:56 - Refreshing Product Listing for Project X
02:34 - Market Analysis Tools for Sellers
04:43 - Analyzing Keywords for Optimization
08:36 - Keyword Research for Wooden Egg Tray
14:14 - Utilizing Historical Data for Product Ranking
15:19 - Analyzing BSR and Keyword Data
17:40 - Organic Ranking Improvement Analysis
20:49 - Analyzing Keyword Performance Through Sales
25:33 - Analyzing Feedback for Product Improvement
28:24 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Sales
28:41 - Discovering Profitable Keywords for Increased Sales

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BREAKING NEWS: Amazon sellers are angrier than I've ever seen them before because of this move that Amazon made that could be costing sellers millions. How crazy is that?

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Update to the FBA inventory reimbursement policy
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHTU4yV1c1M0xMQlNKWlRB

Is Amazon's new FBA inventory reimbursement policy a game-changer or a nightmare for sellers? Recent changes have sparked a significant uproar, and many sellers feel misled and worried about potential financial losses in the millions. We dissect this contentious shift, highlighting the importance of transparency and fairness in Amazon's communication while recognizing its right to shape its own policies. The discussion also provides strategic insights into managing these upcoming changes.

TikTok Shop US Sales Surpass Shein, Sephora
https://www.silicon.co.uk/e-marketing/ecommerce/tiktok-shop-us-593031

Return Rate and Star Rating features on Voice of the Customer Dashboard
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHWEw1VEZNWTI2WFc0WTdO

Temu Leaves Amazon in E-Commerce Dust, Topping Apple’s Most-Downloaded Apps List
https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/temu-leaves-amazon-in-e-commerce-dust-topping-apples-most-downloaded-apps-list/91067132

Account vacation settings and support for the holidays
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHN0w1UkNRQlZQR0E5SjJW

TikTok asks Supreme Court to temporarily halt a law that would ban the app in the U.S.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-12-16/tiktok-supreme-court-temporarily-halt-ban

Enhanced display placement targeting features on Amazon DSP
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/enhanced-display-placement-targeting-amazon-dsp/

Join us for a comprehensive exploration of these pivotal shifts, equipping you with the knowledge to thrive in the Amazon space.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:52 - Amazon Drops Hammer On Reimbursements
23:28 - TikTok Shop Passes Shein
24:01 - Amazon EU FBA Fee Update
27:46 - Voice of the Customer Update
28:30 - Temu Most Downloaded
29:21 - Amazon Vacation Mode
29:52 - TikTok - Supreme Court
30:31 - New DSP Features

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In this episode, we got the TikTok queen with 1M+ followers to share her 2024 journey as an influencer, creator, & new Amazon seller. Learn her secrets to making money this year!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Gracey Ryback from Deal Cheats, the TikTok and Amazon Live sensation with over a million followers reveals her transition from a successful influencer/content creator to Amazon seller in our latest episode. Gracey shares how her initial venture into sourcing products from China provided key insights, eventually leading to a strategic pivot towards U.S.-based suppliers. Her story is not just about product sourcing, but about understanding the intricacies of e-commerce from a seller's perspective, enabling her to connect deeply with other aspiring entrepreneurs in the industry.

Forget traditional advertising methods—Gracey explains why she swerves around Amazon PPC, favoring the power of external traffic and influencer marketing to launch products organically. We dissect her strategies for breaking into saturated markets, utilizing influencers and deal sites to propel organic traffic and product visibility. With practical advice on setting lucrative discounts that draw customers while keeping profit margins healthy, Gracey provides a replicable blueprint for launching products without sacrificing profitability.

Dive into the world of influencer marketing on Amazon as Gracey discusses the tools and platforms that make content creation and brand collaboration seamless. From Helium 10 Xray’s influencer mode to utilizing other platforms, Gracey shares how repurposing content can maximize reach and revenue. Balancing the demands of being a creator and Amazon seller isn't easy, but with Gracey's insights on work-life dynamics and leveraging multiple platforms, listeners will gain valuable knowledge on how to thrive as both a creator and a seller.

In episode 623 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Gracey discuss:

00:00 - Gracey's Amazon Selling Journey
06:59 - Organic Product Launch Strategies
08:53 - Uniqueness and Potential for Success
13:01 - Product Promotion and Brand Expansion
15:10 - Maximizing Influencer Income on Amazon Live and TikTok
18:10 - Best Helium 10 Tools For Amazon Sellers
25:53 - Alternative Revenue Streams for Creators
26:05 - Creator's Work-Life Balance and Platforms
28:48 - Daily Routine and Content Creation
34:10 - Influencer Tools for Amazon Success

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In this episode, we’ll discuss helpful Amazon advertising strategies, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Search Query Performance, and even some suggestions for the best Ethiopian restaurants.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us as we welcome back George Meressa of ClearAds Agency, to the Serious Sellers Podcast, where we talk about Amazon advertising and e-commerce strategies. We discuss how tightened margins and increased competition from Chinese products are impacting sellers. The conversation covers the role of AI in leveling the playing field for non-native English speakers and the significance of external traffic sources like TikTok and Google Ads. We also examine the rising influence of larger brands on Amazon and the higher entry barriers that are discouraging new sellers. Our transition to using Pacvue for Amazon advertising and the emphasis on improving listings to enhance conversion rates are also key highlights.

In our discussion on Amazon PPC campaign optimization, we focus on strategically reducing wasted ad spend and reallocating resources for better performance. George and Bradley share insights on identifying inefficient ad campaigns and leveraging tools like the Hemingway app and Pacvue to simplify language and automate bid adjustments. We explore the importance of enhancing listings through effective keyword use and optimizing Q&A and reviews, which are crucial for ranking. This conversation emphasizes how strategic budgeting and allocation can uncover easy wins and growth opportunities for Amazon sellers.

Listen in as we explore modern advertising strategies and data utilization on Amazon. George discusses optimizing sales through effective keyword analysis and the benefits of using Amazon Marketing Cloud for insights into new-to-brand sales. We also touch on the value of Amazon's B2B reporting and the challenges of sponsored TV ads for ROI-focused clients. The conversation highlights the enduring effectiveness of sponsored product ads and the importance of maintaining advertising spend on high-ranking keywords. Finally, we share a lighter moment, connecting over a shared appreciation for unique ethnic cuisines, with a particular focus on Ethiopian food.

In episode 622 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and George discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising and E-Commerce Strategies
04:42 - Optimizing Amazon PPC Campaigns
09:48 - Automated Bid Adjustment Strategies for Success
14:41 - Amazon Advertising Strategies and Data Utilization
15:09 - Understanding Amazon Search Query Performance Keywords
19:03 - Advertising Strategies and Best Practices
21:26 - Benefits of the Amazon Bestseller Badge
26:17 - Shifting Focus to Organic Sales
29:55 - Discussing International Cuisine Preferences
30:29 - Exploring Unique Ethiopian Cuisines

Transcript:
Bradley Sutton:

Today we've got George back on the show for the first time in a couple years and we're going to talk about a wide variety of subjects, including general Amazon advertising strategy, AMC, Search Query Performance and even some suggestions for the best Ethiopian restaurants. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we're here in Milan, Italy, at our Avask and Helium 10 workshop, and just fresh off the stage is George. Now I'm going to be asking him a little bit about what he talked about, because I was in here recording another podcast so I didn't get to hear him. But, George, it's been a little bit since you've been on the podcast. Welcome back.

George Meressa:

Thank you so much for having me. It has been a while yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yeah. So now you flew in here, you're still based in London.

George Meressa:

I am, yeah, I'm in London.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. So I'm going to need some restaurant advice. I'll be going there two times in the next couple of weeks, so you'll have to give me some great local eats.

George Meressa:

Absolutely, I'll give you my advice. I've been told I have horrible advice, but there's one or two winners, so then I'll get you with them.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Now we're not just here to talk about culinary things, were here to talk about you know what, what your specialty is, which is, you know, Amazon advertising, just Amazon in general. And so I remember the last time you were on the show. You know you talk a lot about DSP. Dsp obviously has come a long ways, but just in general, what are the biggest things that have changed in the last couple of years that advertisers are dealing with now? Or you know some new feature that they have access to? That wasn't around the last time you were on the show.

George Meressa:

Yeah, it's a good question. So I think the biggest thing we've seen is just how margins are being tightened for sellers. So there's been costs that have increased in so many different areas, like warehouse costs. The cost per click just has increased in general, and not only that, but we've also seen a whole range of competition come within Amazon, so a lot of cheaper products coming directly from China and I think AI has had a massive impact on that where now Chinese sellers are able to have content that matches up with those who speak the native languages, like English in the US and other marketplaces and Temu has been one as well. It's just been a competition where you can find products at such a lower rate.

So there have been a few big components. Outside traffic as well has played a big part too. So getting viral stuff coming through TikTok, people really homing in on Google Ads they've had an impact and also the bigger brand as well. I think a lot more bigger brands are putting their products on Amazon and because they have the awareness, the conversion rates are just naturally better and they're coming in and just sweeping in and taking a considerable amount of market share. So there's a whole sea of things happening. I think one of the biggest things we've noticed, though, is there's less newer sellers, because just the barrier of entry is a little bit higher than it was when we first uh, when we last had the conversation.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you guys, uh, I know, um, in the last couple years you know, switched over to Pacvue, uh, for software, another one of our companies.

So you know Pacvue is not just Amazon, you know, it's a really a lot of multi-channel. So are you guys leveraging advertising now on other platforms at all? Are you strictly still pretty much Amazon advertising?

George Meressa:

So we're mainly Amazon advertising now. I think the biggest change that's happened since we last spoke is, uh, we're now working within the listings too, so leveraging some of the skill set we brought in from outside um, those who've run amazon brands and done really well and they've been able to help us to grow the conversion rate, because ultimately it comes down to the conversion rate and the sales. So and sometimes it's quite straightforward fixes it could be standing out with images, it could be keywords in the back end that most people forget to put in descriptions, titles, and just really working with that, and other times just that product is kind of hitting the end of its life cycle and that's

one thing we've noticed is the life cycle of products are kind of diminishing more and more since last being here.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I imagine that's kind of a benefit for you guys, because if you're only an advertising agency, you know you can only control the advertising. But if they've got a crap listing or they don't even have the right keywords, it's a little bit hard to change things. But if you're able to go in there and help people from a to z, then it just makes the advertising, I imagine, much more effective too.

George Meressa:

Exactly that. So it's a kind of massive flywheel effect. When you get the listings right and you have a kind of superior product or product that stands out, it just makes everything else flow better. So you could, you know, um? On extreme examples, we've seen exceptional products of high barrier or high barrier to entry products, where they have very basic PPC campaigns, but they just rank, they just do well, and on the opposite side you have other products that are similar to what's out there and it's very difficult to get that edge. I think when I first started doing Amazon pay-per-click, you know you had the auto campaigns. Manual campaigns were just introduced. There wasn't much data. I mean there wasn't much competition, so it was easy to run it. But now I mean the data that we have access to with Amazon is unbelievable. It's unbelievable what information you can get right now and I think that is still probably the biggest edge a lot of people can have against their competitors is actually taking advantage of the data and knowing what to do with it.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what is one of the most common I don't know if I can say mistakes or things that you're changing like now you take on a new client and now you do have the ability to go in and modify some things, both on the advertising side of what they were doing, but both on also on the listing, you know, side or keyword side. What are some things that are like oh my goodness, like we've had so many customers who have done this wrong and this is like the first thing that we check for to change. Does anything stick out in your mind?

George Meressa:

Yeah, it's very simple. So we look at what can we bring down, what can we bring out? I mean, what can we bring down? What can we bring up? They're the two simplest ways of putting it. So what can we bring down?

Where in the campaigns that we're looking at is there wasted budget? Where that, where the resources haven't been allocated well right? So this could be campaigns that are getting a very high amount of clicks but not any sales. So that's a. That's just a more straightforward basic um, um kind of uh example. But on the other hand, you can also have keywords that have a decent a cost, a horrible conversion rate, and that's where most of the budget's been distributed. So the more budget and ad spend a company has when they come to us, the stronger the chances that we will find something to improve. So that's the first thing we do is okay, what can we cut back? If someone's got, you know, you know, 10 000 a month ad spend or 100 hundred thousand a month, and we can reduce it by 10%, 15%. Then we got opportunity with that additional budget to put it in places where it is working, or untapped opportunities. That is going to be an easy win. So where is the easy wins, is the quickest thing, and reducing that spend and cutting the cost is the first place we go. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing is what can we bring up? Where is there potential for growth? And this is where we kind of dig into Search Query Information. Where are certain listings organically positioned well or getting a good proportion of sales that you're just not pushing through PPC right? And when we got that information, we can then create campaigns to then test okay, what would happen if we put some campaigns behind this? Would their positions improve? And most of the time the conversion rates are strong, as strong as they and they are shown on Search Query Data. Then they move and it works well. So, from a PPC side of things, that's where we see the quick wins.

Um, on a listing side of things, it's very basic things that get missing. I mean the amount of companies we look at where they just haven't got back-end keywords and they don't have, uh, their descriptions fleshed out and their, their, um, their bullet points haven't been reviewed since they first launched the products because they've got so many products. Amazon is looking at the listings to look at what is this product relevant to what is. What is the search terms that are most likely to entice a sale. So we go a little bit further as well and kind of work on um Q and A as well. How can we maximize the, the amount of questions that are answered around the products and making sure that the type of answer that's given is what amazon's looking for. So, especially with Rufus so there's a science paper that uh was recently published where amazon actually say they, they give more um, they put more weight in terms of ranking to the questions and answers and the reviews as opposed to the product description. So really making sure that all of the content it works well.

I think one of the things I've just shared downstairs as well is um using simple language, right. So a lot of people things I've just shared downstairs as well is using simple language, right. So a lot of people forget that, just using the US as an example, the average reading age is of a seventh grader, right? So if the average reading age is of a seventh grader, why not use this much more simple language within your listings to really convey the message? Because then, ultimately, you're reaching 100% of your audience as opposed to reaching, you know, 40 or 30%. That in itself could have just tremendous impact and it has, we've seen in our clients in terms of the conversion rates. So I just spoke downstairs a really cool app to use is Hemingway, the Hemingway app. So with that app, you can just put your listing title in there and it will teach you to just use more simple language. Right, there's no, there's no, there's never any issue in doing that, and actually you could reach a much, much larger audience, especially if you're selling a complex product. That is the art. If you sell a complicated product to complicated ingredients, you know, really conveying the um, the benefits.

And just moving back to what you mentioned, Pacvue that's been a game changer. One of the big things that it's allowed us to do is allowed us to put in rules so that we can automatically make bid adjustments that humans just can't do as well, right? So just to give you a few examples, we can put in rules which say, okay, if, uh, the position in organically is X, make X change within the bids, right. So if this and if the conversion rate threshold is above this, increase the bids, right. Doing this is just one layer, right, and that's helped a considerable amount in terms of ensuring that it's done in real time. That's the first one. The second thing is doing um, increasing bids, budgets during certain times of the day and week, right.

So we found out, all of the tools we've used, patfuse being the most superior in terms of getting that right and homing in. You know, you can ask someone, a VA, you can ask a special, a specialist account manager who's been doing it for donkey's years, to manually sit there and do that, but it's not going to meet the human, it's not going to meet, uh, the tool's ability to do it at such a rapid rate. There's so many things that we do within those tools now where we're now focusing more on a strategy and we're allowing the tool to do the mundane clicking and ensuring that the campaigns are given the best possible, uh, chance of succeeding. So, um, that's kind of how we use the tool and I think, is getting to a place now.

If you're not using these tools, you're going to fall behind, like you cannot. It's not like those old days where you could just click and make the budget adjustment. Amazon is checking all of the position and ranking every time a search is made for your products, right? So you want to take advantage of that, especially if you're doing good volumes. You're getting good traffic, getting good impressions. You really want to be on top of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Want to keep up to date with trending topics in the e-commerce world, make sure to subscribe to our blog. We regularly release articles that talk about things such as shipping and logistics, e-commerce in other countries, the latest changes to Amazon Seller Central countries, the latest changes to Amazon Seller Central, how to get set up on new platforms like Newegg, how to write and publish a book on Amazon KDP and much, much more. Check these articles out at h10.me forward slash blog.

Now, one thing you mentioned a couple minutes ago was about the Q&A. So let's say, you know, just organically, nobody has left that many questions and so obviously that means there's not that many answers to. So does this mean that you're just getting like some Amazon customers to write some questions so that the seller or the account manager can answer them, or how do you get the right questions and answers on there?

George Meressa:

Very good question. So I'm going to step a bit back, Bradley. So you can use a tool like AHREF, right, and you can ask a question about a product, right, and it will give you the most asked questions on Google, right. So that's where you can do the research and be more data focused. So I'll give you an example there was some sort of nail varnish that one of our clients sold. When we put that product into AHREF how to remove the nail varnish it was the biggest question I was asked. It was getting like 20,000 to 30,000 searches a month.

So, firstly, it's about finding the right questions. Where is the itch right? What are people asking? Right? And then, when you find a few of these questions, then we encourage friends and family and there are some other ways you can do it. I just would need to speak to a team about how to do it, but in the day-to-day of the business. But what we find is, when you do that and then you answer the question as well, there's Amazon Comprehend. So Amazon Comprehend is a tool that allows you to ensure you answer the question in the right way.

So you're not neutral. So either positive or negative, and it's about being as black and white as possible, and we've noticed that Rufus picks up on this as well. So, um, you want to make sure that you're answering those questions. Um, well too. So, um, don't be vague. Um, try and be yes or no. Um, does it answer the question is this a product that removes? Uh, you know how does this product remove nail varnish easily? Yes, it does it. Does it X, does it X, Y and Z? And actually what we did is, when we actually did the research on some of these tools like AHRef, SEMrush, we found that when you go to the listing, you can actually put some visual aids of showing step-by-step how easy it is to remove it. So there's a whole range of ways you can find it but this has been really, really useful for it.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, you, you also mentioned, you know, Search Query Performance and I think that's just a great data point, that that Amazon. I think none of us really ever could have predicted that Amazon would, would, would give. Um, I think you touched on it. But, like, my main thing is, I'm looking at keywords where I've got a better conversion rate for purchases, that, then the overall and then yeah, you know, checking. Maybe I'm not advertising for it or maybe I'm not ranking high. I need to double down and then maybe the ones I'm not converting as well, maybe I even dial back on the spend because I know, you know, it might not help me much with my organic ranking. Uh, because I'm converting poorly for it. What other uses other than just those, those two that are using the search performance data for?

George Meressa:

That's a good question. So, as well as looking at conversion rates, looking at what is the potential on that keyword, if you're getting three sales a week from that keyword and there's 25 sales, is it gonna be better use of your time to go for another keyword that you may be getting free sales, but there's 400 sales a week, right, so it gives you the potential that keyword has for you to grow in it and make more sales. So that's the first thing. Another thing as well is Amazon doesn't make this clear, but there's two types of keywords that you have within search query, so you have more discovery keywords and you also have more kind of intent based keywords. Right, and you can figure out where these keywords lie by just looking at their kind of um, the click percentage share, and you can also look at it from the add to cart share as well.

So there's going to be certain keywords where people just are more likely to buy quicker, and so they're the keywords really good to really understand as well, because effectively, this is going to be better use of your money. So if you can find those keywords where the conversion rate is higher, then you're likely to kind of do more with that. So there's some of the ways we use search query and I know they've gone a step further with my team as well where you can actually reverse, engineer and figure out, ok, depending on how many sales there are for a certain keyword and how much competition there is. There are for a certain keyword and how much competition there is, if you get X amount of sales for that keyword per day, this is how much it's likely to cost you per click on average to see what it would look like to move you up organically. So that's what search queries can do if it's in the right hands.

Bradley Sutton:

What other new Amazon data points you know, like brand metrics or things like that, are you guys leveraging to help you make decisions?

George Meressa:

Good question. So I think one of the I was just speaking to Ben just last week and I think one of the big things we noticed recently is just the B2B reporting through the child ace and so you can see now how many sales you'll get in from B2B customers. So I think that's been interesting. So I think anyone who uh is sales on amazon and they should just apply to and have b2b pricing. So if people wanted to buy uh larger units we're still quite early on into this, but we started to see certain trends of search terms where it's more targeted towards b2b customers and really taking advantage of those search terms as well and probably spending a bit we spend a bit more on them. So uh tape, some sort of tape for plumbers we kind of saw that. Yoga supplies we saw that. So there's gonna be a lot more we can do with it, but that's kind of one of the latest things that we've seen that we've taken advantage of.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you guys leveraging AMC? I mean, AMC has been around for a while, but now it's kind of more getting a little democratized. It's not just for people with DSP. Have you been leveraging that at all for your clients?

George Meressa:

Yeah, we've been using AMC for some time now with DSP clients, so there's a whole, there's a bunch of really cool things that AMC gives you in terms of data. So the first and most obvious way is you can now start to see how many new to brand sales you get through sponsored product ads. Uh, within the interface, you can only really see that for responsive brand. So it really, especially if you have, um a consumable product, you're able to see, okay, um, which, which keywords are responsible for bringing in new purchases where, um, they've never they've never seen your product I haven't bought within a certain time period. So that's been really useful.

Um, and leveraging that information, um, there's been. How else have we used it? Uh, we created custom audiences as well. So, um, you could exclude. So, within dsp, you can exclude those who may have seen your product 15 times, because they're less likely to buy after 15 times across the whole account as opposed to uh, as opposed to one um. So there's yeah, there's been a few ways, and I think this is going to be really good for uh, e-commerce brands now, the fact that we have it at our disposal within seller central, because before it was, you know, you had to go for an agency.

Bradley Sutton:

So have you guys dabbled at all with any of your clients with a sponsored tv?

George Meressa:

uh well, we haven't seen it work. We have, um, it just seems to waste a lot of money, um. So most of the clients that we deal with they're kind of more ROI focused. They want to grow. We haven't really had anyone yet with us. I know Matt has his previous agency that want brand exposure and are prepared to spend 20, $30,000 a month on that. So we haven't. We haven't. We've tested, we've not seen the results. So we haven't, we haven't, we've tested, we've not seen the results. So we've kind of moved away from it.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, what's maybe the best kind? You know, obviously there's a million kinds of ads now before, back in the day, say, there's auto campaigns, or there's broad campaigns, and then there's ASIN targeting and then now all of a sudden there's, you know, sponsored brand headline ads and video ads and throughout different times, you know different ones have been the most profitable or drive best ROI. It's a general thing to ask, but anything like any type of ad you see nowadays in 2024, 2025, going into 2025, that are just working better than others, that you're like, hey, everybody needs to be making sure they've got a good strategy with this type of campaign.

George Meressa:

I think it's been sponsored product ads from the get go and I think they're still kind of the number one.

If you can get your ads to appear, your products to appear at the top of the search results for the right keywords, that is always going to outperform anything else.

So that's the first place is to kind of find those keywords that you're likely to convert better with, or you have been converting better with, and pushing them top of page placements through sponsored products. We tend to find that 70 of our budget goes to sponsored product ads and then if we start to see, okay, there's common themes across certain keywords where we do convert well through sponsored product ads, then we would take those keywords and put them into sponsored brand ads on exact match to really push them that way. So they tend to and have done so for a while perform the best. Every now and again you get ace in target campaign and category targeting. That works really well, especially if a particular product is superior across the category. So if you have that kind of product where your average rate and count is a lot higher, then that's another option as well to kind of really push and with those kinds of terms, if someone has searched for your competitor and they end up buying your product, then Amazon's gonna favor that a great deal more too.

Bradley Sutton:

So the question I have is kind of like, I'm not sure if there's one right answer, but everybody has differing opinions, so I just want to get yours is a common one that people have is like hey, I'm on a key keyword that's relevant to my niche, but now I'm already ranking high organically. You know, like, like, should I pull back on my, my spend? You know, like, maybe before I was always going for top of search for, for sponsored ads. But you know, like, my philosophy in the past has been I want as much real estate as possible. You know, I want to go ahead and have that sponsored brand headline ad. I want it to be the one of the first sponsored ads. I want the organic rank. You know, maybe I'll have a video on the page just because now it's pushing competitors. But you know, is it, is it possible that I'm maybe cannibalizing some organic sales because they clicked on the sponsored ad when they probably would have bought my product anyways? Where do you sit on this, on this kind of debate, I guess?

George Meressa:

Good question. So, um, if you have the bestseller badge, you want to do everything within your power to keep that velocity of sales up. You want to make sure that you have more sales within that category than anyone else, because when you get that badge, amazon also already knows that you are the best in that category with what you sell. So there's going to be places that Amazon will show your products that you just would not have access to otherwise. So there's a whole range of benefits that you see would not have access to otherwise, right, so there's a whole range of benefits that you see. Not only that, but when you're positioned and you have the best seller badge, you actually have a much higher advantage compared to your competitors in terms of the price you pay per click. So we tend to also find that the cost per click is lower.

So when one of our clients actually cuts back or when they lose that bestseller badge, it's so hard to get it back. It's really, really difficult. Effectively, what you've done is you've created a moat. So if you've got those number of sales in, you're making a profit. You do really want to work hard to keep that momentum of sales. If it's working to cut back, it could be dangerous.

I would probably consider encouraging people to look outside of Amazon. If it's working to cut back, it could be dangerous. I would probably consider encouraging people to look outside of Amazon to kind of compliment what they have. But I mean, there's been just too many horror stories I've heard and seen where people have, like, positioned really well, doing great sales, and then a few people with VC-backed money come in, really push PPC, run their campaigns that are lost for a while, and then, um, they take the best seller badge and they just can't get it back. They don't have the resources like some of the other companies do. So if you're in that fortunate position, you should be doing everything you can, and I think one of the key metrics you should be looking at is how many units of sales are you pushing compared to some of your main competitors? Um, just to make sure that? uh, yeah,

Bradley Sutton:

Somebody's just getting started and they want to start budgeting. Uh, you know, maybe it's tacos or maybe it's like, hey, how much should I put aside? You know, like because the worst thing they can do is just budget for the product, for shipping and getting started, and they have no budget for PPC. But nowadays I think the amount of advertising we kind of have to do is more than ever. But you know you can't do it to the point where you lose money. Is there a number where you're like, hey, you should budget this percent of, like, your initial order or this amount of money weekly or something for somebody so they can really make sure that they've got enough budget where they don't run out and then now they can't run advertising.

George Meressa:

So somebody, so they can really make sure that they've got enough budget where they don't run out and then now they can't run advertising. So what we look at, especially when someone's launching a product, is okay, what terms are you going to want to go for to begin with and work backwards in that way? So if you have a product, strongly encourage you. Well, try and get brand registry from the very, very beginning so you have access to brand analytics. Get the products in. You're doing a variation; it's going to be easier to get this information. But what we tend to do is look backwards and go okay, what are the keywords that we're going to target and what impressions and clicks and conversions do they get a week? What do we need to achieve to begin with? And then how much do we need on average, working on some scenarios, to have more of an educated guess, and we work backwards in that sense.

And then we have phases as. So we might have four or five phases. So at the lower end of the phases, we've got those search volume keywords. I'll get in maybe 5,000 searches a month and we start there and then we kind of go right. Here's five keywords in phase four and what we're going to do with these keywords is start off with that and we're going to have X amount of budget. So we do have a tool in-house where we kind of figure out what we, what we need to spend and then we kind of move up the phases. The moment we start to see movement in organic positioning, um, but at the beginning is going to be, you know, I mean you obviously should probably going to sign up for vine and get those reviews coming in it's going to all factor in at the beginning. If you're getting really good reviews, you're getting really good conversion rate, then then you're going to have to have some budget, additional budget, to just help you with that momentum

Bradley Sutton:

Another question I had was I think in the old days you know, I don't know, maybe six years ago or so a lot of, if not the majority of sellers, when they're trying to optimize their advertising, is like strictly ACoS, like hey, I have a cost goals at the campaign level, at the keyword level, whatever. Nowadays that that's not enough. You've got to be looking at ROAS and different things like that. What is your suggestions out there as far as managing your advertising in a more holistic way, instead of just strictly looking at that one ACoS metric that we did for so many years?

George Meressa:

ACoS is certainly an important metric to look at, but that shouldn't be your key KPI. I think the conversion rate should be ultimately right at the top and TACoS then comes in later, should be prioritized more than ACoS, because there may be some sacrifices you have to make with ACoS for the benefit of organically getting ranked better and start to get more sales. I think the biggest shift that we're seeing is more sales across every. Well, most accounts we're looking at is coming from paid ads compared to organic ads from the past. So trying to reverse engineer that where you're having more coming from organic, is going to be key because that's going to give you a stronger moat compared to your competitors, if you can master that. So and there's been some extreme examples where we've had one or two clients where they have a higher price point when it comes to their product, but the conversion rate has been um, not as good, right. So PPC they have additional margins compared to their competitors where they can rank higher than them, I mean where they can position behind them on paid ad, but organically they're not running the moment. Moment their ads stop running, their listings go down, right. There's no history there organically. So it's heavily reliant on PPC. So, and that's why ACoS can be a dangerous game, if you're constantly measuring ACoS and you're going with the terms with the lowest ACoS and you're pushing them, every ACoS is just going to continue to climb and climb, and climb and climb. And for someone who's a little bit more strategic, um, and using data to their advantage and they're focusing more on the keywords where the conversion rates are higher and they're positioning better, they're going to come in and they're going to take those positions off you. They're the ones that are going to come and start to slowly win.

There's one example of one client where we didn't want the main competitors to even know that we were competing for those terms. So we went for those slightly obscure keywords that get maybe a number like 20 sales a week, 30 sales a week, and we pushed those keywords to get the velocity and we started ranking and we started to understand what kind of keywords relevant to us and then we went for those core keywords that everyone else goes for, right, and then that way we were able to then easily kind of come in and take organic position and rank, and that's how you should be thinking now. So a few years ago ACOS was our main KPI. Now it's just something we look at and it's really difficult actually to share with people. That way of thinking now is such it's so short term it's not going to allow them to kind of really see this for a year good points.

Bradley Sutton:

Now before we get into our last questions. If people want to reach out to you to get more, information on what you do and how you can help them out. How can they find you on the interwebs?

George Meressa:

So clearadsagencycom is the URL. Just search George Meressa on LinkedIn. I've got an obscure last name M-E-R-E-S-S-A. I think there's no one else with that. I'll just say George Meressa, so you'll find me. Connect with me there. But yeah, that's probably the best place.

Bradley Sutton:

Favorite Helium 10 tool of all time.

George Meressa:

Cerebro.

Bradley Sutton:

And something that you know. Maybe you don't know if we have or not, but you're like man, I don't think Helium 10 has this. If I was in charge of Helium 10 or this is the task I would give them that would give me more value.

George Meressa:

I mean, you've got a Genie in there. Now we need the reverse, what helps you get money back. So that's what's, and it's free. So that's probably one I would have suggested, but you've already done it, so that's a box already ticked. I can't really think right now of anything I want. I think you've got the package. I think the data that we found has been, um, it's been so solid over the years. I think you, you're one of the very few companies who've had this data for so many years, and I think that's always been important to us. Um, but yeah,

Bradley Sutton:

As you know, I'm going to Ethiopia for my first time. Obviously, I'm ordering lots of injera, but what's a couple of dishes that you recommend? Maybe even a dessert? I've never had Ethiopian dessert, so what are some things I should be looking for in some uh restaurants? I can call it by name and they'll be impressed that I know.

George Meressa:

Okay so first, what you gotta do is you gotta find those little places where they're making coffee. There's like an old lady wearing all white and she's she doesn't have to be old, she could be young but like, um, like, and they're just making some coffee, the freshly brewed coffee. Get some of that, you're gonna love it. So that's the first place to go. And then, um, when it comes to India, the India is actually quite different to what you get in the uh, in the states and in the UK it's they use that.

It's that really brown sourdough. I don't know if you've had that version. It's usually kind of white flour they use in in your kind of Europe and the western world, but that's quite sour, so it's going to be interesting for you. I mean, you can take spice, right? Yeah, so I love ASAP. That's like the red sauce with the egg and the chicken and that is not my favorite, but, um, yeah, I think that's probably in Jera is like the most common thing to have there. So that's what I recommend.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it, love it. That's the. It's a top three cuisine for me. Like I’m all for Mexican food, Korean food and then Ethiopian food is there, so like it's always been on my bucket list to go and I'm finally going only for a day, but maybe next time I'll be able to go for more.

George Meressa:

That was the most random thing, though, and I think you told me three years ago. I was like George, do you have Ethiopian food? I was like yeah, and he's like I love it. And I was like what it was? Bradley was the last person food. It's like crazy. Anyway. I don't have many people that come up to me and tell me that and this is like an intimate cuisine for me, like I have it at home. I grew up with it, like growing up, and it's just there and um, and now you know you absolutely love it anyway. Crazy.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it, love it. I will people know I march the beat of a different drummer. I don't like to go with what's the norm and that's definitely not the norm and I love it. So if you guys look up, uh, Yelp, if you have an Ethiopian restaurant near you, and give it a try and trust me, you're going to love it.

George Meressa:

Thank you so much for having me, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you for being on here, and we'll bring you back next year to see what you've been up to.

George Meressa:

Sounds good.

View Details

Chinese sellers on Amazon and Temu struggling? TikTok Shop opens in two new marketplaces. Amazon is about to open in a new country. These buzzing stories and more on this episode!

No Black Friday windfall for Chinese sellers on Temu and Amazon as competition rises
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3289727/no-black-friday-windfall-chinese-sellers-temu-and-amazon-competition-rises

TikTok Shop Goes Live for Spain, Ireland in Europe Rollout
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-shop-goes-live-spain-094457160.html

Countdown to Amazon.ie as businesses are invited to register and new Country Manager is announced
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/countdown-to-amazon-ie-as-businesses-are-invited-to-register-and-new-country-manager-is-announced
Create percent-off price discounts with minimum discounted price floor on Amazon

How Gen Z Fashion Brands Shein and Temu Exploit a Legal U.S. Tariff Loophole
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2024/12/09/how-gen-z-fashion-brands-shein-and-temu-exploit-a-legal-us-tariff-loophole/

Amazon and Intuit expand their strategic partnership
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/amazon-seller-central-quickbooks-aws-partnership

Amazon launched new seller-fulfilled customer service quality insights on the Feedback Manager page in Seller Central.

Generative AI tools in the A+ Content Manager are now available to all Brand Registered sellers in the US.

Lastly, we discuss some game-changing Helium 10 new features for Black Box ABA top search terms and provide valuable insights into calculating profit margins on TikTok Shop with the all-new Helium 10 TikTok Shop profitability calculator. Whether you're looking to optimize your sales strategies or stay informed on the latest e-commerce trends, this episode offers a wealth of information to help you succeed.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:46 - Chinese Sellers Struggling
03:06 - TikTok Shop EU Opens
04:01 - Amazon Ireland Opening
04:40 - Price Discount Update
06:00 - Why Temu/Shein Are So Cheap
06:39 - Amazon x Intuit
07:11 - Customer Service Quality Insights
08:54 - Gen AI A+ Content
09:29 - Check Out Helium 10’s Latest Blogs
10:12 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
13:08 - Training Tip: TikTok Shop Profitability Calculator

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Master Amazon keyword tracker strategies: learn why keyword tracking matters, how to act, and link keyword ranks to PPC spend, holidays, deal days, and more in this masterclass!

What if you could revolutionize your Amazon-selling strategy with just a few clicks? Join us in this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast: Seller Strategy Masterclass, where Bradley Sutton, Helium 10’s VP of Education and Strategy, explores the transformative power of Amazon keyword tracking. He dives into the Helium 10 Keyword Tracker tool, unlocking its potential to not only monitor your organic and sponsored keyword positions but also to outsmart your competitors. This episode is packed with insights on how mastering keyword tracking can be your game-changer in boosting product visibility and sales on Amazon.

As we navigate through the complexities of keyword tracking, Bradley emphasizes the importance of optimizing your Amazon keyword tracking frequency. Imagine having a comprehensive understanding of your product's visibility by monitoring keywords more than once a day. He guides you through the setup process, from tracking individual product variations to employing Helium 10 Keyword Tracker’s boost feature for hourly updates. You'll learn how to fine-tune your tracking preferences, allowing for precise data collection and informed decision-making that can elevate your Amazon game.

Visualize your rankings like never before with the new Heat Map feature, offering a clear picture of keyword trends over time. In this episode, Bradley also discusses the significance of competitor analysis and the strategic use of automated keyword tracking. By adding competitors' ASINs and tracking them diligently, you can gain a competitive edge and refine your Amazon PPC campaign’s bidding and pricing tactics. Listen in to discover how leveraging Helium 10’s advanced keyword tracking tool can empower you to make smarter decisions, ultimately leading to increased sales and enhanced Amazon product visibility.

In episode 621 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - The Importance of Amazon Keyword Tracking
01:24 - Introduction & Overview to Helium 10 Keyword Tracker
11:33 - How to Track Your Amazon Keyword Ranks Daily Or Hourly
19:01 - How to View Keyword Ranks On A Heat Map
23:51 - How to Track Competitor Keyword Ranks
26:45 - How to Add Notes and Tags To Keywords
29:41 - How To Automate New Keyword Suggestions
33:00 - How to View PPC Data On Your Keywords

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

In this episode, we will discuss how to expand your Amazon brand with translations using AI & the human touch, cultural insights, global marketplaces, and strategies for crafting high-converting listings.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an engaging discussion as we sit down with Jana Krekic of YLT Translations, an expert in translations and e-commerce strategies, to explore the transformative role of AI in the world of translation and localization. Recorded live from Milan, Italy, Jana shares her expertise in optimizing Amazon listings, shedding light on the limitations of AI in delivering high-quality, culturally nuanced translations. Through vivid examples, she illustrates the crucial role of human touch in understanding cultural contexts, such as the importance of local references like "nonna" in Italian culture. Discover why relying solely on AI could mean missing out on potential sales and how balancing technology with human expertise is key to successful e-commerce strategies.

Explore the nuances of expanding into new markets with insights into evaluating marketplaces for product expansion. The conversation emphasizes not only the importance of assessing sales but also the significance of comparing profits across regions. Uncover strategies for beating competitors through superior content and keyword optimization, especially in areas where local language content is often neglected. Learn about typical expansion routes for US and European brands, and gain insights into emerging markets like Japan and the UAE. We also touch on the growing curiosity among US businesses about platforms like Walmart and TikTok Shop, despite uncertainties in their operational dynamics.

Finally, we emphasize the importance of optimizing Amazon listings by focusing on context and customer interaction. Hear about the ever-evolving nature of Amazon's rules and algorithms and the necessity of adhering to local regulations in international marketplaces. With AI playing a significant role in product visibility, an effective keyword strategy is crucial for reaching the right audience. Listen as we highlight successful global brand localization strategies and share tips for enhancing engagement and profits by tailoring content to resonate with local audiences. Plus, don't miss a valuable travel tip on saving money through tax-free shopping while abroad, making this episode a must-listen for anyone involved in the e-commerce world.

In episode 620 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jana discuss:

00:00 - AI Translation and Listing Localization Strategies
01:22 - AI Advancement and the Translation Industry
05:59 - Localization of Images for Amazon Listings
10:33 - New Emerging E-commerce Marketplaces
12:37 - Product Market Research in Germany
17:09 - Optimizing Amazon Listings with AI
20:14 - Understanding International Food Standards
25:42 - Challenges of Brand Localization
26:38 - Global Brand Localization Success Strategies
31:22 - Airport Tax Refund Travel Tips

Transcript:
Bradley Sutton:

Today we've got Yana back on the show we're recording live from Milan, Italy, and she's going to talk about a wide variety of subjects, such as preparing your listing for Amazon AI translating your listing, other marketplaces and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image or Amazon changed their shipping dimension so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash alerts.

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And speaking of the e-commerce world, I am on the other side of the world right now. I'm in Milan, Italy. and we are at the Helium 10 Elite and Avask Workshop, and one of the speakers for today is somebody who is no stranger to the show, Jana. Jana, welcome back.

Jana Krekic:

Thank you so much.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this is the first time we've seen Yana, because she's been uh, creating life, you know, uh out there, uh, how's that for you? How's that going for you?

Jana Krekic:

um, it's a struggle, but it's something that I'm really grateful for, honestly.

Bradley Sutton:

I got an early start. You know she were just talking about how my kids are in their 20’s already. But then again, you know there's advantages of waiting. You know like you got to, you know you and Lazar got to have a. You know just pretty much, go wherever you whenever you want. You see now that it's a little bit different.

You can't just go up and like, hey, let's go to Ibiza today.

Jana Krekic:

huh yeah, well, I mean, I could go to Ibiza, but I have to be uh home by 9 pm, so that's the small difference.

Bradley Sutton:

So we’re not here to talk about parenting. Where’re here to talk about what Yana is an expert at, and that's mainly translations and things. And I think one thing that's been on the mind of many people is wait a minute, with AI do I even need professional translators anymore? I could just go ahead and click a button and now I can have a perfectly optimized listing, thanks to ChatGPT or thanks to AI. Now can you tell us? Is that a true statement?

Jana Krekic:

Well, honestly, Bradley, I use AI on daily basis and I think it has changed our lives and made our lives simpler in some ways. But I would disagree with the part where you said to get your listings optimized. I would say it's great to do a summary of your reviews and maybe to help you understand how a product works, maybe to describe what you see on the picture if the image is blurry and you can't tell. But I would stay away from AI when it comes to optimization, keywords and, most importantly, localization, because AI is still it's getting better, definitely, but I still we are years away from this being a fantastic tool that will replace human brain and human touch and human understanding of context.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so you actually had some examples of what the drawbacks are. Because, yeah, you know, maybe if, if you have zero budget and you want to have something better than just the Amazon auto translates, sure, maybe you know ai is not is going to put you on the right track, but what's an example of kind of like money you're leaving on the table if you just 100 rely on AI for translation?

Jana Krekic:

yeah, I would, I would agree. I would say that you can get it translated. It will be probably mediocre at best. A lot of things will be maybe translated very confusingly, will be poorly translated, but you know, if you're on tight budget, yeah, sure, go ahead and you know, see how that works, because probably it will not be as efficient as something else.

But since we're here in Italy, I have a really good example, and this is a pasta machine, whatever clients were selling. So she was selling this in the States and then she was branding is as pasta machine, like in Bella Italia. Now, like for an American like you would probably think that, wow, this is something very authentic, something that will make me help make great posts at home. But what if you want to sell this product in Italy? So what if you tell Italian hey, buy this product because it's in Bella Italia? And you, being an Italian, would be like, what do you mean Bella Italia? I don't understand. We're already in Italia and it is Bella, but I mean I don't get it. So, -like using AI, I tried to play around a little bit with this example and so the first thing I wrote out really nice prompt and I said can you make it sound more localized so that Italians want to buy this machine because it's really top quality and will make amazing pasta. So the AI came up with make pasta in a traditional way, which is better.

It's not a literal translation, but it's still so far away from like. What is like when you say Bella Italia in English and to an American. It doesn't send the same message and it doesn't have the same warmth as like. What you would get is, for instance, if you said make pasta like your Nonna or like your grandma used to make. So when you say Nonna to an Italian, it automatically triggers that childhood memories great pasta, warmth.

It sells emotions and this is what will sell us your product and it will make it closer to your local audience and Italians will be like well, let me try this because I really want to make you know like pasta like my grandma used to make, because this is probably one of the best memories I've had of my grandma and then they will buy this product. But then AI will not come up with this because AI is not uh, doesn't have. This lacks human touch, literally like. That translation is okay, it's decent, but it lacks that something that will connect you with the target audience and sell your product and convey the same message you'll have back in your home marketplace yeah, so that's.

Bradley Sutton:

That's a one good example, and almost in any language there's going to be, you know, similar one thing like that, even in English. So maybe somebody who is an Italian person trying to make an American listing, you know might try to translate an American listing. You know might try to translate some words that just you know, like American or English or American slang that you just can't always just translate from an AI. I mean, definitely, I think AI is better than Google translate. You know that's one of the worst things that you could do for your listing, but it still has a little way to go.

Now, um, something interesting we've been seeing lately from Amazon, something that Amazon sellers have been asking for a while is the ability to localize your images easier. You know, in the past sometimes, hey, you have your US ASIN and then you're using the same ASIN in Italy or Spain or wherever, and it would pull in those images and then you try and rewrite the image and then now all of a sudden, your Spanish infographic is showing in US. But now they have this kind of like cool image manager where you can make the images for each marketplace. What are some best practices for how you can quote unquote localize the images. It's not just about the words. Obviously that's a no brainer, you know, don't have Japanese writing in your Amazon USA listing but like even some lifestyle images like would you suggest changing like base to make it more look like you know you don't want, you know, like maybe to have Jap Asian looking models for Japan market or things like that, or what can you talk about? Localization of images?

Jana Krekic:

So this is a really good question, but unfortunately, maybe 1% of the brands would actually do that. 90% of the brands would just change the text on images. The images will stay the same, but they will just translate it into different languages, which is fine. It is also one step forward compared to how it used to be. But what is really important depends on the category that you're selling. For instance, if you're selling doorknobs or if you're selling anything that has to do with anything you can find in your bathroom, maybe like a shower organizer or a shower curtain or anything like it.

You have to keep in mind that bathrooms in Europe are quite different than bathrooms in the States, and all the brands selling anything like that like from the States to Europe they leave the American doorknobs, they leave the American shower heads, which is fixed to the ceiling. In Europe we have, like this completely different thing, and also this is something that really catches like my attention every single time, because like then these customers will say, well, well, maybe this works like in the states, but like it doesn't fit really well into my shower cabin. I don't have it. I also have a really big bath which you don't get like in the States and like there are like a lot of things that are very, very different also. For instance, like in in Europe, like I want to have a bidet in my bathroom, which is quite usual to have in your home. Uh was in the States, like I have never seen a bidet except the international chain of hotels

Bradley Sutton:

My house has one from living in Japan. I was like I need a bidet in my, so I custom uh, imported one and I'm using one in my house well.

Jana Krekic:

You're one of the 1000 people I probably have like that smart uh toilet as well, which is my favorite. Um, yeah, so this is like something that brands don't really pay attention to. So, for all the other things, I think you can get away with. For instance, if you're selling something like a I don't like a office supplements, sports, outdoors, all of that, maybe yes, maybe switched with like different models, but I would say that for most of the cases, you can keep the same models. But when you're selling a home appliance or anything that has to do with something which is in your home, keep in mind that homes are very different and people would not be able to relate with this product, understand where to put it, how it works, because they'll have different things in their home. And then, in these cases, I would recommend changing the images, because I think that this would bring you so much more and this might be a deal breaker for your product.

Bradley Sutton:

Good point, good point. Now, going back to your topic of listings and things like that. Now I'm going to miss. I'm not going to be able to see your presentation this afternoon because I'm going to record another podcast and we're not going to go over your whole thing here. But can you give some of the main points of what you're going to talk about this afternoon?

Jana Krekic:

Right. So I'm going to try to answer the question like where to sell your product next. So a lot of people ask me this, so I decided to dig a little bit deeper into this topic and try to, um, just do like a short summary of like what you should pay attention to. For instance, like you should check, like, what, how much money is this product making on your marketplace? Then I would compare the profit that, for instance, my competitor is making my home market versus what is making. What are they making on the new marketplace? So this is really important. So not only the sales matter, but also profit. If they're making less profit, then they're making their in your home marketplace and selling more than maybe you should. You know, think again of like if you want to do or not. And then, of course, you want to know if you can beat them on the content level, using keywords, using optimization, using a bunch of different things, strategies. This is really important because, like, if you have 10, 15 different top competitors, from my experience and from all the analysis I've done, you can land in top three, four, even in the top best-selling categories on the content level. So that for me alone is worth going there because you can organically be indexed very easily, because a lot of brands that come from the States that sell in Europe they don't really care about their content because their team does not understand it, so somehow, they think it's irrelevant when it isn't. I mean, if it's relevant in English, why is that relevant in another language, right? So if you ask me, like content is really easy to get positioned, like very well in Europe, and then, of course, very important, which a lot of people don't understand the importance of is actually your audience.

And then asking your audience, will they buy your product? For instance, we had PickFu also build our international polls for us, and so you would want to like test out, let's say, like you want to go to Spain, you think it's a great product. All the numbers add up, it's fantastic. But will your buyers buy it? Will they be excited about it? So you ask, let's say, 100, 150 people you can target them women, age 40 to 50, amazon Prime, whatever high income and then you ask them would you or somebody you know buy this product, yes or no?

Because we had a situation where we had one of the clients wanting to sell something in Germany and everything added up nicely, but the product was just not selling. So I went to my German team and asked them like would you buy this product? It was some sort of like a Mr. and Mrs. thing, like a cup with that. And then I have 12 German team members and every single one of them said no, we're never, never buy this product. And then I'm like why? And they're like because, Jana, it's like such a not a German product to buy. It's like so, not something that we would want to have in our kitchen.

And I was like, wow, this is insane. So I went back to the client and I'm like well, I'm sorry, I think the audience hates this, this product. Like you should come up with something different or maybe try another country. So this is something really important. You know the Vox Populi. It's very, very important. All the other parameters are, but this also adds to like to a really big, important part whether you should expand to this country or not.

Bradley Sutton:

Where are you seeing a lot of people from US and then, conversely, from Europe. Where are they expanding to? Like, historically it's always been vice versa. All right if I'm in US, you know, obviously if I was doing Canada and Mexico already, but then now I go to Europe. If I'm in Europe, I'm either already selling in US or that's the next one. Is that still the case? Or are you seeing more people go to newer places, like maybe Japan or Middle East or other places?

Jana Krekic:

Right. Well, when we're talking about us brand, it's always going to be first Mexico or Canada, because of course geographically it makes no sense. Then it's Europe and then we've seen people try to go to UAE. I think people are very interested in the marketplace. They don't know what to expect but there’re like let me try, because usually like you would not need translations or any like it's not a big of a deal to go to UAE. You can keep your lessons in English, especially if you're targeting expats. That's really important because then they don't do like Arabic keyword research. And then some of the brands they're brave enough they go to Japan.

We've seen a lot of crazy products be really successful in Japan, but not all brands are ready for it because of the alphabet and unknown universe and everything. They're really, really afraid of that. But we've seen brands do Japan, especially in the last year. We've seen the increase in Japan and a little bit of like showing interest for the UAE. I think Saudi Arabia is going to be also really interesting. We've talked about this earlier and yeah, but I would say still Europe number one and then more than like. If I compare it to like three years ago, definitely more Japan and more UAE, but still I would say that they want to go to Europe a lot and I'm not sure if any of them, like from the States, would be interested in Australia. Honestly, I think Australia has grown bigger, but because of the Australian sellers, not because of the brands that actually want to expand there.

Bradley Sutton:

Are a lot of your US customers expanding to both Walmart and TikTok shop, or do you see more going to one or the other?

Jana Krekic:

Yes, I would say Walmart definitely, especially in the last year, year and a half. And then TikTok shop a lot of people want to but they don't know how it works honestly. And then this is I get a lot of questions like we've heard amazing things about TikTok and they've never sell with, like influencers, ugc. They haven't used it a lot, so they're kind of really afraid to test the waters. But I know that the ones that have already sold on TikTok shop had amazing results and it's like completely different universe and of course, you don't know how long it's gonna last. So I'd say, like you know, hop on that train and, just you know, do it. It's really, it's really yeah. I think it's going to be a good ROI, really.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now, switching gears a little bit. Something that I was talking about in my presentation was for me. You know, I I'm not doing too much differently nowadays, even though there's new AI things like Rufus, but there's a lot of people who maybe weren't doing best practices for listing, but now those people are going to be even farther behind because of what Rufus is. And so what are you know? Like you as a company, when you're making a listing for somebody, I believe you probably have in mind things like Rufus, right, even when you're making the listing, what are those things that you guys have in mind? And how are you you're doing things um to make sure that somebody's listing is ready for, for Amazon's AI things?

Jana Krekic:

Right. That's also a really good question. Uh, because, um, as you said, a lot of things that you were doing the right way maybe six, seven years ago. They are still relevant, some of them. So we were also.

Whenever we're doing listing, we always pay attention to context and how it sounds to the target audience. Uh, so it's not only like when you have your bullets. It's not only like when you have your bullets. It's not only about your key features, how this product and that product. It's also like how you would like talk to the customer.

So let's pretend that you have a customer on your page and then you have, like this hello, how we can help you. Like chat box saying, hey, so what do you wanna know about this product? And then maybe let's say this this customer wants to buy something for their daughter, let's say a diaper bag. And then you know, like, maybe ask, like do you travel a lot? Oh, you may be traveling a lot, so maybe put this in the bullet. Or you know, you can go to your reviews and like see what people are talking about, their situations where they use these products, locations where they use this product, because this will make your bullet sound more real and like as if someone wrote the bullet who was your customer.

I would think, from a customer standard customer point of view, write things as if you were using this product but and get ideas from the reviews and actually like you are talking to a real person. I think this is like really important. So not just like random sentences like buy a product because this, this, this and this, because it sounds like you're reading a manual. So you're not buying things from like a manual, buying from a real person that loves and enjoys your product.

So I would have this mindset with writing listings and, of course, not just using keywords in the title, which is really important. So keyword stuffing has all like been dead for a long time, but even now, like today, I don't see a title that reads nicely, that's also filled with just like random words, maybe like random phrases, but definitely not and this can hurt a lot the algorithm and like actually the power of AI to recognize what your product is about and to offer it to customers, because it will not understand the true value of what your product is bringing and solutions it's offering. So I think it's really important to today sit down and optimize your listings as if you were a customer. I think that is really important To make it more human. I think that is the actual approach you should take.

Bradley Sutton:

What else is new in your world as far as things like? One thing I mentioned also is that one of the constants in Amazon is change. Rules are changing. Algorithms are changing, best practice changing. You know fees might change the way you have to do things. Things are always changing in Amazon. It's never a dull moment. So in the last you know couple of years, since maybe the last time you've been on this podcast, what are some other things that you're having to do differently for clients or that you've had to adapt due to something that maybe changed on Amazon?

Jana Krekic:

Well, definitely, you always have to keep up with the forbidden words, and we do a lot of supplements, so that's always a very big challenge. Every supplement is different. Every country is different, so, more than ever, you have to really pay attention to that. It's really important Now. When you say bio, for instance, like in Germany, it does not have to mean that it is 100% organic. Earlier it was organic, but now it doesn't have to mean. It means that you have a certificate, but it doesn't mean that it's an organic product. So you can't say and use the word organic actually to make this be like a bio product or vice versa. It's really now, it's really like fine print, uh, what you should read really, really carefully. Um, because I think it's getting more refined of what is allowed and what is not. A couple of years ago it was like, okay, you can't have a health claim, sure, let's just, you know, let's just figure it out like just, uh, you know, come up with a different sentence, but now you're gonna have to use it as a health claim, but you have to be really refined about it because you have to have it in a listing. So I would say that even on European marketplaces, there are lighting years behind us market. It is getting more refined and more difficult to get away with things that you could use like three years ago. When it comes to keyword research, it's now pretty much the same as like. If you use long tail keywords, as you've used for the last six years, you'll be good. Helium 10 now covers all the international marketplaces, which is amazing. It's always the best choice for all of the search volumes, relevancy and all of that. And I would also just add that when you choose a keyword do you want to use in your listing, you shouldn't only pay attention to the search volume, because a lot of sellers would be like, oh okay, 70,000 search volumes, this is amazing, but it's not because the relevancy is what matters. So you need to combine those two because sometimes, like the top on the top list of the search volume keyword is not going to be best to describe what your product actually is.

And now more than ever, talking about the AI, it's really important to use relevant keywords and related keywords to your product, because then the AIO will better understand what your product is about and how your customer is typing to get to this product. Maybe sometimes you will think well, maybe this is too broad, but then type it into Amazon and see what is going to be in that search result. Maybe this is where your product should be and this is why you should think of like putting it into your listing. So I think now you should kind of use more of your strategy and brain power like to put it like in your listings than before, when it was like a no-brainer, being like okay, this doesn't describe my product. Next, now, maybe this is something. It's a related search term that people use in order to get to your product because it's like broader but it's still not.

Let's say, if you're selling um fitness, like um yoga mat, maybe you're not gonna put like sports equipment.

Maybe this is too broad search for you, but maybe something narrower, but even like a little bit broader than what you thought put in a listing, will help ai connect the dots and like to put it all together. It it's also I love SEO. It's like my bread and butter and I know a lot of like Google SEO. So when you also have a Google and you have like that knowledge panel of your company on Google and then on your about company page, or if you have like your own page about me. You should have all of the, let's say, LinkedIn, Facebook, everything that helps Google connect the dots and put it in your knowledge panel so that you're relevant for one thing. This is literally what AI on Amazon will do, just more like a niche, because Amazon is a niche, like in Google, is much broader and it will help AI, or anything that is inside of the search engine, connect the dots and make them realize that your product is relevant for x, y, z things.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you guys mainly just doing translations or do you also do things from scratch, where somebody just comes with a product, they don't have a listing in a certain marketplace and you're creating it from scratch?

Jana Krekic:

Yeah, absolutely. We do copywriting in all the non-English for our non-English marketplaces, uh, and we do this from scratch and this is also the, the strategy that we have thinking as a buyer and then putting the our you know thoughts and experience into words and selling it to the target audience with localization. So I would say that we are I mean saying that we are translation agency is very simple. It means just like translating words by word, but we actually translate it into emotions and, like you know, we're translating into the sales actually of the product. So, basically, localization is much more different than translation, because you need a little bit of copywriting in that as well, because if you have a sentence like in Bella Italia, if I would translate it will be just like the same sentence in Italian with the Bella Italia, but then you might add something or recreate that single sentence to achieve the same effect as you have in English. So it is a little bit of transcreation, as I would say.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So then when somebody does come with a new project um, you we've mainly today been talking about listings and maybe some images and titles what's your strategy as far as A-plus content or premium A-plus content, brand story, in the case of making something from scratch, or when we're talking about translating like, maybe they've got a brand story, they've got A-plus content in one, are you completely telling them to completely change it in the other marketplaces? Or what are some strategies for these things you can talk about?

Jana Krekic:

That is a really difficult one we have with our clients, because every time when a new client comes like we send them our onboarding questionnaire, we ask them a couple of questions. So we are 100% sure that we are on the same page with the brand and the brand voice. But you'll be surprised how many brands are really scared of changing anything and localize, localizing their A plus, content, brand story, storefront, anything. They're just like translate it, but please make sure to have all of the important, important information there. And then you tell them like, yeah, we're gonna have all the important information, but maybe we change the contest a little bit. And they're like God, no, don't change it. And I'm like but this will resonate better with the target audience. They're like well, maybe just like 10%. So brands are actually afraid of localizing, which doesn't mean that their brand is going to get butchered, it's just going to get a little bit adapted to a new marketplace.

And this is what I suggest to all brands to do. You would be surprised of the conversions and everything when someone reads something which is closer to them in German, in French, in Italian, versus a big, gigantic US brand that speaks to Americans in a salesy, fluffy voice. You don't want to sell that type of brand in Europe at all. So that's really really important. Very few listen to what I say, but a lot of them are really, really afraid of doing that. This is a true case study. But those that do really have good results. And we've had one baby brand selling fleece jackets for babies. They had about 60% increase in visits on their webpage because they changed their images and they changed the tone of the voice in their storefront, which was absolutely amazing, and of course, with that followed increase in profit. So don't be afraid to localize your storefronts. Nothing is going to change. The only change we'll see is probably positive change.

Bradley Sutton:

For people who want to reach out to you. How can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Jana Krekic:

You can find me on LinkedIn. I do a lot of video analysis I really enjoy just like helping brands scale and just pointing out to what they could do better. So LinkedIn, definitely number one. And then definitely you can reach out by email at Jana@ylt-translations.com.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so a few more questions here. Your favorite Helium 10 tool?

Jana Krekic:

I think the new Keyword Tracker really I absolutely love it and it's so easy like it's so straightforward, like even I think my seven month I absolutely love it and it's so easy, like it's so straightforward, like even I think my seven month old baby could use it. It's very easy and I love how you can like find out new keywords, you can be ranked for and track all of the competitors like in all different marketplaces. It is really really important for us as from what we do, so I would say that that is like the my probably latest favorite update.

Bradley Sutton:

And then something that maybe we don't have, that you're having to get from somewhere else, or some new feature that nobody has, and you've always thought, oh man, this would make my life so much easier If I were to let you be in charge of the Helium 10 product team, what would be your first job for them to make some new tool or some new feature?

Jana Krekic:

Yeah, well, first of all, I really have to say big thank you to Helium 10 because they've always listened to what I said. All of the you know, like suggestions, like, for instance, like when you do keyword research, usually it was to put number two as a default for the keywords. And then I went to Boyan, who was then a CEO, and then I told him like look, you need to change this to number one and two because of the big compound words in German that do not come up in the lists. So that was amazing. So I don't have anything like that, like as amazing as that suggestion was, but I'm really happy to see that all international marketplaces are available in Helium 10. And then I would maybe want to see, yeah, like if new marketplaces show up, I would want to like see, like, all the updates for that as well. And then maybe, like you know how you have an opportunity explorer, like for a product.

I think that may be combined into like one thing so you have like a better overview of like, of like the statistics, with like numbers and lines going up, because I think sometimes it's kind of visually difficult to visualize how everything is working together when you want to scale to a new marketplace. You do have all these amazing numbers, but I think that visual graphics would do amazingly well because a lot of people get lost in these numbers and then once you have something visually presented for you, you're like wow, this is actually gonna work versus wow, 1000 numbers, 3000 excel sheets, like I don't even know what I'm doing. So like this will like stimulate people into wanting to expand more by having it visually clear for them that this is going like top sales competitors, you know, following all of that, just like in like visually pleasing display, like screen. I'm a very visual type, so this for me is really important. For instance.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. All right, what's your last 30 second tip or 60 second strategy you have for the audience? Could be about parenting. It could be about travel. It could be about travel. It could be about Amazon. It could be about anything.

Jana Krekic:

Oh, I have a tip about travel for all the US citizens out there. So when you travel to Europe and I know that this year and last year has been an insane number of US Americans, I think only because, like Taylor Swift's concerts, like people going to Europe and Paris, I remember that, because, like Taylor Swift's concerts, like people going to Europe and Paris, I remember that. So, like, when you buy, especially luxury goods they're very expensive you can get tax free at the airports. I know a lot of people don't know about this, but if you buy, let's say, something that costs 1000 euros, you get, in Italy, 12% back, cash back. So if you buy that you get a receipt and then you take it to the airport and then before you hop on a plane, you show the item you bought. So don't put it in your checked-in bag, you have to show it and then, on spot, you will get cash back. That there can be a lot of money sometimes.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. All right, a cool travel uh tip. I just recently did something like that. I think I was in Japan or or Korea, uh, and even a couple services I had paid tax, but then there was like a machine in Korea and I was able to get it back.

Jana Krekic:

I was surprised because a lot of people that really do travel a lot they didn't know about this. So I'm like you know what I'm going to say. It maybe some of you know, but I'm sure a lot of you don't. So I think, free money, why not?

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, Awesome. Well, Jana, it's good to connect with you again. I look forward to again you know seeing you at conferences, like we always used to in the past, and wish you the most of success.

Jana Krekic:

Thank you so much for having me always a pleasure to catch up.

View Details

In this week’s buzzing episode, new updated Amazon FBA fees for 2025, the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, and reimbursements for coupons for sellers.

e’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Principal Brand Evangelist, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Updates to 2025 fees for Buy with Prime, Multi-Channel Fulfillment, Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, and Supply Chain by Amazon Managed Service

Amazon’s Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deal event was its biggest Thanksgiving holiday shopping event ever
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/black-friday-sales-results-amazon-online-shopping

Walmart Marketplace Records Record Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sales
https://www.pymnts.com/walmart/2024/walmart-marketplace-records-record-black-friday-cyber-monday-sales/

New Feature to Edit Coupon Discounts
Sellers are now able to increase discount amounts for active coupons without the need to recreate the coupon. This feature makes it easier for you to manage your promotions and helps you to adjust to changes in inventory levels.

Limited-time coupon fee reimbursement for new FBA selection
From now through January 31, 2025, sellers will receive an automatic reimbursement of the $0.60-per-redemption coupon fee for coupons on newly launched Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) selection. The promotion applies to FBA offers on products that first became buyable after November 2, 2024. Reimbursements will be automatically disbursed to your Seller Central account by February 28, 2025.

Amazon’s note on the recent Product Bundling Policy update

This episode also introduces new features from Helium 10, including updates to our Profitability Calculator for TikTok influencer promotions, which could be a game-changer for sellers looking to expand their reach. Additionally, we discuss the innovative Listing Builder AI's keyword performance feature, which offers in-depth insights into keyword usage and optimization strategies, empowering sellers to enhance their Amazon product listings effectively. Tune in again next week to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of Amazon, Walmart, and the E-commerce world.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - 2025 Amazon Fees
04:04 - Biggest Ever Black Friday-Cyber Monday
06:22 - Walmart 3P Record Growth
08:21 - Edit Coupon Discounts
09:05 - Coupon Reimbursements
09:55 - Bundling Policy Update
12:20 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
14:01 - Training Tip: Listing Builder - Keyword Performance

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

New Amazon fees for 2025, the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and reimbursements for coupons for some sellers. All of this and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Carrie Miller:

All right, let's go ahead and get into the first article, which is about Amazon fees that are starting in 2025. So there's some more fees that have come out and there are some increases and there are some discounts in fees. So let's go ahead and go over what was posted in Seller Central. Now, in this first section here, they actually talk a lot about all the things that they've done to improve all these different services over the last year, and so you've got all that information. But then, if you scroll further down, it gets into the nitty gritty details, which is what I wanted to share with you today. And so the first thing that they talk about is AWD, which is Amazon Warehouse Distribution, which they seem to want to incentivize sellers to use AWD. And so here is the update A new AWD smart storage option will provide a 10% discount on your AWD storage fees If you maintain sufficient levels of inventory. This discount brings fees down to as low as 43 cents per cubic foot per month, and Amazon will also separate the AWD processing fee into inbound and outbound processing fees, rather than the current approach, which is charging both together. So these changes are effective April 1st of 2025. And for details you can actually go and there's a link there, and so this should be in your seller central. There's a link to more of details about the fees, all right, so the next one is MCD, which is multi-channel distribution. Okay, so MCD outbound transportation fees will move from a fixed fee to a distance-based fee, and this will lower fees for shorter distances and increase them for longer ones. So inventory replenished into Amazon, though, will not be affected by this change and will continue to be charged a fixed transportation fee that they were before and it will not be distance-based. So these changes are going to be effective April 1st of 2025. And then there's also a link still in seller central that will give you a little bit more details on all of that, if you need more information about that.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, and then the next part. Here it says we're updating the discounts for sellers who choose the supply chain by Amazon managed services to include 20% off of AWD storage fees and 10% off of AWD storage or transportation fees from AWD to FBA. The managed option for supply chain by Amazon provides a simplified experience where Amazon coordinates the end-to-end supply chain logistics, warehousing and fulfillment and these changes are going to be effective April 1st 2025 also, and then you can go in and get more details on that as well. And then MCF, multi-channel fulfillment. I know a lot of people use this. They're actually going to increase their fees by 3.5% on average and they say this is less than the average of 5.9% that some other carriers use. For units with shipping weights of one pound or less. The fees are actually going to remain unchanged for standard delivery speed and for units that exceed one pound, the fee increase will vary depending on the unit size and weight, and these changes are effective January 15th, so a lot sooner of 2025. And for details about the changes, you can actually go to the little link there that they give in uh, in seller central as well. And then the finally, we're going to talk about buy with prime and any fees there, and it looks like buy with prime there's going to be no increase to the buy with prime service fee and fulfillment fees. For some large standard size units it actually is going to decrease. So they're going to continue to offer the one to two day delivery at rates that are comparable to the three to five day standard delivery rates on other carriers, and so it'll still kind of all be the same, but maybe there will be some discounts, so that change is going to be effective January 15th. So you can check for more details in the link that they provided in there as well.

Carrie Miller:

All right, so let's go ahead and get into the second article of the day, which is about Black Friday, cyber Monday. For Amazon, this is pretty exciting news and I'll just go ahead and share this article and that is that Amazon's Black Friday week and Cyber Monday deals. It was their biggest deals event ever and if we scroll down, we can see a little bit more details in this actual article and it said Amazon announced that it's Black Friday week and Cyber Monday holiday shopping event from November 21st through December 2nd was its biggest ever compared to the same 12 day period ending on Cyber Monday in prior years. The deal event saw record sales and a record number of items sold. And then it actually, if you go further down in this article, it says the black Friday week and cyber Monday holiday shopping event was also the largest ever for independent sellers in Amazon's store, most of which are small, medium sized businesses. More than 60% of sales in Amazon's the Amazon store during the event were from independent sellers, so third party sellers anyone out there who sells on Amazon.

Carrie Miller:

Was this the story for you? Did you see a huge increase this year in your sales? I think that's pretty interesting to take a look at. And then, if we go further down, it goes to talk about some maybe contributing factors that might've contributed to this being kind of one of the biggest events ever, and it basically has to do with their AI features for customers. They're a powered assistant, rufus, that helps, you know, helps you kind of ask questions and find things quickly, and then they also have AI shopping guides that may, you know, make the decision-making process a little bit easier by the by consolidating the details of the products and breaking down technical terms. And then also Amazon lens, a visual shopping tool that allows you to just identify products with a photo, a screenshot or a barcode, and then Find on Amazon feature that lets shoppers discover comparable products while browsing online. So I think that you know they're pretty happy about the things that they did here for you know, just boosting Amazon sales during this time. So I'm really interested to know, if you're an Amazon seller, was this Black Friday and Cyber Monday your biggest sales year ever? For me, it certainly was. We actually did 32% more than we did last year on Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend, so we really just calculated that timeframe. So I'm curious to know if you put it in the comments, that would be great. Did you do better or worse this year in for Cyber Monday and Black Friday?

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's go ahead and go to the next article, and that is actually kind of related, and it's Walmart Marketplace. So Walmart Marketplace actually also had record sales in this last Black Friday, cyber Monday, Walmart Marketplace saw its highest ever sales day and also set a single day conversion rate record during the period between November 25th and December 2nd. Walmart goes further on and they say in this article if you can scroll and see, it's at the top here. Walmart says that this record comes as the company's e-commerce business is experiencing substantial growth. During its most recent quarter, that side of the business grew 22%, with Walmart marketplace sales increasing 43%, marking the fifth quarter in a row with more than 30% sales growth. So they're definitely growing.

Carrie Miller:

I'm curious to know if any of you are actually selling on Walmart and you've seen this growth as well, and you saw a huge increase in what happened on Cyber Monday and Black Friday. In addition, the company if you can just scroll down a little bit more. The company says that the marketplace is also gaining more high income shoppers. During its last quarter, around 75% of the company's market share gains came from households earning upwards of 100,000 annually, and that's actually interesting to note, because I do have people ask me quite often if they should put a higher priced item on there, and it looks like the demographics might be changing, for the online portion at least, so you might be able to sell some higher priced products as well on Walmart. So that should be something to keep an eye on. So for any of you who have kind of like those premium products, it looks like they are selling some of those, and then they further kind of said into this article they said that the these gains create exciting opportunities for premium brands and categories on our marketplace, because higher income customers are showing a higher propensity to spend on both discretionary and grocery purchases, and I think that's really, you know, kind of convenient for a lot of people. They want to buy things kind of all at the same time. So very, very good on Walmart's part to kind of work on combining those. I think it's only a matter of time and you'll see a lot more sales there. All right.

Carrie Miller:

So the next thing is was also kind of a feature update in seller central, and this is the coupons. Okay, so now the new feature update is that you can actually edit coupons and you weren't able to do this before, but you're now able to increase the discount amounts for active coupons without the need to recreate the coupon. This feature makes it easier for you to manage your promotions and it helps you to adjust to the changes in inventory levels. So if you're selling out, you can kind of work on that. But you have to note, to maintain customer trust, you can only edit coupons to increase discounts. So I don't know how helpful that is for some of you, but that's really the way they made it, so you don't have to kind of recreate the whole thing.

Carrie Miller:

So the next thing that we want to share about and this is also in Seller Central, that was talked about in Seller Central and it is a limited time coupon fee reimbursement for new FBA selections. So from now until January 31st 2025, you're going to receive an automatic reimbursement for the 60 cent per redemption coupon fee for coupons on newly launched fulfilled by amazon selection. So this is especially helpful for anyone who's like seasonal and you launched a bunch of new things and you did some coupons on there, so you can get reimbursed for those. The promotion applies to FBA offers on products that first became viable after November 2nd 2024 and reimbursements will automatically be dispersed to your seller central account by February 28th of 2025. So anyone who is seasonal and kind of just launched products in this last November, this would be a great thing to take advantage of. I think it actually is. So that's pretty cool information right there, okay.

Carrie Miller:

And then the next thing and this is the last kind of piece of news, but not the least this is about the Amazon bundling clarification. They kind of put a clarification out because when they announced this in October of 2024, there was a lot of confusion around it. So basically, during that time, amazon updated the product bundling policy for consumables to ensure bundle products are safe, authentic and meet stricter handling standards, and this change reflected the higher safety requirements for items like food, skincare and products for children or pets. And Amazon heard a lot of feedback from sellers that the new policy was really confusing. So we're gonna go into the nitty gritty details of this, all right. So the first thing clarification that they're clarifying is all bundles must be product configurations packaged by the original manufacturer for the brand. For example, you can list a bundle that includes Dawn dish spray and display refills, which was originally packaged by Dawn. However, you cannot list a bundle of Dawn dish spray and dish spray refills that yourself have repackaged. Okay, you also cannot create your own bundle combining Dawn products with gloves, sponges and anything else from other manufacturers.

Carrie Miller:

And then the next one is about products. Products may be reconfigured and repackaged as bundles if you have a letter of authorization from a brand owner or manufacturer granting permission to repackage. All products in a bundle must belong to the same brand and the bundles must be branded with the same brand name as the products. Okay, so that's something to note. Now we actually had Ashlyn had an insurance. She did a module in our Freedom Ticket 4.0 where she talks more in detail about this topic and you know what not to do because it is a liability and some somewhat against the rules. So if you want to learn more about repackaging stuff, you can actually go check out our bonus modules in Freedom Ticket 4.0 in that course, or actually it's in our regular modules in there, so you can actually see that.

Carrie Miller:

And then the last thing, but not least, in here that we wanna point out about this bundling is that gift items listed within the gift basket category may contain products from multiple brands that are physically bundled together for customers in a manner suitable for gifting. So there are some exceptions, and so I can see how this could potentially be a little bit confusing. So definitely good to kind of check out this information if you are bundling. This is especially helpful for anyone who's kind of a wholesaler or reseller. Um, so you know what the rules are. So the next thing that I want to do is I'm actually going to show you, uh, some feature updates. So Helium 10, we're always improving and always coming out with new tools and new, new support for sellers, and one thing that we are recommending is that sellers diversify to other platforms. So we have a lot of Walmart content and a lot of Walmart tools. We obviously were Amazon, but then also we wanted to give you some tools for TikTok, and so I'm going to go ahead and show you in here this is our actual, our coffin shelf listing right here.

Carrie Miller:

But say, you wanted to actually start selling on TikTok shop and sometimes you want to know what the data is for TikTok shop, and so what we actually did is we created a Profitability Calculator for TikTok shop and this is going to help you to take your Amazon products and kind of calculate and see if you could be profitable on TikTok shop. So when you go onto your Amazon listing and pull this, you can see that it pulls in the price and all of the dimensions here and then you can put in your manufacturing costs, you can put in your freight costs and then it gives you a spot here for the commission. So this is what you would pay for influencers to share your products within TikTok shop, and so we put it at 20%. But you know it depends. Sometimes people start at 30%, some people will give 10%, and so you just put that in there to calculate your profitability. You would also want to put your estimated time in storage and kind of storage fees for fulfillment by TikTok, and then you can put any duties and tariffs in here and other costs and you can calculate pretty easily your profit on TikTok. So that is something that you should check out if you haven't started on selling on TikTok, or even if you are and you want to kind of add more products and you want to just see how they would do on TikTok shop, that is a great place to take a look.

Carrie Miller:

And finally, we are getting into our strategy of the week and I wanted to do the strategy of the week in the Listing Builder AI. We have a lot of really cool features that are in the Listing Builder AI. So I've actually already pulled it up here for you to see, and this is just an example of all the amazing stuff that we have. Just kind of one example and that is keyword performance. So we put in our list here and you can see that you have the root words and then we also have keyword phrases. So you put in the keyword phrases and then it kind of automatically kind of divvies out these one root words to kind of show you what those are.

Carrie Miller:

But if you want to go in even more detail to see what the keyword performance is, you can actually pull up the keyword performance by clicking on that and it's going to show you all the root words here, so you can see all the root words there. And then you can also see over here. Say, for example, if we check, we want to see all the keyword phrases that have Gothic in it, and so we can kind of check that and hit the filter button and then what you're going to see is all the phrases with coffin in it, and then you can see exactly where it is. It's in the exact phrase exact phrase. You can see it's plural, singular field, field, broad. So it's kind of a broad match there, so not in the exact phrase form. So you can basically check any of these and kind of filter any of these different words that you want to see more details about and how you've used it and where you've used it, and you can also.

Carrie Miller:

What's something that's great about Listing Builder is you can also go ahead and you know you can pretty much put any listing in here, and so you can put your competitors in here and you can analyze their, their keyword performance and see where they're putting their most important keywords um, in the exact phrase and all that. So, um, it still gives you search volume here, the keyword sales, the click share, the title density and the organic rank of that listing. So it's definitely very helpful and just a good place to kind of see where all of your placements are and it gives you just kind of a good overview to see how well you're optimizing your listing. I think this is an amazing tool that you can use and filter and kind of just see where everything's at. So if you haven't tried it out, you should definitely trust uh, try out our Listing Builder AI. That's just one of the amazing features. There's some other competitor kind of comparison features in there as well.

Carrie Miller:

All right, so that is all that I have for you this week on the Weekly Buzz. Hopefully this was very helpful. I think we have a lot of great information in here today that you can kind of take a look at and just monitor, but next week Bradley Sutton should be back, so we'll see you again next week to see what's buzzing. Bye, everyone.

View Details

In this episode, we’ll discuss the inspiring story of a 1970s war veteran turned Amazon seller who achieved six-figure success and 40% profit margins—proof that it’s never too late to start crushing it on Amazon.

Imagine transitioning from a life on the battlefield to thriving in the world of e-commerce. That's the remarkable journey of our guest, Andy Ackroyd, who shares his life's extraordinary path from being a young soldier in the Rhodesian Bush War to becoming a successful Amazon seller. Raised in a close-knit community in Zimbabwe, Andy's early years were defined by outdoor adventures and the profound lessons of resilience learned amidst warfare. His gripping tales of survival and fortitude during the war provide a powerful backdrop to his unexpected foray into the world of Amazon-selling —a journey filled with both challenges and triumphs.

Our conversation with Andy uncovers his relentless adaptability as he navigated personal and professional shifts across continents—from Zimbabwe and South Africa to the Middle East and Australia. It was in Australia that his interest in Amazon and e-commerce sparked, influenced by a charismatic entrepreneur, leading him to venture into Amazon sales. Andy opens up about the trials of launching products, overcoming patent hurdles, and the importance of nurturing strong partnerships with Chinese suppliers. His story is not just about survival but about thriving amidst change and harnessing opportunities in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Listeners will gain invaluable insights into strategies for Amazon-selling success, including the effective use of tools like Helium 10 and courses like Freedom Ticket. Andy discusses the significance of monitoring key metrics, influencer marketing, and platform diversification to stay ahead of market trends. His experiences highlight the importance of personal growth, continuous learning, and the power of building meaningful relationships within the Amazon seller community. Join us as we explore Andy’s journey and draw lessons from his unique story that are both inspiring and instructive for aspiring and experienced sellers alike.

In episode 619 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andy discuss:

00:00 - Warrior Turned Successful Amazon Seller
01:10 - Amazon Entrepreneur's Childhood in Zimbabwe
03:05 - Rhodesian Bush War Stories
04:26 - How Andy Got Started On Amazon
13:13 - Strategies for Amazon Success
18:25 - Amazon Income for Travel and Growth
19:44 - Foreign Friendship and More Amazon Strategies
22:56 - Exploring International E-Commerce Platforms
26:16 - Invest in Yourself for Amazon Success
31:44 - Invest in Yourself, Nurture Relationships
35:29 - Full Circle Experience For Andy

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Are you or your competitors generating sales on hidden keywords this December? Join us in this step-by-step walkthrough to uncover these keywords and start driving traffic and conversions this holiday season!

What if you could uncover the hidden keywords that skyrocket your Amazon sales this December? Join Bradley Sutton, as he reveals advanced strategies tailored for Amazon sellers eager to maximize their holiday profits. This episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10 guides you through a meticulous process of identifying high-conversion unique keywords using tools like Helium 10 and Amazon Seller Central. Discover the secrets to refining your keyword strategy, targeting specific product variations, and ensuring your listings are primed for maximum visibility during the peak holiday season.

We dive into the art of finding new and previously uncharted keywords that could be the key to unlocking hidden sales opportunities on Amazon. By analyzing historical keyword trends and leveraging Helium 10's powerful tools like Cerebro, you'll learn how to uncover terms that have driven past successes, even with limited search volume data. The episode emphasizes the importance of prioritizing high-performing keywords and offers tips on refining your searches to focus on product variations that resonate with your audience.

Boosting your product's visibility on Amazon requires more than just smart keyword selection; it demands effective optimization techniques. Learn how to generate a targeted list of keywords and use Helium 10’s Index Checker to ensure your listings are searchable. Uncover strategies for updating your product descriptions with new keywords and employing traffic strategies to improve rankings. This episode equips you with the tools and insights necessary to create compelling product narratives that captivate your audience and enhance your sales efforts.

In episode 618 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

01:01 - Historical Keyword Research for December Sales
07:52 - Identifying New Unique Keywords for Amazon
12:55 - Finding Keywords for the Project X Products
19:44 - Analyzing Historical Keyword Rankings
20:28 - Optimizing Keywords for Amazon Indexing
26:46 - Running Keywords For Amazon Advertising
30:32 - Optimizing Amazon Keywords Inside Listing Builder
31:28 - Amazon Keyword Research Strategies Overview
35:11 - Keyword Optimization for Amazon Sales

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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Temu and Shein are revolutionizing Black Friday marketing, the first ever live selling analytics platform inside TikTok shop, and is Amazon Japan under increased scrutiny? These and more on this buzzing episode!

Japan competition authorities raid Amazon Japan, source says
https://www.reuters.com/technology/japan-authorities-raid-amazon-japan-possible-anti-competitive-practices-nikkei-2024-11-26/

How Rufus, Amazon’s AI-powered shopping assistant, makes holiday shopping quick and easy
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-rufus-online-shopping-tips

Temu And Shein Shake Up Black Friday Marketing Landscape
https://finimize.com/content/temu-and-shein-shake-up-black-friday-marketing-landscape

Shein Urges Court to Keep Lawsuit Against Temu in Play
https://www.thefashionlaw.com/shein-urges-court-to-keep-lawsuit-against-temu-in-play/

Stickler First With Live Commerce Analytics App in TikTok Shop App Store
https://www.martechcube.com/stickler-first-with-live-commerce-analytics-app-in-tiktok-shop-app-store/

Making Programmatic Smarter: How Amazon's Dynamic Traffic Engine (beta) Tackles Inefficiencies in Ad Buying
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/dynamic-traffic-engine/

Everything you need to know about Amazon’s discounted Prime membership for young adults
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-student

Buy with Prime Expands with Launch of New Merchant SteveMadden.com
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2024/11/buy-with-prime-expands-with-launch-of-new-merchant-stevemadden-com

Lastly, we discuss the exciting features of the Helium 10 Cerebro AI tool, offering insights into competitor sales performance and keyword trends. Don't miss out on how you can leverage these news stories and advancements to stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:52 - Amazon Japan Raided
02:37 - Rufus Pro-Tips
04:20 - Temu & Shein Hike CPC
05:48 - Shein versus Temu Lawsuit
07:39 - 1st Live Selling Analytics App
08:46 - Dynamic Traffic Engine
10:07 - Amazon Prime Student
10:58 - Buy with Prime Expands
12:35 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
19:31 - Training Tip: Find Holiday Season Keywords with Magnet

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In this episode, let’s talk about Dayparting, hourly bidding, what sellers can do to take advantage of AMC, and how to optimize your ads for this Q4 holiday season.

Could your e-commerce sales soar this Q4 with the right PPC strategy? Join us for a captivating session as we tap into the expertise of Jocelyn Jeffries, an account director at Pacvue, who enlightens us on the art of day parting and the transition to hourly bidding. As we gear up for peak shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Week, we dive into setting actionable sales and customer acquisition goals. Jocelyn shares her valuable insights on leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud for Amazon sellers, offering precision in optimizing your ad spend during these crucial periods.

Our discussion unfolds with a deep dive into the intricacies of campaign optimization, focusing on consumer behavior alignment with tools like Pacvue and Helium 10. We share strategies for product launches, transitioning smoothly from auto to manual campaigns, and the tactical use of long-tail keywords. The nuances of using negative, exact, and phrase-match keywords in broad campaigns come alive as we explore how these strategies can enhance ad performance through the extended shopping season and beyond.

We round off the episode by unpacking cost management strategies for PPC advertising during high-traffic events. Jocelyn offers her expertise on adjusting bids post-Black Friday to prevent overspending, the advantages of ASIN targeting, and competitor strategies. Lastly, we also spotlight the strategic advantages of leveraging AMC to optimize campaigns and increase your market share. This episode is packed with practical advice and expert guidance to refine your PPC strategies and make the most of Q4's high-stakes holiday season.

In episode 617 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Jocelyn discuss:

01:35 - Optimizing Amazon PPC Strategies for Q4
07:37 - Day Parting for Ad Campaigns
12:05 - Optimizing Ad Campaign Strategies and Goals
16:14 - More Amazon PPC Strategies and Competitor Targeting
23:42 - Influencing Rufus AI Through Campaigns
25:05 - Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) for PPC Growth
27:28 - Increasing Market Share Through Aggressive Marketing

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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Are you ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? In this episode, we’ve compiled strategies from 13 sellers to get their top tips for getting the most sales possible during Q4.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us in this episode, as we unpack actionable strategies to amplify your sales during Black Friday, Cyber Week, and throughout the bustling Q4. Listen in as we glean insights from over 13 seasoned e-commerce sellers who share their top tactics for success during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond. Discover quick-hitting tips like incorporating festive elements into product images and crafting high-quality videos to boost conversion rates. We'll also explore creative promotional events such as a five-day Black Friday series with unique daily offers and the significance of leveraging various holidays for marketing opportunities. These actionable strategies aim to help you transform every day of Q4 into a sales triumph.

The episode further explores methods for Amazon ranking success, where we highlight the importance of coupon codes and strategic advertising budget adjustments to optimize visibility and conversions. With insights into Amazon's Lightning Deals and seven-day deals, we dive into the power of long-tail keywords and the impact of Amazon Marketing Cloud on customer journey tracking. Additionally, learn about the efficacy of sponsored display ads and retargeting strategies, emphasizing the importance of building audiences of high-intent shoppers. We'll also discuss how to optimize search query strategies using brand analytics and past performance data for a successful Black Friday. Tune in to equip yourself with a comprehensive toolkit for boosting your sales performance during the holiday season.

In episode 616 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, we talk about:

00:00 - Amazon Strategies for Black Friday & Cyber Week Success
01:58 - Maximizing Conversion Rate With Sponsored Videos
04:48 - Holiday Marketing Opportunities
10:42 - Optimizing Listings for Black Friday
12:17 - Strategies for Amazon Ranking Success
18:01 - Effectiveness of Sponsored Brand Ads
18:29 - Effective Strategies for Black Friday Success
23:11 - Strategic Brand Analytics for Black Friday
25:34 - Profitable Marketing Strategies for Excessive Inventory

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Amazon announced FBA fee changes for 2025. Did they raise fees for our sellers again? TikTok is testing something that could be game-changing for sending traffic to Amazon. These and more buzzing news on this week’s episode!

Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees for 2025
https://sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/update-to-us-referral-and-fulfillment-by-amazon-fees-for-2025

TikTok is quietly testing product links in posts as it looks to boost its reputation for shopping
https://www.modernretail.co/technology/tiktok-is-quietly-testing-product-links-in-posts-as-it-looks-to-boost-its-reputation-for-shopping/

Amazon announces the launch of Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping assistant, in beta across Europe
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-announces-the-launch-of-rufus-a-new-generative-ai-powered-conversational-shopping-assistant-in-beta-across-europe

Sponsored Brands forecasting for impressions and clicks is now available in the advertising console
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-forecasting-for-impressions/

eCommerce Growth Outpaces General Retail Sales, Hits 15.6%
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/ecommerce-growth-outpaces-general-retail-sales-hits-15percent/

Amazon DSP launches contextual keyword targeting GA in US, UK, CA, AU.
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-dsp-launches-contextual-keyword-targeting/

Helium 10 vs. Jungle Scout Accuracy: Amazon Sales Data - h10.me/h10sales

Don't miss the opportunity to learn about these powerful resources that can give you an edge in the competitive e-commerce and Amazon-selling market.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:50 - 2025 Amazon Fees Update
04:56 - TikTok Link Testing
07:51 - Rufus in EU
09:11 - Sponsored Brand Forecasting
10:02 - E-Commerce Gains
10:48 - DSP Targeting Update
12:25 - Helium 10 vs Jungle Scout Sales Data Accuracy
16:57 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon gives its annual announcement of fee changes for the following year. Did they raise fees for our sellers again? TikTok is testing something that could be game-changing for sending traffic to Amazon New updates to Amazon-sponsored brand and DSP advertising. These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features Helium 10 has. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

We got a few news articles today and the biggest one, I would say, is something that I think a lot of us sellers look at each year around this time of year, around November, with anticipation, but I would say frightful anticipation. What is that? That is the announcement of what's going on with Amazon fees. Now, we've been doing this weekly buzz for like four years and you can look back and we always have this episode right where Amazon announces it. And you know, two or three years ago you'd have seen things like OK here, there's a 15 cent increase here, and a 20 cents increase here, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Last year was like the worst we've ever had Fee increases. But then the big things was brand new fees. Like three big whoppers were announced around this time last year, which was the inbound placement fees which have affected all of us this year, the low inventory fees right, and the high refund rate fee right. Those are all announced in this annual announcement. So a lot of sellers were like, oh no, what is Amazon going to announce this year? Let's go ahead and show this article from Amazon and it says update to US referral and fulfillment Amazon fees in 2025. And, spoiler alert, here it is we will not increase US referral and FBA fees. I can't remember the last time they said that. And here's the more important one we will not introduce any new fee types and, as a matter of fact, we are decreasing some fees and offering new benefits.

Bradley Sutton:

So talk about music to sellers ears. Right, because if we would have gotten squeezed any more on the fees front, you know it'd have been pretty hard for us to keep you, because if we would have gotten squeezed anymore on the fees front, you know it'd have been pretty hard for us to keep, uh, you know, selling for some of us. So, they had a note to sellers here. They're like hey, we're trying to simplify things. You know, we heard sellers and we want to make sure that, um, you know, we're providing the best service and not, you know, complicating things with a bunch of new fees. And so that's what they said hey, our focus is on continuing to partner together to delight customers and providing our seller selling partners a great value that helps their businesses thrive.

Bradley Sutton:

Now they actually mentioned that some fees. Not only is it not being raised, it was actually being lower. For example, if you are doing a large, bulky sized product, you're actually going to see lower inbound placement service fees on average 58 cents per unit for minimal shipment splits. In addition, they're going to waive inbound placement service fees for new parent ASINs that qualify for the FBA new selection program. I'm not going to go into too much depth what that is. You're going to have to search that in seller central.

Bradley Sutton:

We could talk about 10 minutes about that FBA new selection program. But if you are eligible for that for a new product and you create a shipment between December 1st and March 31st, uh, it's, the first hundred inbound units will be exempt from inbound placement. Now again, remember what you have to do to be completely exempt from inbound placement fees is send at least five identical shipments to five different places, um, or three plus different places that Amazon specifies. Then you won't have to worry about email placement fees. But let's say you've got a full container. Actually, a full container probably wouldn't qualify as maximum 100 units, but let's say you had a container of a thousand units, right? Well, those first hundred units, obviously your containers are going to one place. Those first hundred units are not going to have a fee. If you qualify for this Right now, it does have a fee. So maybe wait to create your shipment until December 1st if this qualifies for you.

Bradley Sutton:

In addition, this article mentions that they're introducing more incentives for adding certain new selection in our store. We're going to enhance the new seller incentives and FBA new selection programs with greater fee discounts. All right, so take a look at the link. This is going into effect on January 15th, so a number of weeks still to go for this, but the seller benefits page and seller central will have a little bit more information. Some might ask well, does this mean that absolutely under no circumstances will there be any new FBA fees in in 2025? Amazon says no, hey, we do things in a dynamic way and who knows what might happen that might cause us to change stuff, but as of right now, no new fees. So I think everybody is very happy about that. Uh, switching marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is from modern retail.co and it's entitled. TikTok is quietly testing product links in post as it looks to boost its reputation for shopping. Now, to me, this is, I don't know if I would say, flying under the radar, but I think it's more important than it might seem because, as you know, obviously traffic from other websites is big, but when you have influencers talking about a product on a different platform right, like if it's on Instagram um, how can they put links? I'm influencers talking about a product on a different platform, right, like if it's on Instagram, how can they put links? I'm not talking about, you know, reels and stories where you can put like links there, but if you just have a regular post, you cannot put a clickable link usually in the post right, what, what, what do you see influencers say when they're trying to send people to a product, like on Amazon, another website? What do they say? Link in bio?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm sure you guys have seen that. Right, hey, link in bio. Because in the bio of like TikTok and Instagram, you can actually have links and then a link tree comes up and you got to pick which product it is, et cetera, et cetera. It's kind of you know, the conversion rate's not going to be great with that, and the reason why these platforms, social media platforms, do that is because they don't want necessarily people going off. Right, like, if I'm, if I'm Instagram, I want people to stay on Instagram. The whole algorithm is designed to keep people on Instagram. So then I don't want people clicking a link and now maybe their Instagram journey ends because now they go down a rabbit hole on Amazon, right? So TikTok has always been like that.

Bradley Sutton:

This doesn't mean that they're going to go forward with this. This is according to this article. This is a beta test that they've been doing and it says TikTok hasn't posted about this anywhere, but it was spotted by expert marketing consultants who wrote about it and basically it allows creators to add shopping links from other affiliate partners, including Amazon, Walmart, target, Rakuten, impact, et cetera, et cetera, even Temu, and they're going to be able to add these links to the actual post. It says with this new integration, product links show up at the top of a post comment section, reducing the number of steps a shopper has to take to navigate to a creator's recommended products. Now this, potentially, is huge Game-changing, I should say I don't use that term lightly.

Bradley Sutton:

Something to be game-changing has to change the game. Right now, the game is influencers absolutely promote products, but how many of them drop off customers because they don't want to click on their bio? Try and find the link, and let me just figure it out now. Forget it, you know, or maybe they'll search for it, right? But imagine if, right at the top of the post, they could actually click with one click and go right to the Amazon listing. That's just going to open up a lot of affiliate marketing potential for TikTok influencers and we Amazon sellers. It's going to help us out too. And then, you know, who knows, maybe Instagram might follow and that would be pretty big as well.

Bradley Sutton:

But right now, all just speculation, because this is just a beta test that TikTok is doing, going back to the Amazon platform, an announcement by them and says and Amazon announces the launch of Rufus in beta across Europe. So Rufus has been now for us here in the US, for consumers in the US, for a while. They launched in UK in September. Now it's going to be available in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. So you know, for those who, for whatever reason, have not been using the Amazon app or maybe you are in one of those countries you've never seen it. You know, rufus is this AI assistant that allows consumers to like ask questions about the reviews or, you know, talk about different topics, what are different types of running shoes. It's almost like searching Google, doing your product research for what kind of product you're looking for, without having to go to Google. You're doing it all on Amazon. So now this is going to come up in Italy, Spain and those other marketplaces I talked about. I have not seen any huge changes in the way people shop here in the States yet. I've tried it before and, as with many things with AI, it doesn't work that great yet, but I think the possibilities are kind of endless for this. As the algorithm and the AI learns, it could theoretically have an impactful effect on sellers, how consumers find their products, how they can read the reviews, etc. So keep an eye on anything Rufus related, regardless of which marketplace it's in Going to Amazon advertising.

Bradley Sutton:

Now an announcement from Amazon says sponsored brand forecasting for impressions and clicks is now available in the advertising console. So this new feature it says it provides forecasts of impressions and clicks based on your campaign settings. Basically, this means it's forecasts of impressions and clicks based on your campaign settings. Basically, this means it's an estimate of the number of times your ad is going to be displayed and it's going to forecast the number of clicks, or the estimate the number of times your ad will be clicked. Makes sense, right, and so this was not available before for sponsored brand ads. It also mentions hey, this is not a guarantee of actual performance. If the forecast is 100 clicks, it doesn't mean that, hey, you're going to get 100 clicks. It's just a forecast based on historical campaigns with similar budgets according to Amazon. So take a look at that, if you have access to that, when you're setting up your sponsored brand campaign.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is just a general one from Payments.com campaign. Next article is just a general one from payments.com says e-commerce growth outpaces general retail sales and hits 15.6% All right. So, again, a shift towards paying online through computers, mobile devices, remains firmly entrenched. E-commerce sales hit $288 billion $388 billion a 2.2% increase, and is up 7.5% since last year. Other news in this report says hey, Walmart’s got some momentum. It says Walmart reported that e-commerce sales in the United States surged by 22% in the most recent quarter, but Walmart said that their e-commerce marketplace sales were 42% higher. All right, so that's pretty impressive increases from Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to Amazon advertising DSP, amazon DSP launches contextual keyword targeting for US, uk, Canada and Australia. All right, so this is pretty interesting. So now, before, if you were doing DSP, you can target category or product retail based approaches. But now you can put something in. The example that they give here is, you can put something like 4th of July, right, and now, when you hit 4th of July, it's going to give you contextual keywords based on that Right. So, so that's going to be interesting. So that's going to be interesting.

Bradley Sutton:

We've talked about contextual search, meaning that, hey, you might show up for keywords that aren't necessarily that you're indexed for, right, like 4th of July. What would come up? Maybe like 4th of July outfit women. Maybe you don't have the word outfit for whatever reason, in your listing, right? But you know, if you're, contextual, search means that somebody could search for the July outfit women and your product would show up, right, because it's. It's kind of like say, hey, they're probably looking for this and even though this product is not indexed as keyword, let's go ahead and show it. Now, this means that with DSP, you can just target, like, like a season or a general theme or something, and it's going to show you to a lot of keywords that you cannot manually target with like keyword targeting ads, because normally if you target a keyword that is not in your listing or that you're not indexed for, amazon's not going to give you impressions for it. So, those of you who use DSP, this could be pretty cool. Let me know if you've gotten into that, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, let's go with our training tip of the week, and it's actually kind of like an exercise I want you guys to do and kind of like a study that is going to give you guys some confidence. And this is about sales estimation, right. So I want you guys to take your product and look in to what your actual sales were. You know, either using Helium 10 profits or maybe your business reports for the last 30 days, through yesterday, all right, not through today and then compare it to the Helium 10 numbers, even down to the child level. Because remember, as Kerry announced last week, you can now see estimates in x-ray for products. Before, if you had a red, blue and green product you were looking at on Amazon, part of variation, Helium 10, like other tools, would just show you the same exact number for each of those and what it meant was hey, this is what overall you're selling. Remember now, Helium 10, just like Kerry said last week in the buzz, it's showing at the child level. So it'll say, hey, red sold 50 units, the blue sold 23, and the green 17, whatever, right, so check your sales versus that.

Bradley Sutton:

And then if you're wondering, hey, who's got the most accurate sales data? Is it Helium 10? Is it tools like Jungle Scout or Data dive, which uses Jungle Scout information? Or maybe I don't need Helium 10 10, I don't need Jungle Scout, I'll just use the amazon bought in the past month metric, right? Well, I did a deep dive, guys, uh, into this in this blog, and you can see this blog at h10.me/h10sales. You can watch a video, uh, or. Or look at this, this document, and we did a deep study with over 29,000 listings that we had actual sales on, and basically you know, long story short, you guys should read this whole blog or watch a video so you can understand the science behind this. Helium 10 had an 89.59% accuracy rate, basically 90% accurate. Jungle Scout had 60%. You couldn't even compare the Amazon one because, remember, amazon is so limited with what it shows, just 50 plus 100 plus 500 plus 1000 plus, so there's just so many numbers in between that the accuracy is just kind of off the charts, bad, as it were, because it's not showing you exact estimate. So, anyways, in this case study, we just pretty much compared Helium 10 and Jungle Scout, since we couldn't really compare the Amazon bot in the past metric. It was just so far off. So make sure to check this out.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, at the end of this, I actually did a live case study, all right. So I did a live case study during this video where I took products that I actually have access to the Seller Central account on, and so watch the video, because what I did was instead of just like saying, guys, all right, believe me that our data science team did this. You know, like I've always said that you know, if we came out with a report like that, you guys would probably just take it with a grain of salt. Like, of course, Helium 10, data scientists are going to show information that shows Helium 10 is the most accurate. But no, guys, I did a live case study right when you can even see the timestamp on my computer so that you know, you could see I wasn't trying to like edit stuff out or fake, uh, do fake things. But I did it over like 30, 40 products across three different accounts, um, and showed uh, when jungle scout was more accurate, when Amazon was more accurate, when Helium 10 was more accurate, and I had very similar results. As a matter of fact, let me just show them to you.

Bradley Sutton:

The Amazon bot metric only had five estimates out of these 37 that I tested. Helium 10 had 34 out of 37 estimates, including the child items. Jungle Scout had only 21 out of 37. The Amazon bot metric was the most accurate of the three estimates Only one time out of the 37 ASINs. Jungle Scout was the most accurate four out of the 37 ASINs and Helium 10 was the most accurate for 28 out of 37. All right, the biggest that Amazon was off was 72% off. The biggest Jungle Scout was off was 650% off. The biggest Helium 10 was off was only 50%, and that was when it was like we said three. It was actually two or something like that But anyways, watch this video, h10.me/sales and then do the exercise. Guys, take your own sales and then compare it, um, and then see how close the sales are. So we did this just to make sure that, hey, uh, some, some sellers are like wondering how much can I trust Helium 10 sales numbers that I see in Xray, Black Box, et cetera. You can trust it a lot. All right, everybody. That's it for this week's Weekly Buzz. Thank you for tuning in. Make sure to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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In this episode, our expert guest shares her 3-step formula to boost conversions by up to 2,500%. From mastering SEO to crafting eye-catching images and persuasive product pages, she'll show you how to get found, get clicks, and, most importantly, get sales.

How can an Amazon brand increase its sales by an astonishing 2,500%? Marketing maven Daniela Bolzmann from Mindful Goods shares her transformative three-step formula that has revolutionized e-commerce strategies for over 500 brands worldwide. Listeners will uncover Daniela's secrets to mastering SEO, crafting eye-catching images, and creating persuasive product pages designed to get noticed, clicked, and purchased. With real-world success stories and insightful data, Daniela guides us through the art of optimizing Amazon listings, A+ Content, and storefronts to achieve remarkable sales growth.

Daniela dives into the nuances of product listing optimization, revealing how strategic keyword integration can significantly enhance product visibility and sales on platforms like Amazon. We explore tools like Helium 10 that aid in crafting a master keyword list, and the practice of testing multiple title options to maximize reach. Daniela also shares practical tips for improving main product images, from eliminating white space to incorporating engaging visuals. These foundational strategies prove effective in making products stand out in crowded digital marketplaces.

In our conversation, we also examine the power of visual merchandising and content optimization in driving conversions. Daniela highlights the impact of keyword callouts and strategic imagery in boosting click-through rates, using examples like YesBar and Super Coffee to illustrate successful implementations. We discover innovative methods to access Amazon's Premium A+ Content without extra costs, offering brands an edge in enhancing their online presence. Tune in to uncover actionable insights that will elevate your e-commerce game and transform your brand's digital strategy.

In episode 615 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Kevin, and Daniela discuss:

00:00 - Boost Conversions With Three-Step Formula
01:36 - Amazon Listing Expertise and Results
04:56 - Impact of Stocking Out on Sales
09:44 - Optimizing Titles and Main Images
11:17 - Keyword Testing for Title Optimization
14:19 - Creating Eye-Catching Amazon Product Images
17:07 - Maximizing Sales Through Visual Merchandising
22:39 - Importance of Attention in Marketing
28:18 - Optimizing Amazon A+ Content for Conversions
36:39 - Strategic Branding and Design for Conversions
40:24 - Amazon Premium A+ Content Unlocks for Free

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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In this episode, we've got a guest back on the show who was first on the podcast years ago when she was just starting out. Now, she's going to share how she's leveled up to her first six-figure month and how she stays in $6,000-per-month apartments for free.

Join us in this episode as we welcome back Shan Shan Fu, a dynamic Amazon entrepreneur whose journey has been nothing short of inspiring. From her early days selling face masks during the pandemic, Shan Shan has successfully transitioned into the fashion industry with her thriving brand, Millennials in Motion. She shares her remarkable achievement of hitting her first six-figure month and reveals the innovative ways she manages to live rent-free in a $6,000 per-month New York apartment through the platform Kindred. Shan Shan's story is one of resilience and creativity, as she recounts her evolution into selling sexy tights and the lessons learned from her ventures into other product categories like dresses and lingerie.

Explore the strategies that Shan Shan and other e-commerce entrepreneurs use to refine their products on Amazon. Listen in as we discuss the significance of market research platforms like PickFu and Helium 10 Audience for product validation and consumer insights. Discover how Shan Shan tests new product ideas, the importance of consumer feedback, and how a 20% vote threshold can predict a product's potential success. Personal experiences are shared to illustrate how these methods align with actual sales results, highlighting the value of comprehensive data in making informed business decisions.

This episode also uncovers the tactics behind selling low-priced products on Amazon and how exposure through high-profile features can enhance brand recognition. Shan Shan discusses her use of strategic keywords to optimize product listings and her aspirations for expanding beyond Amazon into other marketplaces. Additionally, we touch on networking in the Amazon selling community and the benefits of attending events like Helium 10 Elite meetups. Valuable insights are offered on navigating new U.S. regulations, leveraging tools like Helium 10 Adtomic, and the importance of self-management in advertising as you scale your business. Don't miss out on Shan Shan's journey and the invaluable lessons for sellers of all levels.

In episode 614 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Shan Shan discuss:

00:00 - Leveling Up
02:21 - Discovering New Apps and Services
05:40 - Using PickFu to Vet Product Ideas
06:50 - Market Research With Helium 10's Audience Tool Powered by PickFu
11:53 - Selling Low-Priced Products on Amazon
12:16 - The Influence of Taylor Swift
15:54 - Impact of High-Profile Fashion Feature
19:22 - Navigating Amazon FBA Strategies
20:16 - Scaling Inventory for E-Commerce Success
26:27 - Transitioning to Full-Time Amazon Business
29:33 - Networking and Helium 10 Strategies

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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In this week’s buzzing news, Amazon launches its new Haul program to compete with Shein and Temu. Walmart, TikTok, and Amazon announced their Black Friday sale dates, and LTK is now partnering with TikTok.

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Introducing Amazon Haul—a broad selection of products $20 or less, with most under $10
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/affordable-products-amazon-20-dollars-and-under

When is Amazon's Black Friday sale? Here’s everything you need to know.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/when-is-black-friday-2024

Share shoppable videos across global Amazon stores
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/shoppable-videos-feature-update

TikTok is integrating with influencer shopping app LTK, videos show
https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/12/tiktok-is-integrating-with-influencer-shopping-app-ltk-videos-show/

Sellers in Your Community just launched and is dedicated to connecting and championing small and medium-sized businesses like yours that sell in the Amazon store.
https://www.sellersinyourcommunity.amazon/?utm_campaign=launch&utm_source=Helium10

Walmart Slashes 50% Off Its Walmart+ Membership for Black Friday
https://www.ign.com/articles/walmart-plus-membership-black-friday-deal-2024

TikTok kicks off Black Friday Nov. 13; Nicki Minaj to host livestream
https://chainstoreage.com/news-briefs/2024-11-12?article=tiktok-kicks-black-friday-nov-13-nicki-minaj-host-livestream

Walmart Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Dates and times you need to know
https://www.al.com/shopping/2024/11/walmart-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-dates-and-times-you-need-to-know.html

Lastly, listen to Helium 10's new tool updates, which empower sellers with valuable data insights from Cerebro’s historical data, and check the sales in your variations with Xray. Our training tip of the week also shows you can create festive holiday images for your Amazon brand using Helium 10’s generative AI feature. Tune in to get the inside scoop on the transformative trends and tools shaping the future of e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:53 - Amazon Haul Launched
04:54 - Amazon Black Friday
05:59 - Share Shoppable Videos Globally
07:59 - LTK launches on TikTok
08:41 - Amazon Launches SIYC
10:31 - Walmart Black Friday Discounts
12:47 - TikTok Black Friday Deals
13:34 - Walmart Black Friday Dates
14:23 - New Feature Alerts
18:49 - Training Tip: Festive AI-Image Generator Inside Helium 10

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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In this episode, we welcome back the Beard Guy, Norm Farrar. We’ll discuss ways to save thousands of dollars on logistics, unique AI marketing tools, and tips for Amazon influencers.

Learn new strategies for e-commerce success with Norm Farrar, the Beard Guy, who makes an unprecedented sixth appearance on the Serious Sellers Podcast. Gain insights into the art of slashing logistics costs and leveraging AI to transform your business. Norm reveals his latest ventures in supercharging his logistics company, Honu Worldwide, alongside Afolabi Oyerokun, to offer expanded services like kitting, fulfillment, and custom bottling across North America.

Explore the evolving landscape of Amazon logistics, from the strategic advantages of Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) to the critical importance of using correct HTS codes. Our discussion highlights the cost-saving potential of third-party logistics (3PL) and introduces the Tariff Terminator tool, a game-changer for ensuring compliance and avoiding unnecessary expenses. This episode is packed with strategies that underscore the importance of understanding your numbers for optimal profitability.

Discover innovative e-commerce marketing tactics with AI tools designed to streamline content creation and boost social media engagement. Norm shares his journey into Amazon influencer marketing, revealing how automation and outsourcing can maximize your earnings potential. Plus, get a sneak peek into a new Helium 10 Chrome extension feature that offers influencers a competitive edge together with new modules for Amazon influencers inside Freedom Ticket. With laughter and learning along the way, this episode promises to propel your Amazon business to new heights.

In episode 613 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Norm discuss:

00:00 - Unique Strategies for E-Commerce Sellers
02:38 - Expansion and Diversification Norm's Logistic Company
08:10 - Amazon Seller Strategy and Fulfillment Options
08:35 - Maximizing E-Commerce Profitability Through Logistics
14:47 - Maximizing Savings Through Package Optimization
15:47 - Maximizing E-Commerce Marketing Strategies
22:28 - Utilizing Tools for Online Engagement
27:22 - Amazon Influencer Marketing Strategies
31:13 - New Helium 10 Chrome Extension Features For Influencers
35:28 - Enhancing E-Commerce Logistics for Growth

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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In this episode, we’ll have another seller strategy masterclass, during which Bradley will discuss his Amazon advertising strategies in depth with the help of Helium 10 Adtomic.

Join Bradley Sutton, as he navigates the complexities of Amazon advertising strategies, with this special Seller Strategy Masterclass focusing on utilizing Helium 10's Amazon PPC tool, Adtomic. Throughout this episode, you'll discover effective PPC optimization techniques that can be applied whether or not you are using Adtomic. From keyword harvesting to streamlining campaign processes, he shares actionable insights that can help you identify opportunities for profit maximization. Adtomic simplifies PPC management, making it accessible even for those who might feel overwhelmed by the process.

Listen in as we explore the role of AI in Amazon PPC with Adtomic’s new Advertising AI feature. Designed to simplify campaign management for both new and seasoned sellers, this tool automates the creation and optimization of campaigns. For those launching new products or looking to refresh existing campaigns, the AI-driven approach offers a strategic edge. Experienced sellers can also benefit from resetting underperforming campaigns, with the AI making gradual optimizations to improve ACoS over time. With clear steps to set up your AI-managed campaigns, you'll be equipped to start seeing results in about 60 days.

Discover advanced strategies for Amazon PPC campaign management, including manual campaign creation and custom bid rules using Adtomic. By leveraging tools like negative matching and target audits, you'll learn how to prevent wasted spending and enhance campaign performance. We'll discuss how to make campaigns communicate with each other to maximize visibility and explore the intricacies of bid strategy management, ensuring your campaigns are both efficient and effective. Whether you're an Amazon advertising novice or an experienced seller, this episode provides the strategies you need to elevate your Amazon PPC game.

In episode 612 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Amazon Seller Strategy Masterclass: Adtomic
02:41 - Introduction and Overview to Helium 10 Adtomic Advertising
08:41 - How to Create Campaigns in a Minute With Advertising AI
13:25 - The First Thing Existing Sellers Should Do In Adtomic!
18:53 - How To Make Existing Campaigns Work With Each Other
21:58 - How To Manually Create New Campaigns in Adtomic
28:49 - How To Set Up Custom Amazon PPC Bid Rules
34:41 - How to Set Up Keyword Harvesting and Negative Rules
37:34 - How to Review Adtomic Suggestions
43:00 - Get A Demo For Helium 10 Adtomic

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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New Amazon coupon change? Is live shopping finally taking off on TikTok shop? and a new way to update images by marketplace. These buzzing stories and more on this episode!

How TikTok Shop is ‘reimagining’ Black Friday-Cyber Monday
https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2024/10/31/how-tiktok-shop-is-reimagining-black-friday-cyber-monday

Alexa is now available as a new supply source for online video ads for self-service advertisers
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/online-video-ads-on-alexa-home-screen/

Explore Amazon’s new Virtual Holiday Shop—an immersive 3D shopping experience that makes it easier to find the perfect gifts
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-shop-holiday-gifts

How livestreams are taking over TikTok Shop
https://www.modernretail.co/technology/how-livestreams-are-taking-over-tiktok-shop/

But that's not all—we've got some exciting updates from Helium 10 to share! Grab the chance to join us in Milan, Italy, for an empowering workshop co-hosted with Avask.

Helium 10 Elite Milan, Italy Amazon Seller Workshop
https://h10.me/milan - Use Code HELIUM50 to get 50% Off Your Tickets

Plus, we're rolling out next-level tools like the enhanced Follow-up for bulk review tracking and the Managed Refund Service for Diamond members, ensuring you maximize your reimbursements from Amazon. And let's not forget the mighty Helium 10 Market Tracker tool—essential for honing in on specific keywords to boost your product group's market presence. Tune in to equip yourself with these serious strategies and gain a competitive edge in the Amazon-selling arena.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:48 - Amazon Coupon Update
02:29 - TikTok Shop Exclusive
04:24 - Country Specific Images
06:19 - Amazon DSP x Alexa
07:42 - 3D Holiday Shopping
10:20 - TikTok Shop Lives
13:06 - Helium 10 Italy Workshop
14:10 - New Feature Alerts
17:42 - Training Tip: Amazon Market Share Tracker

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

New Amazon coupon change? Is live shopping finally taking off on TikTok shop, a new way to update images by marketplace. These stories and more on this version of the Weekly Buzz how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new features that Helium 10 has that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing All right, let's go ahead and hop directly into the news. We've got what's buzzing. All right, let's go ahead and hop directly into news. We got a few news articles to go over today, some of them pretty interesting. Now, this first one is going to be from, actually, your Seller Central dashboard, in case you missed it, a pretty cool update that they are doing on coupons, which may be relevant to you, especially with Black Friday coming up.

Bradley Sutton:

Cyber Monday, maybe you've got some coupons plan. It's entitled percentage off coupons can now be applied on up to five items per order. So what's different? Well, before, if there was a percentage off coupon we're not talking about the dollar off, you know, like $5 off but it was the ones where you can save, like 10% off. 15% off, the customer could only use one coupon per order. So let's say you know they had, you know from your store, three different items that they wanted to get, but each of them had a 10% off coupon. The customer would have to order that three times, like three separate orders. They couldn't add all three to the cart and have that coupon work. Now, when you create a coupon in seller central you can select no for limit redemption to one per customer. Now that means the percentage off coupon can be applied to a maximum of five items per order. All right, if you select yes in that section, only one coupon is going to be allowed to order, all right. So again, for example, it gives an example here If a customer clicks a 10% off coupon, let's say the offer price is $50. Okay, and then they buy three of your items. They're going to be able to use the coupon on all three items in one shopping cart for a $15 discount total. Why is that? Well, if it's 10% off, it's a $50 item each one. That means it's $5 off, but again, we're talking about three items total of $15 off. So again, a pretty cool update here. You'll keep that in mind as you're creating your coupons here in this shopping season and beyond.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, switching marketplaces. Now is an article from retailbrew.com and it's entitled how TikTok shop is re-imagining Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now, this is interesting because they're doing something a little bit different. Now, historically, a lot of the sellers maybe I could say most who are selling on TikTok shop they're probably selling on Amazon the same product as well. Right, very rarely do you see larger sellers launching TikTok shop only products that you know they just came up off the top of their head and they're not selling it on other marketplaces. But now TikTok, it says, wants to offer US shoppers products from lesser known, smaller DTC brands that may not have the resources to operate on rival platforms like Amazon. All right, so that's interesting, ok. Now it's saying that new product launches, exclusively for Black Friday, will be on TikTok shop shelves in November. Now this is like some special new promotion that some TikTok shop sellers are going to be able to participate in. However, according to this article, it seems like you're only going to be able to participate in it if you have a product that is TikTok shop exclusive, in other words, not on Amazon or Shopify or Walmart or other websites. Now this article goes on to say how there still will be special ways to participate in Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even for bigger brands or ones that are across platforms. But how many of you guys are shipping or selling on TikTok shop these days? I've started it on a couple of my accounts and it's going pretty pretty well for not that much effort my accounts. So I think it's definitely something that you guys should consider starting on, especially if you are based in the United States. If you're based overseas, it's a little bit harder to get a TikTok shop open. But let me know in the comments below how many of you guys are selling right now on TikTok shop and how many of you are going to participate in some kind of Black Friday, Cyber Monday deals.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is going back to Seller Central. It's entitled Image Managers'. Country-specific Features Give you More Control Over Visuals. All right. So we announced something like this before, but it's kind of like a reminder by Amazon In case you didn't know. You know, historically a lot of sellers had problems when they're selling a product, you know, maybe, let's say, in USA, and then they expand to the Mexican marketplace, or they expand to Amazon Germany, right, or they expand to Amazon Japan. Well, amazon would pull in the listing information right, the images right, and maybe the rest of the listing is translated okay. But the images that share across the platform and sometimes you change your image in US well, it changes it across. You know the platforms.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, for those selling in marketplaces with other languages, you want you know the images to be for that marketplace, especially if you're using infographics that have you know words on it. You don't want you know Japanese words, you know coming up in your Amazon Germany marketplace. So now Amazon's like saying, hey, we've got new country specific features in the image manage tool. Right, you can view and delete localized images that display in a specific country, such as images that contain text in the local language. So the new features in this tool are country specific image views, so you can view both global and country specific images in separate sections, and now an image deletion capability, where you can delete country specific images directly from image manager to keep your library organized and up to date. So those are two like mini features, but perhaps this whole feature of of this, this page, is new to you and you were just thinking that you could only edit your images with flat files or in the edit listing in each marketplace and you're worried that the same image would publish across marketplaces. Make sure to check out your image manager tool, especially for those of you selling in multiple marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Amazon itself and it's entitled Alexa is now available as a new supply source for online video ads for self-service advertisers. All right, there's been rumblings that that there's going to be more of an emphasis on shopping on Alexa, especially if Alexa goes the generative AI route. But even before that happens, you can now, if you're advertising with amazon DSP, you can now select Alexa as a video supply source. All right, so those advertisers, if you're running self-service online video ads on amazon DSP, you are going to be able to see Alexa as an additional inventory supply that is checked by default for video line items. Now one question you might have is well, amazon is cost per click pay per click right. When is a click recorded? Well, it says here it's recorded when the customer clicks on the autoplaying online video ad on the Alexa home screen to launch the video ad in the full video screen view. So it sounds like if the ad just plays and maybe the person in their house is across the room, they just listen to it, and maybe the person in their house is across the room, they just listen to it. They're still getting that view, but you're not going to have to pay for the click unless they actually go to their Alexa device and click it to expand the video out to full screen. For now, this is available only in the United States.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, also from Amazon, and it's entitled Explore Amazon's New Virtual Holiday Shop an immersive 3D shopping experience that makes it easier to find the perfect gifts. That's literally the for those listening in their cars or on the radio and not seeing this on YouTube. That is literally the entire title for this article, and it's you know. We've talked about this before and shown you how. You know, some big, huge sellers have access to these like 3D storefronts, right? So that's what's happening, where there's going to be these virtual holiday shops. That has 3D technology powered by Amazon Beyond that will showcase different products that buyers can buy All right Now this is mainly right now for huge companies.

Bradley Sutton:

It says items from sought after brands like Beats and Kim Kardashian, Kate Spade, Bumble and Bubble Coach, et cetera, et cetera. So you can kind of like you know, for those not watching this on YouTube just it's like you're going into this virtual reality for a shop and you're looking at shelves and different. There's like Easter eggs where products, their product offers, are going to come up if you find the Easter eggs on the top of the shelf somewhere or something like that. But it's this kind of like virtual reality shopping experience. Now, the reason why I mentioned this even though it probably doesn't affect 99.9% of us who aren't beats by Dre and Kim Kardashian etc. Is that again, this is kind of like a preview of what could be the future for even just regular sellers. Remember, before you know, prime video and different advertising on TV and stuff was only available to like humongous you know sellers. Services like AMC was only available to bigger sellers who are using DSP. A lot of the things that start off at the top level of Amazon sellers and brands eventually trickles down for the rest of us, and so, you know, I could absolutely imagine a world where these virtual reality based shopping experiences are going to eventually be open to the rest of us and then maybe we're going to be able to make a virtual reality like shopping kind of mall or mini room where we can have our products. Like, imagine a spooky one where I can design it and then there's coffin shelves on the wall that people can buy and bat-shaped bath mats and all of our other spooky, Manny's Mysterious Oddities products. What about you guys? How's your creative mind Like? Can you start thinking about how you would design your virtual shopping mall? Those of you who want to get a preview of how it's going to look, make sure to check out your regular Amazon app. Go to some of these big brands and maybe you'll be able to see these virtual holiday shopping centers.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from modernretail.co and it's entitled how Livestreams Are Taking Over TikTok Shop. You know, for literally years now the four years we've been doing the weekly buzz we have been talking about articles and articles about how live shopping. Different marketplaces keep trying to make it a thing you know Amazon, et cetera and it just doesn't seem to take off in this country, like it has in China, for example, where it is huge, booming business. But now more and more we're reading about perhaps you know things are shifting and it's mainly because of TikTok shop. So this article here talks about a brand called BK Beauty. They hosted an eight-hour live stream. Remember we did a seven-hour Meganar, a live webinar, in Helium 10 a few weeks ago, where they're like, hey, we can do one better, we'll do an eight-hour live stream. And they did it at the brand's headquarters in Austin, texas, and the eight-hour live stream ended up getting them $100,000, over $100,000 of sales in eight hours. Is that worth the eight hour live stream? All right, that is pretty amazing. All right, $100,000. Now, a couple of weeks later, it says that TikTok flew the BK Beauty staff members to their own studios, the TikTok studios in LA, to do more live streams. And then now TikTok gave them like this whole big fancy setup in order to live stream again and then they ended up doing a 10 hour live stream and that was so successful that it says BK Beauty has now made live streaming a key part of its e-commerce strategy and they're going to go to the LA studio again for TikTok this month to do even more.

Bradley Sutton:

You know Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns for, for live selling. But again, you know, does this mean that finally, you know, live streaming is going to take off? I'm still a little bit hesitant to say that I need to see more success stories, but I have been hearing a little bit more rumbles around live streaming lately than, like, say, last year. Um, thanks to Tik TOK shop. Uh, those of you selling on Tik TOK shop, are you doing live streaming? You don't have to do it in a fancy studio or go eight hours live. Um, you know, give it a test, uh, sign up for it. And you know, do a test, sign up for it and do a test, maybe just in your own home studio. Or you don't even have a studio, just do it in your bedroom. See how it goes. Sometimes TikTok shop buyers are kind of like open to genuine streams and videos. They don't need fancy setups all the time, but it's worth a try. I don't think you'll be able to get $100,000 in eight hours, but let's see what you can get if you do live streaming on TikTok shop.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, last up, last call, all right for next week, just in a couple of days, on Monday, myself and Shivali and a bunch of other top speakers from around the world will be in Milan, Italy, for our first ever Helium 10 workshop there in Italy, all right, so it's going to be on the 11th Monday and it's going to be co-hosted by Avask, and you can get there by going to h10.me forward slash Milan, h10.me/milan, and it's going to be an all day event. We're going to have lots of networking. If you want to save 50% on the tickets, the tickets are already cheap it's only like 89 euros, I think but if you want to save another 50% off, use the code Helium 50, helium 50 upon checkout. It would be great to be able to meet you guys out there. I just talked to somebody last night on Instagram. He's like let me book my flight and get over there, I'll see you on Monday. So if you guys are in Europe, I would love to see you in Milan, Italy, on Monday.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news this week. Let's go ahead and hop into our new feature alerts from Helium 10. Now, the first one is about follow up. All right, so, first of all, follow-up is a tool that every Helium 10 platinum member and above has access to, all right, so it's not like something that's gated at a very high level. You can set up, guys, uh, your, your follow-up for all your products to send automated review requests using either the Amazon request review or even your own custom email. But an important aspect of this is being able to measure hey, how are your review requests working? Like, what kind of engagement are you getting? Like, how many ratings and reviews are you actually getting as a result of your outreach campaign? Well, the new feature is now you can do that in bulk, all right. So how this works is right here in your follow-up dashboard. These are the rating trackers that you can actually see. You can see how many reviews requested and then how many uh ratings you received, and so you can see your request and rating conversion rate, right. So now the new thing is, go to your product ratings tab right here, and then you can do bulk the ones that are not active. So, for example, I'm going to go ahead and select the united states marketplace and I'm going to be like, hey, here's, my egg tray is not active. I see here, my large coffin shelf isn't active, so I just select as many as I can. Uh, you guys should select all in opinion, that all of your active products and then hit enable product rating tracking. All right, so if you're new to follow up, you're not going to be tracking any of them, all right, so make sure to go ahead and hit enable product rating tracking and that will go ahead and start tracking so you can see how many reviews you're getting week by week, month by month, et cetera.

Bradley Sutton:

Next new update is going to be, for some of you, diamond members All right, so we've been rolling this out little by little. Uh, check your account. All right guys. So if you have a diamond account, check your account on the very top. Do you have something that says manage refund service? All right, so this is a new feature that is coming out to diamond members. Before it was only our supercharger counts, but this is the Helium 10 version of being able to get you reimbursements and refunds from Amazon, but where Helium 10 is the one that's actually going to go in and set everything up for you. Like, we have refunding. You guys know about refund genie, where we'll give you the reports for loss and damage items and then you submit it to Amazon in order to get the money back. Well, with MRS or managed refund service, we're the ones who are going ahead and fighting with Amazon for you, filing those claims and arguing with Amazon, trying to get your money back, and then Helium 10 takes a percent of whatever we find for you, all right. So, those of you who have diamond plan, you're not automatically entered into this, but let me show you what you can do. You hit manage refund service. Now mine is going to be already active, but what you're going to want to do is, if you have that, just go here. You can see in one of my accounts I got 400 bucks already back and you're going to hit set up account, all right. So hit set up account and it will like run you through the system. Again, we're only taking 15% of whatever we find. So, like, if we can't find any money that you're owed and we can't win any money for you pay us nothing, all right. So this is a new feature for some Diamond members. Eventually, all diamond members will have it later. So if you want to see if you have access to it, just go to your dashboard and see if you have managed refund service there, all right?

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, let's do our training tip of the week, and this is a tool that sometimes I think people sleep on. It's been. We've had this tool for maybe four years now. It's called market tracker, all right, and this is available at all levels of Helium 10. Even if you have Platinum, Diamond, doesn't matter. I highly recommend setting this up for every single one of your product groups you have, all right, for example. Uh, I've got a product that is a bat shaped bath mat, all right. So I set it up, and the first thing that I did was I set up the very specific keywords. Don't do broad keywords like bat bath mat. Um, you know, I'm sure I get some sales from the keyword Gothic decor, but that's very broad right. I pick very, very specific keywords. It doesn't have to be your best keywords or the highest search volume. You want to pick the keywords that really define your product. So I did bat bath mat. I put bat rug and bat bath rug right, and then you put in your own products and those who you already know are your direct competitors, and then we set up the market.

Bradley Sutton:

And then the reason why this is cool is the kind of things that you are looking at. First of all, is your market volume, right. So many people sometimes say, oh hey, is anybody sales down? Or I'm not sure if I'm doing really good, my sales are down. This is terrible, but sometimes, if your sales are down, there's nothing wrong with that why? And your sales are going to go down. Well, you're just staying with the market, all right. Your market share, your piece of the pie, is what matters, all right. Your percentage of how big your pie is? Now, if the whole pie gets smaller, as long as your piece of the pie stays about the same percentage, you're not doing too bad, all right. So that's what Market Tracker can do is telling you, hey, what's the size of the pie, and then what is your market share? So, like, my market share of the Bathmat market is 7.8%. And then, over time, how is your share changing? I used to have 15% of the market, look here but now I'm only at 6.9%, 7%, so I'm losing market share, right?

Bradley Sutton:

The other thing that this tool does is it gives me a heads up if there is a new mover and shaker that it detects in my niche. So, for example, it's saying hey, look at this, um bat bath mat. You know, do I want to track? I'm like, yeah, that looks like a bat bath mat. I'll go ahead and track it. I don't have to be like trying to look for new products that are popping up in the in the niche. I don't have to be constantly refreshing my keywords hey, is there a new mover and shaker in my niche? No, market Tracker is going to tell me. Sometimes it's going to throw me some products that it's suggesting that could be in my niche but it's not really like.

Bradley Sutton:

Look at this one here's a Halloween bat or bath rug, but it looks like ghost or something. Is this my direct competitor? Is this a bat shaped bath mat? No, so I'm going to hit ignore, right. But before I do that, I'm going to go ahead and copy this ASIN and I might want to go ahead and either. Number one, think about it as a potential expansion to my product line, like if I'm selling bat-shaped bath mats, maybe this ghost-shaped bath mat would hit my target market, right. But number two, I might test this in one of my ASIN targeting campaigns in PPC, you know, maybe a sponsor display campaign or a product targeting ad.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's another one, a coffin shaped bath mat right Again, that could be a potential new product for me or at the very least somebody who might be interested in a bat shaped bath mat. They could be interested in a coffin shaped bath mat. Maybe I want to go ahead and target this product in a PPC. So again, this tool is super cool. It's been around for years, but I think a lot of you haven't been utilizing it. Make sure for each and every one of your product groups. Go into market tracker, create your market and start tracking how you're doing in your niche. Is your size of the pie increasing or decreasing, who are the new movers and shakers in your niche and what are some potential product line extensions and what are some potential targets for product targeting ads? This tool can do all of that and more, but only if you use it. So make sure to get in there today and start using it. All right, guys. That's it for this week's news. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Do you need help scaling your business? Maybe you're considering hiring a virtual assistant (VA). In this episode, our expert guest will discuss everything you need to know before hiring your first remote employee.

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the growing demands of your e-commerce business? Join us as we chat with Gilad Freimann, Founder and CEO of VAA Philippines, an expert in training and hiring virtual assistants (VAs) from the Philippines for Amazon sellers. Discover the transformative benefits of hiring remote employees to handle tasks like customer service, Amazon PPC management, and inventory handling. By outsourcing these routine tasks, you can free up valuable time and energy to focus on strategic business growth. Learn when it's the right time to consider bringing on a VA to ensure you don’t miss out on growth opportunities and can maintain flexibility in your business operations.

Explore effective hiring strategies for virtual assistants, especially when you're unsure about transitioning from traditional in-person roles to remote positions. We'll share insights into what makes a successful long-term hire, emphasizing the importance of focusing on candidates' personalities and commitment rather than just their resumes. Understand the challenges that Amazon sellers face as their businesses expand, such as time constraints and the need for outsourcing. Listen in as we highlight the growing trend of employing social media VAs to enhance online presence and the increasing need for specialized roles in the dynamic world of e-commerce.

Finally, we take a closer look at the unique advantages of hiring Filipino VAs, shedding light on cultural and business nuances that can lead to successful integration into your business. Gilad shares essential tips on bridging cultural gaps, such as understanding local customs like the 13th salary bonus, to foster a positive working relationship. We also discuss the importance of hiring specialists for specific tasks, ensuring each role is filled by someone with the right skills and character. This approach not only boosts productivity but also aligns with the strengths and expertise of the VAs, leading to more successful outcomes for your business.

In episode 611 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Gilad discuss:

00:00 - Hiring Amazon Virtual Assistants for Business Scaling
02:04 - When Should Amazon Sellers Outsource?
06:20 - Misconceptions About Virtual Assistants
07:31 - Effective Hiring Strategies for Remote Workers
08:21 - Finding Quality Candidates for Offshore Jobs
11:18 - Hiring Amazon PPC VAs and Social Media
15:16 - The Impact of AI on Jobs
16:24 - Virtual Assistants in E-Commerce
20:53 - TikTok Influencer Marketing Success
24:12 - Hiring Filipino Virtual Assistants
27:42 - Outsourcing Specialists vs. One Generalist
33:00 - New Helium 10 Tool Suggestions

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In this episode, we're going to go deep into keyword tracking and what are some special things you can do with tracking your keywords that can put more money in your pocket.

Imagine harnessing the full potential of keywords to revolutionize your e-commerce sales strategy. In today's episode, we explore the indispensable role of keyword tracking for Amazon sellers, with or without advanced tools like Helium 10. We uncover how Amazon's own features, such as Product Opportunity Explorer and Search Query Performance, can be leveraged to stay ahead, even as AI technologies evolve. Keywords continue to hold immense power in enhancing product visibility and discoverability, and we share how AI can amplify this by linking your products to relevant search terms through customer reviews and Q&A sections.

Unlock the secrets to optimizing your keyword tracking for maximum sales impact with our expert guide on Helium 10 tools like Keyword Tracker and Cerebro. We dive into the importance of understanding search query volume, ASIN impressions, and conversion rates to make data-driven decisions for boosting your advertising strategies. Learn how to select the most effective keywords to track, conduct competitor analysis to spot untapped sales opportunities, and ensure your products are visible for precise customer searches, all aimed at elevating your product's ranking on Amazon.

For those ready to automate their keyword tracking, we discuss how Helium 10's features can streamline your efforts, allowing you to keep your listings relevant without the manual hassle. From automating keyword discovery with Cerebro to visualizing performance with heat maps, we provide strategies to manage keywords efficiently across multiple products. We also delve into the strategic use of Helium 10's Atomic feature and the nuances of aggressive PPC strategies during product launches, offering seasoned insights for both new and experienced sellers in this ever-evolving marketplace.

In episode 610 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Maximizing Keyword Tracking for Better Profits
06:07 - Utilizing Related Keyword Data on Amazon
12:26 - Optimizing Keyword Tracking for Sales
19:25 - Understanding Keyword Tracker and Rank Fluctuations
22:18 - Automating Keyword Tracking for Sales
25:15 - Keyword Tracking Importance for Amazon Success
29:48 - Maximizing Keyword Tracking Efficiency
32:08 - Managing Keywords for Product Variations
34:58 - Keyword Tracker Deep Dive Special Episode

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

For this week’s buzzing news, the ability to potentially capture your abandoned carts on Amazon, Walmart's Black Friday multi-event deal experience, and Venmo now accepted on TikTok!

Walmart Black Friday Deals Events Dial Up the Thrill of the Deal
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/10/28/walmart-black-friday-deals-events-dial-up-the-thrill-of-the-deal

TikTok Shop pushes livestreams to drive holiday shopping
https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2024/10/29/tiktok-shop-pushes-livestreams-to-drive-holiday-shopping

TikTok Shop Partners With Venmo Ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
https://wwd.com/business-news/business-features/tiktok-shop-venmo-partnership-black-friday-cyber-monday-1236704924/

Amazon’s latest actions against fake review brokers: Amazon and Google file parallel lawsuits against a fake review website
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-latest-actions-against-fake-review-brokers

Lastly, we explore keyword search volume research strategies using Cerebro, providing valuable insights to enhance your Amazon selling strategy, particularly for the crucial Q4 planning.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali talks about:

00:51 - Valid Tracking Rate Update
02:44 - Brand Tailored Promotions
04:40 - FBA Export Expansion
05:28 - Product Videos Go Global
06:14 - Walmart's Multi-Event
07:55 - TikTok Livestreams
09:55 - TikTok x Venmo
11:14 - Rufus AI Beta EU
12:37 - Fake Reviews
13:43 - Amazon Marketing Cloud Strategy
14:00 - Training Tip: Find Search Volume Number Of Refined Key Phrases

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

In this episode, we will discuss Destaney’s top Amazon advertising strategies, from setting up initial campaigns to advanced strategies such as Amazon AMC, and what's coming in the future.

What if you could transform your Amazon advertising game with just a few strategic tweaks? Join us as we sit down with Destaney Wishon of BTR Media, our guest expert, to uncover the secrets behind mastering Amazon PPC. From understanding the fundamentals of conversion rates and bid management to leveraging advanced AI strategies, Destaney sheds light on how sellers, both newbies and veterans, can optimize their ad spend. We explore the intricacies of using tools like Helium 10’s Adtomic to benchmark product performance in competitive categories like home decor, ensuring your campaigns hit the mark and convert clicks into sales.

We take a closer look at what it means to truly optimize your Amazon advertising campaigns. Discover how identifying underperforming ads and adjusting bids can significantly impact your ACoS and ROAS. We discuss the importance of relevancy and the power of long-tail keywords in capturing less competitive niches. With Destaney's insights, you’ll learn how monitoring account activity through tools like Adtomic can prevent unnecessary expenses and how adjusting strategies based on competitive factors like pricing and reviews can troubleshoot conversion barriers.

Ready to elevate your strategy with AI-driven advertising? Destaney highlights the potential of new AI features of Helium 10 Adtomic in streamlining keyword performance and improving budget efficiency. We explore how transitioning budgets from traditional to AI-optimized campaigns can enhance both new and existing Amazon PPC campaigns. Whether you are launching a new product or defending your brand against competitors, our discussion emphasizes the importance of bid management and using data-driven insights to align your Amazon advertising endeavors with your business goals. Don’t miss this opportunity to take control of your Amazon advertising success.

In episode 609 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising Strategies and Tips
04:31 - Granular Insights in Home Decor Advertising
08:53 - Comparing Adtomic and Amazon Ad Console
09:40 - Amazon Advertising Conversion Strategies
16:08 - Long Tail Keywords and Competition
17:00 - Amazon Advertising Beginner Strategy Guide
25:19 - Strategies for Amazon Advertising with AI
26:58 - Optimizing Your Amazon PPC Campaigns
33:55 - Optimizing Advertising Strategies With Adtomic
37:41 - Maximizing Sales Strategies Without Adtomic
42:57 - Adtomic Campaign Optimization Session

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In this episode, we speak with Mark DeGrasse who shares his deep insights on AI's role in building a strong brand identity and ultimately fostering stronger customer connections for sustainable growth.

Join us as we engage with digital marketing expert Mark DeGrasse, former CEO of Digital Marketer and the Founder of AI-Branding Academy, to explore the transformative role of branding in e-commerce and the significant impact of AI on marketing strategies. Mark shares his insights on why branding is more crucial than ever for Amazon and e-commerce sellers, as the market shifts focus from merely acquiring new customers to retaining them. Discover how AI tools can refine branding elements such as product development, logos, and messaging, and learn why building a strong brand identity is essential for thriving in today's competitive landscape.

Listen in as we uncover the power of branding in securing long-term success and stability for businesses. Drawing parallels to the spread of major concepts throughout history, we discuss the importance of consistent messaging and vision for brand sustainability. Using examples of iconic companies like Apple, Amazon, and Coca-Cola, we highlight how strong branding can serve as a protective shield against changing technologies and increasing competition. Moreover, we emphasize the importance of ensuring that every customer interaction is an opportunity for brand recognition and instilling brand values in all employees.

Finally, we navigate the future of branding and marketing strategies in a rapidly changing digital landscape. As reliance on paid media and easy attribution has overshadowed customer relationships and innovation, we examine the challenges posed by AI and potential platform bans. Discover how leveraging AI to create original content and streamline brand management can secure your business's future. Mark discusses how employing AI to guide decision-making based on brand values and company performance can transform traditional marketing methods, fostering stronger customer connections and sustainable growth.

In episode 608 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Kevin, and Mark discuss:

00:00 - AI Branding and Customer Retention For Amazon Brands
06:26 - Building Brand Trust With Customers
10:04 - The Power of Branding in E-commerce
16:35 - Consistency Over Perfection in Branding
18:55 - Navigating the Future of Branding
21:22 - Building Brands With AI Content Strategy
27:43 - Evaluating Brand Strength and Improvement
32:02 - Building a Strong Amazon Brand Strategy
32:11 - AI Branding Academy Maximizes Marketing Potential
36:46 - Maximizing Earnings Through Brand Extension
37:04 - Expanding Product Offerings with a Solid Brand

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Amazon warehouses on the West Coast are full. More details about the potential Amazon Team Wish service have leaked. These buzzing stories and more on this week's episode!

Amazon sets ultra-low pricing plans for Temu rival store, The Information reports
https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-sets-ultra-low-pricing-plans-temu-rival-store-information-reports-2024-10-22/

Amazon to shut down speedy brick-and-mortar delivery service
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/22/amazon-to-shut-down-speedy-brick-and-mortar-today-delivery-service.html

Amazon Announces New Fuel Savings Offer for Prime Members
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2024/10/amazon-announces-new-fuel-savings-offer-for-prime-members

Amazon’s enhanced homepage features make shopping easier and more personalized
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-homepage-redesign-features

One man’s mission to save his sick dog sparked a thriving pet probiotic business on Amazon
https://sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/one-mans-mission-to-save-his-sick-dog-sparked-a-thriving-pet-probiotic-business-on-amazon

Lastly, we also introduce the latest features from Helium 10, including enhancements for our Chrome Extension for Amazon Influencers and a revamped Keyword Tracker tool. Tune in to discover all the exciting developments and strategies designed to help you succeed in the Amazon marketplace.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:49 - Big Amazon Logistics Problems
06:20 - Amazon Temu Clone Details
08:08 - Deferred Transactions
09:00 - Amazon Today Closing
10:23 - Image Manager
11:03 - Amazon Gas Savings
12:08 - FBA Shipment Notifications
12:44 - Amazon Homepage Update
14:05 - Amazon Seller Story
15:33 - X-Ray For Amazon Influencers
18:50 - Keyword Tracker Heat Maps + PPC Data
24:45 - Sydney Australia Event
25:17 - Milan Italy Event

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon warehouses on the West Coast are full. More details about the potential Amazon Team Wish service have leaked. Find out how, if you have Amazon Prime, you can get up to $70 of free gas. These stories and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and also let you know what new features Helium 10 has. That will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We've got tons of news articles today, lots going on, so let's go ahead and hop right into it. All right, the first news article of the day actually starts off from Amazon Seller Central. I've got some additional information that Amazon sent over that you sellers need to know. It's kind of like important, especially those of you trying to get inventory in here in q4. Uh, it's entitled updates to support us. FBA peak inventory shipments says we understand this is from amazon that many of you are experiencing longer receive times that are affecting your shipments. High demand has led to longer receive times at some of our west coast inbound locations and for palletized freight. It says they're trying to actively take steps to resolve the situation, including rerouting shipments to other regions. So, effective immediately, they're making the following adjustments to inbound requirements. Number one they've extended the automatic closure window to 90 days for shipments created after August 7th through October 31st. Okay, you know, usually it's a little bit shorter where they automatically close a shipment that hasn't been received and they're extending the abandoned shipment window from 30 to 45 days for shipments in that same time period. All right, so now that's kind of like the official notice that went out to sellers, you know, on your Seller Central dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

But I got my hands on some other information here that Amazon wanted sellers to know about and it was kind of like a frequently asked questions about what's going on. So maybe some of these questions you've actually have actually had and maybe this answers it all right. So the first question is why is this happening? Well, it says hey, there's an increased demand to send inventory to the West Coast facilities and it's resulting in longer p times or lead times. Right, so, so we already got that. But then they said, hey, is amazon rerouting non-partnered carriers to inbound locations? The answer is no. So if you're not using an amazon partner, they're not telling, like your own freight company, hey, you need to go to Texas or something you know to deliver. No, if you're shipping your inventory with a third-party carrier and you have longer receive times, you could actually still reach out to your carrier, amazon says, and get a new appointment through Carrier Central.

Bradley Sutton:

What changes are you making to the inbound placement service fee? Inbound placement service fee? Amazon says hey, effective immediately, where we've temporarily reduced the rate range for the inbound placement fees for minimal shipments into the East region by 5 cents. Better than nothing, guys, right, 5 cents per unit, okay. So you know, like, if before you had to ship to the East coast and you had to, you know, have certain placement fees that were, you know, 30, 40 cents each, you get a 5 cent discount. Now, because of these issues, what are the temporary fee changes to help move out of the West? Same thing 5 cents in reduction in fees for the minimal shipment split option to the East region. Next question says if inbounding to the east region still is the most expensive, even with this five cents difference, what should I do? Amazon says we recommend that you use the Amazon optimized shipment splits or select central or east regions under the partial shipment splits or the minimal shipment splits options.

Bradley Sutton:

Another general question that some are asking hey, my shipment is still showing delivered status, but the inventory has not been received. What should we do? It says most delivered shipments are received within a week of delivery to ensure placement of your inventory. Now, if you're using a non-partnered carrier, communicate with the carrier to get progress reports. If you're using Amazon Freight, they can help locate your shipment by submitting If you submit a carrier, missed pickup request to Amazon and that'll help you get more information.

Bradley Sutton:

Another question are fulfillment centers equally affected by the long receipt times? In other words, we know the receipt, the inbound is having trouble, but are my customers going to start having issues on the West coast because of what's going on? The answer no. These longer receipt times are mainly affecting the West region because it's a popular location for inventory shipments, but fulfillment centers are not experiencing that issue. Why do I still not see the partial shipment split options to the West? Answer. The partial shipment splits inbound option will be provided if your shipment qualifies, but due to the busy holiday season and high demand, partial shipment splits to the West may not be available on send to Amazon. So you might be like wait a minute, how come? You know, normally when I create my shipment I usually see this the shipment split to the West available and now it's not like showing up at all. Well, this is the reason why, because of this, this issue that that we're talking about now. Hopefully that's not the case for you, but this is the answer If that is happening to you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here's a funny one. Are there alternative shipping methods, ship mode, when possible, of course. Where'd that be? I mean, how do you use air all the time If it didn't cost five times as much as ocean shipping? So for most of us that might not be an option, but hey, at least Amazon's giving you an alternative. In case you didn't realize that you can ship your product via air. All right, so that's most of the information there about what's going on with Amazon West Coast. Let me know in the comments. Have you been affected by this? I actually haven't. Thankfully, knock on wood, I haven't had to ship anything in the last week and a half or two weeks I got most of my stuff in early. I'm about to send a shipment in tomorrow for my warehouse, so let's see how it goes. What about you? Let me know in the comments below if you guys have been affected by this.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Reuters.com says Amazon sets ultra low pricing plans for Temu rival store. The information reports Now this is something we reported a couple of months ago how Amazon might be launching like a Temu-ish kind of service for sellers from China, where it's going to ship directly from China to customers might take 10 or 12 days. Well, some more information has come out. Supposedly there's going to be caps on what they can charge, uh, in the categories. So if it's jewelry, if it's going to be part of the service, it's $8. If it's a guitar a guitar it's 13. If it's a sofa, the most expensive sofa you can ship is $20. I mean a Lego sofa, like what in the world sofa costs under $20. Now I saw other reports that said, hey, the total price is $20. I saw some reports that said, hey, it had to be less than a pound or less than 14 inches long. If it's less than 14 inches long. How are you going to have a sofa even in there? So there's so much information and misinformation out there right now, like I'm not sure what to trust yet. I'm just throwing out information as I get it. This is an actual article in Reuters.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what do you guys think about this? I know the last time when we first announced this, people were upset. They're like man, this is not good. So, like, my biggest question still is are US-based sellers European-based sellers? If we have a factory in China, will we be able to use this service to at least have an equal playing field, or only Chinese manufacturers are going to have access to this shipment? So let's see how things go. I think a story I saw where it said maybe somebody said hey, only you can't even have branded products here and it's going to be separate from Amazon's websites like a sub site. Who knows Can't have branded products, you only can say generic. There's all kinds of stories, but as they keep coming out, we'll let you know and hopefully there'll be some clarity on what exactly is going to happen with this program soon.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up is article from the Seller Central and it's called view your reserve payments in the new deferred transaction report. All right, so if you get a sale, you don't get the money from that sale right away. Like, let's say, your disbursement is every two weeks and it's on the second Monday of the month or whatever. Well, if you've got an order on the second Sunday of the month that those orders, you're probably not going to get that money the next day. All right, because there's usually kind of like a reserve Right In addition to your account level reserve, take a look at this article because now they're saying that, hey, you're going to have more visibility into which exactly which orders exactly are being deferred until the next pay period. You're going to be able to see this in your payments reports repository. If this is something you're curious about I'm not going to go too much into detail Go into your Seller Central News. You'll have the link right there of how you can find this new deferred transaction report.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from CNBC. It's kind of interesting because we've been doing the buzz so long, that stuff that we broke as stories about what was going on amazon before. It's like now being defunct, like we announced the release and now, a couple years later now it's going away. So CNBC says amazon to shut down speedy brick and mortar delivery service. This was called amazon today and if you remember that weekly buzz years ago. Basically what it means is like if there's a amazon seller who actually has a brick and mortar store, kind of like.

Bradley Sutton:

I think what the example gave was like GNC and if it's sold products, it would allow fulfillment of the products directly from the local GNC, like a neighborhood. So if somebody orders from GNC on Amazon and they have inventory at that local GNC, then Amazon would hire these local drivers to go pick it up at that GNC and then deliver it to the customer down the street. Whatever, you might not even know that existed. Good for you, because now it doesn't exist anymore anyways. In reality. So Amazon's laying off all the employees that were part of that system. It would have been interesting to see if that played out more Like. I could have seen how you know. Maybe it could eventually roll out to you know sellers who have warehouses in certain you know localities. You know, maybe they could have just delivered to local customers on their own, but that service is gone.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, an article from seller central fix image issues fast with a new image manager feature. All right, so this is a new feature that you can go in your seller central. You go to catalog and then manage your images and then you're going to come up to this page and basically, if there's image issues, you're going to see in the bottom left like a, like a red flag, and then, instead of having to go one by one into your listings and edit the listing and then try and fix your images from this one page the image manager any issues that Amazon has with your images you can just fix them directly on this interface here. So if you want more information on that, check your seller central news dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is a press release from Amazon. It's kind of interesting because this is not really for sellers. But if you're an Amazon member, guess what? You can now save up to 10 cents a gallon at Amoco or AMPM locations, all right, so I'm assuming AMPM is like Arco, right, like that's what Arco, that's what AMPM is here in California. But anyways, you can save 10 cents a gallon, which averages like $70 a year on gas. Again, maybe this doesn't affect you. It does if you live in America and I just got you $70 right now. But I always like reporting on any benefits that, like Walmart Plus or Amazon Prime give, because it's just going to make our customers more sticky to Amazon Prime, right? Because if they're getting this $70 of free gas, if you want to see how to activate this, real easy, if you're an Amazon Prime member, go to amazon.com/fuelsavings. It's a one-time setup and then next time you go to an ARCO or AMPM you'll save 10 cents a gallon.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, again from Seller Central. This is called New FBA Shipment Notifications for Better Visibility. So if you are using a partner carrier pickups and you're experiencing FBA shipment delivery disruptions, you're now going to get an email from Amazon. So this is something that you are going to need to opt in or opt out of, depending on if you want a whole bunch of emails about what's going on with your partner carrier deliveries. So make sure to go into settings and to notification preferences and then go to FBA inbound shipment status notifications and make sure toggle on or off if you want to get these notifications or not.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of Amazon and the website on the front side of the website, not seller central, amazon has been testing new homepage new homepage on amazon.com. Also on the app. This is an article from about amazon.com and it says improvements include personalized recommendations, improve browsing and streamline reordering in time for the holiday shopping season. Now, I did not see any of these updates on my personal Amazon that I use for my Prime account, but they showed some pictures here where there's kind of like a new interface with big images, kind of like tailor-made, I guess, supposedly for the people who are buying, and more intuitive design. It says here it's called a window display, like there's these big tiles or windows of products that it's showing. Um, the other addition is that there's a improved buy again hub. All right, so you're going to see this buy again section, or amazon buyers are going to see that and then products they bought before real easy to almost kind of like one click and get it in the shopping cart. So it'll be interesting to monitor this because, like, is this going? You know, like those of us with replenishable products, could this potentially help increase our repeat orders? You know could be so. So let let's see uh, how this, this new Amazon website and app, uh might help or hurt some of our sales.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, last article of the day. It's from Amazon's website. They're selling partners website. It's funny because Helium 10 members a lot of times are featured on Amazon's ad page and I was like, wait a minute, I know this guy. So if you go to the link is in the comments below. But if you go to this Amazon website, it's entitled. One Man's Mission to Save His Sick Dog Sparked a Thriving Pet Probiotic Business on Amazon, and some of you might recognize this. This is Santiago Galvez. He's a Helium 10 member. He comes to our elite workshops, he's been at a lot of our events and he's actually been on the Helium 10 Serious Sellers podcast en Español. All right, so take a look at the link here. It's a really cool story about how he came up with his brand. It has to do with his pets and everything. And then if you speak Spanish and you want to hear more of his story, check out episode 147 of the Serious Sellers Podcast en Español. That's not this one. You can search it on whatever you have Si habla en Español. And his podcast title was Así Lance Mi Marca en Amazon. So it sounds like it's the same kind of like story he talked about in this one, as he told to Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

So pretty cool to see Helium 10 members being featured on Amazon's main website. All right, that's it for the news this week. Let's go ahead and hop into some new feature alerts. All right, we're not going to do a training tip of the week this week, because the new feature alerts kind of doubles as a training tip. It's going to be pretty cool. Now you're going to see a lot more content from Helium 10 about the Amazon Influencer Program. All right, amazon Influencer Program is a really cool way for Amazon sellers to get some money initially to build up to be able to do private label. It's a great way for maybe your family members to kind of like get involved in Amazon, or even you yourself, if you want to make some extra money.

Bradley Sutton:

So one of the first things that we are going to have in the for Amazon influencers, if you have updated the new version of the Helium 10 Chrome extension, go to any search result page or any product page and then run X-Ray like normal. Ok, so once you hit X-Ray, it'll pull up on the page, just like you know any other time. And now what's going to happen, though, once you pull up x-ray, is that there is a toggle on the very top right. You're going to see, and I'll say standard. That's the default for Amazon sellers. But let's say you wanted to dabble in the influence. If you're a Amazon affiliate Amazon influencer, you hit the button on the top right and then select influencer version. Now what happens is X-Ray now is going to show some data that is interesting to Amazon influencers, who? Those are the ones who create videos that go on listings and then those videos end up showing up in the carousel in the bottom row and then if a buyer watches the video, right, and then they buy the product, guess what that Amazon influencer has? The video is going to go ahead and get commission on that.

Bradley Sutton:

So now the kind of things that you can see in Helium 10 Chrome extension x-ray is you'll be able to see stuff like what's the opportunity score for an influencer? How many videos are in the upper carousel, like look how many products on the coffin shelf page have no videos? I mean that could be interesting to Amazon sellers at all. I just want to see who's got videos in their carousel right. How many videos are in the lower carousel, the one that's kind of like at the bottom of the page? That's also where influencer videos, customer review videos, can go. How many of these videos are influencer videos on the page. The one that's opportunity for Amazon influencers is when there's like one or zero influencer videos. That means you're kind of have a better chance perhaps at getting your video featured in that upper or lower carousel, meaning that if you're the only video there, every time somebody watches the video and then they buy the product, you're getting commission on that product. This shows how many brand videos All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, this is for Amazon sellers or influencers. You want to know the brand itself. How many videos did they put on their own page? You can see here. There's some here that have six and even eight, oh my goodness. And some have two and some have zero. What is the commission rate for an influencer for the product? The commission rate for Amazon influencers varies across different categories. You can now see that right here. And then, even if it's your product, maybe you're curious how much is Amazon giving to influencers who are promoting my product? Well, here you can see that. You can also see the affiliate commission. Affiliate commission is different than influencer commission rates. And then the affiliate commission actual dollar amount. So some cool information here now is showing up in the Chrome extension. This is just the first of a lot of things we might have for Amazon influencers out there, but some of it is still relevant to Amazon sellers as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Another update that Helium 10 Elite members have had for a while but now it's being released, even all the way down to the platinum plan is some new features inside of keyword tracker. All right, so in keyword tracker you probably noticed that a few weeks ago the new interface already, but now you are going to have additional features. All right, so here's a new interface. You can see the keywords here, and I've done videos before I talk about how now you can add competitors and kind of see where your competitors are ranking, like all on a certain grid, so that you can see for each keyword you know who's got the best rank with those keyword harvesting, where we're going to like follow up based on what you're saying and tell you what keywords that your competitors are ranked for in the top 10 that maybe you're not ranking for, or keywords that you weren't even tracking that you're ranking for because you didn't even know that you're ranking for. Right.

Bradley Sutton:

But some of the newest things this week, uh, one of them is a heat map. You know we've always had uh in market tracker 360 heat maps for our keyword tracker there for like two years and users were like man, we want this to be in the regular keyword tracker. And it took us a couple of years, guys, but now we have it. So we brought the Market Tracker 360 feature of heat maps into the regular keyword tracker and you're going to be able to also not only see the day of week like maybe you want to see, hey, every Sunday does my rank change? But also there's going to be little gift boxes that you see on some dates on this keyword tracker graph. This is indicating like a holiday. Like maybe you want to kind of like eyeball in and say, hey, did something happen to my rank on if there was a holiday? So here on October 14th, I can see that was Columbus Day. I can take a look at my ranks. I can change this to go from left to right to right to left. I can also change like hey, maybe I don't want to see the exact rank, but I'm just curious what page am I showing up? Page one, page two, page three, page four.

Bradley Sutton:

Don't forget that helium 10 is one of the only keyword trackers that actually checks all pages. A lot of popular keyword trackers out there, you'll notice it only goes up to like 100 or 150. That means it's only giving you two page of search results. We're giving you all pages of search results, all 306 locations or or positions. Seven, the full seven pages that appears in search results. You can see in helium 10 keyword tracker. But this is the heat maps. It's kind of like a different way to visualize what's going on. And then, don't forget, if you see this red dot in any of this, that means that you had boost on during that time. Again, that's another thing that only helium 10 has. Well, we're checking in one day, if I have boost on, 24 different browsing scenarios 24 times a day. It's checking different browsing scenarios in Edge or Chrome or Safari. And then what if the zip code is over here? What if the address like even in the same zip code it's an address across the street over here, an address over in Florida or whatever, like it's doing a lot of random things, so that you can really have an idea about what is going on with your rank and then you'll be able to see what happened throughout the day if you have that boost on. So that's the heat maps.

Bradley Sutton:

And then now, if you have. For those of you who have Atomic remember Atomic is now in the diamond plan You're going to have access to this ad section. That means we're ready to have you all your PPC and your advertising information and now you're going to be able to see some super cool things about what's going on with your keyword rank as it relates to your advertising. So, for example, I can see hey, how many campaigns did I have active where I got at least one impression or a click of coffin shelf? I've got four exact match campaigns where it came up. I've got zero auto campaigns where it came up.

Bradley Sutton:

I can change the date range. I can see all right, how many PPC sales did I have during this time? How many units did I sell? What was my spend during this time on this keyword? What was my ACoS? What was my ROAS? How many PPC clicks did I have? What was my impressions overall? Like here, I got 8,000 impressions in PPC for the word coffin shelf. But then, guys, the reason why this is in Keyword Tr tracker is it's now tying in all of this information.

Bradley Sutton:

So if I hit this graph next to coffin shelf, now all of a sudden I can start graphing different metrics where I can say let me graph my organic rank and graph it versus my cost per click, right? So now here I'm looking at this graph and I'm like, okay, here's my cost per click. As it decreased, my impressions increased somehow, and then, as my cost per click increased, my impressions, for whatever reason, went down on that same day. However, that's just one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is no, things don't happen exactly on the same day. However, that's just one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is no, things don't happen exactly on the same day. But look, every time that my cost per click increased, the very next day, my impressions increased. My organic rank. Maybe I want to you know what? I want to see how it changed my sponsored rank. Take a look at this. My cost per click was 55 cents. I increase it to 55 cents. What happened to my sponsored rank the next day? Uh, it started going up from 17 all the way to five. Take a look over here. My, you know, I decreased my, my bid, potentially, or just whatever Amazon was giving me as cost per click, and my rank increase. Uh, my, my rank decrease. So this is really interesting to kind of see what effects does what you're doing in PPC have on what is going on in your organic and sponsored keyword rank. So make sure again, if whatever plan of Helium 10 you are on, make sure to dive into keyword tracker and play around with some of these new functions. Well, I'm going to have some more detailed training in the future podcast where I'm going to go deep into tracking keywords and all the new features that Keyword Tracker has.

Bradley Sutton:

One more thing, guys, A couple events in the next couple of weeks. Next week I'll be in Australia. So if you're anywhere near Sydney, come to the Amazon advertising event. I'll be speaking there. There'll be a Helium 10 booth. We can come hang out, maybe the night before. I know a lot of you are already coming out, h10.me/sydney for information on that. And then also the following in a couple of weeks we're going to be in Italy First time. We're doing a Helium 10 event in Italy and I would love to see you guys go. I'm going to go ahead and throw out a discount code too for you. Anybody is open to this. It's normally an elite workshop but we're opening up to everybody h10.me/milan. It's on November 11th, if you want to save 50%. So it's going to be less than $40 to even attend for a full day of great training and networking, h10.me/milan. Use the code Helium50, no spaces, and save 50% off your registration. I would love to see you either in Sydney or in Milan, Italy. All right, guys. That's it for the news this week. Uh, don't forget to tune in next week. I will have Shivali back here to let you know what's buzzing.

View Details

In this episode, we do a live case study as we compare Helium 10, Product Opportunity Explorer, Jungle Scout, and Data Dive for Amazon keyword research. See how Helium 10 uncovers more keywords and boosts potential sales by $6,000!

Can unlocking the true potential of Amazon keyword research tools lead to a significant boost in your sales? In this episode, Bradley Sutton dissects, with a live case study, the Amazon keyword research capabilities of tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout, Data Dive, and Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer, revealing why Helium 10 might just be the game-changer you've been searching for. Through a live case study, Bradley showcases how Helium 10 stands head and shoulders above its rivals by uncovering a staggering number of relevant keywords that could translate into thousands of dollars in additional sales. With a focus on transparency, we promise an unfiltered look into how effective keyword research can transform your Amazon SEO strategy.

Our journey into the art of keyword research begins with launching a Tamago Yaki pan on Amazon. We guide you through the crucial steps of identifying top competitors and selecting the right keywords to ensure success, even if you don't have access to advanced tools. You'll learn how to interpret search volumes and conversion rates to identify purchase trends and refine your keyword lists by exploring related niches like "square pan" and "omelet pan." With personal anecdotes and insights sprinkled throughout, this episode offers practical advice for sellers at every level.

As we peel back the layers of keyword analysis, discover how tools like Helium 10 can help you sift through the noise and focus on keywords with true potential. We emphasize the importance of aligning with Amazon's algorithm and the role of sponsored ads in securing product visibility. By exploring tactics like creating comprehensive keyword lists and leveraging Helium 10's unique features, you'll understand why our Amazon keyword research tools are an indispensable ally for serious sellers. So, let’s enhance your product's visibility and sales potential on Amazon, one keyword at a time.

In episode 607 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Amazon Keyword Research Tool Battle Royale
07:41 - Amazon Keyword Research Strategies Using Tools
13:28 - Amazon Keyword Research Tutorial
16:41 - Amazon Keyword Research Tools Comparison
19:23 - Product Opportunity Explorer Niche Research
25:16 - Data Dive and Jungle Scout Keyword Research
26:42 - Amazon Keyword Research Tools Analysis
33:42 - Keyword Ranking Analysis and Competitor Evaluation
39:03 - Amazon Keyword Research Tactics and Strategies
41:35 - Keyword Research and Analysis Strategy
49:32 - Keyword Analysis for Listing Optimization
52:45 - Keyword Research Comparison and Analysis
56:05 - Keyword Research for Amazon Products
1:00:55 - The Importance of Getting Enough Keywords
1:08:14 - Keyword Analysis Comparison POE, Jungle Scout/Data Dive, & Helium 10
1:14:57 - Amazon Keyword Research With Helium 10
1:18:02 - Conclusion: What is the Best Keyword Research Tool For Amazon Sellers?

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

In this episode, our guest is an expert on AI and Amazon Science papers. He'll talk about Rufus, COSMO, Project Amelia, and all other AI advancements from the Amazon side and beyond.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Join us for an engaging discussion with Kevin Dolan from Pacvue AI Labs as we explore the cutting-edge advancements in AI and Amazon's pivotal role in shaping this dynamic landscape. We'll unravel the mysteries behind intriguing names like Rufus, COSMO, and Project Amelia, representing Amazon's ongoing AI initiatives. Kevin shares his expertise on the evolution of AI from its early conceptual roots in the 80s to the transformative impact of transformer models around 2019, which paved the way for groundbreaking applications like ChatGPT. Discover how Amazon's increased investment in AI research is manifesting in published papers and sophisticated models that are revolutionizing customer interactions.

We also explore Amazon's integration of AI in tools for sellers, highlighting the launch of advertising AI that optimizes campaigns with precision. The potential of AI in enhancing tools like Helium 10’s Adtomic and Cerebro for more efficient Amazon PPC campaigns and keyword filtering is discussed, along with the impact of Amazon's Rufus on the shopping experience. While Rufus aims to improve customer interactions, we critically assess its current limitations and ponder its potential to shift some search activities directly to Amazon from platforms like Google and Pinterest. Additionally, we dive into Amazon's transition from lexical to semantic search, emphasizing the importance for sellers to align their product listings with customer needs for visibility and success in an AI-driven environment.

Lastly, we examine AI-driven tools like Project Amelia in Amazon's Seller Central and their potential impact on brands and sellers. While chat-oriented interfaces may translate vague intentions into useful actions, skepticism remains regarding their revolutionary potential. We emphasize the importance of exploring third-party tools like Helium 10 for added value and addressing the hype surrounding changes in seller practices, reassuring listeners that successful strategies remain largely unchanged. Kevin's insights and our conversation shed light on the future of AI in e-commerce, leaving us excited for what's to come in this rapidly evolving field.

In episode 606 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Advancements in AI and Amazon Science
00:41 - Decoding the Amazon COSMO Algorithm
08:42 - AI Model Cost Efficiency Advancements
09:48 - Amazon's AI Innovations and Rufus
14:59 - Implementing AI Chatbots Inside Online Marketplaces
20:29 - Enhancing Amazon's Semantic Search Capabilities
21:12 - Leveraging Rufus and COSMO for Selling Success
26:59 - Impact of Science on Amazon Practices
28:10 - Enhancing Amazon's Product Understanding With AI
30:01 - Customer Preferences for Pregnant Women
35:22 - Amazon's Data and Product Listings
37:30 - Amazon's Project Amelia in Seller Central
38:42 - Amazon's AI Recommendations for Sellers

Transcript:Bradley Sutton:

Today we talk to the person who knows more about AI and Amazon science papers than maybe anyone else in the world, and he's going to talk about all things Rufus, COSMO, Amelia and all other AI advancements from the Amazon side and beyond. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not exactly 100% sure what I'm titling this episode, but I might have done something kind of clickbaity and say something. There is no such thing as the COSMO algorithm or something to get people to click on this. But let me just quickly explain that. Now. I don't mean that there's no such thing as Cosmo. There's a lot of documents out there from Amazon that talk about it, but there's nothing that says, hey, Cosmo is the new A9 algorithm, or there's nothing official from Amazon that says, hey, Cosmo is now in full effect across 75% of searches, or anything like that.

Contrast that with all the articles from Amazon that talk about Rufus. I mean, Rufus is a thing you can actually see in everything. So I just wanted to do a clickbaity title like that and we'll definitely get into Cosmo and things like that later. But I've got back on the show probably one of the persons who's the highest expert in the world as far as AI and also what Amazon has been doing as far as on the AI front, and that's Kevin from our own Pacvue AI Labs. That's why I'm wearing this. It's actually a Brazilian soccer team, Palmeiras, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

I wanted to get something with a P on it. Yeah there you go.

Bradley Sutton:

I have a Padres P hat too, but since I'm a Dodgers fan, it hurts every time I even wear that hat. So I was like, no, I'm not going to do it, considering the times that we're in right now. But anyways, Kevin, welcome back. It's been a little over a year since you've been on the show.

Kevin Dolan:

Yeah, thanks for having me back. Last year was a lot of fun and we've been seeing a lot of things happen in the last year in AI, especially around Amazon's implementations of AI, so excited to talk about those updates.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Now let's just talk about AI in general, general. You know, like AI is kind of like, I guess, like about two years, I mean, people have been talking about AI for years but as far as the, the more recent trendy version of the topic, AI, um, it's really been, you know, like you know, ChatGPT and things like that over the last couple of years. And let's just talk about what's happened in general over the last year. You know the improvement

Kevin Dolan:

Okay, sure, yeah, I mean, like you said, AI has been around forever. We've been using the term at least since the 80 s in terms of technologies that we can actually use for actual production purposes. As we're using the term today, its meaning has shifted to largely refer to this current generation of models that we're seeing. That began in around 2019 with the introduction of what was called the Transformers model. This led eventually to a variant of that model called Large Language Models, popularized by Open AI's ChatGPT, and we've been seeing a sort of explosion in AI technology and investment into hardware, investment into research as a result of some of these findings. That has become sort of the current modern label of what is AI. We're talking primarily about transformer-based models that perform language or other modalities, including image generation, and we're talking about basically whatever is that front line of research that's happening right now. So you see this explosion happen with the release of the paper around 2018, 2019. And then you see the proliferation of training hardware that led to innovations like ChachGPT, where we're starting to see these emergent behaviors, where these models do start to exhibit something that you can really call intelligence. These models do start to exhibit something that you can really call intelligence.

I came on here last year to talk about all of the different papers I had read from the prior four to five years at Amazon Research. You can tell, when you look at the number of papers that Amazon is releasing, that around that time around 2021, 2022, they started to invest a lot more in their research department. When they started releasing papers in Amazon Science in 2018, there were five papers about search. The following year, in 2019, there were 18. By 2021, there were 40. And then the next year there were almost 70 papers. That seems to have leveled off at this point. We saw about 70 papers last year and so far in this year we've seen about 60 papers. So we're probably going to end up in the same realm.

So the number of papers that Amazon is releasing isn't really changing. What is changing is the complexity of the models that they're using is much more sophisticated and they're being targeted for much more practical use cases. You're seeing larger A-B tests where they're being run on material percentages of traffic on Amazon. You're seeing Amazon release actual AI features that are customer-facing, like Rufus, and we're seeing investments in hardware that make some of these models that used to be impossible to run in production now very conceivable. So I think we are seeing confirmation that Amazon is taking these technologies seriously. They're implementing it in production and it is starting to impact customer behaviors.

Bradley Sutton:

What about non-Amazon AI Like what you know? ChatGPT, imagery you? Know, like a couple of years ago it was just hallucinating nonstop, and then last year a little bit better. You know images. You could not create humans, you know, or products in there without seven fingers and stuff in the general world of AI. How has that come along in the last year?

Kevin Dolan:

Yeah, so I mean we are seeing continued investments in research and continued improvements on these models. The transfer model really revolutionized things, but the initial results that we were seeing out of those transformer models were a little disappointing. For the first time, we were starting to see computers understand language, computers being able to generate images, and our initial reaction was holy cow. We didn't know computers could do this, and then, as we started to use it a little bit more, we became really disappointed, because we're like, oh you know, all the people have six fingers. It's making up facts. You know, the things that it's saying don't really make sense. And so there's been a lot of people who have looked at this potential and started to invest material dollars in improving it to basically get to the point where now these technologies produce more reliable, more consistent results. There's still really major shortfalls, there's still issues, and I think you're going to see continued investment in this. The optimistic projections that you're getting from OpenAI. You know I'm personally a little bit cold on those, but who can predict the future? Who could have predicted that this would have happened? Yes, you are seeing improvements in image generation models, where the images that they're producing are now closer to reality. We're starting to see these used widely in industry, especially in fields like advertising, where you need to produce high volume creative. If you look at the features that Photoshop has released related to their Firefly AI image generation model, we're starting to see not only improved models but improved workflows for creatives to actually be using these tools in a way where, instead of just somebody typing some random prompt and getting whatever the system decides to give you now, people are actually able to control the output and get the output that they're looking for. So, between all of these things, you're seeing a lot of development to make these tools more practical to use. I'd say the biggest and most recent news is OpenAI's release of its strawberry model, which they call O1 in their release vernacular. The O1 model from OpenAI is performing thinking steps before it answers the question and hiding that thinking from you, the way that if you're asked a question, you might think about it a little bit before you answer it, and they're seeing really, really impressive results from that. You know we're getting closer to the place where these AI models might be able to do something that's a little bit more functional, a little bit more capable of actually interacting with real life data and real-life processes, you know, but we're still a little bit far away.

Another issue that we keep running into is the dollar cost of running these models. Towards the end of last year, at Helium 10, we developed a review sentiment analysis model that basically would read thousands and thousands of reviews for your Amazon products and produce some analysis and produce an analysis of what people are saying about your product. You know Amazon has a similar product. Ours goes a little bit deeper than that but the idea is essentially the same. You know what are people saying about your product, what can you learn about it in order to improve your product, improve your listing, etc. And one of the things that we ran into with that model is just how prohibitively costly these models can be to run on large sets of data, and so we're starting to see investments in making models smaller and more special purpose, and we're also seeing improvements in hardware that make running these models more cost effective. This is really going to start to unlock production capabilities, and that companies will now be able to run AI models profitably.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. Now, yeah, we're always looking to add things that can utilize AI that helps Amazon sellers. You know we are launching this week advertising AI on our Atomic side, which is allow somebody to just enter in an ASIN and then our AI engine will kind of just create all the campaigns on its own and optimize them on its own. That's something that we've been using at Pacvue for a while, and we're integrating some AI things into tools like Cerebro, where you could have a prompt that allows you to filter out keywords or say, hey, can you please remove any Spanish keywords from the results? Or, hey, can you remove any branded? You know search terms, you know things that you know you could probably do on your own, but it just takes a lot longer. So, so, definitely, we're, we're keeping track of what AI can do, because anything that is doable. We want to go ahead and bring it into Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

We know that getting to page one on keyword search results is one of the most important goals that an Amazon seller might have. So track your progress on the way to page one and even get historical keyword ranking information and even see sponsored ad rank placement with Keyword Tracker by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me forward. Slash keyword tracker.

Bradley Sutton:

Now going back to the main topic, amazon. Before we get into the science more detailed, into whatever science documents have been released and things this year, let's talk about what is 100% already out there or talked about, which is like the Rufus and so Rufus, Cosmo I've got some personal opinions on it and that's all. A lot of this is, you know, until Amazon actually publishes something for sure, like you can't even say that, oh, a science document said this or that, because the great majority of the content of science documents actually doesn't actually get into production on Amazon. You know per se. You know so just because Amazon talked about in a science document. It's just a research paper, you know. But let's first about talk about the stuff that you know Amazon announced at Accelerate or has already rolled out to customers, like Rufus.

And then my general thought on that and again I could be wrong and I'll be happy to switch my thinking when Amazon does make some different announcements is that Amazon is always about the customer. Right, they want to give a better result for the customer. And then I don't feel that, like Rufus, for example. Fyi, in my opinion it's terrible as a buyer where I'm like, hey, what did the review say about this product and it gives me an answer. And guess what? There's no reviews on that product. So, as a consumer, being kind of skeptical about some of these AI things, I just can't use it. And now the other part of it is I don't think anytime soon the traditional way of searching on Amazon is going to be improved in that if I know I want to buy and I talked about this in a previous episode recently if I want to buy a coffin shelf, there is no better process than me opening my Amazon app and typing the word towards coffin shelf and looking at the results like there is nothing unless amazon connects my brain to, to the app. That is going to ever be better than that where? In other words, I am not going to go and have a conversation with Rufus with my thumbs, you know, like taking typing in a whole bunch of I used to be a secretary. I type like a hundred words a minute. So like, let's say, I was on the desktop app, I'm still. I'm a lazy person, as all human beings are. I am not going to say what do you think, Rufus, about coffin shelves out there? Like, like, no, I'm going to type in nine letters and then. So that part. I almost don't think Amazon is necessarily trying to change that part, because they know that it's already the most optimized experience for people who know what they're looking for.

Now here's the thing, though how did I get to that decision that I wanted a coffin shelf, like maybe I just knew it. But another thing is, maybe I'm just browsing like, hey, I want to uh, search on google what are trending, um, trending gifts in 2024 for teenagers with a gothic inclination, or something like that. Like, right now, I'm not doing that in Amazon, or, historically, I'm doing that like in Google, maybe Pinterest, you know, or maybe these other websites where I'm trying to get ideas. And then, all of a sudden, I read a blog, or I arrive on a TikTok or whatever, and I see, ooh, Coffin Shelf. I didn't even know that existed. Now let me go and type in coffin shelf on Amazon.

So I think the potential of, of a fundamental change in the way we shop could be that maybe some of these searches that people would normally start on a Pinterest or on a Google, maybe now you can start in the Amazon app, where what I would have typed for the Google AI or things like it's just going to go ahead and, and, and I can start the Amazon app where what I would have typed for the Google AI or things like it's just going to go ahead and I can start, you know, just browsing, browsing things, and at the end of it, you know like Amazon might, or Rufus might, tell me yeah, you know, like we see some spooky families by coffin shelves, and then here are the coffin shelves Now. Anyways, I normally don't talk very much when I interview somebody, but I'm very passionate about this. But are we on the same page here, or what? Correct me if I'm wrong or if you have different ideas.

Kevin Dolan:

I mean totally with Rufus.

You know Rufus is out, it's public, it's something that anybody can interact with. So we know it's been implemented and if you've actually used it, I'm sure you found the experience a little bit disappointing. You know it does two main things it helps you to figure out what search you might have wanted to type in if you weren't completely sure, and it answers questions about a product once you're looking at a particular product. I think that those two things could be useful. You know, I think that it's certainly early in the implementation of chatbots to say that these things are fully capable, but I think what you're seeing with Rufus is mainly two things here. The first is there's intense industry pressure to implement AI in a visible way that all companies are feeling. After ChatGPT was released, no major tech company wanted to fall behind on that trend, and so you started to see these types of very visible generative AI features implemented in tech platforms across all industries. If you've got a website, there's a good chance you've got a chatbot at this point, and so it's hard to imagine a world where Amazon was not going to release something like this. They really, really had to because there was so much pressure to at least try it, see if it works, see how customers respond to it. Also, we know that Amazon looks towards other retail experiences to try and understand what ways they can improve the e-commerce experience.

It was not always the case that Amazon's primary vehicle for finding a product was a search bar. When Amazon was first released, it was largely node browse based. You would search through a series of categories and get to the product you're looking for, which is much akin to going to a store, looking at the different aisles, walking down the aisle that has your type of product and getting there. It was a major innovation for them to create a search engine that could search through any type of product and understand at some level what a person was looking for, and they've been making continuous improvements to that over the entire development of their company. I think with Rufus, the corollary in real life retail is going to a store and talking to an associate. If you go to a nice store where they have a more curated shopping experience, you might want to go and just talk to a person and ask them questions about the products that they're experts on. I think that's a sort of natural corollary to try to implement in an online context, but when I go to a store, if somebody comes up to me and starts telling me about their products, I'm personally not the type of person to respond to that, and so you know it's natural for me to look at Rufus with a little bit more skepticism than you know somebody who might enjoy that real life experience.

I think that there are shortcomings with Rufus. I don't think it's going to materially impact the majority of purchase paths for the majority of customers. I agree with you. There is no easier user interface that I can imagine. When you are looking for something, you want to just go to Amazon, type it in a search box, a brief description of what you're looking for and then yeah, all right, I've got a list of things to look at. I've got some pictures. I can scan some results.

I do find some utility with Rufus with respect to answering questions about products. You have to take it with a grain of salt because it can hallucinate. It can produce unactual information. However, I have used it in some context to ask a specific question about you know, can this product be compatible with some other product? And it will give you some kind of information that you can then verify using the listing, using the questions and I think that's helpful in order to use Rufus to come up with search ideas and things like that.

I found that those features are a little bit less useful but, like you're saying, if they start to integrate the experience of asking these questions in a more core way, in a way that feels less bolted on and gives you more than just a text output with links if it were to give you, say, a sort of a Pinterest board for product discovery, help you to better understand how to get to the listings that you want to find.

I could see a world where those user interfaces become material for less targeted searches, where you aren't really sure exactly what you want to buy off the bat. One of the things that they point out in the blog post about Rufus because they haven't released a scientific paper about it detailing the implementation. But one of the things they point out is, if you are going to involve yourself in some kind of activity like, let's say, ongoing camping in Joshua Tree, I might use a tool like Rufus to answer the question of what types of things do I need? You know the kinds of things that you might talk to a store associate at a camping store about and it can start to give you some ideas about this. But I think we're pretty far from the point where you would give it the same kind of trust as you would give as somebody who has put their body in a camping experience routinely.

Bradley Sutton:

I agree. I think Rufus definitely has some potential to help things if the hallucinations stop, because there are things that as consumers, we do that takes time. After I land on a couple of products, I might start looking at the reviews. I might start looking at details of the bullet points and descriptions to see use cases and try and find out material. I might look at the images to see the stats and the ingredients of something, and these are all things that can take a lot of time, especially if I'm not sure where to look.

Like I don't know where a seller has put in their listing. You know which material to use, so I can definitely see Rufus helping there. But then, you see, my thing is then you know and this kind of goes now into the Cosmo discussion is I materially do not believe that sellers should be doing anything differently right now. To me, the people who Rufus and Cosmo might help, if anything, is the people. It's kind of like maybe leverage or leveling the playing field a little bit for some of the people maybe who are not doing the best practices.

You know, maybe I didn't put all the right keywords in my listing and so I wasn't indexed for it on day one, but then Cosmo or whatever, over time recognizes that the people who are buying my product are actually looking for it for this certain use case. It's kind of like what you and I showed last year on the podcast where noodle camera. Right, you know, noodle camera was not that keyword, was not at the time, I don't know about now, but was not in any listings on Amazon and it didn't have much search volume. So it's not like it was a big loss. But Amazon learned and we don't again. We don't know if this was Cosmo that did it or it's just Amazon algorithm, you know but Amazon learned that, hey, these people who are searching a noodle camera, they're actually looking for this stethoscope kind of camera that looks like a noodle, and so who don't? We don't know how long it took for that to actually become indexed as something, butthat's a benefit you know like. But at the end, if noodle camera was an important keyword, I, if I would have put that keyword in my listing from day one, I would have been the only one searchable. I wouldn't have had to wait for Cosmo or whatever A9, to kind of learn about that. And so again for the person who only keyword stuffs right, you're like, hey, I'm going to pull all my keywords from Cerebro and Magnet and just throw it in my listing and try and get it, each keyword four times.

Yeah, you know what? You probably should change your, your methodology, because that's not. That hasn't been the best way of doing things for years. But we've been teaching here at Helium 10 that you have got to talk about pain points to your product solves in your listing. You've got to show it in the images. You know what use cases. If you have collagen peptides, you've got to show people using it in their coffee. Not that they use the keyword coffee to search for collagen peptides, but that's how they are searching for it. They want something that is going to dissolve well in their coffee, and so you've got to be indexed from day one. You've got to talk about what pain points your product solves, and then that's what's going to put you on the radar of these Amazon AI things. And so in that sense, I don't think a seller's you know, most sellers should be changing their methodology at all because of any of these new things. What are your thoughts on that.?

Kevin Dolan:

Yeah Well, I mean, I think it'll first be helpful to talk about what Cosmo is and what Cosmo isn't, because I've been reading a lot of the blog articles, watching the videos and I'm seeing something that tends to happen in tech sometimes, where a word or a technology is being used as a stand-in for some broader movement within the space. I'm seeing a lot of people conflating Cosmo, which is a specific research paper, a specific tool that was built and was tested. It's described very specifically in a scientific paper. Cosmo is this tool, but I think it's being used more broadly to capture a shift into focusing more on semantic search and less on lexical search, which is exactly what I had come on last year to talk about.

Amazon has been working on this for years and years, improving their search algorithm to not rely on a listing creator to actually put a specific keyword in their listing and then find it based on the existence of that keyword in the listing. Instead, try to understand the meaning of a product, how people use it, what people think about the product and all of these kinds of details, so that when somebody types in a search, it can effectively find the product that they're going to want to buy. That is a shift that's been happening for years. That predates transformer models, but we have started to see for sure an increased ability to actually do these things on Amazon. I think that what you're saying is correct. You know the best practices and what sellers should be doing with their listings hasn't changed. But that really depends on what they were doing, whether they were following the best practices to begin with. You know like you said, if they were keyword stuffing trying to find as many keywords as people might type into a search box and stuff it into their listing in as literal a fashion as possible to make Sammy-looking listings that cover as much search volume as possible yeah, that's a bad practice, and as we move into a more semantically focused search world, that becomes an even worse practice. Semantically focused search world that becomes an even worse practice.

What it also tells us is that some of the efforts that are required today to create listings that do involve inserting specific keywords and things like that. You may be able to shift your focus to what would actually be more helpful to customers, which is accurately describing your product, accurately describing how your product will be used and targeting specific customers and specific pain points. The more specific you are and the clearer and more accurate you are, amazon wants you to be in front of the customers who want to buy your product. So that's always going to be a good practice and that's ultimately what Amazon is trying to do when they're doing these types of experiments.

Now the Cosmo paper is interesting. The Cosmo paper was tested on a really large chunk of Amazon traffic using a very heavy, large language model. Compared to prior research, which does tell us that Amazon has made investments in the server capabilities to be able to run these models in production and keep searches within their tight latency expectations, so that, I would say, is certainly significant, it tells us that Amazon does have the hardware capacities to run some of these more advanced models and it tells us that we are going to see an increased focus on semantic search. I think that does affect consumer behaviors, it does affect the way that we rank for keywords, but what it doesn't affect is that best practice of describing your products accurately.

Bradley Sutton:

Based on those scientific documents. What are some of the things where, again, just because it's in the science document doesn't mean that it's going to be implemented. But, you know, based on the results and sometimes you can kind of tell like, wow, this one had some pretty amazing results, so it's probably for sure going to be implemented. Can you talk a little bit more about the kind of things that maybe you've seen already implemented or you think will be based on all you know? Again, nobody has read more Amazon science documents than Kevin here. So what would you predict as far as the future, the next year or so?

Kevin Dolan:

I mean, Cosmo is a specific tool and I think that the function that it performs is valuable to enhancing Amazon's understanding of a listing. So I certainly would not be surprised to see Amazon implementing this in a production capacity on a large swath of searches. That would not be surprising to me, but it's not as massive as the shift that we've seen into semantic focused search. Cosmo in particular discusses essentially a mechanism for enhancing Amazon's understanding of a product by taking into consideration things that aren't expressed in the query and things that aren't expressed in the listing. The example that they use in the paper, the canonical example, is if you're looking for shoes for pregnant women, a listing might not literally say shoes for pregnant women. It might produce a specific type of open-toed shoe that has good support, good comfort. That might not literally be listed as a keyword in the listing, but it might be something that the system can infer based on its knowledge of the universe, about what it's like to be a pregnant woman and the types of products that they might benefit from.

Cosmo is essentially a mechanism for enhancing listings with additional information to get closer to the user's intent based on a particular search.

If you zoom out and you look at the broader task of semantic search. That's always been the focus. The goal is something might not be said in the same language in a query as it might be when it's written in a listing, when it's answered in a question or when it's written in a review be when it's written in a listing, when it's answered in a question or when it's written in a review, and so the domain of language that's used for these two different ways of expressing thought aren't the same, and so we need to create algorithms that better understand what a user actually means when they type in a search, and what a product actually does and what functions it performs. This idea of understanding deep intent and the actual composition of a product is essentially the goal, and we are seeing for sure that Amazon is making these changes. We're seeing more results come back for listings that do not literally have the keywords typed into search and better match what is a user's real intent on shopping.

Bradley Sutton:

But for it to learn that something is a good shoe for pregnant women, it basically would have to have some context, like maybe the reviews. Like somebody said, oh, I was in the second trimester and this was great. It's not going to pull that out of nothing unless, no, I was going to say maybe it knows that. Like, maybe somehow it knows the customer is pregnant and then, without even a review, it's a wow. We see an abnormally large number of pregnant women who are buying this. But I don't, I don't know. I mean, I think I big dad.

Kevin Dolan:

I could tell you that, Cosmo, the paper itself does. You're talking about what's usually called avatar personalization, based on your purchase history. I know some things about you. I can kind of put you in this category of person, and I know that these types of people tend to buy these types of products. The Cosmo paper doesn't actually explicitly discuss testing avatar personalization. Doesn't actually explicitly discuss testing avatar personalization. What it does talk about is using recent Search Queries to better contextualize later Search Queries. So like, for example, if I'm searching for camping gear and then I search for mattress after that, there's a good chance that I specifically mean a camping mattress or an inflatable mattress rather than a mattress for a bed in your home that weighs 200 pounds. It can better contextualize a particular search query based on the searches that you've been performing in the recent past.

Avatar personalization is another thing that Amazon is always investigating and we have yet to see any really material evidence that it's been implemented. Almost all of the studies that I've read relating to that type of personalization they talk about the potential of it, but in practice they tend to perform pretty poorly. They either reduce sales or they don't materially impact sales, which is a major problem. They don't materially impact sales, which is a major problem, especially considering that cost of performing that personalization. Amazon does a lot to make sure that the searches that come back are within a very tight latency. They need to come back as quickly as possible and that's very important to the shopping experience. The more personalized search results are, the more expensive those search queries are going to be to run and the longer it's going to take, which materially affects your experience as a purchaser. Yes, hardware is improving. Yes, technologies are improving, but if you can just reuse results, it's always going to be a lot faster than if you compute it on the fly.

Bradley Sutton:

But then, still, using the same example, I think, if you knew that, hey, your shoes have good cushioning and you designed it actually for pregnant women to be able to use, the best practice still is to put that keyboard in your listing for day one, so that at least you have a. You know, you don't have to wait for the AI to learn based on activity, you know. But then, if it's not something that's readily like, maybe you had no idea that people were using your shoes for gifts for people who are pregnant, like, maybe you had no idea. That's where, like, I think Cosmo, Rufus and stuff is going to help to uncover these sub-niches of people who are getting your product. But again, at the end of the day, this scenario, I don't think there's anything different that the seller needs to do as far as with their listing that we haven't already said. Now, at the same time, maybe they learn. I think this is going to open up some new potentials down the road. Like, let's say, Helium 10 starts seeing what the common Rufus things are being said about the product or what's the common queries. Maybe Amazon will make that available for sellers through some API that says, hey, this persona is buying your product.

Well, maybe I would go into my listing and change one of my images to show a pregnant person walking around with these shoes. But again, that's what you should have been doing for years. You know, like when you read your reviews and you notice like I used to sell this or I still do sell this egg tray, and I was reading the reviews one day and people were using this egg tray, this wooden egg tray, to as a serving platter for like sushi and also these chocolates, because you know the holes for an egg tray is very similar I was like I never would have thought that so in that situation, who knows, maybe Rufus would have seen the reviews and saw these images and now, all of a sudden, even though I don't have chocolates or sushi in my egg tray listing, I would be searchable for those keywords. But again, as soon as I would have seen that review or known that people are using my product in a way and this is what I did years before AI. You know cause this was years ago that I did this I went in and I did a reef photo shoot showing other use cases of it and I did one image, or like a quadrant of four images that showed somebody putting sushi in it, somebody putting chocolate in it, somebody putting this and that's, and then I put it in my listing too.

So, I was like I didn't want to wait for Amazon to hopefully index me for these keywords. So again, I just go back to the point that what Amazon is doing is not really making things where sellers are going to have to do something completely different, but they they're helping maybe the sellers who haven't been doing the best practices to get indexed for keywords that maybe they weren't smart enough to put in their listing. Yeah, I mean, I think so.

Kevin Dolan:

What you're ultimately seeing with Cosmo is taking information from Amazon's entire catalog, which includes billions of products, billions of product listings, billions of questions, billions of answers, billions of reviews.

There's a lot of information contained in all of that data, which starts to build a picture of how the universe works, and so, in a sense, you could think of it as Amazon using the information it's learned from existing listings to enhance all listings and build a more comprehensive picture of their catalog.

I totally agree with you that it doesn't change the best practices, and still, I would say it's now even more critical that you are taking into consideration the use cases for your products, the people who might be using it, and accurately describe these in your listings. I think that that is still absolutely the best way to rank for products. I think what it does is it shifts focus from some of those old school techniques that we were probably recommending 10 years ago. It's no longer necessary for you to enumerate all possible customers of a product, but instead focus on the key use cases and the key customers to your products, describe these things as accurately and as naturally as possible. It's not required for you to think of all the ways that you could possibly say pregnant woman. Instead, you can just describe the fact that this is useful for a person who is pregnant.

Bradley Sutton:

Outside of Cosmo, Rufus. Obviously, they announced a lot of things at Amazon Accelerate, like Amelia for Amazon sellers. Any comments on other things that Amazon have been working on the AI front? Yeah, I mean I would say Amelia is Amazon sellers. Any comments on other things that Amazon have been working on the AI front.?

0:36:59 - Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean I would say Amelia is certainly interesting. Amelia is Amazon's internal chatbot for Seller Central. You know, I've yet to play with it. I've yet to see anybody who's actually had access to it, so I think it's just an early announcement. Maybe some limited people have access, but I would imagine it's going to undergo the hype cycle that we see for most chatbots, including Rufus. There's going to be a lot of excitement. The initial version will be pretty terrible. It will slowly get better over time.

The question is whether it will continue to receive enough investment to make it into a chatbot product that is useful for people, and whether chat is as natural an interface.

As you know, Seller Central is in and of itself. You know, I think we've spent a lot of time over the past 30, 40 years developing software interaction paradigms, so we have a good idea of what is easy to use software. There is potential that we could be using these more chat oriented interfaces to get to our vague intents that we have in our head a little bit more quickly, but we haven't really proven that out yet, and so I would say Amelia has a very similar potential to Rufus in that it's something that I believe could be useful if it is properly invested in, but the jury's still out on whether or not it's going to be a material impacting to people's workflow as you start to get access to it. I do recommend that sellers give it a try, just like with any of these tools see if it's useful for their workflows, but I'm not really holding my breath on it being revolutionary.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of the recommendations that Amazon gives in Seller Central is. I think a lot of sellers have learned to just ignore them because they're not exactly that useful.

And then. So, if this is, it's like putting lipstick on a pig, you know like sure you could put the AI word up, but if it's being based on something that you don't trust in the first place, you know, might be a little bit of time before we can implement it, but I think that Amazon is definitely moving in the right direction and that Amelia has nothing to do with the customer. You know, like we always say, Amazon is all about the customer, which is true, but I think that's just in itself is a step in the right direction, that, hey, Amazon is doing things that are going to try and help the seller, and that's a trend I've been seeing over the last few years. I think it's a very nice step in the right direction.

Kevin Dolan:

On that front, we've definitely been seeing Amazon release features in Seller Central using AI that are more seller oriented, that help sellers to understand their products. They've released their own features for review analysis, which does get some basic, surface level summary statistics that could be helpful for people. I think Amazon is making investments there. However, they're always going to be a little bit step removed from the customer. They're always, at the end of the day, competing with sellers to some degree. There are certain things that they can do, certain things that they're limited on in terms of where their interests lie versus where the sellers lie, and so that's where tools like Helium 10 become much more valuable to customers, and so I do recommend that you look at the full suite of tools that you have available to you, because there's going to be things that Amazon will implement and there's going to be things that they're going to be hesitant to implement, for whatever reason.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, Kevin, thank you so much for riffing on this with me. It's something I'm passionate about because I'm all about. I'm not like Amazon, I'm all about the sellers, not about the customers, and so anything that affects sellers or you, you know, if there's going to be some big inherent change in the way that sellers need to do things, then I get very passionate about it. And especially when I hear I don't want to, you know, use the word misinformation, you know out there, but almost like scare tactics or just clickbaity stuff, which I just did in this very podcast with the title of it but with at least, if you're in a clickbait, at least let people know that what the real situation is, because I don't want I've had so many sellers come up to me because of just hearing things where it's like, oh, my goodness, I've got to change everything I'm doing for my keyword research.

I've got to change everything I'm doing for my listing optimization. And right now, the fact of the matter is, no, I'm still doing the exact same things I did last year. There are some slightly different things because there's new rules at Amazon of what you can and can't do and of course, I've switched, but as far as the way I make my listings and I structure it and how I do my keyword research. Not one iota different am I doing it now, and I have had the exact same success with getting to page one on all my main keywords and getting sales for the keywords I think I'm relevant for.

And so I think that's just important to know, guys, that as AI evolves, I'm sure I'm positive there's going to be new things that we might have to do as sellers and stay tuned. We'll let you know what those are, but right now, as long as you've been paying attention to our tutorials the last few years, you're not having to do anything different, in my opinion. So, anyways, thanks, Kevin, let's definitely bring you on in 2025. And you know, who knows, maybe AI will be we'll be driving all of our cars and we're driving like the Jetsons or something. I don't know what's. What's going to happen, but we're going to find out with you next year.

Kevin Dolan:

Super excited. Thanks for having me.

View Details

This week’s buzzing news: The Project X account was booted from Etsy, Amazon bundling has changed drastically, and 15 updates were announced at Amazon Unboxed this week!

TikTok wants to turn millions of Americans into paid shopping influencers
https://restofworld.org/2024/tiktok-shop-influencers-us/

Amazon bundles online shopping of groceries and nonfood items
https://www.retaildive.com/news/amazon-fresh-whole-foods-ecommerce-delivery-pickup-automated-micro-fulfillment/729619/

Amazon Unboxed Updates:
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) eligibility expanded to sponsored ads advertisers (through partners)
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/expanding-amc-eligibility-to-advertisers-and-partners/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Increase engagement through audience bid boosting for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/unboxed-audience-bid-boosting/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) Audiences can now be used in Sponsored Ads
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amc-audiences-for-sponsored-ads/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

New Sponsored TV releases make it easier than ever to reach relevant audiences and measure performance
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-ads-new-sponsored-tv-releases/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Deliver more relevant ads everywhere, independent of ad ids, with Ad Relevance
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/ad-relevance/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Understand the top combinations of ad touchpoints that drive conversions
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/ad-touchpoints-drive-sales-with-conversion-path-reporting/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Build a holistic first-party data strategy with Ads data manager
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/ads-data-manager-beta/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Amazon DSP launches Performance+ tactics into beta
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-dsp-launches-performance-plus-tactics/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Create impactful interactive audio ads in just a few clicks with Audio generator
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/audio-generator/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Create high-quality AI-generated videos in minutes
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/create-high-quality-ai-generated-videos-in-minutes/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw
Make creative development a breeze with AI creative studio (beta)
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/unboxed-ai-creative-studio/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Interactive ads expand availability across streaming TV into Prime Video
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/interactive-ads-expand-across-streaming-tv-into-prime-video/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Understand the value of new-to-brand shoppers beyond immediate sales
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/long-term-sales/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Maximize your campaign impact with the new Amazon DSP experience
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/new-amazon-dsp-experience/?ref_=a20m_us_wn_gw

Don't miss out on the details of upcoming online and in-person events designed to sharpen your e-commerce strategies:

Freedom Ticket Webinar - http://h10.me/ftoctober
Meganar - http://h10.me/meganar
Winning Amazon Advertising Strategies - http://h10.me/adsoctober
Sydney, Australia Event - http://h10.me/sydney
Milan, Italy Elite Workshop - http://h10.me/milan
Dubai, UAE Event - http://h10.me/dubai

Whether you're new to Amazon or running large-scale brands, these updates are sure to provide valuable insights and opportunities for growth. Listen in as I break down these developments and what they mean for you as a seller.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:07 - Etsy is THE WORST!
05:38 - Amazon Bundling Change
06:44 - TikTok Influencers
08:23 - Amazon Shopping Test
09:59 - Compliance Fast Track
10:31 - FBA New Selection Perk
11:30 - Large & Heavy Returns
12:15 - Online Events
15:19 - Sydney, Australia
15:49 - Milan, Italy
16:30 - Dubai, UAE
16:51 - Amazon Unboxed Recap

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

The Project X account was unceremoniously booted from Etsy this week. There's been a huge change. For those who do bundling on Amazon, a complete guide of the 15 updates announced at Amazon Box this week. This and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories and goings on in the Amazon and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Today is going to be almost all news, guys, because we've got like 24 different news articles to talk about due to the Unboxed conference that was held this week, and we're going to get to pretty much every single announcement that was done at Unboxed. And also we got some cool online events that you guys might want to participate in, so make sure to stay tuned for that. Let's go ahead and hop right into the news.

Bradley Sutton:

I wanted to tell you a story. I got this email this week from Etsy for the Project X account. So you guys know Project X is where we sell coffin shelves and egg trays and you know these. Actually, most of the products qualify for Etsy. All right, because you've got to either design it in the USA and slash or it's not. It doesn't have to be both. Or have you know a member of your own shop is the one who is putting it together and it's not like you know mass production, you know line and the products on project X that qualify.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, I've been selling on Etsy for like five years. You've probably heard me talk about it, sold maybe a hundred thousand dollars worth over the years, and so what happened was I got this email this week and it said the following hey, how cool is that store? We've reached out that you've got listings that were not in line with eBay's creativity standards. All right, blah, blah, blah, blah, your account has been permanently suspended. I'm like what? Like? First of all, you guys should know who we are. We're Helium 10, guys Like we're not trying to like game the system or something. We're trying to like actually promote Etsy by having an account. We're not trying to make money, we're trying to like, promote people to sell on Etsy Now, of course, and so you should let us do whatever we want. No, but we're 100% in compliance.

Bradley Sutton:

And they just send this list like nonstop or this just like big long thing of can't sell on Etsy anymore. You can still ship pending orders. You may see a delay of getting paid up to 180 days and at the very end it says if you think there's a mistake, duh, you may be able to file an appeal with Etsy. Here's how it works. So, of course, I filed appeal and then I went through the questionnaire. I send them video proof. I'm like, guys, we have not violated one policy. I mean, there's thousands, tens of thousands of products on Etsy that are clearly not in policy. Not how, not how cool is that project X stuff? So, uh, you know, I I showed them details, like showed that it was our shop making it.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, like even videos of myself. Uh, you know, I showed them details, like showed that it was our shop making it. You know, like even videos of myself, you know, helping to make some of the products. I actually showed the original Project X videos. I was like, hey, we actually did a reality TV shows that shows when we're designing this product in the USA. You know, kind of like your policy says got to be designed in the USA. Here's some proof of that.

Bradley Sutton:

And then I told them I was like no, maybe you didn't know, but like we're an educational platform here, we don't make tools for Etsy at Helium 10, but we liked helping people to sell online, submitted it and then two days later get this message. It says this is Etsy's trust and safety team and we're like Etsy's dumb and dumber team. But anyways, we appreciate you taking the time to file an appeal. No, no, you really don't. After careful consideration, no, I'm pretty sure you did not carefully consider anything. We've determined your account does not qualify for reinstatement. We performed a comprehensive review. No, you did not and we're unable to further reconsider. You know they don't allow me to say anything. I can't talk to anybody. There's like no, but no customer support to reach out to discuss I mean this whole process of this, not one person to reach out. So, anyways, my point is yeah, you're not going to see me here promoting etsy to for you guys to sell on etsy. I've done that before. But then also those of you who are selling on ety and you do get, like these notification warnings. You know, maybe do a little bit more than me as far as trying to get somebody on the line to talk to you to see why in the world you're getting these notifications when you're if you're fully in line with their requirements.

Bradley Sutton:

Who have bad? You know, I hear bad experiences all the time with Walmart, amazon customer service. Everybody always has complaints. Guys, it could be worse, right? I've not seen a worse experience with customer service than Etsy. It was kind of funny. At the bottom of the email it says their address and I was like wait a minute, 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, new York. I looked it up Sure enough. Coincidentally, 27 years ago when I lived in New York, I actually worked down the street there in Brooklyn Heights and in that building, 117 Adams, where Etsy's headquarters is I used to give tours at that building. That was part of my job. It was a printery in those days and I'm like, wow, what are the odds of that? I live in California, that's on the other side, anyways, I digress. Wow, what are the odds of that? I live in California, that's on the other side, anyways, I digress, that doesn't even matter, I'd love to give a tour there. Now, look at this here we have customer service representatives who have no idea what Etsy's policies are. No, I'm sorry, I'm just a little bit bitter here, but anyways, let's move on to other news here, the first article of the day.

Bradley Sutton:

This is kind of big actually for a lot of people who do bundling. It says updated product bundling policy for consumables. All right, so, effective October 14th, you can only list bundles that are created and offered by the original manufacturer. So what does that mean? Let's say I've got a blue diamond almonds here and I've got Wetzel's pretzel nuts or pretzels, something right. Well, what you could do in the old days was you could go and put them and make a new bundle, all right, like Blue Diamond Almonds and Pretzels, and this is my Bradley's Amazing Snack Box brand, and there's no problem, I can have products. But now you can no longer do that going forward. All right, this was a big strategy by people who do bundles and didn't want to like have to compete with just the blue diamond. You know, uh, the blue diamond brand, right, you just put under your own brand and differentiate yourself by maybe offering other products. But you are no longer going to be able to do that. So check your seller central dashboard. That's kind of going to affect a lot of people out there who do, uh, certain kind of bundling.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from restoftheworld.org and it's entitled TikTok wants to turn millions of Americans into paid shopping influencers Super interesting article that talks about the promotions that TikTok is doing to get more influencers out there. And guys, let me just tell you that this thing works from sellers. It was funny. I was talking to my family the other day. I had set up a TikTok shop account on the Project 5K Not even the Project X one, my Project 5K Amazon account or products and I only put one on there and I just wanted to go through the process. It was like a month ago and I sent our product like a sample to some influencers. I chose maybe like a maximum of like eight different people, maybe it was only five and then I forgot about it. Right, I was just like, okay, whatever. Now again, as you guys know, I don't ship my own products for my factory, my family or my factory, my warehouse, my family handles all of that. And then I was just looking at some report and the TikTok was like what? We sold 23 of these products in the last couple of weeks. I didn't promote it at all, other than sending it out to these influencers on TikTok. So again, that is, the way to success on TikTok shop is through influencer marketing. It's kind of an interesting article that talks about that. There's going to be stuff you know from Helium 10. Look forward to that. That might help with that in the future, not only for TikTok but also Amazon influencers too. It's a great way to make extra money yourself as sellers or newer sellers trying to make extra money, or you're an experienced seller and you want to. You know you should want to reach out to these influencers that are on Amazon. They can make unboxing videos and things and other UGC for your products, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from retail dive.com and it's entitled Amazon bundles online shopping of grocery and non food items. All right, so this is a test that they're doing. I think it was in Arizona where you could like actually order Amazon fresh products, whole foods and your Amazon in one shopping cart experience and then get like everything like a couple hours. Now, you know you might think, well, how does this? How is this going to affect me? I don't sell in Whole Foods, right, but it's an interesting advantage for Prime members and another benefit of being a Prime member. You know, in the past you'd have to physically go to Whole Foods perhaps. Maybe use the Amazon Fresh subsection to make just an Amazon Fresh grocery order. And then your third thing would be hey, let me order a couple of things from the Amazon Prime app, and then now there's three different deliveries and so Amazon is testing. Hey, can we give Prime members who live in certain regions the ability to just do it all in one shopping experience, saving customer time and money? This, I think, would be good for us Amazon sellers. Obviously, we're not selling Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods, but how many of orders maybe the person decided you know what? I'm just going to go in person to whole foods and let me just get my other items, like the snacks that maybe they could have gotten on Amazon, that maybe you carry. Or you know what? I'm going to go to a whole foods and let me go next door to Walmart to pick up. You know the toilet paper I need, right, maybe you sell toilet paper, but now your Amazon Prime order might get the order because people are trying to buy in this little bundle. So you know, this is not a hashtag game changer or anything like that, but I think, a good move by Amazon that will help sellers down the road if it's picked up by customers.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from your Seller Central dashboard and it's entitled Make Product Compliance Easier with Compliance Fast Track. We talked about this. This is one of those announcements at Amazon Accelerate, and now this is one of those ones that's now available. So check your dashboard, because now in such product categories as electronics, arts and crafts, you are now going to be able to get your compliance documentation in a more automated way instead of having to one by one do it. So for more information, if you're in one of those categories, make sure to check that on your dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Another program that you might not be aware of is called the FBA New Selection, and now there's a new benefit from this program and, effective last month, they're going to offer now a 25% discount. I don't know why they're just mentioning it now it was available last month, but it just got announced yesterday or day before where you can get a 25% discount on Vine for your eligible new products If you are in FBA new selection. Now I would go into that article and it actually links to the knowledge base about FBA new selection, like wait, who qualifies for FBA new selection? What are the other benefits? There's actually a lot of other benefits, more than just a discount on Vine. You can actually get a 10% rebate for sales on eligible ASINs. You can get free monthly storage, and so this is a program. If you have not heard about it, check your Seller Central dashboard. Go through to the knowledge base article on Amazon Seller Central about that and get some more information. Next article going back to the seller central dashboard, again, a seller fulfilled prepaid returns are now offered through UPS for large and heavy items, right, so that wasn't available to do UPS before, and so if you are selling a large and heavy item, make sure to check this article on your dashboard. This is like a product that weighs more than 90 pounds, et cetera. Check this article on your dashboard. This is like a product that weighs more than 90 pounds, et cetera. Amazon has some new programs in place that you need to be aware about, because now buyers are going to automatically be able to trigger some of these returns, and so you might all of a sudden start ending up with, you know, with like 50 refrigerators. If you sell refrigerators in your warehouse, you're like, where did all these return refrigerators come from? I never got returns before, but it might be part of this new program, so make sure to check that out if it affects you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, before we get into Amazon Unbox, a few on and offline events I think are really good for you guys to know. About the online ones, obviously, anybody can register for All right. The first event is actually tomorrow, the 18th, at 11 am. It's going to be a our monthly freedom to get workshop where Kevin King brings on an expert to do an advanced training for Amazon sellers, and this one is going to be entitled why Branding has Always Been your Biggest Marketing Problem and how AI Will Solve it All right, so, completely free workshop. If you guys want to register and watch it live, completely free workshop. Um, if you guys want to register and watch it live, uh, you can go to h10.me/ftoctober. F T for freedom ticket.

Bradley Sutton:

Next online event is something I haven't done in years. How many of you guys out there remember Meganar? You guys remember that I did like a Meganar. It's like a mega webinar years ago. It's probably been like five years where I went live for 16 hours straight. It was insane. They wouldn't let me go live 16 hours again. But this Monday I am going to go live, this time with the help of Carrie and Shivali and others, and I'm going to have maybe 10, 20 guests on the show. We're going to go live from 7 am all the way into 2 pm Pacific time. So we tried to pick some times where different people can hop in, hop off, and the basic theme of it is tips from top sellers that we're going to be inviting on on how to really have a great Q4, have a great Black Friday to Cyber Monday, cyber Weekend, cyber 5, and some tips that are really going to help you in the coming weeks. I've invited a really wide variety of sellers with different experiences that they're going to be giving their top tips throughout that. We're also going to be trying to get money live back from Amazon because, remember, the deadline is going to be in a couple of days for that. So we're going to be doing some of that, like we're trying to get up to maybe $500,000 back. We're going to have prizes, like like trivias and giveaways with swag. It is going to be a fun time. So to register for that, go to h10.me/meganar.

Bradley Sutton:

All right One. The very next day, on Tuesday, we are going to have a special workshop with Destiny about AI advertising, something new that Helium 10 has, and Destiny has helped optimize a little bit and she has some cool templates that are going to help for Q4. So it's kind of like continuing the conversation about Q4 and how to get your advertising ready coming up, how you can now set up campaigns in seconds with a new tool that you might not know is available to you without even having to buy this tool separately. So it's going to be pretty cool. That's going to be Tuesday of next week. If you want to join that, go to h10.me/adsoctober.

Bradley Sutton:

Now some in-person events that I think are, uh, you should go to. I'll be at almost all of these and would love to meet you guys and hang out. The first one is coming up is going to be October 31st this month. I think that's Halloween. I'm not sure if they do Halloween in Australia, but it's October 31st in Sydney, Australia. Uh, I would love to see you guys there. It's an Amazon event, all right, this is like made by Amazon corporate in Australia, h10.me/sydney. If you guys are interested in going, I think it's a free event, all right. So would love to meet and hang out with you guys there my very first ever trip down under, so it'll be great to go there.

Bradley Sutton:

Next event will be in Milan, Italy, November 11th. This is an elite workshop, but it's open to everybody. Elite members go free, but instead of $400, we are doing a special where anybody can go to this high-end elite workshop for only 89 euros. It's going to be in Milan, Italy, h10.me/milan. It's going to be with Avast. We're going to have some great speakers. I'll be speaking there my first time speaking at Elite Workshop this year. We'll have Mansour from Incrementum Digital coming from Canada, We'll have George from ClearAds coming from the UK, Jana from Serbia we have a very international speaking group and I definitely think you guys, um, should make it out to that one. And then last will be a December, the 4th I believe and fifth in Dubai. I'll be speaking at a pretty big event over there and that is h10.me/dubai. It's called World EF, Dubai event, so there's going to be a bunch of people speaking there. It'd be great to meet you there.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now let's get into Amazon Unboxed and this is probably going to be your biggest or the most comprehensive recap. I hope so. I wasn't even there, but I really tried to read up on all the articles and what people were writing to get a good kind of like picture of what happened at Amazon Unboxed. I was able to go last year, but this year didn't make it. So let's go ahead and hop into it. Some of this stuff, guys, is a little bit in the weeds. It's a little over my head, like I'm not a professional advertiser. Obviously, I spend $100,000 a year on advertising, but I don't consider myself, like you know, some advanced person who does DSP and all these things. As a matter of fact, I don't think I spend a hundred thousand dollars more. I'm probably down to like $70,000 this year. But anyways, let's go ahead and hop into it.

Bradley Sutton:

The very first announcement was Amazon Marketing Cloud, AMC. The next few ones are going to be all about AMC. That was like a big theme of. Unbox says AMC eligibility expanded to sponsored ads advertisers Me I have never used AMC Before. You would have to have DSP to be able to use that or work at an advanced agency and things. That wasn't me. Helium 10 didn't have AMC before. Helium 10 is going to have AMC, so be looking forward to that. But basically, what AMC is? We're going to have some training on it at that Destiny workshop for PPC next week.

Bradley Sutton:

It says AMC is a secure, privacy, safe and cloud-based clean room solution. Like you might be a clean room solution, what the heck I? My room is clean. It's not that kind of clean room, all right, so this is like I said. It's going to get into the weeds here for some of you, but make sure to stick through all of these announcements because they're important. A clean room solution in which advertisers can easily perform analytics and blind audience across. They're using like fancy language here pseudonymized. I love it. See, is that a word, guys? Pseudonymized. Come on, amazon, with your press releases. You got to use better words than this. Like us, illiterate, not well-educated people like myself don't understand words like pseudonymized signals, including Amazon ad signals as well as their own input.

Bradley Sutton:

But this is going to be interesting, guys, because, like here in this article, it says why is this important? It says with this launch, we're democratizing AMC insights and actions, because before it used to only be available in DSP, but now, basically, you guys are going to understand the buyer journey a lot more and it's going to allow you for different targeting. Speaking of AMC, another article that they announced was AMC marketing cloud audiences can now be used in sponsor ads. So that's critical. Like I said before, you could only use it for, like, DSP and things like that, or just, just, you know, like for data gathering, but now, uh, you're going to be able to take the audiences that come from AMC and actually use it as a target audience in sponsored ad campaigns. All right, so make sure to check, by the way, every single one of these articles I'm doing. I have linked in the comments below to the specific article where Amazon goes a little bit deeper into it. So make sure to read it.

Bradley Sutton:

But why? Amazon says it's important, says, with AMC, advertisers are going to get an in-depth understanding of customers journeys across Amazon ads, media and channels. This launch helps advertisers take action on these insights across Amazon ads versus media and channels. This launch helps advertisers take action on these insights across Amazon ads, versus previously only in Amazon DSP. It says, for example, an advertiser can build an audience similar to their high value shoppers to expand the reach of their campaigns or to re-engage audiences reached through Amazon streaming TV campaigns. Through this launch reach through Amazon streaming TV campaigns. Through this launch, advertisers can leverage granular AMC insights to more efficiently move customers along their journey down the funnel.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so, again, like I said, some of this stuff might be a little bit over your head, some of it's over my head, but this is something that we're going to break down for you guys. We're going to be educating you guys a lot about what exactly is AMC, how can it be used, even by, you know, smaller sellers out there, where before it was only used by, like, very big companies? Next, unbox release increase engagement through audience bid boosting for sponsored products and sponsored brands All right, so this will allow advertisers to reach and engage audiences that they define and create. So, for example, you are going to be able to create custom audiences that you were not able to do before, such as shoppers who have not previously purchased their product, shoppers who are exposed to a streaming TV campaign. You're going to be able to adjust bids just like you would like in a regular campaign, and so this bid boosting is going to again be tapped. This is another one of those AMC announcements. This is part of this whole AMC. Remember, AMC is not just about this clean room thing, but it's about it's about, you know, seeing people throughout the funnel. All right, so I'm not going to go too much more in depth in this article. If you want to learn about all of these AMC stuff, make sure to check out the article that's linked to below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next one is introducing new product campaigns from Amazon ads now available in the U S. All right. Uh, it says brands selling on Amazon now have full funnel advertising solution to quickly introduce their latest product innovations to customers. So another way they referred to this, I guess that unbox was kind of like. This is a like a product launch, kind of like a campaign, and it says this managed service provides data driven media plans leveraging a curated set of 1P and 3P audio video device and display inventory. All right, so this is not for the faint at heart or for me. Maybe you know launching a coffin shelf that I want to sell maybe 10 units a day of no, this is obviously for bigger customers.

Bradley Sutton:

Now look, if you just look at this visual example those of you watching on YouTube you'll see here, here is this kitchen smart coffee maker, and then you see a huge ad, like on the Amazon homepage, right, and then now you see a ESPN app where you're going to see an ad. You can you can barely see it there, but you can see there's Caitlin Clark doing some kind of highlight right, and then right above that, you see an ad for this coffee maker. And then you see the ESPN desktop app on a computer and the customer is seeing that same ad. And then now it looks like somebody's watching streaming TV maybe Amazon Prime Video or something and then they see a full 15 second ad of this kitchen smart ad. And then to the right, now you see this Alexa device and that same ad is coming up there. And then, uh, the last one here. This looks like I guess it's like Twitch or something, so maybe they're watching a Twitch streamer and then they see that same ad. So now this is going to like be this, this, this thing that Amazon is like providing as a solution where you don't have to come up with. Hey, what, what's my strategy for getting my initial push out there. We're going to go ahead and handle all of that for you. So, again, if you want more information on that, make sure to check the article that is linked to below.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of sponsored TV, a new sponsored TV releases make it easier than ever to reach relevant audiences and measure performance. Was this next announcement All right? So last year at Unbox, they really talked about sponsored TV a lot, and now we're about a year into sponsored TV and now there's more features that are coming up here. So the new thing is that now there's going to be lifestyle and life stage audiences that advertisers are going to be able to use, audiences that advertisers are going to be able to use. So it's not like hey, let me just make an ad and let me just target replays of the walking dead or something like that. No, like, amazon has all these audiences that they have based on all their information. For example, a couple of things that they give here is like outdoor enthusiasts or environmentally conscious shoppers they give us an example of, and so it's not just a matter of like, hey, let me just throw up this TV ad and target TV shows. But then it's like let me target these TV shows, but then only the people watching it that are outdoor enthusiasts, right, so there's gonna be some really interesting stuff, as Amazon kind of like makes media advertising digital media advertising, uh, tv media, uh a little bit more accessible to the common folk like me. I'm still not sure I'm ready for that yet, but Amazon's getting it closer to make that more accessible to me.

Bradley Sutton:

Next one is deliver more relevant ads everywhere, independent of ad IDs, with ad relevance All right. So it says ad relevance. What is that? It's an innovative approach to deliver relevant ads for all products and services advertised through the Amazon. DSP All right. So since this is about DSP and I don't know too much about DSP and not many of you are using it, I'm not going to go too in depth here, but anybody who is using DSP out there make sure to check the article about some of the details on this one, because there are some new enhancements, definitely for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Next one here I think a lot of you might find interesting. It says understand the top combinations of ad touch points that drive conversions. All right, that's something I think everybody wants to know about. All right. So conversion path reporting shows the ad touch points on the customer's 30 day path path to conversion, starting with purchases. It's going to be available in both sponsored ads and DSP, all right, so it's going to be able to allow you to see the most frequent and efficient customer paths.

Bradley Sutton:

For example, some of the examples it gave was maybe the first time somebody got exposed to your brand was through a streaming TV ad, and then they happen to see next the display ad, and then they saw a sponsored brand video ad and then they saw a sponsor brand video ad and then they saw a sponsored product ad, then they saw a sponsored video display and then they purchased the product. Right? Maybe another kind of like flow is something different. Maybe it was a they only saw a sponsored video ad and then an audio ad from like audible or something, and then boom, went to purchase. Now let's say that that one was working a lot better. Well, that all of a sudden means like hey, you know what? I'm not going to go spend all this money trying to get that customer through that six stage step of the customer journey. Let me double down on this sponsored brand video to audio DSP ad, because that's like my quickest way to get to that purchase.

Bradley Sutton:

I mean, that's just a random example there, but before could, could we see this? No, like we, we we speculate, right, like sometimes, uh, we have sponsored brand video ads or display ads that you know, maybe, uh, RoAS or ACoS and things like that are not that great, right, but we still do it because it's more of a branding play. We're like no, I need to get in front of customers more. I want them to see my brand so that by the time they see my sponsored product ad or some like on page ad or just an organic purchase, it makes them more likely to go ahead and purchase my product, because they've been conditioned to kind of like, see my brand and think about purchasing it before, right, so, but you didn't really have visibility as a regular seller, at least we haven't had visibility to see how that purchase journey works through the ads, and so this is going to be something cool. I think that will allow us to do that. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the next few. I'm just going to kind of skim over a little bit, because once I got to this stage, maybe your head is hurting as much as mine with some of this, how deep some of this stuff goes. But the next announcement was entitled build a holistic first party data strategy with ads data manager. All right, so ADM ads data manager is a new standalone offering that simplifies and streamlines the process of first party data management through Amazon ads tech. All right, um, this is going to be for DSP or AMC. Um, again, most of that doesn't affect you guys yet, so if you're interested in that, make sure to check out the article.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of DSP, one more article that they had talked about is entitled the Amazon DSP launches performance Plus. It's a little fancy name. Almost sounds like something that helium 10 would call something. This is your new Performance Plus Cerebro tool, but anyways, amazon took it before us Performance Plus Tactics into Beta. Now, for those of you who are doing display online video or streaming TV, with a conversion KPI of ROAS for endemic advertisers or CPA for non-endemic advertisers, you're going to have this performance plus tactic available, and if that was just sounded like a whole bunch of gibberish to you, this article is probably not for you, like it's not for me, but for those of you, I know we've got some nine figure sellers out there that are really into this stuff. Make sure to check out the article link to for that I wanted to make sure to include everything, because I know we have listeners out there that are brand new on Amazon. Keep listening, guys. We got stuff for you too. We have listeners who are nine figure sellers. I want to make sure I give stuff that is relevant to everybody. More unbox announcements.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this was interesting and something I hadn't considered. I alluded to a little bit earlier about audio ads, right, so this is entitled Create Impactful Audio Ads in just a few clicks with Generator. So these next couple announcements have to do kind of like with AI. So Audio Generator leverages generative AI capabilities to turn products into interactive audio ads in minutes for the ad to cart call to action. All right, so you might not have thought about audio ads or thought about adding, you know, like, maybe, fancy audio to your, to your video ads. But with this audio generator, there's a cool demo here that you guys make sure to click on the article and then go watch this demo here. But you're going to be able to choose your product and then use AI to generate audio including, like you know, add copy, like you can get somebody with a British accent to read some kind of script that you have and you not have to go like go hire a professional voice actor for some of this stuff. So really interesting stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of AI, another thing that Amazon announced uh, this was something that was actually originally announced at Amazon accelerate, so I'm not going to go too deep into this, but it says create high quality AI generated videos in minutes. And it says Amazon ads has introduced a new powered video generator, currently available for use in sponsored brands campaigns. You guys already heard us talk about this at Amazon Accelerate, but another cool demo is on this video in our link below, so make sure to check that out. The last AI update for Unbox is called make creative development a breeze with the AI creative Studiobox. Is called Make Creative Development a Breeze with the AI Creative Studio, which is in beta. So this is AI Creative Studio is a centralized experience that combines AI functionality with expert level controls All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is a new kind of like homepage where you're going to have the studio, the sandbox and the inspiration gallery In the studio. It says you're going to gain access to a suite of tools that can be used to transfer your concepts from in progress to design complete. You know, you can like start with a picture of a cup and then, all of a sudden, you put it in this like crazy background and choose different backgrounds you can have different effects and different lightings and then you're going to be able to generate that image. Now, with the sandbox, you're going to be able to test out new features, like, maybe you take one of those things that was just an image before and then now you're going to be able to animate the image. You know, like, if you remember, in Accelerate they showed how you can make smoke coming out of a or not smoke, but like steam coming out of, like a teacup or or coffee, right, so that's kind of cool. And there's also going to be the inspiration gallery where you're going to see examples of AI generated content. Uh, and then you can actually like, click these If you like, like, hey, like, I like this vibe right here. I like, I like this, the way that they did this headphones here I want to be able to do that to my product. And then you're going to be able to like, choose these kinds of like templated things or examples and then apply it to your own products. All right, so this is one of those ones. Guys, you do need to click into the article where this was announced, because I got the link for you in order. If you want to join the wait list, all right if you want to join the wait list for this AI creative studio, because not everybody's going to be able to get into this right away. So make sure to find whatever article this is about the AI creative studio in the comments below and check it out.

Bradley Sutton:

Only a couple more uh unbox announcements. Uh, the next one is called interactive ads expand availability across streaming TV into prime video. Right, this was, uh, we had an article about this before in the weekly buzz. But you know, sometimes you might think of when you see commercials on TV regular TV, right, that's all. It is a commercial, like a Superbowl commercial. You see a GoDaddy website, or you see you know, chips, or Michael Cera showing his CeraVe lotion, or whatever, right, but what, what does? How does that help the advertiser? Well, the only way it helps lead, leading to an immediate sale, is maybe they go on Amazon or they go somewhere else to the store later on the day and they go buy that product. Right, but now, on prime video, you still can do just generic ads, but now there's going to be shoppable ads, all right, so you can see a 15 second ad on prime video as an example here, and then it'll be like you know you're not in your computer but it'll say, hey, just hit OK on your TV remote and you're going to buy the product, like if it's connected to your Amazon account. So now, all of a sudden there's going to be like a direct connection where somebody doesn't have to go and pause the video to go buy a product. Just by hitting like OK on the remote they're going to be able to buy some products that you're advertising on Prime Video. So make sure to check this article. That could make streaming TV a little bit more lucrative for some of you.

Bradley Sutton:

Last couple, I'm just going to breeze through here. There's a couple new metrics here. One is called long-term sales, and long-term sales RoAS, is the acronym LTS RoAS. I guess they're getting crazy with these. These acronyms are already, like you know, 10 letters long here. But anyways, this is going to be interesting because it's a historical 12 month return of a given customer engagement with your brand, right, you know, like there's an attribution window right when you know like, let's say, something has a 14 day attribution window.

Bradley Sutton:

Somebody clicks on something on Monday and a week and a half later they buy it. That original click gets attributed with that sale from that ad. Right, but let's say somebody clicked on it but they don't buy it in two weeks, maybe they four months later or something. They buy the product. Have you ever had any visibility into that? That purchase can be tied all the way back to that original click. No, you have not been able to do that until now. All right, so this is going to be something cool. This LTS ROAS uh is going to be able to allow you to take a look back even, uh, throughout a year to see, like, how your ads are doing. So make sure to check the article for more information on that.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, last one is DSP has a new experience. So if the whole DSP page for those are like UI of their homepage has been completely redone, I guess I wouldn't know the difference because I never saw the old DSP page part. But for those of you who use it, go ahead and check it out and see if you like their new UI. That is it. Believe it or not? Guys, for Amazon, unboxed and all of the news and events this week. Obviously no time to do our normal training tip of the week or our new feature alerts. We'll have to save that for next week. We actually got some pretty amazing things coming for you guys. By the way, as guys hope, you enjoyed this in-depth coverage of all the goings on in the news this week. Make sure to tune in next.

View Details

In this episode, a former 8-figure Amazon seller shares how he lost millions and saw sales drop to zero. Learn key mistakes to avoid and protect your Amazon FBA business from disaster.

Join us for an insightful conversation as we welcome Brian Creager, a former eight-figure Amazon seller, who shares his rollercoaster journey through the world of Amazon FBA. Starting with a background in electrical engineering and transitioning into international sales, Brian eventually found his niche in the e-commerce space. Discover how a pivotal moment in his corporate career led him to build a successful seven-figure business in men's hair care. He opens up about the highs and lows of launching a brand in a competitive market, the remarkable margins he achieved, and the unexpected challenges he faced, such as being banned from selling a medical device on Amazon. Brian’s story offers valuable lessons for aspiring and seasoned Amazon sellers alike.

Listen in as we explore the significance of building relationships through networking events and the lasting impact of face-to-face interactions. Bradley and Brian share their own experiences with the Zonblast community and the early days of private-label selling. They discuss the importance of real-time monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs), especially given the tighter margins and increased advertising costs today. Through anecdotes and personal experiences, we highlight the challenges faced during the pandemic, including product quality issues and tariffs, which led to significant changes in operations.

We also tackle the evolving landscape of selling on Amazon, emphasizing the need for unique products to maintain a competitive edge in the face of copycats. Strategies like failing quickly and strengthening supplier relationships are discussed as key tactics for handling product issues. As the Amazon marketplace evolves with new fees and AI integration, we touch on the growing importance of influencer marketing and niche product creation. Contemplate the future of product discovery and how AI might change consumer habits while considering how sellers can adapt to these shifts. This episode is packed with insights and strategies for navigating the ever-changing e-commerce landscape.

In episode 605 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Brian discuss:

00:00 - 8-Figure Amazon Seller's Journey and Lessons
03:29 - Men's Hair Care Launch Success
13:02 - Struggles and Lessons From Selling on Amazon
19:04 - Challenges in Paper Bag Production
22:44 - Losses, Inventory, and Chapter Seven
27:03 - Adapting to Changes in Amazon
30:02 - AI Impact on Product Discovery
33:47 - How To Reach Out To Brian Creager
36:12 - Competitor Analysis with Market Tracker 360

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Join us for an insightful journey with Joe Sanhanga, a remarkable e-commerce entrepreneur generating millions annually through unique and high-priced products. Listen in as Joe shares his inspiring story from his roots in Zimbabwe to his educational pursuits in the UK and the US, ultimately landing in Las Vegas. His journey began on platforms like Shopify and WordPress, selling distinctive items such as African-style swimsuits and nano tape toys, before discovering the immense potential of Amazon's FBA and FBM models. Through their conversation, Bradley and Joe emphasized the transformative power of networking at conferences like Amazon Accelerate.

Explore the strategies behind Joe's successful transition to selling on Amazon, starting with assisting a soil business during the pandemic and leading to the creation of "Wonder Soil," a private-label product on Amazon. Joe's ventures into innovative products like tanning lamps, vitamin D lamps, and seasonal depression lamps highlight the importance of team collaboration and strategic Amazon sales optimization. With aspirations to surpass a $30 million run rate, Joe shares valuable insights into leveraging Amazon's platform to achieve extraordinary growth in niche markets.

Discover the challenges and tactics involved in marketing high-priced products, like a $599 lamp, in a competitive landscape dominated by lower-cost alternatives. We discuss the advantages of having larger margins for experimenting with keywords and bidding strategies, alongside the creative approaches necessary to maintain product visibility amidst Amazon's policies. Joe also shares his experiences optimizing advertising strategies, managing warehouse transitions to Amazon's Warehousing and Distribution system, and utilizing tools like Helium 10’s Adtomic to automate and enhance PPC strategies. This episode provides a comprehensive view of the perseverance and innovation required to thrive in e-commerce, offering inspiration and actionable advice for sellers at any level.

In episode 604 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Joe discuss:

00:28 - E-Commerce Strategies and Global Perspectives
04:54 - Amazon Product Sales Success Story
05:41 - Amazon Brand Growth During COVID
11:37 - Strategies for High Price Point Products
11:50 - Product Pricing and Brand Strategy
15:23 - Optimizing Keywords for Product Sales
18:21 - Amazon Advertising Strategy Discussion
19:14 - Managing $120,000 of Ad Spend With Adtomic
23:49 - Amazon PPC Management Strategies
27:52 - Optimizing Ad Placements to Lower ACoS
30:51 - Pricing Strategy Impact on Sales
32:45 - Warehouse Cost Savings and Amazon Advertising
34:28 - Inventory Management for Amazon Sellers
38:14 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Conversion
41:17 - Online Presence and Networking

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we talked to a $30 million a year seller who is selling, and has sold, some of the most unique products I've ever heard of, including one at a $600 price point, when everybody else is priced at only 40 bucks. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. In my travels recently, one of the things I like about going to conferences and it's what I always tell people about is that you know you can meet different people, network with people and find out about their story, and that's kind of like how I structure this whole podcast. But then I actually did that recently at Amazon Accelerate and I'm glad I did it, because I'm glad I did it. As I went to this one mixer that they organized and I was at first, I was like, oh man, I was so drained after that day and I'm like, oh man, it's gonna be a crowded place. I don't like to be in crowded places, but you know what? I'm going to hop on this little lime scooter from my hotel and go over to this restaurant where the event was and I was sitting down talking to some people at the table and then I met today's guest there, Joe. How's it going?

Joe:

I'm going good. Thanks for having me on.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now, you said you're in Vegas right now. Right?

Joe:

Yes, we're in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, that's not a typical Vegas accent you've got. So where were you born and raised?

Joe:

Yeah, so I was born in Zimbabwe, raised as well in Zimbabwe, then I moved out to England where I spent a lot of my time there doing some education and stuff and then I got tired of the cold being a Zimbabwean.

Bradley Sutton:

You went to the opposite, then if you went to Vegas, I cannot imagine a more opposite than cold place.

Joe:

Oh yeah, 100%. I just went on to Google and I was like okay, I want to go somewhere in America, but I need to find somewhere warm. And I think the first thing that came up on the search was Death Valley, but there was nothing over there. So the second thing was Phoenix and Las Vegas. So, I eventually found myself in Las Vegas just because of the ease of doing business. Ability to meet people here is really good.

Bradley Sutton:

And did you go to university uh over in UK or in the US?

Joe:

yes, I did university in the UK as well as in the US, so I got an accounting degree back in uh UK um and then in the US, I did a um was a business management degree with some entrepreneurship uh additional to that

Bradley Sutton:

was it like a unlv or?

Joe:

I know this was in um in Phoenix in ASU, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

ASU, uh, Sun Devil right?

Joe:

yes, sir, okay, there, you see it.

Bradley Sutton:

I always test my I don't know. I'm not going to ask you any kind of mascot because from England I don't know anything about England schools, but I know most of the US schools have mascots here. Actually, I'm wearing a. We'll talk about this later. I'm wearing a mascot from a minor league baseball team is my hat. This is called from nearby to Arizona is Albuquerque Isotopes. But the reason I use this today was because this is very similar, this logo, to our Helium 10 Adtomic logo. I know you and I were talking about Adtomic, doesn't it look like the A from Adtomic yeah,

Joe:

it actually does. Now I see it when you mention it.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's why I wore this on purpose. There's a method to my madness, but anyways, before we get to Adtomic, talking about Adtomic, I just want to talk about your e-commerce journey. So when you graduated from, after you know, there at ASU, did you get into e-commerce at all, or at what kind of?

Joe:

So this was actually still back in England , around 2017 is when I kind of got first into my e-commerce kind of journey, which was on Shopify. Specifically, Shopify and WordPress was where I started out and I bought a random course of somebody online, learned all about basically advertising from like Facebook, from Instagram, from Google, sending it to this website and landing pages that we used to do. And then, within being in that realm, I started hearing this FBA term being thrown around.

Bradley Sutton:

What were you selling on Shopify in those days?

Joe:

Oh, so I remember we had to go at, we did these other swimsuits that we did African style print swimsuits, and then we also went on and started doing it was like these little tape toys, sort of like double-sided type tape. Yeah, exactly so we were doing those. It's called nano tape, um, so, yeah, that's basically how, how that started and then,

Bradley Sutton:

and then that's when you, when you kind of like, learned about the amazon, uh potential.

Joe:

So I heard, obviously, being in that space, I started hearing this word FBA being thrown around uh, the acronym, and you know. Then I went on Google, searched up, okay, what is FBA? And it's some sort of Amazon selling thing. Okay, and then there's FBM as well. So now I'm like, okay, there's these two terms, what is this all about? And that's basically when I started doing my research and I was like, okay, this Amazon thing seems to actually have some stuff to it. And at the time I think the platform is not the way. It's so different now, because sometimes I've got screenshots of my old dashboards and it just looks completely different. So, yeah, that's how I basically then started with Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you start selling like your own account, you know, on Amazon, start selling your own products, or did you just start working for other companies that were selling on Amazon?

Joe:

Yeah, so to begin with I was working with this other lady. She basically had soil and the way we actually started working together was I created a website for her, put on Shopify, to sell the soil, and then she was bagging up the soil to try and get it to consumers, because her business was mainly sending thousand-pound totes to farmers. But she said, how can I get this you know three-pound bag to people that are at home and want to grow some plants and what actually it was? This was around 20.

Bradley Sutton:

Soil on Amazon, man, when you think you've heard it all.

Joe:

It's called Wonder Soil. It's actually one of the rivals to Miracle-Gro and we actually I actually raised it to get the Amazon choice badge. We were on Business Insider as one of the top growing brands on amazon too, um, but basically the cool thing about it was we've tried to find a way to get the soil to consumers and everything worked well, because this was during covid, so people were at home, people had nothing to do, and you know people are growing stuff at home, people. You know we're just trying to, yeah, so the product hit at the right time uh, what year is this 2020.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. 2020 okay yeah. Oh yeah, I mean that was a good time. Yeah, during covid, people were always are really trying to make their own gardens and stuff like grow their own vegetables and stuff like that okay yeah this is a private label brand or you're reselling um others?

Joe:

oh, so we actually have manufacturers in China. Uh, that we get all that product for We've actually gotten rid of our warehouse Now. We've gone full into AWD, so we're getting.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's talk about that a little bit later in the show too. I haven't talked to many people who are doing that, so I'll be interested in that, ok.

Joe:

Yeah, so that's, that's what that one. And then there's another lamp company, which is pretty funny, is tanning lamps and vitamin D lamps, so we run through those on Amazon as well. Those are actually the only there's a lamp that can give you vitamin D.

Bradley Sutton:

It's the only lamp the same like the sun.

Joe:

Yes, you spend five minutes every other day in front of it and it'll give you. And there's studies on YouTube. People use this lamp, where this lady her name is Carnival Doctor on YouTube. She did a study with a lamp for six weeks and her levels went from 20 something to 40 something vitamin D. She feels healthier than ever and it's perfect. It stopped her from having to buy, you know, vitamin D pills and, of course, all those sorts of things. So, yeah, it's the only one, and you get tan at the same time. So now, that's the difference. So, there's two lamps One gives you vitamin D and one gives you a tan, because there are some people that don't want the tanning effect. So that's what it is. So, it's-.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what if you put this tanning lamp over your miracle magic soil? Are you going to create some like hybrid plant? Oh my, you sell the most interesting things. All right, there's a third account too,

Joe:

yeah, so it's basically the third account is also in lighting, but this one is seasonal depression lamps where basically you look at it so that one is its own brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you say depression? Yes, depression lamp Like as in I'm very depressed and I'm sad like that word depression.

Joe:

Yeah, depression, you're sad. What does that have to do with a lamp? So, you look at this lamp for 30 minutes and you become happy. I know it sounds stupid, but minutes and you become happy. I know it sounds stupid, but that one doesn't give you vitamin D.

Bradley Sutton:

That one doesn't give you vitamin D. Nor a tan. Yeah, you see. Hey, there's a product idea. You got to combine all three and then, oh my goodness, you'd have the most amazing.

Joe:

That would be powerful. We've had people that have requested you know, do you have one that does both, or this, this, this? But because of FDA regulations, we've had to separate a lot of the things.

Bradley Sutton:

Is these three separate companies or is it like the same group of people who's all owning all three of these?

Joe:

So two of the companies is one group of people and the other one is one person.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, what do you do in these?

Joe:

So I run just an Amazon account. So I run just an Amazon account. So running the ads, running the listing optimization, making sure the account is obviously hitting the sales numbers, everything that just literally goes through Amazon and inventory everything.

Bradley Sutton:

What's the overall projected sales for all three combined on Amazon?

Joe:

So for all three combined, we're looking at 28. We're on pace to do 28 million this year on all three.

Bradley Sutton:

Will that be your best, our biggest year yet.

Joe:

Yeah, this would be our biggest year yet. We've seen record numbers in previous months. In previous, like this past quarter, we'd had record sales as well. I know we had our biggest. We had, I think, our first. We had two days in September where we had 100K sales days, which was the first time we've done that. We also had our highest sales days in the past two years. Nine of those days in our top 10 sales were all in September. So we've had record sales. Especially Q3 was really, really amazing. I think we were up about 800K across the board in Q3 alone. So we're on pace to do a really good year and it sets us up for our plan is to do a 2.5 million month at least once this year in total and that will set us up for a run rate for next year. We want to push over to that 30 million stage.

Bradley Sutton:

If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me forward slash Adtomic for more information. That's h10.me forward slash A-D-T-O-M-I-C. I'm just curious, before we get into some more details about, like, your advertising because I know that's one of the things that is your specialty these lamps that you're doing like, were these kind of like inventions, or? Or there was an existing market of vitamin D lamps or an existing market of lamps that make you happy Like was that an existing keyword or is this something that you're you guys invented and kind of like created the demand for?

Joe:

So it's actually crazy. You say that is because the first vitamin d lamp started in 1924. It was a guy by Dr. Sperti is his name. He's the guy who made it. He invented it and he started selling it throughout the US. It was a company in Kentucky, um, but he was just selling it out of his own like little warehouse and then eventually he got old um and then sold off for business and then basically that's where we put it online, um to run it through Amazon, and we first were going like, for example, the vitamin D one it's the only lamp that's there. The only competition are these vitamin D pills that you'll see on Amazon. But our price point for the lamp is like 599. And we're competing against people that can buy a bottle for four bucks, five bucks on Amazon. So it's been a pretty interesting game competing against people that can buy, you know, a bottle for four bucks, five bucks on amazon. So it's been a pretty interesting game. But it moves. It moves um on amazon. What's the price of the product?

Bradley Sutton:

you said 599 599, 599, yeah, wow, uh, I want to. I'm trying to look at, look for it on amazon right now. What's the brand name called?

Joe:

SpertI s-p-e-r-t-i, and then you'll see vitamin d we got to show the audience this.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, oh, my goodness gracious, here it is. Hold on, this is incredible. All right.

Joe:

That's it and it's right. That's the first one that's popped up against our competition. All those are competitors on the right.

Bradley Sutton:

So 500 and Sperti. So that was what the doctor's name was. Who?

Joe:

made this up.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Dr. Sperti, that was his name yeah, there was a ready demand for this out there.

Joe:

Oh, huge, because, if you think about it, vitamin D pills are basically the same target market as us. Yeah, so this is just a non-invasive way that you buy and you keep this for a very, very long time. So that's that. So something interesting. As you go through this, this listing, you're not going to see the word vitamin d anywhere on the listing and you'll notice our carousel images, our images on there. we have our box images because amazon actually took us down because our lamp has the word vitamin d on it.

Bradley Sutton:

ah, yeah, yeah, I see it in the video there, so you don't have vitamin d anywhere in there, but you probably got indexed for the keyword by Amazon.

Joe:

Exactly so. That's why we use UVB, which is basically the term for vitamin D. So Amazon is not allowing us to use it, even though we're FDA approved and everything. Amazon is just not letting us go for that.

Bradley Sutton:

I see some of your main keywords. Yeah, vitamin D lamp.

Joe:

Oh yeah, we can use them in the back. Vitamin D light.

Bradley Sutton:

Vitamin D therapy lamp, vitamin D light therapy. Now, I'm just curious. I don't talk very often with people who have this high price point. What is different about having a product that's in the hundreds of dollars? Like, do you approach advertising differently, cause it's not like where I mean. You might now you know you, you might get a hundred clicks with no sale, but still you just get one, the 101st click. All of a sudden, that's $600 of revenue. So, so, like, how is it different, uh, with something like this, compared to your, your other products, which I'm assuming is like more you know, regular pricing 10, 20, 30 bucks.

Joe:

So the cool thing about it is that across all the catalog that I, that I that I run, I have products starting at like five bucks, all the way to this one that has $5.99. So the landscape with this one is totally different. Like you said, you can set up an ad, you'll get 50 clicks at $1.20 CPC and, based on our margins, we're still clean on a sale. If we get one sale, we profit. So the cool thing about it is you just have to be a bit more patient. However, because we have such kind of should I say a big space for those clicks, it allows us to test a lot of keywords in this space and we really kind of exhaust any keyword that's there without having to really be careful, unlike if I was selling a smaller, less priced product, I can't just throw in all the keywords and just you know it'll go crazy if it's like a $60 product.

So with this, it gives me that comfortability to go out and bid higher and also it allows me to, like I said, like if you saw on that page where you searched, my competition were those pill bottles that are like five bucks, six bucks, seven bucks, so I can bid above all of those guys. So I ensure that every time you search the keyword I'm going to be first, because there's no way they're going to bid the same amount of dollars. I'm going to bid because their price points are different. However, they can take a loss on a sale because they have repeat products. So people finish that bottle, they come back and buy another With ours. That person buys a lamp and is done. So we obviously have to gauge it to a point whereby, okay, this is our ACOS target and at this A-cost target we're profitable. So that's now how more I manage that one. It's more ACOS targeting, but I'm basically trying to make sure I stand out for every single eyeball that's there because I have the room.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is interesting because, regardless of the price point, there are similar kind of scenarios where it would be like this they're probably actual keywords of how somebody who's searching for this exact thing is probably very limited Vitamin D lamp or lamp for tanning, you know for your other product, or it's not. Like oh there's you know 5,000 way, you know 5,000 ways that are going to come up in Cerebro to search for this one thing. You're like it's kind of like that way with coffin shelf. If you're looking exactly for a coffin shelf, that's pretty much it, that's it. Coffin shelf or shelf shaped like a coffin, like there's very limited number of words. The other keywords I get sales from is more like the, you know, gothic decor or spooky things. So how are you doing your keyword research? Like using Helium 10 or amazon, for you mentioned you do a lot of testing for targets. So like, where are you coming up with these keywords to test to see if any of them stick?

Joe:

So that's. It's more like said, I run Cerebro on a lot of those vitamin D bottle and pills and basically a lot of my. So, like I've said, I've exhausted the keyword vitamin D and the more you get long tail with this product, the less traffic you have. You know, for some of the products you can get long tail with a bunch of keywords and you still have traffic. Like, for example, if it's like a Ziploc bag, I can put Ziploc bag for Legos, Ziploc bag for sandwiches, Ziploc bag for this. You know the list is endless and you have traffic with this. Not many people even know this lamp exists.

So what I've actually done is sometimes I go and target competitor company names and key names. So if it's like some company that sells a bottle of vitamin D lamps or vitamin D pills, I'll actually target their brand because when I look at their keyword, it's people that are repeat purchases, so it always has traffic. And but because I can bid high on their own company name, I'm going to show up first and I have the room with my price point to show up consistently and eventually, if you're somebody that is very hooked on buying these products, for vitamin D pills, you're going to see my product and think, okay, what is this? Because it's coming up. I've seen it so many times when I come and buy this product that when you read about our process, you then be like, okay, so this is something that actually can benefit me and can work as an alternative for ingested pills and all the other disadvantages that come with that. So that's basically how I find other keywords and start going for those.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, price game is something nobody ever wants to play, and you're not playing at all, you’re doing the opposite. You know, like on some of these keywords I do see some like people ranking for, like vitamin D lamp, but they're, just like you know, $20 products and they're selling thousands of units. But then are you going after those people too, Like the people who are going after that or how? How, how do you still get sales when people can technically get something one 10th the price? People you just got to like, make sure that they know the value of what you, that yours is different.

Joe:

Yeah, so that's where we have to communicate that through the listing, and it's because a lot of those $20 lamps that you're seeing there, those are not actually vitamin D lamps, those are seasonal depression lamps. So if you're looking at, can you see that Alaska Northern Lights big box on the right where your mouse is? Yes, that's one of the lamps that I sell. That's for seasonal depression.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I was about to click on that, but no, I'm not going to click on the sponsored ad and charge you $3 right there. So good thing I didn't.

Joe:

But then if you look at to the left, you've got that product. That's 19 bucks. Those are actually seasonal depression lamps, so they don't give off vitamin D. So somebody would purchase that and then they'll realize that doesn't give you vitamin D. So they'll probably return it and then come back to ours. But if they're looking for seasonal depression those would be those ones.

Bradley Sutton:

This is just an interesting niche. This is kind of fascinating to me. So then, overall, almost $30 million. What are you spending per month? Or what are you paying Amazon for advertising per month?

Joe:

So monthly. Right now we're spending total across the board with about 120K a month on advertising budget.

Bradley Sutton:

Advertising. And then, what's your TACoS then? At kind of, is it different per account? Are you looking at your TACoS?

Joe:

yeah, so the lamp TACoS are, like, I think, close to two percent um, and then uh, because that ACoS is really low, um. However, with uh, with the one that's got the majority of the products, our tacos right now we are sitting at a 5.38. That's what we just closed out at, okay. Okay, our ACoS is at 15 point. I think it was 15.5 is what we ended on in September. We brought that down from a 20 ACoS down to a 15. Our goal was to bring it down to 10, but obviously we've done about 50% of that target. Now, which is hard, you know, if you're spending, you know, over a hundred K. To bring down a cost by 5% is really difficult. So that's, that's where we are.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you using Adtomic for all of this spend, all of this $120,000 spend?

Joe:

We've launched. So with Adtomic, we've put in some rules for some SKUs and we're watching that and I actually had a call with Travis, like I said before, to try and we've got different rules for different products and we're trying to see how we can build out those rules in Adtomic.

Bradley Sutton:

Like rules that you were just using manually, like downloading search term reports. What are some of the rules? Tell me how you run your PPC.

Joe:

So most of my rules would come into the shipping product, one where basically first rule is identifying the product, pricing. So if it's a bag so let's say Ziploc bag, right, we've got a Ziploc bag, a four by six size. We have different variations. So we have a hundred pack, five hundred pack, thousand pack. The hundred pack could cost maybe 19 bucks, five hundred pack 50 bucks, other one 99 bucks.

So based on those, we make rules where if it's the $19 one, we want to start our bids at $0.40 or something like that. Somewhere it makes sense. But then if it's for the 1,000-pack one, we can start off our bidding at $2, $3. And that's because if somebody then buys it it's $99. So it's more of guiding based on that price threshold of the product and getting that rule in. And then, as we keep going, we want to make sure that if it's not getting any spend after two weeks it'll look back and add, you know, 10 cents to it if it's getting too many clicks. And if it gets like 10 clicks at that price, at that um, 44 cents, uh, whatever, 40 cents, um, and no sales, it'll dial it back by five cents or something like that, just to just to start, you know, bringing it back to see what we can get. So those are.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, instead of basing your rules in Adtomic, like, necessarily on ACoS, you're like doing it on the, the performance, like clicks and. Are you doing impressions at all, or just mainly clicks? Mainly clicks and then sales? What about your keyword harvesting? Did you set up any keyword harvesting rules on your auto or broad campaigns? Yes, and what's your thresholds there?

Joe:

So with there we do have our keyword harvesting set up and we usually just go in when it shows us. Then we'll add and accept whatever we want to Others we don't and we basically just throw them in. So we have one that right now has some rules and we've been working with the one that keeps the ACoS threshold in different margins. That's been looking good. So we've actually decided that when we've got launch ASINs because we're planning to launch another 42 products, I think it was soon is put those into the ACoS threshold, get those spending. Then, once we've gotten some traction with those, we start messing with the bids ourselves because we look at these in different silos as well in terms of market share.

So if it's like tapes, we might not be the biggest player in tapes, so we can't really go out the income on the market. But if it's like Ziploc bags, Celo bags, we have tons of market share. Our brand is known. The moment you see our packaging on our default listings, you know it's us. So we bid higher on those ones to really just take up and kill anybody that's coming in. And we're happy to take up that high bid because people repeat purchase on those ones so we can lose money on the first sale because we can look at the lifetime value of those customers and it makes sense.

Bradley Sutton:

How many targeting type, different targeting types are you doing per product? You know for me, sometimes a lot of some. I'll have three main keyword ones, at least, obviously, to start, because then I'll cap it and start new ones, but I'll have an exact, you know, like, like atomic calls, a performance campaign. I'll have a broad campaign with broad targets. I'll have an auto, but then I'll also a lot of times have an ASIN targeting campaign, product targeting campaign. I'll also do a sponsor display campaign. I might do a video, two video campaigns, like a keyword video campaign, an ASIN video campaign and then maybe, if I have, you know, three products in a certain brand, I might have a sponsor brand that's feeding a few of those. Like, are you doing all of those or just you're just keeping it to the basic keyword targeting campaigns? What do you guys do so?

Joe:

So for every ASIN we basically have five different ads and it starts off with broad, which is obviously our broad keywords, and then we'll go to exact keywords where basically we don't start off by putting keywords in the exact. We let you know, get it from helium and atomic and then we put those in uh based on what it's telling us, and then we've got auto testing. So we uh, or it's called a auto cam, just normal campaign, which is obviously we let that run in the order category. Then ASIN testing, where basically we're running targeting that specific category of that product. And the cool thing about those ascent testing is it helps us identify new markets. So let's say we have a variation in poly and plastic packaging and let's say this product is sitting at number two. We might actually take that product. And then let's say we have other products that are like three, four, five, six in that category. We might take the number two product and move it to mailbags. It'll drop the BSR because of its historical performance and its ability to perform. We might actually start testing a different category just to gain more market share in a different category because we know we've kind of succeeded in that one. So that's more for ASIN testing.

Then we have ASIN targeting, where we actually we use our Cerebro to get competitors, Black Box to get competitors Then we obviously target those competitors depending on how many reviews they have. So if it's somebody that's got anything less than four stars, what they're targeting you, because most of our products are sitting within the 4.5 to 4.89 range. So anybody below four stars we're targeting you, and then we also use what's it called. Then those are basically the five that we do per ASIN and then we also use what's it called. Then those are basically the five that we do per ASIN. And then we have started testing some display campaigns. We had VCPM running, which was a waste of money really. It was just the attribution was wrong. So what we're doing now is some display campaigns to actually do some retargeting and basically that's where we've got started going. We haven't done much sponsored brands. Things have just really been working in sponsored product for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Or the auto and maybe broad campaigns. Did you set any atomic rules as far as when to suggest a negative match or like a poor performing search term? Or how are you managing the spend on your auto campaigns? Because you know, sometimes if you just let Amazon do what they want, they'll just show you for all kinds of crazy stuff and they don't care about how much your spend is. So what are you doing to keep your auto campaigns under control?

Joe:

Yeah, so what we basically do, obviously we have the loose you select the loose substitute compliments and all that type of stuff. We have those like basic keyword rules that we set our bids at where, and we do that based on our pricing. So, depending on the product's price, we'll add in those rules and then basically when Adtomic starts showing whatever negative is in there, we'll go in and either accept the negative and or reject it. And I remember I don't know if it was Travis who told me we don't want to is it reject the negative or something, because it will completely kind of block it out forever or something like that In Adtomic. If you were to do that on a negative, I think it was if you fully approve a negative. So we kind of just watch it and see if it's really a negative and then we test it out. But that's how we kind of do it. So we haven't really put much rules on that side. It's more depending on the price of the product.

Bradley Sutton:

And then you said for like keyword harvesting, like if an auto finds something like is it just one for you? And then you, hey, I'll go ahead and move it to one of my manual campaigns. Or do you want to see like two or three orders of some new keyword before you put it to your exact campaigns, or what's your threshold there?

Joe:

Yeah, usually we try and get up to about five, five orders. Um, cause, that's that we've, we've, cause we've had keywords where you might get an order or two, and then it just starts burning money after that. So, yeah, um, we let whatever's winning win and then if something shows promise and you know it comes up with like five orders, uh, that'll be cool and then we'll add it back in. And the cool thing about it is, if it was obviously like the, the lamps, five orders is a bit too many for a keyword. But if it's the Ziploc bags, we know we can easily get those five orders and it justifies because you know that the, the traffic on those is way more than the people that are looking for the lamps. So it just depends on the product as well.

Bradley Sutton:

What is what brought you from, I forgot what you said like, from 20 to 15 a cost, like? What specific strategies you think? Like, was it something different? You were doing um, or, or you just change the rules, or what. What can you attribute that lowering of ACoS to?

Joe:

Okay. So basically, we started a KPI where we looked at the number of ACoS campaigns that are above 100% in our account, because I think we have about 4,000 something campaigns running. So basically, when we sorted that out, we would start off with, like, let's say, 40. Then of those 40, that's our priority for the month and basically, we'd look at what the ad type is. We'd look at what the ad type is, we'd look at where the you know impression share is going. Is it top of search, is it product key, is it product pages or is it in the categories? And then basically sometimes we would notice that, let's say, if it's product search for this specific ad, it's showing a way better ACoS but it's not getting as much spend and impressions as this one. But you know, the product page is just spending money. So what we'll do is we'll change the percentage on the impression share to show more on that specific placement that's actually performing the best.

And what we realized is a lot of our ACoS started just, you know, dropping for those campaigns where we doubled down. Yes, it might not spend as much, you might not as much traffic, but if our ACoS drops, you know, by 50% on that campaign, that's a win. So that's what we're doing. And then sometimes it's actually where you're getting a bunch of sales at like 60, 70% ACoS from top of search, but this product page placement is at 20% ACoS but it's not getting as much spend. So now we'll move our spend and our impression share more on that product page and reduce the top of search. Even though it cancels out some sales, the profitability of investing in that product placement on the product pages makes more sense. So that's how we've been kind of juggling the placements and it's been helping really well to cut ACoS.

Bradley Sutton:

When you launch new products. What's your strategy? Is it strictly I mean, like do you have this big audience that you're able to promote to and then they send a lot of traffic that way, or is it 100% with PPC that you're launching products? What's your strategy? Like?

Joe:

So 100% of PPC. We have been talking about, you know, starting to get an email list together, but, as you know, with Amazon you don't get that information of your customers, so it's very difficult. If we had like a website, then maybe we could leverage that side of it. But, like I said, 100% of all sales is Amazon and unfortunately, we don't have the customer data. So what we usually do is set up our PPC. Sometimes, depending on the market or the product, what we'll use are the deals, if it's promotions, and sometimes we've actually, you know how you can now put price, the strikethrough pricing. So sometimes when we launch a new product, we launch about a few bucks higher than we're actually planning to sell, and that's because we just want to get the featured offer pricing going. And then, once the featured offer has registered onto Amazon, we'll set a strikethrough price at the intended selling price that we want to and then we'll pump up our PPC. Why? Because now our product is showing amongst everybody else to have this discount of like 20% or whatever it is, and that increases our conversion rate because obviously people are seeing this discount. And then sometimes you might actually get the badge that says lowest price in 30 days and on a new launch. That helps quite a lot and basically that's what we do.

Then we start pumping PPC and then, once that ends, we actually noticed with another product where we were averaging about, I think it was 0.78 run rate so which is basically close to a sale a day on that product at 24 bucks. We raised the price to 28 bucks so that we could make a strike through at 24. And then at the end of the strike through because after 30 days when you set the strike through it stops the deal, we actually realized that our run rate went to 0.68 at 28 bucks. So we started noticing that the difference in sales were not actually bad from the price going back to four bucks. That's because we just had forgotten to change it back to that 24. So it actually helped us realize like wait, we were still selling at that 28 bucks, so now we just drop it back and when we drop it back to 24 with that strikethrough it just increases the sales and obviously the conversion rate and the ACoS, which allows us more dollars to spend on that product.

Bradley Sutton:

Before you switched to AWD, did you guys have your own warehouse? Did you have multiple 3PLs, One 3PL? What were you doing?

Joe:

So we had our own warehouse and basically obviously we're shipping it from China to our warehouse and then from our warehouse to Amazon, and then basically with AWD, and the fees just got out of hand. It kind of priced us out of obviously doing that route, which is why we went with AWD. And it's kind of been our first kind of-.

Bradley Sutton:

The new fees you're talking about, like the inbound inventory placement fees and things like that,

Joe:

all that type of stuff, yeah, it kind of really hit us hard. So we realized, and we priced everything up in Seoul, it's way more lucrative to go with AWD, and you have to have

Bradley Sutton:

Is that AGL too? Or just like? Are you actually having Amazon ship from China or you're shipping it into AWD?

Joe:

We're shipping it into AWD. Right now, we haven't fully gone into Amazon shipping it from China, but we're shipping it into AWD. And that's basically where we just noticed that economics-wise it just made way more sense to go with AWD. So we took that big step of obviously getting away with our warehouse and now just sending product into AWD. How big was your warehouse? It was pretty big. It was pretty big. I don't know how many square feet on the top of my head.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you know how much it costs per month? About?

Joe:

Yeah, it was close to about. I think it was like 25 grand.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh my goodness, yeah, so we're talking probably 20,000 square feet or above. They're in Vegas. Yeah, it was pretty big. And then how many full-time employees had to run it?

Joe:

So we had four people there

Bradley Sutton:

and then now you had to let them go after you close the warehouse. So then it's not just $25,000 a month, but then probably another $10,000 of salary you're saving.

Joe:

yeah, so there's a big saving, when you look at it, from everything. And we've kept one person I think it was that basically helps us with inventory forecasting and just helping manage kind of the inventory side of AWD. Because right now we've moved into AWD. But some issues we've had with AWD is when FBA goes out of stock there's like a two-week period we've seen that it takes for that transfer of inventory to go into FBA and that's because AWD hasn't learned our sell through rates yet. So right now, for example,

Bradley Sutton:

you can't control that at all. Like you can't just force AWD to say, hey, I know I'm going to sell more, send more to FBA. Like you have to wait for them to be able to see it.

Joe:

Yeah. So you can manually send more. But because we have a catalog of 900 products, it'll be very tenacious to look at FBA for all these products and then go to AWD and manually click one. So what we've done is we put the auto replenishment. But because Amazon hasn't learned our products yet, literally, we had a product that had a sell-through rate of I think it was it'll go through about 300, 400 products a month. We ran out of that product and AWD transferred 10 units to FBA and it took two weeks to get those 10 units and those sold out within a day. So it was just the worst and the worst.

Bradley Sutton:

I got to start you on Helium 10 inventory management, because helium 10 inventory management is created for people who have three PLs and then and then we tell you, all right, set up a new shipment. But theoretically somebody just asked me to say the other day we don't integrate yet with AWD. I know that's on the roadmap, but like a third-party warehouse, like you know how much inventory is there, so you put the number in and then you know what you know. Helium 10 knows what your inventory is in Amazon. And then so we would just tell you the same way hey, it's time to trigger, you know. So I know you said before like hey, yeah, you might not have time to, you know, be checking 800, but that's the whole point of inventory management where you just you know you better send, you know, 500 units in from your warehouse and so, yeah, we'll get you started on that.

Joe:

Yeah, that would be a lifesaver because this is how it's impacting my ads now. So you know back in the day, if you run out of stock on FBA, your listing is not showing anymore, your ads are not delivering. However, with AWD, if you've got stock, what it's done now is it changes our seller delivery date. So we realize that with this duct tape,

Bradley Sutton:

and you're conversion like tanks right, because it says like oh, delivery in three weeks or something crazy like that.

Joe:

So this duct tape product had delivery in two months. I'm not waiting two months to get duct tape.

Bradley Sutton:

So instead of the listing going dead, it still shows available, but then two months.

Joe:

So people are clicking on this sponsored ads and they're like, yeah, I'm not waiting two months to get a duct tape, I'm going to the alternative person which is their competitor. So, I'll add just hitting, hitting, hitting, hitting, no sales. And you're like what's going on? And then now when you look at it and it's fine detail, delivers in two months. You're like that's so. Now we've had to end the crazy thing about when you've got 4,000 ads, because you've got five ads SKUs, you can't go and manually turn all those off and then wait until it comes back in stock to turn it back on. So that's been a nightmare as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now Interesting, okay. So yeah, it looks like AWD, like overall pretty decent. You save all those fees, probably thousands and thousands of dollars of fees. You're saving tens of thousands of dollars in warehouse, tens of thousands of dollars in warehouse. But on the flip side, you almost have to, you know if, if you're not using Helium 10, um for inventory management, you almost have to like hire another full-time employee just to manage that, depending on how many SKUs you have, or else, or else you're going to lose, you know too much money.

It's not just the lost sales, what's advertising, like you said, very good, very good, uh, very good point. Um, if I were to ask you like, all right, hey, end of the day, not everybody can, can have a business that does 30 million a year. What set? What has set you guys, uh, apart? Obviously, you know you have some cool patent and some product. You know for one of them that that nobody else can get. That's been around since 1920, but it's anybody you know. I'm sure there's billions of or millions of businesses that were made a century ago, that that technically you could sell, but that doesn't mean you're going to be a 30 million dollar seller. So what sets you guys apart, would you say?

Joe:

I think it's that consistency and never give up mentality when you start off a product, because a lot of things that I've seen with other sellers is they're quick to write off a product because they're not profitable with it within the first kind of initial launch phase. And what I've noticed is we stick out with the product and our launches are in strategies here. So we start off with a launch. So, let's say, we're doing zip bags right and we have these zip bags. They're heavy duty, so it's four mil size. When we start off with a zip bag, we're happy to lose some money on that because we know it's repeat purchases. So we now have to calculate and understand okay, this is the frequency of those sales, this is what we expect to come in, what sizes are winning, and basically having the consistency to keep pushing, even though it might not be profitable to start. Eventually, when you start getting those repeat sales, you'll see the profitability come in and that's where those products, when they start winning. You do the exact same thing with new launches and it's, like I said, that consistency to keep doing that with new launches and new launches and new launches has been a game changer. And then also just not being afraid to test Amazon. So you know, like I said with our vitamin D one, we've thrown different keywords in there, we've thrown different words in there, even at times where you get delisted because Amazon said these things don't work or this is, you can't put that writing, so it's.

It's helped us push our listing and appear in different places and we always do tracking to see if it's click-through rates, if it's the title. So, for example, some of our titles have our brand name, which is spot and industrial. That's a pretty long brand name and if you look at our uh, a product of ours on mobile devices, our brand name takes up should I? I say, 40% of the title. So a lot of our keywords and use cases don't actually show on mobile. So what we did test was removing the brand name and leading with the use cases and the product keywords and it started converting better because nobody cared what our brand name was.

But if they're seeing that zip bag for Legos, for this, for this, and it's heavy duty and it's waterproof, that's what people want to see and it increased our click-through rates, which increased our conversions as well. So stuff like that and they're minute tests. But if you do that on a catalog and with products at a volume, it can be a massive scale. And when you realize that from a potential of okay, we have 800 ASINs, 50% of them increase in conversion rates by just 10, 20% I mean in click-through rates you're bringing in even way more traffic and if you hold your conversion rates, that increases your sales without having to do any change in bids and anything like that. So those key changes allow you to save your dollars but still gain on all that traffic.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if I were to ask you your favorite Helium 10 tool, is it Cerebro, is it Adtomic? Is it Magnet? Chrome extension, what is it?

Joe:

I would say I love the Chrome extension because it helps me. If I go onto a competitor, straight away I see what they're lacking If they don't have 150 characters in their titles, if they don't have enough bullets, if they don't have, you know, enough bullets, if they don't have enough images. So the moment I see a competitor that doesn't check all the boxes that the Helium tool shows, I'm targeting them. Why? Because if you look at my products I have 10, you know most optimized on your thing. Then at the same time I look at keywords and it gives me a breakdown of how much revenue is in this keyword, how much revenue is in this industry. So before we go launch a specific product like we were launching an anti-slip tape because we want to add to our tape ranges so just looking at that, you'll look at that keyword anti-slip tape. It brings in 600 million a month from all these different competitors.

Now I can run those competitors through Black Box and I love Black Box as well because it helps me really fine tune what I'm targeting and who I'm looking for. So, I can say they get X amount of revenue monthly with X amount of reviews. Like I said, if they have anything below four, Black Box shows me those people. Those are easy people I can add to my product targeting campaigns and I know, because our listings are optimized, we'll easily take some sales from those people. Campaigns and I know, because our listings are optimized, we'll easily take some sales from those people. So, I would say the listing Blackbox and also the Chrome extension will be my two favorite.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. If anybody wants to find you on the interwebs out there, like on LinkedIn or somewhere like you open to saying how they can find you guys out there.

Joe:

Oh yes, of course, on LinkedIn obviously it's just Joe Sanhanga, my name, and then on Instagram it's j.sanhanga, which is my last name, s-a-n-h-a-n-g-a, and that's mostly where I am on social media. But any questions or whatever I can on LinkedIn, you can just pop it in and I'll try and help where I can.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and hope to see you at an upcoming event soon then.

View Details

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days was the company’s biggest October shopping event ever
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/prime-big-deal-days-amazon-fall-october-prime-day

Amazon’s new AI Shopping Guides make it easier to research product types and buy smarter.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-ai-shopping-guides-product-research-recommendations

TikTok Rolls Out Automated Ad Targeting Options for the Holidays
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-rolls-out-automated-ad-targeting-options-holidays/729142/

You can now reward customers for engaging with your Amazon ads
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/reward-customers-for-engaging-with-your-ads/

Exciting news from Helium 10 includes the integration of Adtomic into the Diamond plan, offering efficient PPC campaign management with Advertising AI, and introducing a new feature that Helium 10 customers have been asking for for years is finally here! Variation Sales Strength is basically showing you which of the variations have the most sales. And lastly, don't miss our training for the Inventory Heat Maps tool to optimize sales strategies during the holiday season

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:54 - Oct Prime Day Success
02:22 - AI Shopping Guides
03:47 - VISA Verification
04:40 - AWD Too Full?
05:30 - TikTok Auto Ads
07:24 - US-UK Shipment Rates
08:05 - Customer Reward Ads
10:21 - 2024 Holiday Returns
11:01 - Sponsored Display Depreciation
11:45 - New Feature Alerts
14:14 - Freedom Ticket Webinar
14:42 - Elite Workshop in Milan, Italy
15:26 - Training Tip: Inventory Heat Maps

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

A new feature that Helium 10 customers have been asking for years is finally here. There is a new VAT tax policy that you need to pay attention to. Amazon warehouse distribution might be too full and TikTok rolls out new automated ad targeting this and more. On this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Kerry Miller. So, Kerry, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Carrie Miller:

Let's go ahead and get into the first article. That's October Prime Day Big Deals, and we have an article that was released by Amazon and they announced that prime big deal days was its biggest October shopping event ever. Okay, so that's pretty exciting, especially going into Q4. Here. They said that more prime members shopped compared to last year and took advantage of early holiday deals, marking the kickoff to the holiday season with higher sales and more items sold during the two day event than any previous October shopping event. So that's very good news, I think, for a lot of us sellers. Globally, prime members saved more than $1 billion across millions of deals, including on seasonal merchandise and gifts, so it was definitely a good time for shoppers as well. And if we scroll down a little bit more in this article, it goes on to talk a little bit about the role that AI actually played in this event. So Rufus, which is the generative, ai powered conversational shopping assistant, helped millions of customers in the US answer questions on a variety of shopping needs and products in the Amazon store. Rufus can now help make tailored deal recommendations, making it easier to discover great gift ideas at a discount, and customers also use something else called inspire, which is an in app mobile experience that helps you discover new products with a personalized feed, amazon lens, which is a visual shopping tool that identifies objects and finds similar items on amazon, and then also they have something called the ai shopping guides, which basically leads us into our next article, which is amazon's new ai shopping guides that make it easier to research product types and buy smarter. So let's go ahead and talk a little bit about this.

Carrie Miller:

So Amazon has actually introduced AI shopping guides to simplify product research by consolidating key information and recommendations for over 100 product types. These guides use generative AI to deliver relevant details and product options quickly, making it generative AI to deliver relevant details and product options quickly, making it easier for customers to make informed purchase decisions. The AI guides are available on Amazon's mobile app and the website and are powered by Amazon's Bedrock large language models, enhancing their ability to offer personalized shopping results. So if you want to go ahead and take a look with me so we can see what this actually looks like, you can see right here that there's actually some recommendations to help shoppers to make better decisions. So, for example, if we go over to this one on the right, it says you know factors to consider the display type, the resolution, all of that great information so you can click on that and get more information about that. Or you can also go down. You can see that you can shop by popular brands, so you can click on the types of brands and then they'll also kind of have overview of the actual product. So this is quite interesting, making it, you know, kind of an interesting AI backed approach to this year's October event. So we'll probably see a lot more of this AI playing a part in the whole finding products, you know, on Amazon for customers. So we'll see how this goes and see how it improves our sales.

Carrie Miller:

So let's go ahead and get into the next thing and this is kind of word on the street Maybe there isn't really an article about it so I don't have anything to share with you but there are some changes to Amazon VAT or the Visa program. We do have some sources that say that Amazon has actually updated its VAT compliance requirements for sellers. So if you're part of the Amazon VAT information sharing agreement or visa program, amazon is no longer handling VAT compliance verification and now, even if you've already switched over to another provider, which I'm sure many of you already have. Sellers must actually inform Amazon about the change or you're gonna risk suspension, and this affects both US and European sellers, and it's similar to last year's seller verification process, where, when you fail to update the details, it led to account suspension. So you definitely want to take some action. If you need some more information about this, you can actually contact Avask. They're in our partner hub. You can find them at h10.me. Forward slash Avask and they can help answer any of your questions.

Carrie Miller:

All right, the next story is about Amazon warehouse distribution and whether or not it's actually full, and we're going to say AWD for short, which stands for Amazon warehouse distribution. We have heard from multiple customers in Amazon seller groups that they are getting messages from AWD saying things like this Sorry, this time we don't have enough space available for your inventory. We are unable to accept your shipment due to capacity limit. Try reducing your shipment volume or try again in seven days. Now I think this is a very big issue for AWD if they want sellers to start moving all of their logistics to AWD Now. I know a lot of sellers are trying to take advantage of this and Amazon maybe went pretty quick to market with this, but we really want to know in the comments if you've seen this message and what you're doing about it, and are you going to wait and send an inventory to the warehouse, or what are you going to do? What are your plans? Let us know in the comments below.

Carrie Miller:

All right for this next story, we have TikTok launching new automated ads. They're rolling them out for the holiday season, so let's go ahead and take a look at the article. So TikTok has announced a new fully automated ad solution called Smart Plus, which will take care of the whole creation from ad creation, placement and bidding process for you. So if we scroll down, you can see a little bit more about what actually the Smart Plus automated ads program is, so you can get more details there. But basically, tiktoks explained it as Smart Plus automates the performance advertising process across targeting, bidding and creative to deliver the right ad to the right person to offer the best performance. Advertisers simply input their assets, budget and targeting goals and smart plus automatically creates or selects the best creative asset. Okay, so basically they're kind of doing everything for you AI run, ai generated. I'm not sure how many of us feel about all this being kind of AI generated and not having any involvement in it, but it is kind of interesting to kind of run some of these ads in addition to the other ads that you might be advertising, and so let's go ahead and look at some of what they're saying. So advertisers using smart web campaigns to optimize for value have actually seen a 52% improvement in the return on ad spend. So that is actually really good news as well. And if we scroll down a little bit more, tiktok is also rolling out GMV Max, which automates TikTok shop campaign creation with the aim of increasing your TikTok shop gross merchandise value. And they further go on to say a little bit more about this down below here. They said GMV Max considerably simplifies ad operations, cutting campaign setup time in half, and allows sellers to reach their audience across all shoppable placements on TikTok, including the for you feed, shop tab and search within a single campaign. So go ahead and check those out. If you haven't checked out the TikTok ads. I definitely think it's a game changer and something you should really be taking advantage of in this Q4 season.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, next up, amazon global selling. Send rate rejection is happening for the US to UK shipments, so, in a bid to make international shipping more affordable, amazon has actually announced a reduction in send S E N D rates for FBA shipments from the US to the UK, and sellers can now save up to 15% compared to what it was in July. The program offers seamless seller central integration, custom support, competitive rates, door-to-door delivery and shipment tracking, and this move is set to streamline logistics for sellers looking to expand to the UK market, making it easier and more cost-effective to grow their business globally, so might be a really good time to think about expanding to the UK. Okay, this next article. It's from Amazon, and now you can actually reward customers for engaging with your ads. This is quite an interesting and exciting new kind of announcement and I will definitely answer some of your questions that you probably have about this. But Amazon is basically introducing a new feature that allows advertisers to reward customers for engaging with their ads, so now sellers can create campaigns that actually offer incentives like discounts or promotions when customers interact with their ads, making it easier to drive engagement and conversion. Now this innovative approach aims to enhance the customer experience while boosting ad performance, and the integration is designed to be seamless within the Amazon ads platform.

Carrie Miller:

So if we actually scroll down, you are going to be able to see what this creative looks like, and I'm going to just scroll. There's a little bit about the setup and I want to show you what it looks like. So, basically, what's going to happen is you're going to see within the searches or on your stores, there's these previews where you can get a $5 Amazon credit. So that is going to be kind of a big bold red thing on the actual. You know where people can click and you're going to be able to give that as an incentive for your products.

Carrie Miller:

And there are probably some questions, like I had. I had I said well, who's going to pay for the $5 credit? Well, the answer is definitely you. So at the very bottom, where it says where do I access it, it says the rewards ads experience is currently available via the Amazon DSP within a component-based creative ad template. Advertisers will be billed for the cost of the distributed or rewards. So there you go, you're going to be paying for those $5 credits or whatever it is that you're going to do. Advertisers also have access to two net new metrics, which is reward grants the number of rewards distributed and reward costs, which is the cost of rewards distributed. These metrics are currently available within the ADSP campaign builder dashboards, but are not available via public API. So definitely go ahead and check it out. That's where you're going to really find all that information. So I am really actually curious to know how many of you think you would use this and do you think you might raise your prices to be able to take advantage of this. It's kind of an interesting thing, especially with margins kind of being a lot lower for a lot of people. So we'll see how that actually turns out. So go ahead and check that out, if you haven't already checked it out.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, the next story is very important to know, and that is the returns window for Amazon is going to be extended for the 2024 holidays. So Amazon is actually extending its holiday returns window for 2024. Items purchased between November 1st and December 31st of 2024 can be returned until January 31st of 2025, except for Apple products, which have a return deadline of January 15th of 2025. This extended policy applies to all seller fulfilled FBA and Amazon retail orders. Now, while the returns window is longer, eligibility rules remain unchanged, and this extension is aiming to make holiday shopping more convenient for our customers. Okay, and the next piece of news there is a depreciation announcement reminder Sponsored display version two reporting endpoints will shut off October 31st 2024. So Amazon is set to depreciate its sponsored display version 2 reporting endpoints, with a complete shutdown planned for October 31st of 2024. Advertisers should transition to the new version 3 reporting endpoints to continue accessing sponsored display reports. Until then, expect increased throttling on the old version, and amazon encourages feedback on this change through its ads API support page on by October 15th of 2024. So for more details on all that, you can go to amazon's migration page.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so all those news stories were very exciting, but I think we have even more exciting news within helium 10 with our new features now. This next feature is something that a lot of people have been asking for, and I am very, very excited to announce it, because I've been asked this question for years actually, and we've been working on it for a long time. So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen. So this is just a search of coffin shelf and what I'm going to do is I'm going to actually go ahead and I'm going to pull our x-ray extension. Okay, so what I want to show you, which is already kind of clearly here, is I basically take this is our Manny's Mysterious Oddities product and I'm just going to expand this down and it's basically going to show us the variation sales strength with a graph. Okay, so this is basically showing you which of the variations have the most sales. So, for example, variation sales strength for this black one is obviously the big seller for us, and then you can see that there's a very, very tiny sliver of the pie here for purple, and then also a very sliver piece of the pie, maybe a little bit more, for the pink. So we can see that the top seller is the black one, then the pink one and then the purple one. So this is some great news and it's really kind of actually a teaser. Really, this is going to be a teaser for something that we're even getting for you even more data. So stay tuned for the launch of that. But in the meantime now you can see which variation, or child variation ASINs have the most sales.

Carrie Miller:

This next feature announcement for Helium 10 is very exciting, and that is that Atomic is now included in the diamond plan. So now you don't have to pay separately for it, it's going to be all included with the diamond plan, and with that we've actually launched advertising AI. So you know, if you don't know a bunch about PPC or you don't feel very strongly about it, you can actually give Atomic your ASIN and your ACoS goals and that's it. And Helium 10 will create your campaigns and optimize them by itself. So I'm going to actually show you how this works by sharing my screen. Okay, so if you go into Atomic, you're going to click on Atomic and go down here to the bottom, where it's the AI advertising very bottom icon and all you would do is you would click on your product goal and you're going to select your ASIN, say, you're going to do this one, you're going to set your ACoS goal and your daily budget and, if you want to, you can add some keywords in there and then you're going to basically go ahead and launch that campaign. So we're going to go into detail on how sellers can use Adtomic and save time and money in a live workshop with expert Destiny with Sean on the 22nd of October, so mark your calendars for that. We're going to be doing an in-depth PPC webinar, you know, for beginners, to help you to understand and use ad atomic better and more efficiently.

Carrie Miller:

Next, we actually have an announcement. That is, our monthly freedom ticket training with Kevin King. So Kevin King is actually bringing on Mark Degrassi I'm not actually sure how you say his name, but Mark Degrassi, I think, is how you say it he's going to be actually talking about why branding has always been your biggest marketing problem and how AI is going to solve it. I actually did see him speak at one of Kevin's events and he's very, very good. So to register for this special training, you can go to the link below.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, and another announcement that we have which is very, very exciting is that our next Helium 10 Elite Workshop is going to be in Milan, Italy, on November 11th. Bradley is going to be speaking there, Mansour is going to be speaking, Jana, who also does kind of listing optimization in other languages, and a few more top level speakers are going to be in attendance and speaking at this event. Elite members actually can go for free. So elite members just need to check the Facebook group for their free code, but everyone else you can actually attend, still for a fee. So just go to h10.me forward slash Milan to get your tickets before it sells out Right now. We have it on an 80% of the regular price special right now. So if you want to buy those tickets. You can go ahead and get them for a reduced price.

Carrie Miller:

And, last but not least, I'm very excited to go into our training tip of the week, which is our inventory heat maps. Okay, so inventory heat maps are available in helium 10. I'm sharing my screen now and this is actually in profits, and what you would do is you go to the heat maps and you're going to click on inventory heat map. You can change what to whatever product you want. So this is our coffin shelf, so we have our coffin shelf selected and you can actually see where our inventory is located in every single part of the United States right here. So this is a really, really helpful tool, especially going into the holiday season, where you can actually, you know, see where your inventory is.

Carrie Miller:

And something else that we do have in conjunction with that is the sales heat map, so you can actually see where the majority of your sales are in this heat map and you can go back and say is my inventory kind of matching up with those areas? Or maybe there's some areas where your sales are kind of up or have been in the past, but maybe they are not stocked with inventory. So you can go ahead and stock them with inventory, but go ahead and check out this inventory heat maps. Maybe, if you need some more distribution, you can figure out ways to kind of push inventory to other areas of the US and so that you can expand your reach. That is basically all that we have for this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Carrie Miller:

So what I would actually like for you to do if you have not done this, we do have a YouTube channel, and so we would love for you to go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel. We do lots of great updates, we do the Weekly Buzz on there, but we also have a lot of great training for helium 10 and just selling on Amazon in general. Lots of incredible information. So subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you can be the first to know the up-to-date information about selling on Amazon and other platforms. We look forward to seeing you next week again on the Weekly Buzz. I do believe Bradley will be back, so we'll see you again next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

What if you could revolutionize your Amazon business with cutting-edge AI tools? Join us as we uncover the latest advancements from the Amazon Accelerate event in Seattle, with exclusive insights from Andrea Marquez of Amazon’s This Is Small Business podcast. We dive into the game-changing world of AI-generated A+ content, as well as the exciting debut of Project Amelia, Amazon's generative AI that promises to transform seller capabilities.

Our discussion takes you to the heart of Amazon's evolution in supporting sellers, highlighting the critical role of video content and improved analytics. Explore new tools designed to help brands create high-quality video content, alongside a detailed look at the updates that brands can benefit from. We also shine a light on Amazon's "Sellers in Your Community" initiative and hear the inspiring stories of Amazon entrepreneurs and their impact on communities.

In the second part of this episode, let’s discover how A+ content has evolved, with insights from Lauren Coury, Senior Product Manager at Amazon, and learn how to utilize your basic, shoppable A+ content, premium, brand story A+ content and AI integration to elevate your brand storytelling. Get ready to explore this wealth of knowledge and uncover new ways to make your Amazon presence more engaging and impactful than ever before.

In episode 603 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Andrea, and Lauren discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Accelerate Highlights and A+ Content Powered By Generative AI
04:36 - Innovative Video Generation Revolutionizes Advertising
06:29 - Enhancing Amazon Seller Experience and Analytics
10:16 - Improved Amazon Seller Support Features
12:43 - Entrepreneurial Stories and Amazon Product Ideas
18:48 - Success Stories From The Amazon Accelerate Event
21:56 - Brand Experience and A+ Content Creation
25:19 - A+ Content and Brand Story
26:59 - Importance of A+ Content for Brands
32:50 - Shoppable A+ Content and AI Benefits
42:00 - Enhancing A+ Content With Graphics
46:23 - Leveraging A+ Content and Generative AI

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

In this special episode, a couple of key players from Amazon Corporate join us to discuss some brand new functions released for sellers, including one that gives us unprecedented ability to identify and target our repeat customers.

What if harnessing the power of Amazon’s vast data pool could revolutionize your e-commerce strategy? In this episode recorded live from Amazon Accelerate, we introduce a couple of cutting-edge tools, Amazon Business Planner, Customer Loyalty Analytics, and Customer Journey Analytics, designed to transform Amazon brands’ approach to their operations marketing. Our special guests, James Casazza and Wei Li, prominent figures from Amazon Corporate, share how these new tools offer brands the ability to set goals, receive personalized action plans, and effectively manage their business data with self-service capabilities. This episode unpacks how brands can gain confidence and clarity amidst the overwhelming flow of information, aligning their strategies seamlessly with their business objectives.

Discover the magic of artificial intelligence as we explore a revolutionary business planning tool that’s setting new standards in the e-commerce landscape. This tool provides brands with AI-generated plans, pinpointing impactful goals like boosting ad-attributed sales and enhancing profitability. By offering step-by-step recommendations—from campaign strategies to keyword optimization—the tool updates dynamically, suggesting fresh opportunities and strategic enhancements beyond advertising. Join us as we dissect its ability to deliver transparent progress tracking with detailed visualizations, historical comparisons, and a focus on profitability through cost-reduction strategies and content optimization.

Get ready to dive into the world of customer analytics with Amazon’s latest tools aimed at understanding diverse shopper behaviors. We spotlight the Customer Loyalty Dashboard and Customer Journey Dashboard, key innovations that offer brands deeper insights into customer behavior. Our guest Wei, shares her role in developing tools like the Search Query Performance and Product Opportunity Explorer. These analytics resources empower brands to tailor promotions, prevent churn, and boost loyalty among customer segments. By leveraging predicted customer lifetime value and promotional strategies, brands can enhance engagement, conversion, and ultimately, customer loyalty.

In episode 602 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, James, and Wei discuss:

00:54 - Amazon Accelerate New Tools Announced Overview
02:00 - Amazon Launches New Business Planner
05:07 - Simplifying Data for Amazon Business Planning
11:16 - AI-Powered Business Planning Tool
12:39 - Dynamic Business Planner Features and Benefits
16:42 - Data-Driven Amazon Customer Loyalty Analytics
20:08 - Amazon Department Provides Key Seller Tools
23:20 - Understanding Customer Audience Types
28:26 - Understanding Buyer Behavior and Cart Abandonment
35:13 - Unlocking Valuable Amazon Data Insights
37:29 - Thanking Amazon for Launches at Accelerate

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Transcript:Bradley Sutton:

Today's a special episode, as a couple of key players from Amazon Corporate are with us on the show to talk about some brand new functions released for sellers, including one that gives us unprecedented ability to identify and target our repeat customers. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image, or Amazon changed their shipping dimension so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash alerts.

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is a special episode recorded live at Amazon Accelerate.

This was done in Seattle a few weeks ago and, as you probably have seen from other episodes, we had a lot of new releases, of new data points and new functionality that Amazon is releasing. Shout out, first of all, to Addy from Amazon, who helped us hook us up with some of these interviews but we had the privilege of being able to interview a couple of the key people that are involved in the ideation and implementation of some of these new tools, and so in this episode, we're going to go over a couple of things in from Business Planner, which is something new, and also customer loyalty analytics, which might blow your mind as far as the kind of targeting ability and being able to understand, you know, how your customers go through the funnel. I think it's going to be interesting because, you know, a few years ago we would have never thought that Amazon would release this kind of data to sellers, so it's really awesome that they're doing that and we get to talk to the person responsible for the creation of this. So let's go ahead and hop into the episode

Bradley Sutton:

So I'd like to first start off with just getting your background. We're obviously here in Seattle right now. Where were you born and raised?

James:

So I'm from New York originally. I grew up about an hour outside New York City, really close to my grandparents' dairy farm. But for the last 20 years, I've lived outside Detroit. After college, I moved up there.

Bradley Sutton:

Hold on a quick second. This is an important question. Somebody who lives in New York. They move somewhere else. Are you a New York sports fan or a Detroit sports fan?

James:

So I've kept loyal to my New York teams. It's a little difficult because especially now the football season started, keeping up after the Giants and Jets is keeping your head low and the Lions finally have something to be excited about. But I'm a proud father to three boys and I will say they all have their Aiden Hutchinson jerseys on. We're really excited last season and looking forward to this one.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. So you were talking about. You graduated university. What direction did your career take you in that?

James:

So early in my career, I worked in automotive, digital marketing, and then in the social media industry, and I really found a passion for using software and technology to help independent businesses reach their consumers, really connect, and ultimately drive their success, and that led me to Amazon. So I've been with Amazon for just over six years now. I'm currently a senior manager of product management in the Selling Partner Experience organization, and, while that's a bit of a mouthful, what it means is that I'm really working on building the tools that sellers are using to run their business and ultimately thrive in the Amazon store. Recently, my team worked on a complete redesign of the Seller Central homepage, which rolled out late last year, and today I'm excited to join you and talk about the next exciting tool that we're building, called Business Planner, which brings self-service capabilities to sellers to plan their business, set goals and objectives and receive a personalized action plan that will help them attain their goals in the store.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Now, I think that most brands would agree with me in that there is no other mechanism of selling whether we're talking brick and mortar, whether we're talking online that provides as much data as Amazon does to its brands. It's really incredible. I think sometimes we're spoiled, those who start on Amazon. They don't know how it is or how it used to be when you're trying to make money, and so I can totally understand that. Hey, with all this data, there's going to be some insights that can come from it. So what about the timing? Why did you decide, hey, now is the right time to go ahead and launch this new tool.

James:

Yeah, so the idea for Business Planner actually started at Accelerate in 2023. I was talking to a number of different sellers and really this theme came out about the data that you're talking about. One seller likened it to being dying of thirst they're just so hungry to know what to do, and yet they're standing next to a fire hydrant. It's just spouting all this data at them. And so the question they had was like help me organize this, help me decide what's most important so that I can act confidently and know that that's aligned with the goals that I have for my business.

And so, while Amazon is providing plenty of reports and recommendations, it's really difficult to summarize or interpret that and get to an action plan. And we know that because sellers are working with account managers or even finding really productive partnerships with third-party software providers to help make sense of this data. And so our goal is to help democratize this access to data and bring the type of planning that sellers do offline when they're setting quarterly or yearly objectives and then want to track that and some may have teams that are doing customer acquisition or operations. They might be the individual's performance goals. We want to bring that offline planning into our tools so that sellers can easily keep track of where they're at and act confidently to drive their success.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, obviously, as brands, we have a lot of our own data, but I believe that this tool is also bringing in aggregated data from other sources, not just what's happening with your own listings. Is that correct?

James:

That's right. So throughout this process we've talked to so many sellers and I've just been impressed with the passion they have and the interest and the different opportunities that they're taking to bring insights and data analysis to really help them decide how to act. So with Business Planner, we're bringing together the power of data from thousands of different listings and all the customer activity in the Amazon store to create personalized action plans that will help sellers to achieve their goals. So they'll have a single place to go to benchmark their performance, identify their largest opportunities and then to generate a step-by-step action plan that aligns with the things that matter most to them. So, whether you're a new seller just getting started out in the Amazon store or you're an established brand with a healthy business that is ready to go to the next level, they can get a personalized plan that's specific to them and the goals that they want to achieve in the Amazon store.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you mentioned you worked on the Seller Central homepage. Now on the homepage there's already kind of like recommendations that might come through. There's a whole growth opportunity section. So how does this new feature here compare to what's already out there, and is it better?

James:

So we're trying to take a best of both worlds approach. So when I think about the recommendations on the homepage and growth opportunities, it makes me think of a buffet where there's so many different options and there'll be like lots of tasty treats and plenty of nourishment there. So there's lots of good things there. But if you're trying to take like a structured plan, maybe instead you work with a nutritionist who's going to first ask you some questions about what's important to you. Are you training for the Olympics? Are you trying to slim down by a few pounds, like what is really your goal here?

Bradley Sutton:

That's what I'm going to say. I'm going to say, hey, I'm training for the Olympics. That's why I'm eating so much food at this point.

James:

Exactly, exactly, no-transcript in those other experiences and then also providing you with detailed tracking so you can see as the days and weeks go by, are you actually getting towards that goal?

Bradley Sutton:

Let me piggyback on something you just mentioned there pulling data from some of those other recommendations. What exactly is driving other than just raw data? That's what does a lot of data there. I'm assuming maybe AI has some component of it, absolutely so.

James:

I think AI is a really powerful tool because it can crunch massive amounts of data and identify patterns and discrepancies. So perhaps the seller is underperforming in their ads campaigns. We might be able to come back with specific keyword optimization recommendations and then they can increase their ad attributed sales and grow revenue. Or we might spot a change in demand for key ASINs that would require a different inventory strategy and it might be an opportunity for the seller to reduce their FBA fees and reduce costs of maintaining their current business. And so by applying machine learning and AI to that massive amount of data, we can kind of slim that down into a specific plan of action for the seller and by starting with the goals that they set. We're no longer in this business of kind of predicting what the seller might want. We start by asking the question and then we have a lot more confidence that, because the seller has set the goal, that when we come back with an action plan it's actually right for them and where they want to take their business.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now for those who maybe haven't seen it yet in their Seller Central dashboard, where can they find this? Walk us through a little bit of a scenario, maybe, how they can see yeah, absolutely.

James:

So Business Planner is going to be rolling out in the US store in just a couple of weeks. So later this month you'll start to see a tile on the homepage in that recommendation section that you talked about. It'll also show up on the left side menu of growth opportunities. From there you can access Business Planner, which is your dashboard for action planning. When you first visit, we'll have some recommended goals. So that's where we've assessed how the seller's performing, set some benchmarks and looked for the strongest opportunities where they can improve their performance. We'll rank those based on how big the impact is. So the most impactful goal will be at kind of the top left of that page and if that goal aligns with the objective that the seller has, they can click on it and see details about the plan. So maybe it's a four-week plan or a 12-week plan to increase their ad-attributed sales, because we see that as the largest opportunity and they'll be able to review the details and if they want to move forward, they just click to create a plan.

And this is where the really exciting part happens. That's where the AI steps in and kind of scans across all those different recommendations, opportunities, and where we see the most potential to achieve that goal. So in this case seller is trying to increase their ad-attributed sales. We might come back with some specific product level ad campaign recommendations or keyword optimization. We put that into like a step-by-step plan and so the seller from the Business Planner can then look into that plan. There'll be graphs right on the page where they can see their current performance, what the target's going to be, and then a list of those recommendations that's organized and sorted for them.

One of the special things about Business Planner is that it's constantly updating as much as once a day. It'll pull in new recommendations or reprioritize what's there because of progress that the sellers made, new opportunities that emerge Perhaps all of a sudden keyword traffic and customers are searching for new products on Amazon and that might change.

The order of recommendations will reflect that in the business plan. So it's a it's a living thing that they can check back to and and going to show them that next best action they can take to ultimately achieve that objective. And then you know, once we've reached the end of the plan, we'll show that completed goal right and the experience with a record of all the things they did, and I think that's really important to sort of earn trust with the sellers that you know some of these things might require a little bit of an additional investment or might go against the common knowledge of how to be successful in the store. But I'm confident that, as we, you know, offer these plans because we're starting from what's most important to the sellers, that they'll see that that's helping them achieve their unique objectives and make their business as successful as possible in the store.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, when I was looking over some of the notes on this new tool, you mentioned a scenario with advertising, but I believe there's also another scenario where even it could get to something that has nothing to do with advertising, but like your A+ content. So I was trying to wrap my head around how that would work. So if I already I mean obviously, if I don't have A+ content the suggestion would be hey, get A+ content going. And now there's AI tools that help with that that we've talked about here at Amazon Accelerate this year. But if I already have A+ content, is this AI detecting like, hey, this might not be the most optimized and you need to tweak it, or what's it doing then?

James:

Yeah. So it's going to look throughout the sales funnel that you might see for a product. It might look at search activity glance views at the detail page and then I think a key lever for sellers is are they converting those views and visits to their products into sales? And so it might come back with a recommendation to tweak that content to better align with the search terms that customers are using. Or it might see a strategy where they could increase their featured offer win rate and ultimately convert more of those customers into buyers. And that's where the AI is powerful.

It's going to look across those different opportunities and see where can we create the most leverage, and it was important to us as we were building Business Pointer. It's not just going to come with recommendations that might require some additional investment from sellers. So at launch, one of the things that we're including is a set of cost reduction goals, and that's where we might look at inventory levels and fee structures and recommend either promotions and deals or a different stocking strategy to the seller that can help them reduce their costs to serve and be more profitable in the similar All right, excellent.

Bradley Sutton:

So, regardless of what it is, whether we're talking A+ content, whether we're talking advertised I set a goal, I implemented it. You mentioned tracking the progress. How can I see how I'm you know my road to that?

James:

Yeah, absolutely so. This is where we want to bring in some like detailed data visualization. So when you come back to Business Planner, you click into the goal that you're tracking against, we'll have a big chart on the page with your progress, the projection of where you're going to end up, and also allow you to do some comparisons against a historical period so that you can see am I really outperforming, am I getting the gains? So back to your training for the Olympics. We want to see that your sprint times are coming down or your weight lifts are increasing in weight, and it's the same thing here. So if we're trying to improve our ads attributed sales we want to make progress on that metric. If we want to reduce our costs, we should expect to see our inventory performance index improve and by providing that granular view into the metrics, we can show that the seller is progressing towards their objective.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, all right, so now I'm inspired by listening to this podcast and I'm ready to go in. Maybe by the time they're listening to this, maybe it is available already in Seller Central. If I'm just getting started, what's maybe the first thing I should do, or what's the best way to get started with this?

James:

Yeah. So we want Business Planner to be a regular thing and we think that sellers will start to use it as it aligns with their monthly or quarterly business planning. So my first recommendation is check it out. Either go through the recommendations on the Seller Central homepage or go to growth opportunities and look for Business Planner in that left menu and you can start browsing those recommended goals. Those will update at least once a week with the latest and greatest opportunities that we see for you as a specific seller and based on, like your business and your opportunity, and then, once you find the plan that makes sense to you and you kick that off, you know, check back regularly. Those action plan items might update as much as once a day. So we want this to be a kind of like a regular part of your journey as a seller and a regular part of the tools that you might use on Seller Central.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, thank you so much for bringing this tool, thank you so much for coming on the show and talking about it, and I'm excited to use it myself, and I'm sure a lot of the brands out there will be excited. And I can empathize with you about the New York teams. I mean, I'm a Chargers and Clippers fan, so I'm a glutton for punishment myself. So thanks a lot for doing it. Yeah, thank you so much for being here. This was fantastic actually. This she doesn't know I'm going to say this, but this was the highlight for me, for actually Amazon Accelerate was being able to interview our next guest, who I am super excited to meet her, not only her, but also especially what she's going to be talking about. So, Wei, welcome, welcome, thank you. Thank you for meeting with me.

Wei:

Thank you for having me.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's what I do with all of my guests. I like to get the backstory a little bit, so where were you born and raised?

Wei:

Definitely. I was born and raised in Beijing. I moved from Beijing to Chicago actually in 2003 for graduate school, so before Amazon, I worked for some of the big names like Merrill Lynch, KPMG. I have also worked for a number of startup companies in the fintech, pharmaceutical and supply chain companies. I joined Amazon in 2011. I have spent most of my time here with a selling partner services organization. Currently, I lead the selling partner growth analytics team, and our team built a few that I was on.

Our team built a few seller-facing applications in Seller Central and your comment earlier. I actually I'm a mom of three outside of work and I have a seven-year-old, a six-year-old and a baby under one.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, wow, that's awesome, awesome. I miss those days. My kids are both. My kids are both in their twenties now and so, like I talked, when I talked to parents, when I talked to parents who still, I was like, oh man, you don't know how lucky you are to have kids at that age, because I wish I could go back in time Now, going back, one thing you said. You said you came to graduate school in Chicago. Which school did you go to?

Wei:

Yeah. So I got two masters, one from Illinois Institute of Technology and got my quantitative finance degree there.

Bradley Sutton:

And that's also Quantitative. I don't even know what that means.

Wei:

And then I received an MBA from UChicago.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. You talk about your career there and on Amazon. You're very humble about the department you work at, but, guys, this is the department that I think not just me but every Amazon seller is so thankful for, which you're responsible for things like the search, career, performance and all these other amazing things that I think is so important, because brands, I think, have been spoiled by Amazon in the last couple of years with all the data that they get. They don't realize that if you were selling on Amazon, maybe like five, 10 years ago, some of the stuff that you guys are providing, you actually had to pay like thousands and thousands of dollars and most didn't even qualify to get it. So, first of all, again, thank you so much for what you do at your department. Now let's just talk about that a little bit Like how do you guys approach, what kind of analytical tools, what kind of information you're going to provide brands in?

Wei:

a few different domains. So, first of all, we provide a traffic and sales data through Business Report, which is one of the most visited tools in Seller Central. Additionally, we also provide this tool called Opportunity Explorer. So Opportunity Explorer is a selection analytics tool. It helps sellers identify new selection to sell in Amazon store. Additionally, we also provide this tool called Search Analytics Dashboard. That is where we can provide some of the data on traffic, with an emphasis on search keywords. Lastly, but not the least, is the Customer Analytics Dashboard. For Customer Analytics Dashboard, I'm actually very excited to announce some new launches here.

So we started out by building dashboards about customers and their purchase behavior. We have demographic dashboards to tell you who your customers are. We have repeat purchase dashboard that tells you how often customers purchase from your brand. Additionally, we have this third dashboard called Market Basket Dashboard. It tells you what products your customers would purchase together with your brands. It unlocks some of the cross-selling opportunities. Since then, we have also received feedback from your brands. It unlocks some of the cross-selling opportunities. Since then, we have also received feedback from the brands. They want to take a customer-centered approach. So last year we launched a customer loyalty dashboard. It gives the brand a segmented view to understand who are your existing customers, from top tier to promising to at risk and hibernating customers. And then this year we're launching customer journey dashboard that allows a brand to understand your customer's entire shopping journey, from first moment they start to search for your brand to the moment when they make that final purchase. With these two dashboards, our goal is to lower the customer acquisition cost as well as increase the customer lifetime value.

Bradley Sutton:

This is really important because actually, this part of all the analytical tools I probably know the least about. I'm so obsessive about search query performance and search volume and keyword data, but I think now 2024 and then going to 2025, brands really need to understand the customer and people are thinking too much just about the algorithm or things like that, but at the end of the day, we're not selling to the algorithm, we're selling to a human being, and so some of these data points that you're talking about is really important. I'm happy to, I'm really excited to learn about them today. Now, one thing you mentioned, you know, about different customers, like you mentioned, like top tier and things you know, like this might be familiar to some out there and I know you're probably going to talk about it, but we had the brand tailor promotions and we could see some of these different audience groups, now, those who might not be familiar with it. Can you talk a little bit about these customer audience types? You mentioned top tier, but there's a lot of other ones out there too.

Wei:

Absolutely so. We help brand segment your existing customer base and we actually use a pretty standard methodology, is called RFM. R stands for Recency it describes when did your customer make the last purchase from your brand. F stands for Frequency it describes how frequently customers purchase from your brand. And lastly, m stands for Monetary Spend it talks about how much does the customer spend purchasing your products.

We use a quantile-based approach and equally divide your customers into groups along these three dimensions recency, frequency as well as monetary spend. This allows us to group your customers into four segment top tier, promising, at risk, as well as a hibernating. By top tier customers those are the customers who purchased from your brand recently, but they may be purchasing at varying frequency and they spend varying amount. At risk customers they made a purchase but they don't purchase frequently. They also spend varying amount of money on your brand. And hibernating customers are those customers who have already churned. Equipped with this knowledge, brand can then deploy different promotion and marketing tools to re-engage these customers and thereby encourage repeat purchase and drive customer lifetime value.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting.First of all, I was today years old when I heard the word quantile, so you're already teaching me new vocabulary lessons.

I realize how not smart I am when it comes to math and this kind of things, but what you know, I think the main thing that people can take away is how important it is to kind of like bucket your customers into these different brackets, because you know, somebody who's hibernating is obviously a different kind of customer, a different value to one as one who is at risk or some of the others that you mentioned, and so it's important to be able to just not consider all of our brands customers. Hey, they're exactly the same, and I think that's what a lot of brands, or especially newer brands, might be doing. Like, all my customers are the same, but no, not all customers are created equally. Let's talk about the new and potential customers. We've got the ones we've had existing, like Hibernating and things like that, and who have been part of your brand. But I think all brands are really especially concerned about hey, how do I bring new customers into the fold? And so talk to us about the new and potential customers.

Wei:

We show the new and potential customers in the brand view of the customer loyalty dashboard. New customers are the ones who have made the first purchase in the last 12 months and potential customers are those customers who have not made the purchase but has engaged with your brands in some ways. For example, they may have viewed your product detail page, read customer reviews or added your products to their shopping cart or save them for later. The idea there is we want to allow brands to set up uh promotion tools to target these potential customers and convert them all All right Now, about 40 years ago.

Bradley Sutton:

if we use this term cart abandoner, somebody might think of somebody who went to the grocery store and then took the cart home and then left it in the street. But when we're talking about cart abandoners on Amazon completely different meaning it's actually my favorite group of customers. For those who aren't familiar with that term, can you explain who that refers to?

Wei:

Yes, absolutely. It is actually one of the new audiences that we launched this year. Cart abandoners are those customers who added your products into their shopping cart but has not made the purchase in the last 90 days.

Bradley Sutton:

Now it's amazing, because this is why I think it's so important that somebody thinks, uh, more holistically about customers, because we can't think that everybody's like us as a buyer, like me, as an Amazon customer I am. I am never a cart abander, like if I add something to the cart, I buy it, like I add it to the cart and then I check out. But then I thought everybody was like me, but actually not. You're not like me, probably I'm the opposite.

Wei:

I actually, I actually added to the cart and I observe uh, when does the price drop?

Bradley Sutton:

and so many people are like you. Yes, I heard other people. You tell me if this is you too, but other people they're searching for like a teacup or something like that, and they'll actually add five different ones to the cart and then make the decision about do you do that one too? Sometimes, see, I don't do any of this, and so I was thinking when I first saw the numbers of this, it was just flabbergasting. I was like I cannot believe how many people are cart abandoners. And then I just started asking friends and family and I guess I was the weird one and you guys are the normal ones. But yeah, that is a huge audience and a very valuable audience. So all of these audience types, at the end of the day, what we're talking about here is we're trying to send promotions to them in different ones. So how do we send promotions to these different audiences?

Wei:

Absolutely so. Today, you're able to send tailored promotions to these different audiences, and promotions are then become available to customers through search result page. I do want to share with you that as a team, we're constantly thinking about new tools that sellers can leverage or brands can leverage. So in the future, we might incorporate new tools such as coupons, Amazon buying, A+, detail page, and Manage Your Experiments, so that brands can leverage different tools to engage with their customers and help them convert.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Now I think one question I've gotten a lot before from different brands is hey, if I set up a promotion that's going to one of these audiences being the cart abandoners or some other audience, how do they actually see the promotions?

Wei:

Promotions will show up for these customers in the search results page or the product detail page.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so now we're looking at an example of one of these graphs here, and there's a part here that says trends. So can you explain what is this representing?

Wei:

Definitely. The trend graph actually allow you to compare different metrics, for example, your total customers, total sales, new-to-brand customers, new-to-brand sales. Brands can then compare and contrast and observe how these metrics change over time.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, next question. Here I can see we have a Segment view and a Brand view. Can you explain the difference between those?

Wei:

Absolutely so earlier we mentioned that we will share with brands about their existing customer base top tier customer, promising, customer at risk, as well as a hibernating customer. Brand view gives you data for the entire brand, and segment view actually allows you to dive deeper into each segment. On both brand view and segment view, we will provide recommended actions that you can take to drive conversion and increase repeat purchase. Additionally, one thing I would love to call out is segment view actually gives you a predicted customer lifetime value. We use a science model to predict how likely a customer is going to purchase from your brand again and we further segment each segment based on whether the customer lifetime value is going to grow, maintain or decline.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, that's interesting. Let's talk a little bit more about this, because I think there's some brands out there who might have a product where you know what it's a vacuum. Maybe they're just going to buy the one vacuum and 10 years later maybe they'll buy another vacuum. There's others who have maybe are in the supplements, the health and household category, the beauty category, where they're very reliant on repeat purchases. So this, this lifetime value, is definitely something near and dear to their heart. But you're saying that using uh models, you can actually kind of predict some of the potential lifetime value. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Wei:

Absolutely so. We use this size-based model, and the model input considers a variety of features such as customer's profile, their browsing behavior, how they have interacted with your brands or product in the past, and then the output of the model is how likely they're going to purchase from your brand again in the next 12 months, and we will then be able to say whether the customer lifetime value is going to grow, maintain or decline as a result of that. Brands will then have further segmentation within each customer segment each customer segment. So now brands can actually launch tailored promotion specifically targeting, for example, the top tier customers, those top tier customers where their lifetime value is predicted to decline. This will allow brands to prevent these customers from churning.

Bradley Sutton:
Interesting is that available already or that's coming later?

Wei:

This is available already today.

Bradley Sutton:

I've been missing the boat on that one. I need to go ahead and start implementing that, because that's very definitely invaluable. So what are the actions that brands should be doing that we do have available? I'm obviously missing that last one, but what are some more things that we need to be leveraging right now?

Wei:

So brands can achieve a number of different goals through customer loyalty dashboard, for example, if you're a brand who are trying to drive conversion and acquire new customers, it would be a good idea to think about advertising campaign and boost awareness. You can also launch a tailored promotion, as we talked about earlier, focusing, say, on cart abandoner to encourage customers to convert and make their purchase. And if your goal is to drive loyalty and encourage repeat purchases, it would be a good idea to focus on top tier customers as well as promising customers. And, additionally, we have these promotion tools where you can focus on those customers whose lifetime value is predicted to maintain or decline and encourage them to purchase more from your brand your brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I just want to take a moment to talk to the listeners out there who might not understand how crazy it is that this kind of data is being available. This is the kind of data that companies who are selling on other channels are paying a lot of agencies, tens and hundreds of thousand dollars and it's not even that great of information, because a lot of it is just trying to predict things where they might not have that information. It's just based on perhaps some surveys and things, but this is Amazon itself, who has access to all of this data and it's giving you firsthand this kind of information. Guys, if you are not leveraging this information, you are missing out on a ton of valuable information, so make sure to use this Now. This has been great. A lot of what you just mentioned is available as of now, but right here during Amazon Accelerate, you actually even announced some new and exciting more things that are coming to the platform. Can you talk about some of those launches coming to the platform?

Wei:

Can you talk about some of those launches? Absolutely, I am super, super excited. So customer loyalty dashboard the goal there is to help brands understand their existing customers so that brands can engage with these customers at the right time with a right product. However, brand frequently ask for information about what's happening in the upper funnel. We are launching this new dashboard called the Customer Journey Analytics. So Customer Journey Analytics allows brands to map the end-to-end customer journey with data and analytics, as well as recommendations. It allows brands to visualize how customers go from becoming aware of your brand all the way to consideration, maybe intent to purchase, to finally making that purchase and become a new customer to your brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, I'm excited to see how that's gonna work, because I think that's what we would always have always wanted that kind of information, kind of guess about it, like, all right, that's how you know, that's why I'm doing my advertising in this sense, and it's going to pay back, uh, you know in this sense, and that's why I need to have them see it this many times but to be able to actually have real data to see, that's going to be, I think, a game changer for, uh, Amazon brands out there. Well, thank you so much for launching these things. Like I said, your department is my favorite. I was about to say the best, but then I have a lot of friends at Amazon so I can't completely say that or else they might get mad at me. But my personal favorite tools definitely come from your department, and so please, please, keep giving us brands this great information. We really, really appreciate it, and thank you so much for what you've launched this week at Amazon Accelerate. I'm sure all the brands are really gonna appreciate all of this data.

Wei:

Thank you.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Senior Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon Multi-Channel fulfillment (MCF) can now automatically fulfill orders placed on social commerce channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest using your FBA inventory.

You can now offer Subscribe & Save and Reorder coupons on an ASIN at the same time. With this change, you can now offer both Subscribe & Save and Reorder coupons on an ASIN at the same time.

Effective September 30, 2024, if Amazon requires you to submit product compliance documents, these must be submitted and approved before you can list the product.

Amazon Pharmacy customers can have their medications pre-sorted into packets using this new PillPack feature
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-pharmacy-pillpack-feature

Inbound shipping is now easier with the Amazon Partner Carrier Program’s smart carrier options
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/partner-carrier-program-smart-carrier-options

Amazon marketplace sellers sue Walmart
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/oct/01/amazon-marketplace-sellers-sue-walmart/

Amazon seller-fulfilled heavy and bulky returns
https://channelx.world/2024/10/amazon-seller-fulfilled-heavy-and-bulky-returns/

Amazon’s recyclable packaging push
https://www.packaging-gateway.com/news/amazons-recyclable-packaging-push/

Digital Domain Teams Up with AWS to Scale Autonomous Virtual Human Technology and Introduces Generative AI-Powered Features
https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2024/9/digital-domain-teams-up-with-aws-to-scale-autonomous-virtual-human-technology-and-introduces-generative-ai-powered-features

Amazon is launching its own Shark Tank where winners get to be Amazon sellers
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24258276/amazon-buy-it-now-show-trailer-shark-tank-jb-smoove

With the holiday season approaching, we arm you with strategic insights to capitalize on events like Prime Big Deals Day, including essential tips on using Cerebro for effective keyword research. Tune in and stay ahead with these buzzing news and strategies that help your business thrive in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:49 - MCF Expands to Social
02:04 - Dual Coupon Boosts Promotions
03:28 - Compliance Deadline Approaching
04:17 - Holiday Peak FBA Fees Set
05:48 - Pharmacy PillPack
07:00 - Smart Carrier Options Introduced
08:19 - Sellers x Walmart Lawsuit
09:54 - Updated Returns for Bulky Items
11:51 - Sustainable Packaging
12:58 - AWS Powers Autonomous Virtual Humans
15:04 - Shark Tank but for Prime
16:30 - Training: Finding Keywords Your Competitors Top Keywords

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

Amazon's MCF fulfilling orders for popular social channels, incoming holiday peak fulfillment fees and, finally, that dual coupon feature you've requested being implemented. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Today, our host is going to be Shivali Patel and so Shivali, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Shivali Patel:

First up, we have a few news pieces directly from Seller Central News To start. An exciting enhancement to Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment, or MCF. Amazon's MCF now enables sellers to automatically fulfill orders from popular social commerce platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest using your Fulfillment by Amazon inventory. This means, for those of you that were perhaps manually fulfilling orders up until now for TikTok shop can now transition to more effortlessly expanding your brands, maintaining accurate inventory tracking and quicker order processing. Or imagine just running a promotion on Instagram knowing that your orders are being handled seamlessly through Amazon's system. This can help you capture even more sales opportunities across different channels, keeping you ahead of your competitors. To streamline this process, amazon recommends that you utilize tools like Webby LingSing or Connector by Silk. These platforms can help you connect your social media accounts to your Amazon Seller Central with ease and, in my opinion, a great strategic move to enhance your order fulfillment capabilities, position your business for growth and encourage you to meet customers where they're most active, and that is social channels.

Shivali Patel:

Then we have Amazon actually just announced its new dual coupon feature that many of you have been requesting. You can now offer both subscribe and save and reorder coupons on the same ASIN. Previously, sellers could only use one coupon per ASIN, which limited promotional strategies, and now eligible customers can choose between a 10% off free order coupon for a one-time purchase or a 20% off subscribe and save coupon for those who want to subscribe for regular deliveries. I can see this making a dent in impacting the quantity of repeat purchases and facilitating brand loyalty, as well as, if you are a seller, the ability to now cater to different purchasing behaviors. This will help you effectively engage your audience. For instance, if a customer is hesitant to commit to a subscription, that reorder coupon can persuade them to try your product without long-term commitment. Meanwhile, customers who value convenience can opt for the subscribe and save option, benefiting from a greater discount. Remember, guys, at the end of the day, promotions are a really great way for you to attract new customers and retain existing ones. By leveraging these dual coupon offerings, you can enhance your marketing efforts, drive sustained sales growth and, at the end of the day, it's about making your customers feel valued and giving them the options that suit their needs.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, moving on, let's talk about an important compliance update that you need to be aware of, effective September 30th 2024, which is already passed, amazon will now require that any product needing compliance documentation to have these documents submitted and approved before it can be listed in order to uphold the highest safety standards for products sold on Amazon. This is just one additional way for them to ensure that customers are really receiving safe and compliant items. While existing product listings will remain unaffected, new listings cannot go live until the proper documentation has been approved. So make sure that you guys manage this process through your manage all inventory dashboard on seller central and, since they can ask for additional information to verify product safety and compliance at any time, you'll want to check back time to time.

Shivali Patel:

Speaking of time, as we gear up for the holiday shopping season specifically, there are upcoming 2024 holiday peak fulfillment fees for FBA that you will need to be aware of. From October 15th to January 14th of 2025, you're going to see these seasonal fees applied to all products, reflecting the increased fulfillment and transportation costs during this busy period. This fee structure is similar to what other major carriers charge and it will be consistent across items within the same size band, and this will affect US FBA, Canada FBA, north America remote fulfillment, us multi-channel fulfillment and buy with Prime. I recommend that you guys factor these fees into your pricing strategy. Okay, and especially during the holiday season, when consumer spending typically peaks. The average holiday peak fulfillment fee will remain consistent with last year. However, a new peak fee will apply to products priced below 10 USD. This is for US FBA specifically. While these fees might seem like a hurdle, I want you to keep in mind that Amazon's average FBA fulfillment fees are still about 70% lower than the comparable two-day shipping options offered by third-party logistic providers. And, if needed, the new section does have the detailed rates linked by size and weight on the relevant help pages. So check it out to plan out your inventory and maximize sales during the holiday rush, if you have not already.

Shivali Patel:

In other news and in an exciting expansion of its services, amazon Pharmacy is enhancing the way that customers manage their medications with the introduction of a new pill pack feature. This service allows customers to have their eligible medications three or more pre-sorted into convenient pill packets, which will then be delivered straight to their door. This updated offering continues the service from PillPackcom acquired by Amazon in 2018, but introduces new savings and a simplified sign of process. Each PillPack is organized and labeled by date and time, making it easier for individuals to adhere to their prescribed routines without the hassle of multiple pill bottles. I don't think any of us like that. Plus, customers can enjoy fast, free delivery right to their homes. I wanted to mention this as part of this week's buzz because, while perhaps it's not directly relevant to you as an e-com seller or service provider, this new service from Amazon Pharmacy could open avenues for partnership or product integration, especially if you offer health-related products. Later down the road, by keeping an eye on how the service evolves, perhaps you'll be able to identify opportunities to align your offerings with Amazon's growing healthcare initiatives.

Shivali Patel:

What else we also have? Amazon introducing new smart carrier options for sellers using FBA and Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, known as AWD, giving sellers more choice and flexibility when sending inventory to the Amazon network. Available through the Amazon Partner Carrier Program, these options allow sellers to choose their preferred partner carrier and transport method based on dynamic freight-ready dates and cost estimates. This update aims to help sellers like you and I optimize our logistics and expenses, and these new features are integrated into step four of both the send to Amazon workflow and send to Amazon warehousing and distribution workflow. That is a tongue twister when you're trying to say it all in one sentence For less than truckload and full truckload shipments. The Amazon partner carrier program, known for offering reliable shipping services, includes small parcel delivery, LTL, FTL and intermodal shipment options, with savings of up to 25% lower compared to alternatives. So sellers can benefit from lower costs, while those delivering to AWD received additional discounts of 25% on storage and 15% on processing and transportation. I hope that you guys can see this as a valuable opportunity to streamline your inventory management and reduce costs, improving efficiency.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, then, we have a significant legal development. Four Amazon Marketplace sellers have filed a class action lawsuit against Walmart, seeking $5 million in damages. The lawsuit alleges that Walmart has enabled organized retail crime and racketeering through its third-party vendors by not sufficiently vetting its Marketplace sellers. The complaint filed on September 17th, as written here in US District Court for the District of Delaware, claims that certain third-party sellers on Walmart's platform are engaging in fraudulent practices, buying and reselling products from Amazon vendors in a sophisticated scheme. This practice harms legitimate sellers and allows Walmart to profit from the fees that it collects from these sellers. So I think that this case really underscores the ongoing challenges in maintaining marketplace integrity and the responsibilities of platforms and managing selling ecosystems. So I hope that you're able to recognize, with this case, the importance of just being transparent and ethical in your business practices. It's vital that you guys keep up with the guidelines that these platforms have, and this way you can really protect your brand but also contribute to a healthier marketplace overall. Walmart has until October 10th to respond to a summons that was issued on September 19th and in their statement they indicated they're reviewing the complaint. So, regardless of the outcome, the lawsuit serves as a reminder of the potential risks and the need for the platform to maintain a robust vetting process.

Shivali Patel:

Reporting hot from channel x. Starting on October 30th 2024, we also have amazon updating the seller fulfilled returns policies for heavy and bulky items in Germany, France, Italy and Spain stores. This aligns with changes already implemented in the UK since August of 2024, and heavy and bulky items are defined as those that weigh over 31.5 kg or have a longest side exceeding 175 centimeters when packed. Sellers will now be required to offer a prepaid return label and home collection service for these returns, along with issuing refunds to customers, while the responsibility for covering return shipping costs remains unchanged. The refund amount will depend on the return reason and timeline, in line with Amazon's existing returns policy. So the introduction of home collection for heavy and bulky item returns aims to provide a consistent returns experience for customers across all those stores. As the service is already available for FBA and seller flex returns, amazon recommends that we review our carrier contracts to ensure that home collection is included and make any sort of necessary updates.

Shivali Patel:

As a seller, you may want to offer partial refunds or part replacements as an alternative to home collection, provided that it's shared the tracking ID of the replacement part with the customer and that you close out the return request with the reason code return request canceled. To avoid A to Z guarantee claims or impacts on order defect rates, sellers must authorize or deny return requests within 48 hours where the auto is not auto authorized. You also have these additional things to keep in mind, but as you can see here, you can just pause the screen and have a read. Otherwise you can reference this channel X article. I'd love to know do you guys think this will help reduce unnecessary customer claims and improve seller performance across amazon's European stores? Let me know in the chat. We do have just a few more things here.

Shivali Patel:

It's been a packed week of news as the e-commerce industry continues to expand. Concerns about packaging waste have come to the forefront, prompting amazon to take significant steps towards sustainability. And, in response to the mounting pressure from environmental groups and regulatory bodies, amazon's introduced various recyclable packaging initiatives, one of those being the Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative, designed to ship products in easy-to-open, recyclable packaging, often eliminating the need for additional boxes. Since its launch, amazon reports having removed over 1.5 million tons of waste. I mean that is impressive and it shows a tangible effort for them to reduce waste. Amazon has shifted towards recyclable materials, introducing paper-based mailers that can be easily recycled, curbside, and this shift is part of Amazon's broader commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. As a seller, you can adopt sustainable packaging practices to align with Amazon's initiatives, but also appeal to eco-conscious consumers who prioritize environmental responsibility.

Shivali Patel:

Up next, we have an article directly from Amazon. According to Amazon's press center, digital Domain, a leader in visual effects and virtual human technology, has announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services, AWS, to migrate its autonomous virtual human AVH technology to the cloud. This partnership aims to expand the reach and capabilities of AVH technology across industries such as entertainment, gaming, healthcare, hospitality and commercial applications, leveraging AWS's advanced cloud infrastructure, including Amazon's Bedrock for high-performing foundation models, amazon Polly, amongst others, for voice enhancements and for facial recognition. Digital domain is really poised to enhance real-time interaction with virtual humans. Aws's robust security and compliance features will also ensure the integrity and scalability of the AVH platform. This collaboration represents a significant milestone for digital domain following the success of Zoe in 2022. And, with the support of AWS and its cloud infrastructure, I think it's really going to offer AVH technology greater speed, efficiency and global accessibility in many sectors.

Shivali Patel:

This collaboration does offer potential relevancy for Amazon sellers, particularly in enhancing customer engagement and support For sellers who operate in industries such as e-com, hospitality or any customer-facing business. Integrating virtual human technology can revolutionize how we interact with customers, and so Amazon sellers can really leverage AVH technology for real-time, ai-driven customer interactions, offering personalized and immersive experiences similar to virtual concierge services. This can help improve the efficiency, manage inquiries, provide product recommendations, offer after-sales support. Even so, by utilizing this advanced technology, we can really, as sellers, go in and enhance our brand experiences, boost customer satisfaction and stay competitive in this growing market where AI and machine learning are really taking on a very pivotal role in customer interaction. Lastly, I figured you guys could also appreciate some fun news how many of you have ever watched Shark Tank and how many of you have seen the new trailer for Amazon Prime videos, buy it Now, hosted by JB Smoove?

Shivali Patel:

The Verge reports that in this unique competition, you're going to have contestants having the opportunity to present their product ideas to a panel of investors and an audience known as the 100, representing potential customers. If a contestant's product is well-received, it's going to be featured in a new section of the Amazon store called Buy it Now. The panel actually includes celebrity guests like Gwyneth Paltrow, Jamie Siminoff, who's the CEO of Door.com, serving as the resident judge, and others. Each episode features a $20,000 prize for one contestant, adding an exciting incentive to the competition. Viewers can access the buy it now store via a QR code shown during the episodes, allowing them to purchase featured products directly. The first three episodes will premiere on October 30th, with a total of 13 episodes airing weekly until January 8th of 2025. Additionally, a companion podcast this is Small Business Behind the Buy will be available starting the day after the show's launch. This initiative not only engages viewers, but also aims to drive sales on Amazon, showcasing products with greater transparency about their origins, their names, their brand story, and creating buzz and excitement around new product launches as the holiday shopping season approaches.

Shivali Patel:

With that. That is it for this week's news. And, by the way while I didn't mention it, since Bradley's already talked about this in a previous episode Amazon's Prime Big Deals Day sale is also coming up on October 8th and 9th. So I hope that you guys are all squared away to rank at the top of all the keywords you hope to generate sales from. In case you're not, let's just run through one strategy that you can use to capitalize during this time. Let me show you how you can find keywords where your competitors are outranking you. Let's say you're ranked on one of the lower pages, like pages four, five or even just the bottom of page one. Sure, customers searching for niche specific items like coffin shelves underneath the keyword gothic decor may ignore irrelevant results and focus only on the similar products. But also, most people don't even really scroll to page two, which is a clear indicator of why you would want to pay attention to the keywords where your direct competitors might be outperforming you and where you may want to tweak your strategy if you care to be listed at the top half of page one, where all that traffic is. Here's how You're going to want to pay attention to your relative rank against competitors. You can find this metric inside of Cerebro, which is our reverse ASIN keyword research tool, and you are going to begin by putting in a multi-ASIN search. So find a bunch of the Amazon standard identification numbers inside of your niche and go ahead and click get keywords.

Shivali Patel:

The second thing you're going to do is set a minimum for search volume. I went ahead and inputted in 300. Now the product I'm looking at is actually this automatic chicken water cup. In doing so, I can now filter out those keywords that don't have a lot of search volume associated. There's no right or wrong number for search volume. You can put in something that you feel is good for your niche. The next thing I'll do is input in a relative rank. I went ahead and added in three for minimum, and this is telling me that and this is basically saying that I'm at least number three amongst my competitors. Then go ahead and input in anything else you want and click apply filters. I actually added in a minimum for word count as well as the phrases containing chicken, because I was seeing some additional terms here.

Shivali Patel:

In doing so, I had a output of 38 filtered keywords and you guys can scroll all the way over to the right hand side and check out the relative rank. If you hover over the number for relative rank, it's actually going to showcase to you where you are stacked up next to your competitors as well as what ranking you are at. For example, for this particular keyword, which is automatic chicken watering system, you can see that our relative rank is position number six compared to our competitors. This means that your product ranks sixth in relative rank for this keyword, and this is the sort of thing that can help you identify keywords where competitors are ahead and make adjustments like increasing sponsored ad spend to improve your ranking, or adding that keyword to your title to rank a lot faster, to prepare for a day like Prime big deals day, or even just put in a CPR campaign into motion where you're selling those products at a discounted rate to rank. Happy sales, you guys.

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What if you were missing out on hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in reimbursements from Amazon? Join us as we reveal the game-changing strategies for reclaiming lost and damaged inventory funds from Amazon's FBA warehouses, just in time for the crucial update on October 23rd. We highlight the indispensable Helium 10 Refund Genie tool, providing you with a step-by-step guide and real-life success stories from sellers who have maximized their refunds without any commission fees.

Uncover the secrets to boosting your profitability by making the most of Helium 10's full suite of features. We'll walk you through how to handle active and suspended product listings, ensuring accurate and timely reimbursements for damaged items. Learn practical tips and tricks, including a thorough explanation of size tier optimization. By tweaking your product packaging and leveraging Helium 10 Alerts, you'll discover how to reduce shipping costs and significantly increase your bottom line.

Imagine saving $10 per unit with just a 0.2-inch reduction in packaging size. We provide compelling examples, such as a floor lamp that moved from an extra-large to a large bulky tier, saving $2 per unit. Through personal anecdotes and expert insights, we demonstrate how monitoring dimension changes and enabling alerts can lead to substantial financial recoveries. Don't miss this opportunity to reclaim your funds and optimize your Amazon business for greater profitability.

In episode 601 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Maximizing Amazon FBA Reimbursements With Refund Genie
01:31 - Amazon Lost and Damaged Claims Guide
04:35 - Amazon Seller Refund Process
10:29 - Getting Refunds Using Helium 10 Refund Genie
10:48 - Amazon Refund Process and Strategies
19:54 - Maximizing Amazon FBA Reimbursements and Savings
22:41 - Helium10 Alerts for Size Tier Optimization
25:02 - Optimizing Packaging for Amazon Profits
29:26 - Identifying Dimension Changes for Amazon Reimbursement
31:18 - Amazon FBA Reimbursement for Dimensional Changes

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're doing a live workshop on how to get money back from Amazon and on this live broadcast there are four people on the call who are going to be able to get back over $30,000 live on the show back from Amazon. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Important message guys. On October 23rd, Amazon is changing the window for which you can look back and claim that they owe you reimbursements for lost and damaged products at FBA warehouses. It used to be 18 months, but now it's going down to only two months. So, if you have never used the reimbursement service or Refund Genie, now is the time. Last week I ran Refund Genie on two different accounts and got a total of over five thousand dollars back for those sellers. And don't forget, unlike a lot of services out there, Helium 10 doesn't take any commission on what we get back. If we say you're owed ten thousand dollars and you get back ten thousand dollars from Amazon, you keep ten thousand dollars with no commission to Helium 10 at all. Refund Genie is now available to anybody who has a Helium 10 Platinum annual plan or higher. So to get an estimate about on how much money you could get back, go to h10.me/refundgenie. If you've never used a Helium 10 coupon, use the code SSP10 to save money if you need to upgrade to a Platinum annual plan.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and today is our monthly live training that we do, along with an ask me anything, where we go over a certain aspect that can help you on Amazon, and then we take all your questions live, and we've got a great session for you today. Let's go ahead and hop into it. Let me just kind of like level set here what the situation is, so, for a lot of you, you might have seen the message already that you know, on October 23rd, Amazon is changing the look back period of when you can claim lost and damaged, so what that means is Amazon sometimes loses products at their warehouses of yours, they sometimes damage it, and they're supposed to, you know, refund your money when that happens, and you know, a lot of times they do. So what the problem is, though is sometimes, for whatever reason, they don't always refund the money like they're supposed to, and so when that happens, it's okay. It's not Amazon necessarily going and stealing all of your money. They allow you to like file claims if you are missing the money, all right, and then you know once, once they do their investigation sometimes it's instant then they will say, all right, yeah, we will give you the money back, and then they refund you like within days.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if you have never used a service before, you know whether it's Helium 10, whether it's an outside service, if you have never used a service, uh that audits, or you don't audit your account completely to like look at all the uh, uh disbursement reports and the reimbursement reports and what Amazon has uh returned to you, what Amazon has lost. If you've never done that, you could be owed thousands of dollars, like, in my experience, half of your half of 1% of like what your gross revenue is. You could get back. All right so to 1%. I've seen some accounts get 1%. So let's say you've sold in the last 18 months a hundred thousand dollars worth of inventory. Basically that means that you might be owed a thousand dollars, potentially, all right. Or I should say 500 to a thousand dollars. If it's a million, you know you could be owed up to $5,000 if you've never audited. That's how much. And a lot of services out there, uh, which are great, the issue is that they'll take um, a percentage. They'll file all the claims for you and then take a percentage, like 25%, of whatever they find they keep.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the way I'm about to show you guys is a 100% free, as in whatever we find that Amazon owes you you keep. I wish I could take a commission on that. I'd be a rich man if I could just take 1% of what we find for you, because we've found millions and millions of dollars that Amazon owes you. So I'm going to show you guys how to look at the report. First of all, all right again, if those of you with a Diamond annual plan or Platinum annual plan, you've got full access to it. If not, well, just you know, stay watching this, because you'll need to know it. You need to like at least get the account. Those of you have done a lot of money and then you're going to need to know how to do this later on in the future. I saw a couple of you are newer sellers. You're probably not owed that much by Amazon. But guess what? Hopefully, you get to the point where you are owed money, not because you want Amazon to be taking the money that's owed to you, but because you're doing so much revenue that inevitably things are going to get lost things might get damaged and Amazon might owe you a lot of money. So this is important, no matter what stage of the journey you are on. All right, so now hop into your Amazon account and then some of you might have a banner at the top. Does anybody have a banner on the top that says, hey, you might be owed this amount of money? I don't have it on my screen because I already kind of like started this process already, but that banner would show up at the very top, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I am in one of the UK accounts that I have access to, and so, whether you have or not the banner again, this is if you're Platinum annual or Diamond annual, if not, just watch, all right, there's nothing for you to do. If you're not this, you're not gonna be able to do anything, but just watch, all right. So this is important. I'll give you, like, a coupon code. You can get it again, I'm not trying to sell you some service where we're going to take a percentage. We take zero percent. We actually have a service for those of you who are like $50 million sellers and you don't have the time to go one by one and do what I'm about to show you guys how to do. No problem, you can go sign up for that service and we'll take like 25% of it and we do all the work for you. That's h10.me/mrs. But that's not what I'm trying to talk about here. I'm just talking about how you can do it for free, all right. And then I'm going to give you three other ways that I have also gotten thousands of dollars back from Amazon. Okay. So let's go ahead and go for those of you who have the banner, click the banner. For those of you who don't have that banner, I want you to click on the tools and then go to Refund Genie. Neal says he's got a message here on his computer. It says last chance to claim 1600 bucks. All right, Neal, you are, you are set to go. So if you have a Platinum manual, Neal, you're going to be able to get $1,600 today in the next 30 minutes, potentially. All right. So Neal's got his Helium 10 account covered, almost right there. He's got anybody else have a message like that at the top of their screen. I'm just curious what message you guys are showing.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now I'm going to go ahead and go into this Creative LG account. Okay, I'm going to hit details. You want to go to the ones that have stars and, as you can see, this account is selling in a lot of platforms. Selling in Germany, UK, Spain, France, Italy. Some of you might only be selling in one platform, doesn't matter, the process is completely the same. Now, as you can see, for a lot of these I have already requested reimbursement. You can see I hit processed. So I'm just going to go to the UK one. Let me see if I have any open. I hope I can find one that I have open. Yes, perfect, all right. So, as you can see, I've got a whole bunch of what's called uh, FN SKUs. All right, where Helium 10 found, where Amazon owes me money, all right. So if you're auditing, if, let's say, you don't have Helium 10 and the how, how can you get this? Well, you would download your transaction reports and the ledger report and then you're going to look back at any event that happened where you've got damaged or lost inventory, okay. And then now you're going to go back into your reimbursement report and you've got to cross check if Amazon already reimbursed you for that exact FN skew that went missing. And that's what Helium 10 is doing. Helium 10 has automated that process and that's why we are giving this report here in Refund Genie. All right, so you know there's nothing for you to do other than copy and paste. All right, so did anybody find an ASIN that has it?

Bradley Sutton:

Inbae says I see the screen lost items, but can't see damage items. Well, for you, if you don't have damage, that means Amazon hasn't damaged. That means Amazon has already refunded you for everything that they've damaged and, for whatever reason, Amazon is pretty good at reimbursing sellers with what's been damaged, but there's a lot more money that is owed to you from what's lost. All right, so don't worry if you have nothing damaged. All right, wow, oh, my goodness. Brad Dassow says he's got 24 guys. We might have a winner here today. Brad Dassow, I am going to help my namesake out there gvet $24,000. Live on the air. All right, Brad, you with me. Brad, what, what? What level of Helium 10 plan do you have? Do you have a Platinum manual or Diamond A plan? If so, you are going to get $24,000 potentially today. That are going to get $24,000 potentially today. That's crazy. I love it. I love it. We're making big dents, in a good way, to your bank account today guys. Maria, wait, look at Maria's here. Maria is owed $18,000. Wow, all right, Maria. What plan do you have, Maria? Guys, two people that are live on this call are going to learn how to get almost $40,000 back from Amazon 100% for free, and I don't get a commission on any of this. Gursharn says he's owed $7,600. Wow, you guys should be happy. You tuned in live today. Excellent, excellent. Joe says he already got 20,000 back per year. Great job, Helium 10. All right, Brad is Platinum Annual. You are good to go. Maria is Platinum Annual? Perfect, all right, now we're going to do this all together, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So what I want Brad, Maria, anybody else who's doing this, and go and open in Seller Central. All right, go to your Seller Central account of whichever one that is, your owe the money in Helium 10. And then I want you guys to hit help and then get help and resources. Okay, Marie and Brad are ready on Platinum Annual. You guys are good to go. Look at that. They don't even have to pay any extra money and they're going to get all this money back. I love it. All right, Maria and Brad, I'm doing this with you. Oh, my goodness, Inbae Park. Inbae Park beat everybody. Inbae Park is owed $60,000. Guys, we're getting $100,000 live on this podcast today. Inbae, do you have a Platinum annual plan or above? Inbae, you're ready, all right. So, Inbae, Brad, Maria, get it ready. Lori says it, says they found it. Yeah, sometimes Amazon will say some of the ones they found, but for me, on my US accounts, 95% of what Helium 10 found, they returned to me. Yeah, and then contact the associate. Lori says it shows. Contact the associate, I'll show you what to do for that. All right, I'll show you what to do. Okay, Tony, you're good to go to. Tony, set this up. We Joe's on Diamond Set this up. All right, we're going crazy here, guys, we're getting a hundred thousand dollars live, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, as you can see, I'm just going to do a couple of the small ones. Uh, by the way, if you are owed for one ASIN, any big amount, guys, I almost guarantee Amazon is going to require you to open a case, but they solve it within like 48 hours. Some of these little ones I'm going to get like it looks like 10 euros here, seven euros here. They're going to refund my money immediately. You're going to say hey, yep, we agree with you, you're good to go. But other ones, especially the bigger ones, or if some of my items like this, like this account. This account is a beauty account, and so there's a lot of products that are no longer on Amazon for whatever reason, like it got suspended in this account. If you have a product that is not currently live on Amazon, Amazon will deny your money. So that's what I said today, guys. Today we're not just talking about how to use Helium 10 Refund Genie. This is general information. Even if you're not a Helium 10 member, it's important. So just keep in mind. Usually, if you had a product that was suspended or is not active on Amazon, a lot of times they are going to use that as an excuse to not give you your money back. So if there's any way for you to get your product back on Amazon, do that first before making a claim on that product. I hope that makes sense, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So, Brad, Inbae, Maria, the ones that I want you guys to start with are the ones that you know are pretty much active on Amazon and you're not going to have issue, all right. So let's go ahead together, guys, you three and whoever else, Tony, whoever's on this copy one of the first FN SKUs. All right, that's on one of your reports. Okay, you just hit this button that has copy and then, once you do that, hit processed, so that you know it is done right here in Refund Genie. Now switch over to your Seller Central tab and you are looking for something that might say inventory lost in FBA warehouse. If you see that, just click this and that's what you need to look for. Now if anybody's listening on the podcast or watching this on YouTube and you do not have a button in Amazon Seller Central support that says inventory lost in FBA warehouse, don't worry, some marketplaces, you don't see it. All you have to do is hit this button that says my issue is not listed and then just type in inventory lost in FBA warehouse and then the widget is going to show up. What shows up. Let me just show you by hitting this. All right, so, Brad Maria, paste. When the window comes up that says enter FN SKU, you paste the FN SKU that you copied from Refund Genie and then you hit continue.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here, as you can see, I have multiple SKUs. So if you have multiple SKUs, you have to pick which SKU. So I'm going to go back to my Refund Genie. Refund Genie has that here, too. I see which SKU it is. Let me copy that. And it is this SKU right here. So I'm going to hit this SKU and let's see what it has. Aha, this one got. This is one of those ones. I told you this is a restricted product, so I this is not my account, so I didn't get my money back on this one. Why? Because this product got restricted on Amazon. I told you this is a beauty product that I'm in. For Brad and Maria and Inbae. What did you guys find on yours? Did you guys get it? I'm going to try another one. I might have to do a few of them here. This account has a lot of restricted products, so I am going to go ahead and get help with a new issue and watch. I'm just going to do this really quick. I'm going to copy another one and I'm not sure the a lot of these. This is why they're probably not here. A lot of these might be already restricted, so let me just copy another ASIN in here. Hit inventory loss in FBA warehouse. Paste the FN SKU. Hit continue. Please don't be a restricted product. Let's see here. Boom goes the dynamite. All right, look what I just did in three seconds. Here I paste an FN SKU. This was not a restricted product that I had. How many units did Helium 10 say I was owed? I don't know if you guys caught that potential units one right here. And then how many did I get reimbursed right now? One unit, Helium 10 was a hundred percent accurate on that one. All right, perfect, perfect, all right. Next one let's see what did. Oh see, look at Brad. Brad did it Said. Brad said these items have been processed for reimbursement. Brad, how much was that one that you just did? I just did one that got me 10 euros. How much did you get? Who's done? A big one so far? Neal got $75 and he's got another one that said invalid, all right, so Neal might have some products that were not eligible, but Neal just got his whole month almost of Helium 10 covered.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright Inbae says I've got a difficulty on damage item reporting. All right, so I don't have any that's damaged here. But the difference, guys, on damage reporting, let me just show it for Inbae or anybody else who is trying to reconcile their damage you have to do the transaction ID. Okay, so this is. I don't have any here so I can't do it, but I'm just going to pretend I do, all right. So if anybody ever finds that Amazon owes them money from a damaged item, instead of the FN SKU, what Refund Genie has is the transaction ID. So, Inbae, if you have the transaction ID, you copy it. You go to Amazon, you get help with a new issue and, as you can see, there is not one for inventory damaged all right. So Inba, what you or anybody else, what you do is you hit my issue is not listed. And then you put here investigate inventory damaged at FBA warehouse All right. And then you hit continue, okay. Inventory damaged at FBA warehouse all right. And then you hit continue, okay. And then you select right here inventory damaged in FBA warehouse all right. So hit that one Inbae and look here it says enter up to 25 transaction IDs. So in Helium 10, again, I can't show this to you because this account I didn't have any damage that was owed, but there'll be just a button to select a whole bunch of transaction IDs together. You paste them here at once, no commas, no punctuation, things like that. You can paste up to 25, and then you hit continue and then that's how you get your money back on the damaged. So Inbae the transaction ID is in Helium 10 as well. So right here, as you can see, I am looking at the lost. But you need to go to the damaged section of Refund Genie and it will show the transaction ID. It's not on the same page as lost. All right for everybody else. While you're looking for that in bay, let me go to another, uh, another couple ones here, just to make sure everybody's got the process for lost inventory. Here's another one where it says I'm owed seven euros, about 10 bucks. Let's copy this. I'm going to hit processed and I go up here back to seller central I say get help with new issue Inventory lost in FBA warehouse, paste the FN SKU and this is either going to be. So this one it says create a case. So sometimes if it gets denied you have to create a case.

Bradley Sutton:

So everybody don't just go copying and pasting these and not reading what it says. If you ever see one that says create a case, hit that button. Okay, sometimes you have to take an extra step with Amazon to get your money back. So I'm going to hit create a case and then they'll get back to me if I'm owed that money? Ah! Neal says I just noticed that I was not clicking the copy and just highlighting the FN SKU and pasting. It pastes with a space. Yes, make sure to hit the button that just says copy and it'll highlight the right one. Maria, you did the exact right thing. That's exactly what I just did. Maria says hey, I got a message that said resolve your issue. It requires additional investigation in the case has been transferred. That's exactly what you need to do. So, guys, do not, when you guys are trying to do this fast, whether you're using Helium 10 or not don't just blindly do it and then go to the next one. Read the message, because if there's a button that says a new case needs to be made, you have to hit that button or else Amazon will say oh, too bad, you didn't say you didn't, you didn't do the case. Dmytro says I got a message that says upgrade to a plan that includes refund. Yeah, so, Dmytro, you need to get on the Platinum annual plan. How much money are you owed, Dmytro? All right, how's it going? Inbae, Brad, Maria, how much money have you guys got so far? Neal says when it says that one is found, do you have to choose my issuers. No, the only time you ever need to hit something is if you see if there's a button that says create a case or you might have to create a case. They're doing an audit on everything. Helium 10 just tells you how much you're owed, but then they'll let you know how much was lost, how much was found and how much was never reimbursed. And then you're looking for the one that says, oh, this is reimbursable, but they'll tell you how many they found too. Just to you know, try and be proud of themselves. I guess on Amazon, here.

Bradley Sutton:

Dan says what do you suggest for sellers who are on Platinum or a few hundred, Dan, if, if you're on the regular Platinum plan, you'll be able to see how much money we're estimating your owed. And if it's like 400 bucks or 600 bucks, you know I'm not going to sit here and tell you, oh yeah, you need to go ahead and upgrade to the Diamond or to the Platinum annual plan. No, because that's going to cost you money. So you know, I'll tell it to you straight. You have no need to upgrade to the Platinum annual plan. You just kind of like I would say, try and take the time to figure out how to do those reimbursements on your own by doing all those reports. But if any of you are seeing something, I mean. That being said, Dan, if you're planning to be a Helium 10 member for a long time and you're paying monthly right now $99 a month, don't forget, if you do go to the annual plan, you get two months free. All right, you're getting two months free if you switch the annual plan. So if you're planning to be a Helium 10 member for a while, even if you're only owed $400, I mean theoretically I guess it's still worth it for you, Dan, to upgrade, because you're gonna be paying us anyways and now you save two months and now you get $400 back. So that's like getting four months for free or six months for free, because you're getting two months free plus the four months if you're over 400 bucks, all right. So yeah, it's up to you, Dan. But anybody out there who has a message where Refund Genie says hey, you're owed $1,500. You're owed uh, you know 2000, $10,000. It's a no brainer just instantly upgrade and then you're going to make that money back and more.

Bradley Sutton:

Maria says I have two reimbursements, so far, $178, and the others need cases. Excellent, Maria, did you have any line item where just one item was like a really big amount? Usually if it's like $300 or more for one item. Amazon says oh, I got to investigate it. Neal says I assume that means everything is good. If it says these items were found, if they're always going to tell you which one is found, but there should be one or two, if Helium 10 says so that's reimbursable. Oh, Brad said I've got a couple thousand dollars so far. Very easy process. Thanks, Helium 10. That's great. Brad just made just got two years of Helium 10 subscription paid for. It's like he never has to pay Helium 10 for two years because he just got that money back in the last 15 minutes. I love it. I love to see it. Inbae says I've done a few hundred so far. Excellent, excellent. Look guys, how many live calls do we actually literally make people money on the call for free? And people are making thousands of dollars out there that they're going to get in their account. I love it, I love it. Maria says our items are a bit expensive. Just one is over $300 and an expensive one is around two grand. Yeah, I almost guarantee Maria. I bet you. Amazon said oh, we need to open investigation for those expensive ones. Let me know. I bet you they did.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Neal says I'm about 10 out of 12 process, perfect, all right. While you guys are still doing that, Brad, Maria, Inbae, keep going. Let me give you remember. I said I was going to talk about different ways you can get money back from Amazon. Here's another way, and this I've never done any of these accounts. I have no idea what I'm about to find. All right. So for the rest of you guys, and this is plan of Helium 10. The Refund Genie. You got to be on a Platinum annual plan at the least. All right, and again, really quick. If anybody was like hey, I am not a Platinum annual member and I want to take advantage of this, don't pay full price. Use the code SSP10 to upgrade to that Platinum annual and then you'll be able to get those Refund Genie reports SSP, as in Serious Sellers Podcast 10. All right, now I want everybody else, regardless of what plan you have, to go into Helium 10 Alerts. That is, in Operations, okay, operations. And then hit Alerts oh, my goodness, there is. Oh, this is juicy stuff. See, this is not an account I manage all the time. So take a look here, guys, all right. So here at the top, does anybody else see this? I would say most of you probably don't have this, but this account does. Does anybody at the top left of your alerts see a message that says products with size tier optimization suggestions? This is rare, but this is the number two way that I've gotten thousands, or I'm getting thousands of dollars back from Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, Brad is just like making money left and right from Helium 10. He's got seven suggestions. All right, let me explain what this is. So anybody with any Helium 10 plan who has Alerts, go to your Alerts and on the top left, if you see products with size tier optimization suggestions. This doesn't mean 100%. Oh, you're going gonna be able to take advantage of this and make a lot of money. But let me explain what this means. This means that we detected one of your items that has a package size that is within like one or two inches on just one side. That will help you go from one size tier to another. Let me give you a quick anecdote of what I did recently In one of my accounts one of the coffin shelves I sell I had this message and my package is fine, like the package that I have is like hey, it's not like I have a whole bunch of empty space in there, but I saw that if I take away one inch off of one side, guess how much money I save per package on my shipping fees. Guys to Amazon? $3 and 50 cents. All right, let's just calculate that out here. All right, so if I sell 10 units a day of this coffin shelf, that means that if I make this package adjustment, I'm going to go from large standard size to standard size and save 350 per unit. Times that by 10. Every day I'm going to save in Amazon fees $35. Now I can't just snap my fingers like I did with Refund Genie and get this money back from Amazon. No, that means the next time that I am ordering this product from my manufacturer in China. I redesigned the package and redesigned the actual product a little bit. Not everybody can do this, right, but I. You know the coffin shelf is like you know. I can make it an inch smaller and it's still a good coffin shelf, right? So that's what I did. And then this I did this two months ago. This order is now on the water, on the way to me, okay. So remember I said that's $35 a day. Might not seem like a lot. This is only a product. I sell 10 units a day. Now times that by 365.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, this one alert that I got. How much is that saving me? Anybody? Do the math right there $12,700 guys. I am going to get extra per year on my profitability for this product because I was able to reduce my packaging by one inch on one side. All right, so how does this come up? Helium 10 is analyzing your account and if they see you have a package that is really close to one of the big size here, I mean, one inch doesn't always make that, um, doesn't always make that big of a difference, but we are looking for the ones where it's the literally the difference of going from one size tier to the next size tier. That's why not all of you are going to have something here Alerts. Hopefully none of you I mean not none of you. Hopefully most of you don't have this, because that means you've been kind of like throwing away money for a long time right. But if it is so, those of you who have this, Brad and the others, click on it and let's go to those products and let's just take a look here, it is right here. This is a floor lamp, right, this is a floor lamp here. And what is the message saying? You see here how there is a big red info sign. Okay, so this one, I could go from extra large to large bulky. What about this one? This one, I can go from extra large. Look at this. If I just take width by 1.1 inches, I go from extra large to large bulky and the FBA fulfillment cost goes from $21 to $19. Boom, in this account they will get $2 back if they can change their size by one inch. Okay, oh, my goodness, Brad, are you sure you're reading this right, Brad? That's crazy. Brad says on one of his he just has to reduce the height by 0.2 inches good grief, 0.2 inches and he can go from large bulky to large standard size, decreasing FBA fulfillment from $17 to $7. What in the world by 0.2?, Brad, are you sure you copied and pasted that right? That's insane. How many units, Brad, do you sell of that product? Brad is making ridiculous money off of Helium 10 today. He's making thousands of dollars from refunding. He already did thousands of dollars. He got back. I think he said or was that Inbae? I forgot, but now he might have somebody ask how many units of that do you have?

Bradley Sutton:

Rob. By the way, Rob asked a great question does Amazon remeasure the dimension automatically or do you have to ask them to do it? You have to ask them to do it. Alright, so once your new inventory with a new dimension is in Amazon, you have to ask for remeasurement and just say you change your package. Going back to a question from Inbae, he says I downloaded the damage item spreadsheet. Inbae, that tells me you're doing the wrong thing. You might be looking at the old Refund Genie. The new Refund Genie has zero downloads. So if there was nothing that had a star that allowed you to go to see the damage, then you're looking at the wrong thing. That means Amazon already, uh, reimbursed you for everything. All right, the only thing you guys should not be downloading anything in Refund Genie. Everything is in the app, the, the downloadable things. Those are from the old Refund Genie, all right, so those are. The time is probably already ended on when you can get your money back on those, or Amazon already reimbursed. Well, Brad, how many units of that do you sell a month or a day? Brad might have just made thousands of dollars here I'm not sure if Brad's still with us here, but that is another way you get money back and that I am getting $12,000 back from Amazon because I saw that I could change my package by such a tiny bit and it's going to save me $3 per unit. Now I've never, ever seen one like Brad's where he says he has a message where he is so close, only 0.2 inches away, and then he can go down to $7. That's insane, um for his packaging fee. So that would be crazy if he can do that, all right. So that's number two.

Bradley Sutton:

Number three, another way, is just Alerts by itself, all right. So one of the alerts guys, one of the things that Alerts is doing, it's monitoring if Amazon changes your dimensions, okay, if Amazon is changing your dimensions. So pay close attention to this, everybody. I once got $5,000 back from Amazon, but I never should have given Amazon that money in the first place. Helium 10 helped me get $5,000 back, but it never should have happened, because the instant that Amazon changed my dimensions erroneously, like some random employee in some FBA warehouse, I don't know, they were like drinking on the job or something, and they measured it in a ridiculous way and they increased my package size by like two inches, right. And so I'm like, okay, I just expect Amazon to do the right thing. All the time I wasn't paying attention and Helium 10 gave me the alert, but I didn't notice it. I don't know what I was thinking. This was like three years ago, and then what happened was I was looking through my alerts and then I looked here in event history. So, guys, go through your event history, okay, and then see, did something change for your dimensions? And then, if it is, and it's the wrong dimensions, you can go and file a claim.

Bradley Sutton:

This part has nothing to do with Helium 10. Helium 10 tells you what happened. But the next part, you go on your own and just open up a case and just say, hey, Amazon, you guys changed my dimensions erroneously on this date. That's the beauty about Helium 10 is it's going to tell you the date that this happened. Like, look at this we sent this person a message that on October 23rd, their product description changed, all right. So when, when something happens, an image changes, a product description changes, dimensions change. Helium 10 is notifying you on that date. So then let's just pretend that in this situation they had a dimension change. That was wrong and it happened October 23rd. So what I'm doing right now is I have a limited time. I'm not going to be able to get money back all the way back to October 23rd. You can only get money on dimensional changes within the last six months. So what I would do in this make-believe world where Amazon changed this whatever the heck, this is this piece of furniture here I would say, hey, Amazon, on October 23rd, you changed my dimension from this to this, causing me extra Amazon FBA fulfillment fees. Please reimburse me for this amount and remeasure, because this is the wrong dimensions. And then, obviously, you have to be a hundred percent correct. Like you, you gotta be sure that you've got the right dimensions and you can't like just tell them that it's this size, because what is Amazon going to do? They're going to go and remeasure it and then to check if what you're saying is true and then, if it is, then yeah, they're going to refund you, like thousands of dollars potentially, if that's how much extra they've been charging, and, of course, depending on how much extra, you know how much your sales have been. If you're only, if you only sold 10 units, well they're only going to charge. You know, they're only going to reimburse you the 20 bucks or whatever is the difference. But on this one product it was my main coffin shelf I was selling hundreds and hundreds of units and I was you know doing it at a price that I was getting charged extra every single unit for shipping because they had the wrong dimensions all right. So that's a third way that you can look and where Helium 10 can help get you money back by notifying you if that's happened.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, let's say you've got lots of products and you're not sure you didn't have Alerts on. By the way, guys, the only way you're going to get notified is if you hit this on button for your product. So what everybody should do right now who has a Platinum plan. You don't need an annual plan. Just, even if you're on the monthly plan, go into Alerts one by one guys, turn it on all right, otherwise this tool is useless to you If you don't turn it on. You got to turn it on, all right, for all your products so that you will get notified if you have a dimensional change. But let me show you something on how you can, um, how you can do it just on the fly. All right, this is like a little hack, all right, and this is the fourth way that you can kind of like, look and get money back. Watch this, go to your, go to one of your products on Amazon. I'm going to go to this one right here. Let me see if this even works here. Yeah, this product, this product is not even being sold right now. But watch this, go to any product, guys, on Amazon. I'm going to show you a little hack right here, a little Helium 10 hack. That's kind of hidden. All right, now, watch this. You see how, right here, under the BSR chart, it says revenue calculator and sales estimator. This is a hidden thing. This is like a. This is like one of those video game hacks where you have to like hit a couple buttons to release something. So hit revenue calculator and then hit sales estimator again and look what happens. Look what comes up. All of a sudden, this new little widget shows where it shows the package dimensions and the item dimensions. Now, this, this guys, is only going to work if you have a product that is very close in size to the package size, right? Like, for example, it's not something that you have to assemble or otherwise. This doesn't work. Like, for example, I've got this water bottle right here, right, you can just imagine that you know what the dimensions of this water bottle is. Let's just say it's 12 inches by five inches by five inches, right? Well, this is a solid product. The package that it's going to go in is very close, right, like, maybe there's a little bit of packaging. So I know that if this water bottle is 12 by five by five, the package it goes into is only should be slightly. I know my own package, right, it's only going to be like maybe 12 and a half by five and a half by five and a half. Does that make sense, guys? It's like the package dimension should be very close to this because I know there's very little packaging.

Bradley Sutton:

So then what I do with this hack is I am Helium 10 is surfacing the item dimensions and the package dimension. So if you've got something like this, where I see, all right, item dimensions 12 by five by five, but then I see package dimension 14 by five and a half by five and a half. What do I know? I know that probably Amazon has got the wrong dimensions, because I'm like, no, there's not like a two inch gap inside the height of my package. And then I might go back and look at my history of what this package dimensions was, and this is another way, even if I didn't have Alerts on this is the way I can kind of audit a lot of my products and see did Amazon somewhere change my dimensions? Because there's no way that there's like a three inch gap in my package. I hope that makes sense, guys. All right, so this is the same thing. Let me show you a better product. I'm going to actually show you the Helium 10 coffin shelf. Here we go. Here's Helium 10 coffin shelf. Let's run it on here. Now the Helium 10 coffin shelf has a box very similar to the size of the of the package. All right, so I go down here. I'm here on the Amazon listing page for the coffin shelf. I do the little hack where I hit revenue calculator and then I hit sales estimator and then the widget comes up and this is exactly what I'm looking at. All right, I am looking, if one side, one dimension is way too big, all right, 14 long, the package 15. That, that sounds reasonable. 3.5,. Uh, wide, the package 4.13. That's reasonable. 7.5 deep and the package 7.68. So you see how, in this case, no, my package is the right size. What would I have been looking for? I would have been looking for a discrepancy on one side, like if it says my item dimension is 7.5 and it said my package was 9.5. Well, guess what? I bet you, Amazon owes me a thousand bucks because that means sometime that they added a couple of inches to my package, even though it's not true, and I would have been able to reclaim that from Amazon. So that's the fourth way, guys, that potentially you can get thousands of dollars, uh, uh back.

Bradley Sutton:

Donia says I love the photos in the listing. Who did them? That was a AMZ one step did. Did these uh listings or did these images? Did they do all of them? Yeah, all of these were from AMZOneStep, who's in the hub.Helium10.com Originally. On the original listing I did the images with, or my team did the images in Helium 10, but this one I sent to AMZOneStep's photo studio in Bali for that. So yeah, this is a good question by Shubham says we had a similar dimension issue where Amazon changed the package dimensions and we had to pay more in FBA fee. We raised the case and they did rechecking and they said they are correct, even though they are not, because we have checked it on our side. Our 3PL checked. In fact, suppliers also checked. So you need to have the package in hand, okay, and then show them the pictures of every dimension. Now here's the thing. If it's a rigid box, like a cardboard box, then if you show them the size and nothing is bulging out on anything they should accept it. If you show them the size of you actually measuring it on each side, now here's what I've had. I sell bat-shaped bath mats. It just comes in like this poly bag. Now, the poly bag, it's different sizes because not no two are the same, all right, so, and they, they will measure to the very end of the plastic, though, even if it's not the package and it's not technically the width, they'll, they'll screw you in that way. So like I'm doing something new for my new shipment because of that. So the only time where you can pretty much be like hey, Amazon, you guys are full of it is if it's a rigid box that's square or rectangle and you could show the exact dimensions with a tape measure and you don't have boxes that are bulging out because they count that If it bulges out, they're not measuring to the edge, they're measuring to the bulge. Inbae says I did so many I count, calculate, I love it. Inbae says I did so many I can't calculate, I love it.

Bradley Sutton:

Inbae made thousands of dollars today on the call guys, Maria has 17 cases still pending. I think Maria was owed about over $10,000 total. So hopefully those cases Let us know Maria. Like send a message to customer support when you get notification by next week of all the money you're owed. I want to like see how much money you got total from Amazon. That would be great. Your next reimbursement or reimbursement disbursement from Amazon is going to be huge. Thank you guys for joining us and send me messages. I want everybody who has gotten a lot of money back follow me on Instagram serious sellers podcast right, serious sellers podcast. Follow me on Instagram. And I want you to tag me in a story or message me, uh with a screenshot or uh, maybe just a note that says hey, I got this much back from Amazon Thanks to Refund Genie. Uh, I would love to hear the stories about how much money you guys made today. Per my calculations, you know, I know you know Brad and Inbae probably have more that they have to get reimbursed for, but we could have made maybe 30, $40,000 live in this hour, just from like three, four members right there. So that is maybe 30, $40,000 live in this hour just from like three, four members right there. So that is uh, I had a lot of fun doing this. Um, for the rest of you, don't forget, this is not some eternal thing. You're always going to be able to do.

Bradley Sutton:

Uh, after October 22nd, you're only in it. There's not going to be any more $30,000 or $40,000. The money's going to be a lot smaller because it's only going to be a two-month window instead of 18 months. The reason why Brad and Maria and Inbae got so much money today is because it was looking at an 18 month window, but that's shrinking down. So this is like your last chance. So if you guys it says you owe, owed a lot of money right now, go into Helium 10 and make sure to get your Platinum annual plan and get that money back. All right, use the discount code SSP 10. If you guys want more information on that, go to H or use a calculator to see how much money you might be owed. If you're not even a Helium 10 member, go to h10.me/refundgenie. Thank you guys for tuning in and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye, bye now.

View Details

Join Bradley Sutton, as he explores the intricacies of Amazon product launches with the updated Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy. He’ll walk you through optimizing your product launches during Amazon's critical honeymoon period, sharing his hands-on experience and the latest insights from his recent testing. Learn how to utilize Helium 10's Blackbox tool for effective product research, identifying opportunities with low title density to give your product a competitive edge. We address the evolving landscape of AI and algorithm changes in Amazon, reassuring you that the fundamental principles of successful launches remain robust.

Discover advanced keyword research strategies using Helium 10's Cerebro tool to enhance your product's visibility from day one. We explain how to identify crucial keywords by examining competitors' rankings and uncovering hidden opportunities through niche keywords. By focusing on keywords where top competitors are already advertising, you'll ensure comprehensive keyword coverage and improve your product's relevancy signals on Amazon. Additionally, Bradley shows you how to leverage thematically related products frequently bought together with your competitors' items to optimize your listings and advertising efforts.

Finally, he'll guide you through creating compelling Amazon listings that resonate with potential buyers. Learn to prioritize relevant keywords based on competitor performance, avoid keyword stuffing, and craft emotionally engaging content. Bradley emphasizes the importance of customer reviews and the effective use of images and bullet points to highlight product benefits. Plus, he shares his experiences with test listings to ensure a smooth launch and offers strategies for balancing expenditure and maximizing ranking during the critical launch period. Whether you're launching a new product on Amazon or optimizing an existing one, these insights and strategies are designed to help you succeed in the Amazon marketplace.

In episode 600 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Maldives Honeymoon Amazon Product Launch Strategy
08:33 - Keyword Research for Amazon Launch Success
16:16 - Utilizing Cerebro Historical Trends for Keywords
20:30 - Identifying Related, Non-Competing Products
20:37 - Strategic Keywords for Amazon Product Optimization
23:57 - Effective Amazon Listing Optimization Strategy
28:04 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Success
28:54 - Launching a Test Listing Strategy
34:04 - Setting List Price Strategy for Sales
36:13 - Amazon Product Launch Strategy and Pricing
37:10 - Amazon PPC Strategy and Optimization
41:18 - Strategies for Amazon Discounts & Price Management
45:13 - Amazon Listing Relevancy and Ranking Strategy
49:36 - Product Launch Success With Amazon Relevancy
53:26 - Annual Amazon Launch Strategy Review

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

All right, guys, it's episode 600. You know what that means. It's time for another Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy. I'm going to be giving you guys, step by step, what you need to do in order to have the best launch that you can have for your Amazon products. How cool, is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 houses the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself. We have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me/blackbox. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers, as of any level in the e-commerce world. All right, and for you guys watching this on YouTube. You saw me do a dramatic transition from the pool. I'm here in the Maldives at a new resort that I've never been in, and I'm recording this as I do every year the Maldives Honeymoon Launch episode. This is now like the eighth version, I think. We used to do it every 50 episodes on the on the like the hundred and the 50. Uh, now we only do it every 100 episodes. So about once a year I come out here to the Maldives on my own dime I'm paying for this myself, and then I just take a couple of day’s vacation and also record the episode for Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy. All right, so if this is your first time listening to one of these, you don't need to go back and listen to the others, because every year I update it.

Bradley Sutton:

But basically, just a brief history is I started really focusing on what can give you the best bang for your buck for launches, and we all know about the so-called Amazon honeymoon period, where you get a little bit more bang for your buck when your product is just coming out. But then I started noticing things that gave me like that extra oomph, like a very special honeymoon, which is how I came up with the name Maldives Honeymoon, and that's why I am here and, for dramatic effect. I always come here to Maldives. I'm here at a resort I've never been it's the Huvafen Fushi Hilton, I believe it's called, but really great resort out here. And I'm here on my last day and I wanted to go ahead and share with you guys the new strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

So what we're going to be going over today is I'm going to go over, first of all, this is like version 6.0 of this strategy, where we are going to just break down what are the steps. And this isn't just me coming up with these steps. I've been testing it the last year. I've been testing stuff this month, last month, the previous month. I'm constantly doing tests to make sure, hey, what is the best strategy? And guess what, guys, if you listen to episode 500, the last time I did one of these episodes it's different than what I'm going to talk about today, because things on Amazon do change over time and that's why I do these every 100 episodes. So we're going to first go over the list of what makes up this strategy right now and then I'll give you guys, I'll show you guys, some examples of some things that I did, you know, show how I even came up with this, why it works. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So first let's talk about product research. You know, the Maldives Honeymoon Strategy actually can doesn't always have to, but it can start with your product research when you're finding a new product to operate. I don't always just have the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy in mind, but it's something that allows me to kind of like, pick the cream of the crop. Okay, so one of those features that I look for is a low title density. In Helium 10 Black Box, you use the filter under keywords for a title density. That means how many listings on page one, um, have this exact search keyword in the title? Uh, now, first of all, hold on.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me just back up really quick, and one elephant that's in some people's rooms, not in everybody's, is hey, wait a minute, isn't launch and creating listings and things completely different now, here, towards the end of 2024, because of Cosmo Algorithm and Rufus and this and that. And first of all, just spoiler, no, 100% the same. I'm not doing anything differently, differently. That being said, I'm going to go deep into I might have already been dependent on when I'm recording this, but I'm going to go deep into another episode where we talk about, uh, what the future holds because of you know, AI and different things. But the beauty is that don't listen to people who are trying to say that, hey, everything has changed right now because it hasn't, I am not doing anything differently because of AI and I'm having the exact same successes now.

Bradley Sutton:

The reason is because I have never been one somebody just focusing on keyword stuffing or keyword relevancy as the be all filter and stuff. If you're doing that, yeah, your launch strategies would have gone out of fashion years ago, because Amazon searches evolved before AI, before so-called Cosmo or Rufus and things like that. No, you got to do more than just stuff your keywords or your listings with keywords. Right, we've been teaching that you have to have the customer in mind when you guys are coming up with your listing, when you're choosing keywords, and not just have the Amazon algorithm in mind. Okay, and that's what we've always, even though the kind of strategies have changed. That's what we've always focused on in the Maldives Honeymoon Strategy is you're balancing Amazon algorithm with the customer and, again, nothing has changed, even though there's Rufus now and there's, you know, develop algorithms. If you're still doing that, you are a hundred percent fine. So don't get confused with people telling you that, hey, you've got to completely change everything you do or else you're completely irrelevant to the Amazon algorithm. Now, that being said, I hope nothing changes in the three weeks that from the time I'm recording this to the time I am releasing this, because I actually am recording this before Amazon Accelerate. Who knows, maybe something will come up from Amazon Accelerate that completely changes this.

Bradley Sutton:

I was teaching the Maldives Honeymoon Strategy to do refunds and giveaways for a year, year, for like two years. So the Maldives Honeymoon Strategy, you do a giveaway and you rebate them. Why? Because that was allowed by Amazon until the. I was teaching that till the very day it wasn't um. So, like I don't like to be the one who speculates about what could change, what does change. I'm going to tell you what's working, and you know we can, you know, kind of have in mind, hey, well, what could, but not to the point where it distracts you from what is working. And so that's what I'm always going to do. I'm going to give you the facts, guys, without speculation or things about what might change. And then the instant that something does change, or Amazon announces some policy shift or they announce something that you know the different way that you have to make your listings, we'll go ahead and shift them all these honeymoon strategy, right. So just keep that in mind. Everything I talk about right now has nothing to do with AI and different things, because these strategies are working right now, even though there's, you know, Rufus and different things like that. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, going back to the product research, low title density is something I look at because that gives me an idea. If some of the main keywords in a niche have a low title density number, that means it's going to be really easy for me to get to page one of those search results, because that's just one of the ways that Amazon algorithm works. How it says that something is relevant for a keyword is like hey, is that keyword in the title? And if there's not that many listings that have that keyword in the title, well, it's like okay, well, maybe this listing isn't that important for this keyword, all right. So that's one of the factors I look at. Another thing I could look at again, not like I'm only looking for this, but it's just stuff that gives me more confidence when I do launch, especially if I have like five or six options and I'm like all right, I only want to launch one or two products, which are the one or two that I'm going to do first. Well, these are the things I'm looking at. So another one is I look at Brand Analytics and I'm looking total domination of one or two products, you know, because they're getting the majority of the clicks, the majority of the purchases, or, on the flip side, is the top three clicks. Do they only make up like 10% of the conversions, meaning 90% is wide open. I can go either way and it'll give me some confidence. It says, hey, if just one listing is dominating the clicks and the purchases, that that and I don't think that listing is that great or that product is that great that gives me some confidence that, hey, maybe I can go in right away and from day one, maybe dominate a little bit. Right On the flip side, maybe, if it's wide open, I'm like, oh shoot, people are just buying all kinds of products here on page one, the top three click products only make up 10% of the sales. That could give me some confidence too that, hey, I can have a lot better conversion share than these top three click products. That's just one of the things I look at as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing I like looking at is in Amazon not even Helium 10, but in Amazon product opportunity explore. I look at the conversion rate for the keyword. All right, so in the conversion rate, if it has like less than 1%, I'm like, wow, this is great. That means that out of every 100 searches, less than one person actually buy something when they search at that could be an indication that there's opportunity, that people aren't finding what they're looking for. I can actually I said not in Helium 10, but for those of you who don't have Helium 10, yeah, use Product Opportunity Explorer. You can do that inside of Helium 10 with the keyword sales metric. All right, so we have estimated sales, and so if you have a huge differentiation between search volume and keyword sales, guess what? You found a keyword where it not many people are seeing what they're looking for and thus people aren't buying it. And so that means, if you can figure out what's the gap, why are people searching for this, but why aren't they buying anything on the page? Now, all of a sudden, you've got a huge advantage and that could be a great opportunity to get in a certain niche. So these are some of the things I look at, even before we're talking about launch, even though I know this is a launch episode. Those are some of the things that help me decide which keywords I'm going to launch.

Bradley Sutton:

Second step, before we even get to the launch, is the keyword research, and this is the key right. This is super key, and this is where I really think that you know, even though you can do launches without Helium 10. Guys, if you're using another tool that doesn't have these things I'm about to mention, you are leaving lots of money on the table with potential keywords, and so let me go over those. Now. The first thing I like to do is I'll put in 10 or 15 of the top competitors into Cerebro. Okay, so I'll take a baseline product, throw in 10 competitors, 15 competitors, minimum five, unless I'm in a brand-new niche where there's not much to look at. Let's just pretend that we're talking about something where there are at least five competitors that I can look at.

Bradley Sutton:

First thing I do is I just hit the one click button top keywords in Cerebro. That gives me all of the keywords that most of the top competitors, or most of these top competitors are all ranking for, and they're ranking highly for, instantly. These, I know, are my keywords and so I'll take that, put it to you know, like a keyword list, that I have my keyword list. Next thing I do is I look at the opportunity keywords. It's another one click button. I hit opportunity keywords and now that shows me, hey, where the keywords were a maximum of only one or two products are crushing it and the others, like, are not even in the ballgame. Because that gives me a list of keywords that you know I'm going to go ahead and not have some. You know as much competition. You know those top keywords, everybody's competing for it. That's great. I need to know that. Those are the most relevant keywords, usually to a niche. But these opportunity keywords the reason why we call it opportunity is because, hey, these are getting sales for maybe one, max, two products. The others might not even know about this keyword. They're not even ranking for it really. So that could be an opportunity for you to come in.

Bradley Sutton:

Instead of having a keyword that you're competing with all 10 or 15 top competitors You're just competing with, you know, like three or three, one or two, right, all right, so that's another one, Now, by the way, guys, I like setting up two different keyword lists. I put everything into a main keyword list, all right, inside of Helium 10. But then I set up a second keyword list. Now, this is something new, I haven't done this in the past but where I'm putting in some of my like outlier keywords, where I'm like hey, this is not going to be one of the top keywords, but I want to make sure I have this in phrase form, all right. So, like I'm looking for another like 10, 15 keywords that I'm going to put in this special list, 15 to 20, maybe even more, maybe I can go up to 30. I still want to put my main keywords in phrase form, but these are the ones where it's not going to have a highly competitive performance score. I'll talk to you a little bit about that later, but I still want to make sure it's like making a mental note hey, these are the keywords I want to put in phrase form, even though they might not be one of my main keywords. I'll explain a little bit more why later.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the next step I do in Cerebro again. I do in Cerebro again, we're still looking at those keywords where I did 10 to 15, is. I want to look at where one competitor is ranking in the top 10, at least just one. Forget about what the other guys are ranking for. What are all the keywords where one guy is ranking the top 10 out of those 5, 10, 15 competitors? Copy those keywords to my keyword list because hey, those are keywords getting sales for one of my competitors. Why can't I get sales for it? It's not always going to be the most relevant keyword, right? So some of them are random. Obviously, a lot of brand names are going to come up. I'm not putting in brand names, keywords into my listing. I would obviously exclude those. The next step is hey, where is just one competitor ranking in the top 50? It's making it a little bit more broad, like it's not going to be hated for it. And, by the way, the more keywords that you put in your listing that you share ranking with these other competitors, it's setting you up for success from day one as far as relevancy to the Amazon algorithm, because Amazon remember, if you have a brand new product, amazon doesn't know what your product is, it just can go by what's in your listing, and so the more that you can relate yourself to other products with established histories. It means from day one it's going to be like, okay, we're going to give a shot to this product for these other keywords, because it looks similar to this other listing, right, but uh, you know it, or because it has the same keywords, but you know, we're not exactly sure it's relevant for this. But let's give it a try. That's. That's kind of like how the honeymoon period even works.

Bradley Sutton:

Uh, the next step is I'm going to go for, uh, something new-ish I've been doing just to get more keywords is 75% of the top competitors are ranking for a keyword, just ranking at all, all right, so obviously this is some keywords. I could have some completely off the wall keywords here, but here's the thing 75% of the top competitors. That means if I had 10 competitors that I put in Cerebro, I need at least seven or eight competitors all ranking for it, anywhere between one and 306. And the reason is maybe people aren't getting sales for it, but there's a reason. Most keywords have 1,000, 10,000 products indexed for the keyword. That means searchable, but only seven pages of search results come up. Right, only 306 listings come up. Now, if you can find keywords where maybe nobody's even ranking that high for it, but they're all in the top 306. Now, all of a sudden it's like, hey, this is probably somewhat relevant. Maybe it's not to the customer yet, but to Amazon. There's signs that Amazon has said, hey, this deserves ranking.

Bradley Sutton:

Now there's where Helium 10 comes in. You use other tools like Jungle Scout or Data Dive, which is driven by Jungle Scout. They're only looking at the top, I think, 100 or 150 ranks, so you're going to miss out on tons of keywords. I'll be doing another podcast later where I talk a little bit more about how many keywords you miss out if you're using another tool. But that's one of the main advantages or not one of the main, but one of the many advantages I should say of Helium 10 is we're looking at all the ranks, all right. So if you're only looking at the top 150, you can miss out on some valuable keywords, on some valuable keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Next thing is another Amazon or Helium 10 only metric of Amazon recommended rank. Remember, Helium 10 has a direct connection with Amazon for the relevancy score, which we call Amazon recommended rank. It's because it's what Amazon recommends that you advertise for due to relevancy, all right. So I want to see what are the keywords that 75% of the listings again, seven out of 10, three out of five, you know, 10 out of 15, uh, 11 out of 15, actually I should say are all have or are all on this Amazon recommended rank. That means they're all on Amazon's relevancy radar and it's a top 200 average. All right. In helium 10, you can pick the Amazon recommended rank average. So that means across the board that on average it's one of the top 200 keywords that Amazon thinks is relevant, all right. So again, these are keywords that you're not going to find in other tools, but these can help you get these little sales, like one or two sales here or there. With some of these keywords. That's really going to help you get ahead of the competition.

Bradley Sutton:

The last thing I'm doing in Cerebro with those top 15, 10, 5, 10, 15 listings is I'm looking for where 75% of the competitors are all advertising for the keyword. Now I might go take it a little bit narrow and say, hey, show me where at least three competitors are advertising in the top 10 positions. Then I know they're spending money and sure I'll run that. But at the very least I want to see where, hey, at least seven out of 10, at least 11 out of 15 of my top competitors. They're all showing up in the sponsor results, right up to 105 locations. Again, this is not something that all tools have. Some tools are only showing you where the top 40 or top 50 sponsored ads, but again, I'm looking, I like to look at the top seven pages, because if they're showing up in the top seven pages, their bid has got to be somewhat high, where it's even in the in the ballpark, and so if you're not looking at all seven pages, you could be leaving money on the table. So by now, at this point, I've got like a good two, three hundred or even more keywords. Not all I'm gonna be able to get in my listing, not all, definitely in phrase form, but this gets me on a good start.

Bradley Sutton:

And one more thing that I like to do is I like to look at the historical trend. All right, this is another Helium 10 exclusive where, like, let's say, I'm doing looking into egg racks. Maybe, I think that in February, march, when Easter is coming, a lot of people are searching for different keywords. So I can hit this show historical trend and then I could look either at the product level or the entire niche level. Hey, what's going on in like February of the last couple of years and where were these products getting sales in February? And then it's kind of like taking a time machine in Cerebro, going back and looking all right, let me go ahead and pull all the important keywords in February and then I can see, oh, there's a whole bunch of keywords maybe that are not showing up right now. So, super important. This is something that is going to get you a lot of the historical keywords and the seasonal keywords that other tools just aren't going to show you, because it's only showing you what's going on now.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the next thing I do is I'll take maybe three or four of those top keywords, the ones that had the highest competitor performance score in Cerebro. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and throw those one by one into Magnet and then I'm going to filter down for Smart Complete. Smart Complete is showing me the long tail versions of that keyword in various forms. So in other words, for example, coffin shelf. All right, so that's for my coffin shelf. That's the main keyword. I put that in Magnet. Hit Smart Complete. It's going to show me probably not that many, because coffin shelf is in a huge keyword, I'm going to get a good 15, 20 keywords where it'll be like coffin shelf for men, spooky coffin shelf, Halloween coffin shelf, whatever things like that. But those ones might not have a lot of ranking yet for whatever reason. But I'm going to go ahead and copy those keywords. A lot of it probably came up in my Cerebro, but there's always going to be like two or three keywords that probably didn't come up in Cerebro but that there's searches for, especially if I'm using a search volume filter, and I want to get those in my listing too, because, hey, if my product is a coffin shelf, I want to know what are the different forms of coffin shelf that people are searching for. Let me get those in my listing as long as they're relevant. So I'll go ahead and do that in Magnet.

Bradley Sutton:

Next step is I can do this either in Helium 10, which is actually easier, or I can do this in top search terms Brand Analytics in Amazon. I'm going to take some of those top competitors all right, those top five, those top 10, and I am going to go back in history and I want to see any time that they were one of the top three clicked and they had purchases. It's not just a matter of being one of the top three clicked. They could be one of the top three clicked forever, but if they never had purchases, well, is that really a valuable keyword for them? Most of the keywords I'm going to come up with here are going to have already been what I found in Cerebro, but every now and then you'll find some random keyword because maybe they just randomly were ranking for it one day, or they just randomly got shown in an auto campaign. They never even realized it, so they never had you know, other sales again other weeks. But I'm going to go back and look a week by week for the past six months or so. Now this is kind of a tedious task. Now, soon, Helium 10 in our Brand Analytics Black Box tool, you're going to be able to look at multiple date ranges, so it's going to be just a couple of clicks, a button. But right now, whether you're using Helium 10 or Amazon, it's going to be kind of tedious. You're going to have to go week by week over the past six months. If you really want to do this right and just look at all the keywords where they were one of the top three clicked your top competitors maybe only your top five and where they actually had more than 0% conversion share, meaning they actually had purchases for it. I'm going to put that to my keyword list. Some of those I might actually put to that special keyword list where it's my top keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Next thing here is something that's been in my Maldives Honeymoon for a while very unique once again to Helium 10, is you want to look at the frequently bought together of some of your top competitors? I'm not going to do this to all 15, but I'll put in my top five competitors into Black Box product targeting. Now, what this is going to do is it's going to show me for these products I can do it one by one or I can put them all in where what other products have shown up in the frequently bought together for these products. Remember Amazon, frequently bought together is showing you products that people bought in the same purchase experience. So, for example, it's not like the old metric that was customer also bought, you know where. Like maybe Monday I bought a coffin shelf and Wednesday I bought diapers, right, you know like, yeah, sure, that's one competitor or one competitor, one customer who bought those two things. But are those relevant? No, but then if something is frequently bought together in the same shopping cart experience, it's usually because they're kind of relevant towards each other, like maybe it's a coffin shelf plus like a spider web shelf or something like that, or it's a coffin shelf plus some spooky decor item, because somebody's you know like decorating their Halloween haunted house or something like that. Right? So what I'm looking for is not other coffin shelves and other coffin shelves are going to come up, because sometimes people buy two of the same products or whatever your product is.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm looking for what are the products that are showing up and frequently bought together with my competitors or my future competitors that are completely different? Not, I don't want to say completely different, but I mean it's not a coffin shelf. So, in other words, I want to look for a product that's like a coffin shelf with a you know, bat shaped bath rug or something, where it's like oh yeah, obviously this person is buying this kind of themed stuff, but it's not a competitor. You know, a bat-shaped bat rug is not a competitor with coffin shelf. All right, it's two separate products, but there's relevance, there's a history of people buying the two. Now, the reason I'm doing that is because now I'm going to take those products. Maybe there are five products that are commonly showing up with my competitors, maybe it's 10. It's up to you, and then I'm one or two keywords of each of those products, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's say that, to my coffin shelf, one of the other top products that showed up in frequently bought together was a coffin-shaped light cover, like a light switch right, or a coffin-shaped toilet paper dispenser, whatever. It is right. What is the main keyword of that? Well, it's going to be coffin-shaped light cover or something like that. Right, I want that keyword in my listing. They're number one and they're number two keywords, like the most relevant keywords. If I were to flip this and somebody had a coffin bath mat and my product is a coffin shelf, what keywords are they going to choose for me? Well, they would choose coffin shelf, right, you know for them. Now, why is this? This is something unique. All right, I want to be related to these products from day one. I don't I'm not making some wild guess that people who are interested in coffin shelves are also going to be interested in this coffin shape, like I know Amazon is telling me people are buying these products together.

Bradley Sutton:

So how does it benefit me by having this kind of, this other product, which is doesn't describe my product, being indexed for that keyword? Well, it just sends that little relevancy signal to amazon saying, hey, Amazon, you know this, this product has this keyword in here. You know when I'm doing now, when I'm doing my product targeting, from day one usually I'm going to be able to target that other product. You know those are the products you want to target. If you just have, if you, if I have a coffin shelf and I don't have any of those, uh, coffin, you know light cover keywords in my listing eventually will I show up pin product targeting. You know sponsor display ads and things like that probably. You know when I went in an auto campaign, you know Amazon might one day just show it or you know, in some other kind of product targeting maybe you know I'll get impressions. But I want to start getting those impressions from like day one of my list and then, if I actually am indexed for that keyword, it's like it's going to give me a lot better chance from day one to start showing up in product targeting and then, uh, you know, I I'm hopefully going to get sales from those product targeting ads because I see a history of frequently bought together. So that's another uh set of keywords that I'm going to go ahead and want to put in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now another part, uh that doesn't have to do with Helium 10 is using Product Opportunity Explorer. Probably 98% of the keywords I'm going to see in product opportunity to explore I already got from Cerebro or Magnet or Brand Analytics or one of these others, but every now and then there's maybe some new up and coming keyword that might not be in the other ones. So this is kind of like a nice little bookend. And obviously, for those of you who don't have Helium 10 for whatever strange reason out there you're one of the few top sellers who don't use it Well, you kind of have to use only Product Opportunity Explorer. But I'll put my competitors into Product Opportunity Explorer and check what niches they're in, or if my main keyword has a niche on Product Opportunity Explorer not all main keywords do. I'm going to look at the other niche keywords and I'm going to get that and go ahead and put it in my keyword list as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, next up is the Listing Optimization. This is key. All right, all those keywords from my two lists I'm throwing into Listing Builder. Okay, it could be 300, 400 phrases, I'm not sure. Well, Listing Builder immediately is gonna break down my phrases with my individual keywords. Now, remember the top keywords. By the way, at the same time I'm gonna bring in all of my competitors, those 10, 15 top competitors. I'm importing them into my Listing Builder. I think this is only a diamond in a plan so that you can see those competitor performance scores that you see in Cerebro. So now I know what are the most relevant keywords. What are those top keywords is because those probably have a CPS score of like eight, nine or 10. And how I'm going to prioritize this now is hey, even though it says 400 phrases or 300 or 100, there's no one number that's right or wrong. But however, many phrases I have, now I know, hey, I'm only picking, like a top 10 or 15 phrases, the ones that are the most relevant with that high score, to make sure I have in phrase form, plus any of those other keywords that I'm like.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, I you know, maybe I found this keyword in Brand Analytics, or maybe it's one of those opportunity keywords, or maybe it's something I'm going to go ahead and, you know, make sure those get in phrase form. The rest of it, guess what? All I have to do is make sure that those individual keywords are in there once. And where am I listening? Because if I have 300 phrases, they're probably you know, that's probably. You know three, maybe let's just say they have three words each. There's probably 900 words in those 300 phrases, right? It doesn't mean I have to put 900 different individual words. Those 900 words. There's probably only like 200 or 300 individual words that are unique. The rest are just duplicates of each other, right? So then what I would do is, hey, the Helium 10 Listing Builder is already taking out those duplicates. I just got to make sure each of those individual keywords I have somewhere in my listing. Now, at this point I can have AI and Listing Builder, kind of just like you know, make me a rough listing, or I could just write the listing.

Bradley Sutton:

A couple things, remember when you're making the title all right, pick, put your best keyword in the title for me Coffin Shelf. Coffin Shelf is going to be there. If it's an egg holder, maybe egg holder countertop. But then what I'm going to do is there another top keyword like Gothic Decor? I'll stick that. It's the Coffin Shelf and Gothic Decor. They're not even nested keywords. But if I've got two top keywords I can usually find a way to put two top keywords in my listing. But here's the thing Once you do that, now use the helium 10 to see what are those root phrases. That, if it's a two-word root or more, now what happens is now I'm going to be like hey, what are some nested keywords I can use? You know, an example I've always used is maybe I have my main keyword is egg holder and then additional keyword egg holder, countertop. Egg holder, countertop for kitchen. Rustic egg holder, rustic egg holder, countertop for kitchen. If I put the keyword in my title rustic egg holder, countertop for kitchen, I've got like five, six phrases in phrase form right there, because Amazon is not making me you know it looks at those phrases just in the order of the words that it's at. It's not. It's not making me put those phrases all separately. So that's what you should do. Pick your two top keywords and then see what other nested keywords can you put in there, so you can kill a couple birds with one stone, for you know, sending those relevancy signals to Amazon that, hey, this is what my product is about. Now the rest of my listing again, I'm focusing on trying to get those key phrases in phrase form in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

But again, do not just keyword stuff. It's not just about, hey, I need to put these keywords this many times, et cetera. Listing builder we have some tool or some scoring that will help you to know what kind of score you have, but you have really got to write to connect to the customer when you're ranking your listing. This doesn't have to do with the launch per se, but again, this isn't necessarily about it. This is nothing new, guys. We've been taught. I've been talking about this for six years since I've worked at Helium 10. You have got to use review insights in Helium 10 to look at your competitors, reviews. What do people like about it, what do people not like about it? Talk about it in their coffee, right? Is that a keyword? No, but I'm going to write about that. I'm going to put that in my image. I'm going to show if I had collagen peptides, somebody at a kitchen table, you know, pouring it into their coffee, because that's how people are using. I'm going to talk about that in the bullet points.

Bradley Sutton:

Again, not to send a relevancy signal for a certain keyword or to rank for in my coffee. I'm not trying to rank for in my coffee, but I'm trying to connect with the customer. And, by the way, guys, going back to what I said before, if something changed, you know, as things change with AI and Rufus and things like that, you know somebody might ask a question like hey, how can I find the best you know collagen peptides that'll fit in my coffee? Well, guess what? You're going to be the one that has that in your listing. So the Amazon AI is going to relate it to your product. But again, that's not the reason to do it. It's not because, oh yeah, Rufus is out there now. That's why you should put this. No, I've been talking about this for six years, even before there was a such thing as Rufus, right? So, again, make sure you are talking to the customer in your listing as well. Make those emotional connections with your customer. What problems does your product solve? What are the use cases? And I'm talking about images, I'm talking about your bullet points, your description, your A plus content. Speak to the customer, then you don't have to worry about fancy stuff, about AI and whatnot, because you're already covering your basis.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the next aspect here is something I just released last year in episode 500, which I hadn't talked about before, and that's making a test listing. The reason why I want to make a test listing nowadays is because I don't know what's going on, but there are so many times where it seems like Amazon gets confused about products from the get go. I've talked about this before, but how this came up or how I discovered it, was because I was launching these coffee socks. And then what happened was, when I say coffee socks, it's socks that had a message on the bottom where it says hey, if you can read this, bring me coffee. And so I wanted to rank for coffee gifts for women or gifts for coffee lovers and things like that, and I couldn't even get impressions in PPC.

Bradley Sutton:

And then when I ran the relevancy test that only you can get in Helium 10 with Amazon recommended rank, the coffee keywords were not even in its top 20. All the top 20 keywords was like oh, you know, black sock and pink sock and black shoe. And I'm like, oh man, amazon is completely confused about this product and I was like, well, it kind of makes sense because you know coffee is in the grocery category, right? My product? It's a sock, it's in the fashion category. Amazon probably thinks that. You know why does this product need to be relevant for the coffee related keywords, right? So this is what happens sometimes when you just launch a listing and then you usually have to like all right, I need to opt to reoptimize my listing. I need to send traffic.

Bradley Sutton:

By the way, one of the best ways to get relevancy for keywords you are indexed for is using the old school two-step field ASIN URLs. All right, you can. You can pull one of those eight field ASIN two-step URLs by using index checker and then just give that to like four or five people. This is not against Amazon terms of service. Am I trying to rank? Am I trying to increase my ranking for a certain keyword? No, that's against Amazon terms of service. We used to do that all day long, you know, five years ago, that used to be part of them all these honeymoon strategy. The reason why this is not against terms of services I couldn't care less about ranking. I mean, maybe later I want to rank is just get a couple of orders for using one of those URLs to send that relevancy signal.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to show you some examples about how amazing that works, where, in two days, I can get that Amazon relevancy for that keyword. That I didn't, and so that's what I did for my coffee listing. I do it for other listings. But anyways, these are things that you're testing. Maybe that doesn't work, maybe you have to do send a search find by which, again, is against Amazon terms of service if you're trying to rank. But if you're just trying to send relevancy, there's nothing against terms of service for that for now. But anyways, if you're trying to launch a product and you're in the honeymoon period and you're trying to figure stuff out and test and like, all right, let me check back tomorrow. Did this affect my relevancy? Do I get PPC impressions? Now you’re losing days of your honeymoon.

Bradley Sutton:

You want to hit the ground running from day one of your listing, right, and so it's important to make a test listing to see, hey, if, is Amazon confused? Oh, yes, if, yes, well, now what steps do I have to take to fix it? And then now you know, when you make your real listing, you know exactly on day one, exactly what you have to do, instead of trying to run these experiments. The other reason to do test listings is you can test your PPC. Are you getting PPC impressions from day one on all your keywords? If not, again you might have to do some relevancy switches on there. What PPC bid gets you in the top four positions? If you launch your product without this, it's fine. You'll know within four hours thanks to Helium 10's keyword tracker that has boost. You'll know in four hours. Oh, I need to raise or lower the bid, but since you're doing this anyways, might as well figure out what that exact bid is. That gets you to the top of search, right. And now, once you've got that bid, hey, when you make your real listing and you make your real PPC campaign, your launch campaign, you'll know from day one exactly the bids. That's going to get you at the top of the.

Bradley Sutton:

A throwaway ASIN. I use similar images. I don't want to use the exact same images. All right, I have to use a throwaway UPC like throw a, fulfilled by merchant listing up. All right, you know, put one inventory in, I'll put a high price, cause I didn't want to get purchases, maybe, right, and then? And then I just start playing with these things and testing. You know I run it through Cerebro. What is the Amazon recommended rank? Start my PPC campaign for it. Where is it showing me? You know I run my keyword tracker. I get all of this data so that when I make my quote unquote real listing from day one I have all my ducks lined up in a row where I know exactly what I have to do.

Bradley Sutton:

When you make your real listing but your product isn't ready to in Amazon yet, you know, make sure to put a future date. All right. Now be careful, though. All right, be careful. There's some listings that have this thing called street date, all right. So if you see four different dates, be very careful which dates you do. Before I used to just say, oh yeah, wherever you see a date for listing launch date and merchant, go live date or whatever just put some random date in the future and then, once the product actually gets there, then go ahead and change the date. But there's one of these things I'm going to talk a little bit about it later when I show you some real-life examples there's one of these dates that you can't change unless maybe use like a special flat file, which I haven't tested yet, but you can't change it, so you're locked into a pre-buy until then. So just be very careful when setting the date in the future.

Bradley Sutton:

But you don't want to just create your listing and have your listing potentially active where other people can find that ASIN and like make it active in their, in their Seller Central, and now it's like counting days against your honeymoon period for you. You don't want to do that. So put your date in the future or just create the listing the same day. You're going to launch it. Those of you who have warehouses in the United States, like me, that's what I do. I don't put a future date always because I got the product in my warehouse. I turn on my Fulfilled by Merchant listing the same day and then I send the inventory to Amazon and I'm getting orders from day one. All right, you got to do one of those things. You've got your regular listing, everything is set up. It's launch date, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

What do you do? I keep my product at what I want my list price to be. Maybe I want my list price to be above what my regular price is going to be. Um, let's just say your regular price. You want to target a 39 99. I want to maybe set a list price at 43 99. Just give me some leeway down the road price, set that as a baseline price and give me the best chance to get that strikethrough pricing. Okay, so if it's going to be $43.99, I have five people lined up, not giving them, like you know, search, find, buy. I'm not giving them, you know, URLs to try and rank for, unless you know it's to send those relevancy signals. Maybe I can do it as a combined thing, but I get five people to buy at a full price and then that sets that baseline price. It gives me the best chance to be able to have that strike through price because I want to do a big discount in the beginning.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, other things that don't work to get the strike through price. I tried once to use a social media coupon code. I did a social media coupon code and I was like all right, $43.99. And then I had people use the social media coupon code, do it. Five of them didn't work to get the strike through price and it doesn't set that off and on. When it does work, is doing a coupon, all right, I can do a coupon, um, you know. Or a promotion, promotional price, where it's a clippable coupon, uh or uh, a promotion, that's on the page right when they click it. That sometimes works. But if you're just worried about like, oh, I'm not sure it's going to work out, the best thing to do is just get the full price. Uh orders five of them.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, once that's ready, I immediately go ahead and start my PPC campaigns. Now, what I've been doing is I have one PPC campaign. It's going to be a throwaway campaign, as in. It's only going to last for maybe one month. I call it my launch campaign and in there I put my top five or 10 keywords that I'm trying to rank for. Again, it includes maybe only two or three main keywords that I'm really trying to rank for and then six to 10 of the supplementary keywords, using that same principle about how you make the title having keywords nested together, like, if the keyword is egg holder countertop, then I'll have large egg holder countertop, egg holder countertop, kitchen, et cetera, et cetera. I'm launching all these at once and I'm doing a fixed bid, no bid modifiers, just a fixed bid down only. No, just a fixed bid.

Bradley Sutton:

And then what I'm doing is I put that PPC bid that I know is going to get me those first four PPC positions. And if I didn't do that test listing, no problem. I just put those keywords in keyword tracker, turn boost on. Within four hours I'll know did it get me that top ranking or a sponsored rank or not? Now what I'm doing here? The whole point of this is I'm trying to get enough orders for the CPR number that's in Helium 10, which is how many products you have to sell after the search of a keyword over eight days to give me the best chance. Now do you have to do all of the CPR number to get on page one? No, sometimes I'll do it with even half or even 25% of that CPR number. I'll go ahead and be on page one already, but the full CPR gives you the best chance at sticking on page one afterwards. All right, and now I've got that PPC campaign set up, I'll go ahead and set up in Helium 10 Adtomic my other campaigns as well, but with lower bids. That's my exact match campaign my research, which is a broad match campaign. My auto campaign, my sponsor display targeting campaign, my sponsor brand video campaign. Sometimes I start from day one, two, just with lower bids, just because I want to get some residual sales, but other people don't like to do those right away. Either way works.

Bradley Sutton:

There's reasons to do it and not to do it. The reasons to do it is like, hey, when you're in your honeymoon period, you just get so much love from Amazon, it's going to show you across the board for all these keywords, right? So that's why I do it. But then the drawback is, if you have this huge, huge discount on your listing, you don't want just a random keywords where your product is showing up and then you're getting conversions and it doesn't even really. You're not even trying to rank for those keywords per se. Right off the bat. You know you're focused on those five 10 keywords. So then you know, maybe you don't want all your spend going to there. So that way I've done both ways before. You guys choose what works best for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now one thing as since I'm doing, you know I'm losing, but you're going to lose money, guys. I lose money my first month of selling, that's just that's for six years of launch. You lose. It takes money to make money, right? So you, you don't want to be losing more than you need to. So let's say, the CPR number for a keyword is 80, meaning I need 80 over eight days. That's like an average of 10 a day, like if I get 10 orders in one day for one keyword I'm monitoring those PPC numbers I'm going to go in and pause that bid for the rest of the day and then restart the next day until I get 10. All right, so that's just something to keep in mind that it's not going to help you rank. Stick your leg in anymore. If you get 25 orders that first day, right, and then that's not giving you a better chance. All you need is those 10, and then I'm going to pause it because I don't want to keep losing money when I've already done what I need to do to rank for that keyword. When I'm losing money on every order right Now, how do you do that big discount price?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what's the thought process here? The thought process of even doing a huge discount at the beginning? It's for two reasons. Number one is your product has no reviews. People might not even know your brand. You're trying to compete with products that do have reviews, even if they only got 50 or a hundred or more. Maybe you're doing a competitive niche. What reason would somebody have to buy your product if your price is the same, zero reviews. Maybe you had something in your image. This isn't guaranteed that you have to do it like this. Maybe you're the only product that has a laser that everybody needs on the water bottle or some weird thing like that. Well yeah, you don't even need to do any discount If everybody wants that because that's what they saw on TikTok, it went viral they're only going to buy your product.

Bradley Sutton:

You can have your product more expensive than others. Those have thousands of reviews. You've got zero reviews and you'll get all the orders because you've got some special thing. But if you don't have that special thing, if you're just kind of similar, you just got a little bit better product than everybody else you've got to give incentives to people to buy your product without that trust, without that social proof of reviews, and to do that usually it's finding that price where it's like a person might not trust you yet but they're like shoot at this price. I'll go ahead and get it. All right for a couple of my products. You know like I had one product that my target price is going to be 24 bucks. To me that was like 12 bucks. It was like an egg tray for my coffin letter board that I was doing. My target price is going to be like $39. I had to launch at 17 because I just wanted to like make it a no brainer for people to get it all right. The other reason to have this low price, uh, is that's when I start my Vine, which is the next step of the honeymoon period is, start your Vine as soon as your low price goes active.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the reason is because the Amazon Vine reviewers there's two reasons, there's two reasons of this reason. Right, Amazon Vine reviewers, they only have so many products they can get for free before they have to start declaring tax or something like that. So, even though they're not paying for the product, they sometimes prioritize the lower price products so that it doesn't count so much to that monthly total that they have to hit or that they can't hit unless they hit that tax threshold. The other reason is it gives you a better chance to have a positive review from Vine. The Vine reviewers can see the product price and so if your product is full price $39, and they just a little bit kind of don't like the product, well, they might give you three or four stars when you're trying to get five stars because they're like ah, the value is not that great. I was expecting more. But now think about it. If they had the product, maybe they, they, they didn't like it too much. But then they remember oh shoot, this product is like $13. And I'm going to go ahead and give it five stars because it was $13. You like, like that, it's still a good value, all right. So you see how it could be a difference not always, but it could be the difference of you getting a three and a four star or a four and a five star, right. So those are the two reasons why I do a low price.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the question is how to do low prices. All right, there's different ways, but you got to be careful because nowadays Amazon change again. This year we'll have you lose the buy box If you had a certain price using the sale price and then later you keep trying to raise it up. Like, at that price, I want to raise the $34. I started at 13. Maybe I go to 15. Once I hit like 22 or something, there's like no, no, you're you number of purchases at that new price point before I can go to something else. All right. So that's where you got to be careful. So there's different ways to do discounts. You can do a big coupon when you first launch, so you might want to do the coupon first, see how it works. You can just do a promotional price. All right, now you got to be careful.

Bradley Sutton:

Sometimes those don't show up that that noticeable in the search results. You could just do a sale price on the product, right, especially that works if you get that strikethrough. Or you could do the discount. That's like something newish that Amazon just launched this year, the price discount section. But here's the thing If you're going to be doing this in phases, right, if you're doing a price discount, you're locked in at that discount and then the next thing you have to do is just go to that regular price, because you cannot go and say, all right, I'm going to do a 50-price discount now, in two weeks let me make that a 40. No, you can only go the other direction with price discounts. Amazon sets that as the cheapest price in 30 days and you can't just keep going a little bit higher. It's gonna say no, it's got to be at least 51 discounts now or something, something like that if your discount was 50. So then that's why sometimes maybe the first thing you do is a coupon and then the next thing you do is the price discount and then the next thing you do is like the sale price and then hope that Amazon gives you your buy box. But sometimes it doesn't. You're going to have to just grin and bear it and start raising that price up, little by little by getting those orders and raising that average price velocity. That whatever sets off Amazon's price. Um, you know, price matching, a buy box suppression that they do.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, again, the whole reason of this, of this big discount whether it's 50%, 60%, whatever you're doing is you're trying to get that sales velocity on those keywords, on those PPC keywords, those launch PPC campaign that you're doing, you're showing up at the top of the search results. Somebody searched that keyword. They see you at the top, they click it, they buy it. That's going to help your organic ranking. All right. So just keep doing that until you can get reach organic rank that you're trying to reach. Now, once you hit that eight-day CPR mark or once you're just happy with your organic ranking, you turn off that fixed bid, turn off that target for that keyword, that you reach your ranking, that you like it. And then that's when I switched to that keyword, to my down, my down, only, my down only regular performance campaign. Because you know that fixed bid, I'm paying a lot of money for that position I want to dial back a little bit and just kind of, like you know, find what my evergreen bid is going to be. So you want to do that, one by one as you start achieving your organic ranks or your CPR number, until all of those in your launch campaign are finished, and then you just close, not archive, but just pause that entire launch campaign with all of those individual targets that are paused, all right. So that's pretty much the Maldives Honeymoon Strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's go ahead and hop in and show you some of these things in action and what kind of results I had. Here's an example of one of the products I launched an 18-egg rack launch, all right. Here's my PPC campaign that I did, my launch campaign, and you can see that now they're all paused. But I had put a fixed bid and I had a very high bid here. Now look at this problem. This was like all the way back in June 14 to 16, three days. This was on my actual listing. I didn't do a test listing on this. Look at this for some of my keywords I was getting no impressions almost in three days. And for egg holder countertop my main keyword only 131 impressions in three days. I got this shows when my listing actually started was 614. All right, so this was terrible for the first three days of my listing. So I took the listing, I threw in a Cerebro, I ran it and I checked Amazon recommended rank. It only had me relevant, for whatever reason, for two stinking keywords. All right, kitchen decor and kitchen rack. Not even what my product is. And so now it's like okay, there's no doubt. Like obviously Amazon's confused.

Bradley Sutton:

So then what I did was like I sent in my little Slack on June 16th. I'm like all right, I sent this to a couple employees here at Helium 10. I'm like hey guys, tomorrow, tonight or tomorrow can, can you guys do something for this case study? And it's also about my release date. You know I was testing something on my release date and I said hey, search egg holder countertop and then you'll see this product in the sponsored ads. Hopefully it's not. It's not showing you impressions. So it's like way down the line, you might have to go to another page because it's not giving me many impressions, but try to find it, click on that sponsored ad and purchase it. All right, and so that's what they did.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, meantime, I had other issues with this listing Again. This is why I'm like saying you've got to do these test listings. Is, the pre-buy wasn't even like allowing me to launch this product and so, like I had to, I had this whole case I had with seller support, where I was trying to get that fixed, all at the same time that I was messing with my relevancy. So this, all of this, I should have done on a test listing if I had followed my own advice, but I was doing this on a live listing. Now, as you guys can see, right on June 16th, as soon as they started doing those orders, now, all of a sudden, I started showing up at the top. On June 14th and 15th, I was barely showing up, I was barely getting impressions. I was showing up in like number 50, number 55 for sponsored rank, right Now. Finally, I got my relevancy fixed, but then that's when I had this other problem where my listing just completely went dead and I had to fight for like two or three days to even get it working. And then I finally got it working back on June 16, June 17, around there, and so that's why you can see the sponsored rank increase.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what was the result of those search find by? In order to send those relevancy signals Again, not for rank, but to send those relevancy signals to Amazon. Take a look at this to send those relevancy signals to Amazon. Take a look at this when I ran in Cerebro on June 19th, just three days after they did that relevancy signal push those three coworkers here at Helium 10. Take a look now at the Amazon recommended rank. Remember how it was only showing two keywords for Amazon recommended rank. Now it was showing multiple ones and it put that keyword that I sent the relevancy signal for egg holder countertop it had Amazon recommended rank number three, which basically means that that was the third most important keyword according to Amazon for this product.

Bradley Sutton:

Now do you remember what I was getting for impressions in PPC? Like 200 total impressions over three days? What did sending those relevant signals to Amazon do for my PPC impressions? Take a look at this the next three-day period from June 19th when my relevancy got fixed to June 21st instead of 200 impressions, 5,000 impressions, 4,000 of that. What keyword was it for? Egg holder countertop, that one that I sent those relevancy signals to Amazon for. This works, guys. Now what happened to my organic rank now that I was able to finally start getting some impressions in PPC and really doing my Maldives Honeymoon Strategy? Look at my organic rank Now that I was able to finally start, you know, getting some impressions in PPC and really doing my Maldives Honeymoon Strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

Look at my organic rank. I was on page two, you know, on the first few days of my listing, by June 20th, I was already on page one only one day later. And then by June 23rd, I was like in the top five on page one for my main keyword egg holder countertop. Uh, remember I was targeting other longer tail versions of that Fresh egg holder countertop. June 23rd in the top six positions. Another keyword fresh egg holder. All right, so that's part of egg holder countertop fresh egg holder. By June 23rd in the top 10 positions for that keyword. And I was able to stick the landing there Because of some of those sales velocity that I got. I got this new arrival pick badge. Sometimes I'll get the new arrival pick, sometimes I'll get other badges like the top new seller. These kind of will help your conversions as well. If you can get these badges, you can also see because I got those five orders at regular price Amazon gave me a strike through price and it said list price $33.97, my price $24.97.

Bradley Sutton:

I did the same exact thing for a very similar product that was a 36-egg holder. I did now one for 24 egg holder. I was like pick the same exact keywords like a month or two later, do the same exact thing, just to make sure. Hey, I got to make sure this strategy wasn't just a fluke. Can I reproduce these results? And sure enough, the same thing happened. Before doing anything, I launched the product. I only had Amazon relevancy for kitchen rack, kitchen holder, kitchen decor, a little bit more, but still no egg holder countertop. But this time I was ready. So from day one I had more employees at Helium 10 said hey, go ahead. Instead of doing a search, find, buy, do a two-step URL using a field, ASIN URL. And I gave them that link and I even gave them a discount code or a coupon. And that not only did it work, but it still gave me that strike through price, even though I was using a discount code on it. And what did it do for my relevancy? Take a look here On July 19th I got egg holder countertop to be the number five most Amazon recommended rank keyword for my product.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, I completely reproduced the results, which kind of just proves this strategy. But at the end of the day, what happened to my organic rank? Same thing, you know. The middle of July, when I didn't have that relevancy, I was, you know, rank page two, page three. As soon as I made those relevancy hits, within a day or two it put me into the top three positions organically even so that I could maintain one of the top ranks for this new product. Here's another product I recently launched in the last month Coffin Letterboard. A little bit more of a competitive niche on Amazon than some of these A-Racks. I was able to get the number one new release in changeable letterboards category due to this launch. Doing this launch got me within one week on all of my main phase one launch keywords every single one that I had targeted I got top three and then one of them had top eight only for organic rank. Within one week of my launch, I even got brand analytics the number two clicked keyword for the whole keyword for this brand-new product launch.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's another product I launched in another category. I was able to get the number one new release. Here you can see I got a nice red negative 58% discount off of a typical price $44.97. I was able to do that with five full price buys and then doing the discount price here, the price discount to 1897. It gave me a big, nice red minus 58% off. So, guys, these strategies work all right. This is something that I obsess over Now. Is Amazon going to change the algorithm and are you going to have to start doing new things later on for ranking? Of course, every single year I've done this Maldives, sun, moon strategy. I always have new things because Amazon is always changing. The way the Amazon algorithm works is always changing, but the fundamental principles, guys, have not changed. The fundamental principles are you've got to play to the Amazon algorithm and you've got to play to your target customer. If you're doing these things, you don't have to worry about what might change with AI and not, because, at the end of the day, amazon is trying to serve the customer. It's going to have machine learning, it's going to have AI, it's going to have whatever. But what is Amazon trying to do at the end of the day? Make sure they're showing relevant products to the customer so that Amazon can get its commission and its.

Bradley Sutton:

With doing your Listing Optimization, your keyword research, keep these fundamentals. Know the right keywords. All right, even if things change to AI in the future, amazon still needs to know from day one what your listing is. If you don't have the right keywords in there, it's not like AI is going to magically make you relevant for keywords or for use cases that you don't even have anywhere in your listing. All right, so you have got to be able to create your listings in a way that makes the Amazon algorithm happy and that makes a customer happy, because it's later on uh, after that launch phase. It's customer interactions with your product, the ways that customers find your product, the way that they click, the way that they add to cart, the way that they actually purchase it, the reviews they leave about your product. This is what's going to sustain you, these things that I show. This helps you get to page one, you know. But then, if you don't convert, if Amazon buyers don't leave you good reviews, if they're returning their product a lot, if they click on your product and they don't like your listing, so they click off of it and buy another one. Your organic rank is not going to stick. You're not going to have success.

Bradley Sutton:

So, guys, I love doing this episode every year, not just because I get to come to cool places like the Maldives, like this, but it's because launch is my passion and I'm always going to be doing lots of tests. I only showed you about three or four different tests, but I've launched over 10 products in the last six months or so where I've been testing different things, and I'm going to continue to keep launching new products to make sure what's working, what's not working. Now, if anything huge happens, I might have to come back to the Maldives or something before episode 700, I guess that's a big sacrifice I'll have to make to have to come back here. But otherwise, consider this your go to launch strategy for the next year or so and then we'll come back for episode 700, to maybe another resort here in the Maldives, and then I'll try and let you know what's new that's going to work with launch. Well, guys, I hope you guys are able to use these strategies and I wish you the most of success using these Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategies for your next Amazon product launch. We'll see you in the next episode.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Sr Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

TikTok Search Ads Campaign launch in U.S.
https://searchengineland.com/tiktok-search-ads-campaign-launch-us-446927

Tariffs Targeting Chinese E-commerce Brands
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tariffs-targeting-chinese-e-commerce-could-dampen-demand

Google Search Tests Shopping E-Commerce Card
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-shopping-e-commerce-card-card-38105.html

Experience Amazon Accelerate 2024 on demand
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/amazon-accelerate-on-demand-content

Target Circle Week 2024
https://www.today.com/shop/target-circle-week-details-dates-deals-2024-rcna171858

Lastly, in our training tip of the week, Carrie walks us through how you can take an FNSKU and create a custom barcode labels to give to your factories.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:51 - TikTok Search Ads
02:48 - New Chinese Tariffs
05:59 - Google Search Tests
07:09 - Accelerate on Demand
07:50 - Target Circle Week
09:39 - Walmart Lending
10:14 - Walmart Repricer Dash
11:14 - Helium 10 New Features
13:07 - Easy Barcodes

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

TikTok shop ads launch in the US new potential tariffs targeting Chinese e-commerce sellers, and Amazon, Walmart and Target are battling it out for deals in October. All of this and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Keri Miller. So, Keri, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Carrie Miller:

Okay. So the first story is that TikTok search ads campaigns have launched in the US, and I'll go ahead and show the article here. It's basically allowing for keyword based search ads that target users directly in the search results. Now if you're a TikTok user, you know a lot of the ads actually come on your For you page when you're kind of scrolling. So it's kind of a more generic approach. But now sellers can actually target keywords when consumers are actually searching in TikTok for something specific. So this is potentially stepping up competition with Google Ads, as TikTok is becoming a go-to search engine, in addition to becoming a social media platform. So let's go ahead and take a look at this article. If we scroll down a little bit, it says previously ads on the TikTok search page were more generic, but now brands can tailor their ads to align with specific search behaviors. Now it goes on to further say why this matters. It says that TikTok has a growing role as a search engine for younger users. 57% of users use the app's search function, according to internal TikTok data, and this new feature lets you capture attention at critical moments of intent. TikTok's move could threaten Google's dominance, as younger users are increasingly using social media for search instead of traditional search engines. So, if you recall, last week Bradley actually did talk about this on the Weekly Buzz and he said that there's a report that says over 50% of Gen Zers are going to be shopping on TikTok for the holiday season. So that's very interesting and very good numbers if you really wanted to start targeting on TikTok. And let's talk about the actual numbers of these actual ads. TikTok's testing shows that combining search ads with in-feed ads boost conversion by 20%, with users who don't engage with an ad initially more likely to interact with after seeing a related ad in the search. So that's very interesting information. So definitely something to consider when you are going into Q4 and wanna really boost your sales this holiday season.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the next article Now. The next article is interesting and it's titled Tariffs Targeting Chinese E-commerce Could Damp Demand. Okay, so this is definitely something that is gonna be very interesting for a lot of e-commerce sellers because, as I don't know if anyone remembers if you've been watching I actually mentioned that Amazon is launching a direct-to-consumer program for Chinese sellers to sell directly to consumers in the US through the Amazon platform, and I mentioned this might make some US sellers a bit upset, you know, because a lot of the small parcels they're not taxed the same, you don't have to deal with the same logistics charges and things like that. So you know this basically gives Chinese sellers a much higher margins because of the lack of tariffs. You know, no warehouse and distribution costs associated with the traditional kind of container imports. There's a lot of other things that kind of go in with these small parcels. I know, for example, me as a consumer, I did order something on TikTok that I thought was gonna be great quality and it was actual garbage. It actually was shipped directly from China through customs. So really kind of is an interesting you know thing that we should really be considering for consumer protection as well as well. As you know, for US sellers, when you're providing quality, then it's going to help boost you a little bit more because it's going to kind of close off this way of kind of things that are come low quality coming into the US without having to even pay those taxes or being searched.

Carrie Miller:

So in this article, if I scroll down here, it says the White House this month said it would soon tighten eligibility and increase information requirements for low value imports that qualify for duty free status in an effort to prevent businesses from evading duty payments. It goes on to say a little bit further down it says the proposal is expected to result in higher consumer prices for small shipments. So that actually could be a better thing for US sellers who are offering the quality. But then if we go down further, this is really where it gets interesting for the consumer. Let's scroll all the way down. It says. Over the last 10 years the number of shipments entering the US claiming the de minimis exemption has exploded from about 140 million to more than 1 billion a year, according to the CBP figures, and the US is on track to import nearly 1.5 billion parcels in the current fiscal year, 4 million per day, and that is actually going to end on September 30th.

Carrie Miller:

The overwhelming volume of parcel shipments has made it difficult for us customs and other agencies to enforce trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, consumer protection rules and to block illicit synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and clothing made from forced labor from entering into the country illegally. That's kind of an interesting thing to to take a look at, especially as a consumer. You know, like I said, I actually it was like a hair oil that I ordered from TikTok and the quality was just garbage and it smelled funky. So you know, this is a consumer protection issue. You think should you know that shouldn't be coming into the US, are coming into the US because there's just an overwhelming amount. So this is definitely something that you know hopefully will happen and you, you know we can continue as our. You know, other sellers who are providing quality products can kind of beat out these sellers that are not doing the high quality products.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, the next article that we have here is about Google. Google is doing search tests in the shopping e-commerce card. So if we take a look at this article, you can actually see a little bit of what they're kind of testing. So the article is really stating that you can actually see a little bit of what they're kind of testing. So the article is really stating that you know Google's testing. It's using its top card format for shopping and ecommerce related queries and information and this shows product results with pricing on the left, with popular stores on the right and then some review content in the form of content and videos on the right side. So they're kind of moving maybe towards more video content and I'll scroll down a little bit more in this article because this is what it usually looks like, and you can probably Google this right now and still see this. But we've got, you know, the actual, the product with a picture and the price, as well as the reviews, whereas I think they're kind of moving more towards the kind of video reviews, since a lot of people are into seeing that kind of stuff on social media, so they might be kind of testing this out to see how they can compete with social media, and I think that's a really smart move on the part of, you know, Google’s, you know, just for Google, just because they are competing with these other social media platforms that are becoming more like search engines.

Carrie Miller:

All right, let's go into the next article, and that is basically, if you missed out, on Amazon Accelerate. I know a lot of people had FOMO because they didn't make it to Amazon Accelerate. You can actually experience it on demand. They are actually making all of the different sessions and everything that was recorded is available for on demand and it's for free. So you can just register, you can just download, you can just download all that stuff and kind of watch it as you're doing other things and, you know, just to kind of keep yourself up to date on the latest and greatest announcements from Amazon. So go ahead and register for that if you wanted to see some of those sessions and take advantage of that great content.

Carrie Miller:

And then next is another interesting thing and that is that Target is just launched their circle week Target Circle Week and it's going to be for seven days in October, from October 6. Okay, so it's starting October 6. And this is basically, you know, a seasonal seven day sales event that is going to feature holiday essentials, seasonal favorites, all this, that kind of stuff. What's really interesting is that you know, because of the dates, you know, this is going to be competing with Amazon, which is the eighth and the ninth, and then also Walmart that is going to be starting up that that week as well. So it's going to be interesting because Walmart starting up a little bit after Amazon. But if you're selling on target could be kind of interesting Because you might not get the buy box if you are selling at a discounted rate on target the few days before the big Prime Day event happens.

Carrie Miller:

So that's kind of an interesting thing to consider how you're going to be balancing out the pricing. And then there's also Walmart, because everyone wants to make sure that we have, you know, price parity along, you know, on all of the platforms, and that could cause you to lose the buy box. So could maybe be something to consider if you want to tighten up your strategy with any discounts or make sure you have the same exact discount across the board, kind of even before the Prime Day deal event starts. That could be a strategy. So I'm curious to know if anyone knows a strategy to deal with this and what you maybe did last year. If you want to put that in the comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts on that, because I think that's going to be kind of a big issue, especially as more sellers are in on Target, on Walmart, on Amazon, on TikTok, on all the different platforms. So really need to strategize when it comes to these big deal days.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, and the next thing, I actually don't have an article to share, but Walmart actually has announced that they have some cash advances with discounted fees going into Q4. I think mostly to help prepare for the holiday rush and to help with working capital. Especially, you know, cash flow is kind of a really challenging thing for sellers. So Walmart is going to be making some capital available through Capital by Paraffin and Payoneer and so, if you're eligible, you can actually go into Seller Center and you can, you know, figure out how to kind of get access to that funding. I think it will actually kind of pop up in there if you are eligible for it, but if not, you can also message seller support and see if you're eligible for some of their funding. And then they also have a pricing insights dashboard and I think that this is going to be very helpful going into the holidays. It's basically going to help you regularly monitor your pricing throughout the holidays and that is, you know, just to make sure that you stay competitive, and it's going to help kind of give you an insight on the pricing insights dashboard. That gives you, you know, pricing metrics, metrics at the SKU level, to help you make good decisions If you need to kind of discount your products further or, you know, if you're in, you know, in good competition with other sellers. Um, the dashboard is actually going to be refreshed regularly so that you can act quickly to update an item pricing, either individually or in bulk, and the dashboard also gives you flexibility to add items to the repricer or make price updates in the dashboard without having to submit spec files. So they're making it easy and fast for you to kind of see what you need to do in terms of pricing and then make those changes as quickly as possible. So that's kind of the latest and greatest updated news for Walmart. Okay, so we have a new Helium 10 update, which is very exciting.

Carrie Miller:

If you are in France, Germany, Spain, Italy or the UK markets, we are releasing keyword sales data in Cerebro, magnet, listing Builder, listing Analyzer, keyword Tracker, insights Dashboard and Product Launchpad for all of those countries. So again, those European countries are France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK. So I'm going to show you what that actually looks like. So here is a picture of. This is actually the US market, but this is what it'll look like in any of those markets that I just mentioned. You're gonna be able to see the keyword sales in the dashboard. So in your insights dashboard, right when you log in, you'll also be able to see them in Cerebro. So this keyword sales data for, again, all those other markets in Europe the France, Germany, Spain, Italy, in the UK, you'll also be able to see it in Magnet, as you can see here. So we've got magnet right here. You can see the keyword sales right here and then listing. So this is listing analyzer and at the very bottom, where you see the keywords, you can now see the keyword sales there as well. At listing builder, now when you go to open competitor comparison, when you actually look at this, you can see the keyword sales here. So that's really helpful for you to kind of like basically decide which are the most important keywords based on the keyword sales when you do that little competitor listing comparison there. And then you can also see it in product launchpad. So when you have your product launchpad open, you can actually see the keyword sales for all those different keywords that you added into your product launchpad idea. There's definitely a lot of really good stuff in there If you are in those markets. Those are. Those are huge updates for us to give you that data, especially because it's going to help you to kind of make sure you're targeting the most important keywords that have, you know, the higher keyword sales, maybe lower search volumes. So definitely take a look at that if you're in those markets. Really, really helpful information.

Carrie Miller:

Next, I'm going to be showing you portals in Helium 10, I'm going to show you how you can take an FNSKU and create a custom barcode label to give to your factory in China or other you know countries, and I'm going to walk you through the flow and show you how to do this. So the first thing you want to do is you want to log into Helium 10. And then you're going to go to this tools button at the very top and then we're going to go down and we're going to click on portals and then, once you're in portals, you're going to be able to see a bunch of different things, but what we're going to show you today is this barcode labels, and this is going to be how we're going to be able to create these labels for our factories. So click on new barcode and what you want to have in here is you want to have either an FN SKU, an ASIN or UPC code. I have a FNSKU here.

Carrie Miller:

I'm just going to paste in there, and then the next thing you want to do is you can put the product URL if you already have it launched, or you can create a custom product URL so you can put the product name, you can upload an image, you can say the condition, you can put the ASIN and the SKU in. But I'm just going to go and take our URL from Amazon here and I'm just going to go ahead and do it that way because it makes it a lot faster and then it's going to pull up all the information here so you can see it has the picture of the actual product it has, and then you can fill in the SKU. If it doesn't show up with the SKU, you can fill in your SKU there. But I'm just going to go ahead and hit save and continue and then we're going to look at the size. So you can actually choose the size, how you want to show it. You want to show it in inches, centimeters, millimeters. You can choose the different sizes here, and then you can do either portrait or landscape, and then hit save and continue and then you're going to choose the template. So I'm just going to choose this generic black one and since I already have I actually, in portals, have uploaded my logo here.

Carrie Miller:

You can see that we have all that information in here already and you can actually provide more information right here if you wanted to. Whatever it is that you want to type in there, if you need to, and then what you can do is hit save and finish, and then, if you want to download this, you can just hit the download button and then they we always recommend that you, you know, test these out before you send them. So make sure you test it out with a smartphone or you know any apps that you can scan any of these just to make sure that it's it works properly. And double, you know, always test before your mass produce, and then you can just download it and you'll see that as you download it here and there, it is right there. So that is basically super easy. How you can just create those little barcode labels. We made it super easy for you to do so go ahead and check that out If you haven't ever done that before. It makes it super fast and easy.

Carrie Miller:

Thank you all for joining me this week on the Weekly Buzz for all the latest and greatest news stories, as well as the Helium 10 updates and the training. We look forward to seeing you again next week. I do believe Bradley will be back next week for the Weekly Buzz, so we'll see you next week to see what's buzzing. Bye, everyone.

View Details

Howard Thai, the legendary "Professor of Amazon," is back to share his game-changing insights straight from the playbooks of top Chinese Amazon sellers. Curious about the secret tactics that can revolutionize your Amazon product launch? He'll reveal how to optimize your listings, uncover top-performing keywords, and navigate the surge of Chinese sellers on TikTok Shop following recent policy shifts. Plus, get a glimpse into Howard's unique journey, his time in the US, his return to China, and his passion for the epic anime Naruto.

Our conversation doesn't stop there. We'll dissect the global selling opportunities on TikTok Shop, highlighting the stark differences in ease of access for Chinese sellers compared to others. Learn the proven strategies for success on the platform, including the importance of daily multiple video postings, leveraging affiliates, and smart ad usage. Discover the potential of live shopping and the groundbreaking impact of AI influencers in China, and how US sellers can adopt these innovative practices.

Lastly, we'll tackle the escalating challenge of ranking products on Amazon amidst soaring PPC costs and the growing emphasis on external traffic. Howard shares actionable insights on using external deal sites like DealNews and Woot to drive traffic and boost product rankings. Dive into practical advice on securing initial reviews and sales through varied promotional tactics, including social media and PPC. Plus, get an insider look at different deal strategies to maximize visibility and sales, and hear about exciting travel plans to China with Howard, promising new adventures and networking.

In episode 599 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Howard discuss:

00:00 - Strategies From Top Chinese Amazon Sellers
05:13 - Global Selling Opportunities on TikTok Shop
07:33 - Strategies for Amazon-Selling Success
10:24 - Strategic Launch Using Outside Traffic
11:03 - Ranking Products With Deal Sites
21:03 - Inventory Management in Sales Transactions
23:05 - Amazon Inventory Strategy and Temu Marketplace
31:30 - Mastermind Event in China

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're going to talk to a seller who used to be one of the top 100 sellers all time at Amazon and even has the nickname Professor of Amazon. He's going to give us some inside strategies from top Chinese sellers, what they're using for launching that you've probably never heard of before, like using what deals and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Do you want to see how your listing or maybe competitors listing rates as to best practices for listing optimization? Or maybe you want to compare a group of ASINs or Amazon products to see how they compare to each other? Maybe you want to see within seconds the top keywords for a single listing or a group of listings? You can do that and more with the Helium 10 tool listing analyzer. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash listing analyzer.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We are going on the other side of the world, completely different time zone, a different day. I think it's like Saturday over there. It's Friday night here at Helium 10. The whole entire Helium 10 had the day off today. Like, sometimes they give us random days off like a recharge, so they're like you know what? Everybody in the whole company, you guys, get the day off, but I'm having Howard have to record again because there's technical difficulties. So you know what? I'm coming in on my holiday, on my, my vacation day, at uh, what time is it? 8 pm on a Friday night and I'm like I'm here for you, Howard, because I need the world to know what you have to say. The professor of Amazon. Guys, Howard, welcome back to the show.

Howard:

Thank you very much Bradley. Nice to be back on.

Bradley Sutton:

You notice my shirt here?

Howard:

Oh wow, yep, Naruto. Well, I love Naruto.

Bradley Sutton:

You and I are about the same age, like literally months apart, and so I think we both grew up with some similar things. So you were probably in your UCSD really close to me days when you were into Naruto here, and I believe you went even to Japan and even got more into it, right?

Howard:

Yeah, I'm really into Naruto and I'm side by side with Japan when they released the translated version of it.

Bradley Sutton:

You're back in China. How long have you been back in China?

Howard:

I left the US on June 10th so I came back here around June. I was traveling around with uh in Beijing for the family, and then uh Xi'an for my mom, my wife's side. Then uh, I went to um, I went back to around like July 4th or 3rd or something like that and I'm here to stay.

Bradley Sutton:

So I've been back, been back like for good, back like like for good or like for a year, or what would you talk?

Howard:

well before before the whole covid stuff. I've been in China since 2009, so I'm like one of the first Chinese Amazon seller here, like I mean basically a China-owned company that is selling on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Ah, that's right, I forgot about that. You were always based out there after you for a long time, but then you came back here because, yeah, China was not exactly a great place to be during COVID, so that's why you're out here, okay, okay. So yeah, in your honor. Anyways, you see I'm wearing my Chinese baseball team hat, even got the Chinese colors on the side here. So, yeah, there we go. All right, I'm right on theme with the Naruto and China hat. Now, first thing I want to ask you I've seen you talk a little bit more about it, um, lately is now that you've been back in China, maybe your eyes have been opened a little bit more uh, about the strength of Chinese sellers on TikTok shop. Because I think in the beginning, like TikTok shop was mainly like all right, us companies a little bit harder for foreign companies to get on. But now correct me if I'm wrong TikTok shop has kind of like opened up the floodgates where now, all of a sudden, there's a lot more Chinese sellers on there. Is that right?

Howard:

Okay so before, like TikTok shop was only for in China, right, US was only for sellers that are selling in Amazon over $2 million. Then after, like recently, like last month, like early, early last month, they opened a floodgate to everyone. But there is still requirements, so there are little requirements, they have to be a seller and so on. But uh, it was like it's like wide open kind of you could say.

Bradley Sutton:

And for like for you know,USs customers it's pretty strict, you know, not not too strict. Like team I've been trying to get on Tmula. That's just ridiculous. I got to take pictures of me holding up signs and the 17 different addresses have to match. It's crazy. But TikTok shop was not too too hard to get signed up for. I think I got denied the first time because an address didn't match but I got it hooked up pretty fast. But foreigners, you know, like if I'm in Estonia, if I'm in Argentina or wherever, it's impossible to sign up for TikTok shop unless I've got like a friend or a family member who's got a social security number who can tie to the account. But if you're Chinese they get to skip that requirement.

Howard:

Well, no, they get registered as a Chinese to get in.

Bradley Sutton:

That's what I mean. They don't need to have a friend or family who has a social security?

Howard:

So if you are a Chinese Hong Kong or Taiwan then you don't need that. Um, you know, you can just use your own nationality to get in and sell on TikTok shop US. And actually the good thing is about this. Oh, I'm not sure if it's good, but let's say, in China, I mean, it's always like, oh, everyone favors China, right, but the TikTok shop in China is global selling, meaning they open all the countries up US, UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and also Thailand. Was it Thailand or Malaysia? I forgot, it was like all of the list of TikTok shop that you can actually sell on. So it's not just one and US is only for one right now, and I don't even think we can even open TikTok shop UK.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, I know UK was there before US, but I they're not. Really. It's not like Amazon, where your Amazon token is connected and then it's kind of like you just switch and then now you're on your UK token or something. You can't really do that on TikTok shop, that's. But you're saying Asia, you can, Okay. So now, now lot of uh sellers out there. Hey, that's not fair, why? Why is TikTok shop giving uh, giving advantage to Chinese sellers? Hey guys, it's a Chinese company, they can do whatever they. They can do whatever they want. Um, what are the majority of the Chinese TikTok shop sellers doing? Are they shipping from like Amazon inventory warehouses in US? Or are they doing the kind of like Temu-ish direct shipping, using those subsidies, uh, to customers who buy the product?

Howard:

So there was the old-fashioned TikTok. So right now mostly it's based in the US inventory for TikTok shop or fulfilled by TikTok mainly it's all fulfilled by TikTok. Or if you are a seller to open, probably just like a seller-fulfilled TikTok in the US, though You're not supposed to be. Yeah, mainly that's what it is.

Bradley Sutton:

Any like little mini hacks or or TikTok shops. You know, before we get onto our Amazon stuff, uh, that you can. You know that you've learned since you've been back there, like like, uh, I'm wearing my red hat today, but I could be wearing my white hat. No, I'm definitely not wearing a black hat. So no black hat strategies, but but what is a one you know quick? You know, I know we usually do 30 seconds, 60 seconds strategy at the end of the show. We'll do an Amazon one then. But what's a 30 60 second tip you can give us about TikTok shop?

Howard:

I'm not sure what level people out there are, but uh, from what I know is uh in the US they're pretty much getting started. So there's just, it's just like Amazon you got to spend money to get the velocity. You need to start making sure that you get a lot of uh affiliates and you're also making sure that you're posting, making sure that you're uh having more videos a day continuously and doing ads.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's multiple videos a day. Somebody should be posting uh to their like brand page and then, at the same time, don't just rely on that, but use, use affiliates, what? What about live Like? Like you know, should we be in the live streaming? Is that? Is that like a? I know it's obviously not on a level of of China, like I saw that one lady in China who has like this I don't know what, what you call it, but like a, like a conveyor belt, and then products are coming and she literally shows her product for two seconds, throws it away two seconds and she's making millions of dollars. I know America's not at that level yet for live shopping, but what should sellers be doing for live shopping? As far as TikTok shop goes?

Howard:

China still doesn't have the culture for the US side live shopping. So we still have in the US. We still have a chance to US. We still have like a chance to like really do a really good job on the live because the way they uh speak and so on. But right now it's getting more and more uh sophisticated in China they're doing using AI influencers, doing all the lives, so in 24/7 they could be doing live every single second. So that's something that we need to catch up on. And things like tools. All the tools you think about TikTok is made by China. Right, Douyin is from China, and then TikTok is a version of Douyin with a little less functionality, and all the tools out there that you can think of for TikTok is made by Chinese companies. So if you really want to learn more TikTok, you should probably learn from the Chinese first and see what you can get out of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and then now, like I said mentioned before, Temu is also trying to recruit US sellers. I don't have much to say there, but I know Temu is actually last month was in some trouble. Chinese sellers were actually upset with Temu. They were storming the offices and stuff like that. So I'm not sure what the future is for Temu, but it's still a very strong marketplace. It's like number number two or three as far as app usage and stuff. So that's a that's one to to be on the lookout for too. But mainly we like to talk about Amazon here and uh, I didn't. I didn't get to see your last mastery call that you did in your Elite Sellers Society, but I saw the outline of it and it looked like it was all about how to use deals. So, first of all, what deals are you talking about? Is this like lightning deals, deals of the day, prime, exclusive discounts, all of the above? Or what was your major focus for this?

Howard:

topic. So the master call that we had regarding deals was mainly talking about outside traffic deals, because Amazon right now is. Why is it getting harder for it to do Amazon? It's because Amazon wants you to push external traffic. That's why it's harder. People are doing the old way. They're doing only the one that yo go to BBC and everyone's does BBC. Bbc costs are going up so you have to do outside external traffic and what the deal was talking about is using the high ranking, all the stick deals, deal news woods and those kind of deal sites to help you rank your products. Let me just talk about it. So those are deal sites. Probably most of you guys heard of it before. So these deal sites are where Anchors starts coming in right. Anchor is the first people that came in with the deal sites to rank products back in like the days uh. So what it is is that you put your product on the on the deal sites. You push it to. Either you push it to your uh uh Amazon or you push it to your website. So when, if you put it, put it on, if you push it on uh on Amazon, then you will be able to rank your product on Amazon with the sales velocities and so on, keywords as well, um, and you can even put uh. And then, if you put it on your website, you're able to make sure that your product is either, when people go onto the website is, either to buy it from your website or to Amazon directly, because there's a go to I won't buy on Amazon kind of like little tag or little uh, a little button so they can. Depending on if you are matured or not. If you're already matured, you're just going to go, uh, directly to Amazon. But if you're like already pretty well off and you're like kind of, um, not, you're not sure if you need to rank or not, they can turn on and off the button to go to Amazon. So based on if you need to..

Bradley Sutton:

Let me ask a quick question Is that going to the canonical URL or is it just going to the ASIN-based URL?

Howard:

It could be anything, any URL you want.

Bradley Sutton:

That's one thing I haven't tested, but whenever I tested it for years and years, it's not like, oh, I'm going to get to page one for keywords that are in my canonical URL. But you could always see if you ever did a deal site or some outside traffic or in Google just going to your base canonical URL, then if you had some good keywords in there, like coffin shelf or something, you would see a bump just on the velocity. Have you done any testing on that recently to see if, like, those words in your canonical still matter or it doesn't matter as much anymore?

Howard:

Canonical probably what matters, but we're talking about the URL in general, right? what you can put like some kind of special URL in there that would be able to uh to rank your product as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, yeah, I mean, once you start doing that, though, where were you? I mean? Yeah, I mean you could put a fake canonical URL, potentially, or even a two-step URL, but now you run the risk of getting on Amazon's bad side if you're doing that for the purpose of ranking, but then Amazon could never say anything about your regular canonical URL. Amazon is the one who provides that. You're all just curious to see if you still saw some residual bump. Okay, so then when you launch a new product, let's just say you don't are. Uh, let me give you a scenario. Let's just say that this is a new product for a new brand. Whether I'm a new seller, I'm a old seller, whatever, this is a new product for a new brand. So I don't have too much outside traffic. I don't have a huge email list that I can say go to this listing. What would your launch strategy be? Leveraging these deal sites and, if any, internal Amazon deals?

Howard:

So we could use we call it a strategic deals ranking style to get onto, to rank your Amazon product. First, we look at it, we have to make sure that we have at least 10 reviews and 10 uh, uh, 10 sales a day or something. So that goes from like doing like promotions, uh, social media, like those Amazon influencer coupons, uh, and also PPC. So as long as you get that 10 orders a day, we can actually put you into a special program. It's on Woot, right? So being able to first list..

Bradley Sutton:

W-O-O-T?

Howard:

Yeah, Woot is an Amazon-owned company, so they're able to be able to put your products on Woot. And Woot can do four things Like. One of the things was talking, was you talking about launching a product? The second thing is to be able to like uh, this, uh, uh, clear, clear on all the, all the discontinued items, uh. Third is, if you were like ranked top five you want to be, be, be aggressive and rank number one, or if you're stale, stagnant on like bottom of the page, or like on bottom of the BSR, 100 BSR or something, then you can do something to give yourself some momentum and kickstart the algorithm again and be back up and movable, you know, be able to be ranked again on those old listings. So if you qualify from the requirement that we just talked about, then we could be able to push you into a Woot kind of a special program. What it is is that Woot will be like buying from you, like a wholesaler, right? They're going to be buying your product and, based on your Amazon's average two weeks of sales, they will use that as an average and, with that said, they will then look at it and said, okay, we are able to do three best deals consecutively. So best deals is normally seven days, right? You could either pick seven days or 14 days. So if you want to rank your product on launch wise, we'll do a 14 days best deal, and so. But then in between each best deal, it has to be a seven day rest period. So all three of the all three of the best deals with 14 days could be um, the same price, right? I I mean the best deal price, right? Usually 15% off the normal price you're really selling on. So at that they're looking at oh, two weeks ago, how much sales have you gotten? And they're going to be holding your inventory most likely for 56 days of the for 56 days, meaning that 14 days, seven days, 14 days, seven days and 14 days. So there's three actually 14 day best deals. So then, within those times you are able to do, if you have option to do, deals like lightning deals, within that that seven days, you'll be able to do it with your own account. So they will take the buy box, they will be able to take the buy box from you. They'll take your.

Bradley Sutton:

Woot we're talking about?

Howard:

Yeah, what will take your buy box from you and it's just like moving your inventory to their account, right? So um.

Bradley Sutton:

So if they're using my FBA inventory, it's not like I have to send them inventory directly to some Woot warehouse or something.

Howard:

No, you just have to confirm and let them move those inventory over to their account and it'll just come off of your FBA inventory. From there it could be. So that's a lot of inventory, right? If you're looking at the average two weeks ago and then you have 56 days worth of inventory, that might be a lot. So they will then negotiate a price with you and if you're okay with it, there it is, they're going to start doing your best deals and then your best deals you will not get the buy box?

Bradley Sutton:

What do you mean by negotiate a price, what price the product is going to sell at, or what price we're kind of like selling to what?

Howard:

Selling to what? That's the wholesale price, right?

Bradley Sutton:

What do they? What do they usually like? Like, what's the range? Like, like percentage wise off of your retail price that they're they expect?

Howard:

So it matters a lot about velocity, how much sales you're getting and how much the price point of the product is. If the product is like a hundred dollars, then the percentage uh, like, uh, you're like it costs like uh, say a hundred dollars, right, your cost is a hundred dollars then they'll probably say, hey, I'll take like 70, I'll give you 70 of that. But if your product is a 10 item or 20 item, very cheap, they'll probably lower that to like uh, uh, making it like 40 percent, 30 percent, 40 or something like that. Uh, depending on I'm sorry the price of the deal the price of the deal, not not the cost of your product, but the price of the deal they'll lower it to down to 30 percent. So, depending on how much you remember you don't have to pay anything when they, there's no other extra cost.

Bradley Sutton:

So you're not paying Amazon fee and you're not paying the shipping and and stuff like that?

Howard:

Nothing. It's not even storage right, storage is on them, but the but the problem is PPC is on you. You still have to pay for your PPC, because if the product of brand is, it's still yours right.

Bradley Sutton:

But if they have the buy box? If Woot has the buy box? I'm still able to run the PPC, though it's still going to give me impressions and stuff?

Howard:

So a sponsored brand uh, you can always do, but the thing that you have to do special is you have to use Woot’s portal for PPC in order for you to see. But the great thing is that you can copy over, download your PPC uh report. You know how you like upload the PPC file. You can also download it and then upload it directly to Woot system using same format, the same campaign structure and so on. So it's pretty much like you're copying and pasting it.

Bradley Sutton:

So then let's say I had, you know, an ASIN or an FBA SKU, had 3000 units, and now I close a deal with Woot. I don't have to close my SKU, it just automatically transfers to Woot all 3,000, at least during the time that they're running the deal?

Howard:

They will agree on the amount of quantity to take from you based on your moving average of the two weeks, and you negotiate, say hey, I'm going maybe do more PPC at the time or I'll do other external traffic or something. Then they'll give you a quantity after the quantity and the cost that you're going to be selling to them. Then they will be using that to uh to push traffic and so on. So at the same time you can also use Woot’s website to post your product there. They will automatically be sending external traffic from their website to Woot uh for, to your deal on what uh on Amazon. So there's all that. So let me give you an example. Okay, you have a thousand pieces that you are selling to Woot at $10. And all of a sudden, everything sells out, except they only sold 900. You have 100 left. They will put that 100 back into stock in your inventory and that 100 that they put into stock will start from zero, zero storage date.

Bradley Sutton:

So even if it was there like three months or four months, it kind of resets after Woot gets their hands on it in other words?

Howard:

Yeah, so if you have like old inventory, that's great, because then it's like you can reset the storage date for those for the image getting held back and from the 900 pieces then they will. They will times uh, ten dollars that you're selling to them, so that that will be $9,000, right that they're going to give it to you after 20 days.

Bradley Sutton:

Some of these discounts. It's, it's, it's pretty heavy. It might be like what's your target when you help sellers do this Like, are you trying to pick a price where they can break even or where they only lose 20%? You know, let's say we don't use this strategy and we just do a traditional one like me, like just PPC launch, you know, like, of course I'm still losing money because I'll do like a 40 % off discount code or 50 % out, you know, just to get that momentum now with what you don't have to get that momentum because they're pushing so much. But, but what's your like, how do you help sellers budget for, for, hey, you're going to lose 20 % on this Woot deal but don't worry, it's going to make up for it, or are you actually trying to find a break-even point or what are you trying to do?

Howard:

Most of the time I would say that you would probably break even or lose money right, because you're trying to launch a product, you're going to do PPC, you're going to do hard, so that's not going to really make you money. You're just trying to get rid of inventory or doing velocity of sales for launching. And for the other side, where you're talking about like you're just trying to sell it and not do PPC, then I've seen the cases that you're actually making money because it's like an outlet deal, turbocharged. You have three of them and in between those seven days you can add extra lightning deals in there to even spike up the algorithm even more.

Bradley Sutton:

So Woot’s deals last seven days or?

Howard:

Woot's best deal lasts 14 days each time, right? So it has three of them.

Bradley Sutton:

And then you have to have a break for seven days?

Howard:

Within that seven day break, you can have lightning deals too, your own, or Woot's? That means that there's two lightning deals you can put in there in between. Huh, if you qualify for the deals at the time, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you mentioned some other deal sites. So, like this lounge, like it just works by itself, all right, you go Amazon Woot, Amazon Woot, back and forth. Uh, but then like, in what situation would I use another website, like Slick deals or some of these others that you mentioned?

Howard:

Um, Slick deals is great, uh. If you even go to uh Slick deals and search your competitor, or search that, your keyword, you'll see a lot of your competitors are on there already that are selling you're talking about like tea or coffee, even like supplements are all in there. Like on on like uh Slick deals. Even Woot uses Woot, which is an Amazon company? Amazon also goes to Slick deals to advertise their products on there. The reason why is like the deal of the day or best top deal right now. They also use that to bring in traffic. That's where the traffic is coming from, right. Yes, they put you on a better position on their deal page as well as they bring external traffic into Amazon through like deal sites such as Slick Deals, deal news and Woot and Woot and themselves and other deal sites. Aggregator deals, aggregating sites.

Bradley Sutton:

What else is working for you on the Amazon side, be it advertising, if we're still talking about launch or you have more to talk about deals, what other nuggets can you give us today?

Howard:

Why we have this Temu thing right here. Right, Temu themselves. You can make money and you can also, if you want to really clear out inventory, which everyone else out here that does Amazon or does internet selling, e-commerce or something, has a problem. This is called overstock or like dead, discontinued items. You're using Temu to push out your dead, discontinued items. So, look, if you, if you just post it up there, it's not going to sell, most likely it's going to just be whatever. Right, but you have to work out a special agreement with with Temu. Hey, Temu, I want you to help push this product. I'm going to be at this price, a low price. So please, let's work out a deal, send traffic to this page and they will send traffic to this page, and we've seen 20,000 orders a day on that product, just almost like a top deal or deal of the day, which it's not as on Amazon, which is not as good as before. But now this is like really doing a really good job on clearing out your inventory. We're doing this with a lot of clients right now. The thing is Temu, yes, they're getting very a lot of criticism back in the day or last couple months ago. Uh, these are mainly factories. These are many factories that does not know how to sell. They're giving cheap products. So there's two ways. There's two problems that are that Temu had with those uh sellers. Those are the first generation sellers we call it uh first generation. And then those are the ones that are factory. They're giving Temu bad inventory and they're also very slow at giving shipping or something. So those are the two where they charge the supplier or the factory cost on that. That's why people are complaining.

Howard:

Second generation people which are based in the US that are selling and using their inventory in the US warehouses here now. So those are not having that kind of problem because they are like Temu has all most uh are are getting all the Chinese Amazon sellers into Temu right now to help themselves. So they getting ready for all the inventories in the US to sell on their website. So, yes, Amazon is trying to do the old-style Temu where they ship from China, but right now Temu is in US and recruiting all the Chinese sellers to put their products into Temu at a lower cost than on Amazon, because Amazon they and Temu they have to be 15 percent less than Amazon. That's one of the deals. So that's how they're rushing in and trying to get all the all the people to come in to uh sell on Temu, especially right now.

Bradley Sutton:

It's all all Chinese sellers yeah, like I said, I've been trying to get on there. Um, I know they're pushing, you know they approach me and, um, even me who they're trying you know, they know who I am and stuff and and they wanted to to help me get some accounts up so I can do some content on it and even despite that, so, so they already know I'm just like this is. So you know you would think that this might be a little bit better service. Uh, I still can't get approved. So so you just imagine if, if you know like you're trying to go to them, like it might be even harder. Um, all right, now you know a lot of your, your advanced strategies. You give out your special masterminds and you know, every year you try and do it, it seems like a little bit better. You know, like I remember, uh, first year I think you did it in Vegas you rented a mansion it was funny it was the exact mansion that we were about to rent a different year for for a Helium 10 party I saw it in the same place, probably that you did. And then the next year you like rented this huge castle in France. And then the next year, like, okay, we're gonna go ahead and rent an island in Thailand, and so this year, I believe you're taking the show to China. So tell us a little bit about what you have planned and where people can go to get more information.

Howard:

Uh you find the information on our website Uh, it's elitesellersociety.com/ess2024. It's two zero two four. Um, we're actually doing it in Ritz Carlton, Sun Zhen, Fu Tian Uh. So it's going to be really really cool. Uh, we're we're trying to get you into one of those. Uh, this is our third time, I believe, in Sun Zhen and we had it where we were thinking. Right now we're trying to plan where we can bring our attendees to some Chinese big Chinese seller's office and show them around as well as taking them out, as well as this two-day main event. Of course, it's on the 22nd and 23rd of October, so that's gonna be really good. We have like Temu there. We have TikTok there. We have uh, uh, other big, uh big people. I'm right now we're talking to Alibaba and and and Seller sprite and stuff. They're they're coming and stuff like that. So there's like so many like really cool people that that or not, people that you should network with there. So that's like uh, I believe we're getting the co-founder of uh Temu. That's gonna be there. So what I would say is there's a lot of opportunity. Uh, in China, everyone is doing the 996 or doing a lot of. It was really learning a lot. Okay, so they're like, doing like they're already at TikTok level. They're mastering that. They're going into, like Facebook, Google ads, they're going to the Shopify side.

Howard:

So, uh, as, as a seller e-commerce it's not just only Amazon you need to expand yourself to social commerce. We're talking about social commerce. It's in TikTok and YouTube, YouTube has their own and also like Shopify, because you need to have Shopify, because people will bounce to your website to try to check you out and also multi-channel marketplaces such as Walmart and Amazon, and, uh, Ebay and other Etsy or or whatever it is. There's a lot of other channels that you should put in there yourself, as well as other countries, right, they, each country has their own, so you can expand. That way. You need to start looking into different channels, because it's getting even Amazon scared of TikToker. You see there were Temu, right? Yeah, they're trying to like, do their, do whatever they're doing, trying to catch up, because they're eating a big chunk of their pie and Temu is supposedly number ranked number two now as second marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

Howard, I hope to see you. Maybe in China. I should be going to China sometime this year, I'm positive. Maybe I might be in Shanghai, but I have to take a trip down to Zhenzhen and we can go to Macau again or some other place. But it was great talking to you again and I hope to see you either here stateside or in China real soon.

Howard:

You do.

View Details

Can your brand truly stand out in the crowded Amazon or e-commerce marketplace? This episode features Kevin King, a master of product differentiation, marketing, and branding, who shares game-changing strategies to elevate your business beyond the basics. Kevin walks us through the creation of his innovative Basecamp Apple Watch charging dock, illustrating how identifying market gaps and blending functionality with aesthetic appeal can help you craft a premium product that demands attention.

We then uncover the critical role of visual storytelling and emotional appeal in successful product marketing. Kevin shares compelling real-life examples, including a groundbreaking product launch during Christmas 2015 and the branding triumph of Liquid Death. We dive into the challenges and rewards of rebranding, drawing lessons from Kevin’s experience with his dog product line transformation. The conversation underscores the importance of innovative packaging and impactful imagery in driving sales and maintaining a brand's identity.

Finally, we explore unconventional marketing strategies that can turn an ordinary product into a thriving brand. Kevin recounts the phenomenal success of a hand sanitizer brand during the 2020 pandemic, revealing how creative tactics like catchy jingles and engaging public interactions led to remarkable sales figures. Whether you are an aspiring Amazon seller or a seasoned seller, this episode is packed with valuable insights and strategies to help you achieve a standout presence in a saturated market.

In episode 598 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Product Differentiation Secrets With Kevin King
04:36 - Multi-Functional Charging Dock Design
06:57 - Product Development From Scratch
10:16 - Illustrating a Product's Transformation With Cartoons
10:54 - Product Innovation and Differentiation Strategies
14:33 - Brand Identity Success Through Innovation
15:48 - Premium Bully Sticks Differentiation Strategy
16:50 - Researching and Deciding on Bully Sticks
21:35 - Listing Strategy for Niche Keywords
27:09 - Differentiating Products for Marketplace Success
27:36 - Pet Product Influencer Partnership
31:24 - Building a Brand With Differentiation
35:19 - Hand Sanitizer Market Frustration and Innovation
41:52 - Unconventional Marketing Strategies for Brand Success
42:45 - Successful Million Dollar Marketing Strategy

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

In today's episode, Kevin King is going to be sharing his secrets on how to differentiate your products so that you stand out from the competition.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you a six, seven or eight figure seller and want to network in a private mastermind group with other experienced sellers? Or maybe you want to take advantage of monthly advanced training sessions with Kevin King, an expert guest? Do you want to come to our quarterly in-person all-day trainings at Helium 10 headquarters? Or do you want the widest access to the Helium 10 set of tools? For all of these things, the Elite program might be for you. For more information on Helium 10 Elite, go to h10.me/elite. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Seller’s podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world.

Kevin King:

You know, a lot of times people don't in the space, don't like to share their products. They're afraid people are going to copy them. I'm afraid like, oh, if I share this, this cool thing I found, I'm going to have a hundred different copiers on it. And that does happen. You know, Bradley’s had that with the coffin shelf, you know, here at series, and now there's I don't know how many coffin shelves that are A lot, a lot. Yeah, so it does happen. But I'm going to show you some ways to make that almost impossible today. I mean not to say that someone can't mimic you, because sometimes when people copy, that's a nice way of flattery. But there's a lot of things that you can do to differentiate your product and it's becoming super important. You know the days of when I first started. I know you've been doing this for a while 2015, 2016. You just go to Alibaba. You'd find a product look at Helium 10, see where the gaps are and just stick a different name on there and maybe create a logo, put it on there and put that up and sell it. Those days are long gone. I mean, can that still happen? Occasionally, someone can have success doing that, but it's extremely, extremely difficult. And branding true branding and true product differentiation is where it's at. And some people think, well, I'll just add a warranty or I'll add an eBook to my product or I'll bundle it with something else and that'll make it different enough. And that's usually not enough. And in today's world, you got to change your approach and that's what I'm going to show you today with real-life, real-world examples of my actual products. Some of these I'm not selling anymore for different reasons. Pricing got priced out of the market with raw supplies or something like that. But I'm going to show you exactly what I do and to try to give you some insights and some perspective on how you can approach this differently for what you're doing.

Carrie Miller:

Very nice, I'm excited.

Kevin King:

When it comes to business, there's really only two things that matter, and when you cut it to the core, that's innovation and marketing. I mean, yeah, there's all the details of finance and money and all this kind of stuff, but really, if you look at any business look at Apple, you look at Microsoft, you look at Tesla, you look at any of these. It's innovation and marketing. Those are the two fundamental things that you should be focusing on first. So, I'm going to start off with innovation. So the first thing I'm talking about is innovation. This is a product on screen called Basecamp. This is an Apple watch charging dock. It also charges your iPhone, charges your iPad. It has a night light on it. This is a really, really cool product that came out in 2015. It was launched in 2015.

Kevin King:

So almost nine years ago, right when the first Apple Watch came out, and where this product, how this originated. This is a product that I sold and I actually created this product from scratch. This was my actual product and I created it from scratch right when the first Apple Watch came out. And what happened is I went on Amazon to try to find some ideas for products and I saw that Apple Watch charging docks were trending at the time and most all of them were like these cheap bamboo kind of wooden docks for 15 to 20 bucks, all coming off of Alibaba, with just different names on them. Each one looks exactly the same, just had a different name, and I was like, if I'm going to spend 500 bucks for a watch or whatever the watch costs back then. I don't want some cheap, cheap stand to put it on, I want something that looks cool. So I developed this that I would want and I was like I don't want something where there's cables hanging across my desk, cables hanging across my nightstand, so I want to hide all the cables and I want to be able to charge like three things at once. And so that's what I developed, and so this particular product you can see here has a little light on it.

Kevin King:

I later added a Bluetooth speaker to it in a version two. It put the watch up on top, the phone would sit on the side and it had a. The charging was buried inside all the cables. Um, the back actually had two additional USB ports so that you could actually charge an iPad or put something else on the back of it. It had. The cables were all hidden underneath, so you'd wrap the cable around underneath so it's not like just all messing up your, your desktop or your, your nightstand or whatever the night light there you can see it. You can hit that button a few times and adjust it up in different levels. I created a really nice box for it and I had all the different adapters. I was prepared to sell this in the US market, and so I created one charging dock and then had them make the different adapters that go in the end, depending on if it's for the UK or for Europe, or for the US or for Australia the bigger markets. I later added a Bluetooth speaker to it. I changed that nightlight to not just a nightlight but actually a Bluetooth speaker so that you could this is the days before there was beats or any of that kind of stuff so it actually was a cool, cool thing to be able to have your phone sitting there charging and have a little speaker that would play your sound music or your wake-up call or whatever. You can see there are the little nightlights turned on. As an example, these are actually some of my listing photos that you're seeing on this. You can see that it would fit all kinds of different watch bands. I created a really nice box for the outside of it to differentiate it so that when you got it felt like you're paying 80 bucks for this thing.

Kevin King:

This was a little video that I had made. I found the way I got this made is I came up with the idea. I found a factory on Global Sources Comm. So I didn't even use Alibaba. I use a company called global sources comm, which is another alternate sourcing place. It's not as big as Alibaba, but you can find some better factories sometimes on there. So if you haven haven't checked that out, check it out. And I found a factory in Shenzhen, China, that would do this and I ended up paying them a thousand dollars for the design and so they had their internal guys do all the design and then the molding and everything. It was expensive. It cost me about 30 grand to do all the molding because it's electrical parts and USB and there's a chip in there. So this is not for everybody, but I spent about 30 grand on that.

Kevin King:

We've created all kinds of prototypes and they would send me these files, these 3D rendered files and these like SFP files, I think they're called. And then I took that actual file. So before this was ever manufactured, didn't even exist, there wasn't even a prototype yet. I sent it to a guy in Eastern Europe and he made this rendering from me from those files and this is a video. He made this entire video, this. The product did not exist so I could see it exactly as it was gonna be. He made these 360 degrees, basically before there was AI. AI video of the actual product. You can see this one only has one charging dock on a USB on the back.

Kevin King:

I had a second one, but I did this and then I sent this out and did some testing, like what do you guys think of this? And I was able to get the people at one of these big Apple insider blog posts. They're like, when this comes out, let us know, we'll publicize it. So right there I was, like they thought it was cool. So, I had my launch ready to go. Like I said this didn't come from Alibaba, this didn't come from the Iwo market or the Canton fair.

Kevin King:

The idea for this, this came from my head, and so I created this from scratch from my head. I've done that for a dog bowl and for some other products as well, and so I also. At the same time, back in 2015, I launched five different brands at once. Some of them were the traditional find something on Alibaba, change it up a little bit, change the packaging, put your logo on it and then send it out. But this one I actually designed from scratch. I think that's where you need to start thinking more and more about is designing things from scratch, and it's not always about a better mousetrap, it's about what the people want.

Kevin King:

With today's technology and with the AI, you can do so much that I couldn't do nine years ago when this was launched. That you can do now with iterations and these renderings, that you could have 20 different types of this and do all kinds of testing on PickFu. You can do so much more now with this. So this was the renderings that they would send me. So I would open this up, these EASM files, and I could play around with it on my computer and spin it and everything and say, oh, let's modify this or let's change this, or I don't like where this is positioned, put the logo over here. So this before we even made a prototype.

Kevin King:

And then what I did is I did 3D printing. So I had there's a guy in Austin where I live that had like 30 different 3D printers in his garage, literally, and so he had all kinds of different sizes and machines. I just took it. They followed him and he made this. This is a 3d printed uh sample. And then I took this to the Apple store in Austin and I said can, can you open up the drawer of all the watches. Uh, I want to make sure every watch, every band, fits on here and doesn't touch the light, and we'll make sure the cable fits through the, the fits through the, the channel on the back and everything. So, I had a total like piece of crap, basically, but 3d printed, but it's actually at least something that's I can hold and touch and feel, kind of get an idea of how it's going to be. And then we made modifications. So after I tested it with this, then I went through and I made modifications oh, we need to make the cable doesn't quite fit, it's not quite snug enough or it's crimping in the corner. So we went back and I, I, we made some modifications to it and then this was a prototype. So then they do what's a machine prototype? Um, there's a specific name for it, but it's a machine Like it's. They make like 20 of them before they make the mass run, and then I could actually test it and so I took it and that's what we created.

Kevin King:

This is one of the product photos for the actual that I used on Amazon that I had taken. This is one in my guest room and so we just put it on a nightstand and just showed it. They're actually charging three different devices and how it works. It works like magic. And for the listing also, I actually showed. You know, I create cartoons. I found someone on Upwork.com that would do this for 50 bucks and I had them actually said I want a before and after. I could shoot this with photography and it would be expensive. So I just had them make a cartoon and say, look, show the before. Because every product you need to be trying to solve pain points. I mean there's three or four different things you want to focus on when you're developing a product. One of those is solving someone's pain point. So you want to show them what it's like before your product and what it's like after your product. So that's what I did here. Instead of using photos, I used these cartoons.

Kevin King:

So I show on the left how you got all these cables everywhere and stuff all over the place taking up your whole nightstand just a mess. You're having trouble sleeping over there, the person you know. There’re all kinds of little hints all throughout this thing. You got a light that's flashing on it instead of a night light. That's all bright, keeping you up. And then then you got the one on the right. That's like you having a peaceful sleep, everything's organized, everything's nice, and so these are things that you want to think about when you're actually creating your images is show the before and the after. You can do it in photos, you can do it in, or you can do it in cartoons and like this one and this, it worked really, really well. You're going to see another example of this in a minute. So this is the way you can do an example of how you can do innovation.

Kevin King:

This product on 2015, Christmas of 2015, I was selling about $30,000, $40,000 a day of it at $89. And then what happened is the reason. I and I did a second version, I did a version two with feedback and put the Bluetooth speaker in, did some other changes, and then in March or April of the next year this is before there was Gatita, before there's any or Helium 10 that had the refund ability, and someone posted on a Facebook group, on the FBA High Rollers Facebook group on Helium 10, saying, oh, did you know that Amazon will refund you for damages and lost items? And so, I was like, oh, that's cool, they lost some of these things when I shipped them in. So, I filed a claim. And when I filed that claim for like 10 missing units, amazon suspended the listing and said, oh, we're going to do what's called a bend check. And they went and they actually said we're going to stop all sales. And we got to do a total inventory across all of our warehouses and I was like no, no, no, don't do that, don't do that, I don't care about the 10 units, just forget it, forget the claim. You're killing, you're crushing me on my momentum. Well, I was down about 10 days while they did this quote unquote Ben check worst decision I ever made and that basically killed the momentum of the product. But I was able to bring it back up, but never back to that level, because there's all kinds of other competition coming in. Um, and I sold this on uh, uh I forget the name of the website. Now it's kind of like a sharper image uh, website for dudes. I sold this in the best buy. I sold it a lot of places, but then the market started changing and I was able to ride this for a couple of years and it was good. So that's a way that you can think about doing innovation. That's an example of one that I did.

Kevin King:

Now let's talk about something on the marketing side. On the marketing side, you can differentiate with your packaging. A lot of people do that, you know. You could have just a generic bottle that you see on the right or a really nice bottle on the left and put your differentiating bullet points in your image how they're showing one's made from bamboo and no plastic or biodegrade super-fast. The other one's going to take hundreds of years, and so on. These are great ways you can do it in your, in your image, in your image stack, to actually show the difference. Because it remembers, on Amazon, people, people buy, buy photos. They don't buy products. My buddy, Perry Belcher, is actually the one that actually said that. But they can't touch the product, they can't hold it in their hands, so they're buying based on the photos. So you got to remember that so many people skimp on their photos or they don't spend enough time creating the right photos to create the right emotions. People buy on emotion and they buy on photos, and so by differentiating like this, you can do a lot of cool stuff in your infographics and your stack.

Kevin King:

Look at another one. I mean this is someone selling a commodity Liquid Death is water, it's just water. But look what they did with the branding and the way they actually packaged it. They put it into a can instead of a bottle. They had this liquid death name. All the graphics it's just most of the cans are actually oversized. Liquid Death is a great case study if you want to go and look at how someone actually has developed a brand on something that everybody else is selling and actually stand out. Now it's over a billion-dollar company and there's crushing. It's a really, really good case study. At some point I'll go into deep detail on this, but I want to show you one of my products where I did this. I had a brand that was originally called Tailwaggles and I made a mistake on this brand. I filed for trademarks to get brand registry and all that kind of stuff and about three months into the trademark process I get a note from the trademark office saying oh sorry, your name, Tailwaggles, is too close to something else. This is three months after filing and I'd already done the homework, but they found something in the system so I had to change it to Wag Haus. So I had to. Actually, I was already in production on some dog bowls and I actually had to call the factory, said throw away all those old molds and those imprints. We got to change the logo and logo and to change the whole name mid-production. It cost me a lot of money to Wag Haus, but one of the products that I sold under this this is the Wag Haus logo. Here it wore bully sticks.

Kevin King:

If you're not familiar with what bully sticks are, they're still popular today. It's a dog treat. It's made out of the penis of a cow, so they use every part of a cow to maximize the value when they when they butcher it for meat and they take the penis and they actually make bully sticks for dogs. It's a very popular dog treat. So, there's six inch versions, there's 12 inch versions. Those are two typical sizes, and it in 2016, 2017. I was doing some research of what's selling on Amazon. I saw that these things are just crushing it. I already had a dog bowl out, so I was looking for another type of product to accentuate my slow feed dog. Well, and bully sticks came up and back then there’s Helium 10 didn't have what was just getting going, so they didn't have Magnets and they didn't have Cerebro and all that stuff. So, I had to use this old program called amazing product validator. And so, I punched in bully sticks and look there, I was like boom, big green result thing saying that's a really good keyword, excellent BSR. You know, look at that search 359,000 search volume. I was like, all right, I'm going to do bully sticks.

Kevin King:

So I started researching bully sticks and I looked at these. This is another tool back then where it was popular, called merchant words, and these are results from Merchant Words. They showed these search volumes actually are probably not right but it's the best we had back then. We didn't have much more accurate stuff like Helium 10. So it showed 7 million. I was like, all right, all the different keywords are based off of that free range and those are beef bully sticks and bully sticks for dogs and all had some decent search volumes. So I like, all right, I'm going to go into bully sticks as my next product on this brand. So I pulled up and did a search and I see that, um, there's all these different brands that are selling bully sticks and a lot of them, this are selling for around 20 to 30 bucks and it's a pretty much a package like a plastic bag full of 20 30 bully sticks, all for around 30 bucks, so somewhere around a dollar and a half a stick is basically the cost to the consumer for these. And I was like, okay, that looks good. So I started calling some factories and I was like I need to differentiate. I don't want to be just another guy selling 30 bully sticks for 30 bucks. What can you do? What can you make special?

Kevin King:

And I started reading all the reviews on all the products and the reviews were coming back with like, oh, these bully sticks stink because you can just imagine it's the part of the cow that you know that area stinks sometimes and so people the it. My house has an odor to it. After my dog chews it or some liquid drips out onto my couch, my dog jumps up on the couch. It's just. And then people were worried about where are these bully sticks from. Is it US cows or is it some? There's a big scare of like Chinese beef back there. Are they Chinese cows? Are they from Brazil? Where are they from? And so, I was like I need to differentiate this product and I don't want to just put it in a plastic bag either. I want to put it in something really cool, and so the way I differentiated the product is I found this through tracking down. I wanted to make sure it was US made US beef, not imported, and I wanted to set it apart. And so, I found this guy who was a classically trained French chef, like worked in Michelin star restaurants and he was up in the New England area and I got in touch with him and said you make bully sticks. He's like oh yeah, I don't, but I don't do them on machines, I hand carve them, we smoke them in a certain way. We have a 15-step organic process that we do. I'm like this sounds perfect. This is like I can differentiate this from all these little cheap bully sticks.

Kevin King:

I was like, well, they cost. He said you're not going to like this part, they're very expensive. So, I ended up having to sell three bully sticks, three 12-inch ones for $54 and 95 cents, so 55 bucks for three bully sticks. Now remember everybody else on Amazon selling 30 for 30 bucks roughly. So, I'm like way crazy overpriced. I was like I don't know if this is going to work. You know everybody, everybody always says on Amazon it's all about the price, all about the value. And I'm like I don't know if this is going to work. But I'm like you know what? I think there's people on Amazon that don't care about the price. If you know the avatar of your customer, you know that there's a lot of pet owners that a pet is just a farm animal. You know they keep the dog out in the backyard and it's just a farm animal. But for other people a pet is part of their family, it's their best friend, it's their compadre. I just saw a story my dad just forwarded me a couple days ago about how people take care of their pet's health better than they take care of their own health. And it's true and I was like I can market to that. There's people that have dogs that are willing to spend really good money for their dogs to give them the best. So this is classically trained French chef. That's a good story. It's organic. I'm solving all the problems of the juice because the way he cooks these and he does the smoking and stuff. They don't have all that extra liquid in them, they don't stink. They're organic. It's from the US, I can solve all the review pain points, and this is before all the AI tools existed to analyze reviews.

Kevin King:

I was having to read reviews, so I was looking at how can I package these different, and so these were some of the packaging ideas I came with. But what I ended up doing is putting them in a cigar box. So I had a custom cigar box. I found a company in Brooklyn, New York, that's close to this guy, so I didn't have to pay shipping across the US or across the world. They'd make these boxes for me. I'd put a sticker on the outside with, like a cool textured label on the outside of it, and then we put them in the cigar boxes. So this is the six inch version. So there's five, six inches and those sold for 40, uh, 44, 95, I think it was. And the 12-inch version was only three sticks and sold for 54, 95. But I packaged it. So when you got it, you felt confirmed. You're like, if you just spent 44 bucks for five of these bully sticks, you're like, did I just get ripped off? But when it comes in the, in the, in the Amazon box, and you open it up, you're like, oh, this is a cool box. It's got a cool texture to it. It's all about the sensation when you feel the box. There's like a little edge on it, like a texture. The label had like a texture on it, so like, oh, this is kind of nice. So it helps justify in the mind that I'm getting value here. These are premium.

Kevin King:

I created the listing. This is actually the bullet points and the title for the listing. All the keywords are in there and what I focused on is I couldn't compete on the word bully sticks, because the word bully sticks, as you saw earlier, was super popular and almost everything on that page is cheap, and so I could do a launch. Back then you could do all these coupons and all these giveaways and rank to the top within a day or two. It's crazy stuff you could do back in the day and I would get there. But then as soon as I stopped doing these promotions, I would fall off to page two, page three. But on long tail keywords like bully sticks made in USA or bully sticks no odor or premium bully sticks, those I could stay on page one for and there was enough keyword depth on all those where I could stay ranked for those and it worked because there's enough niche, enough variation in the keywords where it actually worked.

Kevin King:

And so, then I created pictures. I went to a dog place, a dog kennel, where my dog would stay, sometimes like hey, can you get permission from some of the owners, I want to come in here and do a photo shoot with dogs? So we did a little cute little dog with a chef hat on, did another dog holding it. So actual, real pictures, not my iPhone, because a lot of other bully stick people were taking their iPhone, just taking a picture of a dog sitting on the ground or something. Just horrible pictures. So I create all these kind of cute pictures. Remember, selling is about emotion and so this creates emotion of oh look, how cute he is. And then I did a whole series of image stacks to show the difference. Because if you see something on Amazon for 50 bucks, you're like and it's three sticks, and you're like this guy's out of his freaking mind, $50, $55 for three sticks. I can just go buy 30 for 30. So I had to show the difference. Remember what I said people buy photos on Amazon, they don't buy products. And so, I showed them in the box to show that these are big. You know these aren't little skinny little things, they're like big honking sticks. I listed all the reasons people wouldn't buy, all the objections basically, and all the things that were important in all my research. You know these are kosher. You know you don't think about that, for a dog, I mean, but some people. That's important to them. So everything that was important I put on here. These are kosher sticks.

Kevin King:

I showed the comparison look, ours are full. The other guys they stretch theirs. That's how they can sell 30 for 30 bucks because they're stretched and they're hollow. I showed look, ours are wide, the other guys are skinny. I showed look, ours has no odor, it's glossy and smooth, but the other ones stink. I showed look, ours are with a knife and there's something sitting on the table there. They're hand cut. The other ones are on some nasty ass machine that's never cleaned. So I showed all the reasons why you don't want these cheap ones and why you want mine. And then I showed a comparison of ours versus others just to keep.

Kevin King:

I kept driving at home Like you're going through this image stack. You're like, all right, all right, all right, I get it, I get it. I showed them on a scale, like look, this is what they weigh. Don't just trust my, trust me. I mean, yeah, you could Photoshop this, but don't. I showed them. It validates it. So I showed everything. At the top here's some dogs driving through like a fast-food place and they're just getting some cheap, cheap, you know happy meal type of cheap hamburgers or something. And then I show in the bottom if you want Wag Haus sticks, you'd like go into a nice steakhouse where there's a maître d' with a bow tie on a serving these on a platter and just connotates that image and creates that emotion, creates that feel and helps justify why you should give these a try. And then I did another cartoon. I tested different cartoons, so I had another one go from fast food to Wag Haus Premium similar concept. Now it's still in a car, they're inside the restaurant and you look at the sign there. If you look at it, there's all kinds of details. If people blow this up, I know you can't see it very good here on the screen, but on Amazon if they blow it up, they would see. You know other, all these kinds of like making fun of the other sticks all in the menu and stuff. It works.

Kevin King:

And then I created, you know a put back. Then I was called EBC but now it's called a plus content. So I created a plus content and I used pretty people. You want to use pretty people. You want to use faces whenever you can, even though you have the dog use and faces. There's science that shows that's a 35% lift in conversion rate when you use faces. A lot of people don't use faces in their photos. They just show the hands or they show the dog. But you need to have people and showing that they're having fun, their dogs happy. You're creating that emotion. I went out. This is before. It was popular to find influencers, influencer. The whole influencer UGC game was just getting going at this time. But this guy I found him on I think it's called Fame Kit. I forget the name of the website. I don't even know if it still exists, but you could go and you could hire people to create UGC.

Kevin King:

I'm just going to play you a little bit of this video. I did not script this. I sent this to the guy. I sent him my bullet points to say, hey, this is kind of what I'm looking for. Can you do something? But I'm just going to play the first part of this because it's pretty cool what he did and you're going to see where he actually sniffs these things. He actually pulls them up to his nose yeah, they're right there. He actually pulls them up to his nose and does a demonstration of showing, look, there's really no smell, and I mean it just creates that trust and that yes, it's true. And then he's got playing with his dogs and he just did a really good job. Then I take a look at my reviews. Now these are some of the real reviews that were coming on the products. You know I was getting some fives and fours highly recommended. I would get the occasional one-star review. Someone like this is the biggest rip-off ever Three sticks for 50 bucks. You've got to be freaking, kidding me. But look, I got constant reviews. I had a 4.6, I think, average overall and it just worked really well. And I had one guy I subscribe and save. It had just begun back then, so I was on subscribe and save. One guy I think he did 86 or 87 times on subscribe and save Just kept buying them over and over like every, every. Every time that he would get renewed, he'd buy them. And he'd buy them in between too because he needed more. It just this work.

Kevin King:

This is how you differentiate a product, uh, and how you approach a market where it's saturated differently and don't always think it's always about the price. As long as there's long tail keywords, you can do some amazing stuff. There's just a few more the lifestyle pictures the on the right there's my actual dog, Zoe, when she was a little much younger, and what happened is the guys that owned the best bully sticks, which is the biggest brand on Amazon. They saw what I was doing and they're like how's this guy, this guy in Texas, selling $50 for three sticks? We need to reach out to him. So they reached out to me and they said hey, why don't we partner up? Why don't you actually sell some of our stuff? You can basically private label some of our other treats. We've got duck feet and we've got, uh, pig's ears and we've got all these, uh, you know, antlers and all this other kind of stuff. Why don't we, why don't we partner up and you just, you just use your brand and private label from us. We manufacture here in the States, we'll ship it to you. So I tried it and it didn't work. I actually I need to package it differently. So, instead of putting in a plastic bag. I had these custom bags made and we tried this. It just didn't work. But my other bully sticks because of differentiation, the way I marketed it, the opportunities there and appealing to the rabid pet owner wanting to take care of their best friend, their member of their family it worked. This is an example on pets.

Kevin King:

Now, if you want to get some ideas, if you're trying to ideate this oh, Kevin, this sounds good, but how do I do this? This is a really good link here that you can go to actually get an idea on how to position. This is a positioning, marketing positioning. I'm positioning the product against everybody else and this five-step process it's free at aprildunford.com that link there. Take a screenshot of this or maybe someone can post it in the chat. And this is a good five-step process to help you brainstorm through and to know how can you truly differentiate your product. So, I recommend you at least take a gander at that or have someone on your team take a gander at that. So, when you're trying to come up with your next product or differentiate what you've currently got, maybe something's kind of on the down and outs right now, but if you just re-engineer that product and come up from a different positioning point of view. You can do really well. So that's a resource for you there. That should be really good.

Kevin King:

Now let's take a look at another thing on differentiation how do you turn a commodity into a brand, a commodity? You got Temu coming in that's selling all these cheap things on Amazon. You got Amazon now going to start allowing factories to ship directly from China under this Amazon whatever. It's called Amazon Direct there's a name for it but where they're going to basically have their own version of Temu on Amazon. That is going to kill some people. You're going to see some people go out of business on Amazon because of this, because they're not differentiating. They're just another me too product. There's no differentiation other than maybe the price, and it's who can sell the cheapest price is going to win, and if you're competing on price, you you're playing a losing game. You're going to lose against these Chinese factories. They're going direct because they're going to sell it on Amazon for less than you're buying it from them for. Let me repeat that when Amazon launches this section, which is basically a Temu type of section, your factory will sell it for less on Amazon direct to the consumer for less than what the price they're willing to give you to buy it from them. That's going to happen.

Kevin King:

So if you don't differentiate your products or you're not thinking in terms of some of these examples I've given you, you're going to be. You may be in some high water and maybe going out of business, or if you're just starting, you may not have a chance to actually succeed. You've got to approach this game differently now. It's more complicated, it's harder, it's a real business. It takes thought, it takes effort. In some cases, it takes money, but this is how you can do it with a commodity product. This is a periodic table. It's a really good thing take a screenshot of this that when you're creating a brand, it's a periodic table of branding. You always remember most of us from school, you had to learn the periodic table of elements. This is a periodic table of branding and this is some of the things that all go into creating a brand.

Kevin King:

A brand is not just a logo. A lot of people think, well, I've got my brand on Amazon. You don't have a brand, dude, you have no brand. This is no brand. This is a logo and a name. A logo and a name does not make a brand. A brand connotates a feeling. It connotates a message. It connotates an identity, an affinity for people. There's a lot more to it, and these are some of the things. Does the type of type style you use matter? Yes, that's part of it. Does the logo matter? Yes, that's part of it, but every brand has a voice, every brand. The name is important yes, but that's not a brand. You've got to go way, way beyond that, and this shows you some of the elements in a really nice, concise way that you need to focus on when you're truly building your brand, and I'm going to show you an example of this right now on how to do this with a commodity product, with one of mine.

Kevin King:

We all remember the pandemic of 2020 and hand sanitizer was going nuts on Amazon. It was booming worldwide. Everybody's freaking out need to buy hand sanitizer. Around April of 2020, this was the SQP report, the Search Query Performance report on Amazon. It had just come out as a brand-new kind of thing on Amazon and hand sanitizer was number six, and some partners of mine and one of my other Amazon companies saw this and they're like we should do hand sanitizer and I'm like no dude, everybody and their brother's going to be doing hand sanitizer. This is going to be like hoverboards, going to be like fidget spinners. Everybody's going to be doing it. And they're like, no, we can do it. We got this, this company in India that can make this stuff for us. Yeah, I started doing homework on it. I'm like, well, okay, maybe there's something to it, but let me look into it. So I looked into it and I used some other tools. This is not Helium 10, it's a different tool. It's a private mastermind tool that shows showed me last week's sales volume and on the hand sanitizer it showed this was in April. It showed 129,000 units on Amazon on the word hand sanitizer alone just that single keyword. And then other ones. I was like all right. And then there's all these.

Kevin King:

The Polaris, this big market research company, came out and said this hand sanitizer thing, even if the COVID goes away, people are going to change their habits. And yeah, you're going to have a huge bump because everybody's now using hand sanitizer but a lot of places are going to install hand sanitizer machines. It's going to become more pervasive in society. And I was like, yeah, okay, so if this has a big boom, boom up, it's going to go down when COVID goes away, but it's going to probably be higher than what it was before COVID started, just because people have changed their habits or they're more aware of it. That's basically what this Polaris study said. So, I'm like, all right, let's look, let's look school.

Kevin King:

Then there's a story came out of this this kid that was in, uh, in in the middle of the United States I think he's in Tennessee or Kentucky or somewhere and he was going to all the dollar stores, uh, and buying out their hand sanitizer and then arbitraging it on Amazon for those crazy amounts. He ended up getting sued by the, by the uh, the state, uh, for price gouging and stuff. But I'm like, all right, and he's just crushing it. And so, you're all this stuff coming out. And then I look on Amazon and this is what was selling, because hand sensors, all the Perel and Germ Sharks, Germ X the two big brands in the US were hard to get.

Kevin King:

And then what Amazon did is they created something called the COVID store and they gated, basically Perel. They said all the first responders, all the hospitals need to have access to this, not you people at home. We need to save this for the people that really need it, that are dying in the hospitals. So in order to buy the big hand sanitizers, you had to go into the COVID store and get authorized, and so it took a lot of the competition away on Amazon. I saw that and I started seeing all these like weird hand sanitizer people are making almost like felt like in their backyard coming up on Amazon. Some of it was long shipping times is coming from China and you'd order it and take a month to get to you and it's just garbage. And you look at, look at the reviews on they’re just bad and they're selling for like crazy amounts it's $11.59 for these little bottles.

Kevin King:

And so I was like, alright, guys, let's do this. We're not gonna use this company in India. We're gonna get proper FDA approval, we're gonna. There were some rules where you could at the time, where you could actually make this without going through all the steps of FDA if you did certain things. We figured out all that's figured out, all the legal side. We came out with a brand name of germ shark. We came out with and this logo. So this is where the name Germ Shark and we started this company. It was me and four other guys. I was handling them Amazon side of things and all the branding and all the marketing. And there's other guys handling all the sourcing and dealing with the factories and all that. And then the other three guys were the money guys and these guys put in about a million and a half bucks, before it was all said and done, of their own money.

Kevin King:

Luckily, crypto was doing really well at the time. One of these guys was just making bank selling NFTs and on crypto, so he had a lot of extra cash just sitting around doing nothing. So he threw a bunch of that in and we started this brand, Germ Shark, and I was like, okay, if we're going to sell hand sanitizer in this super competitive commodity, hand sanitizer is like one to three ingredients, it's nothing. Anybody can do it. How do you differentiate a product that everything is basically the same? Yeah, you can put a smell in there or you can do a few things, but it's basically the same thing. How do you differentiate it? So, we came up with some bottles. We said we're gonna do a three pack of these small bottles and I tested it on Pick Fu and so I took R3, the ones that says winter there with the green box around it. Those were R3.

Kevin King:

And I tested against these no-name brands, like these Chinese no-name brands, and we won, hands down won. Everybody said we would buy this one. This one looks legit, the others are sketchy. And then I tested against the top brands, like Perel, which is a number one brand in the US, and I got my butt kicked. Perel beat me because that's a bigger brand, people trust it more. So I was like okay, as long as Perel is not on the main Amazon site and they're locked away in this COVID store where nobody can get in there, I can crush it, I can be number one on Amazon until Perel comes back. And when Perel comes back onto the normal Amazon website, I'll be okay in spot number two or spot number three, because I've positioned myself, I've gotten my rankings, I've gotten my reviews. There's still enough depth in the market share that even if I'm spot two or three or four, I'll still make some good money. So we're like all right, let's go forward with this.

Kevin King:

So then we create a whole line of products. We ended up going. We saw that there's wipes. We're having trouble. We had the big bottles to refill, like the canisters at, like the restaurants and malls and airports and stuff. We create little toys we actually created with our brand. We created like a little stuffed toy you see the little stuffed shark there. We create little holders. That little kind of turquoise looking thing in the middle is a holder for the clip onto your purse or onto your backpack or something for the small bottles, and then, oh, there's a better picture of it, these little guys here.

Kevin King:

We created this kind of stuff, and why did we create this? Not to sell it, but for branding and for promotional purposes. So what we did with it is we went out and we did a campaign to hospitals, and so we reached out to hospitals and we said, hey, we'd love to send you a free gift. Thanks for your service, thanks for everything you're doing. We'd love to send you a free gift. So we made this little brochure here thanking them for everything. And then we sent a package of like 25 in a nice like four-color box, like a gift box. We put some of that little like shredded paper in there that makes it all look kind of fancy. Put them all in there and then we included, like you know, there's some kids and stuff in the hospital. So here's some stuffed toys. You know along the branding. And then what did they do? These are the actual ones getting it. You can see the box there and they started posting it all over social media and we started actually getting sales and this legitimized us. It showed like, look, this is legitimate, doctors are using this and they're showing this stuff off.

Kevin King:

We create our A-plus content page and actually did some really good stuff with A-plus and we showed how, for every bottle, every package you buy, we donate a bottle. So we had a cause with it, too is we donated a bottle to charities. We created memes and graphics for social media that would actually show play off of different things. During that time, we ran huge campaigns on this. We did actual physical postcards in the mail. A lot of people was like, oh, the mail is dead, nobody checks the mail, bs. We did these physical postcards through the mail and sent them to hospitals, sent them to people that previously bought sanitizers. We got some lists. We got editorial recommendations because of our branding. People love the branding and the mission that we're giving a bottle for every three sold. And then we did stuff like jingles. We actually created a jingle for the brand because, remember I said, selling is emotional and this is a really good study here. You should take a look at this sometimes.

But sound is the most important thing to our brain, not visuals. So you can be watching a YouTube video and if the YouTube video is grainy or jumping around a little bit, then you might accept it, but as long as the sound quality is good. If the sound quality is good, you can deal with lesser quality video, but if the sound quality is bad, you're going to skip this. You're going to move on to something else and it's an area of your brain called Broca's area, and it's an interesting science. If you take a look at this from a branding point of view, if you can reach Broca's area, you can do things, really amazing things. Think of old jingles like the Oscar Mayer Wiener jingle, if you're old enough to remember that, or some of the old jingles that you see on TV now you know the State Farm jingles or some of the other ones that are out there. That's all branding and marketing and it's creating these visual images. There's a really. There's a lot more to this.

Kevin King:

We could go and do a whole presentation just on this, but so we dialed in on Broca’s area and to use influence, and so what we did is we created a jingle and then we created a video. I had, uh, one of the amazon companies that does these nice videos. I had a couple of them actually do it. I actually had a contest with pick food to be to be on water. I had four different companies doing and competing and we create these jingles and just this is not the best singing, so don't worry about the singing, but the music in the song. It will stick in your head. I'm here to help you, uh, keep your germs away. I'll bring the bottle to you. I've got the germ charge for you. Rub it, rub it, rub it, rub it. Germ charge protection. Peel your hand, catch the germs away. Brother, strength, the best protection, no matter where you are. It can't be too far.

Kevin King:

Anyway, this was a really cool jingle that had all these lyrics to it and I sent this to Bradley here at Helium 10, and he watched it and he was like damn, dude, I can't get that out of my head now. I was like that's the point. So the next time that you want to get hand sanitizer, that comes to your mind. And it worked really well. So we had a couple of them. We also went out man on the street, we had these costumes and we would go down to a park and walk around, give them out and we'd go mess with people and we'd create all this stuff. We went to a grocery store and grabbed grocery carts and had like 10 of these sharks walking into this grocery store and freaking people out and just, we did all this kind of marketing to help differentiate and it didn't sell a lot locally but it helps us create the content that we could put out there worldwide. And it really worked really well.

Kevin King:

These were our sales on seven, you know, $40,000 on one single skew on that day. And you can see, we just started crushing it and we started standing out, and this is how you take a commodity and you truly make it into a real brand. These were some sales, the first we started selling in July of 2020. We went live so this is basically the first month. Sales was a million bucks on a brand-new product, and so this stuff works, but you got to come at it from a different point of view. So, what I'm trying to do today is just show you a different way of thinking of this. Can you do everything I did? Maybe, maybe not, but you can start thinking in this direction and start moving in that direction, and that's what we have for you today. Thanks everybody for joining us.

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https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-generative-ai-seller-growth-shopping-experience

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:07 - Prime Big Deal Days
03:31 - Walmart Holiday Deals
05:14 - Gen Z Shopping on TikTok
06:25 - FBA Fee Reductions?
07:23 - Goal-Based Bidding in DSP
08:16 - Amazon Supply Chain Updates
09:50 - Buy with Prime Integrations
12:33 - Amazon Shipping App
13:00 - Faster MCF Shipments
13:37 - New Amazon AI Tools
22:11 - New Amazon Analytics Tools
23:24 - More Accelerate Updates
28:17 - Meet Bradley in South Korea
28:30 - More Upcoming Events

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Prime Big Deal Days has been officially announced for specific dates. In October, amazon Accelerate had more than 20 new releases and announcements and we're going to go over almost all of them today. This and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories and goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new things that Helium 10 has that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. As a matter of fact, today I don't think we're going to be able to get to any new releases or training tips, because this was the week of Amazon Accelerate. I just got back a couple hours ago and I want to try and like get everything out there while it's fresh in my mind. Hopefully I'm not going to miss anything, but we have got tons and tons to go over today.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's actually first hop into just non-Accelerate related news. All right, let's go ahead Now. The first news story is from NBC News and it's entitled Amazon just announced dates for its October Prime Day sale. Here's what to know Now. You guys remember a while back, a few months ago, I had predicted when the regular Prime Day was going to be. Somehow, you know, I like use some just I used some just common sense and mathematical things based on dates that Amazon had, and I hit the exact date two months in advance, actually, three months in advance, I think. I hit it Now again. A month ago, I was like you know what, I'm going to go out on a limb and try and guess when Prime big deal days are. Take a look at what I said in August. If, again, I had to pick a date, it would be around October 9th. Now let me show you why. I noticed here that one of my products was eligible for prime big deal days window. So when I went in there, you'll notice and you guys probably have seen this yourself is that there's weeks for regular deals right All the way up to October 6th. Okay, and then the very next one it says is prime big deal days window. So first of all, it pretty much guarantees that prime big deal days is not going to be before October 6th.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, historically prime big deal days, I think there was another it was called something different in 2022. It was kind of like on the second Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of the month. So that's why I'm thinking that, hey, it could be around October 9th, 8th, 9th, 10th, around there We'll see. You've got a lot of time to plan, but at least, again, it is now confirmed. There is another prime big deal days coming. Well, guys, Nostradamus Bradley back at it again, because, look at this prime big deal days was. Well, guys, north stardom is Bradley back at it again, because, look at this prime big deal days was announced on October 8th and 9th.

Guess what? I'm gonna make another prediction. I think I know when Black Friday is gonna be hint, hint, wink, wink. That's not a great, uh prediction. I think my prediction days are over two for two, that's it. But anyways, prime big deal days, guys.

Bradley Sutton:

It's kind of like the second prime day of the year is coming on October 8th and 9th and hopefully you have gone ahead and applied for some deals. If you're going to do it, this might be the time to do Prime Exclusive Discounts. Don't forget, prime Exclusive Discounts aren't free anymore, as we reported on the Weekly Buzz. But whatever the case is, there's going to be a lot more traffic shopping online, and when I say shopping online, it is not just shopping on Amazon for this special day, because take a look at this new story from USA Today. It says Walmart announced an Anti-Prime Day sale, and it's no joke. Learn about Walmart holiday deals now, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is a new or special kind of discounts that Walmart is putting on. What date is going to be for these deals that will have up to 70% off? You guessed it starting October 8th. So it's kind of funny. Sometimes this Amazon and Walmart are going back and forth, trying to one up each other and make sure they don't have special days. But I think this is actually good for sellers that it's on the same day, because if you're doing deals on one site, you almost have to do deals on the other site because of price matching and things like that. So when Amazon and Walmart dates coincide, it allows you to go ahead and put the same discounts on both, and now you don't have to worry about things like buy box suppression and things like that. Now one difference, though, between prime big deal days and Walmart holiday days is this article says that it starts on the 8th, but it's set to continue through Sunday, October 13th. Now, this is important because, just like I just said, while the first couple of days are going to coincident have to worry about buy box issues. If you keep your Walmart deals going after the 9th and you have like the same maybe product identifier, like a UPC or something like that, it's possible that your buy box on Amazon might suffer if Amazon is price matching Walmart or price checking Walmart, I should say, and they could see that you have a special going on a Walmart but not on Amazon. So something to keep in mind. First couple of days you're good to go. It's kind of good that it's coinciding, but after the 9th, definitely check if you're going to stop your deal on Amazon but not on Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of holiday deals, there's an interesting article from retaildive.com I guess they did this kind of survey and it says more than half of US Gen Zers are headed to TikTok shop this weekend. It said about 43% of Gen Z shoppers are planning to spend more for their holidays this year compared to 37% of millennials. However, going down deeper, it says, in the US, nearly 54% of Gen Z will find gifts on TikTok shop alone. A third of US respondents will shop for gifts seen on Facebook and Instagram ads. I don't know how that's a poll Like. Do you actually answer a poll saying yes, I plan on buying stuff from ads? So that was kind of weird for me. But however they got this information sounds pretty exact. So they're putting it out there and it says almost a quarter 24% of US Gen Zers will make their purchase through influencer recommendations. So just you know, it's kind of interesting how much the whole landscape of holiday shopping has changed. You know, a couple years ago there was no such thing as TikTok shop, right, you know. So the fact that a lot of people are going to be you know, more than half of a certain demographic are going to be looking on this platform that literally didn't even exist last year is just kind of interesting to me.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is coming from Channel X World. It actually has to do with Europe and it's an FBA fee reduction. All right, yeah, I did not say that wrong. It is an FBA fee reduction, not an addition. You know, usually when you hear me talking about FBA fees, it's about some new fee that we're going to have to do. That we're going to have to do. But if you're in selling in pan EU fulfillment, you're going to be able to save from 1.60 pounds up to 1 pound 87 for small oversized products across UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. So in those locations, what signifies a small oversize? So Amazon's definition of small oversize is 61 by 46 by 46 centimeters and unit weight has to be less than 1.76 kilograms. And then in Germany there's another set. But hey guys, take a look at this If your product is in this small oversize, you might actually be getting a reduction in fees, believe it or not.

Bradley Sutton:

One more non-accelerate announcement this week was done by Amazon Advertising, so entitled Maximize Brand Goals Efficiently with Goal-Based Bidding in Amazon DSP. All right. So now when you're doing your brand awareness campaigns, you're going to be able to specify reach and frequency goals and DSP is going to optimize bids automatically in real time to maximize these goals. So, for example, how you get started is you set the goal in DSP to awareness, you set your KPI to reach or frequency, and then you're going to choose a weekly target frequency and then you set your optimization strategy to prioritize spending, full budget and then you hit save. So now you're going to be able to, you know, test out this goal-based bidding. So, um, I know not too many of you are using DSP, but something that maybe talk to your amazon rep to get more information on. Or, if you're using an agency, talk to them to see if this might be good for you all.

Bradley Sutton:

Right now, let us get into amazon accelerate. Uh, this was my second accelerate um, and there was just tons and tons and tons of things that were released over the three days. Now, on some of these, we're actually going to get a little bit more in depth. I was able to interview some of the product managers at Amazon responsible for some of these, so we're going to go in depth on things like the customer loyalty dashboard and gen AI videos and different things like that in future episodes, but for now, let's just give a brief overview of a lot of the updates.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, first up, we had supply chain by Amazon updates, all right. So first they were talking about hey, they're unlocking faster delivery speeds that increase sales an average of 20%, they said and now there is an Amazon fully managed option for US sellers to automate the entire supply chain process, so I'm not going to go too much into detail about that. We've talked a little bit about this in previous episodes. Now, multi-channel distribution for Amazon warehousing and distribution, also known as AWD it says it now offers the ability to do custom labeling, allowing you to distribute products in bulk to different sales channels, including other marketplace services. All right, so you know this is something that before you know, like you might not have thought that Amazon would be down to do like helping you, kind of basically like drop ship to other channels, and they're cool with it, with it going to other marketplaces. That's going to be a kind of a theme on some of these announcements I'm going to talk about from Amazon Accelerate.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of Amazon logistics and supply chain, there is a lot of MCF and buy with prime announcements. All right, a lot of different enhancements. First of all, if you are using buy with prime on your website, now you are going to be able to accept PayPal payments. All right, you can't do that yet in Amazon, but if you're using the Amazon Buy With Prime, like on your Shopify, WooCommerce, you're going to be able to accept PayPal checkout. So that's going to be pretty cool. And then, actually, starting next year, if you're a Prime member, they're going to be able to link their Amazon account to their PayPal account so that Prime free shipping benefits are available automatically. Another update was, if you are doing Amazon DSP, like we just talked about, you're going to be able to now run ads on Google Shopping ads and TikTok ads all right to drive more traffic to your Buy With Prime enabled options. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So here's how this works, if I'm understanding this correctly. So let's say you've got Buy With Prime listings set up. Now, if you recall, buy With Prime it's been around for a while. It's so you can have on your website a literal Buy With Prime badge and you are able to see the shipping time. So, basically, your Shopify customers, if they purchase on your website, they're going to get it delivered from your FBA inventory or MCF inventory. But now if you're running DSP ads the cool thing is they showed a couple examples of this is like in the Google shopping. You know what? You can't link directly to an Amazon listing, all right, you can't put Amazon listings per se into Google shopping. But if you've got your Shopify or WooCommerce or whatever listing there that has the buy with Prime, which basically goes your Amazon inventory. Anyways, you're going to be able to see the shipping time, all right. So, like you know, two, three days shipping. It's going to actually show up in Google Shopping Right, which has not been done before, and also in TikTok advertising. All right, not TikTok shop. We're not talking about buy with Prime inside of TikTok shop. We're talking about that. If you run a TikTok ad, it'll overlay onto a TikTok right. You're going to see that Prime badge right there where it'll say like two days, three days shipping and people can just go ahead and buy it right from that TikTok ad and again, that's going directly to your Amazon Prime inventory. So, pretty cool enhancement.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, like a few years ago you wouldn't have thought that Amazon is down to like help sellers. You know, sell on other platforms and things like that. You know, like last year, amazon accelerate. The big announcement was how you could have, you know, Shopify integration. You're like that was would have been unheard of just two years ago, you know. And then now we're talking about, you know, integrations now with google shopping, integrations with TikTok shop. So this is, I think, a move in the good uh, in a good direction here.

Bradley Sutton:

Another supply chain announcement. You know we've talked on the weekly buzz before about how amazon's really pushing their own shipping methods, and so now Amazon has released a new Amazon shipping mobile app. So you know, with these you're going to be able to schedule pickups from your warehouse, oversee inventory across multiple warehouses, receive real time updates on delivery, delivery vehicles and everything. So that's like for those of you who are kind of like using Amazon now, as like you maybe have used UPS or something like that before. Another update was if you're using MCF multi-channel fulfillment you know, historically I think that like the fastest shipping was like four days, but usually five days or more. Now MCF is going to qualify for three day shipping, so pretty cool. If you're using MCF is going to qualify for three day shipping, so pretty cool. If you're using MCF to maybe run your TikTok shop or for your Shopify website, and that's how you're shipping you can now get three day shipping, which is a huge update.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, that was the main announcements for day one. Let's go skip to day two now, which had a lot more announcements. Go skip to day two now, which had a lot more announcements, and the first one was like five new generative AI tools that are going to be designed for sellers. Let's go over them Now. The first one was a Amazon code name. Right, it says Project Amelia. It says adds a personalized Amazon selling expert for every seller.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what this new app is going to be doing inside of Seller Central is it's going to be a generative, ai based tool where you can like have conversations with it, like you can say, hey, amazon or Amelia I'm not sure if you have to call it Amelia or you call it Amazon, or whatever the case is. You can be able to ask simple questions like how is my business doing? Which products of mine have sales been down year over year? You can be able to ask simple questions like how is my business doing? Which products of mine? Have sales been down year over year? You're going to be able to ask questions like what is the status of the shipment that I sent to Amazon yesterday? So basically, the things that you would normally do in Seller Central that you would just have to go around on menus to find, and things. A lot more of it now over time. You know it's not going to be rolling out all these things at once, but you're going to be able to start asking this Amelia, uh, project Amelia app, uh, these questions that it's going to go ahead and respond just like generative AI does. Now, not everything is something that I think that all sellers are super excited about. But hey, I'm, I'm, I'm here to just report the news and let's you know, let's give some honest feedback on it and let's see how things play out Now. And let's give some honest feedback on it and let's see how things play out Now.

Bradley Sutton:

The next thing it was entitled Expanding Generative AI Product Listing Capabilities to Get More Products in Front of Customers Faster. So this is nothing new per se. Amazon had announced last year generative AI ability to just get a picture from a picture or from a brief description, make a listing. Now, the last time I tested it, let's be honest, let's keep it real. Well, this is a no BS podcast, right? Well, it was not that great and I would never actually recommend somebody using that, because you know, like we know, how important keyword optimization, listing optimization with the right keywords is for getting indexed, for being able to run ads, and you're you know the ai back then when it started. There's no way it was going to be able to ever get all of the right keywords from day one in your listing if you're just using it right now. That being said, that was a while back that I use it.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm very curious as to how it has uh, perhaps improved over time. I still don't understand. I guess can't picture any world in which you, uploading just a picture or two of a product and maybe even one line of text, is going to make sure that Amazon gets all the right keywords. I just can't imagine it, you know, knowing what the status of Gen, you know Gen AI is now, but I got to give it a fair shot, so I'm going to go give it a try in like a little mini case study soon. But anyways, what was released yesterday at Accelerate was now you're going to be able to, even if you do trust the Amazon AI listing creator, instead of just making one listing, you can like have some minimal information on a bulk upload file, and then you can create up to like 10, 20, 30, 50 listings or more, all with generative AI.

Bradley Sutton:

The next gen AI thing that they talked about was A plus content automatically creates brand storylines that attract customers. So with this, it's actually allowing you to take, like, maybe just your images or your listing, and it's gonna use gen AI to create a plus content just from an image, so like, for example you can see here those of you watching this on YouTube it just took a couple of pictures of some shoe and then now it like put it in these lifestyle setting kind of images, automatically designed directly for your a plus content, for your listing. Not only that, it's generating the text that comes in on the captions inside of A-plus content. So you know, like for people like me, who you know, I use agencies like professionals like AMZ One Step, to make my A+ Content and you know, some people might not be able to afford that. So if you're not able to afford professional agencies to shoot specific content, now you might be able to dabble into this A-plus content. Don't forget that even in Helium 10, we have an A-plus or not an A-plus content generator, but an image generator that you can output in the format of different A-plus content modules as well. But now Amazon is going to have this completely for free. So this is kind of like a cool update that Amazon is going to offer Now.

Bradley Sutton:

The next one I think most sellers I talk to, and myself too, are the most skeptical about basically it's an announcement where they're saying, hey, they're going to use gen AI to personalize product recommendations that part is cool and descriptions for customers including the title. So, as far as the recommendations go, you know that that's totally fine. Like, like, I don't think that's going to affect us negatively. I think it might be a positive thing. Like, for example, it's going to start basing more things off of the customer shopping activity instead of just offering customers more, like this. Like you've probably seen that when you're shopping on Amazon, it's going to give more specific recommendations, such as gift boxes for Mother's Day or cool deals to improve your curling game. That's the example that they give. Who in the world outside of Canada needs improvement on their curling game? But anyways, this is something that's going to be interesting for their recommendations.

Bradley Sutton:

But as part of this, there was a kind of like a demo, given that Amazon is going to kind of like redo titles in the search experience. Okay, so it's not necessarily rewriting your titles. You know that that was an announcement done before how Amazon is going to sometimes, you know, change up your title if it doesn't think it's, it's good enough and you can opt out of that program. But this is different. It's like if somebody searches a certain keyword, the way that it sees your title in the search results. Again, this is just the way it's displaying in the search results. It's not actually changing your listing. It could change some words around based on if it thinks that it could cause the customer to be more likely to purchase.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this is the one where people are like I'm not sure if we can trust Amazon, you know, to change the title of my product that I spent a lot of work on. So this is one I think we're definitely going to have to see an action, start tracking it to see you know once this starts rolling out. Is this going to negatively or positively affect sellers? Is it going to help your conversion, your click-through rate, or could it potentially hurt it because it just starts putting these random, hallucinating AI words there? This is one of those ones that we're going to have to wait and see the A+ Content. I'm like, hey, go ahead and start using that right now. Guys, I think it's available in most people's accounts. Let's start playing around with that. But anything that has to do with changing titles and keywords, obviously I think a lot of us sellers are a little bit more skeptical about. So let's see how that one works out. Now, another cool thing that you know maybe you're skeptical or not, but I think it's pretty cool because I saw some of it in action is the fifth thing that they're using.

Bradley Sutton:

Ai is creating highly engaging video ads. So it gave a couple examples, like there was just like a speaker and then it put it in this crazy background with, you know, like a beach, and then not only that, it actually made a video like with waves crashing on the shore. The other example that I really like that it gave was it showed a cup of tea, a pitcher just a pitcher of a cup of tea, with steam coming out of it. Showed a cup of tea, a pitcher, just a pitcher of a cup of tea, with steam coming out of it. But then it totally made it a video Like the background was dynamic and the steam you could actually see it coming out of the cup. So you know, for those of you doing like special video ads sponsor display, sponsor brand ads this is going to be cool. You know like videos work better than just still images. It really conveys emotion better. And now, instead of having to pay tons and tons of money to an agency or have some special 3d modeling. You're going to be able to use generative AI to generate these ads, so that's definitely going to be pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

One thing I neglected to mention from day one I forgot was the drone delivery. All right, so that was a pretty cool announcement where they're like hey, by the end of this decade I'm assuming 2029 or 2030, whatever they assume is the end of the decade they said they expect to have done 500 million drone deliveries. I mean, there hasn't been barely any yet because it's not fully launched, but they're aiming for one hour drone deliveries and to be able to make 500 million of those in the next five years or so. So that's going to be pretty cool to see your you know, maybe coffin shelves being delivered by drone to people's porches. All right, that's going to be pretty cool. Release Next up is something that I'm not going to go too in depth today on, because I actually interviewed the product manager for this tool and it's going to come out in a future podcast in a few weeks.

Bradley Sutton:

But there's a few new analytical tools that Amazon is launching. You can see some of this information in your dashboard. But one of the cool things is customer journey analytics. It says it helps you spot trends and pain points so you can create strategies to optimize the shopping experience. It says this tool maps an end-to-end view of the customer journey, from awareness to consideration, to intent and purchase. Right, there's going to be enhanced audience tailoring. Right, we've been doing brand tailored promotions for, like you know, abandoned cart customers and different things like that, but now there's going to be even more opportunity to tailor make your promotions to certain audiences. And then the last tool that they announced under this was business planner, an AI power tool that helps you identify opportunities for sales growth. And again the first two like hey, let's go for it. This next one is probably the one that some sellers are a little bit more skeptical on until they actually see it in action, the one that some sellers are a little bit more skeptical on until they actually see it in action, but it's basing it off of what Amazon is going to recommend, that for actions that you might take to help your account.

Bradley Sutton:

Now there's some other various announcements made after this. I don't have a bunch of slides on it or news articles, but there was somebody who talked about. You know how the counterfeit crimes unit are really cracking down on a review. You know manipulation and sellers who are, you know, opening up fraudulent accounts and attacking other sellers and fake reviews, and it was really cool. A lot of people were applauding over some of the announcements that they made about how they're really trying to crack down on a lot of these black hatters out there, so that was pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Another department that came up on stage was the customer service department. You know the for seller support, the support department, and you know, at the first part, you know, I think a lot of sellers like, oh, brother, you know what are these guys going to say? This is like the one of the most I hate to use the word, but almost hated departments at Amazon. But I think they got probably some of the most applause during their presentation because they launched a few things where, like now, you can 100% of the time do these chat customer supports where you can get resolution right away instead of going back and forth making emails all the time, and this is going to be pretty cool. Along with the live chat, you're going to be able to share your screen, even live, with an Amazon customer support rep, instead of them asking you to take a screenshot, then you send it and then five hours later you get a reply and they ask for another screenshot. You're going to be able to take care of that stuff live, because it is going to be right there with a share your screen. So that's going to be something I think pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of sellers were excited about that, and then probably one of the biggest announcements was that there's going to be the ability to connect to specialists. All right, so from what I hear from people that have had a bit in the beta, it's almost like going to Amazon Accelerate and having a seller cafe appointment. By the way, that's like one of the reasons to go to Amazon Accelerate. You can get some of your issues solved in real time with like a specialist, like somebody who really knows what they're doing, as opposed to somebody who I'm sure we've all had experience with, where they're just copying and pasting answers from a knowledge base or something right. But you're going to be able to connect with a specialist and it's going to be able to connect with a specialist and it's going to be way more likely that they're going to know what you're. You know how to fix your problem, because that's like all they deal with, as opposed to they're trying to be jack of all trades. They're going to be specialists with a certain thing, like maybe compliance or something else. By the way, there's a lot of announcements based on compliance too, but that I think a lot of sellers were really applauding about, because you know how many of us have had that frustrating situation where we're trying to get our point across to a customer support rep and it's obvious they have no idea what the heck we're talking about. And then we're having to, like go back and forth over days where now you might be able to get your stuff resolved in minutes with just one person from start to finish. So that was something definitely really cool to look forward to. So that was something definitely really cool to look forward to.

Bradley Sutton:

Other things is like generative AI, where there's going to be potentially again I talk about good things where it's like, hey, show me the money, like this is great, let's start on this right away. And then there's, you know, some things that are kind of like hey, we maybe need to take a wait and see approach, but there's going to be some generative AI things where you might be able to get stuff solved with just a bot, kind of right, and I know that kind of like is a turnoff for some people. But you know, ai is helping bots get a lot better. But one of the examples they gave was you could like say, hey, I need to change the product dimensions on my product to this by this, by this, and then that gen AI bot, as it were, is going to say, oh yeah, let me go ahead and take care of that for you, all right, without even having to open up a case, without even having to maybe go into your listing to change it there. So that could be pretty cool, but let's see how that works, all right. So that's about it.

Bradley Sutton:

I probably knocked out about 15, 20 of those announcements. Like I said, in the future, two or three podcast episodes, we're going to go a little bit more in depth on some of these. I also did a recap video with Andrea Marquez, who is the host of the this Is Small Business podcast that's the Amazon hosted podcast and we went over a couple more of these in depth. And then I brought on some Amazon product managers, thanks to the Amazon team, and we're going to go a lot more in depth on some of those analytical tools and some of the gen AI tools. So a lot of exciting things coming to the podcast, a lot of exciting things coming to Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Right, highly recommend guys, if you've never been to an accelerate, mark your calendars. I'm sure it's going to be around the same time next year, maybe around September. You have got to go to this event to like be the first to hear about these, to hear about these special things that are being released by Amazon, to be able to network with 4,000 other sellers. It's kind of like a really unique experience and I had a great time thanks to the Amazon team and thanks to all of you. I met so many of you out there at our Helium 10 booth, and just walking around is really great to connect with a lot of you. So I hope to see you at some future events.

Bradley Sutton:

Don't forget, next week I'll be at the seller kingdom event in Seoul, Korea, h10.me/sellerkingdom. You'll be able to register for that event at the at the end of October. October 31st, there's going to be an Amazon advertising event in Sydney, Australia, so make sure to come out to that. And then November 11th, we're doing an elite workshop in Milan, Italy. So mark your calendar. If you're in Europe, that is another event you can go to. So, guys, thank you so much for joining us this week. We'll be back next week to see what's buzzing.

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Join us for an insightful TACoS Tuesday with Amazon PPC expert Destaney Wishon of Btr Media, as she shares her expertise on Amazon advertising strategies. We explore the key benefits and features of Adtomic, a powerful tool for managing Amazon PPC campaigns, focusing on bid management, keyword research, and holistic performance tracking. Destaney emphasizes the importance of understanding market dynamics, competitor actions, and customer behavior to effectively manage ACoS fluctuations. She also offers strategies for handling high CPC in competitive niches, including evaluating repeat purchase rates and the impact of ad spending for organic placement.

Next, we cover essential Amazon PPC campaign strategies tailored for businesses of all sizes. Discover how to kickstart your keyword research with low-bid, low-budget auto campaigns, and the importance of profitability-focused campaigns optimized for ACOS or ROAS objectives. We also discuss organic ranking campaigns, the nuanced application of sponsored brands and sponsored display ads, and the comparison between CPC and CPM models for sponsored display. Learn about optimal product launch strategies and effective product targeting strategies that focus on competitive advantages and thoughtful ASIN grouping based on budget and objectives.

Finally, we dive into advanced Amazon PPC optimization strategies, especially for those with limited budgets. Listen as we discuss the benefits of using broad and phrase match keywords over auto campaigns, targeting long-tail search terms, and leveraging customer demographics. Destaney also addresses challenges such as campaigns not receiving impressions and the effects of pausing campaigns versus lowering bids when using day parting. Additionally, we highlight the importance of bid management during off-peak hours, understanding customer purchase behavior, and using the refine feature in category targeting campaigns for more precise ad placements. Don’t miss our interactive Q&A session with Destaney, where she answers a range of insightful questions from our audience.

In episode 597 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:01 - Amazon PPC Strategies With Destaney Wishon
01:52 - Maximizing Amazon Advertising With Helium 10's Adtomic
06:15 - Optimizing External Traffic for E-Commerce
07:43 - Essential Amazon PPC Campaign Strategies
09:19 - Choosing Between CPC and CPM
12:27 - Optimizing Keywords for Amazon Sales
13:35 - Amazon PPC Optimization Strategies
20:50 - Optimizing Bids Frequency and Bulk Strategy
24:32 - Interactive Q&A Session With Destaney

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

On today's episode we have PPC expert Destaney Wishon and she's going to be answering all of your PPC related questions.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And this episode is our monthly live TACoS Tuesday show, where we talk about anything and everything Amazon and Walmart, PPC and advertising related with different guests, and today's host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

We have back with us Destaney Wishon, who is an expert and everyone loves asking questions too. So welcome again, and her kitty.

Destaney:

Destaney and Luna today.

Carrie Miller:

I'm really excited to see you know, to have another TACoS Tuesday with you and ask you some great questions. First question I had for Destaney today is for anyone who might be starting out with Adtomic to manage their PPC ads, what kind of things do you think that they should pay attention to? That are kind of benefits and features of Adtomic or just kind of strategies to get started with it?

Destaney:

It's funny when you have a conversation around Amazon advertising softwares in general, it's always going to be bid management and keyword research. That's what it comes down to in order to drive success. No tool can provide a huge competitive advantage in those areas because we're all given the same levers to pull. But, that being said, I think the area that I've seen drive a lot of success for brands and sellers is having everything in one portal, so like something that we've been playing around with a lot and done a few presentations on is like something like Market Tracker 360. Being able to directly influence your Amazon advertising based off what you're seeing within the market. Same thing as utilizing, like brand metrics, conversion rate data or I know a lot of people use Helium 10 for tracking performance and BSR and organic rank. You can easily track that and then open up Adtomic and make adjustments and allocations based directly off what you're seeing in some of the other categories. That, in my opinion, is like the biggest value add. Beyond that, I think some of the features that I think really stand out are just the utilization from like an ad type. Expansion standpoint is really important because I think with an ad console it can be a little bit complicated when you get into sponsor brands and sponsor display as well as some of the day partying mechanisms of really being able to understand time of day and hour performance.

Bradley Sutton:

Carrie Miller:

I'm going to go ahead and get into some of these questions from the audience. I noticed a ton are flooding in because they let's go ahead and start with the first one. My ACOS over the last month on a week-to-week basis has fluctuated between 21% on some weeks to 35% on other weeks. I haven't changed or adjusted bids much at all. Is that normal to have that type of fluctuation?

Destaney:

I would say 100%. Yes. The problem with PPC is it's a pay per click model, so that can be fantastic because we're only getting charged when someone clicks. But it also means that if the industry or your audience changes, there can be fluctuations. A good example is, let's say, your number one competitor goes out of budget during one week. That means that the overall CPCs in the category could decrease because your competitor is no longer bidding them up. And if your CPC decreases and you're paying less for a click, then you could see a lower ACOS. So it's pretty normal to see fluctuations, either from changes in CPC that's kind of the first thing you need to look at or changes in conversion rate. If your conversion rate changes, that typically means your customer habits have changed. If your CPC changes, it typically means your competitor habits have changed.

Carrie Miller:

What is your strategy for this. You've got a relatively popular $20 item which is in a competitive niche. CPC is often over $2, giving COGS, my max bid is set around $125. Looking at Amazon's SKU economics over the last six months, on a per unit basis, the sponsored product cost is $18.25. Click-through rate is 0.81%, Cost per click $2.20. Conversion rate 7.85% on one campaign average of all campaigns. So that's a lot of numbers. Here ACOS is 90%, Click-through rate is 0.61. CVR 6.10. And then CPC is $1.23. Looks like a very expensive hobby. What would you do?

Destaney:

I have three quick call-outs for this. One do you have repeat purchases? If you have high repeat purchases and high LTV like maybe you're selling trash bags and they come back every six to eight weeks then this is completely different. You need to view all of your metrics on what that lifetime value looks like. A lot of people in the supplement space, for example, will pay $20 a click and have a 200% ACOS because they know that customer is going to return four to five times and not click on an ad the fourth, fifth time. If you don't have a high repeat value, I think there's kind of two other options you need to consider. One if you spend more on ads, does your organic placement improve? If the answer is yes and you have that dialed in really cleanly because there is direct correlation if you run your ads appropriately, then sometimes it's worth spending on your advertising and taking a loss because you know you're going to move up on the page and when you get ranked in the top eight you can pull back slightly on ads, focus on profitability, but you're going to drive so much overall revenue because your organic ranking improved. That's the second thing you ask yourself. The third if you're not in a position of focusing on organic rank and it's more of an expensive hobby than a brand building exercise for you. I would consider looking at external traffic and see if there's cheaper avenues to drive traffic to your listing outside of PPC, because PPC can be relatively expensive because it is the highest intent traffic we see in e-commerce.

Carrie Miller:

An interesting question that he has, because I've actually seen a lot of people with this kind of question after they've launched and so that product research is a really, really important part of the whole process and just determining if you have the money to kind of compete in those. But I have seen kind of a shift in this because of TikTok. I've seen people launch in really competitive categories but do extremely well because of that outside traffic from TikTok and like that promotion on, you know just content. So those are all different, different things to look at and you know consider as well. All right, next question is from Eric. He's asking for brand tailored promotions. Do you recommend applying a coupon for top tier audiences?

Destaney:

There's hundreds of different conversations we can have and it really depends on your product. I think in general we've seen a lot of success with brand tailored promotions. I think that there's been some arguments that that customer maybe would have already came back, depending on what audience you're selecting. So you're just giving them a coupon or a discount, but we don't have to get into the psychology behind that. I think in general we've seen a lot of success applying them. But you can also consider some of these applications on the DSP side of targeting those same audiences without a coupon but serving them another ad, depending on their purchase habits.

Carrie Miller:

All right. Sean asks what are the essential PPC campaigns that you'd recommend getting started with?

Destaney:

Great question. I believe Helium 10 as a whole we're working on solving some of these questions in the space with a more actionable education. I think for this purpose the things that we really look at is we do typically recommend running a low bid, low budget auto campaign. Auto campaigns do win more unique placements than manual campaigns, but you can't control the bid and budget. So we run them for keyword research and unique placements. We typically run profitability focused campaigns where we're optimizing our bids solely for ACOS or RAS objectives and we focus on our keywords that we know have already converted through our auto campaigns or the work we've done with helium 10 keyword research. We recommend running some level of organic ranking campaigns as well. So we'll take our two to three keywords that we really care about improving our BSR on and we'll run them at a more aggressive, higher ACOS targets but focus on conversion rate and maximizing impression share. As we get into sponsor brands and sponsor display, it really depends on the stage of business that you're in. We almost always recommend running sponsor brands, especially if you have video assets, if you have lifestyle images, but brands don't always have those. We do recommend running sponsor display, product targeting in a really granular fashion and views remarketing. But if you only have a $500 a month budget, don't invest in those and all of these ins and outs and expectations is where it gets difficult in recommending what campaigns are essential. For a big brand. All of them are essential. For a small brand. Start with the first three I mentioned.

Carrie Miller:

All right. Pedro asks for sponsor display, when should we choose CPC versus CPM?

Destaney:

Great question. So there are two very different models and typically two different levels of targeting. CPC is the format we typically recommend starting with, so we like to run just CPC product targeting ads. When you start moving into retargeting and some of the other initiatives, CPM is an option. There will be a lot of people who will post view CPM results with a $29 return on ad spend or a 5% ACOS. But that's not actually that accurate. A CPC ad a customer clicked on it, so you know the ad did its job. A view CPM ad a customer can view it for one second and then purchase your product later and Amazon will give it credit. That doesn't mean it's bad. That just means the results sometimes look inflated or better than average, because think about how many times you scroll a product detail page and glance at an ad. You don't actually remember the ad, but you glanced at it and then maybe you bought it. Amazon's going to give that ad credit if it's view CPM. So they're both fantastic. They both have different targeting types, but understand that a view CPM can sometimes frequently be inflated.

Carrie Miller:

All right. The next one is what is the best launching strategy for a new product?

Destaney:

Yep, there's a ton of different opinions on this as well. Some people recommend doing auto campaigns so you can collect a ton of data really fast. An auto campaign will cast a really wide net and it'll rely on Amazon's algorithm to figure out where your product needs to be showcased. They're going to review your listing, review your backing keywords and say, hey, I think this product needs to be shown here, here, here. It can be really good for expanding your keyword research, but it's also casting a wide net, so sometimes they're not profitable during launch. So we recommend starting with a low bid auto campaign to collect data on the side and then taking all of the keywords that were prioritized from when we wrote our listing using Helium 10. And we put those in a specific campaign, typically an exact match. So we're really really controlled. And then, depending on our budget, depending on review acquisition how many reviews we get we'll start looking at expanding to broad match phrase match. We'll start looking at expanding into product targeting or into sponsor brands video, but it really depends on your review acquisition strategy at that point.

Carrie Miller:

Andrew asked when you're running a sponsored products product targeting campaign, is there an optimum number of ASINs to target and related? Can you have too many or too few ASINs in a product targeting campaign?

Destaney:

I love this question. Great question. So we typically recommend like 5 to 10 ASINs to target. Again, it also depends on our budget. What we've seen if you put in like 100 different ASINs, your budget's not distributed evenly and one to two drive the majority of your traffic, similar to keywords. We also find that if you were to do a sponsored product category targeting campaign, it almost goes too broad. It's very similar to an auto campaign again. What we recommend doing is grouping our targeting by competitive advantage. So we'll create a product targeting campaign targeting everyone with a higher price point than us. We'll put higher price in the title. We'll target everyone with worse reviews than us and put that in the title. Maybe I sell chocolate protein and I want to target everyone else who sells chocolate protein. We'll create those groups so we can understand our competitive advantage and create our copy in our images if it's sponsored display and sponsor brands to align with that as well.

Carrie Miller:

Namesh says for the product launch, should you go exclusively with the core 1520 keywords that you know, drive sales for sure for your competitors initially, or have auto broad phrase campaigns too for keyword research or keyword sourcing?

Destaney:

Great question. Another it depends on budget. And the reason it depends on budget is we always recommend going after those 15 or 20 core keywords, because you need to prove to Amazon that your product is relevant. That's how you're going to get ranked. The problem with that is those 15 to 20 keywords are almost always your most expensive If you're thinking to bid on them. So is everyone else, so your ACOS is usually poor. So we recommend creating those campaigns for organic rank purposes but then creating other campaigns and broad phrase and auto that are going to find your long tail terms that are cheaper, more profitable for you. So example if I'm selling a water bottle I know water bottles can be expensive. Everyone's going to think to target water bottle, but I have to bid on it because that's what's going to improve my organic rank, it's my most important keyword, so I'll create one campaign for that, but then I'll create another campaign where I'll target things like travel water bottle, cooler travel water bottle for kids, right, those long tail broad phrase terms that are more profitable for me.

Carrie Miller:

What do you think about especially for people who don't have good budgets just doing keyword research in Cerebro and instead of doing some of these like broad and phrase and auto campaigns?

Destaney:

I think instead of an auto campaign 100%, especially with a low budget, I do always recommend still typically running in broad and phrase if possible, because you're already going broad with your keyword research, so then putting it in broad match, we'll just go a little bit more broad, right? So sometimes it's okay because it's going to continue to find those long tail terms. I mean, I've seen some of the craziest search terms, like water bottle for preschool kids in Pennsylvania. I would have never been on that, but the person who selected it and saw my ad it's got like two clicks and maybe two orders. So it's really long tail and really cheap is typically what happens.

Carrie Miller:

Is there a way or a technique to target ads at customers by the year of birth? Say, I wanted to target people who were born between or in 1989, is there a way to do that?

Destaney:

With display. Yes, you may have too small of an audience, depending on like, let's say you wanted to use DSP and say I want to target everyone that was born in 1989 and loved whiskey. Like, maybe you're selling a whiskey glass with the name, your audience may be too small and Amazon won't allow you. But in general you can target based off that. Yes, it's just depending on the audience that you want to. How broad you want to go with your audience, I guess, may limit you?

Carrie Miller:

Why do some campaigns not have impressions?

Destaney:

If it's eligible, which we kind of discussed earlier. Check in your ad group. It's typically because you're bidding too low that you're not showing up anywhere.

Carrie Miller:

Does pausing a campaign with day parting temporarily affect its performance when it's reactivated? Is it better to pause campaigns or to lower bids with this feature?

Destaney:

Great question. Huge debate in that arena. If you're hourly parting throughout the day, we recommend lowering bids. If you are day parting as in, no ads on Saturday or Sunday. We've tested both. We don't see a huge detrimental effect. I personally prefer relying on bid management. If you have the capabilities to. I think bid management's the better recommendation, but I think pausing is the easier recommendation and they both drive a 5% difference from what we've seen, if that. So whatever you have the systems to do.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, what strategy would you advise for implementing day parting rules, especially during off-peak hours?

Destaney:

Really, again, bid management is the best solution, is to see where your conversion rate's decreasing and optimize your bids. For that I go on this soapbox every time. But the other thing to consider is that people don't buy the moment they click. So a lot of people will look at their ads and say, hey, I have a ton of clicks at 1am, turn off my ads at 1am. In reality, people are shopping and adding to cart at 1am but potentially not buying until 9am when they wake up again. So a day parting is really beneficial because Amazon marketing stream, from an API perspective, does allow you to optimize for these areas. But also I recommend like not getting incredibly caught up in it because of the length and purchase times. So, that being said, focus on conversion rate and optimizing your bids based off the conversion rate in certain hours. Or, if you need to oversimplify method, go ahead and turn them off if need be, but just test.

Carrie Miller:

That's a really good point that I haven't thought about is that people are browsing and they're saving them for when they're like oh, I can get my credit card tomorrow, or something.

Destaney:

Yeah. My question always is why did they click on your ad then? Because I personally don't go to Amazon unless I'm looking at purchasing something, whether then or in the future, like, oh, I have a birthday party coming up in two weeks, I'm looking now, and if I look now I'm still interested in buying. I just may not purchase until two weeks later. And I think people forget that part.

Carrie Miller:

All right, can you explain the refine feature in the category targeting campaign?

Destaney:

Well, we have some very hands-on keyboard. These people know what's going on in ad console. I don't typically get this level of detail and questions. Yeah, the refined feature basically takes the category and refines it. So I always explain a category targeting campaign is similar methodology to an auto campaign. Amazon's saying hey, this is Chapstick, let me serve an ad to everyone in the Chapstick aisle. Is what they're doing with the category targeting campaign? Right? The refine feature lets you get a little bit more precise. They're saying let's not target everyone in the Chapstick aisle, let's target every ASIN in the Chapstick aisle who is higher priced than me. That could be beneficial, right? If you're showing an ad on your competitor and you have a lower price point, that's competitive advantage. So that's one of the refinements. You can refine by reviews. You can say hey, I want to target everyone that has two-star reviews, because you know, if someone's looking at a two-star review listing, they're not going to buy it, but if they see your ad, they may buy your product. So the refine feature is just a really fantastic way to get a little bit more specific around the ASINs that you are targeting within your category targeting campaign.

Carrie Miller:

If the cost per click is $2 and the current bid is $1, should we wait until CPC is very close to bid, until we can increase or decrease the bid?

Destaney:

If your CPC was lower. Yes, you're on the right train of thought. Your CPC being higher than your bid tells me that you probably have some weird placement modifier applied that's causing your bid to be even higher than what you want it to be. Or you're looking at a different time frame, like maybe you're looking at two months, so your CPC is $2, but you lowered it over time because it wasn't working, and now your bid's a dollar. So maybe look at a smaller timeframe. Maybe look at what the performance was like after you made the bid change to $1. And then your CPC is closer. That'll help you understand the math quite a bit better. So I think you're on the right train of thought, absolutely.

Carrie Miller:

How long does it normally take to see ad performance improvement once you start using Adtomic, using Travis's full bid rule once?

Destaney:

That's a great question. I think it really depends. I think that it depends, as with everything else I'd said, if you're bleeding money, then it's going to be really quick. If you are running everything just to profitability, then it's not going to make a lot of changes upfront. It really kind of depends on the absolute structure. I've seen bid management take 24 hours to make a difference in an account but it's because they were hemorrhaging money at a 200% ACoS. I think the other thing that needs to be considered is PPC's only job is to drive clicks, like if someone clicked they were interested. People don't click into listings just for funsies not we do like as sellers and brands, but not actual customers. So the other thing you have to consider is like how your conversion rate affects your performance. I think that's always missed. One thing I'll see is, like I mentioned earlier, is a competitor will come into the category with a much lower price point. That's going to hurt your conversion rate because people are going to click into your product detail page and see a cheaper price and click out. So when something like that happens in the market, your PPC is now going to change, because your PPC is going to continue to drive the same amount of clicks, but now maybe they're not buying, so your ACOS is going to increase. So that's why it's really important to understand when there's a change in your performance. Is it a bid or is it a category conversion rate issue. So that was a little bit of a tangent, but I think it was kind of related.

Carrie Miller:

A lot of good questions and we don't have. We might not have time to do all of them, but maybe we can just do a few more. So how frequent should we optimize and what is the best look back window?

Destaney:

Look back window depends on how quickly you're collecting data. For example, I have worked in some very high traffic categories the term protein it would get 20,000 clicks in one day, which means their look back window needs to be almost every 30 minutes, pretty much, to optimize really quickly for all the clicks they're getting. If you're bidding on something that takes two weeks to get 10 clicks, then your look back window probably needs to be two weeks right. So I think it's more important to look at how frequently you need to check in. I usually baseline every 48 hours is a really good start and then, as you increase your traffic, make accommodations, sooner or slower depending on how many clicks you're receiving in that timeframe.

Carrie Miller:

All right. How can you optimize bids in bulk or manual?

Destaney:

Great question. The targeting tab is probably one of the best places to start nowadays. With an ad console that's really powerful. If you're using bulk, that is a whole YouTube lesson that I would recommend going to. There's a ton of content on YouTube for this and a ton of people teaching bulk. It's a lot more complicated than just a webinar response, so you can find that easily on the internet.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, for a mature listing. What percent of sales should come from organic, first PPC? What do you do when most sales come from PPC and PPC sales have no profit? That's a really good question.

Destaney:

So in general we recommend like a 50-50 split. If more than 50% of your sales are coming from ads, you're too reliant on ads and you probably have an organic ranking issue or poor organic rank, which is why you're having to rely on the ads at the top of the page to drive your visibility. That's the baseline. If I see that you know I have less than 50% of my sales coming from ads, there's an opportunity to grow. More than 50% of my sales coming from ads, opportunity to improve my organic rank. That's kind of my baseline question. What do you do when most of your sales come from PPC and PPC sales have no profit? You have to focus on your organic rank. That is why you're having to rely on PPC, because customers aren't scrolling to the bottom of the page where you are ranked. They're having to see it from an ad which is at the top of the page. So that's kind of the secondary thing that you need to focus on. The problem with that is is when you focus on organic rank, you're probably not going to have profit because it is very expensive to rank well organically. So you have to decide that line. You want to walk between long term increasing your organic rank and lowering your profit until you kind of hit that balance of I'm ranked really well, I can profit and pull back on ads.

Carrie Miller:

All right when starting to use Atomic. What criteria do you recommend for keyword harvesting rules and negative rules?

Destaney:

Great question. On the negative side, I typically don't negative aggressively because, again, if they clicked on it, it was a good ad, more than likely it brought them into my listing. Why didn't they purchase, is the question. Now, if I am selling an Apple iPhone charger, I would negate Android charger because maybe they look the same and that's why the customer clicked, but it's obviously not going to work at all. So that's kind of the rules I use for negating. I don't like basing my negating off conversion rate. I would rather lower my bid. So I'll throw that out there. When it comes to harvesting in general, though, we typically recommend harvesting based on orders. That's our biggest metric that we use internally. If a search term drove an order, we're going to put it into a manual campaign and harvest it, and we're just going to set the bid that's appropriate. If it's doing really well and converted on credible ACOS, it's doing really well and converted on Credible ACOS, it's going to be a high bid. If it was 100 clicks in one order, I'm going to set a 10 cent bid to make it profitable.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Well, that's the last question. I want to say thank you to everyone for asking really awesome questions. I think this was a really good discussion, and a special thanks to Destaney, too, for answering for about 42 minutes straight all those questions. That's a lot to answer those questions without really pausing. So thank you so much for doing that and everyone. We will have TACoS Tuesday again next month, so we hope you join us again. But again, thank you all for joining, thanks for participating and we'll see you again next time. Bye everyone!

Destaney:

Thank you all, see ya!

View Details

innovative strategies from Gulsen Berkin Cinar and Michelle McLean, who are back after five years to share their secrets. From capitalizing on Amazon influencer opportunities to selling seasonal products, they reveal methods where people are earning up to $70,000 a month with no investment.

Join us as we explore the incredible journey of a family-run Amazon business that skyrocketed from modest beginnings to a seven-figure revenue before being sold. Gulsen shares the thrill of launching a new brand and expanding into platforms like Shopify and Walmart. Michelle, driven by her passion for seasonal products, recounts her success with Amazon products during Christmas, illustrating the excitement of spotting and profiting from trending items.

Dive into the world of Amazon influencers and affiliates with Michelle's expert tips on maximizing commission potential by reviewing higher ticket items. Discover how you can earn substantial income through Helium 10’s affiliate program, even if you’re just starting out. We’ll also guide you on signing up for this lucrative opportunity and highlight the benefits, including lifetime recurring commissions and other rewards. Don't miss this episode, which is packed with actionable insights and real-life success stories designed to help you thrive in the e-commerce world.

(Time Stamps) -

In episode 596 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Gulsen, and Michelle discuss:

00:00 - Boss Ladies Making Money Online
03:09 - Amazon Influencer Affiliate Program
03:47 - Amazon Business Exit and Brand Scaling Success
10:23 - Influencer Program and Earning Commissions
14:17 - First Amazon Product Review Videos
20:08 - Product Sourcing and Market Research
22:48 - Amazon Affiliate and Reviewer Earning Potential
29:02 - Helium 10 Affiliate Earning Potential
32:47 - The Power of Consistent Growth
34:29 - Helium 10 Affiliate Discount Opportunities
38:01 - Affiliate Program Sign-Up and Benefits

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a couple of boss ladies on the show who haven't been in the podcast in five years and they're going to be talking about cool ways that they're making thousands of dollars in their spare time by being either an Amazon influencer or selling seasonal products, along with a way that some people with no investment are even being paid $70,000 a month from Helium 10. How cool is that? Pretty, I think. Important message, guys. On October 23rd, Amazon is changing the window for which you can look back and claim that they owe you reimbursements for lost and damaged products at FBA warehouses. It used to be 18 months, but now it's going down to only 2 months. So, if you have never used a reimbursement service or Refund Genie, now is the time. Last week, I ran Refund Genie on two different accounts and got a total of over $5,000 back for those sellers. And don't forget, unlike a lot of services out there, Helium 10 doesn't take any commission on what we get back. If we say you're owed ten thousand dollars and you get back ten thousand dollars from amazon, you keep ten thousand dollars with no commission to Helium 10 at all. Refund Genie is now available to anybody who has a Helium 10 Platinum Annual Plan or higher. So, to get an estimate about on how much money you could get back, go to h10.me/refundgenie. If you've never used a Helium 10 coupon, use the code SSP10 to save money if you need to upgrade to a Platinum Annual Plan.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got a couple of people here that are super, super old school here at Helium 10, including the one person, the only person who has been at the company here in United States side longer than me, and then another person who was one of my first hires here at Helium 10 just a couple months after I got started. So, Gulsen and Michelle, welcome back to the show.

Michelle:

Hello

Gulsen:

Hello

Michelle:

wow, I feel so old.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, hey, that's why I'm also I'm wearing the old school Helium 10 logo shirt here to kind of like reminisce about our old days, you know, way back then in the WeWork. Now I say welcome back to the show because there's been a huge gap since Michelle and Gulsen have been on the show the word now in episode I don't know like 580 something or 590 something. Their first time on the show was episode 86, way back in December of 2019. So, if you want to get a little bit more of their backstory, go ahead and see if you can find I don't even know if you can find such an old episode, but episode 86, where we had them and some of the other members of our crew all together on one episode. But I was like you know what? It's been years since you guys have come on and each of you have interesting things to talk about. So, let's go ahead and have you guys uh back on. So, first of all, um, let's start with uh, Gulsen. Now what about you? And you know you've since before you even worked at Helium 10. You know you've had like a family Amazon business. Um, ven offline, obviously you're my co-worker, but we've never really talked about that in a long time. Like, are you guys still selling on Amazon? You selling on other market? What have you guys been doing with that side of your things?

Gulsen:

Yes, so you don't know this, but you know we were running that Amazon business with my husband and last year December we sold that one and the first call I received. Now my husband is building another brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, hold on. I want to talk about that. I didn't know that you were right, I had brand and I want to talk about that. I didn't know that. You're right, I had no idea. So how did you find a buyer for the business? What was it like through an aggregator? Did you use a service or just networking?

Gulsen:

Yeah, he was with a partner and um, he was always getting those questions like, um, if he ever likes to sell his shares and stuff, but at the time it was very good season to do that move last year December. So yeah, and it. You know it was very stressful and long journey for years but I'm so happy that we came to that ending and he took like a few weeks refresh and now he's on top of it another brand by himself right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so what did he scale that brand to like? what was the peak yearly sales like approximately?

Gulsen:

Yeah, so by the time he started it was about four hundred dollars per month.

Bradley Sutton:

Four hundred thousand dollars ?

Gulsen:

Four hundred Dollars.

Bradley Sutton:

Four hundred. Oh, when he started, you said yeah, okay, I was like about to say well, who is buying an amazon business that grosses $400 a month, like good grief? Okay, that makes sense now. So that was when he started, and then he scaled it to what?

Gulsen:

Yeah, the time he moved out that they were at monthly six figures.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh wow. So definitely a seven-figure brand, oh yeah, that is pretty cool and then and then. So now he's starting from scratch or like something similar, or, and he's already launched, or he's just in the planning stage right now.

Gulsen:

From scratch it's already launched and now, um, this time we just wanted to want it to be more on like brand side. We still use, of course, amazon and we will try to start selling on Walmart as well, but now we're just trying to be so heavy on Shopify, building the brand awareness, and then, of course, the goal is the goal again, selling it. But to me, you remember my Amazon account. I was so like a Grand Bazaar Amazon account. I still have it and still is my passion to find those seasonal items.

Bradley Sutton:

But you're not still. Have you been off and on selling products on that account?

Gulsen:

Yes, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh okay, I didn't know that. Okay, cool, but only seasonal.

Gulsen:

Only seasonal and I know you don't really like it when you do Amazon for patient. But that account you saw that it's such a passionate account only the products I really like to spend my time on and not really that profitable, but still nice. And I feel like I still like to spend a lot of time on Black Box trying to find products and then search them on Alibaba, even if I'm not going to invest. I think it started to be like a habit for my life. And, yeah, the last time I found something it was a toy product. I never recommend anyone to, you know, join a toy business, but this one was crazy because, like it was selling on Amazon about like $26, the price to import and everything was about 450. So now it's just, you know, um, making my mind so busy like should I really launch a toy product? But it's so competitive and, yeah, I might be needing to pick your brain about it very soon.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I thought you were saying you already did this. I was waiting for the results. This is what you're planning. What is something you've already done in the last year or so that really was a good experience? When you just found some random product and then it was able to sell during the season. Can you give an example?

Gulsen:

Yeah, I can give you an example. What's so funny is I really like to look around a lot while shopping, like actual shopping, Like I'm touring the Costco, Sam's Club, these places and like Bluetooth Beanies. I don't know if you remember them.

Bradley Sutton:

It's like you have a beanie, but then there's like headphones or something inside. Oh, okay.

Gulsen:

Inside the beanie there were headphones and the first time I saw them like we were shopping on Sam's Club. The first time I saw them, we were shopping on Sam's Club and Charlie, my husband, he was telling me you know what? This product will go viral. And then we sourced it and, oh my God, it was such an amazing experience because that product really went viral.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you sourced it, not to piggyback on the listing, but you made your own listing a brand new. You just found it in Alibaba. So how much did you sell of that product?

Gulsen:

Yeah, during Christmas time we sold close to 1,000 units

Bradley Sutton:

1,000 units at what price?

Gulsen:

I believe it was about $14,000, $14,000, $15,000.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so a nice little five-figure a month there on one product or two.

Gulsen:

yeah, it was amazing but, like I said, it was seasonal and now like I don't even think anyone is going to search for Bluetooth beanie, but we were one of the first listings on amazon selling that product.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice so finding products at Sam’s Club in Costco. I just go there for like free samples and a dollar 50 hot dog and stuff. But now, now I know I need to start looking out for products. All right, let's switch to Michelle now. So, Michelle, you know, in the beginning at Helium 10 and the last time you were on the podcast you like, like your experience with Amazon was pretty much just interacting with Helium 10 and interacting with, interacting with our customers. But now you're not necessarily an Amazon private label seller. But tell us what you are now in that definitely has to do with the Amazon ecosystem.

Michelle:

Yeah, of course you know really quick. I wanted to say how far back I've been, you know, just to give some clarity for people listening. When I first started Helium 10, my daughter was eight months. She's going to be seven years old in November. So, this just goes to show like how old I am.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't need any reminders for that.

Michelle:

Yeah, I was just thinking about that and I was like, oh my gosh, it's been almost six going on seven years, so that's insane.

Bradley Sutton:

That's crazy, that's great. And then I remember how it was like your desk was like behind mine, so I need to check on what you're doing. I just like turn around, we're all in that little, we work there. And then I got to move to like this little, literally a closet. You know, the affiliate team office was like this little that used to be a storage closet and then it became my office.

Michelle:

And then what? Six or been very exciting, and I honestly love building relationships and speaking with different people around the world. It's awesome. So now what I'm doing is I've learned and I've kind of just jumped on ships with the Amazon. Influencers program is something that you don't need to really invest money in. It's more of just investing your time and basically you are reviewing products and then when you review them, you upload them to Amazon and Amazon does all the work for you and you just earn commission off anyone that watches your video.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you even find out about that people are doing that, because I think nowadays some more and more people know about it, but like I didn't really know about it until somebody like I don't know maybe I saw a video on it or something but how do you even know that this was something that people do?

Michelle:

Yeah, it's actually really funny. So, I was just searching, looking for new influence affiliates to join Helium 10 and you know, the algorithm just picks up and all of a sudden, you're seeing like people selling you courses and it's like, hey, the Amazon review program. And I was like, what is this? So, I dived into it and I just started following and I was like you know what? I've never been one to just like jump and, you know, spend a lot of money on products, but this seems like something I can do. And I did it kind of just more of like as a test and, um, it was, yeah, I got like approved right away and then I did the second approval and I got approved in that and now it's just putting videos up on Amazon and the more videos you put there, the more commission you make. And you know it really just depends on the type of video you make as well, of course, the quality and everything. But it's really fun and I feel like for me being like a really busy full-time mom um, and you know, working full-time this is something that I can do, that I don't have to just like run a business. It's just more of yeah fun on the side.

Bradley Sutton:

yeah, like even us, you know amazon sellers, like we all have families, like this is something, and maybe your daughter is a little bit too young still, but you know this is something, is something that you know you got like teenagers or even, um, you know, maybe preteens a little bit. You could almost have them like make some of these uh videos and it's like something super simple. Obviously, you know adult needs to set it all up, but it's not like rocket science where you have to be a pro influencer. Uh, you know, in order to make these review videos, a lot of them are just like kind of like unboxing and how you're using it right.

Michelle:

Yeah, you know what Funny thing is? My daughter got her first brand deal.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh well, okay. Well, maybe she is old enough, I guess. Okay, my bad.

Michelle:

Yeah, so there's. There's Amazon sellers looking for people to or, you know, other people to review their product. And one was a mom who just came out with a kid's face wash and she was like hey, I saw your daughter on Instagram. I would love for her to review my product. My daughter is all about skincare because of YouTube and she absolutely loved it. She did it and I just got another email yesterday from another seller who saw her video on that listing asking if they can review her skincare product now and I'm like wait, she's starting to get all these deals, she's only six.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow.

Michelle:

It is really cool. Of course, you know you need to be in it as a parent, but it is really fun and I've seen a lot of married couples, even like a husband will have his own and then the wife has her own and they just capitalize on that extra income.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. Now, what's the? I mean, there's a difference, necessarily, between like, almost anybody can sign up to be an Amazon affiliate but then to be an Amazon influencer. Do they still require that you have some kind of social media account that has X number of followers? And then, if so, like what is that requirement?

Michelle:

Yeah, so that's a great question. So many people get confused between the Amazon Associates program and that is basically offsite commission. You have to have a website; you get the affiliate link and then you basically drive traffic from your website to Amazon with the Amazon reviewers’ program. That's onsite commission and you necessarily don't need a huge following on social media. You just need to have good engagement for the first two steps. So as long as you get engagement, you build your, your engagement, you sign up and you get approved, you don't even need to worry about that social platform anymore. It's just like building up that reviewer’s videos and then just letting Amazon do that for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. Now, um, what was the very first video that you did Like? What was it for? Do you remember what it was?

Michelle:

Yeah, so, amazon. In order for you to get approved for the second step you actually need very first video that you did like what was it for? Do you remember what it was? Yeah, so amazon. In order for you to get approved for the second step, you actually need to submit three product review videos. So, it's not only one, it's three. So, I did a dog uh feeder, so it's basically a dog bowl but like it has a puzzle inside for your dogs, um, to slow their feeding. And then then I did a Spanish book, and then I did a I don't want to say dupe, but I did a smart watch that you know looks like a brand name like Apple, and that actually got approval. So that got me three. That got my first three approvals for the Amazon reviewers’ program.

Bradley Sutton:

Your style of doing Amazon business, like why do you think this is kind of good? Like it's obviously not for the kind of person who's like trying to build up a brand and, you know, be able to exit like your husband did with his brand. But what kind of person is what your model is of? Like these seasonal products in here or there? Like are you even putting it on a brand registry or you're just doing generic brands? Or how are you doing these listings?

Gulsen:

No, no brand. How are you doing these listings? No brand registry. And I think that what I'm doing is great for who is working like typical 9 to 5 that would like to get extra site income. And also, like you know, before working at Helium 10, I did supply chain my entire life, so I'm so close to those sourcing agencies or the places in like. I'm originally from Turkey. I know a lot of Turkish manufacturers. Plus, I have very good experience in Far East so it's so easy for me to source products. So, I feel like it is mixed for me. If you really like sourcing trying to find new people on the manufacturing end or sourcing end and if it's giving you pleasure, then that's great because then the money comes itself. But it's not something that you can quit working on your corporate and rely on those seasonal items.

Bradley Sutton:

now, for example, that, what do you say? beanie, Bluetooth, Bluetooth, beanie, whatever it's called? Um, you know, you, you grossed I don't know fifteen thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars or whatever from it. Yeah, was that all one order from the manufacturer and you only did one? And then, if so, like what was that initial investment? Like landed to amazon, like the price of the products and then the importation, and landed to Amazon, like, how much did you invest in that project?

Gulsen:

It was like we created two orders the first order, it's like it was gone like in the very first month and a half, and then, since we foresee it, we had to place another order and we did the same quantity and I think we invested about maybe $7,000 in total.

Bradley Sutton:

In the first order and both orders together.

Gulsen:

The first order, like both orders together, could be around 14K, but it includes everything. Everything like it's includes about two thousand of those Bluetooth beanies and the import and the shipping. So, we had to act quick so we couldn't really do a vessel.

Bradley Sutton:

Wait, the first order was 2,000 units

Gulsen:

It was 1,000 and 1,000.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay so you have, you sold all of them?

Gulsen:

yeah, so the first.

Bradley Sutton:

I thought you only sold 1000 units. You actually sold 2000 units.

Gulsen:

it was during Christmas time. We sold about 1000 and that's why we were so high and excited. We ordered the second order and then those um the remainders. I think we have left about like 300 pieces left and then we started to get orders, maybe once a week and like bi-weekly.

Bradley Sutton:

No, not so yeah you sold way more than like 20. You know like we're talking more like 20, 30 000, so seven thousand dollars to invest. And then are you just doing the regular private label ways to get on page one like, hey, I'm gonna run some PPC and try, I mean like that's how you did it.

Gulsen:

Yeah, we were so lucky because we were one of the first listings, as I said, and organic, we were already on the page one for that Bluetooth beanie. But then of course you know how it goes Competition comes so crucially and we had to run PPC but still it wasn't that competitive because we were there at the beginning and we sent all inventory to FBA but then we had to take some inventory back and started to sell the rest as FBM.

Bradley Sutton:

You should see me about those. I'll start shipping them for you. You can pay my kids to do that. Okay, so then I mean, that's fascinating. I don't know how I didn't know all of this stuff that you're doing. Yeah, you know what.

Gulsen:

Funny enough. Actually, it's not about me, but again, like with my husband. Do you remember those fidget spinners?

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yes.

Gulsen:

Yeah, he was also like one of the first listings with those fidget spinners on Amazon. Like I think he has a good sense of finding what will come to be a buy.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, how did you and he validate that thing? Because you know like it's different when you're trying to be the first kind of like we were kind of like the first coffin shelf. You know there's not like a bunch of data where it's like oh, I know all the main competitors and what they're ranking for and stuff. So, what did you guys use to validate? Like, did you buy some from Costco and just put it up and do a test listing to see how it goes? Or how did you have the con? I mean, cause $7,000 is still $7,000. You know that's a lot of money. Like you got to have some kind of confidence that you're going to be successful. So, if you couldn't see other beanie uh, Bluetooth, Bluetooth beanies, people having confidence what numbers or what were you looking at that made you go ahead and pull the trigger on that order?

Gulsen:

Yeah, the thing is I can source those products so quickly because of my connections. So, with that fidget spinner we didn't really do any drop shipping. We just found the manufacturer and I still doubt it was the manufacturer. I still feel like we were talking to a trader at that time. But we got the products in like in 10 days when we decided to go.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, no, the beanie, though that's the one I'm wondering. Yeah, the beanie, you saw it in Sam's Club. It's not like hey, let me go to. Oh, there's a nice product Sam's Club, let me go ahead and drop $7,000. I'm sure you must have done some kind of research or something to take a look.

Gulsen:

Yeah, so, uh, what was really very surprising to me when you go to Alibaba or like, let's say, DHgate, and search for some products, you would see tons of manufacturer putting the same picture of the product and selling them. That time, when we check for the Bluetooth beanies, we only sold two, two manufacturers on Alibaba and at that time I was like wow, like this is amazing, because the manufacturers are not just saturating the market. Yes, so it was one of the insights for me. And the second one was it was I believe it was right before the Halloween and you know, like during Christmas times. It's amazing product that you can put in those stockings and not very expensive, but still, it would make your grandchildren so happy to have a gadget like that. It's great if you're like, if you do ski, snowboarding and stuff, you don't really worry about you. So, we believe in the product too.

Bradley Sutton:

But was there a search volume at the time, like was anybody searching that at all in Helium 10? Or there wasn't even search volume for that keyword yet.

Gulsen:

I don't remember that we saw a huge amount of search volume.

Bradley Sutton:

interesting, all right. So, hey, like that's really getting ahead of the, you know, similar to like what we did with the wooden egg tray in project X, where there was nobody searching for wooden egg tray but we're like, hey, I think this is going to be a hot product. All right, that's very interesting, I like that method. Now going back to Michelle, um, let's say I start my, my um influencer account. Would you suggest the first thing to do which actually is me I've had, because, I don't know, I'm lazy, I guess, but like should is the first thing I should do is just go around my house and look at stuff that I bought from Amazon or that stuff that exists on Amazon and start making videos of those things? Is that like a good first step for somebody just getting started?

Michelle:

yeah, so not a lot of people know this, but Amazon has it. Use your phone, the Amazon scanner app, and you can go around your house and scan anything and then you find stuff that are actually being sold on Amazon. And I do that. And when I first started, I did a lot of my higher ticket items. So, like my bed frame I got on that wasn't on Amazon and I checked and it was. I'm sorry I didn't get it from Amazon, but when I checked it was on Amazon and so I reviewed it. And then I reviewed like my sofa. My couch was there. I got my couch from an outlet and my couch was also on Amazon. So, I would say to focus on like your higher ticket items, but then also mix it up and do some mid-level, like $20, $30, $40, because those are what's going to give you commission. And if you start a lot of people focus on like really small items, like $10, $12, you're only going to see change. So, you want to have a mix of both and the more videos you bring in, the better. I would also say to look at your like how many influencer videos are there right? Like you don't want to review a product and there's so many review videos that you're not even going to be seen, so that's something else to look out for.

Bradley Sutton:

Like what's the best opportunity? Like obvious, it's like, is it something that's selling really well, so that you know there's a lot of you know people getting on that page, and at the same time, maybe like there's not that many influencer videos on that page? Like, is that how you prioritize it? Like, let's say, you could do like 30 things and you're like, okay, how do I know which ones I should do first Because I can get the most money? Would that be what you're looking at, or is there other factors involved too?

Michelle:

Yeah, so I try to see how many product listings there are. So, I'll give you an example. Like the smartwatch that I did, that was one of my like it's still actually selling really well and because there's multiple, actually there's only like 50 or 100 people buying it per month from what Amazon showed, but there's a lot of sellers that had it as well, and so I realized that people were watching my video and then they were going on to another listing and then they were like, okay, I really want to get this watch, and then they were just purchasing it. So that's one way. So, you also just want to make sure that there's demand for it, like people are buying it. Right, if you have a rug and you're going to review it and you go in and like there's bad reviews, it says from Amazon, this product is most likely going to get returned, probably not the best one you want to start with.

Bradley Sutton:

My next question, uh, would be is just, you know, to give people an idea of the potential here? um, what are some success stories you've heard about, like how much money people are making? And then you, your exact example. You obviously work full-time for Helium 10, so it's not like you're just sitting in your house all day doing video I hope not, otherwise our boss might not be happy about that but you're just doing it here and there in your spare time. Since you already have a full-time job, how much are you grossing every month from this?

Michelle:

Yeah, so Amazon's commission is uncapped. You can basically make as much. I just recently started, June, and I'm already about last month I made $600 and then all together it's probably about a thousand, but it hasn't even been a full three months. So, you know, with and I only have a hundred and like 60 videos on my Amazon storefront. So of course, the more videos I'm going to have, the more I'm going to be able to make. I I'm in a lot of Amazon reviewer groups and people make who've been there for like 12 months a year two years can make at least three to $6,000. So, like my goal is to put as many videos as possible and I'm trying to get to like 500 videos for Christmas, because I know that during Christmas time it's going to be really busy. So, I'm really excited to see if I can get at least up to two to three thousand dollars by Christmas in a month.

Bradley Sutton:

How much time does it take you to make these videos? Because I know like they actually don't necessarily need like super crazy professional video production and seven different scenes and Steven Spielberg quality. But it's like you just use your cell phone, if I'm not mistaken, right, and then and then what program are using for like cut it up and then put some like captions, and is that basically it? So, what's the time constraint? And then, what are the tools you're using to, to, to put it all together?

Michelle:

So that's a great question. Because I'm such a you know I'm busy, everything. I try not to put as much time into this and you really don't because people want to see reviews that are very authentic. They don't want to see like commercials or advertisements, they want to see real people making reviews. So, I just scan it. If I see that it's on Amazon, I will quickly get my water bottle, or if it's a product of a water bottle, quickly get it. Put my phone, place it so I can see myself in it and make a quick 30 to 45 second review video. Make sure the audio is good and I use CapCut. Capcut is free. You can also purchase it and I purchased it because you can enhance your audio, you can clean it up and you can also slice it up. So, in all, it takes me maybe like five minutes per video per product, because you get better as you go and then you just float.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, okay, cool, I'm going to get my kids started on that then. Now let's switch gears and talk about what you guys do here, because this is another way that people can make money without having to invest too much money and that's being an affiliate. And so, let's just talk about the extreme, just to get people excited here. Some affiliates here at the company how much money are they grossing? How much money is Helium 10 paying them per month in additional things like cars and stuff like that? So just like get people excited about this subject.

Gulsen:

It's really crazy, because some affiliates are making about $70,000 per month.

Bradley Sutton:

From Helium 10? Okay, I might be in the wrong position here. What in the actual heck? I had no idea.

Gulsen:

But it's not that, so we also pay for their cars.

Bradley Sutton:

What are some cars that we're paying for people.

Gulsen:

What I remember, we have like one, I believe, Tesla Model S and G-Wagon and a Mercedes, RV minibus and yeah, these are the ones.

Bradley Sutton:

In addition, making tens of thousands, even up to 70,000, that okay. Now I think we have you got my attention already, like I didn't even know that we were at that level yet, and so okay. So, what about you know what? What are the ways that that that people are getting to that level? Obviously, no, we're not going to sit here and say, hey, anybody can just make $70,000 a month from Helium 10. But basically, how are they doing something like that? Either of you can answer this.

Gulsen:

Yeah, it is. If you have an audience this is only what matters engaged audience you can be a very popular YouTuber, you can be running a course, you can be a great blogger, or you're just someone spreading the word about how to sell on Amazon and the software that's helping with it. Because we pay lifetime recurring commission 25% and on top of the commission we have extra rewards. I'd like Michelle to talk about them yeah.

Michelle:

So I will say, some of our top affiliate, like producers, that we pay out high commission, it's because our program is so lucrative and, again, it's 25 lifetime commission. So, some of our affiliates have been here for three, four years and they're still making commission with us on top of the extra bonus program rewards that we're paying for their cars or we're paying for their restaurant dinners, like we pay for so many things. And I also want to clarify, like we don't only pay out top affiliates, like we have a bonus reward program that also pays our smaller guys, like if you're just starting out, we're actually going to update our program, so you're going to receive $500 just for bringing in 10 new subs.

Bradley Sutton:

I think what you know, one thing that I want to double click on right there that you said is like the lifetime commission. So, theoretically, you know, let's say, I have this channel where I'm talking about Amazon, but, for whatever reason, I'm like you know what? YouTube shut me down. I no longer have a YouTube channel; I'm just going to stop this. But I had signed up 100 people to Helium 10. Let's just say it's the cheapest plan, so they're paying Helium 10. Those 100 people are paying Helium 10 100 times $100. Okay, all right. So hey, wait, wait, hold on, I'm going to. I'm about to do some advanced math here. So those customers are paying helium 10, $10,000 a month, but every month the affiliate is getting 25%, right? Yeah, so then that's a wait 0.25 times 10,000 is they're getting a check for $2,500 a month. But let's say, today my YouTube channel shut down and it shut down for a year, next year. Let's just say, if those hundred people are still paying Helium 10, they never even did anything, they didn't make one more video, they didn't like help these people at all. They're still getting a check for $2,500 a month, every month from now until infinity, as long as those members. So that that that's that. That that's what I think is really good about our, our system.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, uh, Michelle, you know, we obviously talked about one side of the spectrum where it's big influencers or people who have this big course or big YouTube channel or something. Obviously, it's a no brainer to sign up, you know, to be an affiliate, because instantly they're probably going to start making tons of money just because they're going to be able to sign up people. But again, we're talking this episode is kind of like about making money without too much investment. What if I'm just an average Joe? Maybe I'm just an average Joe Helium 10 user out there I know Helium 10 well or I'm just listening to this podcast somehow and I don't have a YouTube channel. I don't have a big popular blog or, you know, Instagram, with a hundred thousand followers. What's a way that I can scale up? I mean, I can still be an affiliate even if I have nobody just at least get started. But how can I scale up my platform in order to start building up? How much Helium 10 is paying me?

Michelle:

Yeah, so that's a really good question. I would say consistency, and that goes for everything that you do, right. If you are an average girl, like we've seen this. Like we have people sign up and they don't have like a big platform. However, like they're consistent with growing their audience, whether they you know what I decided I'm going to be a YouTuber. Now I'm going to start posting YouTube videos consistently and on top of that, I'm going to start posting Helium 10 demos, because I am a Helium 10 wizard, so why not share my knowledge? Or I'm going to start my own community on Facebook. Um, and they're consistent with growing their audience. They can eventually start growing commission, because all it takes is one person to get inspired and sign up for Helium 10 with your affiliate link and then, all of a sudden, it's three months in, you're like 10, 15, 20. And you're already, like you said, grossing like $2,500. And you haven't even done much. And you know, like I said, it's really about consistency and it's really fun, because I enjoy speaking with a lot of these smaller affiliates and encouraging them and then seeing their growth. It's insane.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe I don't even have plans for making a community, but I mean, I guess theoretically, hey, I'm in, I'm in Facebook groups or uh, I post in in in X, uh, you know, like threads about, you know, formerly Twitter and as far as Amazon, I'm on Reddit and stuff like I could just share the coupon code here and there when people talk about it, and even without either, like being an influencer, I could be making commission. I just sign up. One person sees that code. You know that maybe my Reddit post is indexed by Google and then somehow somebody lands on it and I never even touched that person or had anything to do with them. They thought they use my code. I've got that revenue for life. So that's, that's something guys out there. You know you don't have to be some big influencer. If you're just a regular Helium 10 user and you know you have friends interested in Helium 10, give them a discount. You know, get a discount code Affiliates get discount codes that other people can't get and you're helping your friend out and now you're going to you know what.

Michelle:

Let me just join, for instance we just had a webinar and Riley was in it and he taught, talked all about q4 and how to you know create a good listing for q4, how to prepare. That was a webinar and now they have the opportunity to share an affiliate link with their friends or family there and who, anyone else that they know who's selling on Amazon. And if that person decides like hey, this was a really great webinar, I, I really need Helium 10 now because I want to make sure my listing is great, like, oh, now there's a coupon code attached, so just like that, just by sharing a resource and how Helium 10 can help, they can easily earn and make money with it.

Bradley Sutton:

that's a good point because it's not like, oh, I need to be a Helium 10 expert or an Amazon expert. If you've got the audience, like actual evangelists like myself, Carrie, Shivali, we'll go on the channel like, hey, we'll do a video and you don't even need to bring the expertise, because we've got it and you just provide the audience. And then I wish I need to arrange something. These affiliates are making so much money and I'm the one who's doing these videos and I'm not seeing any part of this. Something doesn't feel fair there. But anyways, take advantage of it guys. Take advantage of it. I'm not getting any money, but I'll be supporting there. Gulsen. Anything else to say about our affiliate program?

Gulsen:

Yeah, I think our affiliate program is offering money and also offering a bunch of information and the trends. So, we're like at Helium 10, we are not just like, hey, promote us and get the commission. We are helping a lot for our affiliates to grow. So, some real-life experiences like one of our affiliate’s accounts get hacked and he was having hard time dealing with Google so we were there for him and we helped him to get his account back. Or I was on a call with one of our affiliates chief marketing officers because he was curious about the latest trends and I was giving him my two cents about what they should be else doing to boost their reach, like getting more students.

Bradley Sutton:

Haven't some like giving you access to like their YouTube channel and you go in there and optimize. Like you're literally in their YouTube and fixing for them and stuff like that.

Gulsen:

I didn't want to talk about that one, but yes, this happened as well. Yeah, so, like Helium 10 is the only platform where you have your dedicated account manager. We are not a platform like your account is managed by a team of VAs or you're just talking to some AI generated chat box, so it's like you work with us and you also have a marketing manager that you don't need to pay. So that's why I really find it very beneficial for our affiliates. And the other thing is we work with thousands of affiliates and we know we see what's working, and we see what used to be working before but not anymore, or what's failing. So, it's good that we have this experience without really facing the actual work. So, it's always good to share what's working with our other partners to help them grow and win together.

Bradley Sutton:

So, if you guys want more information, want to sign up right away there's no sign-up charge or no entry fee or anything like that. Just go to h10.me forward, slash, crush it, crush it. Two words, but it's together, no spaces. H10.me forward, slash, crush it and sign up. If there might be a little box that says, how did you find out about this or something, make sure to say that you heard about it on the podcast. Right before I started at Helium 10, I actually had signed up to be a Helium 10 affiliate and then Michelle was like my affiliate manager and stuff. So, yeah, we've come full circle here, but I want you guys to go ahead and crush it as well on there. So that's super cool. And then remember, guys, it doesn't matter where you are in the world. You know we've got affiliates in in Pakistan and Tajikistan and Japan and Korea, and I think the only country we don't have affiliates is North Korea. So, every other country in the world we've got affiliates because you know you've got an audience everywhere there and obviously Helium 10 works in so many different countries. So, make sure to sign up, all right, guys.

Bradley Sutton:

So, uh, one more note is where you know Michelle is actually going to be doing like a little mini course in helium tend to help people learn more about being an Amazon influencer, so be on the lookout for when that, uh, when that comes out, and Gulsen is going to be working on the course of Turkish cooking for Helium 10. I'm just playing, but, uh, we'll have to think of a course that you can, uh, you can make for us too. But, thank you, thank you both, so much for uh coming on here. It's great to see, uh, you know people who were there from almost day one, uh, from when I started here at Helium 10, and, and we're the, we're, we're going to be like the trio here who keeps on going to, are doing.

Michelle:

Thanks, Bradley, thank you for having us.

View Details

Amazon launches new Amazon Saver private label to help shoppers save, take on Walmart, Target
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/amazon-launches-new-amazon-saver-private-label-shoppers/story?id=113581546

US seeks to slam shut Shein, Temu trade loophole
https://asiatimes.com/2024/09/us-seeks-to-slam-shut-shein-temu-trade-loophole/

Brand Registry Protection
https://brandregistry.amazon.com/protection/dashboard?ref=brnav_to_impactdashboard

Etsy Offers Subscribers Free Shipping While Aiming for ‘Tremendous’ Growth
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/etsy-offers-subscribers-free-shipping-while-aiming-for-tremendous-growth/

Finally, maximize your Amazon FBA reimbursements with the newly revamped Helium 10 Refund Genie tool — a resource that could potentially reclaim thousands of dollars for your business.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:00 - 1P Account Termination
02:13 - Ads in Amazon Rufus
03:25 - Amazon / Temu Brushing
05:10 - Amazon Coupon Update
05:37 - Etsy Seller Updates
07:14 - Amazon Export Central
08:47 - Amazon 3D Images
09:54 - Amazon Saver Groceries
11:35 - No More Cheap Chinese Imports?
13:24 - Brand Registry Protection
14:55 - Etsy Insider
16:10 - Walmart Ads Update
17:12 - How To Get Reimbursed By Amazon FBA

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon is terminating a lot of one-piece seller accounts, rufus is going to start showing Amazon ads, Esty is adding new features to its Prime-like service. These stories and more plus State of the End, to find out how I'm getting $6,000 back on a couple of accounts from Amazon for free how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features there are at Helium 10 that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. I'd said a few weeks ago that, leading up to Accelerate, usually there's not much articles and, yeah, for a couple of weeks there were slim pickings for news, but today, all of a sudden, a bunch of stuff coming out of the woodwork. So we've got a number of stories to get into. Let's go ahead and hop right into it.

Bradley Sutton:

First story is just something you probably saw on LinkedIn all over the place the last week. I'll go ahead and highlight a previous podcast, guest LinkedIn, right here. Grace, she talked about it here where it's hey, there was a message that went out to a lot of 1P sellers that said hey, we're going to stop sourcing products. This is from Amazon. You know the way that 1P works. You know like Vendor Central is. Amazon actually buys product from vendors and then you see it says shipped and sold by Amazon. So, effective November 9th, our vendor relationship will be terminated. So a lot of people had noticed and gotten these messages. So that means it might be time, as Grace says here, to hey start getting your ducks in a row for those who want to keep selling Amazon and move to three P. You know seller central. Um, you know some of you might reach out to an agency to do that or just start on your own. Obviously, hey, if you, if you're going to be controlling more of your own stuff instead of Amazon, definitely going to be really intense help. So make sure to utilize our tools to help you with that transition to controlling more of your own listings and things like that. Did anybody out there get a notice? I'm just curious Were your sales down or why do you think Amazon sent that notice?

Bradley Sutton:

Next article up here is from Amazon Advertising, a little message that came out early last week and it said sponsored ads may begin appearing in Rufus-related placements. Okay, rufus related placements. Okay, rufus, is that AI tool that it's still tripping out for me? Like I don't think I can use it as a buyer. I saw a couple listings this week where it says the reviews state this and I'm like there's only one review here. It doesn't even say anything, it's only a rating. Like how could the review state something? But anyways, that's a side note for now. It says Amazon ads might start showing up in Rufus related placements. It says Rufus may generate accompanying text based on the context of the conversation. But here's the kicker your campaign reports won't include Rufus metrics. I guess you won't even know what's showing up in Rufus or not. So just you know, I haven't seen it in the wild yet. Again, I'm not using Rufus too much as a buyer, so maybe it is showing up out there, but that's going to be interesting. What part of this is going to be showing up in ads? And, like, how is it going to display if this is supposed to be an organic experience to help the seller or to help the buyers. We'll see, I'm sure, in the coming weeks. I'm sure Amazon Accelerate some things might be announced about that in the future.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know, a common thing that comes up every couple of years is brushing. So for those who don't know, brushing is what happens when all of a sudden you start getting these Amazon packages or other packages and you didn't even order it. And usually what happens is these you know sellers out there on Amazon, other platforms. They want to build up the reviews. So they get, like these you know fake buyer accounts. They have addresses and they just send to you know free product, to, to to people out there so that they can, you know, set those accounts up to leave them fake reviews. Right now this seems to be making a case, or a comeback.

Bradley Sutton:

This news nationnow.com article says that, hey, more Americans are receiving delivered package containing goods they didn't order and this is a scam known as brushing. Now something interesting says here in Illinois, one family told a local TV news station they receive one or two packages a day from Temu. So it looks like Temu is now getting in, or Temu sellers are getting in on brushing and so they said at first the constant deliveries were like experiencing Christmas every day. But then over time the family said the daily delivery simply became too much. Another customer, like a woman in Minnesota it says she received a box full of baby reveal balloons that she didn't order Packages delivered from Amazon and also included cupcake stands she didn't order. So like people are just getting random products here and there, didn't order. So like people are just getting random products here and there. Now you know sellers or amazon has said, hey, if you get brushing packages, first make sure that it's not just like a friend or relative giving you a gift you didn't know about, but says, hey, report the delivered package to the company, include the number of packages were delivered, along with the tracking number from the shipping label and any other information that could be pertinent, and that amazon investigate this. So I'm not sure how you can report it with Temu, but Amazon has a availability to report brushing scams. So something that came up early last week on your dashboard, if you in case you missed it, is the duration for coupons is going to be updated, all right. So, starting in last week, the maximum duration of three different kinds of coupons are going to be changed from 90 days, which is previously the max you could do, to now for standard coupons 30 days, reorder coupons 180 days, subscribe and save coupons 365 days.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually from payments.com, from Etsy says Etsy's new search tools aim to elevate quality listings and enhance seller success. All right, so now you know, Etsy has been trying to make a push to become a little bit, I guess, more relevant in the, the e-commerce game. And now that they have, uh, it says we are optimizing our search results to showcase a broader range of items for more sellers. We also want to make it easier and more fun to explore the depth our marketplace has to offer. And they say, hey, these changes that they've been making for Etsy listings have led to approximately 70% of shops on Etsy having more visibility in search. And sellers also now have a Etsy search visibility page and this basically gives sellers more insights into recommendations on how they appear in search. And they said, hey, you know, sellers have told us they want more transparency into what goes into Etsy search. So, guys, if you haven't, if you're selling on Etsy like myself, I haven't looked at this thing you probably should go in and look for your Etsy search visibility page. Get more information on this link to this article here that we have in the comments below. But you know you got to keep up on whatever platform you're selling on. Obviously, with Amazon you've got Helium 10 at the forefront giving you all kinds of tools, and Amazon itself is giving you tools for how to show up and search better. But don't sleep on these other platforms as well. You got to go on these other platforms to make sure that you still stay relevant and Etsy is trying to make some moves out there in e-commerce and so you can benefit from it.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to Amazon, actually going to Europe, now there's an article released by Amazon says Amazon launches Export Central, allowing sellers to export to 39 countries in Europe with just three clicks. All right, you know. So Amazon is not in. There's not an Amazon marketplace in every country. You know you've got Spain and UK and France and some of the major ones and some of the newer ones like Sweden and Netherlands, Belgium, et cetera, but now you can ship to those other countries, all right. So this article says sellers can reach millions of customers even in countries without an Amazon store. Today, amazon announced the launch of our Export Central tool, which allows sellers who are part of MFN Merchant Fulfilled Network to expand their reach to customers in 39 countries in Europe. Now, some of these you know places that don't have Amazon stores as mentioned here, like Austria, Portugal and Greece. Now you're going to be able to ship there from your inventory, that is, in your existing marketplaces, like UK and Germany, et cetera. Now this is going to be available to all sellers, even if they're not even FBA. If you're just part of the Merchant Fulfilled Network or FBA, you'll be able to utilize this service. Now FBA sellers are automatically enrolled into this program at no extra cost, and says that, hey, sellers who have enabled export from their EU stores have seen an average sales uplift of up to 10%. So if you guys are selling in Europe, take a look at this article that I have linked below and check your own Seller Central to see if you're enrolled in it and the implications if you're not, and, if you are, and see if it's right for you and let me know how it works out for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, going back to the Seller Central dashboard, there was another update last week. It talks about uploading 3D models to help drive conversions. All right. So in some categories, such as home furniture, consumer electronics, shoes and eyewear categories, it actually supports 3D content and so you can go to Catalog in your Seller Central, hit Upload Images and then go to the Image Manager tab and then now there is going to be those products you have eligible for 3D. You can select your product and then check for the Register Brand Owner icon and then on the right page it says go to 3D models and select upload 3D model. All right, so you know, for some of these categories, you know having a 3D image there is very good for helping you know drive conversion. So take a look in Seller Central if you are eligible for that, and then obviously, your next step is you know there's a button there that talks about well, what are the 3D model? You know requirements for getting you know these images up there and you'll be able to get that information.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from ABC News and at first glance it might not seem like it's impactful for Amazon sellers. Let me explain why I'm including this article. It says Amazon launches new Amazon saver private label to help shop shoppers save. Take on Walmart and Target. So you know how Walmart and Target have like their own brands. You know, like Costco's got Kirkland right. Well, amazon now is going to have Amazon saver right. Almost looks like Target products because it's all red here, but basically what the definition is it says Amazon's new private label brand, amazon saver, will offer an array of grocery staples, from crackers and cookies to canned food and condiments, and most Amazon saver items will be priced at $1,000. Under $5 and prime members will get an additional 10% off of these products.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so you might be wondering like well, that's terrible. Like, if I'm selling in this category, I'm never going to be able to sell again with these cheap products. But here, here's why I put this is Amazon historically has not done great in the grocery category. You know, like Walmart, I think, has them beat there. But then if Amazon is providing more of these cheaper products, you know like some of the products here is pancake syrup and sweet peas and coffee creamer and things like that for cheap, if more people are looking, are going to, you know, go ahead and start buying those things. Well, maybe you are in the grocery category and you have some other products, like some Korean snacks or Vita cup coffee out there, and, and maybe the people who wouldn't have bought your product just by itself. But now they're like, hey, I'm buying groceries anyways, let me go ahead and add these others to the cart. That's how I think it could potentially help Amazon sellers who are selling in the grocery category.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from asiatimes.com and it's entitled us seeks to slam shut sheen and Temu trade loophole. So this is talking about the, the uh de minimis trade loophole hole that allows Chinese e-commerce firms like sheen, Temu and others to not have to pay tariffs. And then, you know, it allows them to just like ship stuff to the us where sellers are paying like three, four dollars and there's no tariffs, no, nothing, and that's why team machine are so popular, that's why Amazon is even opening this up, but there's some, uh, us representatives uh who are calling on us president to try to end this loophole. All right, so you know, check out this article if you want to go into into details. But a lot of us-based sellers probably would like that, because they're like man, how are we going to compete with some of these Temu products where it's just factory shipping direct? They don't have to ship their item to FBA? Temu has like minimal fees, and so that's why you know like you'll see a coffin shelf for like 10 bucks. I haven't seen my sales go down. You know too much, but you know other sellers might be affected by it.

Bradley Sutton:

But an interesting thing that this article said was it quoted a professor at Shanghai University who said that if this is tightened, this loophole it actually could long-term benefit Chinese manufacturers by pushing them up the value ladder, it says. It said hey, if they tighten this rule in the future, they're going to have to change their strategy from selling low-priced items to high-quality ones. This is going to create new opportunities for many Chinese consumer brands. So what do you guys think out there? Do you want the US to close this loophole or do you feel like this Chinese professor says? You know what that actually could cause Chinese companies to up their game and be even more competitive in the future? I'm kind of leaning personally on the let's just close this loophole and make it a fair playing ground between US sellers and foreign sellers. But curious to see what you guys think. Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article but it is again highlighting a former podcast guest here, leo Segovia. In his LinkedIn post he said he reminded sellers hey, you guys can actually see how many infringement and copycat attempts are on your listings, all right, so he showed some of them. He had like 2,000 attempts in the last six months on his products and 151 in September. This is like what's happening is like people trying to do something to your listing or create listings that copy yours, et cetera, et cetera. So he gave a link here that you guys can go to in order to see this. Like, this is not some special link. Everybody has access to it, but most of you probably didn't even realize you had it. So check the links in the comments section of this podcast and you'll be able to go to your dashboard. All right, it says it's called the Impact Dashboard, proactive Protections.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's one of my accounts, the how Cool Is that? For Project X. I stay under the radar and I don't sell in niches that are super, highly competitive and that kind of keeps me away from some of those attempts. You know like, right, like if I'm trying to sell a product that's selling 500 units a day, I guarantee it's probably like Leo is going to have thousands of people trying, bad actors trying to attack me. But take a look, you know, like for me, from April to September, I've only had 110 cases, total for 2024. I've had 410, but still that's kind of crazy. For just my coffin shelves and an egg trace, 410 people have tried to do something. But that probably pales into comparison to some of you out there who have much bigger accounts than the. How cool is that account?

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, going back to payments.com and going back to Etsy, it says Etsy offers subscribers free shipping while aiming for tremendous growth. Like I said, you've been seeing signs that Etsy is trying to like, you know, like hey, I see Amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop pulling away. We got to, we got to catch up Now. First of all, the funny thing is, if you read this article, it says CEO and CFO of Etsy said at a conference that Etsy seeks to distinguish itself from rivals like Amazon. But one of the company's recently launched initiatives is Etsy Insider, a paid subscription that will provide free shipping to members. I don't know how that's distinguishing. You're literally doing the exact same thing as Amazon, which is fine. I mean you should do free shipping, but it's funny that that statement came right after. Oh, we're trying to be different, you know, um than amazon. But one thing they are unique on is check this out something that does distinguish them from amazon, says. Other new efforts include an Etsy gift mode that lets shoppers send a message to the recipient before the gift even arrives. A plan to raise the percentage of shoppers using the Etsy mobile app from 40 to 75. All right, so take a look at this article. There's more interesting things, but, yeah, Etsy's trying to go ahead and up their game.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article for those of you selling on Walmart.com you probably got this email from Walmart connect and it says unlock new brand term strategies to help increase your share of voice. So Walmart connect brand term targeting is now available for sponsored search automatic campaigns, in addition to exact match keyword campaigns, which launched earlier this year. Says that brand term targeting helps you to increase brand visibility by empowering you to strategically bid on keywords associated with your brand and those of your competitors. All right, so take a look at that email. If you guys are selling on Walmart and do Walmart advertising, I guarantee you've got that email somewhere. Check your junk if not, but make sure that you know what's going on. What's the new features? Walmart is always adding new features to its advertising platform and we implement as many as possible as well. For those who want help with Walmart advertising, we have atomic for Walmart, we have, obviously, research tools for Walmart, but make sure you're taking advantage of these things to you know. Keep your share of voice high on the Walmart platform.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news this week, guys, but now I've got a question for you how to get reimbursed by Amazon FBA. This is a question that a lot of sellers are asking, because they got that notice they heard here on the Weekly Buzz. That window is closing could cost you thousands of dollars. All right. So you've probably seen ads from different services from saying, hey, we'll, we'll help you get those. You got to take action now, which is true, but almost all of those ads are for companies that are going to take 20, 25% or more of any money they find for you.

Bradley Sutton:

How would you like to know how to get your money back for free? Now, don't get me wrong. Even Helium 10 has a service where we'll do the work, like all of the work, for you. It's called MRS, and if you're a big company who's owed maybe tens of thousands of dollars and you don't have time to submit all the claims yourself, yeah, we'll go ahead and do it for you for a fee. Go to h10.me/mrs, and you'll get a quote on that. But what I'm about to show you is 100% free for Helium 10 Platinum annual members and above, and this is the best way to get Amazon FBA to reimburse you money that you are owed. And it's your last chance to do it, because in October 23rd, that timeline is going to go away, costing you potentially thousands. In October 23rd, that timeline is going to go away, costing you potentially thousands.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me show you a couple of the accounts I have access to and how I'm going to be able to get over $6,000 in just a couple of counts back from Amazon FBA, how I'm getting them to reimburse me, all right. So, first of all, the next time you sign into your Helium 10 dashboard, take a look at this banner on the top. All right, it'll say, hey, it's your last chance to claim. I look at this. This is one of my accounts here. I got $5,000 because I haven't been keeping up to date with my Refund Genie. So for those of you who have never used a FBA reimbursement service, you're going to see probably a big number right there. All right, so go there and hit open Refund Genie. Now, when you hit that it's going to go up to your regular Refund Genie dashboard. But you need to look at the stars, all right. So in this account I've actually got a few accounts connected and actually I had more than $6,000 original. I've already refund. I've already got a lot refunded by. I kept a few here's just so I can show you guys the process. But I've got like three accounts connected here. So let's go ahead and open up this first one creative, lg, household and healthcare.

Bradley Sutton:

But what you guys need to do is look for the ones that say loss and damage and has a star next to it. Forget about all the old ones. If you see that there now really, really quick. If you guys don't have access to this, it means you're probably on like a like a Helium 10 free plan or starter plan or maybe just a platinum monthly. All you need this it's this is a completely revamped Refund Genie tool. So that's why this is like actually our training tip of the week and our Helium 10 new feature request. This is a newly revamped tool to get this. You can have access to it now if you're a platinum annual above. So if you're on a platinum monthly um. You can just upgrade to a platinum annual and you'll get instant access to this.

Bradley Sutton:

So, anyways, what I'm going to do right here is click on this EU one. So I'm going to show you one from EU. I click details on one of these ones that have star, and then now I have all the marketplaces show up in this account. I'm selling in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, UK, Sweden and Poland, and so let's go right here to the UK one. All right, so now I have to open up seller central into the UK account. So go ahead, I'm going to go ahead and do that right now.

Bradley Sutton:

And then what I need to do is I'm going to hit help and then go to get help and resources, and then now this is different for different people, but sometimes on your page you'll see a widget that says inventory lost in FBA warehouse. All right, that's what you have to click on to get your amazon reimbursement from Amazon FBA. But if you don't see that, you can just hit my issue is not listed and then just type in investigate inventory missing in FBA warehouse, and then it's going to come up. What's about to come up right here? If I hit this button, it's basically just a FN SKU button and then now all I have to do is copy the ASIN or the FN SKU. I should say, and this one is going to be a potential refund of 600 euros, I'm going to get 600 euros back in like a couple seconds here, and then I'm going to hit continue. Once I paste the ASIN or the FN SKU into, I either get the money back instantly or I have to open up a case, and so in this one I'm going to open up a case because this was 600 euros worth and so they require a case to be open. So I hit create case and I create the case and they're going to get me back that money probably within a couple of days.

Bradley Sutton:

I go back to Helium 10 and then I hit processed. And then let's go ahead and go on another one. Let me just find one of these smaller ones Like here's, one that is only three items and 28 euros, all right, so let's go ahead and copy this one. Let's go to Amazon. I'm going to go back to get help with a new issue. I hit inventory loss and FBA warehouse paste the FN skew. I hit continue and let's see what it says. Boom goes a dynamite right here. You remember how Helium 10 told me that I was owed three units and 28 euros. Well, look what Amazon just told me. In this case, yes, you are right, three units reimbursable. These items have been processed for reimbursement. I'm going to get that money. I just made 28 euros in about five seconds here. So I'm going to go one by one on all of these cases and I'm going to get hundreds thousands of dollars back on this one account.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me just show how it looks in a US account. So I'm back here on the Refund Genie page and here's one of my North American accounts. It says Dial Cash let's go ahead and hit the details here and here we go. And it says US I got nine lost items, potential refund of $1,223. Oh, my goodness gracious. Again, I need to go to the correct seller central account and then I hit the help button and I hit get help and resources. And then how do I ask for reimbursement from Amazon FBA? Let me go ahead. And oh my goodness, let me open up this one. Here's one where there's five conference chairs that looks like Amazon lost and that's a total of $1,100. Oh, my goodness gracious, I'm going to copy that FN skew and go ahead and paste it over here.

Bradley Sutton:

Inventory loss and FBA warehouse. Let's paste that FN skew, hit continue and let's see what Amazon says. I almost like want a drum roll right here or something. Boom, it says, hey, this you know, probably cause it's a thousand dollars I'm about to get back in one click. It says here well, we opened up a case and this can be transferred to an associate and there's a case already open, but I guarantee I'm going to get that money back.

Bradley Sutton:

I everything that the new Refund Genie has been showing, I've been getting it back a hundred percent of the time. Sometimes even more I'm getting back than Refund Genie. Let's go ahead and do one of these smaller ones that they can refund me instantly on. Here is one product that is for $29.99. Let's go ahead and copy this FN SKU over. I'm going to hit get help with a new issue Inventory loss in FBA warehouse. I paste the FN SKU, I hit continue and let's see if Amazon instantly refunds me. Boom, there it is.

Bradley Sutton:

Remember Helium 10 said I was owed one unit and Amazon says you are absolutely correct. Allow four to five days for this reimbursement to come into this account. So, as you can see I've got a lot more I have to do. I said $6,000. It's actually going to be across all my accounts about $8,000. And that's in two of my accounts. I've already been keeping up with the Refund Genie so it probably would have been been over $10,000 for me if I wasn't. But, guys, this is money in your bank account.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, how much can you possibly get? It depends. If you've only been selling for a couple of months and you've sold maybe $20,000, amazon might owe you $20 or $100 or something like that. Probably not that much. But if you've been selling for 18 months and you're a six figure seller, you could be owed thousands of dollars. You know, potentially we are a seven figure seller. It's almost guaranteed If you've never done a audit, you it's almost guaranteed that you're owed thousands of dollars by Amazon of what they owe to you. And Refund Genie can help you know what that is. So if you have never used Helium 10 at all and you want to do a free calculator to see how much potentially you might owe, just go to h10.me forward slash Refund Genie h10.me forward slash Refund Genie. We've got a calculator here where you can just enter in your you know rough estimate of your sales and then we'll calculate how much could be owed for you.

Bradley Sutton:

But again, how to get reimbursed by Amazon FBA? It is super easy. You just have to open up a case with Amazon, copy and paste the FNSKUs that were lost. There's also another thing that Refund Genie does is allows you to see the transaction IDs of damaged items. All right, so if products have been damaged at Amazon FBA warehouses, you can enter in all the transaction IDs and get reimbursed for those, for the ones that Amazon hasn't reimbursed for you. So you could get thousands of dollars back from Amazon FBA reimbursements on stuff that they have lost and they didn't reimburse you, just by submitting these reports. But you don't have to go searching, hey, what could you be reimbursed on or not? Helium 10 is doing all that work for you. And again, remember, this service is 100% free. We are not taking any commission on it because you're the one who's doing half of the work. All right, if you want Helium 10 to do all the work for you, like some of the other services, go to h10.me/mrs, and you know for the.

Bradley Sutton:

You know I saw some. I was looking at a report. There's a lot of you guys out there who are owed potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, like literally, like I'm like looking at Helium 10 customers like, guys, you are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and you haven't asked for reimbursement yet. So you have like thousands of transactions and maybe you want you don't want to do one by one what I was just showing you how to do go to h10.me/mrs, we'll take care of all of it for you and, uh, you know we'll charge your fee, but for what I showed you today, guys, there is no fee at all. So make sure those of you who have a Helium 10 Platinum annual account or higher get in there and start getting your money back. And then let me know in the comments below how much did you guys get back Thanks to Helium 10 Refund Genie from Amazon FBA reimbursements. All right, guys, that's it for today's episode. We'll see you in the next one to see what's buzzing.

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In our latest episode, unlock the secrets to skyrocketing your e-commerce success with TikTok advertising! We chat with Tamara Zeravljev of Add to Ads, who shares her incredible insights into the booming TikTok phenomenon, offering unparalleled strategies whether you have a TikTok Shop or not. Also, hear some of her personal anecdotes about Serbian weather and sports culture, adding a touch of warmth to our conversation.

Discover how a high-budget TikTok brand awareness campaign can transform your business. With a minimum starting budget, we break down the mechanics of using TikTok's reach and frequency feature to amass brand visibility in just one day. Learn how to leverage multiple engaging videos and influencer content to maintain an organic feel while collecting invaluable data for future campaigns. Don't miss our deep dive into the importance of product showcases and influencer partnerships to maximize your brand's recognition.

Finally, arm yourself with actionable tips for starting and growing a TikTok brand channel. We guide you through the process of using both original and user-generated content to keep your profile fresh and engaging. For Amazon sellers, we offer practical advice on working with influencers, starting with product exchanges before moving to monetary compensation. Whether you're operating on a tight budget or ready to invest more, our strategies will help you build a robust brand presence on TikTok. Join us for this comprehensive guide to mastering TikTok advertising and content strategy!

In episode 595 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Tamara discuss:

00:00 - TikTok Advertising Success Stories
03:11 - Passion for Sports in Serbia
06:31 - Focus on TikTok Advertising Strategy
08:33 - Advantages of TikTok Advertising for Amazon Brands
09:57 - TikTok Brand Awareness Campaign Success
12:57 - Brand Awareness Video Strategy
15:41 - Starting a TikTok Brand Channel
21:35 - Creating Brand Identity on TikTok
22:02 - Using TikTok Videos for Advertising
26:48 - TikTok Advertising Strategy and Conversion Campaigns
31:09 - Creating Effective TikTok Content Strategy

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Join us for an inspiring episode where we feature two incredible guests, Chris Zurcher and Sarah Chung. Sarah shares her unique journey from a small port city in South Korea to the bustling South Bay area of Torrance, California. Her story is filled with determination and resilience, reflecting on her family's move to the US for better opportunities and her professional growth at Helium 10 over the past three and a half years. Sarah's first appearance on the podcast gives listeners a heartfelt glimpse into her personal and professional life.

Chris, a familiar voice from previous episodes, reconnects with us to discuss his fascinating transition from an Amazon seller to a valuable member of the Helium 10 team. With a background in acting, photography, and Division One basketball, Chris shares his reasons for moving away from Amazon selling and his passion for supporting sellers through Helium 10's platform. We explore the current challenges Amazon sellers face in 2024, such as increased fees and competition, and how Helium 10's data-driven tools can provide the necessary insights for success.

We also dive into the advanced features of Helium 10's Supercharge plan, which offers enhanced tools and customizable options to meet the specific needs of businesses. From market data and consumer behavior analysis to custom plans and dedicated customer success managers, Helium 10 provides comprehensive support for sellers. Finally, we highlight the benefits of connecting with experts like Sarah and Chris for enterprise-level assistance and share fun, creative ways to make your interactions with them memorable. Don't miss out on these engaging stories and valuable insights that can help take your Amazon selling to the next level!

In episode 594 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Chris, and Sarah discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Sellers' Success Stories Helium 10
07:16 - Amazon Business Principles and Surprises
09:49 - Scaling Brands Using Helium 10
16:01 - E-Commerce Brand Scaling and Consolidation
18:55 - Custom Plans and Supercharge Benefits
21:45 - Customized Plans Offered For Huge Brands by Helium 10
26:23 - Enhancing Helium 10 Platform Features
30:49 - Personal Customer Success Manager
34:32 - Helium 10 Sales Support Options

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

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Amazon checkout process hits technical snag during Labor Day sale
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/30/amazon-checkout-process-hits-technical-snag-during-labor-day-sale.html

Walmart wants to beat Amazon at its own e-commerce game
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/walmart-wants-beat-amazon-its-own-e-commerce-game

Walmart to Compete Directly with Amazon on Marketplace Logistics
https://www.webpronews.com/walmart-to-compete-directly-with-amazon-on-marketplace-logistics/

Most retailers not prepared for a TikTok shut down
https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/news/most-retailers-not-prepared-for-a-tiktok-shut-down/

Amazon launches AI shopping assistant Rufus in the UK
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-launches-ai-shopping-assistant-121706169.html?

Temu and Shein packages are flooding delivery networks. Will the surge persist?
https://www.retaildive.com/news/temu-shein-shipping-delivery-industry-impact/725707/

For Amazon sellers, we've got game-changing strategies up our sleeves, featuring a deep dive into Helium 10’s BlackBox tool Competitor tab. Learn how to pinpoint your closest competitors through shared keywords, supercharge your product listings, and fine-tune your Amazon PPC campaigns to stay ahead in a fiercely competitive market. Don't miss out on this invaluable news and insights!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:53 - Amazon's Technical Snag
02:03 - Walmart Levels Up
03:17 - Using WFS Beyond Walmart
04:59 - TikTok Contingency Plan
07:00 - Faster Delivery for MCF
07:45 - Rufus Launches in UK
09:14 - Temu & Shein Changes?
10:36 - Training Tip: Black Box Competitor Tab

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

Walmart now offering competitive rates to fulfill orders beyond its platform, Amazon, rolling out faster delivery options for multi-channel fulfillment and potential regulation changes that could affect pricing on Temu and Shein. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Today, our host is going to be Shivali Patel, and so, Shivali, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Shivali Patel:

First up, we have this news article from CNBC discussing the technical snag Amazon faced during its Labor Day sale. On Friday, customers were unable to complete purchases due to some technical issue in the checkout process. Sometimes the consumers would encounter error messages featuring Amazon's famous dog photos. This glitch occurred just as Amazon was rolling out major discounts for the holiday weekend, frustrating those customers eager to grab deals, leading to it quickly becoming a topic of conversation for social media. For sellers on Amazon, this should serve as a reminder for you guys of the impact that technical challenges can have on sales, especially during big promotional events. While Amazon saw a robust $148 billion in the second quarter, things like this can really damage both sales performance and consumer trust. So, as that holiday season peaks around the corner, make sure that you guys are staying vigilant during peak sales periods to manage your customer interactions and monitor any potential issues that could affect your business.

Shivali Patel:

Next up, some Walmart news. We have Fox Business reporting on Walmart stepping up its e-commerce game with bold new strategies aimed at expanding its product offerings. Currently dominating brick-and-mortar retail, Walmart has only a 6% share of the online marketplace, compared to Amazon's commanding 38%, but they're working hard to close that gap. Walmart's leveraging its vast physical store network as fulfillment hubs, while increasing its focus on its online marketplace. The company's actually been rolling out new categories, such as the premium beauty category. This is gonna feature brands like T3 and CauseRx if you've heard of them and they're launching initiatives like Resold at Walmart for pre-owned goods on the Walmart marketplace, which is designed for sellers like you and I, not to mention that Walmart's marketplace has achieved over 30% sales growth for four consecutive quarters and while it's not at Amazon's level, this expansion is only one more reason for you guys to begin considering Walmart as a viable e-commerce platform. If you're not actively selling on it. Increase competition or new opportunities to diversify sales channels and take advantage of Walmart's lower fees and growing customer base. You decide. And this leads me into the next news piece from WebPro News.

Shivali Patel:

You guys, if you didn't know, Walmart now has a Walmart's multi-channel solutions program, which allows sellers to fulfill orders from any e-commerce site using Walmart's fulfillment services, offering competitive rates that are 15% lower than its competitors. I mean talk about making the platform an even more attractive option for third-party sellers. Starting September 10th, sellers will be able to use Walmart's extensive warehousing, delivery and return services to fulfill orders from other e-commerce platforms, including Target, Etsy and even Amazon itself. This initiative expands Walmart fulfillment services and directly challenges Amazon's fulfillment by Amazon model, allowing sellers like you and I to manage logistics with Walmart's resources For sellers, using Amazon or other platforms. So if this is you, this means you will now have an alternative fulfillment solution that offers cost-effective logistics, helping you streamline operations while reaching customers across multiple channels. Walmart's logistics services will feature plain, unbranded packaging and two shipping options expedited and standard, though there are going to be some limitations for specific products, like multi-box orders, so just make sure that you read up on those things. Despite these challenges, Walmart is aiming to reshape the logistics landscape and offer more flexibility for sellers across the board. This, you guys, has really big implications for e-commerce and, as a seller, I would just encourage you to keep an eye on how this logistics network evolves over time and provides even more opportunities for growth.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, let's switch over to TikTok. A news report from Retail Customer Experience has revealed that, while a majority of retailers 68% of them believe that a potential ban or sale of TikTok would negatively affect their business, only 28% actually have some sort of contingency plan in place. TikTok has become a crucial platform for product discovery, with over two-thirds of the actual consumers finding products on the app and then purchasing them elsewhere. So I would say for Amazon and Walmart sellers, this sort of uncertainty around TikTok's future could potentially pose a disruption in customer acquisition, particularly as 81% of retailers are actually using TikTok to sell directly to consumers. I think we all recognize how monumental viral content can be for a business, and it's no secret that viral content on the platform has led to issues like stockouts and delays. So are you prepared for any impact associated to a possible shutdown? According to the article, 73% of consumers plan to use TikTok as inspiration for their holiday shopping and 59% intend to make purchases directly through TikTok shop, whereas 39% of consumers named Facebook as the platform where they will spend a majority of their time if something happens to TikTok, meaning that there is going to most likely be increased competition for attention on those platforms, on the social media platforms that are not TikTok, where people are finding inspo. Consider diversifying your marketing channels from now and create those contingency plans to prepare for the potential loss of TikTok as a sales tool.

Shivali Patel:

Now I'm not saying that it's gone just yet, but be prepared is what I'm getting at. Of course, quite a bit of things are category dependent, but as the holiday shopping approaches, I really think it's important to have a robust strategy across multiple channels, and that will be paramount to maintaining visibility and customer engagement. All right now directly from Amazon and you can find this inside of Seller Central News. But Amazon just rolled out faster delivery of multi-channel fulfillment orders, and this gives sellers a big advantage in meeting customer demands. The updated delivery speeds come at no additional cost, and standard delivery has improved to three business days, which is down from five business days. Expedited delivery has improved to three business days, which is down from five business days. Expedited delivery has improved to two business days, down from three, and priority delivery has been discontinued. Any new orders will be charged at the expedited rate. This improvement means your customers can enjoy faster shipping, helping you boost satisfaction and sales across your channels. Take advantage of these updates to grow your business by providing even quicker delivery. For more information, you guys can just go in and tap this link right here.

Shivali Patel:

In other news, amazon just introduced its newest tool in online shopping an AI-powered assistant named Rufus. Are any of you guys familiar with it? Let me know in the chat. I feel like I've mentioned this before on Buzz, but I was in the UK just a couple weeks ago and actually got to see this during my shopping experience in the app, so it's now in beta for select UK customers. Rufus is designed to enhance the shopping experience by answering your customer questions, offering personalized recommendations. Like, let's say, you say I'm preparing for a camping trip. It would give you recommendations based off that and just helping in general with product discovery. So, using Amazon's vast product catalog and web data, rufus can assist with everything from suggesting the climbing gear, the camping gear, to comparing products like lip gloss versus lip oil, and I think for sellers, this represents an interesting and exciting development in how customers can find our products. So, with Rufus, shoppers can save time and make more informed decisions, ultimately improving the overall experience and potentially driving more sales. This AI integration really highlights the future of e-com, you guys, and it's only going to continue to evolve. As Amazon continues to roll out this tool, I anticipate that more AI-driven features will come out that can change how customers interact with our products, which is why, of course, you'll want to keep tuned in to weekly buzzes to ensure maximized product visibility.

Shivali Patel:

And finally, let's talk about Temu and Shein, as they've surged in popularity, now sending about 900,000 packages daily. That is insane. That is a lot of packages, and I know a lot of you are concerned on whether this signals incoming price wars. These packages enter the country using the D Minus exemption. Now this helps keep shipping costs low, which allows the company to offer highly competitive prices. However, increasing scrutiny from lawmakers could actually impact this exemption and potentially affect both companies and the carriers that depend on their volume. What I mean by this is parcel carriers like UPS have seen notable growth with the rise of Temu and Shein, and both rely on low-cost shipping rates, which help them keep their product prices affordable, while slower delivery speeds 6 to 22 days for Temu and then 10 to 13 for Shein are the trade-off for shoppers. The high volume of packages keep those carrier trucks full and routes efficient. However, if regulatory changes alter the shipping process, costs could rise, impacting the current delivery boom. So keep an eye out for any potential changes in regulations. With that, that is it for this week's news.

Shivali Patel:

Now let's talk strategy. Let me show you how you can easily find your closest competitors for any Amazon product. Now, why is this important and how can it help you make money? Well, if you're researching a new niche, you need to understand who your competition is. Who do you need to watch out for? Who should you study at the keyword level to understand where they're getting their sales from? This tool will help you do just that. Using Black Box's competitors tab, you can input any ASIN that has some sort of history, something that's sold decent volume, and you'll want to avoid new products that aren't ranking yet, because the tool works best with established products. What it does do is it shows you the closest competitors based on how many keywords they rank similarly for. So, for example, let's say I were to input something in like an LED makeup case, I would see other products that are ranking high for the same keywords that that LED makeup case is ranking for, such as lighted makeup case or LED makeup bag.

Shivali Patel:

Let me actually share my screen and show you how it's done. You're going to navigate over to the fourth tab inside of Black Box, which says competitors. You're going to input in your own products ASIN or, let's say, a competitor's ASIN, which is what I'm doing, and then click search. In doing so, in my case, I got back 187 products here. So in my case, I got back 187 products here. If you are unfamiliar with the P index that's listed right here. This is what it is sorted by default. It tells you how closely related the products are based on shared keywords. So a product with a higher P index, closer to 10, means that the product is ranking for many of the same keywords as the one that you entered. Now. This is useful because you can immediately gain insight into how relevant these products are compared to yours.

Shivali Patel:

A lot of what we're looking at here in these results is makeup cases. They're just a bunch of additional makeup cases. However, you really never know Like. When I run the same search, typically with coffin shelves, I see other products like makeup shelves, spiderweb shelves or even goth themed items. So, depending on your niche, running the search is really really great for understanding what other products are closely competing with yours. From there, the next step would be to take these and jump into Cerebro to check out exactly which keywords these products are ranking for. From here, the next step would be to jump into Cerebro to check out exactly which keywords these products are ranking for. From here, the next step would be to jump into Cerebro to check out exactly which keywords these products are ranking for, or even take one of these products and start a fresh competitor search inside of Black Box to dive a bit deeper. Or let's say that you need to discover which products to target for your sponsored display or sponsored product campaigns Products that you know have a better offering or maybe some incentive over, so that if you appear on their product pages, you could potentially capture the sales.

Shivali Patel:

You can just use the filters at the very top to narrow down your search, and that is going to be these filters right here. So let's say, for example, you are looking for products that have fewer reviews than yours you would input in a max for review count. Or maybe you're looking for products that have fewer reviews than yours you would input in a max for review count. Or maybe you're looking for the ones where your product is actually priced a little bit lower you can type in a max for price point. So, in short, guys, this tool is invaluable for competitor research, generating PPC targets or identifying product opportunities in your niche. If you're seeing irrelevant products after the top five or so, then that's a sign that there are not many close competitors, giving you even more insight into the market space. Okay, that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed this week's episode. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Can selling on Walmart.com be your new secret weapon for e-commerce success? Join us as we welcome Ryan King from BlueRyse, a true Walmart marketplace expert, who shares game-changing strategies for boosting your sales on Walmart. Ryan explains why diversifying your online presence beyond Amazon is not just a smart move but essential for long-term growth. He details how to establish a strong foundation on Walmart early, from crafting compelling listings to amassing reviews and maintaining brand consistency, all while catering to the unique preferences of Walmart shoppers.

For those new to the world of e-commerce, Ryan offers a comparative analysis of Amazon and Walmart, shedding light on why Amazon is often the go-to starting point due to its extensive tools and higher volume opportunities. He shares insider tips on navigating Walmart's international selling stipulations and highlights the importance of brand registration to unlock exclusive advertising opportunities and protect intellectual property. Misconceptions about Walmart’s technology and algorithms are debunked, providing you with a solid understanding of how to effectively optimize your presence on this evolving platform.

Optimizing your product listings on Walmart isn't just about slapping on a few keywords. Ryan emphasizes the importance of new product type level attributes and backend attributes for better search visibility. He also discusses the benefits of the Walmart Pro Seller badge and why re-uploading listings using the latest item spec 5.0 can make a difference. Learn how to craft clear product descriptions, optimize image stacks, and leverage sponsored product campaigns to skyrocket your sales. Plus, get the scoop on exciting new developments like sponsored brand shops and shelves that can significantly enhance your offsite traffic and ranking. Don't miss this episode full of insights to elevate your Walmart selling game!

In episode 593 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Kevin, and Ryan discuss:

00:00 - Advanced Strategies Q&A for Walmart Sellers
02:56 - The Importance of Selling on Walmart
07:33 - Organic Shopping Shift Towards Walmart
10:51 - Maximizing Profits While Avoiding Price Wars
12:41 - Optimizing Sales on Walmart Marketplace
16:47 - Managing Duplicate Listings and IP Claims
22:28 - Optimizing Walmart Listings for Conversion
27:22 - Walmart Pro Seller Badge's Impact on Ranking
29:32 - Optimizing Walmart Listings and Advertising
33:03 - Optimizing Walmart PPC Campaigns for Efficiency

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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ounder & CEO at Forceget, a leading expert in global supply chain and logistics, who reveals crucial strategies that Amazon sellers need to thrive in the fast-approaching holiday season. Burak unpacks how to save money on logistics and explore new marketplaces amidst the rise of new players like TikTok Shop Temu, and Shein. As a special treat, Burak shares his favorite restaurants in Istanbul, just in time for Bradley who is heading to the upcoming conference in the city.

We break down the factors driving up international shipping prices, from reduced vessel schedules to container shortages and shifting market demands. High inflation and the growth of platforms such as Temu and AliExpress are reshaping e-commerce, creating new challenges for Amazon sellers. Learn how to navigate Amazon Global Logistics’ practices, adapt to the new fees, and optimize your shipment strategy to stay competitive in today’s volatile market.

This episode is a goldmine of insights for those grappling with the costs of selling large items on Amazon. Discover why more sellers are turning to third-party logistics providers and exploring multi-channel selling to maximize profitability. We highlight the benefits of early inventory planning, the impact of Amazon's new delivery rules, and the critical need for flexible fulfillment options. Plus, find out how expanding into physical retail stores like Walmart can be a game-changer for your business. Tune in for expert strategies that can transform your logistics approach and boost your bottom line this Q4.

In episode 593 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Burak discuss:

00:00 - Global Supply Chain Insights and Tips
04:11 - Impact of Rising International Shipping Prices
07:20 - Impact of New Amazon Fees
12:26 - Amazon Global Logistics vs Independent Freight Forwarder
16:38 - Maximizing Amazon Seller Profitability
17:31 - Expanding Sales Beyond Amazon
23:00 - Diversifying Sales Channels and Maximizing Profits
24:03 - Saving on FBA Fees and Freight
30:11 - Benefits of Investing in Your Brand’s Website

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got one of the world's leading experts on global supply chain and logistics and he's going to talk about a wide variety of topics, like things Amazon sellers can keep in mind for Q4, how they can save money on logistics and expanding to other marketplaces. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 House is the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself, we have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me/blackbox. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we got somebody who helped Serious Seller all over the world, I think the third, maybe fourth time he's been on the Podcast. Burak, how's it going? Man? I'm great. Bradley, Thanks for having me again.

Burak:

I'm great. Bradley, Thanks for having me again.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you in Miami right now?

Burak:

Yes, Miami Florida.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I'm wearing my Miami hat. This is, like, I think, an older minor league baseball team or something. That's why I'm wearing my Miami hat today in your honor. But you're originally from Turkey. Did you know that I'm going to Istanbul in a little bit?

Burak:

I think you mentioned. Yes, I'm very excited. I wish I was there to take you to the best food restaurants, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

You'll have to tell me what the good ones are. Are there any in Istanbul that for sure I need to go to so I can maybe even by myself I can go?

Burak:

I think you should definitely visit Galata Port. It's a new place. It's right by the water. There are some good Kebab places and also definitely Baklava. You should try Gülolu, the best Baklava in the world.

Bradley Sutton:

Perfect, all right, I'm going to those places. By the way, I'm not sure when this podcast is going to go out, but if anybody is in Turkey and is down to meet me on September the 4th or 5th and you want to go with me to one of these restaurants or take me there. Conference I'm speaking at, you can get a link to it at h10.me forward slash Istanbul. H10.me forward slash Istanbul. It will forward you to the conference I'll be speaking at. So, I'd love to do like a little mini-Helium 10 meetup over there. Now. We're not here just to talk about Turkish food and Turkish delights. I'm sure we could spend a whole episode. You know as much as I love food to talk about that. But you know you're one of the leading experts in the world about, you know shipping and logistics and things like that, so let's just hop right into it. You know the last time you were on this show was episode 457. So, by the way, if anybody wants to get Burak's more of his backstory, actually go back to the very first episode he was on, which is episode 324. You can learn about his origin story. And then 457, we talked about some other topics, but what was 457? I think it was around, like you know, May, June of last year. So obviously you know things in logistics change month by month, even. What are some of the biggest changes that sellers should be aware of, just in general? First of all, in the logistics world, whether it's about pricing or taxes, what can you tell us has been different since the last time you were on the show?

Burak:

You know you're right, things sometimes change its daily base and you know, when we started ForceGet, it was probably five years ago, we were mainly focusing on international shipping, but we became more like a supply chain. Now there has been a lot of changes within our company as well as in the world. In the industry, with the e-commerce, especially with the Amazon FBA plus, the new players are coming into the market TikTok, Teemu, Shein and Shopify. According to the reports, they have lost some revenue. However, a lot of companies they're trying to enter omnichannel. That's something that I mentioned before we start recording. When it comes to international shipping, actually, international shipping prices increased. Compared to six months ago. I think we have seen the lowest shipping prices last probably a few decades. Full container price was almost uh 1500 dollars from China to Los Angeles. Now it went back up to seven, eight thousand dollars. Now we see the range of five thousand, five thousand, five hundred dollars, which is, I think, a hell to range for both um shipping lines, freight forwarders, as well as for f the um e-commerce and amazon sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Prices went down but then prices have been going up again for different things. Obviously, there was that thing that happened last year in the Red Sea and things like that. So obviously there's always random things COVID, or there's a container ship blocking the whole Suez Canal or something like that. Those would obviously have an effect. But the recent price increases in shipping, like what is that attributed to? Because, like, is that because of the, the war that that's happening, or is it something else?

Burak:

Actually, this was uh sort of uh happened, I would say, inorganically. Uh, one of the reasons was the shipping lines. Uh, you know all these worldwide companies like Hyundai, Zim, Evergreen. I'm sure everybody's familiar with that big logo block less US channel they have canceled a lot of scheduled vessels because maybe 30%, 40% of the container vessel was not 100% fulfilled, vessel was not 100 percent fulfilled. Basically, they were losing a lot of money so they decided to roll over one of the week's shipping schedules to the next one. So basically, there was not enough demand but there is a lot of supply. Obviously then the prices start going down, basically in order to save money on the fuel, maybe the crew, maybe the insurance. So, they started to cancel a lot of scheduled vessels and obviously this caused a big chaos in the market. A lot of containers went, uh from China to other places like Europe, us did not come back. Then we start having container shortage. So, this is something uh started organically. Uh, there was not enough demand in the marketplaces, like in the US, like North America, USA, Canada, because of, I would say maybe, high inflation, or companies like Teemu, AliExpress start to do very cheap price Drop shipping from China, which is something interesting that we maybe talk later. Teemu is start entering US market. Start working with local 3PLs to acquire Amazon sellers to start selling the ones which are qualified OEC. Start selling on Teemu so they will start doing local deliveries with a shorter period of delivery times, which I believe they will try to attract Surplus. What is Surplus? The product that already has been sitting in the US for a long time. Amazon sellers or their wholesalers they cannot sell it, so they need to liquidate the product. So, Teemu was basically saying that hey, use our platform to liquidate them, not on the retail price, but heavily discounted price, maybe 60%, 70%. So, I think all these things happening last two years after COVID, when we saw a very big peak when the Amazon sellers were making really good money but then the sales dropped a couple of different reasons, and I see that it's the same thing is affecting the international shipping prices and fulfillment prices. Things are really very different right now compared to even six months ago.

Bradley Sutton:

Obviously, this has been the year of crazy Amazon, new fees and new announcements, you know, be it inbound, placement fees, and so I want to talk just a little bit about that. First, like in your you know you're handling both sides, you know, be it. You know shipping side, be it logistics side, warehousing and things. What have you seen as far as how this has changed, what Amazon sellers are doing, like, for example, me, I've got my own warehouse, but still now I'm being very mindful of how many you know, like, how many, you know what kind of boxes I'm putting in. Like, like, maybe before I was only trying to do you know a certain number of shipments, but now I'm like, no, I got to have minimum five, you know of one box or, oh, I need to try and increase a 15 because I got to avoid that placement fee. But what have you noticed as far as your clients? How are their practices different because of some of these new fees?

Burak:

Man. It's a really, really long topic actually when it comes to make it shorter version. When Amazon came up with this, the idea was start charging sellers for all those distribution fees that they need to ship to many small warehouses across fulfillment centers across the nation so the end user can receive the products not in two days but one day, even maybe sometimes half day. But we have seen a lot of case studies actually our customers. They created five shipments and when, let's say, 100 cartons, Amazon asked you to ship 50 cartons to Texas, we saw that the final delivery address Amazon distributed these products were still Pennsylvania or Florida or still North Carolina maybe. So what? Amazon was actually telling sellers in theory hey, split the shipments to five locations because that's going to be closer to the buyers. That was not really the case. Yeah, I guess they're still working on a lot of Optimization, uh structure. Obviously, this was like a new project for them. But there has been a lot of confusing for sellers. A lot of seller’s kind of felt like they have to use Amazon Global Logistics to avoid those uh placement. But then when they tried to book the shipment, amazon Global Logistics did not arrange to pick up. Three weeks, four weeks’ time Then they have charged people wrong HDS code. So, a lot of sellers they paid very high tax and duty instead of some other lower charges that they're supposed to receive. I mean, obviously we talked to a lot of people, some people they have good experience with Amazon Global Logistics, some people have bad experiences. But in my opinion that was not really fair for Amazon to tell people, hey, if you use AGL, then you will not be paying any of these fees, but then if you don't, then you have to pay for it. I guess I understand they have invested billions of dollars into this fulfillment center supply chain logistics, so they want to leverage the power of their seller the seller power, I would say. But I think I would not put all my eggs in the same basket, so I would not just use AGL and AWD, you know AWD also a new program Amazon has launched like two years. But since they're pushing a lot harder right now and I think the fourth quarter will be very tough uh test for Amazon with all the check-in processes, transferring uh products between the fulfillment centers and making sure that they become available and one of my I believe most of our customers now start looking into FBM options. Number one very high FBA fees. Number two all these delays with AGL, AWD, fulfillment center transfers. Obviously, amazon is going to prioritize. The products are already sitting in the fulfillment centers. They will prioritize to ship the products first, not receive the products first. So that always has been the case. So, if you ask my opinion, it's going to be a tough year for a lot of sellers to get and understand these FBA fees. But also try to be profitable. You know that's something that we've been talking about. It doesn't make sense anymore to say, hey, I'm seven, eight figure seller, but how much profit I'm making? So, I believe to make plan B, plan C is very, very important, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

Me having my own warehouse and obviously I can repack things and I do smaller quantities. I can easily make sure to send to four or five locations to get that, you know to skip the low inventory fee. But if I'm sending in containers and before I would send to Amazon directly, I pretty much have no option, right, like I am going to get that low inventory fee no matter what unless I send to a 3PL first and they divide it. Or am I thinking of that wrong, since I don't send containers directly to Amazon? I don't know, but is that correct? Like pretty much anybody who's sending full containers or containers that can't be broken up or shipments that can't be broken up, they're forced into this fee.

Burak:

Yes, kind of. But we have done some case studies to see what really makes sense, if it makes sense to ship, because Amazon Global Logistics is also not charging sellers the market fees. They're charging actually higher, a lot higher. So, if you're looking at door-to-door shipment from China to one of the most popular Amazon FBA fulfillment centers, let's say ONT8, which is in Los Angeles, California Riverside, if you use us it's going to cost $6,000, but with Amazon Global Logistics they're charging $8,000 or $9,000. So basically, they're kind of charging a little higher so that they can use probably that money to distribute the products within three to four different locations. And if it is LCL, then less than full container. Yes, you can actually choose to use your own freight forwarder and price is very similar. But one of the things that we realized; their FC transfer times a lot longer than using an independent Freight Forwarder. So, which means if you ship with AGL it will maybe be fully delivered to Amazon, fully check in, all received 90 days, versus you use your own Freight Forwarder, probably it will be delivered and checked in 45 to 50 days. So, does it matter for you? Maybe it doesn't really matter because the sales are not that fast right now, unfortunately, I don't see really much Amazon sales recently saying that, hey, I'm running out of inventory all the time. I hope it's a good problem. I hope some of the people having that problem. But majority of the people are saying, hey, I'm not in the rush, so I'm okay to take these fees. But then you should really understand the cost of actually paying everything in advance and your cash tied up to. If you're using a loan, if you're not using just cash, if you're, you know, withdrawing some money with, I don't know, amazon financing or third-party money, you get funding. So, you need to understand you may be paying monthly two to 3% because these are short term funds, so probably charging 20, 25% annually. So, every month you're paying two to 3% something that you're not selling. So that's basically three percent minus from your actual margin. So, there are so many things to consider. You know trying to explain as basic as possible. So definitely understand and see what is better for your business. And if I were a big seller, I wouldn't send all of my inventory FBA. I would keep some of my inventory in a 3pl close to amazon and send it in a you know, smaller batches and more frequent. This way I'm not going to be paying high inventory fees, the storage fees and, more importantly, I can test other marketplaces. You know, I can try to drive traffic. I will do FBM, I can do Tic Tac Shops or maybe even Walmart. So, it will give you more flexibility instead of sending everything to Amazon, FBA. And if one day somehow your listings get suspended or hijacked or your sales is down for some reason, then you'll be like, oh my God, what I'm going to do versus you have some inventory in a different location and you can start considering some other options.

Bradley Sutton:

We talked about new inventory fees that Amazon sellers are having to do, and then the question about whether to go AGL and things like that. But you also mentioned Fulfilled by Merchant. Now, for me, I do all of my products both. I have two SKUs for every product. I have FBM and FBA, and I always tell people to do that. Not necessarily anything to do with logistics, but just because there's still some people out there who don't have Amazon Prime and then, especially if we're talking about products that are priced below $25, they actually prime prices them out of it. So, like, if you're only FBA and you've got like a $24 product, when that person checks out, it's going to add like $8 shipping and now that $24 product became $32 product and you just lost that sale, probably you know, to somebody else and then so for, for that person, I can. I always have a skew. The buy box is actually the FBM skew, because it's only I'll do 2497, you know, with shipping, free shipping, I can, I can fulfill, uh, for almost the same as Amazon, considering that I don't have to pay, I don't have to send it to Amazon. I have to send Amazon pick and pack fees, but that's my reason for doing FBM, but are you saying that you're actually seeing some sellers go to Seller Fulfilled Prime and not do FBA, or you're just saying they're just forgetting Prime at all and having a listing that's strictly FBM?

Burak:

For larger items. We see sometimes only FBM, because some people say that, hey, Amazon is taking 50% to 55% of my sales price for large items. FBA is extremely expensive and I feel like a lot of people, a lot of buyers, are more price sensitive recently compared to two years ago. That's real. Most of our customers, they have both FBA and FBM. They do most likely what you do. Because you're right. I mean, some people they don't need the product in one day, they want to do the cheaper version. So why wouldn't you add an additional strategy to your listing? And it's your own money versus paying Amazon and 3pl will handle that a lot cheaper and then, if it is not a big item, your shipping price is not going to be that expensive. You can still buy the shipping within Amazon, which is great. You don't have to have your own ups FedEx account. But majority of our customers, they want to test new marketplaces. I know that our some of our customer they're investing into their own websites and when they get the order, they drive traffic, they convert. Then it's much easier to launch a product with your own email marketing, like with your own email database which you've been talking about. You know how to launch a product, like all the honeymoon period, amazon changing the algorithms, a lot of our customers also they have problem with launching a brand-new product on Amazon. It's not that easy as it used to be like a few years ago. So, people are testing different marketplaces and different channels to see if they can get a better ROI. Obviously, amazon still has. It's very interesting actually, when we see the Amazon's quarterly earnings report, we see that Amazon is keep growing their profit, number of buyers, their revenue. We see a big part of it from the seller's fees revenue. But there is a fact that Amazon does not want to leave the market share to other players that aggressively come in, especially out of China. We see that a new Amazon program is going to roll out which is Dropshipping from China. I don't think that's a great idea, but I think just Amazon wants to keep it.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't think any Amazon seller is based in the US thinks that's a good idea.

Burak:

Not only Amazon sellers, but I think it's also not fair for other traditional importers who have, like a warehouse people in here. They're paying tax and payrolls. That's my personal opinion. Obviously, it's not a yes or no, white or black topic. A lot of people have their own opinion. But eventually I know that we have some importers, like traditional wholesalers, that their business is down 30 to 40% just because a lot of people buying products directly from China and those companies. Of course they have a cheaper price. They don't have local expenses, all these utility fees, the warehouse rents and et cetera. We all know that it all adds up. So, I think it's going to be a tough uh year for next year for a lot of amazon sellers. That's why I think it's a really good idea to start considering uh different strategies and different plans for uh increasing the revenue and profitability..

Bradley Sutton:

We're heading close to Q4. Um, amazon's made different announcements as far as hey, have your inventory in by. I think one of them was like, if you want it for Black Friday, you got to have it in by October 19th, or something like that. They had said what are your predictions as far as like? Is this year the same thing as every year, where Amazon has a deadline and you got to kind of stick to it, or do you notice anything from some of these announcements where you think there's something that sellers need to be aware of going into this year's Q4?

Burak:

I think last week they announced a new Q4's delivery structure and delivery rules. Some of them are the restriction with FBA delivery appointments, reduction in capacity limits, holiday peak fulfillment fees. So, all these are basically saying that the amazon sellers uh, need to plan better when they're going to send their inventory, how they're going to send it. And you know the thing. What amazon wants you to do is actually send your inventory as early as possible. So, this way they can charge you a lot higher for the fourth quarter, with the maximum amount of, you know, the low inventory fee. Because even if you don't ship it to Amazon, you still pay in that inventory because inventory fee, because Amazon thinks that, hey, I, I allocate some space for you according to your sales history. Now, whether you ship it or not, I'm going to still charge you that. So, we have a lot of sellers. We I think they still don't know exactly how this fee structure is going to work for seasonal products. We had a client they shipped like four or five containers for Christmas lights, Christmas tree decorations. So, they don't have enough space right now in Amazon FBA. So, I think that is a problem for sellers, like they sell seasonal products. So basically, like what amazon is saying versus what they are doing. I think it's a little bit opposite, um, because you cannot really ship as much as you want, but then amazon is saying, hey, send me all this product. I want to charge you more, but same time you cannot do it. So, I don't think there's going to be a big solution for these people. The best to do is create an FPM auction to make sure you don't get charged all these high FBA fees, especially for the long term, and, God forbid if you miss that season. You can't sell out everything and you have some inventory left over. In January you definitely need to take the product back, otherwise your fees are going to be very high.

Bradley Sutton:

In the past you've talked about ways that, without even doing anything, major Amazon sellers can possibly save money, like they're probably doing something wrong or not taking into consideration the right tariff and or you know they're letting their freight forward or take advantage of them in a certain way. Can you remind everybody out there what are some easy steps they can take to save money? You know, without having to completely overhaul their entire system of where they could save a little bit of money potentially here or there, just by maybe doing a little mini audit on their SOPs or something like that.

Burak:

You know, I really think that they should go download their FBA fees and to see how much they're spending on their storage. That's one thing that Amazon is going to hit everyone really bad this year, especially in the fourth quarter. And what is the average age of their inventory stays in the FBA before they sell out. I know that there are a lot of people their sales decrease. I think one of the best ways to do is have a 3PL option. Ship everything to your 3PL and then ship it frequently to Amazon FBA. Because, yes, you will be maybe paying that placement fees but at the same time you can manage your listings somehow. We have seen last year, last quarter, that a lot of shipments delivered to Amazon but Amazon took way longer to check them in. So, we had some clients that they ship product to Amazon FBA. It's delivered but Amazon never checked in. They waited the busy season to pass. So that was pretty bad for some people and they were selling like toys or I remember we had a client that we shipped for them puzzles but Amazon checked them in like very late, so they had to like sell it for a cheaper price. So, you should plan it. Send in your inventory as early as possible on FBA and keep constantly shipping to Amazon FBA to avoid the fees. I think the big saving this year can be from the FBA fees. Obviously check the Freight prices. Compare AGL with other Freight Forwarders to deliver the products instead of one place to five locations. That's a good way to do it. HTS code is a great way to check that. But I think this year's big jackpot is going to be FBA fees.

Bradley Sutton:

We've been going over some beginner strategies, some advanced strategy. But if some of this is a little bit over your head or you want to just get a nice overview for you or your team about logistics and shipping, Burak actually is in Freedom Ticket 4.0. So, if you guys want to have your team go over some of the basics and some advanced stuff, to go into your Freedom Ticket inside of Helium 10 and then click on the week or the group of modules called supply chain and logistics, and then you're going to see some different modules here that Burak has done. That will help you with that. So, make sure anybody who's a Helium 10 member make sure to go into Freedom Ticket and be able to see it. Do you remember some of the other things that you talked about in that module? Just to let people know what to expect in there.

Burak:

I think yes. One of the things that relates to FBA fees are the product size, whether you can make your product smaller so Amazon will charge you smaller tiers. I know that we used to do some free audits for the FBA fees that what we realize is actually customer products are a different size than what Amazon is actually charging them, so Amazon is supposed to charge them lower. So definitely, order your competitor's product to see their packaging so that you can redesign your, maybe package. This is a little bit of my background. I lived in China eight years. I've done a lot of sourcing so I'm kind of familiar with like how to make things like lighter, maybe smaller, maybe if you're paying too high for the duty and tax because your product has a different material. So definitely I would say, order your competitor's product to see the size of the box. Maybe they fold the product, they maybe made it smaller. It's definitely helping to see what are the product sizes, mustard cartons and maybe even labeling and maybe inserting some special cards from the competitors. Obviously not asking five-star reviews, but you could see some other maybe conversions that they are doing, maybe because you have other products in the same category. You don't know whether your customers have them. You know they love your brand or not, but you can actually let them know that you're selling some other products that can be related. So, I think it's a good idea to order a competitor's product to see if you can save anything on the size of the product which can save you money on shipping fulfillment in the 3PL as well as Amazon FBA. So, it could be up to 10% to 15%, which is going to be, when you look at it, annually. It's a huge saving.

Bradley Sutton:

What else do you have for us? We've got sellers of all levels here and I think nowadays maybe people are thinking about some of these newer marketplaces, like TikTok Shop, which now you know, has fulfilled by TikTok and then, and then Teemu is now trying to recruit, you know, US sellers. You know I'm trying to get on the Teemu platform just to just to see how the process goes myself. But what are some things you think you know? When we think multi-channel, you know, gone are the days where people can just say, hey, I'm only going to sell on Amazon, and then maybe there are some days where it's like, oh no, I only need to worry about Amazon and Walmart. So, 2024, 2025, we live. I think it's the year of the many marketplaces trying to make a name for themselves. What are some trends that you're seeing? What is some advice you have for other sellers?

Burak:

You know? I think the Teemu strategy is very different than Walmart. If I want my products because, if you think about it, Walmart has thousands of stores across US and Canada and even in Mexico. Now they're trying to acquire sellers and they have been very active. You know we go to a lot of different events Prosper Show and others. You see that all the time Walmart's booth there. They're trying to acquire D2C brand events like a shop talk and stuff. What I see is, if you want your products to be in a long term, maybe one day a big brand acquires you because you're in a niche category. Let's say you're in a cosmetic, you're doing something maybe just special for lips or for some special type of skin. I don't know. You could be acquired by a big brand if your product can be on the shelves like physical stores. We have so many customers in the past that they started only online but then they were invited to as a test run to start selling on the retailers. Like you know, it could be Dick's Sports, it could be Walmart. If you're in a sports category, you know those retailers are trying to get some good brands on their shelves which can add a lot of value to your branding and people who see you actually on the physical store. They can go and buy online, because I personally love to compare the price in a retailer versus online. It could be Target. It helps you to find and give your brand a big shout out and people can go and find you and then wholesalers can find you. Maybe, like a retailer chain can find you. So, there's actually both options. I think you're right. I mean, there's so many options. It makes really sense to enter all of these platforms to have reached out the maximum amount of audience. But obviously you need to understand how to manage that inventory because different market channels require maybe different UPC codes, which one of our customers? They had an issue. What the UPC codes the factory is putting actually has not been scanned by the retailer. So, the UPC codes was not valid, so they had to bring the products back, relabel it.

Uh, baby steps are good if you're a brand-new seller. Amazon FBA is very good way to start, but maybe it's not that profitable as it, as it used to be. Definitely look for the fpm options and then whatever makes more sense. But I would definitely keep one more sales channel, one more marketplace. Teemu is not the great one yet, because either you need to have a special invite, we have so many people actually asking about the Teemu. Either you have to be invited by a friend or referred by Teemu team directly so you can actually send an email to Temu. But I think in the long term it will be great to invest into your own website because you can easily launch different products. Great to invest into your own website uh, you can do it on Shopify and you know you will have definitely better margins in that and some people they have their own website. They even never want to go to Amazon because they want. They don't want to compete on the price. You, we all know that how amazon works, so it's really a long-term plan. I don't think anyone can really get rich that fast anymore through the e-commerce. I think it's all about branded strategy and it makes more sense to invest in your own website and Shopify. Obviously, amazon has the traffic. It's very hard to bring in traffic. It's not hard but it's going to be expensive in that converting. But, I know that Shopify is working a lot on how to convert more on the products they left in the cart how they can have better conversion. It's very interesting. Recently, I see that installment options pops up on many websites If you're selling an expensive product and I was going to buy a kayak for summertime, it was like $800. I'm like I don't want to pay $800. Then it pops up, hey, you want to pay six times. I was like, okay, but I still didn't buy. But it made me think about okay, that's doable,

Bradley Sutton:

You're a little bit more hesitant.

Burak:

Yes, exactly, you're a little bit more on the fence, exactly so looking for different channels definitely is a good strategy and eventually it's your own business. You know we have seen a lot of changes with Amazon algorithm. Maybe this new AI tool that Amazon is offering actually messes up a lot of people's listings. Have you heard? Have you tried using Amazon AI? Did it affect your ranking on keywords?

Bradley Sutton:

No, I'm not touching that, I don't want. I opted out of that immediately because I don't want Amazon doing anything, because the Amazon AI is nowhere near where it needs to be. All right. So, before we get into your last strategy of the day, just heads up for everybody out there. You want to get some more information about what ForceGet does. Go to h10.me forward slash ForceGet. That'll take you right to our hub website where you can open up a contact with them right there. How else, other than your website, can people find you on the interwebs like Instagram or LinkedIn you want to promote at all?

Burak:

Yes, absolutely, and they can subscribe to my YouTube channel. We are recording a lot of real case studies and scenarios, what's going on and we're going to a lot of different in-person events. We will be in Amazon Accelerate in Seattle. We will go to other events throughout the year so they can come and meet us in person at most of the events, as well as find us on forescan.com.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, what's your last 30 or 60 second tip for our sellers out there?

Burak:

Be careful about your lending costs. That's something that a lot of people they don't really pay attention. Profit is everything. Bad profit means bad cashflow and bad cash flow means that you can't be sustainable in your business. So, understand your lending cost. Look at your FBA fees, how you can save and what is the strategy. Are you paying too much for your international shipments? Are you paying too much for FBA fees? Are you paying too much for long-term storage? So, find out where you can make optimizations, where you can make savings. I believe this business is open to different optimizations and every different aspect you get closer you can find 1% or 2% saving, and if you find three to five different ways of savings, you can save up to 10%. So, talk to the experts. Don't forget to subscribe to the Helium 10's newsletter. I see a lot of interesting topics actually about that. So being part of the community, it's the most important things and whenever you have a problem, ask the right people, get the right answer to fix your problems.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Well, Burak, thank you for coming on here. I'll let you know what I think about those restaurants you told me and then I'll see you at Amazon Accelerate in Seattle and hopefully some other sellers that are listening to this episode, and we'll definitely have you back on in 2025 and let's see what else has changed in the world of shipping logistics.

Burak:

Looking forward to see you, Bradley.

View Details

Amazon's revamped Alexa with generative AI to roll out in October
https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/smart-home/amazons-revamped-alexa-with-generative-ai-to-roll-out-in-october/

Walmart Marketplace Accelerates Growth; Launches Category Expansion, Multichannel Solutions and Omnichannel Innovations for Sellers
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/08/27/walmart-marketplace-accelerates-growth-launches-category-expansion-multichannel-solutions-and-omnichannel-innovations-for-sellers

How customers are making more informed shopping decisions with Rufus, Amazon’s generative AI-powered shopping assistant
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/how-to-use-amazon-rufus

How Amazon is using AI to detect fake product reviews and ensure authentic customer feedback
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/customer-trust/how-amazon-is-using-ai-to-detect-fake-product-reviews-and-ensure-authentic-customer-feedback

China fast-fashion retailer Temu soared like a rocket for two years—in just a few hours, its parent company lost more than $50 billion in market value
https://fortune.com/2024/08/26/temu-pdd-stock-plunges-government-scrutiny-amazon-rivals/

Amazon India to cut down its selling fees by 12% ahead of festive season
https://www.livemint.com/companies/amazon-india-to-cut-down-its-selling-fees-by-12-ahead-of-festive-season-janmashtami-2024-11724471866431.html

Join Bradley and other Helium 10 Members for an informal meetup in Mumbai early in the morning on Friday the 6th! We will be in the Crystal Lounge networking and would love to see you there! For more details go to: h10.me/mumbai

Catch Bradley at the Istanbul Global E-Export Summit 2024 h10.me/istanbul and at the Amazon Global Selling Community Event PH Seller Bootcamp in Manila h10.me/manila

Lastly, are you leveraging Helium 10 to its fullest potential? We break down the newest features of Helium 10's Chrome extension, including the X-ray tool's suggested PPC bid column and clickable brand insights. Learn how to split-test product images and ideas with real Amazon buyer feedback using Helium 10's Audience tool powered by PickFu, and listen to a special use case from Kseniia that showcases its power in product development. Tune in for all these valuable insights and more to keep your e-commerce strategy ahead of the curve!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:17 - Alexa With AI
03:13 - Walmart Big Announcements
09:09 - Amazon Rufus
12:19 - Amazon Fake Reviews
12:55 - Shipping Time Settings
13:32 - Temu Trouble
14:21 - India Fee Reductions
14:54 - Meet Bradley on the Following Events
16:03 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
18:06 - Training Tip: How To Use Helium 10 Audience

View Details

Join us on this episode as we explore the exciting new updates to Helium 10's Keyword Tracker tool. Our host, Bradley Sutton, takes you through the revamped interface, showcasing features like customizable columns and the ability to add notes for tracking changes over time. We also highlight the importance of adding competitors and introduce new functionalities such as the instant index checker and automated Cerebro runs on competitors. Discover how to monitor organic and sponsored keyword ranks over time and leverage brand analytics for top keywords to enhance your keyword-tracking strategy.

Additionally, we navigate the advanced functionalities within the keyword tracking tools, focusing on features like boosting keywords, tagging them for various phases of product launches, and examining keyword sales metrics versus search volume. Learn about the significance of the CPR number tailored to your product, and explore new features like Amazon Brand Analytics for click and conversion shares, as well as tracking keywords by department. We also tackle an open AMA session, answering questions about managing inventory during the honeymoon phase and strategies for maintaining sales momentum. Tune in for valuable insights and practical tips to optimize your Amazon selling experience using Helium 10's powerful tools.

In episode 591 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Helium 10 Keyword Tracker Revamped!
03:00 - Tracking Product Changes in Keyword Tracker
06:30 - New Helium 10 Keyword Tracker Feature Updates
07:06 - Managing Keywords and Notes in Tracker
11:08 - New Keyword Tracker Features Introduced
13:58 - Automating Competitor Analysis in Keyword Tracker
17:27 - Ask Me Anything with Bradley Sutton
22:53 - Adtomic For Amazon KDP
25:38 - Competitor Keyword Sales Analysis With Cerebro

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Did you notice something new lately in Helium 10? Keyword Tracker got a complete makeover with exciting new features like instant index checker, a list of your top brand analytics keywords, automated Cerebro runs on your competitors in Keyword Tracker, and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10's index checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask Me Anything and special training, and this month we have a special reveal about phase one of our new Keyword Tracker launch. So let's go ahead and hop into this. This was recorded live, so I'm also going to have some of the questions that you guys answered. Let's go ahead and hop into it. We are going to now get into the new Helium 10 Keyword Tracker. This is just the beginning. All right, I've been teasing this for months and months. Now there's some symbolism going with my wardrobe today for those watching this on YouTube or watching this out there. You'll notice I have the OG Helium 10 logo. Okay, so this is the original Helium 10 logo from you know that got started in 2016, 2017. And then my hat is the new Helium 10 logo right? And that's symbolic, because Keyword Tracker is one of the first tools that came out in 2017 and hasn't had, like any earth shattering design changes or things like that for a long time. And now you know, now we're bringing it to the new Helium 10. What are the new features? Let's go ahead and hop right into it.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me go ahead and share my screen, okay. So here we go guys, you should already have this new Keyword Tracker window. All right, this is how Keyword Tracker should look. What is new? The first of all, obviously, the whole look and feel of Keyword Tracker is different. If you don't have that, you should have a button up here that says try the new Keyword Tracker or something like that. All right, for a little bit of time. You're going to see a button that says go back to the previous Keyword Tracker. I wouldn't recommend doing that, because you know it's, you're going to have to go to this new one. Anyways, you can see up here at the top, just like before, how many keywords according to your plan you've used, and I have 30 out of my 500 boost used. You still have similar buttons up here like customize. Actually, this is new. If you hit the customize button, you can now choose which columns. You see you couldn't do that in the old Keyword Tracker, so I right now I have everything included. All right, I'm looking at all columns and there are some new columns that Keyword Tracker has never had. All right, so that customize button put what you want, like maybe you don't care about when, the date that it was added, all right, well, you can go ahead and take that column off now with the new Keyword Tracker. If you want to add a new product to Keyword Tracker, just right here, at the very top right of Keyword Tracker, there's a button that says add products. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, once you have all of your products here, without expanding it out, you've got a lot of information. First of all, something that I highly recommend, something brand new you can add notes, okay. So adding notes is important because now you can like tag it on a certain day, all right. So I could say, hey, today is 8/13 on this ASIN, I am doing a certain kind of test in PPC, or I lowered my price and then I can make a description here. And so now, later on, if you're tracking your keyword ranks and things like that, now you can see oh, on this date, I raised my price. What happened to my keyword rank after? Oh, on this date, I increased my sponsored ad target bid and did that improve my sponsored rank? Did it make my sponsored rank worse? You can start tracking a lot of these things. I mean, hopefully you guys were tracking this stuff already, but now it's a little bit easier because you're going to be able to graph it. All right, this is going to show me the track keywords. If I want to add more keywords, I just hit this edit button right here. Adding competitors all right. This is if you didn't add competitors before. Guys, I highly highly recommend adding competitors to your Keyword Tracker. It doesn't cost you any more money and I'm going to show you why that is so important.

Bradley Sutton:

Moving forward, here's something that is still the same as the old Keyword Tracker. It's going to show you the number of organic keywords in the top 10 and their combined search volume, and the number of organic keywords in top 50. You can actually now hit a graph and see the history over time. How many top, how many of your track keywords have you had in the top 10 over over time? How many have you had sponsored over time? You can see that right here. Now, here's another thing you can see now how many Amazon's choice keywords you have. The last time Helium 10 checked that's something that's net new, I believe, where it's going to let you know hey, for this product, six of your keywords have Amazon's choice badge for that keyword. Pretty cool, right. Another cool new thing brand analytics top click keyword. How many of your keywords that you're tracking, were you last week one of the top three clicked in all of Amazon for that keyword? That's pretty cool, right. And then not only that, now you hit this button you're going to see a history of that for your product and the keyword. So now you can see, like all right, hey, every week I'm usually one of the top three clicked on 10 products or 12. And now, all of a sudden, one week, you see you're down to three. Well, what would that make me do? I'm going to go in there and see where did I lose being one of the top three? Click what's going on? Did I lose my keyword rank? That's brand new. Another thing is going to be keyword suggestions. I'm going to talk about that in a little bit. That's something new and that is why you guys need to put your competitors in there. I'm going to talk about why.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, another cool thing you're going to start seeing now the category and subcategory BSR of your product. If you're tracking your product or your competitor's product as the seed product, you're going to now see the graph of BSR right here and you're also can now tag your keywords here with different tags. This is a tag for product. Okay, there we go, guys. This tag here is for the product. So maybe, watch this. I'm going to be like hey, Manny's mysterious oddities, I want to add that tag. All right, so now I'm going to be able to tag this coffin letter board as Manny's mysterious oddities and then, with this one click at the top, now I'm going to be able to go to those products. All right. The other thing I can have here and I can sort by is the date that I added this product to Keyword Tracker. This is another thing that's kind of net new. Okay, now let's dive into the actual keywords. All right, so you hit this button right. Or, by the way, you could actually run Cerebro from Keyword Tracker. Now you just hit these three dots that are right next to the picture and you can actually run in Cerebro. All right, and you can run your product in listing analyzer as well. But right now we're going to hit this down arrow so we can see all of these new tabs right here in the keyword details.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and here we go. All right, so first of all, you'll see, I don't know why it's blue. I've been telling him to change that to red, so hopefully they're going to change the boost back to red. But you can see, here in blue I have a few keywords on boost. Boost is still working the same way. Now, another thing you notice is do you see that there's a number here for each one? What this is is like the number of when I added this keyword to Keyword Tracker. If I want to change the order of how it is and I don't want it to go by alphabetical or I don't want to sort it by this, I don't want to sort it by that. This is pretty cool because now I can just change this number right here. Okay, and then now that is going to change the order in which the keywords appear in Keyword Tracker. All right, so pretty cool. Another thing I can add the notes at the keyword level. All right, so I can add notes at the product level. I showed you guys that I can add notes at the keyword level now. So again, marking when I change something on a certain keyword, like maybe sometimes I'll do tests where I'm like you know what I want to insert this keyword into my title and then does that help my rank over a week or so. Well, I'm going to add that as a note, the date and time that I actually did that, so then I can go back and graph and see what happened.

Bradley Sutton:

I mentioned tags for keywords. We had tags for products. This is tags for keywords. So this is a product. This is a coffin letter board. You guys can see this on Amazon. Now I'm going to do a whole podcast about it in Maldives, about the Maldives honeymoon strategy. But you can see, I'm literally in launch right now in my fate, what I call phase one launch. So I gave a tag to all of these keywords. So then later I could just hit this button right here this is my tags and then it's only going to show the keywords that I have a certain tag on it. So maybe I have phase one launch, maybe I have a group of keywords that I'm doing a PPC test on, or whatever. This will allow you to quickly go and go directly to whatever group of keywords that you have Search volume, competing products, organic rank history these are all pretty much the same. The graphs might look a little bit different, but it's basically the same thing. Let's go in and take a look at one of the graphs here just to see how different it is. All right, yeah, it's pretty much the same. You can see here I can click and drag and zoom in. It's pretty much the Keyword Tracker that you guys know and love. We've got keyword sales. Remember, guys, last week I talked in depth in our weekly buzz about why this keyword sales metric is more important sometimes than the search volume metric.

Bradley Sutton:

We've got the CPR number here. The CPR number is based on your product, your exact product. This is where the CPR number is based on your product. If you look at CPR and Cerebro, it's just a general CPR number. This one is based on your product. We've got the suggested PPC bid in here, and then something new we've got the brand analytics total click share and total conversion share. Okay, so this is directly from Amazon brand analytics. Now you can see the history of what are the top three clicked products for this keyword that you are tracking in Keyword Tracker. What was the top three click products share of the conversions? In addition, another net new thing here is the department. So you know how sometimes you're on Amazon and you type in a search. You know what. Let's look at that now. Let's actually type, or let's go to Amazon. Let's hit Gothic Decor. By the way, guys, if you guys were watching, if you want to look at the search results of any keyword that you're tracking, just hit this arrow button right next to the keyword and it's going to take you to the search right there on Amazon. Okay, now you can see here how, in Gothic decor, it now shows which departments the results are in. Well, we are now showing that in Keyword Tracker. And so what happens is is we are taking that into consideration. Right here on the last column you will see it say under departments how many categories it's under and which categories those are. So it gives you a little bit of extra kind of like you know information there.

Bradley Sutton:

There's a whole bunch that's coming. I'm not done here, but we're going to have an index checker button. Like, for example, if you notice all of a sudden you are not ranking organically, you are not ranking and sponsoring, what is the next step? Well, the next step is usually hey, I need to see, did I lose indexing for this keyword? Have I lost indexing? Well, there's going to be a one-click button. Instead of having to copy those keywords, export it to index checker, you are going to have an index checker right here in Keyword Tracker so that you can, within seconds, know is it just that you lost ranking or did you lose indexing as well? Super, super important. All right, so that's coming, we're going to have. I told you guys, a long time ago people were asking for those heat maps of ranks, just like our Market Tracker 360 tool has. Well, heat maps are coming here. But one thing that's important oh, by the way. There's a customize for which columns you want in your Keyword Tracker and watch this. Here is something that is new for organic rank. Maybe you want to see the rank, like you always have. Now you can toggle what page are you showing up. Maybe you don't care about your specific rank, but you're just like hey, I want to see how many keywords I have on page one, how many are on page two, how many are on page three. Take a look, you can toggle your rank to go from rank to page. That's pretty cool, right? That's something that a lot of our not a lot, but you know, otherwise we would have done it earlier, but a number of you were asking us and it finally got done. It was on our list for a lime, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So one thing that I want to go over is the suggestions, all right. So first of all, here's, let me go to a product that I actually have suggestions for. Yes, here we go. I've got one competitor for some reason. Here's. Here's one that I have five competitors. This will be a better one, all right. So, again, make sure to add the competitors. That should be one of the first things you guys do. Here we go for the bat shelf. I've got compared. Let me just take a look at who my competitors are Other bat shelves. Okay Now, by the way, remember how I told you that we are showing you which keywords, or how many keywords, you have. That is one of the top three clicked. Well, the way that you know it is, there's going to be an ABA and a number one, number two or number three. That's the symbol that lets you know if last week you were one of the top one, two or three products that were clicked from that search page. But anyways, this is showing me the ranks of all of my competitors. You guys see that here, all of my competitors, I know it's kind of hard to see, all right, so this is my bat bath mat and here are all of my competitors, and now I can see if they are ranking or not. Where is their average rank? How many of them are ranking? Like, for example, this is a keyword that's pretty important, right? Bat mat. This is a bat shaped bath mat. Bat mat obviously is a keyword I want to check and so I can see only three out of my six competitors are ranking for it, but the average rank is 25. So they're pretty much maybe most of them are on page one, if not all.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I also have the competitor performance score. This is the key. This is the way that I can see which are the most important keywords to my niche. Right, it's the same metric that comes from Cerebro, and so the high competitor performance score means that most of your competitors that you entered are all ranking for that keyword, and they're all ranking highly. That's what gets you a 10 out of 10. All right, so look at that. These are all completely new things that Keyword Tracker has never had. Okay, now let's go right here to suggested keywords. By the way, you saw that I was looking at organic rank for my competitors. I can also look at their sponsored rank too, under suggested keywords. This is going to be something pretty cool. This is very similar to what we had in our insights dashboard. Once I add my competitors, now I can customize my settings and I can almost kind of like automate Cerebro guys right here in Keyword Tracker. So I could be like hey, you know what my competitors? I got five of them. I want to know if there is a keyword that has at least 500 search volume and my rank is between zero and zero meaning I'm not ranked at all and at least one of my competitors right here minimum one has the organic rank between one and 20. I want a suggestion. So, in other words, what this means is I'm basically automating Cerebro and I'm telling Keyword Tracker hey, watch my competitors, so I don't have to run them in Cerebro, and if they start ranking for a keyword on the first page in the first 20 positions and I'm not ranking at all, give me a notification. That's just an example. I could put any anything in here. I could be like hey, give me a notification if my rank is between 40 and 300, but but their rank is one in 40 or one in 39. Right? So in other words, hey, show me the keywords where I'm not on page one and where they are right. I could do a lot of those options.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing is I could run Cerebro on my own product in the background, like I. Obviously, when I started Keyword Tracker, I probably had a good idea of what my main keywords are. But, as you know, I hope you run Cerebro on your own product like once every two weeks or once a month to see hey, you run Cerebro on your own product, like once every two weeks or once a month, to see, hey, am I ranking for new keywords that I didn't even realize I was relevant for? Is Amazon showing me highly in sponsored rank, where I didn't even know that the auto campaign was showing me for? Well, you know what? Go ahead and set this notification in Keyword Tracker where you can say hey for any keyword that has at least 300 search volume, where my organic rank is between one and 30, give me a notification that tells me that I should probably track this keyword and we'll give you that notification as a suggestion. All right, so that's what suggestion means. And then. So now I can look at the suggestion, knowing that the only way that it was triggered is if something hit those rules that I put. All right, but right here I'm going to be able to see hey, which keywords do I want to start tracking? There's probably some, some more things that I'm missing here, but this is just the beginning. Make sure you are using this new Keyword Tracker and the new features. Every single one of the new features I went over is designed to give you insights that can help you make more money, help you optimize your listing more, help you track what is going on with your competitors. So I want you guys to make sure to use all of those features.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this part of the show when we do this once a month is a completely open AMA. So you guys can ask me anything about Helium 10, maybe even a couple Amazon questions, if you, if you want, if I, if we've got the time, um. Or it could be about this new Keyword Tracker. Okay, let me see we've got one from Jay here. It says for someone starting again selling on Amazon after five years oh, wow, what a what a long time between selling Um, where would you recommend to start from in order to learn how to use a software? I'm really lost with this. All right. So, Jay, if, if, if you're talking about where to learn how to sell on Amazon, we just barely launched a brand new Freedom Ticket. So even if you were selling five years ago, trust me so much has changed on Amazon I highly recommend going through the Freedom Ticket. So if you're a Helium 10 member, which I'm assuming you are it sounds like when you say software, there you have access 100% to Freedom Ticket. Five years ago when you remember you probably had to pay a thousand dollars for Freedom Ticket. Not anymore. You have. You have it covered for free. So go into Freedom Ticket. Take that to see what's new on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

The second thing to learn how to use the tools, go into the learn button in every tool. All right, just take a refresher course. Or if you just want to knock it all out in like three hours, you can go to a completely free website, academy.helium10.com. academy.helium10.com it has all of our tool software training videos all in one place. You could probably knock it out in two hours. Maybe three hours if you're just watching at one X speed, uh, but if you're two X in me, you can probably watch it in like one hour or an hour and a half. All of those videos and I'll give you a good refresher course on how to get reacquainted with Helium 10. And then, like I said, Freedom Ticket is going to give you a nice uh refresher course on how to get reacquainted with selling on Amazon and Walmart, and we even have now stuff that we definitely didn't have years ago, when you were around, Jay, like um, lessons on how to sell on tick tock shop, so pretty cool. Christopher says what's the best strategy for running out of inventory, especially if you're still in the honeymoon phase? Is there a module about it in the new Freedom Ticket? I don't remember if I put a module about it. But basically, um, obviously you don't want to run out, but do not try to slow your sales and slow your momentum or raise your price if your conversion rate goes down Now. If you can raise your price and still get the same amount of sales I mean regardless of if you have inventory now of course you should raise your price and get more profit, right. But don't be the kind of people who try to raise your price in order to slow sales because you're shooting yourself in the foot just to not run out of stock.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon is really good lately. If you run out of stock and you're only if you're out of stock for like eight months, I mean, first of all, slowing sales down. To run out three weeks later than you would have is not going to help you anyways. But yeah, if you're going to be out of stock for eight months. You're kind of screwed anyways because, yeah, you know Amazon, it might not put you back to where you were, but if you're out of stock for a couple weeks a month even I've been out of stock for two months, even recently because I just had a crazy amount of sales that I wasn't expecting or I had some shipping delays Amazon remembers what you've done. All right, if you're in your forties or fifties, you remember that song from Janet Jackson in the eighties what have you done for me lately? Amazon asked that question. They know what you've done for Amazon lately. If you are a high performing keyword or a high performing product for a certain keyword, Amazon remembers that and you're not. If you're a page one, position three and you're out of stock for a month and a half, does that mean you're immediately going back to page one position three? No, probably not. But it just takes a couple of orders, like in PPC, at the top of search, and Amazon will put you like right back up. A lot of times Now, on some of those products where it might be like 300,000 search volume or some crazy amount of sales, right Okay, that one might be a little bit hard to get back to top. It's not going to get to the top with just two or three orders, but, yeah, like it's not as critical as it was in the past where you lose your ranking permanently or something crazy. That would happen to some people, like five, six years ago, if you went out of stock.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing to keep in mind, too, is you run out of stock fast. It's not always a bad thing, remember, if you have a lot of sales, you have a period of time where you have low stock. That's actually a bad thing. You are going to get a low inventory fee. That's one of the new fees that Amazon put out is, if your inventory total for a certain time period dips under a threshold, you're going to get charged for every order that you have. Okay, if you have zero inventory, you run out. Well, at least you're not being charged. You know that fee. Again, don't get me wrong, don't run out. You know you should not run out, but don't do things to slow your sales. If you're going to run out, go ahead and run out at the whatever velocity you have, because that's what helping your keyword rank, how you convert for that keyword and then, um, as soon as you get back, you know, do a big push like don't put your, your product live until it's distributed across the country. So make sure to use Helium 10 inventory heat maps so you can see as Amazon distributed amongst other warehouses. And then go live, go heavy on PPC, maybe have a big discount a little bit to like really get that momentum going to remind amazon who you were and you should get back to page one for your keywords that you were page one for before.

Bradley Sutton:

Kyle says can you talk a little bit Adtomic and how I can use it as KDP? So I don't think you can use it yet on KDP, but when you can, as long as the API is very similar, it's going to be very similar. Like I run 200 campaigns on my Adtomic for regular products, not KDP products, regular physical products. And the beauty about it is I can have suggestions where I'm like hey, if I have an auto campaign going and I get two keyword conversions at a certain ACoS, I want you to tell me to move that to my manual campaign. Hey, if I get, I can put rules. Or I can be like hey, if I get 20 clicks on this keyword and no sales right and I've spent more than ten dollars, you know what I want a negative match that keyword. I can automate that or I can just have it, uh, set a rule where it tells me hey, you got 20 clicks over this period of time that you specified. You wanted me to let you know that this happened. Do you want a negative matches, yes or no? I just hit one button and I say yes, now it's negative match.

Bradley Sutton:

I can run analytics across all of my campaigns. You know, like I said, I've got 200 campaigns where I can put a query saying, hey, show me all of the search terms that I have less than four, or all the targets where I have less than 4% ACOS. Right, with at least one sale. Obviously you have to have a sale to have ACOS. But you know, then, now, instantly, all of those keywords across all 200, 200 of my campaigns will show up. I can just go ahead and just blanket re increase the bid on all those I'll be like ahead and just blanket re increase the bid on all those I'll be like you know what, raise the bid on all of these that I'm below 4% a cost. Raise my bid by 20%. Two clicks of a button, I mean, these kind of things take forever to do by yourself or something kind of stuff. You have to pay agencies, you know $1,000 a month to do. You can have that kind of like all inside of Adtomic. So that's how I use Adtomic and I would assume that once it's fully integrated with our KDP community, you're going to have very similar features as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, what other questions, guys? We got about five minutes left here I can go. It's 11.15 PM, so if anybody's in the US at this time of day? Thank you so much for joining. I used to do this back in the day. We used to call it midnight madness. I would just go randomly live at like midnight. Um, today was half accident. This was supposed to be at 10:15 am and my team said it at 10:15 pm. So that's why I'm up at this at this time of day. But I'm happy that I could uh talk to different people, because usually it's a lot of the same people I see in the chat, but today's all new people. Kyle says can you tell me a little bit about the CPR score and how accurate is is in Cerebro. So the CPR is basically the number of units over eight days that you should sell after somebody finds your product in search for that keyword either organic or sponsored over eight days, that gives you the best chance to stick on page one. Doesn't guarantee it, but it gives you the best chance. It was a formula that I came up with, uh, two years ago. The latest version I I did, or no, it was last year, uh, a year ago was the latest version. We've updated it three or four times in the last six years, um, but basically it's gives you a guide of like, hey, what is it going to take to get on the top, as close to the top of page one as possible for the keyword that you're trying to rank for? That's as easy as I can kind of like dumb it down of what it is, and it's a number over eight days. So if you have a keyword like I'm looking at a keyword right now, um, batmat and the CPR number is eight, that means you know the search volume is so low. If I get eight purchases, if somebody searched the word batman and bought a product eight different people over eight days I have a pretty darn good chance to get to page one. That's basically what it means there.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's a question from Instagram. Grow with Daniel says is there a possibility to check on which keyword per competitor is getting sales? Which keyword per competitor? Yes, so I mean, if I'm understanding Daniel, your question is like hey, uh, which keywords are driving sales to your competitor? Absolutely, you just run Cerebro. Okay, there's two, there's two ways you can. You can know about it. You run Cerebro for your competitor and look at anything over 500 search volume where they're ranked between like one and 10, you know they're getting sales for that keyword or they have gotten sales for the keyword, unless it's a brand new product. You don't get on the top 10 search results without at some time having you know some sales and the higher the search volume, the more sales it is that it took to get there. You can also run it in brand analytics. We have that in Black Box, brand analytics, where you put the ace in and now you can see, hey, your competitor, where were they one of the top three clicked? And then, if they were one of the top three click, did they have conversions for that keyword and how much percent of those conversions? You can have that fully in Helium 10 as well. Oh, and now he says, except using Cerebro I mean Cerebro and Black Box. Uh, those are the two ways to do it inside of Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

Jeffrey says, like Cerebro, Black Box, Magnet to see the ABA and keyword sales sold now for ABA. You now have access to that, Jeffrey. Like that's, we always bring stuff down to platinum. So that used to be diamond. Only the brand analytics data in Cerebro and Magnet now is in platinum. So you've fully got access to that. Now black. There's one tool in Black Box, yes, that that platinum members don't have access to, and that is the Black Box brand analytics tool. So, yeah, that is not available separately currently, but you know, who knows, maybe in the future it could be. And I swear that keyword sales also was brought down to platinum. I think you might check it, Jeffrey, you might have keyword sales. If you're based in the US and you're looking at Amazon USA data, you might have the keyword sales there.

Bradley Sutton:

This presentation is what we do once a month where we have a training on some kind of aspect of Helium 10. And then we have an open. Ask Me Anything. So when you guys see the invite to this. Make sure to join up next time those of you listening to this on the replay or watching this on the podcast or on YouTube later on. We'll probably do one or no, probably. We will do one in probably late September or middle of September, so make sure to sign up early. That one will probably be like in the AM Pacific time instead of PM, like this time, but we, you know, make sure to join live so you can get your questions answered. This is what I do for Helium 10 Elite twice a week at times, but once a month we go ahead and open this up to everybody. So I really appreciate everybody joining us at this time of day and I wish you guys the best of success and please let us know what you think of phase one of our new Keyword Tracker. Thanks a lot, guys.

View Details

Join Bradley Sutton in this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast as we explore the vital importance of search volume metrics for Amazon sellers. We'll reveal why accurate search volume data is crucial for making informed decisions on listing optimization, PPC campaigns, and more. We'll discuss how to gauge demand in a niche and prioritize keywords effectively, while also addressing the limitations of Amazon's own search volume metrics.

Listen in as Bradley addresses the misinformation circulating in the industry, particularly a misleading LinkedIn post comparing search volumes from Helium 10, Data Dive, and Jungle Scout. The episode highlights the flawed methodologies used in such comparisons and the significant differences between normalized and denormalized search volumes. Bradley clarifies the historical changes Amazon made to its search volume data and emphasizes the importance of fact-checking and accurate representation in tool comparisons.

Lastly, we'll highlight the importance of maintaining civility in discussions about Amazon tools, particularly when it comes to the accuracy of search volume data. After conducting comparison tests, where we matched Helium 10's data against Amazon's only normalized search data, Brand Analytics, Helium 10 achieved an impressive 93.5% accuracy rate. In comparison, Jungle Scout scored 41.9% accuracy when evaluated against Search Query Performance, which uses a denormalized search metric. It's crucial that we provide our audience with reliable information. We are committed to addressing misleading information in future episodes, ensuring that our listeners receive the most insightful and accurate information. Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for more in-depth analysis.

In episode 590 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

01:52 - Accurate Amazon Search Volume Metric Importance
06:30 - Keyword Sales Is The Best Metric
07:11 - Addressing Misleading Information
12:19 - Debunking Jungle Scout’s Blog On Keyword Accuracy Analysis
17:30 - Search Frequency Rank And Why It’s Important
20:27 - Normalized vs. Denormalized Searches
20:58 - The History Of Search Volume In Amazon
21:22 - Understanding Normalized and Denormalized Searches
25:31 - Stop Comparing Apples to Oranges
26:20 - Let’s Do A Real Test
27:42 - How Accurate Is Helium 10’s Search Volume?
29:18 - Jungle Scout and Data Dive vs Search Query Performance Data
32:20 - Confusion Over Jungle Scout Search Volume History
35:45 - Bradley’s Final Message

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Search volume is one of the most important metrics for Amazon sellers to help make decisions like Listing, Optimization, PPC and more. Now, who has the most accurate search volume out there Jungle Scout and Data Dive or Helium 10? Well, spoiler alert in today's case. Today I'm going to show you that Helium 10 wins with a 93.5% accuracy, with Jungle Scout coming in second at 41.9%. How cool is that? Pretty cool. I think. You want to know what keywords are driving the most sales for listings on Amazon. To do that, you need to know what highly searched for keywords the product is ranking for, maybe at the top of page one. You can actually find that out in seconds by using Helium 10's keyword research tool, Cerebro. Now, that's just one of the many, many functions that make this tool my favorite tool in the whole suite, and it's the most powerful keyword research tool ever created for e-commerce sellers. For more information, go to h10.me/cerebro. Don't forget to use the Serious Sellers Podcast discount coupon SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And today, guys, we are going to have a special episode where I'm going deep. I spent a couple of nights without sleep working on this because things got me real riled up on this. All right, this is an important topic to me, and there's just so much misinformation out there that I was like I got to set the record straight.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the question is who has the most accurate search one? Well, of course, the first answer would be Amazon itself has the most accurate, because they're the ones who are providing information. Now, sometimes, though, it's not always the most useful though, like, for example hey, I'm trying to do research into a niche that I'm not selling in. Yet you're a little bit limited with being able to see search volume in Amazon. Search Query Performance for an existing listing. Great, all right. Uh, that shows you denormalized numbers. We're going to talk about what that means a little bit later. But if you're looking at, hey, well, the keywords that I'm getting traction for already, what is my search volume? There's nothing better out of a great apples to apples comparison as that. Now, the drawback there is you can only see what you're already ranking for you can't really like, put in your competitors and see their search volume. But again, obviously this is Amazon's platform. They've got the most accurate search volume. I'm sure they have multiple search volume metrics, some of which Amazon sellers can get at.

Bradley Sutton:

But let's just talk about this. Take a step back. Why is search volume important? Why do Amazon sellers rely on this metric so much? Well, there's a lot of different reasons. Maybe you're just looking for demand in a certain niche, for example. Hey, I'm looking into selling in this category. I don't see many products here with sales, so I can't really estimate demand because there's not enough sales. Maybe it's something newer, but there's a lot of search volume, right, because you could have a lot of search volume for something, but no sales yet because there's no competitors yet. All right, so that's something exciting. That's where search volume could be important. What about you've already decided to make a product right? The number one reason that we need search volume is prioritization. What do I mean by that? Let's say I've identified 200 equally relevant keywords. Obviously, all keywords aren't equally relevant. Let's just play devil's advocate and say we've got 200 keywords. That we've done in all of our keyword research and I need to put them in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, can you put 200 unique phrases in phrase form in your listing to send those relevancy signals to Amazon, to let Amazon know hey, this is my product. You know, you always want to put your most important keywords in phrase form in your listing. No, you don't have room for 200 separate phrases. You maybe have room for 15, 20, 25. Well, how do you prioritize? Which ones you're going to put in phrase form, which ones you're going to concentrate on? Right, if all things were equal, the one thing that is different is search volume, right? Hey, my most search ones of these equally relevant keywords. That's what I'm putting in phrase form. The most search ones of the most relevant. That's what's going in my title, right? Similar with you. Know, when you're deciding what you're going to do for PPC, hey, am I going to try to equally target all 200 words? No, I might try and like target 20 words at first, 30 words at first. Again, relevancy is the most important. But then the next metric is search volume. All right, you know, I'm not going to try and put a whole bunch of 1 million search volume keywords in one campaign and then another campaign with an equal number of keywords that have 100 search volume. That just wouldn't make sense, right? So, I'm sure all of you would agree with me that a search volume is something that is important. Helps us in many different ways as Amazon sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here's the interesting thing. It's not always the number itself as the most important. When you think about search volume for prioritization, it's really the order in which they're in, right? That's one of the factors, not just the number itself, like, for example, um, you look at google trends, uh, google trends is not search volume, right? People have been using google trends for years and it's a scale of one to 100. Helps you prioritize, right? Brand Analytics, which you guys know I love. You know there's no search volume number in Brand Analytics. That's the data point that amazon gives and has been giving for like what, four or five years now. There's no search volume in there. It's just giving you an order. It gives you search frequency rank.

Bradley Sutton:

You're totally able to prioritize keywords not based on a search volume number. Like, if all you had was Brand Analytics and zero search volume number, guess what You'd be able to do almost everything you do right now, right? Even if there was no Helium 10, no Jungle Scout, no, anything. You just had Brand Analytics, no search volume numbers at all. That's enough information to prioritize. Now you might have to make your own little formulas or something like that to try and see hey, I only want the search frequency rank from, from, you know, 500,000 and up, or 500,000 below, I should say, you know. Or a hundred thousand and below, you know. Of course, you know you might have to do something, but still, you could get around, uh, get along without the actual search volume number. So, it's not necessarily the search volume number that's the most important. Again, it is which ones are searched more in comparison with whatever other keywords you have, right?

Bradley Sutton:

Now, of course, the best way to prioritize even more than just search volume itself or search order, is keyword sales, right? Not all keywords are created equal, right? You could have a 500,000-search volume keyword that generates, you know, the products on the page generate a hundred sales only because there's low, low buyer intent. You could have another keyword that's 500,000-search volume and it could generate a thousand sales because there's a lot more buyer intent. So actually, the best metric, of course, to prioritize if you're talking about, hey, what's going to potentially bring me the most sales is keyword sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, are you able to see estimated keyword sales by keyword? Yeah, Helium 10 can help you with that. Jungle Scout doesn't have that. I would assume that Data Dive doesn't. I have access to a Jungle Scout account. I don't have access to a Jungle Scout account. I don't have access to data. I can only monitor the biggest competitors out there. So, Jungle Scout, the last time I checked, no keyword sales. I would assume data doesn't. But if I'm mistaken, I apologize.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, why am I even doing this episode? How did this drama all get started and why am I so worked up? Now, before I even get into this, let me just give a kind of disclaimer here. I'm pretty passionate about this subject. I might get a little worked up in this episode. I hope nobody takes anything personal. I'm even going to blur names over here. People can probably figure out by looking at posts and stuff where the party's involved. But again, I'm not trying to call somebody in particular out. So, I hope this doesn't come off as oh, I'm trying to like fight somebody in the backyard or something like that. All right, I just really get worked up about this kind of topic and when people are throwing Helium 10 under the bus, or when people are misleading others, intentionally or not, who are you know? Known figures like it just bothers me, all right. So again, I'm not going to try and throw any name, drop here personal names. I apologize if anybody ahead of time, if anybody gets offended. I'm just stating the facts. All right, just the facts, ma'am. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, how did this all get started? It all got started with this LinkedIn post. Uh, that's somebody. I have no idea who this person is, I'm not connected to them, but somebody I think they tagged me. Uh, people tag me all the time on LinkedIn. I'm not that great on LinkedIn. I don't do the whole, you know, interaction with other people's posts, like I'm supposed to. But anyway, somehow this post did get on my radar and I have nothing against this guy who made this post. He, he's not an influencer in this space where I could say, oh, he should definitely know better, whatever. But anyways, here is how this post looks like on LinkedIn.

Bradley Sutton:

He was like hey, Helium 10 versus Jungle Scout versus Search Query Performance, comparison of search form. So, when I saw it, I barely skimmed it, because I get so many of these tags every day. I don't interact with hardly any of them, but he was like hey, why does helium 10 display three to four times lower search volume compare to Jungle Scout and Search Query Performance? Bradley, what are your thoughts? Blah, blah, blah. I use 80 keywords to compile the data, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now, at the time I didn't really even look very closely at this, because I think I saw this graph that he gave and it didn't even show the keywords or anything. I'm like okay, it is what it is. This is just one of those things that I get tagged like on a million times.

Bradley Sutton:

But then what happened later is at the top of my feed, somebody who I am connected to and again is at the top of my feed. Somebody who I am connected to and again who I think is a very, one of the most respectable, uh, respected, people in the space, put out this message where he reposted it and was like hey, this, this dude did an analysis where he did 80 keywords that analyze with Data Dive and Jungle Scout compared to Helium 10. And he was questioning which one is most accurate and I told him to check Search Query Performance. All right, so there's strike one. I'm like why would you do that? What does Helium 10 have to do with Search Query Performance? All right, we're going to talk about that. Why? Why, this is such like a no brainer. Like why in the world is this person doing that? But let me keep going here. He says oh, after doing this, he found that Data Dive was within 5% accuracy for this keyword and Helium 10 had a deviation of 70. All right, this data is crucial.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, all of a sudden, I'm starting to get pissed. I'm like this this is ridiculous. Helium 10 has nothing to do with Search Query Performance. Uh, you know whether Data Dive or Jungle Scout is. You know, we'll talk about that in a little bit. But like, why are you even bringing Helium 10 into this conversation? It's ridiculous that this other guy had mistakenly compared the two, thinking it was the same. But again, he doesn't work for a SaaS company. He doesn't know. You know the ins and outs of he's not monitoring. You know other companies and knows what they base their search volume. But I wouldn’t expect this individual to have no. And I even, when this like, I think you probably want to delete this post, you know, couple of times. I said, I was like, I don’t think this is a good look you know for you to like put out misinformation like trying to say that, oh Data Dive, Jungle Scout is 5% off of this amazon data point, but Helium 10 somehow has that 70% off. But they never took down the post. I’m like alright, that’s when I started not sleeping, like two nights in a row of just like data crunching and preparing for this episode. I'm like all right, you asked for it. Now, again, I told you guys, I wouldn't make it personal, but I get worked up about this.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, it wasn't just this, things were escalating even more. Like a high-level executive from Jungle Scout hops on this thread and says, oh, we consistently see similar results in our own validation and hear similar feedback from customers, you know, basically talking about, oh, that Jungle Scout is so close to this Search Query Performance, but then Helium 10 is so far off. Supposedly they validate this all the time. And this is what and they hear this from customers all the time. Like what is going on? More misinformation from somebody who's respected in the industry. Like why are you saying this nonsense? This is happening now.

Bradley Sutton:

But then a couple of months ago, uh, somebody forwarded me a blog, uh, on March 21st, that Jungle Scout put out Jungle Scout versus Helium 10, a comprehensive review. Uh, march 21st, 2024. You see it right here, dun, dun, dun. Like you see the big logos you know, versus each other. Now this blog, anyways, was just, oh, my goodness, there were so many inaccurate things in there, it just boggled my mind, really got me upset, but like I never did anything at that time, it was just all of this now together, kind of like put me over the edge.

Bradley Sutton:

But the one part, that of that blog that has to do with this, was a big section they had on Keyword Accuracy Analysis. Who is more accurate Jungle Scout or Helium 10 for search volume? Keyword search volume information? And look at what they said in this blog. They're like hey, amazon provides Search Query Performance and we found that Jungle Scout was way more accurate than Helium 10's keyword tool. On average, keyword Scout showed a positive 10.93% difference from the search volume provided by Amazon and Helium 10 showed a negative 58% difference. See the info below. And we chose keywords from Search Query Performance. And again, so like hey, if Jungle Scout wants to compare themselves to Search Query Performance, fine, if that's what they're basing their search volume on, go ahead. But why are you bringing Helium 10 into this conversation? Helium 10, uh search volume has nothing to do with Search Query Performance search volume.

Bradley Sutton:

But then I'm looking at this, this, this case study that they supposedly did, and it just didn't make sense. It was like potty pads Helium 10, 11, three, 93 search volume. All right, this is, this is like their big expose to show how Helium 10 is different. Now, first of all, the number is just super weird here. Even according to them, uh, Amazon had 10,000, Helium 10 had 11,000, but somehow the difference was negative, 8%, like we were under. Like that, that's not right, like we're over according to this, but anyways, that's not important.

Bradley Sutton:

I was trying to find out okay, in in Helium 10, we, we have history that goes back five years for a search volume. Okay, I think Jungle Scouts got only has two years, but anyways, Helium 10, 393. I was like, let me try to find where that is. And I kept having to go back and back in time to try and find out when in the heck they were pulling this data. And, lo and behold, I found this 11,393 number on 9/24, wait for it, guys 2022. So, this is a new blog. The date is 2024. And they're pulling some data point from September, like two years ago, two years, literally two years ago. So, I was like, well, that's weird, it did really Jungle Scouts numbers uh, you know, look like this way.

Bradley Sutton:

Back then. Now that's where things started getting weird. I was like this whole article just doesn't make sense because, uh, again, you know, they were saying that, hey, Jungle Scout said 10,800. And so, if they were taking Helium 10 in September of 2022, I was like, well, what really Jungle Scout said, such a close number to search, create performance. So, I look back in Jungle Scout to that same date of September of 2022 and started adding the numbers up. I was like no, look, these are weekly search volume that Jungle Scout is giving and it's like 6,000, 6,000, 5,000. I mean, we're talking like 20, 30,000. Where in the world is Jungle Scout saying that they were 10,800.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I think maybe what happened was, later Jungle Scout changed, you know, after 2022 changed our whole search volume a model, because they made announced that they were trying to follow the search, create performance. So, I'm assuming they did go to like the denormalized number. I didn't realize at the time that they actually backdated and went back in time and maybe changed all their search volume numbers from before Helium 10 numbers don't change once we have the search one. That's there permanently. But anyways, I'm not sure that's the reason, but I could not find where Jungle Scout was 10,800. Because if I went back in time right now using Jungle Scout, it's way more than that.

Bradley Sutton:

But anyways, these things were just like oh, really making me mad. Like LinkedIn, a bunch of people saying these crazy things, and then here's Jungle Scout blogs again. That's what kind of upsets me when people with authority you know who people trust is putting out misinformation to try and pump themselves up. Like, no, if you want to pump yourself up, pump yourself up with facts. Like why are you pulling in wrong information? So now that's when I was like, ok, fine, let me go and do a deep dive no pun intended, on this original guy's post. Well, again, I don't know who he is, I have nothing against him personally, but I'm looking here and, like I said, there was no even keywords mentioned here. So, I was like, well, I can't even double check this information and then just weird things were happening. First of all, you know, remember the other individual who I respect was trying to say, oh yeah, Helium 10 is off by 70%. That's not even what this guy was saying in his post. He was saying Helium 10 was off by 70% from Jungle Scout. I'm like why are we even doing it? Why are you comparing Jungle Scout with Amazon? But then you're just comparing Helium 10 with Jungle Scout.

Bradley Sutton:

And then take a look at this, the way they were calculating the numbers for some of these. He's saying Search Query Performance says zero and Helium 10 and Jungle Scout are saying a certain number, but then somehow that means a Jungle Scout is a hundred percent off. So, if Search Query Performance is saying zero and Jungle Scout says a certain number, that's infinity percent off. You know, like you shouldn't even have counted that, bro, like I don't even know what. That's not the way you do. I'm not a data scientist, I'm not a mathematician at all, but I'm pretty sure you can't just say it's 100% off when you're comparing something with the number zero. But anyway, so his numbers of 5% off for Jungle Scout and 70% off of Helium 10, the whole thing is bogus, right. Like it wasn't an accurate test and he shouldn't have even done it anyways, as I'm going to show in a little bit, because Helium 10, again has nothing to do with Search Query Performance. Now Jungle Scout has said multiple times, even in this thread hey, you know, we're close at Search Query Performance, so go ahead and compare Jungle Scout to Search Query Performance. Guess what I'm about to do that you know in a few minutes here. Uh, so that part was fine. But again, why are you all trying to bring Helium 10 into this conversation? Now you might be wondering well, what is Helium 10 search? I'm going to get to that in a little bit.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, another funny thing about this one you know graph that this guy came up with is the numbers. Instead of showing that, you know, Jungle Scout is so close If you can take this numbers for granted it actually shows that Jungle Scout is way off. Remember I told you, what's more important than the actual number is the order in which, uh, the number of searches is presented. Right, the order, the search frequency, rank. That's the important thing. Take a look at this guy's own graph, like, for example again, I don't know the keywords here because he didn't put it but look at this keyword a, let's just call this keyword a. He's saying Search Query Performance was 6,000. Okay, and this keyword B was 5,000 something. Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you know, if you were going to prioritize one keyword over the other, which one would be the priority. With the actual Amazon data, it would be keyword A right Because it says it has 6,000 search volume. But then look at in his own chart, the Jungle Scout numbers. Or for those same keywords, keyword A only 3,000 search volume. So, the number is far, way, far off. But again, nothing wrong with a number being off. That's not what's important. The importance is the order. But his keyword B Jungle Scouts, keyword B was 4,000 search volume. So, it actually not only was way off in the search form. It was prioritizing the wrong order. So, if you were going by Jungle Scouts, you would have prioritized keyword B, because keyword B has 4,000 search volume and keyword A only had 3000, but guess what? Search Query Performance was completely opposite. So, he thought he was like maybe trying to hype up Jungle Scouts supposedly 5% accuracy but actually he was exposing something where it's off.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, as I started reading this more and I found you know what this entire thing was off because he was taking Jungle Scouts search volume from right now, or you know the last time Jungle Scout checked, which was August 10th. Okay, he was comparing it to Search Query performance all the way from July 1st through the end of July. So, we're not even talking about an apples versus apples comparison here. So, like again this whole original post, kind of like a waste of time here. But what happened was is people started jumping on this and that was what. That was what made me mad and nobody, nobody checked this.

Bradley Sutton:

It's like all these people jumping on this post and say, yeah, this is exactly what we see and we find the same numbers ourselves, and another person said, you know is reposting this and saying look at you know, uh, how accurate Jungle Scout and Data Dive are. But this whole thing was just a ridiculous post in the first place and none of these respected people should have been posting this information. I'm sure maybe I'll do that sometimes, maybe I'll just get so happy that somebody is hyping up Helium 10 and maybe I don't fact check, fact check, uh. But if it has to do with, like throwing a competitor under the bus, you're never going to find me throwing a competitor under the bus If I haven't, like, fact checked everything, like I literally spent the last 48 hours fact checking all of this before I make this podcast here to make sure I'm doing my due diligence and I'm not putting out misinformation, and that's what I would expect others to do as well. But again, you know, regardless of all these numbers being wrong, the whole premise of this was wrong, even if he picked the perfect numbers, because he's trying to compare things to Helium 10, which is based on normalized searches, and Search Query Performance is based on denormalized, and Jungle Scout is denormalized too in day to day because they've been open to say, hey, we're comparing ourselves to Search Query Performance, so they actually said that they were changing to denormalized a couple of like about a year and a half ago. Now let's get a little bit more into the history of search volume on Amazon so you can kind of understand how we got to this normalized versus denormalized. Now Amazon years ago like 2018 around there actually made a search volume that is normalized the actual number that Helium 10 designed its algorithm after it was available in the API to like software tools, and Helium 10 was the very first one to get access to it, and so we've got the most historic search volume data out there Now.

Bradley Sutton:

Normalized means how many times pretty much somebody typed in a search term. So, if I search coffin shelf right now, that's one search. But then if I search that same keyword 10 hours from now, you know within 24 hours the search volume that Amazon counts as normal. Normalized means it still only counts as one. If I click to page two, it only counts for one. If I click back on my browser after I was on page two, it still only counts as one. There's only one search that somebody did in 24 hours.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, denormalized means hey, I search coffin shelf right now, there's one search. I click on a product on that page, I click back on my browser. Guess what that's? Another search. I click another product and I click back. There's another search. There’re three searches. Now I click to page two of the search results. Guess what that's counted as a search. Now we're up to four. Five hours later I come back to my computer and I search again that same exact keyword. Guess what that's five? I hit refresh on my browser for whatever reason. Guess what that's six? So, D? Uh, norm, denormalized means it's counting six searches, six search volume for that one individual, whereas normalized, which is what the original Amazon search volume is based off of, it's only counting one.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, before, when Amazon first started product opportunity explore and Search Query Performance, amazon still was basing their search volume on normalized searches. But then they made this big announcement all over the place in about April May of 2023, that says, hey, we are changing our model. This was plastered all over the place in Search Query Performance we're changing our model to be denormalized, and they explained exactly what denormalized meant, and that was like what I was talking about. And so, what was the difference in the search volume number Once Amazon moved it? I actually have some screenshots. Take a look at this. This is from a post I made because I used to talk about denormalized and normalized all the time. So, here's a post I made in one of our Facebook groups If you look at the coffin shelf niche, all of the keywords put together for 360 days was 85,000 searches. That's the normalized search volume. But then Amazon changed Search Query Performance and opportunity explorer to denormalized and now what was a 360-day search volume? Take a look at this screenshot here 406,000. It was like a five to one difference. Almost you see how big of a difference that made it. When they went to the Dean uh, normalized. And so again, this is why I was thinking that hey, like, hey, every all these respected, you know executives in the industry, they know this stuff. I mean that was all over Amazon. Um, I'm sure they've got to know these things and we weren't keeping, we were not hiding this.

Bradley Sutton:

I would just talk about this nonstop Episode 433 of this podcast. You'll see I talked about the normalized versus denormalized Episode 435 of the podcast, episode 485. I actually had the Search Query Performance team from Amazon come on the podcast and they did a complete breakdown of what normalized versus denormalized meant. Even up to like a month ago I had Mansoor on the podcast he was talking about normalize versus denormalized in episode 584. So, this is not like some industry secret. All right, everybody should know what normalize versus denormalized means and that Helium 10 has always been based on the normalized.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you might ask me like which one is better? Now, that's a subjective thing. Everybody can like their own kind of search volume. But for me I like the normalized searches better because to me that's more of an indication of what I'm trying to get at. I want to, I'm trying to find out how many customers are searching for this product and the normalized will count that one, that search volume, as one, but the denormalized counts it as five or six, just because they're clicking around on the browser. So, to me the more accurate number is the normalized search because you know it tells me hey, in this one instance there's one customer who is looking for it, or there was 100 customers who are looking for it, whereas on the other one I'm not sure how many times somebody was clicking around. That number just is kind of inflated. So that's why I personally like normalized. But hey, if somebody might have a use case for denormalized, I'm not sure what it would be, but let me know why you think that one might be better. Either way, you're still going to be able to prioritize it's. It shouldn't be that far off. But yes, Search Query Performance is going to be different than Brand Analytics, Amazon versus Amazon data, even though it's both from Amazon, because it's normalized versus denormalized. That's why the order is actually different, even when you're comparing those two.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, that's one of the reasons why I was getting so upset that they were all posting about this is because it's not. We're not even talking about comparing apples to apples. It's kind of like in this post, everybody was jumping on the bandwagon and saying, hey, look at, Jungle Scout is a tangerine orange, very close to a blood orange, right, ooh, that's very nice that they're close. Great, you're comparing an orange to an orange, good on you. But then they're coming in and saying, oh, but look, Helium 10 is an apple or a Granny Smith apple. Look how far off it is from this blood navel orange. Like, why are we even comparing this Granny Smith apple? We're not even trying to be an orange, or if there were Jungle Scout orange.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, where not even trying to be an orange, were just trying to be an apple that’s all were tying to do. So, why are you trying to bring us into this conversation about oranges, right. So, that was when I became so upset. But now, looks like, you know what, let’s go and let’s do a real test. You know like here, ah, I think we all agree that how bogus is this test that was done was and how useless it is. But like, all right, let’s go ahead and take Brand Analytics. Let’s compare that to Helium 10. Let’s take Search Query Performance, let’s compare it to Jungle Scout. And who has the most accurate search volume. Who has the most actionable search order.

Bradley Sutton:

So, what I did was I spent like much of the last 48 hours just like diving deep into their information. All right, I pulled in the Brand Analytics search frequency rank for 31 keywords that have to do with like coffin shelves and stuff. All right, I took the Search Query Performance from each week though the exact week that matched the Brand Analytics, and then, four weeks, I pulled out all of these keywords one by one, because I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to use pivot tables and V lookups and stuff. So, I took these one by one, the search ones, because remember that one guy's test was based on a number from July. I'm like, no, let's make it apples to apples. Here's Jungle Scouts number as of eight, 10, which is a full month number. Let's take the eight, three to eight, 10 search rate performance. Let's take the seven, 28 to eight, three. Let's add up those four weeks and make it a month and let's compare it. All right. So, I took all of that, I went in and I took all of the Jungle Scout numbers.

Bradley Sutton:

I went into Helium 10 and I took all of the magnet numbers for the search volume and I was like, all right, let's go ahead, put this stuff to the test and then so let's take a look, all right. So, first of all, why do I say, where did I get that 93.5 accuracy for Helium 10? Well, remember, there is no public search volume that you can compare one V one, the number of Helium 10, but what kind of normalized search do we have in Amazon that we can compare with Helium 10 Brand Analytics? So here, the first test I did was I took the Brand Analytics 31 keywords that have to do with coffin shelves and then I took Helium 10 and I got all the search volume of those same exact keywords. And then I sorted Brand Analytics keywords in the search frequency rank order, because that means you know the higher or the lower the number of search frequency rank, the more that it's searched Right. And then I ordered the Helium 10 one in the order of descending search volume order and guess what? It was almost identical. The first 29 keywords was 100% the exact same order. Only on the 20 or the 30th keyword here did things, uh, get out of whack and two of them were flipped coffin pet bed and glass coffin. Helium 10 had in the wrong order compared to Amazon Brand Analytics. So that is a 93.5% accuracy. How cool is that? All right, only two off. So, can you trust Helium 10 search volume? Is Helium 10 accurate a hundred percent? Well, maybe not a hundred percent 93.5%, all right. So there that part of the story is done. Helium 10, 93.5% accuracy. If you're comparing it to the only normalized data point we have, which is Brand Analytics.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what about Jungle Scout? With Jungle Scout, what I did was I took the all of the Search Query Performance for four weeks. Right, I took four exact weeks and added it all up, so we have a full 30 day or one month search volume number uh goth, uh 121,000. Uh, gothic decor a hundred thousand, so on and so forth. And then I took the Jungle Scout search volume from the tool, their 30-day search volume. So here in Jungle Scout you can see where I got that information of 83,903. This is the exact search volume 30 day for the keyword goth. And if I actually click on their details, I can see when that date was from, because the very last date that they have in the system is August 10th. Okay, so we are like on a apples to apples comparison here, because search group performance was also based on the week, the month ending October or August 10th.

Bradley Sutton:

And so, the first thing, remember Jungle Scout data dive. Everybody loves to compare. Jungle Scout is so accurate compared to a Search Query Performance. Let's look at the raw number. Remember, spoiler, like I said before, like I don't think the number is the most important thing, but if you guys are going to flaunt your uh accuracy, is that really true? Let's take a look. If you compare the month search volume of Search Query Performance versus Jungle Scout, on average, look at this it's 44% off, 46% off, 44% off, 71% off, 84% off. As a matter of fact, on average, it's a total of 34.5% off. Okay, 34.5% off is the number, but what? What if you say, okay, forget about the search volume number? You know search volume, you know? Actually, I don't think that 34.5% is that bad. If something has 10,000 searches and then it really has 7,000, is that the end of the day? You know, probably not right, but again, I'm just calling this out because they're trying to say, oh, our numbers and our data shows that we're 5% off. You know always. No, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the other thing is remembered I said that search position, the order of search, is actually arguably more important than the search volume. So how off was Jungle Scout compared to Search Query Performance? The very first 11 keywords, Jungle Scout was 100% on, but then things got off the rail, and almost every other keyword was out of order. For example, coffin box was the 17th most searched term for Jungle Scout, but it was the 12th most searched term for Search Query Performance. And that is where I got the number of 41.9% accurate, because only 13 out of 31 had the right order of keywords 41.9%. How many did Helium 10 have when compared to Brand Analytics? 29 out of 31, which is the 93.5%. So again, whose search volume is more accurate between Data Dive and Jungle Scout and Helium 10? Helium 10 wins with 93.5% and Jungle Scout with 41.9%.

Bradley Sutton:

But then something was bothering me. Let me show you exactly what I mean. So, what was bothering me was when I looked at the Jungle Scout search volume history, I noticed that week by week, they actually had a weekly search volume, which I thought was actually pretty cool. I was like, oh, that's nice, they give the exact search volume for 30 days, but then weekly. But then it didn't add up. Like if you add up these last four weeks it does not add up on Gothic Decor to 68 000. Like wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense. How can the week uh be different? I was thinking, oh, maybe, maybe you know it's 28 days and so they need to. You know there's two days extra and I couldn't get it to like Jive.

Bradley Sutton:

But then I figured out what Jungle Scouts doing and they're actually doing something similar to Helium 10. They're actually basing their monthly search volume on a weekly velocity of the last day, the seven days, which is actually, actually, like I said, that's what Helium 10 is doing and that's good on Jungle Scout for figuring that out. That’s the best way to present it. But you know you might be confused if you might think that Jungle Scout was doing something weird in the numbers, because the monthly doesn't add up to what the weekly is. But watch this. This is what I figured out. Look at, the very last week of this Gothic Decor keyword had 15,982. If we take 15,982 divided by seven days, and then we multiply that by 30 days seven days, right. And then we multiply that by 30 days, that is the number 68,494. And that's what their exact search volume for the full month is.

Bradley Sutton:

So, then I thought, wait a minute, maybe I was shortchanging Jungle Scout on this. I was just taking their, their number at raw data, their exact 30-day number, and comparing it to 30-day Search Query Performance. But if the real number is the week search volume because that's what it seems like they're basing their whole month off, I should just be comparing apples to apples and compare their latest week to Search Query Performance, latest week, right, again, if they're trying to be Search Query Performance, that would be a better comparison. So, I was like, oh, who knows, maybe the numbers are going to look better, did it? Let's take a look.

Bradley Sutton:

The first thing that I tested was just the percentage off on the week. So again, I'm comparing the Jungle Scout super specific week number with the Search Query Performance week number and it was off 48%. It was 48% lower than Search Query Performance. I'm like, nope, no help there, this is actually worse. This actually made it worse Now that I got the real number because, remember, their month data, for whatever reason, was only off by 34%. This is off by 48%. So, then the next thing, I was like, okay, well, let me go and maybe the order is a little bit better. You know how? For from the, if I'm comparing the one week to the other week, is the order of the search volume at least better than before? Nope, 35.4% accuracy.

Bradley Sutton:

Jungle Scout and Data Dive versus Search Query Performance, even when you're just comparing the week. So, no matter what way you spin this around, well, no matter what way you look at it, Jungle Scout and data diver just way off from Search Query Performance. Now, I don't mean to sound like I'm exaggerating. I've said this a few times before. I don't think numbers being far off is that big of a deal. Like, if you're 30% off, you're within the realm of possibility. But again, I'm bringing this out because, oh my God, do you know how many, how many blogs Jungle Scout has come out with saying oh, we are 5% more accurate than Helium 10, 11%. This is a big deal. And they're making a big deal out of 11% or something which I don't agree with those numbers in the first place. But even so, how can they be saying that when all their search volume numbers are literally 30% off and Helium 10 is 93% accurate? So anyways, guys, hope you guys stuck with me to the end.

Bradley Sutton:

I usually don't get so worked up like this, but I used to argue on the internet all the time. That was how I got discovered at Helium 10 was. I would always go on Facebook groups and start arguing with people who had misinformation, and I I've kept to myself for a while, but I just this, this just latest uh episode just kind of upset me and I was just like I just want to set the record straight again. I don't have anything personal against anybody involved in this this. You know people writing the blogs or the, or the people you know posting on LinkedIn and stuff. But it's my advice to every you know people out there who are respecting you know like there are people you know I guess I'm one of them Like is it still kind of strange for me to think like that?

Bradley Sutton:

But if you're a public figure in the Amazon world or any world, be careful what you post. You know, like be proud of your company. Nothing wrong with that. I mean you, you you've worked really hard to build up your company in the Amazon ecosystem. By all means, be proud of it. You know, um, I'm proud of my company.

Bradley Sutton:

Otherwise, why would I put a Helium 10 logo on my basketball court and do all the other crazy stuff? I do nothing wrong with being proud of your company, but don't put out misinformation just to. You know, kind of like elevate your company, or I would hope that nobody even here is doing that purposely, but then the alternative if it wasn't on purpose. It means that you're just like not even fact-checking and not even making sure that you're putting out the correct information, because you just want to, you know, hype yourselves up and try and throw Helium 10 to the bus. It doesn't even have to be Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't care who we're talking about. It could be Jungle Scout versus Data Dive or whatever comparison you're going to do. Guys, just let's keep it civilized. Talk about facts if you want to talk about facts, but don't try and sensationalize certain things and paint the wrong picture, because people listen to those of us who have these kinds of platforms on the internet and they take our word at face value, and so that's a heavy responsibility.

Bradley Sutton:

And I'm not saying to totally misrepresent the entire way that a company does things or misrepresent my own accuracy, you know, and just hope that nobody calls me out on it. But anyways, um hope you guys found this interesting because, like I said before, search volume is important and you got to know who you can trust, and I think it's hands down. This has proven that. Hey, you are going to be able to trust Helium 10 with your search form, because we've got the most accurate out there at 93.5%. So, um, thank you guys for tuning in, and I'm going to do some other exposés now because I'm still riled up about some of these crazy blogs. It's time to set the record straight. But hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we'll see you in the next one.

View Details

YouTube takes on TikTok Shop with expanded Shopify partnership
https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/20/youtube-takes-on-tiktok-shop-with-expanded-shopify-partnership/

Walmart adds a Burger King benefit to its membership program
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/22/walmart-plus-burger-king-benefit.html

Shein sues Temu over copyright infringement, alleges rival loses money on every sale
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/20/shein-sues-temu-over-copyright-infringement-trade-secret-theft.html

FTC finally makes a sneaky online shopping tactic illegal
https://www.thestreet.com/retail/ftc-online-shopping-tactic

Temu’s Semi-Hosted Japan Site Will Officially Launch on August 27
https://pandaily.com/temus-semi-hosted-japan-site-will-officially-launch-on-august-27/

50% of Amazon Prime, Walmart+ Subscribers Step Up During Sales Events
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2024/50-of-amazon-prime-walmart-subscribers-step-up-during-sales-events/

How Amazon supports Black-owned businesses during Black Business Month—and all year long
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/small-business/how-amazon-supports-black-owned-businesses-during-black-business-month-and-all-year-long

Make sure to watch this week’s training tip in our Helium 10 Alerts tool, this is something that could potentially save you thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. That's how valuable this tip is. Lastly, don't miss our insights into Helium 10 Adtomic's new features for creating custom bid rules in PPC management, designed to optimize your campaigns effectively.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:50 - Big Amazon Coupon Change
03:05 - Youtube x Shopify
04:47 - FBA Inventory Deadlines
05:36 - Walmart x Burger King
07:07 - International Return Update
08:08 - Temu vs. Shein
09:48 - FTC vs Fake Reviews
12:48 - Temu Japan
13:11 - Prime / Walmart+ Stats
14:33 - Black Business Accelerator
15:10 - Subscribe to Helium 10’s YouTube Channel
15:40 - Training Tip: An Alert That Can Save you $1000’s
19:07 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon has made a big update to coupons and promotions that could save you from some expensive mistakes. YouTube's trying to pull off some TikTok shop type moves. Walmart's giving away free Burger King Whoppers these stories and more on this edition of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 weekly buzz. We give you a rundown of all the news stories and goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We let you know what new Helium 10 features have and also give you a training tip of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. I've got a number of articles this week, so let's go ahead and hop right into it. First one coming up here is actually I was adding a coupon to this new product launch I'm doing of a coffin letter board and look what we found here on the coupon page. Anybody else notice this? In your browsers when you're trying to do coupons, there's this section that says stack promotions and it says do you want to allow this coupon to stack with percentage off or buy one get one. Promotions yes, allow stacking or no? Allow stacking. Now, this is pretty important because, as you know, in the past, like promotions stack with coupons and vice versa, meaning like let's say you had like a 20% off coupon on your page but then you had a 20% off promotion, that customer who's savvy could pick up both of those and apply it to your order, get 40% off right. But now, finally, you have the option to have it not stack If you're creating the coupon. Next, in the new help document about this, under stack promotions, amazon says here, based on your input provided on if you are going to stack or not, either one or both of the coupons or percentage off or buy one get one, free promotions will apply at checkout. So, for example, gave an example here it says let's say that you create a coupon 10% off and a percentage off coupon 20% off on the same ASIN, same duration. Now, if you say yes, I'm going to allow stacking during this promotion creation. Now both of these promotions are going to stack and the customer is going to get now 30% off at the checkout, right, the 10% plus the 30%. But if you select. No, I do not want them to stack. These promotions won't stack, and so the customer maybe they might see it and try and clip the coupon and do the promotion, but it says they're only going to get the higher benefit of the two promotions. So, like in that case there was a 20% off coupon and a 10% off promotion, they would get the 20% off coupon. So that's something that's pretty cool. I highly recommend doing that, for you know, usually people don't want to stack, and then when people have had stuff stacked, it's by accident and they end up losing a lot of money that they didn't realize. So if you're one of those who do not want your promotion stack, make sure to always click that no stacking.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from TechCrunch and it's entitled YouTube takes on TikTok shop with expanded Shopify partnership. All right, we talked a little bit about this, oh, I want to say, about four or five months ago, but now it looks like YouTube is ramping up efforts. It says, as TikTok shop is gaining traction, YouTube is expanding its partnership with Shopify to onboard more brands for its YouTube shopping affiliate program. All right, so now creators and influencers are going to get access to 1000s of new brands. It wasn't, like you know, before. We're just like 10 brands or something like very small number of brands you could actually promote for in a shopping experience on YouTube. Now it says 1000s of new brands are going to allow those products to be tagged in shopping videos. So you know, generating a lot of affiliate commission for these YouTube creators. Now if you're wondering, hey, what is the potential of this, well, YouTube actually had a pretty interesting stat. They said that people watched more than 30 billion hours of shopping related videos on YouTube last year and that the platform saw a 25% increase in watch time for videos that help people shop. And so you know, traditionally, the only option is okay, here I'm an influencer, I'm going to make a video about something and I'm directing people to Amazon, or I'm directing people to TikTok, or I'm directing people to Walmart or whatever, right. But now the YouTube influencers are going to be able to create content and then, right in there, link directly to Shopify products and people are going to be able to buy directly from YouTube or in the YouTube platform. And then these influencers are going to be incentivized because they now can get affiliate commission on YouTube.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from your Seller Central dashboard. Just a reminder of some important dates coming up. All right, prime big deal days is coming up in October. So now they announced that, hey, the last day that you can get inventory in to make sure that you have the Prime Ready badge is going to be September 13th. And then they reiterated again we already announced this a couple weeks ago Black Friday and Cyber Monday you've got to have your product in by October 19th. One other update they gave was hey, if you are using, you are going to get 25% off the base rate for e-storage fees and 15% off the base rate for AWD processing and transportation fees. All right, so this is going to be a limited time offer. If you're using a, amazon is giving putting some money back in your pocket for a change. What, what? What a novel concept. That is all right. Usually we're used to the uh, the other, the other side of things, right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from CNBC. This one gave me a chuckle here. You know we've talked before about how amazon will come out with something. Wal. Walmart will come out with something. Vice versa, Walmart is now a pioneer in doing something new. Now we've always talked about the benefits that Amazon Prime starts adding, the benefits that Walmart Plus starts adding et cetera. Because the more Walmart Plus, the more Amazon Prime members, the better it is for us sellers, right, the more likely it is that we're gonna get sales increase. Well, now Walmart is doing a first. They're the first ones in this. They're adding Burger King as a benefit to the Walmart plus program. All right. So now, if you've got Walmart plus, you're going to be able to save 25% off of any Burger King order made through the Burger King app. All right. In addition, members will also be eligible for a free Whopper every three months, starting in September with a purchase. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So first of all, you know it's painful to do this article. I've been on a crazy diet this week before I go traveling, lost already like eight pounds, and I'm looking at these hamburgers and fries. I'm like, oh my goodness, my stomach is growling. But anyways, I digress. What I really want to see now is all right, amazon, the ball's in your court. Let's see you make a similar deal with, like a fat burger in and out, Jollibee, something like that, and I'm going to be there. I need something for my Burger King. I'm not too much of a fan of, so. So, amazon, please hook us up with some good fast food and I am there to take advantage of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is going back to the amazon dashboard. It's an update just on international returns, all right. So seller fulfilled international returns is going to be updated starting September 16th. So if you're an international seller who's selling in the US but you're overseas and you don't have a default US return address in Seller Central, now you are going to be required to issue a return less refund or provide a prepaid international return shipping label. So this is kind of interesting. This might seem like one of those articles. Maybe you just completely skip over, but read this in detail. But read this in detail. You know, those of you who are overseas, check do you have a U S return? Because, trust me, guys, that's going to get expensive. All of a sudden, you know your customers start getting you know returned without even you being consulted, and you don't realize it. Or you have to go pay for some international shipping which is crazy expensive, all right. So take a look at this article in your dashboard, see if that affects you, those of you overseas sellers out there.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go back now to CNBC for another article, and this one's entitled Sheen sues Temu over copyright infringement, alleges rival losses money on every sale. So you know people are talking about oh man, Temu is trying to be like Amazon, you know, because they're trying to recruit US sellers and fulfilled in the US. You know, amazon trying to be like Temu. You know, trying to get Chinese sellers to ship directly with subsidized shipping. And then you know they're scared of each other for taking market share. You know, stories like that here and there have been coming up. But now it's Temu versus Sheen. All right, so this is something that was actually filed in the US. All right, this isn't some internal battle going on in the streets of Beijing or something right in China. This is happening in the US, in Washington DC.

Bradley Sutton:

A civil complaint where Sheen accused Temu of stealing its designs and also that an employee stole confidential trade secrets. They also say, hey, Temu is losing money on every single sale it makes and it uses trademark infringement to make up for the losses. This, this fight, you know, talks about a lot of different things, but it's kind of interesting because it kind of paints a picture of how sheen and Temu are making money and it makes you wonder, like, is that model sustainable? Like, if they are losing money in every order. How in the world can they keep that going, right? So, if you're interested in in these other marketplaces, I'm trying to get my Temu account set up just to test it out. I'm having a heck of a time getting approved on there, so so I'm still working on. I still want to be able to give you guys an update about Temu. So we'll see how it goes and let's see what if this lawsuit, ever you know, results in anything.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up article from the Street. It's entitled FTC finally makes a sneaky online shopping tactic illegal. Now, this article kind of confused me a little bit. I need to do some more research on this, because I'm not 100% sure that this article is going to happen the way it thinks it's going to happen. Okay, but this is a step in the right direction, all right. The article starts out hey, if you've ever read an online review for a product and thought, hey, this is too good to be true, you're probably right. It says that 30 or 40% of online reviews have been fake. But then here we go. But that will soon change, as the era of fake online reviews is about to come to an abrupt end. No, guys, I'm sorry. I don't care what FTC or Amazon or anybody, there is no way that you're going to clean up bad reviews, you know, like super fast, all right, it's just I'm sorry it's not going to happen. But again, I'm not trying to badmouth this. This is a move in the right direction, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now this new rule that's going to go in effect in October from the FTC, it's going to ban fake online reviews in several different ways. All right, the first rule says it's going to prohibit reviews from people who don't exist. Like wait, how can people who don't exist make review? No, obviously, what it's referring to is people making fake, you know. Can people who don't exist make review? No, obviously. What it's referring to is people making fake you know, profiles and leaving reviews, doing brushing and things like that, and also reviews generated by artificial intelligence. It's kind of saying that it's inferring that it's not going to be allowed. And now the interesting thing here maybe the most interesting for me is it says reviews from individuals who never experienced the product, business or service will be banned as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, why do you think I found that interesting? Because to me I'm now wondering does that mean that they're going to require Amazon, you know, Walmart, other platforms, to not accept any reviews other than verified reviews. You know, right now I can just go on any product and leave a review, right. But that almost makes me think, right that that Amazon might, or FTC might, ban that. The non-verified review is interesting. Now the rule also blocked businesses from providing compensation for positive or negative reviews. Okay, so I mean up until a few years ago that was even allowed on Amazon. It's still not illegal per se. Like I if I have McDonald’s, I can go pay somebody right now to leave a good review on my google profile. I guess you know, but that that's not going to be allowed anymore. So it's not just amazon's getting bad. It looks like that's going to be banned across the board. It says insider reviews, like by those who work for the company, is going to be prohibited. And here's a funny one, a funny statement. It says businesses will also no longer be allowed to use legal, groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, to prevent a negative review. It says no longer be allowed. Does this mean that until now you've been allowed to use physical threats to get people to change? I don't know what this article is trying to say, or the FTC, I mean it is supposedly it was just quoted here but interesting stuff coming to the world of reviews.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article up here is from pandaily.com. Quick note Teemu is opening up a new marketplace in Japan on August 27th. Go look up information on that. Take a look at this article. It might be a good opportunity to get in a brand new marketplace. You know, right before it gets too big, who knows? If you're selling in Amazon Japan, you could probably get your stuff on the new Temu marketplace pretty fast if you hurry.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from payments.com. It was another one of these surveys. Some of these surveys are pretty interesting. It says 50% of Amazon Prime and Walmart Plus subscribers step up during sales events. Now, based on this study, they had some interesting data points here, all right. For example, it says shopper spending climbed 11% to 14 billion on this Amazon prime day. Now, 40% of all consumers participated in prime day. 20% participated in Walmart plus week, which is like their version of prime day. Now, this is pretty interesting because that Walmart number is still lagging way behind Amazon, but that surged 71% from 2022. It was only at 12% in 2022. So interesting Walmart Plus might be catching up. Walmart Plus subscriptions have increased 30%, especially among millennials and individuals earning less than $100,000 annually. But it says here Walmart Plus still lags way behind Amazon Prime, and both events saw a 50% participation rate from their subscribers. So interesting little stats that maybe you want to check this article out. Walmart plus is is still way, way, way behind amazon, according to this article, but they are catching up, maybe at a little bit faster rate than you might have expected.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the last article of the day is just from amazon. Remind sellers that this month is black business month, all right. And then it talks here in this article about the Black Business Accelerator, a program that we've talked about right here on the podcast. It talks about a lot of the features they have for black owned businesses. It has some quotes here from Rod. You might remember right here he used to be. He was on the Serious Sellers podcast before. So if you have a black owned business, make sure that you get certified so you can get that badge, and then you're actually going to qualify for some special programs inside of the black business accelerator that Amazon has. Make sure to check out the article link to below for that.

Bradley Sutton:

So I want you guys to do is to go to YouTube search Helium 10, and make sure to hit this subscribe, the subscribe button right here at the top, and then make sure that you put notification on all, all notifications, so you know when we come out, weekly buzz and other articles. If you guys are watching a video right now, you're watching this on YouTube itself. Right under the actual video there's that subscribe button. Make sure to hit it, make sure you're subscribed, make sure it says all so that you get notified when we have new videos.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into our training tip of the week, and this is something that could potentially save you thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars. That's how valuable this tip is, all right. So a lot of sellers have said oh man, you know, I wish that I could be able to know if I'm on the border, what am my packaging on the border of one of these size tier changes like bulky to standard size, you know, or small oversize to just regular oversize? If I'm on the border, that could actually mean a lot of dollars to your bottom line. How are you going to find that? Whether you have a Platinum Diamond, whatever plan you have, watch this, what I want everybody to do right after this video or you can do it right now If you're at home. Go to Helium 10 Alerts. So go to your Alerts page you can find it in the tool menu and it is under operations hit Alerts and then check out on the top left-hand side under the overview section.

Bradley Sutton:

Normally, under overview, most sellers only have three lines of notifications talking about the buy box, monitoring slots et cetera. But if you have a package that is near the border of one of these size tiers, you are going to have a fourth line of Alerts here and it's going to say products with size tier automate optimization suggestions. And, as you can see, it says I've got three. So I click this button and it's going to take me to those suggestions. So take, you can see it says I've got three. So I click this button and it's going to take me to those suggestions. So take a look here. It took me to the place that has my dimensions and there's a big red little icon and then it's giving me a message. It says we've identified an opportunity to optimize your FBA fulfillment costs. By reducing the link by one inch, you could potentially move from size tier large bulky to large standard size, decreasing the FBA fulfillment costs from $10.75 to $7 per unit.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, do the math really quick. All right, let's that. That's a whopping $3 whopping. You see, I was thinking about the Whopper that I talked about in the weekly buzz earlier. Yeah, $3.75 is nothing to scoff at. Let's do some math here. All right, so let's say I sell of this product 15 units a day, and now on my next shipment or maybe I can just change the packaging now on my next package and I can go take that one inch off, and now I save $3.75. Let's say, what did I say? Let's just say I sell 15 units a day, all right, so $3.75 times 15 units a day, that means every day. This could mean $56.25 to my bottom line. Times that by 365.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, this one alert from Helium 10 has the potential to get me $20,000. I think that's a pretty valuable thing that Helium 10 is offering. So I hope everybody rushes to their computer. Check your Alerts page, check If you've got that size to your optimization active. Go to it and then take it. Take a look Now. You know some of you who are selling products that are a set size like because you have a mold or something it's not like. You can just snap your fingers and change your packaging. But, like me, if this is like one of my coffin shelves, I can easily redesign my next shipment where I can just shave off a half inch off the product itself and maybe shave it another half inch off of the packaging inside so I can cut down to that size All right. So that's a really cool update. Guys, make sure to go check that out. I said update. This has actually been around for about three or four months, but I think a lot of you guys didn't realize we had that. Now we are going to get into our Helium 10 new feature Alerts. Last week we had a huge one with a completely redesigned keyword tracker. This week I've got a lot of Adtomic updates for you.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. The very first one is the ability for ad Adtomic now to run sponsored ad TV ads. The first one here is now ad Adtomic is pulling in your sponsored TV campaigns. You're gonna be able to make rules in Adtomic for your sponsored TV ads. You're going to be able to see the metrics and run analytics. All of you can see me like I don't have any sponsored TV ads. It’s going to be able to see the metrics and run analytics. All of you can see me like I don't have any sponsored TV ads. It says zero right here, but now it is importing. How many of you guys out there are using sponsored TV? I'm just very curious. I'm not sure you know, like how much this is being used out there in the Amazon world. Let me know, are you, are you running sponsored TV ads? Have it? Has it worked out? Well, regardless, if you're using Adtomic, you can now make AI rules and bid rules and a whole bunch of cool keyword harvesting and things from those campaigns directly from Adtomic.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing we have in Adtomic is a new way to make bid rules. Okay, so in Adtomic you can create your own custom rules. You can say, hey for my bid. If, if my ACOS is over this amount and my ROAS is less than this amount, then I want you to take the bid and increase it by 10%. Like it can get super, super granular and very complicated, and rightfully so. I mean PPC is complicated. A lot of our customers out there use a lot of different methods when they're running their PPC, so you need this level of granularity to be able to make rules. But other people you might be like overwhelmed, like oh man, I don't got time to make all these rules. I really like some templates and so you know, now we actually have some templates. So if you go to add Tomic and hit add new rule, you know you choose all the products that you want to apply to this rule. Now, on the right hand side, you choose all the products that you want to apply to this rule. Now on the right hand side you are going to see this button that says apply template. So hit that and you'll be able to choose from some bid templates that we have, and we're going to keep adding more.

Bradley Sutton:

Like I believe destiny from better media is working on some. But, for example, you've got one that says high a cost bid window and current bid safety net set up to lower a cost. That sounds like a mouthful right there, but basically what it means is like hey, you're decreasing bids on a high a cost target within a window based on certain kinds of criteria. Another one is decrease when cost per click is lower than the bid. So some people are like hey, I've got a bid that's $4, but if I'm getting cost per click for only three, I don't need to be at $4. You know somebody could bid me up and I could lose money. I want to go decrease it. You can just create a rule and all the little algorithms instead of having to, you know, come up with the actual rule step by step, it's going to just automatically create that for you. You've got an automatic bid rule, that's that takes away your wasted spend who doesn't want that? And then another automatic or another template that increases your exposure and resets your bid if you feel that there's a certain you know threshold that you're not reaching.

Bradley Sutton:

So a couple cool updates right there in Adtomic. Now, the coolest one of them all is now you can do paw. You can set a rule to pause your targets. Okay now, why is? Why is this important? I have rules in Adtomic where, for my search terms, I'm like, hey, if I get 20 orders and, by the way, guys, you know whether you use Adtomic or not this is something that I hope you guys are doing with your own software or with your own spreadsheets but basically I have rules where I'm like, hey, if I get 30 clicks or something like that 25 clicks, 30 clicks, 20 clicks with no sales I want to pause this or I want a negative match, right, this search term.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, I've always suggested do not negative match search terms in your performance manual campaigns, your, your exact manual campaigns, because now it's going to look like you have a target active but you really pause it in the background and then you might be like, oh no, I can't add any more keywords or targets to this campaign, cause I have so many, but in actuality you had pause all of them. You just don't realize it. So because of that, now we have the ability to make a rule. Let me show you guys how to do that here in Adtomic. I can go in here and I can select a new rule type and I'm going to put bid. All right, I hit next. Now it's going to take me to the new bid rule page and then watch this from here.

Bradley Sutton:

Under the criteria, I can say, hey, if my ACoS is greater than I don't know, 50%, right, I can actually now choose to pause targeting. All right, so it's going to pause the target. So if you've got an exact manual product targeting, ASIN targeting campaign, a keyword, exact campaign, and you've never and you always had to pause the targets manually, one by one, because you couldn't do a negative match or you didn't want to do a negative match. Now you can set that as a rule in your Adtomic. Another super cool thing that saves you tons of time and, as we know, time is money. So if you guys haven't gotten into Adtomic, make sure to go to h10.me/adtomic and sign up now, because this is what I use to manage all my campaigns and it's just getting better and better as we go along. All right, guys. That's it for this week. Thank you so much for and tuning in. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Are you still using the same Amazon PPC strategies you started with? Join us as Vincenzo Toscano from Ecomcy breaks down the evolution of Amazon PPC campaigns, sharing expert tips for launching and optimizing campaigns for maximum profitability. Vincenzo offers insights on how to adapt your strategies as your business grows and reveals common mistakes sellers make, like applying the same tactics across different stages of a product's lifecycle. From keyword adjustments to bid optimization, you’ll get a comprehensive guide to staying competitive.

Explore the crucial role of keyword optimization during a product launch with Vincenzo's actionable advice. Discover how focusing on exact-match keywords and leveraging tools like Helium 10’s Cerebro can amplify your product’s success. Learn about the importance of the honeymoon period, and why organic positioning should be prioritized to build a solid foundation for future campaigns. With Vincenzo's guidance, you'll be armed with the knowledge to set up effective campaigns right from the start.

Get to grips with the hierarchy of PPC campaign types and how to set ACoS goals tailored to your product's lifecycle with Vincenzo’s expert insights. Dive into strategies for targeting specific ASINs, managing product variations, and maintaining higher bids for exact-match keywords to ensure visibility. Vincenzo also shares his approach to handling irrelevant search terms and optimizing campaign performance. To wrap up, learn how to connect with Vincenzo and his agency, Ecomcy, for further consultation and support, making this episode an invaluable resource for serious Amazon sellers.

In episode 589 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Vincenzo discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Launching With Amazon PPC
02:52 - PPC Tips for Successful Launch
04:08 - Optimizing Amazon PPC Keywords for Success
10:47 - Keyword Research and Profitability Analysis
15:07 - PPC Strategy Hierarchy and ACoS Goals
19:23 - Optimizing ACoS for Amazon Sales
25:20 - Scaling Product With PPC Campaigns
26:48 - Optimizing ASIN Targeting for PPC
29:33 - Keyword Variation Strategy for Campaigns
30:49 - Connecting With Vincenzo and Ecomcy

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Today we're talking with Vincenzo Toscano from Ecomcy and he's going to be sharing tips and strategies for launching with PPC. He's also going to give you some tips and tricks on how to best optimize for profitability and he's going to give you ways to find the best keywords for those launch campaigns.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and this episode is our monthly live Tacos Tuesday show, where we talk about anything and everything Amazon and Walmart, PPC and advertising related with different guests, and today's host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

I'm going to go ahead and bring on our guest, who is a friend of mine and I'm very excited to have him today, and it's Vincenzo Toscano. Hey, Vincenzo.

Vincenzo:

Hello Carrie. Thank you so much for having me and a pleasure to be here. How are you doing?

Carrie Miller:

Yes, I'm doing great. Tell everyone where you're at. You're a world traveler, so.

Vincenzo:

Right now I'm in London, so August for me is been kind of like a slower month. I mean, I still did like two, three trips but it’s lower than usual. And then in September, I retake the traveling around, yeah.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, you're always somewhere, so it's always fun to hear where you're at. Vincenzo, can you just tell everyone a little bit about yourself and also your agency, Ecomcy?

Vincenzo:

So, essentially, at Ecomcy, we are a full Amazon and Walmart brand management agency. So we specialize on everything in terms of listing optimization, PPC, brand creative, international expansion, everything that has to do in terms of all the tasks that your business needs to successfully get scaled into these two marketplaces. So we've got teams across the world. We've got teams in the US, in Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Asia, so, effectively, we're able to cover the full spectrum where, specifically, Amazon is allocated. And, yeah, our main core offering to brands is essentially your one-stop solution when it comes to scaling your brand into these two marketplaces. So, yeah, we do everything from A to Z for you.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, let's go ahead and get into it. Then I'll ask the first question and I want to just get some some of your best tips for PPC. What are some tips that you usually share with people?

Vincenzo:

Of course. So I would say something that I'm very basically been pushing in terms of content is how PPC evolves over time. Right, I feel I have seen this mistake so many times, unfortunately that when we do audits on a daily basis and we have a look at accounts from people that you know are really struggling, I usually identify that one of the main reasons is because the strategy they basically decided to use for the launch is the same one they've been using effectively for scale and also the same strategy they've been using for reaching profitability. So I would say that's one of the main things sellers have to start understanding that PPC is not something that you sit and forget and in fact, I guess so many times this conversation from people that, let's say, want to work with us and say oh, what if you do the campaign once and then I just leave it there and then they're on their own. It's like it doesn't work like that. Your PPC is going to change constantly, especially in markets such as the US that's so competitive If you're not on top of the game and you're practically, you know, adjusting the type of targeting, the type of keywords, the type of beats, the type of ads that you can do sponsor brand, sponsor a product, sponsor display. It can get very, very, very difficult. Now in terms of tips. So I will say one of the first thing and I'm going to focus now a little bit on the launch side of things, because I know that's where most of the sellers really struggle is you have to understand the setup of campaigns that you do throughout a launch of your product. It's completely different when you're on a profitability mode, right, and that's where I want to really give you as much basically actionable steps so you can then go after this live and implement it throughout your next launch. So, when it comes to launching a product on Amazon the other day, guys, we need to understand that PPC is basically a tool that is there to amplify the success of your product on Amazon, right? Why do I say this like that? Because I feel, if your product is the type of product that you feel is gonna require all its PPC to be a successful product, unfortunately I have the bad news for you that is the wrong product, right? PPC is only there as a tool to, of course, get the momentum going, but where the money really is gonna come is from your organic position. Once you understand that initial fundamental, that's going to completely shift your focus in terms of why you do your PPC from day one. We have heard so many times, even from Bradley, like the honeymoon period is the most important thing of your listing on Amazon. Right, it's really the foundation of how Amazon basically goes from knowing zero about your product to building a very mature understanding about where your product is basically reflected within a category and what connotation has to specific keywords. So one of the tip I always give to people when launching a product try to not get distracted by shiny objects, right? So many times I feel people launching their PPC and they try to do all type of the campaigns from day one. They try to do Excel, phrase, automatic, tons of brands, also display. And the issue with that is that because your product is not mature at all and it doesn't have a really good indexation in the system yet, at the end of the day you can actually do worse than actually helping. You're confusing the system with so much data from day one. So the tip is usually the first 14 days to 30 days. I only focus on exact match keywords in terms of the way I target them and I also try to only focus on my 10 to 20 keywords max. I try to not spread myself so thin, because the other mistake and this is a tip as well If you start spreading your budget too thin across multiple keywords, you also dilute your efforts In terms of, when I say dilute your efforts, your budget runs out very fast or you don't show very high on that specific keyword. Well, effectively what happens is that you don't even get enough clicks to make a proper optimization. Therefore, from those initial two weeks to four weeks, you really want to build a strong link between the fact that your product has zero information on Amazon eyes to the point that once you start targeting this keyword aggressively with exact match, you create a link and then that's when you start launching your phrase, your product, your other campaigns and so on and you start creating that momentum. I'm going to make a small pause, so I don't know if you're going to ask something next, but that's a little bit of one of the initial tips I want to give you. Like focus on exact match, try to not dilute your budget across many keywords. That means focus on the core keywords that are really going to position yourself for success in the future and, at the end of the day, that's going to allow you to create that initial foundation to them with the rest of the campaigns forward and also create basically a face in front of Amazon eyes of what your pro actually is and what are the keywords you want to get positioned for.

Carrie Miller:

I think that's really good. Those are good tips because people are always asking me how many keywords they should focus on for launching and how many per campaign. So that's really really good info. So, in terms of keywords, what is the best way to find those keywords that they should? And then you know what kinds of keywords should they be looking for?

Vincenzo:

Yeah Well, the answer is let's see Helium 10.

Carrie Miller:

Very nice.

Vincenzo:

So that's the best way of finding the keywords. Like I mean, we use Helium 10 on our daily basis for finding keywords for our clients, one of the things that is definitely going to be your best tool for that is Cerebro. Cerebro is like the best tool out there when it comes to really filtering down and finding those winning keywords that's actually going to give you the ROAS that you want on your investment. Why that's important? Because another day, when you start researching a specific category, it's very easy to fall into a trap that you come across 50, 100, 200 keywords and you start falling into the mindset oh, if I target all these keywords at once, my chances of success is actually big. And that's actually the opposite. By multiple studies and even case studies we have done internally, usually 70 to 80% of your sales are going to come from 10 keywords most of the time, right? So therefore, once you start understanding that most of the time, 10 to 20 keywords are going to be the backbone of your business, if you start diluting yourself on things that effectively which is what we call the 80 to 20 rule you put your efforts on something that's not going to give you the best outcome. That is not going to create the momentum that you want. So we use Helium 10 by analyzing the top 10 competitors on a specific keyword and once we identify the top 10 competitors, then we use a Cerebro to say, okay, find me the keywords where these competitors are on page one. Okay, and this keywords is consistent across this many number of products. Right, because by using the specific initial filtering, then I'm basically removing a ton of keywords that I know. Yes, these competitors are ranking there, but not necessarily they're on page one and on a consistent basis, because if you're on page one, most likely by nature you got there because you got multiple sales organically and therefore that's why also that keyword, by being repeated across other competitors, is giving you a validation that the keyword is essentially one of the main keywords of that specific category. So once you find those keywords, that's then where you have to also have some of your insights in terms of what you know about the market. What do I mean by that? If you come across a specific category I'm going to put you on an example like yoga mats, which, by the way, very competitive pro guys, so don't do yoga mats. Okay, let's say you come across yoga mat and you do an analysis of the top competitors and then on your top 10 to 20 keywords, you start seeing keywords that, yes, they are very high in search volume and relevancy. But then you start identify that some of those keywords have things embedded that your product doesn't have, maybe a specific material, specific shape, specific color. You have to be careful with that, because if you only go blindly by data and then you don't use your analytical mind to then see it's actually that has some kind of relevancy to my product, you can also fall into the trap of targeting the wrong keywords. So that's how we find the keywords. Then, of course, we can start going deeper into the strategy in terms of, okay, what kind of CPC I want to go for, for example, with the healing term. You also get certain averages. So you can say, at the moment I can only afford this keyword or I can afford that keyword, but you can go even an extra layer and focus on title density, so to focus on keywords that are less competitive. So there are many verticals you can take from there. But the basics is that top 10 competitors finding them where a decent page one on a consistent basis, at least 40 or 50% of those products, and those are usually my starting point, to then go deeper and filter down.

Carrie Miller:

This question from Eric kind of goes along with what you're saying. What if the first 15 to 20 keywords for exact match don't get enough traffic? Also, the bid can get very expensive as well.

Vincenzo:

Yeah. So if you come across that, essentially, the search volume is not high enough, first of all, that's a red flag, because this is actually something, guys, that you should do from the very beginning. Like all this process I've been describing in terms of keyword research has to be part of your product research. Like something I do with all the products that we launch, and I launch beef. Even if the product is a super winning Amazon in terms of the data and I also validate with Helium 10, I still need to figure out my profitability at some point. So what do I mean? Answering your cost per click question, if I then have a look at the cost per click average, right, and that cost per click average in correlation to the average of the conversion, which you might ask yourself, how do we get access to this data? You have brand analytics. You can, with brand analytics, have an understanding of what is the average of conversion With that. If you start making the math of this is the cost per click, this is the average conversion, and I pay X amount of dollar for a product. You know sometimes, mathematically, even if your position number one on all the keywords and you put a minimum in your PPC, you're never gonna be profitable. So that's the first thing you have to do before launch any problem making sure that within your margin, even in the ideal a scenario, you have the best compression, your rank and everything the margin allows for the average of CPC. Now, when it comes to search volume, you're gonna find sometimes products that are gonna be surprising in terms of why this product, for example, is doing $20,000-$30,000. But then when I have a look at the keywords, the keywords don't really resemble the level of demand. It's like very small keywords. Usually that happens because you're going to find a term in the Amazon space called outlier keywords, right, keywords that go beyond the scope of the product itself. So I'm going to give an example. There was this specific product we were working with which was like a key to things in the kitchen, right, like doing a specific type of cakes here and there and all of that. But when you go around the actual keywords of the product, the search volume wasn't high enough. And then we started to see but yes, these two or three competitors are doing high revenue. How are they getting all these sales? When we went deeper into the research, we identified that they were ranking for things such as gift for mom, gift for girlfriend, cooking, cooking accessories. Words are very broad and when you go on those broad, we're talking thousands of search volumes. So that's also something you have to be very careful when you do product research because if not, you might feel, oh yes, this product do x amount of revenue with this, very easy to get keywords. But most of the time, I can guarantee you, is because they have some of these outlier keywords that are pushing the level revenue. And to conclude, if the search volume you feel is not high enough to you know, create the momentum themselves. Something I will try to do is try to attack, for example, accessories that go along with your product. When I have limitation on the keyword level, my best friend is acing targeting Because, for example, let's say you're selling again a yoga mat and let's assume the search volume is very low. Then you're struggling, like, okay, all the keywords have to be yoga mats. Like have a low search volume. I'm really struggling to scale this product. What should I do? Then you start using your money and say, okay, but actually people are buying yoga mats, but they buy yoga blocks or they buy yoga water bottles or they buy leggings, you name it. So what you do is you start targeting with AC, targeting those products, and then you try to, essentially, even if you cannot win at the QLA, you can try to create some kind of profitability by targeting accessories that go with your niche. So that's usually a way you can mitigate that. But again, in conclusion, you're going to find that if then the search fund is really to a point that's super, super minimal, the only savior if I'm honest with you, is going for all of your keywords, which that by itself means you're going to require a higher budget that you anticipated, because usually those are like very big keywords you have to attack.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, those are all really good points. Keyword research is super important and you know when you're doing product research for sure. If I have a well-performing search terms in an auto campaign that I want to start exact campaigns for, should I negate those keywords in the auto campaign or keep them active in the auto campaign?

Vincenzo:

Yeah, I always get this question. So essentially what happens is that as you start running your other campaigns and, as I say, I usually recommend touring your other campaigns at least two weeks or four weeks after launching your product in fact, you can do this exercise. If you try to create a phrase broad other campaigns from day one, it won't excite much campaign. You go to the suggested keyword tab which amazon generic gives for you. You're gonna see that's right and that's effectively the theory and the behavior we have identified. If Amazon doesn't have history about your product, why are you going to give them basically an empty field for them to run like crazy and not really have a direction? What is the real path towards success, right? So once you generate that with exact match, a keyword campaigns when it comes to other campaigns, those are gonna be your best friends. When it comes to keyword that sometimes you're gonna struggle to find, for example, within them, and that's normal, because sometimes other campaign what it's gonna do is it's gonna find like very, very small long tails that have a lower search volume or very specific that sometimes a. The reason why they are so specific is that they come with specific trends throughout the year or they just come and go, so the auto campaign is going to ensure that catch, basically the low hanging fruit. And once you identify these keywords, let's say you start identifying one that start to become very repetitive in sales, like when I say repetitive is at least three to five sales. If it's only one sale, like I, wouldn't necessarily move it to exact much campaign yet because I want to allow it to prove itself right. Once I move it something you want to do and this applies to all your PPC strategy you have to follow always a hierarchy. Exact is the king right, then you have rest, then you have broad, then you have auto campaigns. Why this is important? Because the other mistake I see a lot is let's say you have a bid in your other campaigns of $1, right, and then you move that keyword to an exact match campaign. You put it 50 cents right by nature. The other campaign on Amazon are still gonna have high priority across your whole account and it's gonna hit most of the budget and most likely it's gonna have priority in terms of placement visibility compared to the exact version of that keyword. So that's very important. If you move it, the bids on those new campaigns have to be higher than your other campaigns. Once you move it I usually don't like to negate it. I'm gonna tell you why. You're gonna find that your other campaigns usually you end up in placements that you don't end on manual campaigns. And this is because Amazon essentially when you work with lower bids they have like what we call like lower tier actually placements that they usually are attributed more to auto campaigns. So you're gonna find that for some specific keywords and this happened to us all the time we move the same keyword to a manual campaign and we start getting a higher CPC or conversion drop significantly. Because even if you think you're targeting the same keyword and it goes an extra layer, it's not only about targeting the keywords, it's about how Amazon actually showcased those impressions in different placements. Therefore, for me I don't negate it because if, let's say, I had Yoga Mat at $1, it came at a $1 average CPC on my other campaigns, then I move that to my manual exact. I will start at least at 120. So I have that hierarchy defined. But then I wouldn't fully remove from my other campaigns, at least at the beginning, because I want to see if the behavior of my new campaign is effectively reflecting the reason I moved the queue in the first place. If I see that after a while that behavior start to happen, then usually yes, I like to negate on my other campaigns I move it to exact. But the reason for that is because some of the, when it comes to optimization that we haven't really got deep as of now. One of the things that can get very confusing, especially when you start targeting multiple listings on your account and so on, is the illusion of essentially data that will define clear KPIs. What do I mean by that? Let's say you're targeting Yoga Mart from another campaign and then you're targeting Yoga Mart from an exact match campaign. The same queue is being targeted from two fronts, but then when you're going to do optimization, in Amazon eyes they are seen as two different search terms because they are under different campaigns. So you're not quantifying the real success of the keyword combined, right. You are seeing them separated and if you start doing that across multiple campaigns, what is going to happen is you might fall into the trap of sometimes thinking a keyword is a loser when actually it's a winner where you combine the efforts of all their impressions is having across all the campaigns. So therefore you want to make sure over time if the campaign is performing better for a specific keyword on a specific placement. That's the one you leverage and then over time you start negating the rest until you have a single point of contact for every single keyword.

Carrie Miller:

I'm starting to build campaigns and bid rules in Adtomic. When looking at ACoS and setting goals, should I look at ACoS data from our past campaigns or is there a set percentage for ACoS for certain products?

Vincenzo:

Yeah, so ACoS, at the end of the day it goes a little bit with the tip I was saying in the beginning. It has to be teletraining your strategy in terms of your journey, launching scale, profitability, because it's different, the echoes you're going to target as a brand when essentially the product is completely new compared to when it's very stable, and I'm going to give an example so you can essentially visualize what I'm going to explain next. So let's assume, when you go start selling on Amazon, you had an ACoS of 80% which, again when you launch on Amazon, being over 50% is normal. 50-100% is usually the bandwidth I try to build when launching. Usually, the thing that is most important throughout this phase is actually not even the ACoS, it's conversion right, because when you're launching on Amazon eyes it's not about making money, it's about the new traffic I'm giving to the new kid in the block. How is this person behaving with this new set of traffic? And therefore, in Amazon eyes, if I get as many conversions as possible, which effectively is sales, that is gonna allow me to get a more and more placement organically, indifferently of the ACoS. That's why the initial ACoS of the initial two months I wouldn't use that as a baseline to do what I'm gonna do next, after my scale and profitability because here the focus is not ACoS is making sure I get position organically. Therefore, long-term, I can dilute my efforts for my PPC perspective so I have lower expenses and at the same time, the cells start coming organically, I'm gonna make my order revenue bigger and therefore my TACoS, which is my true ACoS, is gonna get lower and lower and therefore that's what the profitability kicks in. Now, when it comes to setting the goal, something you have to also be mindful is ACoS is highly related as well to your profitability. Okay, why? Because it's not the same delivery aggressiveness I'm going to do with a product that have 50% margin. That product have 10% margin, right, because that defines by itself like how much extra room you can allow to lose money for a specific period of time and you can budget for it. Therefore, the first question you have to ask yourself like do a P&L see what is the basically margin you can allow yourself in terms of, let's say, you identify that your margin is 20%. Once you identify that your margin is 20%, usually a good rule of thumb is that if my margin is 20%, then I should be my ideal ACoS for breaking even, for example, is 20%, but usually what I do as a rule of thumb towards launch, I double it. So whatever is my breaking point, I do 2 to 3 times. So that means I can afford a 40 to 60 percent ACoS and usually that's gonna be like your bandwidth, you need to play in between right and then you, of course, you start diluting, diluting until you get back to 20% and then eventually, with organic sales, they're going to kick in. That's going to make it lower and it's going to make you profitable, yeah.

Carrie Miller:

Next question what search volume of keywords should I target for launching? Some keywords have huge search volume and are hard to rank on page one immediately.

Vincenzo:

Search volume, something that you have to do and this is also another tip, guys when it comes to creating your PPC campaigns. Something that is key is segmentation at the volume level. I have seen this mistake so many times and this is one of the reasons why sometimes your PPC is not working. You should never put on the same campaign a keyword that has a search volume of 10,000 with a keyword that has a search volume of 10,000 with a keyword that has a search volume of 1,000. Why? Because the ratio in terms of difference is so big that, in Amazon eyes, given that this queue has a much higher search volume and therefore relevancy for this specific product, all the budget is going to go to that specific keyword and therefore, if you don't do campaigns that is, for high search volume, medium search volume or low search, low search volume you're going to find the phenomenon which I'm sure a lot of you are going to find if you go right now on your PPC dashboard that only 3 or 4 keywords are getting all the spend and the rest are getting no impressions and clicks. That's the first thing about search volume. Second thing the way you define what search volume you can attack is also highly dependent on what is the budget that you have allocated toward launch, because the higher the search volume is, the higher is going to be the cost per click because, by nature, there's more competition attached to it. That's why this is a question that should actually be asked even before launching the product, throughout the product development phase. But let's say we come across and say, okay, I have an identified that the search volume average is, I'm gonna make you now, basically a bandwidth of what usually you see between 1,000 and 10,000 and usually I have, let's say, 20 keywords in between. Right, usually that's a very similar behavior you're going to find what I usually try to do is most likely if you also go under the 1,000 mark. You're going to find a lot of keywords that have lower search volume, but usually the list is going to go from 20 keywords to maybe 1,500 keywords, because you're going to find a lot of keywords that have a low search volume. Now what is going to happen is usually by norm, I only focus on the top 15 to 20 that define the ratio of the search for us. Therefore, if between 1000 and 10,000 is where I find the top 20 keywords, that's usually the bound where I would stay, from the best keyword to the 15 or 20, right? Because if you start going below that, you're going to dilute the effort. What is going to happen? Your budget is going to spread two things and sometimes, given that you're not competitive enough on the main keywords, most of the budget is also going to go, by nature, on the less competitive keywords. And, yes, maybe you start getting more sales on the less competitive keywords, but, at the end of the day, that's not what is going to set your business for success in the long term. So I rather forget the ones that I know are not going to create the backbone of my business. Focus on those top 10 to 20 keywords, define that as the ratio of search volume and then, from there, start going down as the momentum itself is getting built up.

Carrie Miller:

All right, this next one is a pretty good one that I've been asked this a few times too. How do I scale a product with PPC? I've got good results with the campaign for the past 30 days. ACoS is under control, click-through rate is good. Should I increase the budget or duplicate the campaign? Thank you.

Vincenzo:

So, let's say, your PPC is already performing and your click-through rate is good, which is one of the main metrics I keep mentioning. Some of the things you have to do next is okay, this is a the keywords I'm pretty much getting most of my sales from in terms of my PPC, and you want to start isolating those keywords as much as possible, because what you're going to identify most likely on those campaigns when you start going deeper and deeper most likely the ones that are driving most of the success is like five keywords, right. Therefore, usually, if you follow the strategy of adding multiple keywords on a campaign, you're gonna find that other keywords are diluting the efforts of going tunnel vision on the keywords that giving you the ROAS that you need. Therefore, I will go on all my campaigns making sure the keywords have the good click-through rate and performance I need are kept in the legacy campaigns, which means the ones already have history, and the keywords that haven't performed I move them into new campaigns and therefore rinse and repeat. Usually, winners stay in the campaigns where they're being winners. The losers I remove and, based on how bad they perform, I might retry them on a new campaign or I might remove them altogether and re-engage on a new keyword research perspective. Yeah.

Carrie Miller:

All right, we actually have a question from Bradley Sutton.

Vincenzo:

Oh, there you go.

Carrie Miller:

I don't have too many search terms showing up on my ASIN product targeting campaigns, but I heard others get a lot of irrelevant search terms. Now instead of only ASINs Is the only way to stop this is to put search terms in negative match or at the campaign level.

Vincenzo:

Yes, yeah, thank you for that question, Bradley. Yeah, at the moment it will be at the campaign level. Yeah, so this for those that might not know when you actually target a specific ASIN, for whatever reason, that actually also shows you for search terms right and therefore you know you appear for a specific search term. The issue with that is that it appears as a search term. It doesn't appear as a keyword. Therefore, if you negate it at the R group level, essentially you're not negating it because this is not even a keyword you're targeting in the first place, you're targeting an ASIN. So one way we have found I mean in between to you, Bradley, because sometimes we still see by passing that it will be at the campaign level you negate at the campaign level so that ASIN the search term that it generates, it doesn't basically get repeated.

Carrie Miller:

Lots of my products have several variations. When I create a PPC campaign, should I only select one variation for the campaign to target, or should I select multiple or all of the variations?

Vincenzo:

Good. So some of the things I usually do is, if you have historical I'm going to give you two scenarios, because usually there's two scenarios you have the scenario where you've been selling for a while and you have historical data. Therefore, that's very simple you just go have a look which variation is the one that has the best conversion and you go for that one. Now the second approach is what most people go across, which is you're going to launch this product with multiple color sizes and all of that, and you know which one to go for. Usually, your best friends for this is having a look at and I'm sure by then, if you're launching the project, you already understand the market having a look at reviews of your competitors, which you can do with Helium 10, and then figure out what is the ratio of the color or the variation that sold the most. So you start having some educated guess. That's one way of doing it. Then the second way of doing it is also a brand analytics. You can have a look at the specific ASIN that's been sold the most on the specific a category. You can also use proper to an explorer to get some insights around a specific a variation that sell the most. So there's different, different sources of data. You can combine and make this guess and if you still Somehow not decisive, because maybe all these sources doesn't really give you a clear answer, then the way I will go for it is initially only I will pull them all within the same campaign to see how this performs, because by nature, Amazon is gonna most likely start selecting one over other based on KPI. So who click the mouse and who convert the mouse? And then that's gonna be my winner and my baseline for my rest of the campaigns are gonna create. Forward, now, forward. Now another thing, guys when you start creating campaigns and you define a clear variation, let's say you define the clear winner is color, red, red, yoga mats right, that's going to be the one you're going to use on all your generic keywords. Still, if you have blue, white, black all these are colors you still want to create the same resembles of these keywords, but with the variation embedded in it, right? So, for example, let's say, as I gave you the example, red, blue, black yoga mats. Then you want to have, for example, a campaign for red, red yoga mat, red, exercise mat, red, and you name it and you do that with every single color and then you can also mix the order. And all of that because that's what it's going to allow you to do is, while the main variation takes the pull of the sales from the generic keywords, you still want to have a very strong presence on the long tail and more niche keywords that people are going to try to look for, that specific variation, even if it's lower than that. So you have a full spectrum control of the main market, the main market, the mainstream market, and they have control of the more niche market at the keyword specific level.

Carrie Miller:

Thank you so much, Vincenzo, for joining us on this TACoS Tuesday. It's always great to have you. You have so much knowledge, so much to share. Every time I've seen you speak or just share everyone, there's always some great info that people can take and, do you know, basically put things right to work with their PPC. So thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing that, thank you for sharing, answering all these questions, and hopefully we'll see you again soon. Where can anyone find you? If they want to find you and reach you and maybe ask you questions or connect with your agency.

Vincenzo:

Sure, so you can find me as Vincenzo just counting all the social media channels Like. Luckily, I'm the only one in the industry called Vincenzo, so it's going to be very easy to find me. When it comes to the agency, you can find Ecomcy, also in all the channels, or go to our website, ecomcy.com, where you're more than welcome to book a free consultation with our team and hopefully we can answer some questions and explore future partnerships.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Well, thanks again so much and thank you everyone for joining and asking questions and hopefully this was very helpful for you all in the audience and we'll see you again next time. Thank you, guys.

View Details

Ever wondered how to navigate the complex world of tax and compliance as an Amazon seller? Join us as we chat with Bojan Gajic, the former CEO of Helium 10 and now CEO of Avask, who brings a wealth of knowledge and fresh perspectives on scaling your Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce business. Bojan shares his experience from recent Avask x Helium 10 workshops in Europe, offering valuable insights into the benefits of advanced content and the irreplaceable value of in-person networking.

Balancing work, family, and personal interests while striving for business growth can be a tough juggle. We'll explore the current landscape for Amazon sellers, highlighting the increasing challenges in the saturated U.S. market and the promising opportunities in Europe. Learn practical strategies for maintaining healthy margins and adapting to market shifts, ensuring your business not only survives but thrives.

Expanding into the European market can be a daunting task, fraught with regulatory hurdles and compliance issues. We dive into the intricacies of choosing the right country for importing goods and the critical role of sophisticated compliance providers like Avask. Plus, we discuss the transition of Avalara’s tax support in Europe and offer guidance on selecting new service providers. Tune in for a rich discussion that also touches on the joys and heartbreaks of Serbian basketball and offers tips for your next trip to the UK.

In episode 588 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Bojan discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Sellers, Avask CEO Discussion
03:32 - Upcoming Avask x Helium 10 Workshop Announcement
07:53 - E-Commerce Seller Profitability Trends in Amazon
11:02 - Amazon's Marketplace Expansion Strategy in Europe
17:24 - Optimizing European Logistics for Amazon Sellers
25:27 - Global E-Commerce Compliance and Expansion
29:13 - Transitioning E-Commerce Tax Compliance Providers
30:40 - Transitioning to Avask for Tax Solutions
32:46 - Discussion on Serbian and UK Culture

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got on the show the former CEO of Helium 10, who's now the CEO of Avask, the leading company in the world for tax and compliance for Amazon sellers. We're going to talk on a wide variety of topics, including new Amazon incentives for some marketplaces, how sellers can help their profitability, and even Serbian basketball. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to enter in an Amazon keyword and then within seconds get up to thousands of potentially related keywords that you could research? Then you need Magnet by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/magnet. Magnet works in most Amazon marketplaces, including USA, Mexico, Australia, Germany, UK, India and much more. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely bs free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. So we have got somebody who is no stranger to the show. He's been on the podcast multiple times, former CTO and CEO of Helium 10, now current CEO of Avask, Bojan. Welcome back.

Bojan:

Thank you, Bradley. It's good to be back. It's always great to have a conversation with you and on Serious Seller Podcast, even better.

Bradley Sutton:

And especially, you now have this Walter White Heisenberg era. Look to you, you got the goatee and shaved heads. A little bit different look than when you had here at Helium 10. I like it. I like it. You got that Avask gear. I've got some of Avask gear. I got this Real Madrid jersey. For those who are watching this on YouTube a Real Madrid, Avask jersey that I got at our workshop. So let's just talk about that real quick. You know we've been doing these workshops over there together a Avask and Helium 10 in Europe. For the first time we did one in in Germany near the Avask office, and then we did another one in Spain and so, like what's been the feedback as far as these events that we’ve been doing?

Bojan:

There's excitement internally and externally. You were there, obviously, and I met people who woke up at 3am and then drove for four hours to meet you. So the level of excitement that you generate around the world is astonishing. I was familiar with that, but always impressed to see the level of excitement, the commitment that people have and are ready to make to exchange experiences with you. So that was great. Feedback was positive all across the board. So sellers that attended, they're saying that this kind of experience, this kind of focused content that is not beginner content but sort of content that allows you to move your business beyond proof of concept, beyond the early stages of something that is missing or was missing. There are opportunities to learn things wherever you are obviously interns, being global, et cetera but interacting in person, interacting, networking with other sellers that are in similar kind of stage that's a value that's really hard to reproduce and Europe sort. So fragmentation in Europe led to a lack of organized events like that. The two events that we ran together were very well received. There's a lot of demand for the next one, so I know we have something planned out. Maybe we don't want to share at the moment, but there will be another one coming soon. So, before the end of the year, be ready to join us again in the United Nations. So we have some activity for you.

Bradley Sutton:

So if you're in Europe, I mean, actually you don't have to be in Europe. There was somebody who went to the Germany one who flew from South Africa. I don't know if you met that gentleman, but he flew from South Africa to go to the event. But obviously, if you're in Europe you're like a 40 euro Ryanair flight away from wherever we're going to have our next workshops. Make sure to join. Now, real quick. I'm wearing this soccer jersey. I'm wearing my MLS actually LA Galaxy hat here. So you know, Bojan is a sports fan too. That was a close game between Serbia and the United States in basketball. I thought Serbia was going to take it. There's a lot of maybe disappointed people from your home country.

Bojan:

Just for you, sir, I'm wearing a jersey as well.

0:04:08 - Bradley Sutton:

You got the Helium 10. I love it. He just did a Superman, you know, like opening up his shirt right there. I love it.

Bojan:

So Split Allegiance is an investor. Oh here, I got a Helium 10 in the last cup.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it.

Bojan:

So, it's the game. Yesterday Serbia, US. It was a heartbreak, because I'm deep down rooting for Serbia, obviously, and I have no expectations whatsoever. I hope to not be blown out after losing two games within two weeks by 26. So I was like okay, hopefully it's not embarrassment. And then first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, I'm like yeah. I know things will turn around, but when the results were 75-63, I actually allowed myself to start hoping that things might end up the way I would like them to end up. And then you have KD and Booker score two threes within like three seconds and it goes from 11 to five and the game kind of falls apart. It's like man. But that's sort of the beauty of being a fan of small nation or underdog team you lose a lot of times and you sort of learn to find happiness in small successes and then from time to time there'll be a big win and you really enjoy that.

Bradley Sutton:

Makes it that much sweeter. That's why I'm a Clippers fan. I'm still waiting for that big moment, but switching gears, kind of on a personal note, like this too, but I think it's something that's important for entrepreneurs out there. I get this question a lot. I'm not sure if you get it a lot, but you're going to get it today. But people ask me sometimes. They say, hey Bradley you’ve got your family, you know I don’t have small kids anymore but they’re still in Home. And how do you manage it when you’re travelling so much for business and now you are working in a company based in UK, and I know you're going around and you've got offices all over the world too and you're probably traveling, I would assume, more than you did when you were at Helium 10. What is it, you know? And there's entrepreneurs out there like, hey, I need to, I need to spend a month in my factory in China, or I need to go to these conferences and stuff. How do entrepreneurs? What advice can you give them about juggling family life with travel? How do you make it work?

Bojan:

I tried everything I could think of. I tried commingling these two and bringing my family along. Even this summer, I spent three months in Europe visiting different offices and trying to combine that with family time and what I learned over years is that it doesn't really work out. If you're trying to split your attention between work and family and God forbid, you have sort of personal hobbies, you're most likely going to end up frustrating everyone. I would be frustrated by not being present for the family, where I want to be present for the family, and also not being on top of my game professionally. What I would recommend is accepting that there is a difference between your personal time and your professional time and being present for the topic that requires attention at the moment. So, when your family, when you're doing something for you personally, then try to create a big enough box where you can focus and enjoy that time and be there for your family and do that for yourself. When you focus on work, try to focus on work, and it's not trivial. I would assume that through failure rates from marriages that entrepreneurs will have probably second to military families. It's not trivial for sure, but my recommendation would be accept that there are sacrifices that need to be made on both sides and start from there, like make sure that you're maximizing the value of time that you do have and you can spend it without.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's talk about some strategies and things that are going on in the e-commerce world. You've got now a new kind of maybe perspective on things Obviously working here at Helium 10, you could see a lot, but now you're a little bit more on the accounting and regulations and things like that side. I think the top of thing on Amazon sellers in the USA right now in mind is like profitability, especially this year. I mean, obviously everybody should be worried about profitability. But when I say that it's like hey, no, they're worried about it's going down because of all these new fees, like what are you seeing? You know, obviously you have customers in Europe. You've got customers in US. Are there any trends? Like, do you see profitability going down amongst American sellers or more worry on that side? Is it the same worries that Europeans sellers are facing? What's the kind of like state of affairs as far as profitability goes amongst Amazon sellers that you have dealings with?

Bojan:

So you've been in industry longer than I have. So I don't remember since what? 2016. Since I started operating this space, I don't remember a year where dominant sentiment was, oh, this year is better than the last year. It's always like, hey, it's harder than it was last year and it's fair to assume that next year will be more difficult than this year. So, it depends on who you ask, depends on where you look. So, there are challenges, there are always new challenges, but what I'm seeing in the US is maturing of the market. So, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, amazon was still in sort of explosive growth mode in the US. So Amazon was drawing in terms of GMB some more money being moved to the platform. Amazon was drawing in terms of customer count. Today, when you look at number of clients drivers 180 million in the US they're not making that many more people in the US, so that's already a fairly saturated market. Going back to history, Amazon US you had a handful of categories. 15, 20 years ago, Jeff Bezos was floating about the ability to expand beyond books and being successful in the electronics category. So as Amazon grew over the last 10, 15 years in the US, growth of Amazon drove growth of individual sellers. So, you essentially had to find a niche, find an opportunity and sort of continue to grow with Amazon. What you're seeing now is a slowdown in that kind of growth that you experienced over the last 10, 15 years, and every industry has similar kind of trajectory Google, Google advertising, similar kind of stuff happened there. It's natural that the margins will be compressed. For most, there might be sellers that are finding ways to keep their margins protected based on the IP or unique positionings that they have or just brand investment they're making. But the US is challenging and I don't expect that to change much. Amazon is still drawing in the US and when you look at the share of third-party sales, that's drawing in the US. So someone is making money. It's possible that the growth of seller base, for maybe the first time ever, is outstripping the growth of the market as it is in the US. Amazon, on the other hand, essentially fully saturated the market, so they don't have strong incentives to invest in expanding seller base as they bring on new categories. If they are expanding more into food or fast fashion, or they're expanding into drugs, like. Yes, there will be incentives, but those incentives will be more localized now than ever before you have a maturing of their advertising platform. So, when the new product, the new advertising product comes online, when they, when they start pushing ads through TikTok, there will be an opportunity window of opportunity. But first, world advantage is valid for only so long. So, us, I see, I can feel the squeeze. Your customers, my customers, sellers it's real, it's your margin compression is real and people are trying to figure out how to keep that margin positive. There will be winners, there'll be losers. Winners will be survivors. So, as the picture clears out as successful mid-sized, larger brands or survive the squeeze, there'll be less competition for them. What I'm seeing in Europe is still the sort of 2015, 2016, 2017 Amazon. So Amazon is drawing and bulk of the growth Amazon's corporation is actually happening in Europe and it's drawing in large, established countries. So Amazon still has material growth in countries like Germany, France, UK, where they've been present for more than a decade. But they're also bringing on new wealthy markets to Amazon. Not sure if you heard about that, but Sweden became part of their Pan-EU program now so you can store goods in Sweden, which makes it more affordable. Less expensive to distribute to Nordic countries Norway, Finland, Denmark but Amazon is actually actively investing in bringing sellers to that market. They need selection. So what used to be mantra in the US, that's now happening in Europe, and while in the US fees are going up and new fees are being levied, in Sweden, for example, Amazon is covering the cost of compliance, but there is cost. There's fixed costs for compliance. Amazon is covering cost of compliance for a certain amount of time and they're lowering FBA fees by 50% per year. So it's a sort of limited time promotion. It's not open to everyone, but that's the kind of investment that Amazon is making in Europe. They used to make the same kind of investment or similar kind of investment in the US, but that's no longer the case. As you think about expansion, as you think about growing your business, there are essentially four ways to grow your business. One is product innovation. So whatever your product portfolio looks like today, you have to continue to innovate. So that's a must do. If you stop innovating, if you start bringing new products to market, your growth will turn negative. It applies to Nike, it applies to someone who just started in business. You can grow by spending more money on acquiring customers, which is essentially Amazon advertising in our sense. But marginal value is being squeezed there as well, so that especially in the US, that's pretty saturated. So you can product innovation must do regardless of where you are find more eyeballs through spending on advertising getting more and more expensive, so marginal return diminishing. You can go into new channels, you can expand into new channels in your existing market. So if you're in the US you will go B2C or you'll go Walmart or you'll go to Chewy Home Depot, whatever the category is there. You're sort of betting that Amazon will shrink. So it's more like insurance. If Walmart manages to take some of Amazon's market shares, Amazon will be shrinking, Walmart will be expanding, so you will expand. So you're placing that bet that someone will win and take over Amazon's market share. So, when you go through those three, option number four is geo-expansion. So, it is non-trivial, so you have to be ready to make an investment. There's fixed costs associated with geographic expansion, but tools allow you to automate and offset some of those costs or minimize the cost. Allow you to automate and offset some of those costs or minimize the cost localizing listings. I'm not sure if Helium 10 has the tool, but I believe that there are capabilities that would allow you to programmatically localize your listing to German and Dutch and whatnot, with high degree of quality. It's like by that total you get 80% of value for 20% of effort. So once you satisfy all those essential needs, it becomes really good growth opportunity. But if you want to grow, if you want to take advantage of this marginal opportunity and sort of be agile because that's what small businesses have like ability to adjust in the moment, as opposed to large businesses that have long-term plans like lack of flexibility so leverage your agility to take advantage of new opportunities and geo expansion into a market that has sort of similar purchasing profile as one in US.

Bradley Sutton:

There's no great interest, okay well, there's a lot of the stuff you mentioned there that maybe you know can be considered a little bit of the sexy side of things like expanding to new marketplaces and localizing your listings and optimizing this and that. But then out of Avask there's a lot of non-sexy stuff too, because most people don't think accounting and taxes and all that stuff, taxes and all that stuff. I'm just curious, like, is there any like, when you onboard a new client or something, are you anecdotally seeing something where it's like oh, my goodness, you know you've been, you've been reporting this. This way you're wasting a lot of money or what you're not? You know, putting this and making it a business expense. You know, like, or hey, you're double paying this tax. You don't need to pay this, like. Are there things like that that you see that maybe you can tell sellers about that that maybe haven't gone to you yet and there may be losing money because of it.

Bojan:

So, I do my own personal taxes still, because I'm too lazy to keep track of all the expenses in a way that allow an accountant to do taxes for me. So, I'm sort of scrambling at the end of the year, at the end of the period, to do taxes, and I know that I leave a lot of money on the table by doing that. Same thing happens in this industry. So there are two ways where you can lose. There are obvious two ways where you can lose money. One is you're just making poor business decisions and moving goods in Europe while it's automated. So, especially if you're selling through Amazon, Amazon will take care of logistics for you the same way it does in the US, so you don't have to think about finding people that will pick it back. So Amazon takes care of all of that. But how do you bring goods into Europe can have a dramatic impact on your cash flow. You could import goods into Amazon's network through France, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, and it's like on the surface everything feels the same. But then there are various tax schemes that will impact not necessarily how much you pay, but it will impact when you pay. So it's a thing having to prepay your taxes based on estimated earnings for a year, versus holding off until you actually sell goods and then you pay taxes based on sales as opposed to based on income. So I would say, don't go through Germany, like get to Germany by going through France or Netherlands. That's the recipe for success. Don't go through Italy and Spain unless you're incorporated in Italy and Spain, because local governments can be not very forthcoming if there's money that they owe you, if there's money that you owe them, they will be very agile, but if they owe you some money, it's like Mañana, come back next year. So that's one way to lose money or overspend money on compliance is by just making poor, uninformed business decisions. Another one is not having a sophisticated enough provider, and that's another thing that you're seeing a lot, because for a lot of businesses, compliance is part of, as you said, not very sexy, not very exciting things, and it's usually handled by professionals that are competent in their lane. Think accountant that handles your corporate taxes and whatnot but they don't necessarily have the experience with international fixations and rules. We very often have things or have instances where, not due to lack of desire but more like lack of skill, our clients have been overpaying or not reclaiming what they were supposed to reclaim.

Bradley Sutton:

It's funny because I've had Melanie from Avask and others on before and I have a general understanding of what you do. But then somebody just this week was asking me like hey, I'm trying to, you know, I want to expand to Europe and I'm not sure about the regulations. And I was like, oh yeah, you know, maybe hit up Avask. But then I'm like I'm not. You know, I know they can handle VAT things and help you with some compliance. But as far as like setting up corporations, you know, it was kind of like I worked so much with you guys. I'm like it was kind of embarrassing moment for me. But then so I have you on here now, two days later. What is it exactly? Like who should be thinking about, you know, using Avask? I mean, it's a no brainer to me Like, hey, somebody who's confused about VAT and somebody who needs an accountant service, you know, of course I know that, but like, I'm an Amazon seller in ex -country, at what point? Or like, who is Avask right for in other words?

Bojan:

Businesses expanding into Europe, businesses that are trading across Europe, there's marketing side of needs sort of like what Helium 10 supports and not Helium 10 addresses. So, what is sizing the opportunity? And then creating all the collateral that's needed to address the situation. What's the size of this niche in Spain? Should I get into this or not? And if I decide to do it, what does it mean to get into this niche in Spain? Creating listing, thinking about advertising so that's where Helium 10 fits in. Now, how that really happens, how do you make it past the regulatory hurdles that every government will put in front of you? That's where Avast comes in. So, yes, we can help with incorporation and we can help give you an advice. Does it make sense for you to incorporate or not? So there's this advisory component that you're happy to provide. The core focus for the business is around regulatory compliance and you don't want to hear everything that happens there. There's tax compliance and then there's echo compliance. So now, if you sell goods like you live in California, when California, when you buy a bottle of water, you pay a recycling fee, in Europe, that is seller's responsibility. So if you're selling goods in Europe, you as a seller, you're responsible for end-of-life care for that product. So let's say you're selling a battery operated shaver in Germany, you have to think about packaging. So eventually that packaging will have to be disposed of. You have to think about electronic components. Electronic components have to be disposed of. And you have to think about batteries. If you include batteries in your product, then I recommend you do, because that has to be disposed of, and in Germany there are three different bodies that regulate this. So taking care of batteries is separate from taking care of electronic components, is separate from taking care of packaging. Some countries have even more category. When you go to France it's like there's a lot like textile and plastics and this and that. So that has nothing to do with corporate taxes and sales tax. That is essentially sales tax and wrapped in the final cost of product. But you still need to do it, otherwise you will not be able to sell. So what Avask does is take care of that compliance requirement without you having to do more than register. There is like going to the doctor for inoculation, so if you get a jab, there's a little bit of pain and then you're done. So it's a similar thing here we will help you, walk you, guide you through registration process. Once you're done with that process, we take care of that. Environmental customs so just movement of goods. If you make a mistake, if you misdeclare, if you import into wrong port, customs duties could be pretty expensive. Customs fees could be expensive. If you have goods that have limited shelf life, obviously it could go bad and it could be in trouble. So these are three main buckets tax compliance, environmental compliance and then cross-border movement to goods compliance. Not sexy and I don't recommend like it's non-differentiated knowledge. If I'm a seller, I don't benefit from understanding all of it like I learned about it because it's needed in order to support businesses, but as a seller I would not waste my time dealing with it like as a seller, I'm looking at new opportunities, I'm trying to understand the needs of the market, I'm trying to understand sourcing. But so all of this can make me more successful in my business. If I can find goods at 10% lower cost in wherever I'm sourcing, that's great. That's a better margin. If I can improve conversion rate by optimizing my listing, that's a great margin. If I spend hours doing some administrative work and then hopefully I don't get in trouble by forgetting to check the box, like best case scenario, I am where I was. Worst case scenario I'm in a deep hole because I made a mistake. So that's the. It's a long answer, but compliance, so operational compliance in European countries. We have sales tax team in the US as well. For businesses who need reporting criteria in the US. Let's say you're selling D2C or you're selling large enough volume, you also have to report sales tax in the US. We have that capability as well. The bulk of the focus at the moment is in Europe.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of some North American and European things, there's an announcement we gave on the Weekly Buzz where now there's some new digital service fees that you're going to have to pay if you're like a Spain based seller selling in the US or vice versa. So make sure you guys know about some of those, just in general. You know, you have a lot of sellers you work with. You mentioned Amazon Sweden before, but what other Amazon marketplaces are you seeing people expand to most lately? You know, maybe some of the more off the wall ones you know I'm not talking about. Oh yeah, obviously there's always going to be a lot of people expanding to Amazon Germany or France, but you know, like in my circles I've heard a lot more than before from Amazon Saudi Arabia for one, and then you know people are. I heard Amazon Australia is finally growing a little bit. It was so slow for a while and more people thinking about Japan, but there's plenty of other newer marketplaces. Do you have anything that sticks out, or pretty much all businesses as normal the last year or so?

Bojan:

Nothing major if you have any global evidence for various marketplaces like Dutch and Belgium. Apparently there's. There's something happening there where, in certain categories, sellers are finding success, but our core focus is Europe. We are seeing you're seeing anecdotal evidence, but that might not be particularly relevant for your audience. Those might be sort of huge reds that have name recognition that they're leveraging and extracting value as opposed to trying to build new presence. I think Kim Kardashian trying to monetize her name in Australia much easier than if you need to establish your brand. So, nothing, no nuggets sitting there beyond Sweden and that sort. Our Nordic region, where investments are, you have off Amazon. You have this belt in Central Europe like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, but that also requires expansion beyond Amazon. There are others. You have Allegra that dominates that market, that sliver, which is a sizable market $15 to $20 billion but I would not recommend exploring that until you've mastered European markets in general and if you're an Amazon seller, that's where you would go. You can start with Amazon and ride the growth of Amazon. Huge positive things. Developments happening in terms Amazon and ride the growth of Amazon. Huge positive things. Developing is happening in terms of market growth in Europe for Amazon. I would just piggyback on that.

Bradley Sutton:

So you know you and I were talking, you know before something I hadn't heard of, because I don't sell in Europe, I don't deal with too many European sellers here in the States, but I believe that there was like one, a pretty large company that was helping hundreds, if not thousands, of sellers in Europe with some of their taxes and compliance, is trying to step away from the Amazon game. So can you elaborate on that and what those sellers need to know?

Bojan:

It's a huge company. It's one of those companies that are not well known to consumers or smaller businesses, but large businesses who recognize the name. Avalara is a company that provides sales tax calculation software in the US. Pretty much any company calculating sales tax in the US will use Avalara in some form on the back end. So you don't see it. But when they say hey, in this zip code it's 775, and that one over there is 7875, that most likely comes from Avalara. It used to be a private company but public, got bought by Pista Capital but potentially they can private again. So possibly due to optimization of their balance sheet, they left or they're leaving, and it's not a secret. They made it public. Both Avalara and Amazon communicated that to a larger audience. Avalara is leaving the market at the end of Q3 and they will stop providing bad support for sellers in Europe at the end of that quarter. So through the end of Q3, you're fine. After that if you're selling in Europe, you will need a different service provider. You can try to do this yourself. I'm not saying it's impossible, just not recommended. And there are a few other providers in the space. Avalara is sort of a big name because they're the first Amazon partner in this space. So, if you started selling in Europe when they were initially pushing Pan-EU and European expansion in 2016, 17, 18, you're most likely using Avalara for that, even if you were not aware of that. If you're interacting with Amazon, but on the back end, Avalara is actually providing services they're getting out. You didn't hear about it. On the other hand, in my world, that seems to be the only thing people talk about. So it's probably somewhere in the middle, like somewhere it's noise, somewhere it's signal. It can be very stressful for businesses, but obviously Avask is one company that provides alternative to that and the transition is pretty seamless. Starting with this can be painful. Getting registrations in place, et cetera, et cetera, used to be pretty challenging and painful. Now it's much easier because we have providers like Avask and also process of transitioning from one provider to another is not as painful as starting from scratch. So if you're a seller selling in Europe, then you have to pay taxes, obviously, and you might be impacted by this, but I don't want that level of stress to be particularly high, especially considering that you're getting into sort of prime day or whatever it's like prime selling. So prime of stress to be particularly high, especially considering that you're getting into Prime Day or whatever it's like Prime Selling. So Prime Day, number two, and then follow this Tax Staff will be taken care of. You just need to make a selection. You need to go to Amazon and select who will be handling your account. So could be me, absolutely, but we are not the only provider there.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, good segue into what I do at the end of episodes. Anyways, if anybody wants to, you know, get more information from Avask or reach out. You know one way they can do is just go to hub.helium10.com. You type in Avask and you'll be able to contact them right from within the Helium 10 portal. Here, you know, you can go to, to avaskgroup.com. How can people find you? Are you active on LinkedIn or how can they reach you out there?

Bojan:

LinkedIn is the best way to get a hold of me. I don't have a Facebook account. I actually spent a few minutes earlier today looking at my Facebook account, specifically some conversation on Helium 10 Elite. Someone remembered that you co-hosted AMA with Matt Benton yeah, I did a little trivia.

Bradley Sutton:

I did a little trivia there. Those are the old days and and that correct answer was Matt Benton, of who I used to co-host AMA’s was like six years ago and only one person got it right and that person won a free ticket to Amazon Accelerate.

Bojan:

$600 worth of value there so that that trivia paid off. But yeah, yeah, Avask.com or Helium 10, affordable, but Avask.com easier to remember and for me personally find that LinkedIn always happy to connect.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you have any last 30 second strategy or 60 second strategy? For us, it could be about the best Serbian food or best places to eat in the UK, since you've spent a lot of time there Accounting. It could be about Amazon software. You've got a lot of expertise, so go ahead and knock it out, whatever you want to talk about.

Bojan:

UK is wonderful June through early September, so if you're going to visit, it's a great country, great place, great area to visit during summer. If you spend more time there September through May, you will understand why they built all those ships and conquered the world. And I thought that was original when I said this, but then I was told that's a meme. So I'm not sure how valuable this is Beautiful country, great people but whether June through August. That's Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, all right, good to know because I've been putting off my trip over there. I haven't been back since before COVID, so now I know when I can go. Well, Bojan, it's been great to have you back on the shows, great to see you in person at these recent events and everybody else out there, like we said, look forward to, perhaps in another announcement of another event, that that we're going to do. Uh, maybe October, maybe November, not sure when, but be looking out for that announcement and you can hang out with us and we can talk, uh, Serbian sports. Um, don't talk about Serbian soccer. That was a very not great performance this year, that it's a sore point for boy on there. But we'll talk about Serbian basketball, because that's always a positive one to talk about.

View Details

Let’s take a closer look at the anticipated Prime Big Deal Days and speculate on the potential dates for this high-stakes event. And just when you thought Walmart was keeping quiet, they've rolled out Walmart Cross Border, a service designed to challenge Amazon Global Logistics with efficient port-to-door shipping for goods manufactured in China. Tune in to understand how these changes might alter your business strategies in the upcoming shopping seasons.

Walmart opens ocean shipping network to marketplace sellers
https://www.retaildive.com/news/walmart-china-cross-border-shipping-service-marketplace-sellers/724202/

But that's not all—AI is revolutionizing the way we shop and sell online. From helping consumers find the best deals to potentially reducing the advertising burden for sellers, AI-powered search tools are transforming the e-commerce landscape. Whether you see AI as a friend or foe in your selling journey, it's crucial to stay informed. I've got all the insights you need, along with a must-read article linked in the description for a deeper dive.

Recent Google Ruling May Open Door to More AI-Powered eCommerce
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/recent-google-ruling-may-open-door-to-more-ai-powered-ecommerce/

Don't miss out on this week's buzzing news roundup that's packed with actionable advice and expert insights.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:54 - Prime Exclusive Discounts FREE
02:56 - Prime Big Deal Days
04:38 - Walmart Cross Border
05:48 - Amazon Inbound Fees
08:55 - FBA Returnless Resolutions
11:45 - AI E-commerce

View Details

What if you could replace your corporate salary with millions in e-commerce sales? This inspiring episode brings together Robert Gomez, a former senior finance manager at Microsoft turned successful e-commerce entrepreneur, and Kseniia Reidel, an aspiring Amazon e-commerce star. Robert reveals his transformative journey from the corporate world to achieving over $10 million in sales on Amazon and Walmart brand called Kaffe. Kseniia, on the verge of hitting her first seven-figure mark using Project X methods, shares her innovative strategies and experiences in scaling up an Amazon business.

From facing the challenge of declining sales due to over-dependence on a single product to launching new product lines in Walmart, Robert and Kseniia provide invaluable insights into the world of e-commerce adaptability. They discuss the critical importance of diversifying product offerings and successfully managing logistics during peak seasons. The conversation underscores the significance of strategic retail placement and the rewards of being flexible in the ever-evolving online and retail marketplaces.

We also delve into the game-changing benefits of hiring Virtual Assistants (VAs) for essential tasks like product research. Learn how effective VA onboarding can propel business growth and the impact of diversifying sales channels beyond Amazon, including Walmart, Faire.com, and even TikTok Shop. With strategies for maximizing profit margins and leveraging social media for brand growth, this episode is packed with actionable insights for anyone looking to thrive in the competitive Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce landscape.

In episode 587 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kseniia, and Robert discuss:

01:08 - Amazon Seller Stories - Catching Up with Kseniia Reidel & Robert Gomez
10:17 - Dependence on Declining Kitchen Appliance Sales
10:24 - Navigating Brand Pivots and Retail Success
20:32 - Walmart Retail Expansion Success Story
22:52 - Product Expansion and Virtual Assistant Hiring Success
26:17 - High Margin Product Strategy Growth
29:01 - Product Launch Strategy at Walmart
36:55 - Amazon Seller VA Time Management
40:01 - Exploring TikTok Shop for their E-commerce Business
41:12 - Retail Expansion and Product Development
44:04 - Brand Expansion Strategy Discussion

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got two guests back on the show who've never met each other, but they've both been on here before Robert, who's generated over $10 million of sales with his brand on Amazon and Walmart, and Kseniia, who used Project X strategies to launch her first product, and now this year she's about to hit seven figures for the first time. How cool, is that? Pretty cool I think. Not sure on what main image you should choose from. Or maybe you don't know whether buyers would be interested in your product at a certain price point. Perhaps you want feedback on your new brand or company logo? Get instant and detailed market feedback from actual Amazon Prime members by using Helium 10 Audience. Just enter in your poll or questions and, within a short period of time, 50 to 100 or even more Amazon buyers will give you detailed feedback on what resonates with them the most. For more information, go to h10.me/audience.

Bradley Sutton:

forward slash audience. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we've got a couple of serious sellers back on the show Robert for the second time, Kseniia for the third and a half time. We had her on a little Prime Day special here. But welcome back to the show, guys, your first time meeting each other was today. Right, you had no idea who each other was.

Robert:

No idea.

Bradley Sutton:

I love doing that. I love bringing different sellers who maybe under other circumstances, might never have known each other. So it's really good to see that people from all walks of life have success on Amazon. Now, if you want to get the backstory of Robert, his first episode was on 448. So we're not going to go too much into his backstory here. Maybe we'll touch a little bit on it, but 448 is a good one to see his episode. And then Kseniia has been on. I think her first was episode 320. And then she was back on episode 441. So we're really close to Robert's episode there, talking about how she 10X her sales from that first episode today. I'm not sure what we're gonna completely know about. We're gonna catch up, completely know about. We're gonna catch up with them might be up, might be down, but hey, we keep it real here. We're not here to make it seem like, uh, everybody who comes on is gonna 10x their, their, their sales. That's not why we brought her on the last time. But uh, let's see, let's see what happens. So, first of all, Robert, you know, like, like I, you know, the one thing that maybe people who listen to your episode, uh, that stood out was how you were still working at I don't remember it was like Microsoft or something like that for years and years, even though you were already a successful Amazon seller and that you had just around. That time finally was like, all right, I'm going to quit the day job. So you know, you have a couple of years maybe under your belt not working for the man, as it were. So how has that been?

Robert:

How's that transition been from so long being like the corporate world and stuff and now being your own boss, kind of I think last time I was on was around that time that I had just quit or was about to quit or something. But yeah, I was at Microsoft for a few years. My background is in corporate finance and I started Amazon, kind of like a side venture, back in 2017, 2019. I launched the current brand that I have, but I sort of held on as long as I could, had a whole team and everything, before I finally quit. And around that time was when we were going into physical retail and we had got our first sort of big contract. So you know, it was kind of just time. The amount of time it was taking, the amount of efforts it took to execute that program just had to do it.

Robert:

And it's now been a little under two years and it's amazing, I mean just the fact. I mean I love I was there for a reason, you know, and corporate served this purpose. You know, I think I'm always able to say that I used to work for Microsoft and that's kind of level setting very easy to tell somebody. But at the same time, obviously it just wasn't for me. From the day I joined Microsoft, I already knew that I wanted to quit. I already had the Amazon business and everything. It was just, you know, really just the golden handcuffs, as they call them. But yeah, haven't thought about going back any single time in this past year plus. So, yeah, thankfully, you know, any day that I get to do this has really been a blessing. It really doesn't feel like work.

Bradley Sutton:

What would you say were the effects of it as far as on your Amazon business? Like having more time to focus? Like, did it stress you out more? Was it the opposite? Were you able to take care of things that might have slipped into their cracks? Were you able to scale faster? You think? What were the differences on that part of things?

Robert:

It's hard to quantify it in that sense. But basically you know the role I had at Microsoft. I was a senior finance manager. My team was in the west coast at the headquarters, but I I'm based in the east coast, so it wasn't the amount of necessarily time it was taking. Quite frankly, you know, I had a pretty sweet sort of setup where I didn't take a lot of time right, and that's what made it even harder, because the more you get paid and the less you kind of work.

Of course that just sounds like a dream, right, if I just, you know, mentioned it to friends or just talk to people about it, like what are you doing? What are you thinking of putting it for? But it was just the mental sort of real estate, the real estate it took in my mind, even if I only had one meeting that day or two meetings that day. It was just kind of thinking of like oh, I have that meeting coming up, or just like I have to do this, or the feeling of like not giving something.

Robert:

My all you know I'm kind of like all or nothing type of guy and so like just having to, like almost feel fake in the way that I showed up to work and it's. They still thought I was doing a good job. You know we had reviews and I was kind of doing OK and good on them, but internally I just felt terrible, you know, and then I just felt like if I could focus all the time, you know, on Cafe, it would unlock a lot of other things and it has, you know, like it has allowed me to get the team into more of a rhythm in the way that we run meetings and run cadences for certain product development, for sales, et cetera, whereas before it could have been interrupted at any given moment, right, because basically I had a job so I could always take that backseat.

Bradley Sutton:

So yeah, it's been a ride, All right. Interesting. I think that's something that Amazon sellers out there, once they hit a certain level if they were working, you know is like a universal question All right, at what point do I do I, you know, give up the steadiness of income and the reliability and the insurance and things like that and go, you know, you know, focus solely on my, my Amazon business? For the people who already are out of out of the, the people who already are out of the corporate world once they start their Amazon business, well, they're just all in from day one, kind of, so they don't have that option. But I think the answer is it's different strokes for different folks. You're probably waiting the longest, more than anybody I've known, wasn't it like, even after you started your, your amazon business? Like a good three, four years um?

Robert:

yeah, it was about ready to get multiple seven figures at that by that time yeah, yeah, um, we had sold a total of uh, maybe like 12 million or so, um, before I quit, and we rolled, I quit, we rolled out 4,000 Walmart stores and then I quit, basically yeah he was still rolling out 4,000 Walmart stores with his product.

Bradley Sutton:

He's like you know what. Yeah, I think it's time now, but that just shows you that's not the wrong choice.

Robert:

There's other people who wait after one month, and they're ready.

Bradley Sutton:

That's not necessarily the wrong choice. It's whatever works for you.

Robert:

There was no room for error. If I messed any of that up, not only would I need a job I would be way in that way, so there's one way to look at it but also the focus was there. That was my full time job. You know, I always say Amazon was my full time job, and then I had kind of a side side job in corporate.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So now going back to Kseniia, first of all, I'm not sure you know I don't remember the kind of things we talk about all the time. My memory is so bad. But then you know, Mhel gave me some notes this wasn't on there but before you started on Amazon like I do have in my notes here that you were doing like selling collectibles on eBay from Russia and things like that, but at any point, while you were doing Amazon, did you also have a day job or you were 100% your e-commerce business from day one?

Kseniia:

100% e-commerce.

Bradley Sutton:

A great contrast I didn't even plan that, but is perfect. It is to have a. To have the contrast here now. I remember one thing that was, you know, kind of like the highlight of your old episodes is is the way that you discovered uh and launched some of those first products that brought you success was like using the project x uh method. So that brand that you started back in you know 2021, 2022, whenever it was uh are you still selling that brand today, the successful one?

Kseniia:

Yep, still selling. I've had to change a little bit the product line and expand it but, yeah, the first product since from which one it started still there, still selling. It was exactly three years ago, actually, in August 2021.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, okay, perfect, perfect. Now, the last time we talked back, in 2023, uh, I think some of your closing comments about your goals was hey, you wanted to kind of like focus on, on building the brand a little bit more. I mean building the brand in the figurative sense, not, you know, not just expanding their products, but like actually building a, a brand. And how, what did you do to try to do that and how has that, those efforts, worked out?

Kseniia:

Well, the first thing I want to talk about is what happened after last we talked. Is that in 2023, I lost like 40 percent of my sales? Wow, let's keep it real here.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's keep it real Well, what was it an attack or just you know the competition? Did you make a huge mistake or what? What happened? Uh, did you make a huge mistake or what? What, what, what happened?

Kseniia:

yes, I made a huge mistake, totally my fault, because when I started building this brand, this brand was focused on accessories for a kitchen appliance, and what I didn't think about is that my sales are going to be totally dependent on the sales of that kitchen appliance. Under no, no, no circumstances I can sell more accessories than the appliances sold. And so what happened is, in 2021 and 2022, the appliance sales were growing and they were doing a lot of social media, so my sales were growing, with me not really doing anything, like I didn't do any social media for my brand. But in 2023, from the beginning of 2023, for whatever reason, their sales started dropping like every month, less and less and less, and by the end of the year, I think they also lost like 40 or 50 percent of their sales and your sales were 100 reliant on theirs, yeah, the same. And anything I was trying to do. I tried to do social media, I tried to do Google ads at an agency, but nothing really was just a waste of money, basically because their product wasn't selling, so my products were not selling and my brand was 100% focused on accessories around that kitchen appliance. Wow, okay, so like I had eight products, I think, by the end of 2022. And they all were related to that kitchen appliance.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. And so then you're like how do you pivot from something like that? It's like you know, your whole concept of your brand is around this one thing. And here you are trying to build your brand, but then like, wait a minute, this is not the direction I need to keep going, or else I'm going to keep going down yeah, I spent several months on trying to think about what to do about it.

Kseniia:

I was like, oh, do I just dump it all and just start it all over? But then, like I had a patent pending for two of the products because they were selling really well and it was really my like design idea that I totally made from scratch, I was like I don't really want to dump it because, who knows, maybe like next year, their sales will go up again, you don't know. So I was thinking about it and I just decided to expand into the products that not a hundred percent related to this kitchen appliance that but can be used by the same people but also can be used by other people as well. So kind of exit the sub niche and get in a little higher niche. So they're still all related, but now I'm not tied to that kitchen appliance.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, did it help at all that you were in that niche already to launch these other products? Were you able to market to your existing customers at all, or was it almost like starting from scratch again?

Kseniia:

No, the first product that I launched after that was not 100 related to the other brand um was made for I actually got the idea from the customers of that brand, but it was also being bought by all other people. So and sometimes I see that the um, some of the purchases that are made, they're made like two products bought together yeah, the one for the brand and not not for the brand. So the first one kind of easy, and then I started expanding a little bit more outside of the something totally not related to that brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay all right. All right, we're going to come back to you because I want to uh, double click on a couple of those things you're talking about. But now back to Robert. You know you had mentioned how, in in around the timing of the last episode, you're launching Walmart and there are thousands of stores. Um, I would assume you know we're here in in august that it's been over a full year now of Walmart store sales. So how would you, how would you say that that's gone? Like what kind of gross sales we talking about just in in stores on Walmart, and are we only talking one skew?

Robert:

Yeah, so we launched, uh, maybe, yeah, 16 months ago or so, with two skews uh right away. Basically, one of those items was the intro offer. What they call that at walmart is basically the the cheapest option of that product at walmart right, in this case a coffee grinder, and from the time it went live it just started really selling. Just basically, we could see from the data like Nielsen data, which is like official retail data, not counting Amazon and e-commerce we could see that our product was the best-selling grinder in the us, like across all retail points, just because of that walmart placement, right like. So, imagine walmart being, you know, the kind of highest volume retailer and you're the cheapest in uh or the intro uh pricing there, so that that, you know, had what was kind of like a big boom.

Robert:

Uh, struggle to kind of just make sure you know, basically keeping up with their projections were a lot lower than we actually did end up selling. Uh, and you know I kind of had already predicted that we would sell, about you know, more than they predicted, just cause that product did well in any other channel that we put it Um, and so, yeah, just kind of stabilizing that right, so making sure that through the holidays.

Bradley Sutton:

I would always remember your uh, remember your Instagram post.

Robert:

You would be going around to Walmart’s all over the country you're on vacation stuff and go to the shelf where your product is and look it's empty, like we're sold out, like it's a fly, literally flying off the shelves yeah, so that's what was happening, you know, and so because it had one facing, meaning it's on the shelf once, instead of like having two, two of them and it would sell kind of fast enough that basically it wasn't. It wasn't able to maximize what it could do, right, because it wasn't available fully right. So we were missing, you know, maybe 20, 25 percent of sales there until, like, the Walmart kind of system catches up with it, like, uh, their forecasting system, um, but yeah, it's basically uh, it's bigger than an amazon business, uh, it's a high seven figures kind of deal and we're counting wholesale costs, so like not the actual retail, so it kind of would be bigger. And the thing with Walmart there is, you know it's compared to amazon it's huge. You know, like it's guaranteed you're a vendor, there's no middle sort of person there and just you know they place every week orders for 42 distribution centers, so like, basically every week we get 42 orders and it goes to other distribution centers, and then this May, so basically a year later or a little before that, they launched one additional item, so they added one more to the two and now there's three. And I also went to another line review for next May to hopefully add a couple more items. So it's just kind of working on the retail side there, but separately.

Robert:

I was actually in Puerto Rico yesterday. I was, as I was telling you, meeting with the Walmart Puerto Rico team because they're rolling out, uh, basically a whole section of like 15 items, um, like they're, they're actually like taking up a whole section, um, and that, you know, even though there's not that many stores in Puerto Rico, it's a, it's a huge kind of way of proving it out, like you know, hey, you know, we did this over there. How about, you know, over here, right, right, two other retailers in the us, and that's kind of where the strategy is. So certainly ups and downs, you know it's not always, uh, rainbows and butterflies, as they say. Uh, that side of the business is great. That's what we've been focusing on for a while. But, uh, there's amazon as well. Not such a pretty picture there, but we're still going at it strong, obviously we're gonna want to uh, you know, uh listen to your story on amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

But just going back to the Walmart you might have said this in the last episode but, like I said, I forget things how was it that you even got into Walmart before? Did you start to sell on Walmart.com? Did a buyer at Walmart take notice of you because you were crushing it on Amazon, amazon? You know that's probably the hardest thing for somebody who's interested to get in Walmart brick and mortar is getting on the radar of the buyers and actually getting you know in a media unless you'd, like you know, win a contest or do that uh open call or something like that. But how was it that you were even able to get your foot in the door with Walmart?

Robert:

Yeah, so a little combination of a couple of things you mentioned, but essentially we have a broker, okay, and a broker, what a broker does, and it wasn't the first broker we had, by the way, and we have one for Target we have. You know, these brokers kind of charge a single digit percentage of sales if they ever sort of get you in the door. Some charge a monthly retainer. In my opinion I wouldn't go with those. You know, the ones that are like serious in my opinion more are the ones that charge you a percentage only if they ever get you in the door, right, um, and so we had tried one. It didn't work out. I mean, it's the same as us reaching out to the buyers, which we had also done, you know, and they don't really reply. You know, like all these retailers at least the, the biggest retailers they have once a year kind of reviews, right. So if you kind of get invited to the review, then maybe you they'll review your product, but that has to do with whether they're wanting to change whatever they have on the shelves, whether they're open to whatever you have, just like a lot of different things. Like the most common thing to happen is that they don't change anything on the shelf Right If it's kind of working or. You know, their jobs depend on the performance of what's on the shelf Right. There's not unlimited amounts, so they're very picky on what they select in. So that's why it's kind of like an uphill battle to get into the retail shelves, and more nowadays that everyone's pushing for conf right. If anything, they'll tell you oh, go try conf first. That's just kind of like a cop out to say like we don't want you on the shelf at the moment.

Robert:

So how it worked with us is basically we had worked with a broker. It didn't kind of work out, just no motion there, and not to their fault. But another broker reached out and said hey, you know I can try to reach out, and he did, and it was regarding our coffee grinders and they basically said you know, you can come to Venville to present it at our line review in June of that year and they had seen the product on Amazon. So yeah, I think we were bestsellers or just doing really well compared to other things they had on the shelf and they invited us for that one product and of course when we went I presented other products Right. So you have like 30 minutes. You set up on a table and it's like go, go, go, and after that just kind of I thought it would be like a lesson learned sort of like. You know, maybe come back next year like a good job. You know, at least I learned how to do this thing. But they came back with, you know, questions that led me to believe that they were really interested, like, hey, you know, would you be able to like fulfill a large number of stores if we allocated you that? And, and you know, I just said yes, you know, I never.

Robert:

Even that was our first retailer. You know, usually they try you out with a hundred stores or you maybe get into another independent retailer and then you kind of work your way up. But it was one of a weird case where our first retailer was, you know, every Walmart. So it's kind of like you have to learn how to execute the biggest one first, and so now we feel confident that any other retailer, it's kind of like it'll be okay. You know, capacity, volume, just processing the orders. It was a beast at first but yeah, that's how it worked out. Okay, cool, a long sales cycle.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Interesting, interesting. Now, switching back to Kseniia, you know, like in the old you know I remember some of your other products the way you would kind of find and or launch was, you know, like through Facebook groups and things like that. Like, are you still using that method to like? You know now that you kind of are going a different path, like, is this Facebook play a role, or how are you finding where the needs are to launch these new products? And then, how are you getting the initial eyeballs on your product once you do launch?

Kseniia:

Yeah, the first one that I launched after switching of being the accessories for other brand that was also from a Facebook group. That also was from the same people. But then after that I realized that I need to find a VA finally, because it was only me before that and it got kind of hard when I got to like almost close to seven figures.

Bradley Sutton:

Remind everybody what you did uh, you know to do that so they can kind of have a for those who didn't hear the last episode, so they can have a picture of your strategy here so before, uh, I was finding product ideas, I was on the Facebook groups for that kitchen appliance and I would just see what customers say.

Kseniia:

Sometimes, a lot of times, because it was a new brand and it was like, basically no accessories for this kitchen appliance they would just say, oh, have anybody, anybody seen this product or this product that we can't find anything like this on amazon? We really want it and I would go like Esty or eBay, I don't know. I check Pinterest and I would see people try to make it themselves from, like I don't know, pieces of wood or something like that. So I realized, okay, well, it's great, then you check the search terms and people actually searching for this product, but there is no options available on Amazon. So that's how all the other products before were and then.

Bradley Sutton:

So what did you hire the VA to do? Just start, you know, just be in all these Facebook groups and Reddits and stuff like that trying to get information, or what are they doing?

Kseniia:

no, the first thing that I did when I hired her, I told her she needs to learn the Project X.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice.

Kseniia:

I gave her the Project X because I told her that's exactly how I learned how to search for products. So the first thing we did is that she watched the whole Project X Love it. Because I wanted her to learn how to find products, the way how the Project X was done. Not starting from the product itself, but let's say starting from the product itself. But I'll say started from the keyword. Yes, so searching for the opportunities and not searching for something that already exists, and you'll be surprised. I think it's in two months I don't remember how many she actually found, but the one that we're actually going with in two months it's like 10 or 15 products, something like that that's already passed, like we're getting the samples.

Robert:

Oh, wow.

Kseniia:

So that's just not the product ideas. That's actually what we will be launching.

Bradley Sutton:

That's awesome.

Kseniia:

So yeah, she's really great Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

How did you find her? I think that's another thing that people wonder about is hey, how do I find good VAs who are actually going to produce, Like, did you go to a service? Did you just put a notice up, or?

Kseniia:

I just went on a website. I forgot how it's called like jobsph or something like that. And yeah, I just did a post that I'm looking for a VA with like a specific requirements and I actually did like a an attention test, let's say so. I put it a note and in the middle of the resume and tell them that's how they should name the email when they reach out to me. And you'll be surprised, out of maybe a hundred people or more that reached out to me, maybe like five only actually read yeah the joke post and they put it the and that was like the first test and then they did a task trying to find a product.

Bradley Sutton:

So hey, there you go, Robert. There's a tip for your, your next hiring thing. Like uh, dude, that's a good test to weed out half of the applications right there. I like it. I like it, okay, cool. So now you know, now that You've launched some products that kind of are not reliant on that one appliance, what do you project? Is your sales going to be by the end of this year on the trajectory you're going now?

Kseniia:

Yeah, I think we will definitely hit the seven figures this year, so it should be better than so. So far, the best year was in 2022, when we got very close. I think it ended with like nine80,000 or something like that, and I think we should be more. Yeah, it should be more this year.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, awesome Congrats.

Robert:

You got to buy $20,000 worth of goods at that point. Yeah, just at the end of the year just like buy your own product.

Bradley Sutton:

Come on, I mean you got to hit that number, but hey, that's good, you're going to do it without having to game the system like that this year. Awesome, Robert. Amazon. Let me look at my notes here. In your first year I saw you did $2 million on Amazon. You had grown it to like $4 million, which was pretty much Amazon.

Robert:

Only If we were just to take the Amazon, not the Walmart. Are you up down? We're probably slightly down. I would say maybe 15% or so, 10 to 20. Part of that was our own doing. We had to prioritize. If we ran out of stock, it's not going to be at Walmart stores, it's going to be at Amazon, and it's happened a couple of times and know, and that's kind of affected. We had a really kind of high margin sort of products that we've launched and one of them did extremely well and we just haven't been able to keep it in stock because it is a new item to our supplier. But, like as an example, we launched it basically like month one, with no reviews, you know, just like our branding and running ads. We did almost like a quarter million dollars of sales and it was profitable, which is crazy. You know, usually we're used to losing money, you know, even after a while sometimes, uh, but you know that kind of like margin. There's certain like we're basically focused more on things that make margin, you know, or things that will basically help us push sales through our website, through other products, or things like that, like our hero, where we include an insert card and they're able to buy other accessories from us. But yeah, certainly, strategy slightly changed.

Robert:

Within Amazon, advertising basically just kills a lot of the margins, but we see it as a brand awareness exercise as well. We have a lot of products on the roadmap that are higher margin and just kind of like uh, you know, complementary products and stuff that you know I think it's a survival of the fittest on amazon. You know, thankfully, we have always tried to open new channels. You know it wasn't just Walmart stores, you know, for a while we've done all the dot coms, you know, even as vendors like Target dot com, Walmart.com, Macy’s Home Depot, fair dot com If anyone out there listening, maybe I'll save it for the 60 second tip. But Fair dot com, yeah, just, you know, all the channels start adding up, you know, and those are higher margin than and where you don't have to run ads and stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

So how are you dealing with the year of the fees? It seems you know Amazon, you know 2024 new inbound fees and low inventory fees, which it sounds like you probably hit because you keep running out of stock, you know, on some items and refund fees and stuff like that. Like how have you been able to maintain your profitability? Or have you been able to maintain your profitability, you know? Have you had to raise prices or what's going?

Robert:

On no, we just, we have not maintained the profitability, it's just straight. But not on amazon wise. You know, thankfully, the retail side for us just, you know, pays the bills and more. You know thankfully. But uh, we see amazon, as hey it's, it's tough for everybody. You know, thankfully we have another side of the business that it's actually our priority and you know we're still focused on Amazon. But we didn't keep the profitability. Necessarily we can't always just raise prices because we are basically selling on a lot of other channels, so it disrupts a buy box potentially and it's just one of those things where we just have to optimize on the ad side and just straight up, not focus on some SKUs that are, you know, kind of loss leaders or could be loss leaders.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I'm looking, I'm just looking with Helium 10 here on your store page with X-Ray, and I see actually you know there's a number of products here that you've launched in the last year. Like I see it, says March of 2024. I see another one here, June of 2024, this coffee scale with a timer. Why, somebody, that's gotta be a serious person. You're weighing your coffee and you got a timer on it, but whatever. So there's all these unique products.

Kseniia:

It's at Walmart.

Robert:

So that product is at 3,000 Walmart stores. Wow so wait, hold on stores. Wow so wait, hold on, hold on.

Bradley Sutton:

It just says you launch this in June. So does that mean that you actually launched a product on Walmart before Amazon? I love that. You see, I keep trying to tell people that exists. Some people say, oh no, Walmart is the opposite. You can expect less sales unless you get into the stores. But there are definitely people out there who launch on Walmart first. But anyways, my point was I see at least four or five products here that were launches here. So obviously you're actively, you know um, trying to expand the brand, you know. I asked Kseniia the same question how are you finding these, these new opportunities, like? What are you doing to, like, do your market research to say you know what? This is the next product we're going to try.

Robert:

Yeah, so a lot to do with I mean doubling down on what works, for example, the categories that are working. We introduce either variations or new models if we see fit, and then we get a lot of feedback from retailers and pitches that we do to retailers. So we're in line reviews all the time with different retailers and they tell us we like this product, we don't like this product, or potentially, I think we launched maybe like 20 or 15 or 20 espresso sort of accessories, the scale being one of them this year, and that was from, basically, feedback from a Walmart buyer saying, hey, you know, it'd be nice in the future if we have some espresso tools you know that's kind of a trending category, or whatever. And we sort of said tools, you know that's kind of a trending category, whatever. And we sort of said you know, yeah, we have those kind of coming anyway. Yeah, you know. And then we went and looked for those. So we you know I have a lot of products that I've already tested and stuff, you know, every, basically everything. We're a coffee brand, so anything around the coffee categories, you know, are sort of constantly keeping my eye out and our factories also like innovating with us. Um, but yeah, it's, it's.

Robert:

It's a lot of prototyping for retailers, rather than launching on amazon and seeing if it works and then sort of uh, then going to pitch to the retailer. So it's a lot more capital efficient, just sort of prototyping things or final sampling and then uh, sort of having them available on your catalog and then if a retailer wants it, then of course you go to mass production, you go kind of bigger on that and double down on amazon um, but yeah, on the amazon side for us, you know one thing that you probably wouldn't see on the numbers there, but we're we've been working with a 1p partner where we basically have a lot of margin on but we don't necessarily account for the sales through our account, you know. So, like our item wouldn't necessarily show that but it says sold by amazon. So there's some. We just started that as of like a month and a half ago or so, uh, and it's been kind of working really well, um, certainly making a lot of profit, and they're selling uh as dot com, as amazoncom. So that is sort of how we're mitigating the risk, just sort of looking for ways where we're able to keep profitability, because you know categories that need our products. You know our brand fits in well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now one thing. The last question for you, before I go back to Xenia, is I don't know the specifics, but I used to supply Walmart to other companies I've worked at. But it's not like they pay you a month in advance or even they pay you up front. There's different terms that Walmart needs and then when they're ordering what? 50 units for 4,000 stores or 20 units for 4,000 stores everybody can do the math out there. We're talking a sizable chunk of change. How do you manage cash flow when you're almost having to front Walmart and some of these other things like and have such a big business with so much turnover? How do you have the capital to sustain, to keep it, to keep it going?

Robert:

yeah, that's the part that hasn't been easy for sure. You know, financing environment altogether has gotten, you know, tougher for everyone. You know, obviously, the higher interest rates and stuff. I just bootstrapped this so of course even harder right, and I'm in a sort of categories that are, you know, some would say commoditized, unless you have like strong brand but you definitely are competing against legacy brands that are sold by amazon. So basically a lot of competition in that way. Um, so, to scale it, it's not like I had extra sort of profit margins to just dump around and make mistakes and sort of, you know, go everywhere. So it definitely took some, you know, strategic there, partnering with the.

Robert:

I would say the biggest lever is our supply chain terms. You know our supplier terms are almost unheard of when I tell even you know bigger, much bigger sellers. Obviously I've taken on debt, you know, um, and that's been helpful, you know. You know decent amount of debt, but the largest chunk that allowed to scale at that point has been the supplier term. So think of uh, you know, usually you pay your suppliers maybe like 30 deposit and then the 70 maybe when the goods goods arrive at the US. You know if you're lucky, you know if not when it left China. We pay 15% deposit and then we don't pay the 85%, sometimes until 90 days after the goods arrive in the US. So basically, we sell it to Walmart.

Robert:

Walmart pays us in 55 days and then we go and pay our supplier essentially. So at any given time we owe our supplier so much money that it also makes a relationship so that we basically don't have to. We do, uh, at least once for all we don't have to do inspections on containers because they're not going to mess it up. You know, if they mess it up, we owe them so much money that it's in their best interest to not. You know, uh, so it keeps that relationship always kind of lopsided in in this way and, quite frankly, is the cheapest financing.

Robert:

You know that that one can get right. It's just basically your supplier taking on the brunt of it. So at some point earlier this year, yeah, like because of the terms with Walmart, basically Walmart owed us like maybe a million and a half dollars or something, which is crazy. You're like, okay, in the next 55 days every they're going to be paying some amount. But then we also owe the supplier like hundreds and hundreds of thousands, and then over there, this and then you have to order another container because you know Walmart's going to reorder and they're not telling you that, but if it's on the shelves they're going to start reordering as soon as it starts trickling in. So it's just a huge risk really. But when it's Walmart stores, I mean you just have to take it. You know I always said I'm either going to make this thing, you know work kind of do it big or leave a huge hole in the ground of where it was once. But it's business. You know, I try to remove the outcome from me. You know me, or my sort of self-worth, I guess

Bradley Sutton:

Now, Kseniia, a similar question to you is you, as a smaller up-and-coming seller, how have you been able to deal with all the new fees? Have you changed your strategy about how you send stuff to Amazon at all, or anything else like about how you send stuff to Amazon at all or anything else, or are you just kind of like you know, just taking the new fees and raising prices, or how are you dealing with it?

Kseniia:

Well, generally when I did the product research before and now we look only for the products that look at like 40% profit and obviously that was the profits that I had in 2022. And after all the fees, it just dropped to like 23, probably percent, 23, 25%. I'm very careful with PPC right now. I'm not trying to overspend on it Plus on the storage, so I'm basically storing for free the products in China after they're being manufactured, so I'm saving money on that.

Bradley Sutton:

I think this is interesting. A lot of sellers are kind of like maybe in your shoes right now, maybe just by themselves, or maybe they have one or two VAs. Tell me, how many hours a week are you putting to your Amazon business? How many hours a week is your VA doing? And then what are you guys doing? How does your week look? How do you break apart the responsibilities?

Kseniia:

So actually I hired the first VA in April, I think and I liked so much that I hired a second one, like a month ago. But she's only responsible for like social media because we started doing TikTok, uh and a lot of like UGC content, um. So the first VA she does a full time, so 40 hours um a week, and the second one is a part-time for now because I don't know how it's gonna go, because I don't think all the products are fit for like TikTok are you doing TikTok shop or just like promoting?

Bradley Sutton:

yeah, TikTok shop. Okay, how's that.

Robert:

How's that working out for you?

Bradley Sutton:

I'll go back to the employees or the time management one, but how's TikTok?

Kseniia:

Well nothing really. Yeah, we just we just started like three weeks ago, I think four weeks ago ago. So she's reaching out to a lot of influencers and through the affiliate program, through TikTok, so I don't know how many she probably reached out to like 200 a day or something like that. So some reply, some don't. So we've just been sending out some sample. I think we only got like one video or something like that yet posted, so not much yet.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, one employee is specifically doing social media for you, including TikTok shop, and the other one is she just doing the product research, like you mentioned before, she has other tasks for you as well.

Kseniia:

Yeah, so the first one. She initially was hired specifically for product research, but then we got to the point where we got so many products that we found but there is not too much money, even though I've taken out the loan, but still there is not enough Like. But there is not too much money even though I've taken out the loan, but still there is not enough like. I don't feel confident yet to get like a huge loan. So we still have to launch like one or two products at a time. I can't do like go and launch all 15 at the same time, because the problem I ran into maybe six months ago is a launch product and it became. It started selling a lot better than I expected to.

Bradley Sutton:

So cash flow. Same thing we're talking about with uh, with Robert there, yeah yeah, of course.

Kseniia:

Well, at the moment where I started losing sales, obviously I didn't have any profits. So that's the moment when I had to decide what I'm gonna do if I'm just closing it all down or am I taking a loan. So I decided to get a loan and start launching new products, and then it got better. But also I use a lot of credit cards just because I get points. I figured out the right credit cards to use because I travel a lot. Then I honestly don't remember last time I paid for a ticket. It's all always done through points.

Bradley Sutton:

So how do you, how are you paying your suppliers with a credit card? Cause not all, not everybody, knows how to do, how to do that.

Kseniia:

Uh, so I just do it through Alibaba, but I negotiated a terms with them where they covered Alibaba fee, so I'm not worried about that. Okay, cool, but that way I get a bunch of points every month.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, because I know you and your husband like to travel a lot too. So you're saying all those are. Are you business class on everything too? Most of the times, but not for the short flights.

Kseniia:

Okay cool, cool for the longer ones.

Bradley Sutton:

So, Robert, as I'm talking to Kseniia, she was talking about TikTok shop. Here I'm looking and I see you're on TikTok shop too. So how, how long have you been on there and how's that been working for you?

Robert:

yeah, I think we maybe, uh, earlier this year or something like that. Um, again, we have, uh, there's certain products that we know work a lot better for TikTok shop and we see it. You know, there's a concentration on a few products basically that work very well there. You have one of them pulled up. We just had inventory issues on those products. Basically, those products are really hot, kind of everywhere we put them and we really haven't been able to push as hard as we can on TikTok shop, but certainly everywhere we put them and we really haven't been able to push as hard as we can on tiktok shop but certainly are gathering a lot of affiliate content.

Robert:

Um, and sales are starting to come in. You know, uh, we see it as a big kind of big potential there. Um, certainly so. We're. We're reloading on inventory on those and, and for those that didn't know, uh, fulfilled by tick tock, I think basically, and for those that didn't know, fulfilled by TikTok, I think, basically they're subsidizing shipping. So you essentially make more margin on certain products as long as you get them above a certain threshold. So, yeah, it's one of the channels that we're focusing on. That's newer, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

You know we talked before about your goals. So, like what are your goals now for the future of your brand, now that you have like a different direction than the last time we were talking? Like what are you trying to accomplish at the end of this year other than hitting seven figures? What's next year look like for you?

Kseniia:

We're just going to try to launch as many products as we can. Our goal is probably two to three products every couple of months, so like a product a month. So that why we try to develop um. At the same time we're developing like five products, because you never know how it's gonna go um and, of course, do more social media, do more content, just to, you know, to get the, the brand name out there. Uh, we just started doing Shopify, like a month ago or no, a week ago, I think. I just started working on a website um.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you launching any other platforms? Obviously you're on amazon. You're on TikTok shop. You just said you're on Shopify. Are you on Walmart?

Kseniia:

or other places. Not yet, not yet.

Bradley Sutton:

But yeah, I'm thinking about going there too, as well, now you've got an inside connection at walmart if one of your product takes off somebody who can help you out here, Excellent. What is your favorite? Helium 10 tool, Kseniia or function of a tool.

Kseniia:

Probably the audience. That's the one that I use all the time. Is it called audience?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, the split where you ask the questions to the people and say, how are you using that Like for your images, or just for product ideas, or what are you using that?

Kseniia:

honestly for everything, for both for the product ideas, for the images, because I just think it's so easy. You know, when you're thinking about like the product we find, then I usually do um, like the drawing and uh, 3d you know the 3d image of the product that doesn't exist yet. Then usually all my products are like, really designed differently. That's what's on the market right now and I just upload the image there and I see what people say and ask them would you buy this product? And if you wouldn't buy this product, why not? Or what would you change in this product? And sometimes I see the things that I didn't even you know, I didn't even think about that.

Bradley Sutton:

So you're launching just the 3D rendering and just asking a question on that image, or you're launching it like, or you're launching it, you're putting it in a poll next to like existing products and asking them, or which one are you doing?

Kseniia:

I'm doing both. Actually, the first I just do the rendering and ask them would you buy this product? And if you would not buy this product, would you change like, how would you make it better for you? And then sometimes I also compare it to the other products that on the market and ask them which one would they buy? Interesting and a lot of times I do the changes on the product based on what the people say.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, I think it's important. I mean helium 10 audience, which is, you know, uh basically pick fu inside of Helium 10. I think is slept on by a lot of people. But that's, that's uh glad to see somebody's similar questions. To close out, uh, before we get to our final 30 second tips to Robert, like what's, what's your goals for the brand this year, next year and beyond?

Robert:

Yeah, so we're. We're really just doubling down on retail. We have a line reviews with different retailers. We're attending different trade shows, not like Amazon trade shows but like actually exhibiting. We did our first one in Chicago this year that had brought a lot of leads to basically regional retailers and all these new doors where we can just increase our distribution Within Amazon. Just continue to execute our roadmap. You know, basically double down on the products that are working and like higher margin products, but basically just doubling down on what's working. The brand, the angle of like being a go-to coffee brand versus legacy brands, that kind of just focus all over home, all over kitchen yeah, it's really, you know, seems to be really hitting a nerve with retail buyers. So that's kind of where we're going.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice, nice and your favorite Helium 10 tool for you or your team.

Robert:

Keyword Tracker. I use the Keyword Tracker a lot, market Tracker the original one. So those are my top two and that's because I have a lot of customization there. And I would say, to answer your other question on what could have maybe some improvement, although I like the interface a lot, is the profits. I think I talked to the team already but maybe there was some delay there with the advertising numbers being posted and so, like you know, profit being a tool that you want to look at almost like real time, you know, as opposed to like a few days back. But overall, you know, I love Helium 10. We use a lot of the tools the follow up tool, the you know I hadn't heard of the audience one we use PickFu from time to time, same thing.

Bradley Sutton:

It literally is PickFu just inside of Helium 10.

Robert:

Yeah, I didn't know that you guys had integrated like that. But, yeah, a lot of tools that help us keep an eye on the business, a lot of the notification stuff, the daily like keyword tracker emails that we get. You know, we really do use all those things Awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So now you know. Robert and Kseniia have been on this podcast for a while, so they know what's coming up next. What is your 30 or 60 second tip? Let's start with Robert.

Robert:

So my tip revolves around retail or going into retail. But first I want to talk about a channel called Faire like fair with an E at the end, dot com. To those who haven't heard it, especially if you're selling on Amazon or already on e-com, it's essentially a marketplace for independent stores all throughout the US, Europe, whatever, just sort of mom and pops, coffee shops, just any sort of stores that wants to source goods for their store, and it does really well for us. We've sold six figures through there, high margins, and we get pictures all the time from random friends and things like hey, how is your product that's in a random coffee shop in the middle of random city? Or just like in this little store, I saw your products. So you get actual feedback on what your products look like on the shelves and which products actually sell, Because those products, even though it's going to be a little store, it's going to be on the shelf, so you're going to see which products turn and why they do or do not turn, and that will kind of build up your first book of customers that are actual physical retails. Right, there's a lot of reorders on there and it's just a great way to get your feet wet into going to retail go ahead, you know, into going to retail.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's my tip there. Okay, cool, all right now. Now over to uh Kseniia. What is your uh 30 or 60 seconds? Uh tip or strategy for the sellers out there?

Kseniia:

I want to talk about the product development. I want to say that never stop product development. Uh, always have multiple products and a development at the same time. Um, even if your budget allowing launching only one at a time, because there is always going to be something that's going to go wrong, like the samples might not be made according to the drawings, suppliers might take a lot longer time to make the sample, or your packaging can get lost in the mail. So, and if something goes wrong with one of the products that you're developing, you always will have another options what to launch.

Bradley Sutton:

Cassini in the past. I know she kind of flies under the radar here, and that's why I love having people on the show. They don't come here with agendas, they're not trying to. You know like I'll have professionals, no problem. You know people who have agencies, people who do want to make a name for themselves no problem with that at all. I get good stories. But I also like having people on here who, who, hey, they're not on here for promotion, they're just trying to help other sellers out here. So, Kseniia, I know I don't even have to ask that that that she doesn't even have a you know any website or LinkedIn for people to reach out to. But, Robert, I think you do so like, if people want to, you know somehow find you on the interwebs out there. How can, how can they locate you?

Robert:

Gladly, we'll connect. I love just talking to sellers and helping in any way I can. I always learn as much as I give away at least. So gladly please reach out. LinkedIn would be fine, Robert Gomez, just search for me and glad to chat.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Well, Robert and Kseniia, thank you so much for coming on and sharing what you guys have been up to, and we definitely want to reach out maybe in 2025 and maybe not together, because I like introducing people to new ones, but maybe we'll connect you with other sellers out there. But thank you so much for coming on and wish you the most of success in your e-commerce journeys.

View Details

Join us as we welcome back Steve Simonson, a renowned expert on sourcing and leveraging AI technology for Amazon sellers. This episode is packed with insights on a wide range of topics, from managing remote teams to the innovative use of voice AI in customer service. Steve shares his experiences over the past year, highlighting the rapid advancements in AI technology and how his team has been integrating these updates into their processes. We also discuss effective strategies for managing remote teams, emphasizing the importance of building management skills, fostering online collaboration, and maintaining team morale through regular communication and celebrations.

Listen in as we explore the evolving role of AI in enhancing workflows and customer interactions, particularly for Amazon sellers. Steve sheds light on how major companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are advancing AI technologies, with mentions of Meta's open-source Lama model and Amazon's AI applications like Rufus. Despite ongoing concerns about AI accuracy, Steve assures us that issues like hallucinations are gradually diminishing. We discuss the successful deployment of AI chatbots in customer service and the growing importance of AI in managing brand websites and internal company processes, with specific resources within the Helium 10 software highlighted for deeper insights.

We also address the challenges facing Amazon sellers, including new fees, profitability issues, and competition. Steve offers reassurance by drawing parallels to past economic cycles and emphasizing persistence, sharing insights from Jeff Bezos' relentless approach. Additionally, we tackle the complexities of modern supply chain disruptions, offering practical tips for short-term problem-solving and long-term strategies such as resourcing and nearshoring. Finally, we highlight the significant opportunities that AI presents for small brands, encouraging businesses to embrace AI tools and look forward to upcoming events like Amazon Accelerate in Seattle.

In episode 586 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Steve discuss:

00:00 - Managing Remote Teams and Leveraging AI For Amazon Sellers
03:53 - International Team Leadership Reflection
10:27 - Emerging AI Tools for Ecommerce Sellers
16:05 - Accessing Freedom Ticket for Amazon Sellers
19:09 - AI Video Creation for Beginners
20:46 - Leveraging AI for Listing Generation
22:56 - Navigating Challenges in E-Commerce Business
28:24 - Talking About Retirement
31:29 - Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions
34:09 - Enterprise Software and AI Integration Advice
35:32 - Small Brands Embracing AI Opportunities

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got Steve Simonson back on the show, one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to leveraging AI for Amazon sellers. He's going to talk about a wide variety of topics, such as running remote teams, to sourcing, to voice AI that can actually be your customer service rep. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create POs for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside Inventory Management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me. Forward slash inventory management. Forward slash inventory management. And don't forget, you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. You know, here at Helium 10, I don't know how this happened but we have a lot of S things. You know, we've got the Serious Sellers podcast, we did the Sell and Scale Summit. Now we've got Steve Simonson here and so I did have a hat with an S. This is actually a unique minor league baseball Sacramento hat here, but we're trying to keep the S theme together here. Steve, how's it going?

Steve:

Boy, I'm well, I love it. The alliteration does not stop. That is really impressive. If you look closely at my forehead, you'll see a giant S carved into the forehead. So everybody, get out your inspection equipment. But it's there, you can rest assured.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it All right, guys. Well, this is not the first rodeo of Steve here. He's been on the podcast before, so if you want to get back into a little bit more of his backstory and different things, some of the episodes he's been on is episode 38, episode 459. And we're going to talk a lot about AI today because I think that's what Steve is known for and that's what his module on Freedom Ticket is also about. But before I even, I just wanted to just see what you've been up to like the last year. It's been a year or so since you've been on the podcast. How's the back end of 2023 and 2024 been for you?

Steve:

Yeah, it's been good. I tell you it's a very fast-paced world we live in, and particularly as I focus on AI and how we integrate that into some of our enterprise-level software, it is just an endless train of upgrades, like every week somebody's got a new model and some new AI breakthrough has happened, and so we've been really quite busy at trying to figure out how to support these future frameworks within the same context of how can you build it once but allow it to be upgradable. So it's been exciting, it's been fun, but, no, no short of challenges as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Sure, sure, absolutely, absolutely. Now, one place in the last year or so that we caught up was in Bali. We went and spoke at this event and that was an amazing event. So anybody who has a chance to attend an event that Regina organizes, you should definitely, you should definitely try. We even had mud wrestling and everything. And I remember one thing you were talking about there. It's funny. I don't remember what I did yesterday, but then I'll just remember the strangest things or the most random things. I remember you had a big team across different countries and you were talking a little bit about that and it just, you know, across. You know across different countries, and you were talking a little bit about that. And it just got me thinking too. You know, as entrepreneurs most of us we don't have like an office and we've got, you know, in-office employees. You know we might start out hiring a VA here or there, and then you know the team scale. So you know somebody like yourself with experience, you know managing scores of employees at the same time. What are some tips you can give Amazon sellers out there or just entrepreneurs who have remote teams Like how do you, first of all, just what are some tips on managing a remote team where you're not there in person?

Steve:

Well, the first thing is it is. It's a skill that you have to learn right. So a lot of us think that somehow management is just built into all of us. I don't believe it is, and I think entrepreneurs are some of the worst at it, myself included, maybe first and foremost terrible manager, but I think you've got to build the skills, and so one of the things that we try to do is find ways of collaborating online that would be similar to an office environment. So, you know, our HR folks will have, you know, birthday celebrations or, you know, have monthly meetings to celebrate everybody's birthday or those types of things. We also have other things systemically that try to help, you know, remind everybody. Hey, celebrate your Wednesday weekly win. Everybody has at least one win every week, so let's share those amongst the company, because there's a lot of people in the company who may not know each other different locations, different parts of the world but I do want to just remind people that the basics really matter, like how you talk to people, you know understanding, you know where they're coming from, do they have the essentials that they need to, you know, perform the job.

Steve:

And the biggest I don't know revelation, especially dealing in the Amazon world is everybody expects a VA to be a unicorn. It's like you can do everything as the entrepreneur, so you just think you're going to delegate everything over to this unicorn. That's not going to happen. It's unfair, it's unrealistic and it shows that you're not yet a competent manager. And so my advice is you know, start slow, give very specific, task oriented things that have a beginning and an end, and then you know kind of work up from there and, as the internet says, educate yourself right. There's lots of books. One of my favorites is it's. It's the book name is called it's the manager. People don't quit jobs, they quit managers, and the faster we, as entrepreneurs, learn that, the better off we'll be.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah for sure. Now, speaking of managers, you know, once you get more than a few employees in a foreign location, you know you might make some kind of managerial structure. So for the subordinates, hey, you know performance management, things like that, you know it's probably handled by the manager. But how do you, kind of like you know performance, evaluate the managers themselves? You know, because you don't have really a middleman, they're directly reporting to you. How do you know who's your stars? And then how do you know when you need to take, perhaps corrective action?

Steve:

Well, the number one thing that leads our decision making and I recommend this for anybody is data right. Let's start with what are the responsibilities this particular section manager, right? Are they in charge of marketing? All right, how are the leads going? What are the KPIs related to this? And people have a lot of trouble coming up. They ask all the time what are the KPIs? What are the KPIs? And you know we talk about AI a lot. Go ask ChatGPT. Here's the position. Give me a you know, general position description and give me good KPIs and then massage it right. It can't read your mind, but it can, you know, kind of move and groove with the suggestions you give it. So KPIs are absolutely doable. Now, sometimes getting the data is a little harder than you want it to be, but once you overcome that hurdle or at least come up with an alternative, then data should drive those conversations. And the question is like hey, you're doing really well this week. What's going right? Why is this going so well? We want to be able to understand and replicate it. Or hey, you're behind your numbers. What are the challenges you're facing? Maybe they got a bunch of people on vacation or maybe the Google credit card stopped charging. There's all kinds of things that happen in business, but numbers drive decisions and we like to say what's broken in the system, not what's broken in the people. The people want to do a good job In general. If you manage them and you're fair with them, then you're going to find that they want to perform well. They want to do a good job.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm sure we talked about more things. We had a good time there at the Balinese massage. That was my first one. I don't like those rough, those really rough ones. The Thai massages Guys, don't get Thai massages unless you like pain, oh my goodness. But I think they put you and Leo like in a couple's massage.

Steve:

Yeah, Leo, and I decided that you have the romantic couple's massage. Yeah, it was lovely.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah like I had my room all to myself and then you're like oh, okay, well, I guess we're going to be here in this room.

Steve:

How did he get the room? Although we all had the room with no walls, which is like you know bugs and everything else but yeah, it was pretty neat. I think all of the you know for an hour it was nine bucks or something and it was a joy.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, you can't beat that.

Steve:

Yeah, it was a delight.

Bradley Sutton:

Can't beat that. Great food and everything else. All right. Now switching back to you know, one thing you talked about there and you've been known for the last couple of years is at the forefront of how Amazon sellers and e-commerce entrepreneurs should be leveraging AI, and so that's something that's changing on a weekly, monthly basis. The last year, what are some of the most notable advancements or differences in the world of AI as it relates to Amazon sellers?

Steve:

Well, first of all, you know, last year it was kind of the year of ChatGPT, right, everybody heard ChatGPT and this became a synonymous term with AI. But they're just one company. ChatGPT is led by OpenAI, which is ironically not open now. It's closed source, and over that they kind of led the tip of the spear into this new world of AI. There are plenty of others trying to get things done. Google has tried and has had a couple flubs. Amazon itself is now deploying AI for the customer-facing side, as I'm sure many sellers are recognizing. And then there's so many others, including Meta, which has allowed their stuff to go actually open source. The Lama model, which is a large language model built on, like you know, 400 billion or 40 billion, I can't even remember. The numbers get so insane. I think it's 400 billion data points in the Lama 3.1, which is as good as any closed source or paid service, and that is exciting. Groq is exciting. So there's a lot of these engines coming out. For sellers, what they, in my opinion, should be focused on is like how do I make my workflow today better, right, whether it's my own personal workflow which I use AI all the time, or the work, you know process of my colleagues. And it's really important to tell your team this is not to replace you, this is to enhance you. The AI will not replace you, but somebody who uses AI will replace you if you don't get your act together. Like this is really, really an important message. And so you know, the first step is just how do you improve those workflows, and then there are many other exciting steps coming up down the line. You know almost immediately.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe it's because I'm an old fogey, as it were, as far as adopting new things sometimes, but a problem with AI I've had in the past is a similar one, which I remember you kind of talked about in some of your presentations. How you asked AI last year like who is Steve Simonson? And it had your birth date wrong and it said you had done this when you were some author or something like that and this and that. And so you know like, hey, you know, I guess we call those hallucinations. But then, like, you know somebody even you know we're a year later and I'm still seeing similar things like for example you mentioned the Amazon AI you know there's Rufus and then there's ones that summarize reviews and stuff like that, and some of it's just absolutely useless. You know like, no, yeah, customers love how large this seems and they also love how small it seems. I'm like, come on, like this doesn't even help me. So like, is that an accurate assessment or am I being biased? Like, say, hey, why is it taking so long to fix a lot of these hallucinations, or are you seeing a macro? Uh an improvement on those kinds of things?

Steve:

Yeah, no question it is improving. So if you start comparing you know ChatGPT three and a half to ChatGPT four to you know 4.0 and some of these other evolving models the hallucinations are shrinking. They won't go away until there's a large enough data set that is just more robust, honestly. So we should understand that it's still lying to you 20% to 25% of the time, just making stuff up out of thin air, and so that should be a real staunch warning to everybody. When you see the thing, tell you something. In my case it had the several book titles that I had written, that I had not written, and no one's written right. So, like I was very impressed with what it wrote, but it was unfortunately it was not me. So expect that hallucinations will continue, but they will continue to reduce over time as well. So don't use that as your obstacle. That ain't going to work. There's so much positive, good stuff. Now some of it has to do with how you structure the prompt or how you use the ins and outs of the data, and it's certainly not flawless. But you know, every day it's getting better, and I've seen like the voice stuff is incredibly good now and I suspect within, let's say, 12 months, all the early adopters will have on their their brand website. They'll have a brand, you know, a message bot that is completely trained on their stuff, right? So all your PDFs, all your products, all your company policies, return policies, shipping, whatever and it will be able to perform chats better than a human on average, right? And, by the way, this has already been proven.

Steve:

This year, a company sent 2 million live customers to their new AI chatbot and it had more first touch resolutions, it had higher customer satisfaction and obviously, the cost was less and it was the equivalent of 700 full-time people. So what we want is we want better customer experience and if you can do that with AI, people will come to expect that to be available. So, early adopters within 12 months, you know, and then other people over time, for sure. Message bot chat, you know, 24, seven live, educated bots about your stuff. We're doing this now. It's very powerful. By the way, the larger your company is, sometimes you need this internally, right? Hey, what's the HR policy? What's the vacation and where it can actually interact and go? Oh well, can I get this vacation off? And it will allow it to schedule and do other things. So very powerful stuff that's coming real quick.

Bradley Sutton:

We're not going to go into everything he talked about in our module, but just for those who have access to Freedom Ticket, which is pretty much any Helium 10 member let me just show you, guys, where you can go to see his information. Go into Freedom Ticket 4.0 under the module Product Research and Sourcing. Click on the Power of AI for Amazon. We got you in a very flattering screenshot right there.

Steve:

That's actually how I talk. My eyes are closed.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it, but, hey guys, he goes in-depth there on how it can help Amazon sellers. But let's just stay on this subject and talk about some specific use cases. I think one of the things that was terrible maybe a year and a half ago or a year ago that has gotten a lot better, in my opinion is images. You know, um, and obviously Helium 10 has integrated some things Amazon has integrated into their advertising. They actually require, um, you know, sellers to have a custom images now for, like, sponsored brand ads and things like that. So if you're not, if you don't have this humongous repertoire of, or a repository, I should say, of, all these images, well, AI is kind of like the only way to go. So what kind of different AI tools should Amazon sellers be using now as far as imagery? And then, what are the use cases that you see most useful?

Steve:

Well, the first is the idea of simply being able to scale up your images. Right? You can upscale images with very high fidelity that you could not do in the old days, right? I remember watching shows, you know, maybe as far back as the 80s, you know, and the cop shows like, zoom in and enhance, and it's like anybody's ever worked with photos or videos. It's like you could zoom in all you want. You're going to see giant pixels. There's no enhance available, right? But today you actually can upscale those images. So anybody who doesn't have giant zoomable images, I think that's a lost opportunity and within that module, I put in a couple options that will do that upscaling for you. The other thing is coming very fast down the line is, you know, beautiful room scenes or lifestyle shots. They might be called with your product in the shot itself, and so that gives you just unending abilities to position your product in natural life. You know style images. There's any number of other ways you can do it. You know we use, uh, AI images to make themes, right, so you may say well, gosh, I want to have my I don't know my little travel bag and I want to show it with a, a Washington state theme or a, you know, a California theme, and AI will make beautiful, beautiful background imagery. And there's your social media right. You can just do that for every single day or multiple per day. Really incredible. The ideation that this AI brings to the table, I think, is worthwhile, and the quality, as you said, Bradley, incredibly advanced compared to how it was, you know, even a year ago, especially two years ago. So really, really, you know, images should be a high priority for everybody.

Bradley Sutton:

I forgot it was a webinar. I was watching Kevin King. He showed some kind of like I'm not sure if it was released yet, but some previews of different AIs for video and it looked real. I was like, how is this not real? So what is available out there that you're not having to pay thousands, you know? Uh, obviously you can get super advanced stuff and you can make movies and everything you know with it, but something that's accessible to like Joe Amazon seller, um, who could you know, perhaps you know, make make a product video with just uploading an image or a short video and then and then make that into a nice video ad or something.

Steve:

Yeah, so one of my favorites for this type of purpose is called Invideo.io, and I believe I highlight it in the Helium 10 presentation. But basically you can either just give it a text prompt, right, and it'll make an entire video for you. You say how long do you want it? What's your? You know, are you going on a vertical short format or a horizontal long video format? Right, so you know, one might be more appropriate for TikTok and the other one for LinkedIn or YouTube. And then you can even upload images of your product or videos that you may already have, and it can incorporate those and it will do the music, it'll do the voiceover, it'll do the pulling in a bunch of videos around it, and it can be very, very effective. And so you'll. You know, we use that every single day to make videos that are mostly good quality. There's a couple little pieces. It's like I basically told my marketing folks. It's like it's more important to have the video and get it out there and show some content and then have the final little you know accent or the little you know relic that's on the screen solved, but in video is very, very powerful, and that's just one example. There are many like it.

Bradley Sutton:

What else. As far as you know, I think the number one thing for me that even I'm using AI and like even six months ago I probably still hadn't really used AI, but now I use it for almost every single one of my listings is like listing generation. You know, obviously, since Helium 10 has it, I get access to it for free. But hey, you know people, you know you can get free versions of ChatGPT. But that one is really powerful to me because I'm not just for you know, I'm, I'm obviously a native English speaker. I don't need help writing an English listing. But then sometimes I have writer's block and I'm like, hey, let me go ahead and say, hey, make a listing here's, here's my keywords, and I want it like in a funny tone. And then it's not the listing I end up with. But then I'm like, oh, this is a great direction. Let me just, you know, tweak a couple of things. But for me the power is like, hey, I'm going to make a listing in in UK and hey, I need to make one with British. You know English. Hey, I need to make a listing in Spanish. I can kind of speak Spanish, but I'm not a native speaker. So, uh, I can write all my prompts in English and then it'll go ahead and, and you know, make a listing in Spanish what. What are some things that you maybe think that sellers might be leaving money on the table as far as leveraging AI when it comes to their actual copy that they're doing, whether it's listings, whether it's, you know, blogs, et cetera.

Steve:

Well, the first thing is I believe that because AI is so new as a tool and a lot of people, myself included, we had negative experiences right. I would generate an image on mid-journey and the guy would have nine fingers right and I'm like so the clear thing that a lot of us said is this stuff is crap, it'll never work, I'm out right. And if you had hallucinations or you had kind of weird images and you haven't revisited it, you're making a mistake. So when you get in there, the next most common mistake is single dimension thinking. Right, you say I need a listing for Amazon for this product and it writes out something that's, you know, relatively generic because you gave it one single dimension listing Amazon, this product. But if you say you know I'm, I want to add a language, like you talked about Bradley, or I want to write this like Dan Kennedy, You know one of the you know very, very best copywriters, or maybe you don't know the name of great copywriters. You go who are the top five copywriters, right, that are direct response copywriters, or who's the best you know, fantasy writers, whatever and then write it in whatever style that you're looking for. So, having a writing style, having an audience that you're trying to reach, is just adding extra dimensions to that. You know, first, single dimension concept right, I just need a listing. No, you need a listing written in a style for a platform to an audience, in a tone, right. And the more of these dimensions you add and there are far more that you could go the more personality comes out of that and that's really what you're looking for. You want the AI to help bring forward your own personality and I highly recommend people add additional dimensional layers and they will have better results.

Bradley Sutton:

Switching gears a little bit and, who knows, maybe this conversation will, or the answer might be some version of AI. But you are in, you know you network a lot, you go to events, you talk to a lot of Amazon sellers and I'm sure you have felt the sentiment this year. It's probably, I would say, the most negative it's been in a while as far as new fees and profitability and competition. And hey, now there might be almost like Teemu-ish thing going on where Chinese sellers can sell directly and ship directly and stuff. And so what is your advice to those people who maybe have a little bit negative connotation compared to before as far as selling on Amazon, not sure how they're going to proceed?

Steve:

Well, the first is, if they can get on the screen, I'll just pat them on the head. Hey, little buddy, it's going to be okay. So you guys can line yourself up if you're feeling down, and go in for the pat. Listen, I've been around a long time, right? Dinosaur is you know? They're the young upstarts compared to me. So I've seen these patterns happen for multiple generations of e-com. Right, believe me, back in 99, 2000,. It was the glory days. Then 2001, 9-11 happened and it was a nightmare and everyone hated everything. And the dot-com crash happened. And then it got really good again in the mid-2000s and everybody's flying high. And then the housing crisis and financial crisis globally happened and everybody hates everything again. Right and so and again, these continue to happen. And so my, my mission for true entrepreneurs is if you're going to be persistent, if you're going to be in the game, expect ups and downs. Do not play that just straight up line. There is no line that looks like that, even those crazy hockey sticks that you see. That you know from companies there were little iterations of up and down all the way, and I just want people to know that. You know, persistence is really part of the game and you know if you go to relentless.com. Do you know where that goes, Bradley? I do not. It goes to Amazon. And the reason why is because Jeff Bezos said if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you better be relentless so you can check it out right now, relentless.com for anybody out there. That's what you got to be. And so listen, it's okay to. I always say take one lap and go. This sucks, I wish this didn't exist. These fees, this competition, this problem, this whatever. And then get to work and try to solve it or come up with a strategy to get over the obstacle. That's your choice deal with it or get out of the business, and I think serious people have to get serious about business, so they should listen to a podcast for serious sellers. I don't know. There you go.

Bradley Sutton:

Double clicking on your little dinosaur comment. You know, if I'm not mistaken, you even at one point kind of retired and got out of the game and then you got back in. How does somebody know when it's time to? You know, I'm not talking about the, you know long sail into the sunset or anything, but hey, it's time to just relax and enjoy life, or no, you know what? I still need something that drives me. You know, because it's not an age thing. You know like, I know people in their late 20s who retire because they've had enough success and they've accomplished what they want to. I know people in their 80s who are still working strong. So how does the entrepreneur get to a point where it's like you know what I'm ready to, kind of like, relax a little bit.

Steve:

Well, the first thing is, you know, everybody's got their own context of where they came from and where they want to go. So don't let me project my stuff onto you guys. But I can tell you retirement 1.0 sucked right. It was awful, and it's not a question of you know. Could I do anything I want? Yes, I could, but my friends couldn't come out and play right, and my family got tired of being on vacation. My kids were tired of being on vacation. Now people can go oh, crying me a river. What kind of first world problem is that? But it's still a real problem, right? Because I did not enjoy it. And then I felt guilty, because I'm living a life that anybody would kill for and that doesn't make you feel good. So my brain is not wired to kind of check out. And so retirement 2.0, which I've recently begun testing we're in beta is basically just trying to say well, listen, I don't want to work 80 hours and I don't want to work any hours on things that I don't like. So over time you'll find things that you like or don't like and start positioning even your role within your current company on the things that you like to do. By the way, somebody loves to do the thing that you hate the most. Right, and I had this realization. One of my finest team members she's been with me gosh, it's probably coming up on, you know, 25 or 30 years she loves the thing that I hate the most. So I kept doing the details and very complex Excel sheets and forecasts and inventory and things that I hated doing far too long. When I was able to turn it over to her kind of an exasperation because I'm a terrible manager and I don't know anything. She's like, oh, thank God, I've been dreaming about this and I just couldn't imagine in my own small brain that, like somebody else, would love to do this thing. So remember that there's so many different people. Somebody wants to do the things that you hate to do. So please, the faster you can excuse yourself from the things you hate, get the people who love to do those things and then you'll start to chart. You know, chart your course, whether it is a financial course or a lifestyle course or whatever it is, towards, you know that, that bright future. Me, I, I have to do stuff. My brain will not allow it to stop and you know, that's why I try to spend so much time helping entrepreneurs. I want them to come on vacation with me and let's go play.

Bradley Sutton:

That's good advice. You know I asked myself this question. You know, sometime of wondering, hey, well, when is it time to? You know, to hang it up, as it were. But I wouldn't be doing what I do if I wasn't feeling, you know, fulfillment and motivation from it. So as long as I still can, I'm still going to keep on trucking. Now, speaking of pre-retirement 1.0, one of your previous lives you were heavy into sourcing and things like that. I'm sure you keep your pulse on that industry as well. What should Amazon sellers these days be thinking about when it comes to, hey, I'm competing sometimes with Chinese factories. Now, hey, there's tariffs, you know, should I be considering India and Pakistan and Vietnam? Hey, you know, shipping prices are fluctuating like ridiculousness, you know, like as if it were still COVID. You know what's some just general advice you can give sellers who are, you know, thinking about those kinds of issues.

Steve:

General advice get in the bunker and prepare for war. It is yeah, it's we still the companies I sold, we still have me and my team still have some supply chain responsibilities. So we're interacting frequently in this space and I just got off the call with some sourcing folks I have in Pakistan just before our conversation, and all of the things you just brought up are annoyances. They're just part of the thing. I did not predict shipping getting spicy again, but I did predict some of what I call kinetic action over the last couple of years. We've said the people who follow geopolitics. We've said there's going to be more kinetic action, which is a nice way of saying people are shooting stuff at each other, which is terrible. What that means is these supply chain disruptions are unexpected. The fact that the Red Sea is kind of closed for business is insane. Nobody had that on the bingo card, right. So everybody's going around the South African. I just saw two ships going around the Arctic on their way to Holland. So from China around the Arctic to Holland, and at some point they'll need icebreakers there. So there are unique things and unique challenges that we face, but it's kind of like take a beat, look at the immediate picture. Right, you have your short term. I got a ship product. Now deal with that, overcome whatever the obstacles, pay what you have to, and then think about all right now, in six months, what does it look like? And is there a way I can avoid this, whether it's resourcing elsewhere, nearshoring or onshoring.

Steve:

But I can tell you like right now we have a very complex project and I've got people in Pakistan and India and it is very difficult to solve this problem. But that's why there's a moat right, and everybody who's complaining about how difficult or hard or whatever all of those are moats right. This is your advantage. We're, ultimately, most Amazon sellers are not manufacturing the product ourselves. We have somebody else do that. So what value do we add? We add all the value of solving the problems throughout that supply chain and then into the marketing side, like all of that is our value add, and we either add value and deserve what we make or we don't. And we deserve what we make right, and this is a very important point Our value that we're adding is overcoming all of these problems. So guess what? That's why they you know you get paid. You got to deal with the trouble.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, before we get into your final strategies of the day. How can people find you reach out to you on the interwebs out there?

Steve:

The awesomeers.com podcast still records videos from time to time and I have a whole founder series directed at folks. Just, it's almost like a little mini course for you. It's free, it doesn't, you know, doesn't take anything to do it. You can find me at parsimony.com just steve at parsimony.com. I spend most of my time on software and AI, trying to smash those things together in an enterprise way, right? So anybody who's doing you know 5 million, 10 million. If you're doing 10 million or more and you don't know what ERP is, you are unnecessarily driving yourself insane. But I recommend not going insane. Systems are better.

Bradley Sutton:

Usually better not to. Yeah, yeah, you know.

Steve:

I'm not a doctor, I'm just thinking.

Bradley Sutton:

There you go, all right. Now, you know, can you give us a couple of 30 or 60 second tips? Could be about traveling, could be about AI, could be about sourcing, anything you want.

Steve:

Well, one thing, I mentioned earlier that chat bots are going to be a big thing for early adopters in the next 12 months. But I want to call out one of my favorites, bland.AI is a voice customer service tool. And that company is an example of it. I'm saying this concept is coming to a voice line near you, and especially for brands who have the capacity to pay nine cents a minute to interact with customers. You train it on your own data and then this bot can be a sales person for you, a customer service person, and it's really really good. Bland.ai, amazing types of technology. I'm not suggesting this is the only company. There are many and many more.

Bradley Sutton:

Is that the one that at Billion Dollar Seller Summit we were waiting for the helicopter, and then you're like here I'm going to call this, Okay, yeah, yeah, I remember that. I remember that it was kind of it kind of blew me away, yeah.

Steve:

It's still the great example of what if you could just call a number and talk to a AI like a human, which is the ironic twist, and stop yelling representative a thousand times right, which is the ultimate nightmare. So all the big companies are moving this direction. I think small brands have this opportunity to, in the same way that AI can supercharge you know, a non-English speaker into beautiful English language listings, which should be a warning to everybody. Small guys can do what big guys do, right, whether it's video, voice messaging, AI levels of playing field. That is the most important point. So if you feel scared, if you feel nervous, talk to your friends, figure out those easy use cases, but don't be afraid of it. Embrace the fear and get to it.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you so much for joining us. We're definitely going to have you back. You know, unless you're on retirement 3.0 and full launch mode, we'd love to have you back next year to see what you've been up to, and I'm sure I'll be seeing you at an event. Are you going to Amazon Accelerate?

Steve:

Yeah, yeah that one. I actually live in Seattle, so a good chance

Bradley Sutton:

I know, I was like about to say just maybe walk there, ride a bike or something.

Steve:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, well, I'll be seeing you at Amazon Accelerate along with everybody else and thanks a lot for joining us again.

View Details

Amazon to let TikTok users shop select products without leaving the video app
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4137470-amazon-to-let-tiktok-users-shop-select-products-without-leaving-the-video-app-report

UK TikTok Shop fees rise to 9% from September
https://channelx.world/2024/08/uk-tiktok-shop-fees-rise-to-9-from-september/

Temu, Shein and Aliexpress are attracting US customers in their millions
https://www.techradar.com/pro/temu-shein-and-aliexpress-are-attracting-us-customers-in-their-millions-poll-shows-and-thats-despite-the-fact-that-the-vast-majority-do-not-trust-these-online-chinese-retailers-in-the-first-place

Plan your agenda for Amazon Accelerate 2024
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/accelerate-agenda-builder

Lastly, get ready for Amazon Accelerate 2024 with tips on making the most out of this event by planning your agenda for the conference. Also don’t forget to join us for the Elite Workshop in Seattle. Don't miss out on these game-changing insights on the latest episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:58 - Shop Amazon ON TikTok!
03:21 - Amazon Holiday Fee Increase
05:26 - TikTok Fee Increase
06:06 - Temu / Shein Growing
07:45 - FBA Grade and Resell
08:29 - Kia Soul Delivery
09:58 - Amazon Accelerate Agenda
11:06 - Q3 Elite Workshop
12:01 - Pro Training Tip: Revamped Keyword Sales Estimation

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

You're going to be able to run Amazon ads on TikTok and users are going to be able to purchase from Amazon directly from TikTok. Amazon has increased its fees for fulfillment in Q4. These stories and more, on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings-ons and news stories that are going on the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world and we give you training tips of the week, as well as let you know what new Helium 10 features will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's go ahead and hop into the news. We don't have as much quantity wise as stories as last week. We had a record 14, but we've got some bangers here today, so let's get into the first article. It's actually from seekingalpha.com. I don't think I've ever quoted that news website, but look at this. This is a doozy, guys. If it is what this article says, it is, but it says Amazon is going to let TikTok users shop select products without leaving the video app, all right. So what does that mean? Sounds like it's just what it says. It says Amazon is teaming up with TikTok to enable e-commerce shopping on the short content video app. All right, so this is actually citing an Amazon spokesperson. So it's supposedly now TikTok users can buy items from Amazon ads that are going to be run inside of TikTok. So they're scrolling TikTok not necessarily TikTok shop, but just regular TikTok and then somehow there's an ad on there and they're going to be able to purchase without even leaving TikTok. Now this, to me, is kind of a little bit mind boggling, because, you know, I would think that TikTok wants to prioritize TikTok shop.

Bradley Sutton:

But this is interesting. It recognizes, hey, amazon has got a lot of products that maybe people want to buy from there, and so now it says here this Amazon spokesperson says in app shopping with Amazon, is it going to be available for select products advertised on TikTok and sold by Amazon or independent sellers. So basically, what's going to happen, like Instagram and TikTok and others, is, with these new ads, users of those platforms can link their social media accounts to their Amazon profiles and check out within the social media apps using the payment and shipping information they've stored with Amazon. And I guess this the information which is the original source of this news article says that the social media ads are going to show more details that a shopper would find on Amazon's website prices, estimated shipping times, even prime eligibility. So that is a how cool? Is that? Pretty cool, I think. Like if, if you can now run targeted ads like that would be the key to me. Like is it only going to show up, you know, if I'm doing some kind of sponsored display ad or DSP or something like that, and then and Amazon randomly shows me. Or can I target TikTok directly? Can I target hashtags? You know would be interesting. What effect is this going to have on TikTok shop itself? What will be interesting to like? Already, TikTok users are getting kind of upset with how many you know products come to their feed right From TikTok shop. They're still buying it, but you know, like is this going to flood even more e-commerce and might give people some TikTok fatigue? I guess who knows what's going on, but this was interesting breaking news today.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article that we have going on is actually from Seller Central itself, and it's another week. Another news article about raising fees. But this shouldn't be, you know, like earth shattering or something. This is what happens every year. It doesn't matter who you use to ship, you know fulfillment fees increase. Shipping prices increase a lot of times across the board during Q4. So it's saying that, hey, starting October 15th through January 14th, there is going to be peak fulfillment prices. All right, it's going to apply to all products and it's going to be the same within a specific size band. It says and this is going to apply for, you know, remote fulfillment, multi-channel fulfillment, buy with Prime and more. And it says the fulfillment fee is going to be the same as it was last year, except for products priced under $10, because that is going to have a new fee or a new fee in 2024. Because remember the what is it? Small and light no longer has it and they have something that's for $10 and below.

Bradley Sutton:

So I would recommend guys going into seller central and checking out the new like size tiers, like just just as an example. You know, don't think this is something that is going to increase your cost 50% or something crazy like that. For example, let's just say you've got a large standard item I think my coffin shelf is one of those, and it's one point or two to 2.25 pounds I think that's my coffin shelf, I'm not sure, uh. Or if it's two, 25 to 2.5, it's $6 and 5 cents. Let's say I'm paying $6 and 5 cents, now that is going to go up to a $6 and 44 cents. So I mean, that's not nothing, right? You know it's 40 cents per unit on my coffin shelf, all right. So just keep that in mind. That's. That's something that's going to happen.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, some, some sellers raise their prices during Q4 because they know the conversion might be higher, especially during peak shopping times. But just know that if you don't raise your prices, your profit is going to go down due to these fee changes. So again, check your Seller Central dashboard for the links to the articles that will talk about what size tier you're on and what your price was and what it would be, etc. Speaking of fee increases, TikTok shop has fee increases. It's going to nine percent starting in September, but this is for TikTok UK, all right. So I don't have any new information on am. On USA, remember, I think I believe TikTok UK was actually started before USA, unless I'm mistaken. So that could mean that in us. You know some of these fee increases might come behind, but they were at five percent for UK sellers and it is going to 9% for UK sellers, all right, so take a look at. If you're selling on TikTok UK, uh, make sure to check out this article. If you're selling a TikTok Shop US, don't even. You can just skip over that. It doesn't apply to you yet, but just a heads up for you. Uh, selling on Tik TOK in UK. Moving to other platforms, talking about Amazon, talking about TikTok, we're going all over the place.

Bradley Sutton:

Today, let's talk about Temu Sheen and AliExpress. Per an article on TechRadar, it says Temu Sheen and AliExpress are attracting US customers in the millions and this is the funny part and that's despite the fact that the vast majority do not trust these online retailers in the first place. All right, so what's some of the numbers? They polled 4,000 people in the US UK polled 4,000 people in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and they said that 60% of respondents had shopped on one of these three websites in the last year, with 50% of them shopping at more than one. I am not one of them. I'm not on there yet. 72% of people knew about Temu 55% knew about Sheen. 48% of online shoppers, it says, bought items from Temu, 42% from Sheen and 28% from AliExpress. That's mind boggling to me, like I don't know any American people who know about AliExpress. You know outside of you know us Amazon sellers, right? Some of the popular items is adult clothing for Sheen 57%. Household items on Temu 35%. Now this is the funny part here Even though all of these sales, all these people 50% shopping on Temu right, 94% of these respondents said they don't trust Temu, but they're still shopping on there. That's kind of ridiculous to me. If you don't trust them, why are you shopping on there? So that's kind of interesting to me. Is growing in popularity. Like I told you a few weeks ago, I'm investigating starting selling some of my products on Temu to see how that goes, shipping from US and having a higher price, obviously, than the Chinese sellers. Let's see how that goes. I'll have my results on that in a few weeks. I'm also trying to get Project X up on Temu as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Our next article is going back to Seller Central and it is entitled Give Returns a Second Life with FBA Grade and Resell. I don't enroll in this, or I haven't enrolled in this. I'm wondering if has anybody out there enrolled in this FBA Grade and Resell? Because what it does is it says it grades and relists your return products, allowing you to recover value and give them a second life. It's a set it and forget it system and it's a fee-based so. So take a look at more details. If this is right for you, you know, if you're getting a lot of returns and you don't want to have it come back to you or you want to have Amazon take a closer look before putting it back in inventory, maybe this uh service you know could be for you. FBA Grade and Resell. Do a search on that and your seller central dashboard and you will get information on it.

Bradley Sutton:

Next news article is just almost like a throwaway news article. I just thought it was funny because I probably have owned um more Kia souls than most people Like. I think I have owned eight different Kia souls over the last 10 years. I've got two Kia souls right now. Like for my family, uh, my daughter has had three different Kia souls. All right, so we have. We were a Kia soul family. But this article is entitled I think this is from Bloomberg Amazon is testing speedy delivery featuring Kia Souls, all right. So this is kind of like to counterbalance how much they rely on the flex drivers of souls. I'm doing it, but I don't think it's a matter of, oh, if you drive a Kia soul, maybe you can get hired as an Amazon delivery driver. It's actually the opposite, I believe. It looks like maybe Amazon is going to buy their own Kia souls or something and instead of having a like sometimes flex drivers, you know, like have you ever had your Amazon products delivered by door dash drivers or Uber drivers? Or like random strangers, like pulling up to your life, who's this pulling up to my house? Oh, shoot, it's just an Amazon delivery. All right, those are flex drivers. They're not necessarily Amazon employees, but I guess instead of having to rely on that, they want to have like take it in house a little bit and maybe they're going to be buying a fleet of of Kia souls. Interesting. I used to have a blue electric Kia soul. I don't have it anymore, but look, look kind of like the Amazon blue. I wonder what color these Amazon delivery Kia Soles will have. But now you see a Kia Sole pulling up in your neighborhood. It's probably either me or my family or an Amazon delivery driver.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article of the day is an announcement by Amazon saying hey, you can now plan your agenda for Amazon Accelerate 2024. This is the event of the year that you should go to. It's September 17 and 19 in Seattle. You guys have known about that. If you want to sign up, go to h10.me forward slash accelerate. But this announcement is about oh, by the way you know, it talks about seller cafe super important. If you have any issue with your Amazon account at all, seller cafe, set an appointment. You can get it fixed. Most likely, if you're on the right, these guys know what they're doing. If seller central hasn't been able to fix something, I almost guarantee I can't guarantee completely I don't work for Amazon, but I almost want to guarantee that that those seller cafe people can fix it for you. But anyways, the thing that's new is you can now do your agenda. So if you've signed up or are planning to sign up, you want to see what kind of agenda is like. You know when is Martha Stewart speaking, which, which she is and what are the other executives and when is Amazon going to release that? Go to the agenda builder. Mine's not on there yet, but I'm a speaker at Amazon Accelerate myself. So make sure those of you going, you guys put me on your agenda, my speech that I'm going to be doing. We're doing a 15 at Amazon Accelerate and along those same lines for those going to Amazon Accelerate or maybe you just live in Seattle or you want to fly to Seattle, not go to Accelerate just hang out with us.

Bradley Sutton:

Any listener of the podcast you can attend our elite workshop for free on the 16th. Space is limited, so this is not unlimited. It's going to sell out. We're capping at like about 100, 125 people, but we're going to have Kevin King speaking there. We're going to have Destiny I 25 people, but we're going to have Kevin King speaking there. We're going to have destiny I'm going to be there. Jeff Cohen from Amazon advertising Uh, we'll, we'll be there. We'll have some food and beverages. It's going to be from one to 6 PM on September 16th. So go to h10.me forward slash Seattle to get tickets. H10.me forward slash Seattle and it's free for now. All right, um, you know, usually you have to pay like 300 bucks to get into these high level workshops. We have rubbed shoulders with Kevin and Destiny and others, but this one for podcast listeners is going to be free, but while tickets remain, all right, it's going to sell out and then I can't guarantee your entry. I'll see you in Seattle, all right?

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, let's go ahead and combine our training tip of the week with a Helium 10 feature update. It's not really a feature update, but we revamped and made our keyword sales estimations even more accurate, all right. So this is why is keyword sales estimations an important metric? Search volume, obviously, is great. It's a great way to kind of prioritize your keywords. Why? Because you know, maybe you have 10 relevant keywords. You want to know which one to put in your title. Well, if they're all equally relevant, you're probably going to pick them over the most search form. But in addition, what is the reason you're doing that? Well, the reason you're doing that is because you're assuming that the ones with the most search volume can lead to the most sales. Right, and that would normally and in most situations absolutely be a hundred percent accurate statement. All right, but I said most situations, because sometimes you'll have a keyword that has less buyer intent. What does that mean? That means you know a hundred thousand people are searching it, but maybe only 1000 people are actually buying something after it where you could have a keyword with 20,000 searches and 2000 people purchasing a product because it was so specific that it has a lot of buyer intent. So you can see that looking just at search volume sometimes is not the best way to look at things. Well, Helium 10 has keyword sales estimates and they revamped the algorithm and it's pretty cool because I was just doing some testing on my top two keywords Everybody, everybody right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Who's seeing Project X and the coffin shelf. What is our top two keywords? You probably know coffin shelf and gothic decor. So take a look here at where this metric is and let me just show you something super cool. All right, so I'm here right now in Magnet, Helium, Magnet, I put my top two keywords, coffin shelf and Gothic decor and, as you can see here, this is interesting. Coffin shelf has 3,900 searches a month estimated and Gothic decor has 15,000, but you would think that maybe is it three times as many sales that Gothic decor has in coffin shelf. No, um, look at this. This is actually kind of crazy. Coffin shelf has 18 keyword sales, but Gothic decor has 147. So actually, Gothic decor has a lot of buyer intent, even more than coffin shelf. The conversion rate from sales to search volume is a lot higher on Gothic decor.

Bradley Sutton:

Now don't get it twisted. That doesn't mean that Gothic decor is a better keyword. It's not, you know, like Gothic decor. If you look at the people who buy things on Gothic decor, they're buying all kinds of products. They're not really buying coffin shelves, you know per se. Okay, so take a look at this. Um, let me just show you, uh, how accurate this is. Like you can't do this always, but I just. These were the first two keywords I tested, because this is what's near and dear to my heart. Right, I love how Amazon shows data, because when Amazon shows more data, sometimes people say, oh, amazon showing search query performance and brand analytics and this and that, and why do I need Helium 10 anymore? That's like incompetent. I'm like no, it's great, because the more data that Amazon shows, the more you could actually kind of prove that Helium 10's data is correct. So watch this. I went inside brand analytics, top search terms, and I looked first at coffin shelf, right, and this is not something you can do a hundred percent of the time. And, and Helium 10 is not going to be like a hundred percent. Uh, exactly, you know aligned with this, but it's just one of these things that just shows you how accurate Helium 10 is most of the time.

Bradley Sutton:

Take a look at this coffin shelf. It's telling you that there were pro, there were three products that had. One of them had 5.56% conversion, one of them had 33.33% and one of them had 5.56%. And then you can add those three numbers up, subtract it from 100% and then get like the remaining amount of conversions right Now. Here's the thing. That's on an actual number, right? So if you put in some random number like 153, and then you took 550 or 5.56%, it might come out to some number that that has like this decimal place, and then you know that, well, it's probably the wrong estimate because it's not exactly like that should be a whole number. So watch this. So I put those percentages here in a Google spreadsheet 5.56% twice 33.3% and the remainder is 55.55% Anyway.

Bradley Sutton:

So what did Helium 10 say? Was the sales again 18. So if I put 18 right here and I have this calculation, that goes it. Look, it works out to a perfect whole number here. All right, so the first product, and now I can actually see how many sales did that product have the top three. They had one sale, all right. This one had six sales, this one had one sale. So pretty cool, right? Uh, it came out perfect. Now what about Gothic decor? Let's take a look. Gothic decor we said 147, uh, sales, and then, if you look at brand analytics, uh, we have percentages of 1.36%, 1.36%, and then another couple of numbers here. I put it here Actually they're all 1.36% and that means 95.92% is the other orders. So let's put the Helium 10 number of 147 in here and survey says look at that, it comes out to a perfect number here of two sales, two sales, two sales and the rest of the product 141 sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, like I said this, you can't just do this cross-check. It's not always going to line up perfectly, especially when we're talking about, you know, ones where it says zero sales or 50% or something. But you know Helium 10 has other algorithms. That's why we're able to keep so, so accurate here. But now, guys, you know, take a look at that data about keyword sales. I think it's going to be very beneficial for you to look at that number so you can prioritize keywords based on which ones have the most buyer intent. So if you have a Platinum Plan at Helium 10, you're going to see the keyword sales estimate in Magnet and Cerebro. Make sure you're taking a look at that. All right, guys. Thank you so much for joining us this week. Don't forget to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

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Erica Greenhalgh's transition from the funeral home industry to becoming a top Amazon seller is nothing short of remarkable. In this episode, we uncover the unique twists and turns of her career, beginning with her early days aspiring to be a dental hygienist, her unexpected entry into the funeral business, and ultimately, her leap into e-commerce. Erica opens up about the struggles she faced, the countless hours she invested, and the pivotal moments that shaped her path to success. With six associate degrees under her belt, her story is a testament to perseverance and the power of pursuing unconventional opportunities.

We also talk about the nitty-gritty details of Erica's journey from a failed business to grossing $200,000 in her first year on Amazon. She shares her strategies for securing wholesale deals, managing a home warehouse, and the art of transforming poorly listed products on Amazon into top sellers. Erica's expertise in navigating the complexities of the adult product category on Amazon offers a unique perspective on the challenges and rewards of this niche market. Her ability to build strong relationships with small brands and address issues like minimum advertised pricing has been key to her success.

Our conversation also explores the broader landscape of e-commerce, from compliance with Amazon's advertising policies to the potential of expanding to platforms like Walmart and TikTok. Erica's passion for her work and her humorous reflections on her unconventional career path make this episode a must-listen. We wrap up with a look ahead, eager to reconnect with Erica next year to see how her journey evolves and the new heights she aims to reach with her innovative strategies and tools like Helium 10. Join us for this engaging and insightful episode that promises to inspire and entertain.

In episode 585 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Erica discuss:

00:00 - From Funeral Homes to Amazon Success
00:39 - Unique Amazon Seller Stories With Erica
06:36 - Transitioning to Amazon Sales Through Books
07:24 - From Funeral Home to Adult Products
09:47 - Wholesale Account Setup Success
15:01 - Growing Brands in Adult E-Commerce
16:43 - Sales Goals and Profit Margins
21:22 - Product Placement and Advertising Strategies
24:21 - Strange Incidents While Selling on Amazon
27:47 - Amazon's Advertising Guidelines Explained
28:30 - Amazon Strategies and TikTok Opportunities
33:34 - From Funeral Homes to Novelty Products

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got one of the most unique sellers we've had on. She started off her professional career running funeral homes, then transitioned to selling books online and doing retail arbitrage and now she grosses over $2 million a year selling adult products. How cool, is that? Pretty cool, I think. What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits. For more information, go to h10.me/profits. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Seller’s podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we've got somebody who's a first time on the show and I actually just met her on a one-on-one call a couple of weeks ago here at you know, if you guys don't know this, you know Helium 10 Elite Program. One of the many benefits other than just you know being able to get training with Kevin King and weekly round tables and stuff? Is you get to book one-on-one calls with myself and Carrie and roundtables and stuff? Is you get to book one-on-one calls with myself and Carrie? And I started hearing about her business and a little bit of her story. I was like you know what? Say no more, because I would love to learn more about this from the podcast. I love just bringing in people who I meet at conferences and other ways who have unique Amazon stories and this definitely, I think, is a unique Amazon story. So, Erica, welcome to the show.

Erica:

Awesome. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now, where are you at right now in the US of A.

Erica:

Currently I am in just a Mesa, Arizona, a little suburb of Phoenix. So, we are fortunate enough to have a little cabin up north that we could escape the heat from.

Bradley Sutton:

But isn't all of Arizona pretty hot?

Erica:

No, we're up in the mountains, so we are, we get lots of snow and pine trees and get to enjoy all of that, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

I didn't even realize there was places like that around there. Okay, not bad. Now is that where you were born and raised in Arizona, or you come from somewhere else?

Erica:

For the most part. So, I was born in Tucson, I spent all my teen years in Salt Lake City and came back as a young adult and have been here ever since.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Where did you go to university?

Erica:

You know I have six associates degrees because I couldn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. So, I'm a professional college student.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice. hey, before I actually do have a bachelor's degree, but I got it like, oh my God, like 15 years after I graduated high school, just because one of my companies I was working for at the time paid me to go do it. I was like sure I'll do it. But yeah, I have, like from local junior college, I've got like six different degrees. It was. I loved it, it was fun, you actually learn stuff, instead of having to take a whole bunch of just like general ed and stuff like that.

Erica:

So yeah, it was. It was awesome for me. I have dyslexia, I always really struggled in school and so, for whatever reason, learning finally clicked for me in college, and so it kind of became like look, I'm not dumb, see what I can do.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice. Now what? Did you have a theme of what you were taking, though? Like, did you have some kind of goal in mind, like hey, I would like to work in this? Or you just like, hey, I want to learn.

Erica:

Yeah, from a young age I wanted to be a dental assistant, dental hygienist, so, ongoing to dental hygiene school, I moved out at 17, because you know everything at 17. And I found myself completely broke and not having a clue what to do. I remembered a girlfriend of mine. We took a health science occupations class in high school and part of the class was to get up and job shadow somebody in a medically related field, and she had done a funeral director and in the back of my mind I was like, well, that's cool. But I knew what I was going to do. And I then had an opportunity. I walked into a funeral home that was next to the college, wondering how I'm going to pay my rent, and the gentleman spent about three hours with me. I put my name in a local newsletter and, lo and behold, a few months later I was offered a job at a funeral home as an intern, and also.

Bradley Sutton:

So, then, what you had chosen as your shadow, whatever day was the funeral home.

Erica:

No well, I had chosen other medically related careers. A girlfriend of mine did funeral to done, had job shadowed a funeral director and I always thought that was cool.

Bradley Sutton:

So, this is it almost sounded like you, just randomly. It was kind of getting kind of morbid there for a second. I was like, yeah, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life, so I went into a funeral home.

Erica:

I was like wait, wait, wait, where's?

Bradley Sutton:

this story going here.

Erica:

That is exactly what happened.

Bradley Sutton:

I had no idea what I was going to do.

Erica:

So, I just walked into the funeral home going, well maybe there's an opportunity for a job here, like, let's explore this adventure in life. Okay, so there is a little morbidity to it. There's no family history. There's none of that. So, I fell in love with the industry. I love serving families. I love every aspect of it. It's my true passion. But unfortunately, that job is a very high demand and very high stress, so there's no margin for errors within that.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you started working full time there when you were still in the junior college.

Erica:

I did, yeah. So, I completely did a 180 and started going a different direction in life and worked in the funeral world, had some kids, stayed home for a while and went back into the funeral world. And the funeral home I was working for at the time was a fantastic family run funeral home here in Arizona and unfortunately, the gentleman who had started it began to age out, needed to take care of his wife who was also aging, and the people he left in charge were just cutting corners to make a dime and I really felt that they were going against everything the business was built on. And so, I left there and a former friend business partner of mine was like hey, I'm selling books and shoes on Amazon and making like a thousand dollars a week doing it. And I was like that sounds fantastic. I can sell books and shoes and figure this out.

Bradley Sutton:

What year are we talking about? About more or less?

Erica:

This was back in 2015, 2016.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so almost 10 years ago. Now, I think I asked you this before, but the funeral home did they have a Ghostbusters like a Hurst that you could drive?

Erica:

We did. In fact, my business partner that I started the e-commerce business with we had a custom coach made that was old timey looking. It was pretty sweet. It was Rosewood is the company Rosewood Coach and got to pick out custom colors and all the details and it was pretty awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So, working at the funeral home, you're like, hey, this is not what it used to be, and so I'm open to other ideas. And then you hear about Amazon, and then so your first entry into it was it books, was it arbitrage? How did you just kind of get into Amazon?

Erica:

It was a little of both. So it was kind of getting our feet wet going out and I would buy lots of books off of Craigslist and I had a Ford Explorer at the time and I would load up every ounce of Squarespace in that Explorer with lots of books that I could buy and figuring that out and it was just learning the pieces and putting it together of you know how to find what's what will sell on Amazon, how to find what won't, where your margins are going to be. It was a really fantastic place for us to start to get a full understanding of the Amazon game without a ton of investment required.

Bradley Sutton:

Were you still working at the funeral home and started this, or did you already leave and then now this is your only income, or what was that transition like?

Erica:

You know what? I had left the funeral home, I had about six months of income, and so it was one of those decisions that I either had to make this work and or it didn't, and I had to move on. So, I was just coming off of another failed business. I guess I'm an entrepreneur at heart and always looking for the next. I knew that I was capable of doing more, and so I was a little down. To be honest, I wasn't feeling great about things in life. I had left the funeral home, just had a failed business, and so this was kind of a I have nothing left to lose and all or nothing, and so I made the best of it over six months and was able to more than replace my income at the funeral home and decide to run with it and see how far I could take it and where we could go.

Bradley Sutton:

So, in that first year of selling on Amazon, or first of all, was it only Amazon, or were you also selling other websites? Or we're just talking about Amazon here?

Erica:

I was exclusively Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

How much did you gross in the first year and then profit off of that?

Erica:

I want to say, in our first year and I apologize, I don't have numbers in front of me we did about $200,000 our first year.

Bradley Sutton:

So how much like were you spending eight-hour days, kind of like, or more or less, or.

Erica:

Yeah, I would say about six to eight hours a day and more. A lot of that was figuring out. What's your strategy going to be? Are you going to do online arbitrage? Are you going to do in stores? I would go and spend hours just scanning every possible thing in any store that I could, just to get an idea of what are some restricted products, what are categories that needed gating. And as I began to do that, the first year or so I realized it was a hustle to go out and find that deal, like sometimes you struggled and sometimes it was a complete mess and you would spend days with nothing. It was a complete mess and you would spend days with nothing. And so, we began to look at different wholesale accounts of I'd like to prefer to pick up a phone and just replenish my inventory rather than going out and hustle to find it. And we set up random wholesale accounts with probably 20 different companies, seeing what worked and what didn't?

Bradley Sutton:

What was your line? Like you'd cold call them and then just say how would you get them on board.

Erica:

Well, to be honest, I think that I purchased a course of how to set up wholesale accounts I want to say it was like $1,000 or $1,500. And in turn they're like here's this list, and I think I bought a list off of them and they're like but be prepared to be told no 90% of the time. And I was like, yeah, no problem, I'm willing to make all these phone calls and see where it goes. And so, as I began to make these phone calls, every single person said yes to setting up a wholesale account. Now, I think times are a little bit different today than it was back in 2016 when I did this, but all they wanted was our reseller certificate and bam, we had a wholesale account. And so, then I was overwhelmed by these massive catalogs and I want to say we were selling everything from baby pacifiers to nun chucks and nail polish and everything in between. There was no rhyme or reason between what we sold. Using FBA, so everything was FBA.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, did you have your own warehouse, would you need to get all this stuff in and label it, or you would have these companies send it to Amazon for you.

Erica:

No, I had a card table set up in my bedroom with my computer and my label printer and it was absolutely ridiculous. You know, I'd fill my entire living room with boxes and it was one at a time opening them up, and I couldn't even afford the $8 pickup for UPS to come get it. Then I would load my car and carry all of it in. And it was. You know it was a hustle.

It was an adventure bootstrapping it, figuring it out, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

less labor-intensive kind of than the retail arbitrage where you're actually having to go out so much, you know, at least you could do it from your house and things like that right and no scotty peeler injuries so saved okay and then how? Did that progress? Did you just kind of like transition to only wholesale and cut out the books and arbitrage?

Erica:

We did so we transitioned into wholesale exclusively, and at that time we began to see a lot of these manufacturers had map pricing in place. So minimum advertised pricing. Minimum advertised pricing. So, if your item is supposed to sell for $49.99, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it's selling for $26. And by the time I was doing the math, I'm like these people are making pennies and I just couldn't understand this. And so, then I began to speak with our wholesaler more, and they began to tell us how frustrated these manufacturers are that nobody is taking care of Amazon and how upset their brick-and-mortar stores are, that people could go online and find it for less, and how they're losing out on money. And I would also find incorrect information and incorrect images. And so, I began to really pivot our business, seeing a huge hole in the industry between manufacturers and the e-commerce space. And so, I approached these manufacturers and I said, hey, what if you were to give me exclusivity on your product in exchange for me managing it on Amazon? And it's a win-win for everybody. I will do it for free. If you don't like me, you can fire me. I won't make you sign a contract or anything else.

Bradley Sutton:

When you say manufacturers, are these the same people that you were buying stuff from wholesale? And you're just like hey, can I have exclusive? Or were you buying from distributors? And you're like let me find who's the real manufacturer.

Erica:

So, I actually worked as a team with my distributor. I think that there's enough money to be made by everybody. Could I make more money going direct to the manufacturer? Absolutely, but he really opened those doors for me to the manufacturers direct, and so my agreement was you know, I'm going to continue buying it where I get it from in exchange for you know, everybody wins in this situation. So, the manufacturer wins, the distributor wins, and I felt like I came away a winner in that, and so we began to grow that way. we, I only do. I'm to the point now that I only work with brands that have brand registry done so that we could maximize and take advantage of all of the benefits that brand registry offers and it's grown.

Bradley Sutton:

At what point did you get into the adult products? Cause, that's pretty much all you do now, right? It's exclusively all you do, and how in the world did that transition happen?

Erica:

So, we found, as we began to look for local wholesalers because we're limited on funds and we had to keep our money moving we found one of our wholesale accounts was a rubber duck company and my former business partner was like, hey, I think they make a vibrator rubber duck. And so, we then discovered that there was a distributor here in Phoenix and reached out to them and that cut down a huge amount of our lead time because we could go and directly pick it up and we didn't have that extra delay in products coming in, because we were so new that tires were not something I knew to ask for or could get, especially as a new customer. And so, we started working exclusively with a distributor here and they're the ones who were fortunate enough to open up those doors for us directly working with the manufacturers.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and then so did you like slowly just move everything in that direction because there was more profit, or how did that happen?

Erica:

You know, it became a passion to see these brands grow and I loved seeing these terrible listings with terrible images grow into something amazing watching sales increase. Their sales as a whole increase because brick and mortar stores were willing to pick them up more, without having that competition online and the low price, they said okay, well, as long as online is the same price as us, we're happy to carry it, and so it really builds the brand's overall health really.

Bradley Sutton:

And so, how long has it been now? how many years? Where are your kind of like, exclusively uh in the adult space?

Erica:

We started short in in 2016, so I'm in nine years, so it was right after.

Bradley Sutton:

So, it's been a while now.

Yeah, okay, which year was your peak, would you say. Was it during covid is? Is it every year you're growing, or did you have a peak a couple years ago?

Erica:

I've been extremely fortunate to grow every year, but definitely COVID was a massive peak, so during that time we owned two funeral homes and the e-commerce business. So those who are bored during that time.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you got back into the funeral home business then, after you had left that, yes, oh, hold on I skipped this part of the story.

Erica:

Okay, my former business partner had owned a funeral home in Sun City and we had partnered on the e-commerce business together. But I was the one who'd built the e-commerce business and we decided to open a second funeral home and said well if we're going to do that, let's partner on everything. And so, we did. Unfortunately, about two and a half years ago, we just went our own directions in life and I continued the e-commerce business and he went on his own direction.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. What do you think you're going to end this year sales wise? If you know we're over halfway through the year, what do you you'll end up gross?

Erica:

I think we'll be a little over two million this year in gross sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Wholesales obviously different kinds of profit margins and stuff. What's your target? Profit margins, after all your expenses, of what you're trying to clear so that you know whether you can take on this product or this account. What do you target?

Erica:

Well, if Amazon would quit upping their fees, it would be a lot better. Our goal is around 30%.

Bradley Sutton:

Good Lord, that's a lot. That's more than private label even sometimes, yeah, interesting.

Erica:

yeah it's a niche that really, I think that anybody can go into. I don't know about anybody, but well, it's definitely an avenue that others can pursue. There’re so many small companies out there that really their attention needs to be focused on building their brands and marketing and expansion and growth that if you're able to reach out and add some value and take on this piece to them. A lot of the companies I work with are small mom and pop companies and they've really become family, and that's the part that I think that I love the most is the relationships that I have in the industry, so truly everyone has become family.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, are you still going out there and looking for more accounts, or is all your growth just from growing the accounts that you do have? What can you contribute your growth to?

Erica:

For the most part, my growth, I think, has contributed towards just doing the right thing. I don't pursue any new accounts. I do have people who approach me often and I'm very selective on who I work with at this point.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you at the point now where you know you had said before you only talk to people that already have brand registry. But are you the one who's like making the list, like, like, let's say that you know you've been working with somebody for a year and they're like, hey, I've got this you know, pocket rocket 3.0 that's coming out brand new launch. Now are you the one who's making the listings and organizing the photography and the launch strategy, that stuff, or you just work with okay and the launch strategy that stuff, or you just work with Okay. So, it's almost as if you're running it like a private label ,even though it's not your private label but it's like you're not just buying product and reselling it. You're doing the steps that a private label seller would do, okay.

Erica:

Yeah, so I'm doing all of those steps. These are their babies, so they've poured their blood, sweat and tears into building, grow them the way that they want to see it done. So, I don't do anything that they're not okay with. I work closely with everybody and provide them annual reports. Here's where they're at somewhat quarterly reports. Want to see growth. Here's where we're struggling. Here's a higher level of returns on this product. Let's try to figure out why, and so we really work together in growing this, and so I feel like it's a huge honor and a huge privilege to be given this level of trust.

Bradley Sutton:

Tell the audience about, like, some of the differences of selling in this category compared to, you know, the average category where you know you can pretty much you know, do anything you want. What are some of the restrictions as far as that goes in the adult category?

Erica:

Our biggest challenge is the lack of ability to advertise, so there is no advertising allowed. They are extremely restrictive on images. That's been probably my biggest challenge lately is that I'll have some images published on one variation and they block my images on another variation. Why, who knows? It's Amazon. We don't know why they do what they do most of the time and you know, language is extremely important. There's a lot of words that unfortunately, we can't use in writing copy.

Bradley Sutton:

You know like, obviously there's words that you know adult, words that a non-adult category wouldn't want to use, because then you get classified as in the adult. But you're saying, even if you are in the adult category, there's still limitations on the verbiage you can use.

Erica:

Correct, correct. And we're even behind a virtual black curtain, in that you can go into Amazon and there are listings that pop up who are not listed in the adult category and eventually you get caught. So, I really don't recommend it if you're looking for longevity on Amazon, but in order to even find sexual wellness products, you have to go under health and household and then you can begin to search for them, and a lot of times then even you have to hit sexual wellness to locate items.

Bradley Sutton:

Advertising, obviously, is what brings eyeballs to products, and especially when you launch, you might not be on top of page one right away. So, you use advertising to get to the top of page one and then hopefully, your organic rank increases. But then now, without advertising, when you have newer products like, how are you getting placed on? How are you getting to page one for your main keywords? Are you sending outside traffic? is it just a slow roll that that you know? You cross promote your different products, what's your strategy there?

Erica:

It's a mix between all of the brands. So, some brands um, I have one in particular that they've completely built their entire branding off of social media. So, he has a social media background and it's where he came from and he decided to do a product launch to see, thought it would be fun and see where he would take it, and had a ton of success with that. I have other brands that have been around for decades and so people are very aware of the brand name and pursue it that way, and we'll highlight items within the storefronts. We do some online advertising with different brands, so it's really different between what these manufacturers are looking for across the brand, so it's different with everybody.

Bradley Sutton:

The rest, though, of the whole Amazon journey is it pretty much similar as any other Helium 10 user like you're running Cerebro on maybe your competitors’ listings or tracking your keywords and things like that.

Erica:

Yes, so I'm back, new to Helium 10. It's been a few years and I'm realizing how much my business needed it. So there's a lot of tools and a lot of words and a lot of content, a lot of features that really I needed to get me to the next level, because I've been doing it for so long that you think you know what you know until you get to the point that you realize that a lot of the information that you used to use and used to know is dated and out of date, and so I'm missing the boat and, I'm kind of kicking myself a little bit now, realizing that I'm a little late to the game.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe you left some money on the table the last couple of years.

Erica:

Yeah, a little late, but then never right.

Bradley Sutton:

Is it now to the point? Obviously, you know $2 million of the products you're not labeling and stuff in your bedroom anymore. So, do you have a warehouse or do you just tell them, hey, put this sticker on your products and then send it to Amazon? How does that work?

Erica:

Yeah, that's exactly what I do. So, I have a couple of warehouses that I work with and they take care of all the fulfillment for me. So, I did seller FBA for a while. I was not a big fan, especially with Amazon's page view requirements and next day shipping requirements. It just got to the point that it was not profitable.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, seller, fulfilled prime where, where you, you have to deliver it to the customer in like a day or two. Uh, and hit those deadlines, yeah.

Erica:

Yeah, I did that for a while and then it just got out of control and unrealistic, so I went back to FBA and it's it. It's worked out well.

Bradley Sutton:

Any horror stories over the last five years you know other than you know. All of a sudden, they shut down one of your listings because of one of the images they don't like, but anything really like where the whole account has gotten shut down, or lawsuits over somebody saying, hey, I use this lotion and it made me amputate my leg, I don't know. Whatever the heck. Anything weird has come up since you've been selling on Amazon.

Erica:

Well, I mean, you always get crazy returns

Bradley Sutton:

how do you even take returns in this category?

Erica:

You're not supposed to. It violates. But somehow, they allow it. But I did have a very sweet lady write me a handwritten letter about how her brother bought her a vibrator and how she. Yeah, about how she appreciates the kindness and thoughtfulness behind it, but it's not really for her and it is not used and she would really appreciate if we would give her brother her money back.

Bradley Sutton:

yeah, that family might have some issues that that should not be the kind of thing you give to a sibling. Okay, interesting,

Erica:

She was in her 70’s and wrote this beautiful.

Bradley Sutton:

now it's even more interesting, oh my goodness gracious!

Erica:

So weird. So, I was like okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what about on the opposite side, any other funny story? Hey, because of these products you saved my marriage or something, messages like that, or just like something really cool that's happened, like amazing prime day, or you had a product go viral, or anything like that.

Erica:

Yeah, I've had some messages that they're lubed into riven time and so, unfortunately, they suffered severe chafing and they would appreciate if I could deliver on time. This was fulfilled by amazon, not me, but I was like well okay, I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry that you experienced this. Other than that, you know I've been shut down a few times. Unfortunately, some customers claimed they received inauthentic product or used product, which can never be the case based on how we operate and how Amazon operates. And so, you know, you're down for a day or two, you submit invoices, you're back up. So, as frustrating and as annoying as that is, you know it is fixable.

Bradley Sutton:

I haven't said anything that can happen to any um Amazon seller. Okay, what are you know, other than certain words that Amazon doesn't approve, and I'm assuming that Amazon doesn't necessarily give you the exact list. It's just kind of like a you'll know when you know, but what? What give you the exact list is just kind of like a you'll know when you know, but what? What if anybody else is getting interested in getting into this niche? how do you know what words not to use, like what images for sure you can't use Like what? What are some of the guidelines that people need to know?

Erica:

There are some guidelines within the back end. I think that they're extremely vague, um, but they do not like product images in hands, um, even textbook terms like nipples and footrests and things like that you're not able to use in your texts. The only trick that I've found into finding out what is okay and not okay is when you submit a plus content. So, a plus content then gives you the red flag. Red flag you need to remove this word. But as far as Seller Central goes and writing your copy and it not being published, you just have no idea and you open up cases and you get a very generic response back. Nobody tells you specifics and so really, it's been a trial and an error of what they'll allow and what they won't allow.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you mentioned A-plus content, so obviously, obviously that's allowed in your niche. Other, what about like things like virtual bundles or other things? Is it just that strict advertising, like there's no sponsored product, no sponsored brand ads, no videos? Yeah, video could never work in this niche.

Bradley Sutton:

But videos, but not advertise. Oh, so you have videos like for your listing.

Erica:

I do so. Not every product has a video, but there are quite a few videos that I'm able to post on the listings.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh well, that's kind of mind boggling to me, Like I would think that definitely that would be kind of hard to be able to have a compliant one, but okay.

Erica:

Yeah, welcome to Amazon, but you just can't yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

How about like amazon post. Are you allowed to do those?

Erica:

No, no posts. Um, I'm able to do brand stories, a plus content, videos, and then storefronts and storefronts, are you know? Again, you have to be careful with images and words that you use. It's like anything. Sometimes you submit it to Amazon and they'll say something is wrong with page one, and then you submit it again and page one is just fine and page three has an issue, and so you just go through and kind of whack them all until you get it to where it's okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you selling on other platforms as well, or just Amazon?

Erica:

We do a little bit of Walmart as well, and I just got my TikTok storefront approved, so I'm working on pursuing that as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. So, do you know what's the? Is that a lot is that kind of products allowed on TikTok shop?

Erica:

They are. So, one of my manufacturers that I work with that's really how he's built his business. You just have to. There's a lot of guidelines and rules, so I'm fortunate to have a mentor in this area that's going to be able to guide me on that, because this is something new and outside of anything I've ever done.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, let me just warn you, you, you could potentially get real busy real fast, like, I know people who, within a couple months of starting on Amazon or a TikTok shop, already surpassed their Amazon sales, and I can imagine if that's I was curious, if it was allowed that this would be the perfect product for TikTok shop, because you know influencers, which is what it's driven by like your stuff could definitely go viral. So, okay, you might have to expand out your three-employee team there soon.

Erica:

So, that's, yeah, it's. It's totally new realm to me. So, I we'll see how it goes. What's the worst thing that can happen, right.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, right. So, you referenced that, hey, you're happier back using helium 10 now and that you've noticed already some things that you could have been doing before. What are some of those things I like? What have you know, even though you came in as like an experienced seller and then, not having used helium 10 for years, it's almost like as if you're a new Helium 10 user. So, what were some of the things that have already, kind of like changed up your SOPs on how you how you do things?

Erica:

So, I love your keyword tracking and I love competitor tracking. Those have been huge because I could never figure out what they were doing and I wasn't. That's been my biggest thing. And I also love my ranking on my product page of where am I scoring? You know, some of my listings. I'm like wow, I didn't realize how short I was falling here or copy wasn't displaying, and so I'm going through and re-digging through everything as I go and finding it's allowing me to completely clean up my product catalog and to maximize clean up my product catalog and to maximize every single word, every single image, every single phrase that I'm using to at least optimize where I'm ranking in keywords. If I realize I'm missing out on opportunities of advertising, but let's maximize what I can do.

Bradley Sutton:

What are strategies you think just here, in brief, like that you can say to anybody, regardless of what category they're in? That's really helped you, because it takes a special little something to be able to have a three-person team and manage the number of SKUs you have and scale it to this amount and at that kind of profitability. That's not something that just anybody off the street can do. So, what are a couple of things that you think are working in your favor here?

Erica:

I'm a big believer in always doing the right thing and never chasing money. So, I think when you do the right thing, the money follows, and so, unfortunately, I've seen on Amazon over the years that people try to make a quick dime and you do. You can make a quick dime on Amazon, but it's never works in your favor on the longevity of doing things. So that's my number one thing is to do the right thing even when people aren't watching it. You know, if you don't have manufacturers watching, if you know, no matter who's looking over your shoulder, to never do it to make a quick buck. And the second thing is I think that, no matter what the industry is, go and start having conversations. Whether you go to a coffee expo, find out local expos that are coming to town, and start having conversations with manufacturers and look for opportunities.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you planning to go to Amazon Accelerate in Seattle?

Erica:

No, I'm not going this year, unfortunately, I know.

Bradley Sutton:

Anybody else out there who wants to go. You can't get tickets from Helium 10, but just go to h10.me/accelerate, I think, is the link to go. But yeah, I was about to say it would have been cool to be able to meet you in person over there. If anybody is interested, we're going to have a special event that's normally only for Elite members, but we're going to open it up to a few others. So, if anybody's interested in registering, only register, guys. If you're going to go, use h10.me forward slash Seattle. We're doing an event on the 16th of September, the day before Amazon Accelerate. We'll have Kevin King there, Destaney Jeff from Amazon, Melanie from Avasa. We have a lot of cool speakers and some networking and partying to do. If you were there, you would have been the toast of the town, I think, everybody wanting to pick your brain on your interesting story there. But we'll have to meet up at another event another time. Well, thank you so much, Erica, for joining us and telling us your very unique story. There are some people that you can probably say I'm sure somebody else has done something pretty similar. There's probably nobody who has gone from funeral homes to selling books and adult products. I think it was really nice.

Erica:

I get you coming and going.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, okay. I wonder how many people throughout this had a that's what she said like in the back of their minds, or some puns like we could have had a field day with today's content, but that one was. That's a perfect way to end the episode there, I guess.

So, anyways, Erica, I definitely want to reach out to you next year, have after another year under your belt of selling, to see what new things you've learned or what new Helium 10 tools you're using and maybe did you hit 3 million or not, so look forward to bringing you back on the show sometime next year.

Erica:

Awesome, sounds great, thank you.

View Details

Join us in this episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast with the inspiring journey with Mansour Norouzi, a former civil engineer who has successfully transitioned to becoming an e-commerce advertising expert in Canada. In this episode, Mansour shares his story of moving from managing residential construction projects to launching his own Amazon brand in late 2018. Listen in as he discusses his discovery of Amazon advertising, starting by managing campaigns for others and eventually partnering with Incrementum Digital. Mansour's experience in launching a supplement brand and more in Canada offers valuable insights into leveraging Amazon data points and successfully transitioning careers.

We also explore the utility and limitations of Amazon's Search Query Performance report. This often misunderstood data can be a goldmine for sellers when used correctly. Discover how Search Query Performance and the Product Opportunity Explorer can aid in ad testing, monitoring keyword trends, and understanding click-through and conversion rates compared to competitors. Learn about the challenges of scaling data analysis across multiple ASINs and the potential benefits of API integration. For a holistic brand view, focusing on top-performing products and key keywords is recommended, and the need for more streamlined solutions from Amazon is highlighted.

The episode also covers optimizing advertising strategies on different platforms, including the nuanced differences between Walmart and Amazon. Mansour discusses the effectiveness of auto campaigns on Walmart and the importance of advanced placement controls for desktop and mobile optimization. Additionally, integrating Amazon data with Amazon seller tools like Helium 10 and conducting market share analysis using Market360 are emphasized for better insights. Finally, we dive into evolving strategies for cost-effective customer acquisition, sharing practical tips and real-world examples that have helped brands improve performance metrics over the past several months. Tune in for an episode packed with actionable strategies and inspiring success stories!

In episode 584 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Mansour discuss:

00:00 - Leveraging Amazon Data Points for Success
04:57 - Transition From Engineering to Entrepreneurship
07:40 - Optimizing Performance With Amazon Search Data
11:43 - Challenges of Scaling Search Query Performance
18:26 - Analyzing Market Trends for Sales Success
19:56 - Understanding Brand Metrics for Amazon Success
26:49 - Amazon's Free Visibility Advantage
28:04 - Optimizing Advertising Strategies for E-Commerce
29:23 - Differentiating Amazon Data vs Helium 10
32:30 - Forecasting Strategy for Amazon Sellers
35:09 - Driving Cost-Effective Acquisition Strategy

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Amazon is responsible for dangerous products sold on its site, federal agency rules
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/amazon-responsible-dangerous-products-sold-site-federal-agency-rules-rcna164309

Etsy Is Getting Loyalty Program for Its Most Dedicated Shoppers
https://gizmodo.com/etsy-is-getting-loyalty-program-for-its-most-dedicated-shoppers-2000481536

AWS Outage Hits Amazon Services, Ring, Whole Foods, Alexa
https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/2024/aws-outage-hits-amazon-services-ring-whole-foods-alex

Amazon looks to reduce costs to compete more aggressively on price as consumer habits shift
https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-looks-to-reduce-costs-to-compete-more-aggressively-on-price/

Dozens of angry Chinese suppliers swarmed Temu's office, saying they're tired of giving Westerners refunds without returns
https://www.businessinsider.com/temus-office-besieged-chinese-suppliers-protesting-refund-policy-2024-7

New landing page in Sponsored Brands Grow brand impression share goal
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/grow-brand-impression-share-with-new-landing-page/

Scale your message with priority delivery using Prime Video programmatic guaranteed deals
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/scale-your-message-using-prime-video-programmatic-guaranteed-deals/

Harvest high performing targets with Target Promotion, now available for Sponsored Products advertisers in UCM ads console
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/target-promotion-for-sponsored-products/

This episode is jam-packed with news and insights to help you stay ahead in the competitive world of selling on Amazon, Walmart, and ecommerce!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:50 - Amazon Recall Change
02:40 - New Bullet Point Rules
06:23 - Etsy Prime?
07:01 - Amazon Outage
07:43 - New Amazon Fees
09:50 - Amazon Cost Cutting
11:30 - Product Images Update
13:22 - On Time Delivery Policy
15:42 - Temu Sellers Gone Wild
17:38 - Labor Day Sale
18:16 - FBA Capacity Fees
19:51 - New Sponsored Brand Page
21:24 - Prime Video Ads
22:03 - Keyword Harvesting
24:04 - Sellerfest Online Event

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon is changing its bullet point requirements. There is yet another new fee that Amazon sellers are going to have to pay. Temu sellers in China storm the Temu offices in protest. This and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Today might be a first. There's so much news today. I think there might be a total of 14 or possibly more news articles that affect e-commerce sellers out there. So a very abnormal week. Let's go ahead and hop right into it.

Bradley Sutton:

The first news story that we're going to talk about today is from NBC News and it is entitled Amazon is responsible for dangerous products sold in its site. Federal agency rules, all right. So the Consumer Product Safety Commission is classifying Amazon, it says, as a distributor of the product and therefore bears legal responsibility for a recall. You know, in the past Amazon kind of like had this stance where they're like hey, we're not the sellers. It's third party sellers. You know like we'll do what we can to keep customers safe, but we're not the ones who are responsible for it. But now this ruling says that Amazon has to notify customers about and remove products deemed dangerous that it sells through its website. Federal regulators ruled on Tuesday, all right. So basically it's saying that, hey, amazon bears legal responsibility for product recalls, even if they are sold by us. You know, third party sellers. I guess there was a few years ago, three years ago, there was about 400,000 products sold that had faulty carbon monoxide alarms and and flammable children's pajamas, that's. I shouldn't laugh at that. But that's like who? Who is selling flammable children's pajamas? Like what kind of quality control are you guys doing? And flammable hairdryer, and they're subject to this order. But you know Amazon says it's already removed and notified customers about it. But anyways, you know like this might seem like, hey, we're not selling flammable pajamas, what does this have to do with me? But you know if this requires a lot more procedures or things that Amazon is going to have to do, well, you know there's costs that come with that and we might see some of the cost of that. Now, on the flip side. You know, let's say, there are sellers from other countries, like factories that are are selling, you know, not high quality things that are dangerous. Now it looks like maybe Amazon might take a more proactive approach and so you know, hey, this could help Amazon sellers long term.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is going to Seller Central. Spend a little bit of time on this one because this is interesting. I think a lot of sellers are going to find this important and it's entitled Review Updated Bullet Point Requirements to Optimize your Listing. All right, so effective in a couple of weeks, on August 15, 2024,. It says Amazon is updating its bullet point requirements. All right, so we announced this a long time ago, actually, where it was for hardline. Now it says here that the main points is restriction of special characters, emojis and some phrases such as refund related guarantees. Now, supposedly, you know like Amazon a while back said no more emojis, but we haven't seen that policed too much. So now that it's kind of like coming out with it a little bit in a more official capacity, perhaps like could this mean that you know, listings might start getting suppressed, or things like that. Well, let's read on here. Other thing is it says is that one change is you're going to have guidance to help you create high quality bullet points that are clear and concise.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now here's the thing. They're going to use AI to help optimize listing quality. They're going to remove non-compliant content and use AI to generate compliant, high quality bullet points. Supposedly they're going to share these with you for review before published. But again, this is kind of like something like before. We talked about how Amazon has image requirements, we're going to talk about that later and then, if you're not meeting the requirements, amazon could go in there and change your images. They can go in there and change your title, and then you're kind of stuck with that. So, buyer beware now, hey us. Or seller beware. I guess I should say, if you're a seller, who's kind of like towing the line and then using emojis or using things that you shouldn't. Potentially this kind of like policy might state that, hey, you're giving Amazon the right to go in there and put some AI thing or put what it thinks is valid, and in the past, when Amazon does that, you know, be it with images or be it with titles, once that happens, it's like you can't change it back, right. So it's kind of a serious thing Now that article that was in your seller central dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

It says hey, don't put a sense, don't put N a or not applicable or not eligible or TBD or copy pending. Don't do any of that. It says don't use phrases such as eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, ecologically friendly antibacterial made from bamboo I didn't realize. Made from bamboozle. I have a bamboo brand. I didn't realize. Made from bamboo. I have a bamboo brand. I didn't realize that that's not allowed. Made from soy or contained soy. You can't say hey, if not satisfied, send it back. Full refund, unconditional guarantee with no limit, not allowed to say those things. Obviously no company information there, no repetition.

Bradley Sutton:

It says and then you have to include at least three bullet points as far as character limits, as hey, uh, use more than 10 characters but less than 255, uh characters. So something to think about. Like, uh, you might want to do an audit on your listings. Make sure that you're compliant instead of like just taking the chance that you know Amazon might just slap you on the wrist and you can just remove your emojis or something later on. So curious, what do you the wrist and you can just remove your emojis or something later on. So I'm curious, are you guys going to just take this seriously, or maybe think that's kind of like their image requirements where Amazon doesn't enforce it too much, or hey, they've been saying bullet points, no emojis for years and I've been able to get away with it. What are you going to do? Are you going to keep going or are you going to actually change it this time? Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Gizmodo and it's entitled Etsy is getting a loyalty program for its most dedicated shopper. So this is going to be an invite only closed beta. It's going to cost $5 a month and kind of like. Makes me think of Walmart plus. You know Amazon prime target three, 60, where it's a membership buyer called Etsy insider. So it's not called Etsy Prime, but it's called Etsy Insider and it's going to offer exclusive benefits to buyers. So something very similar perhaps to what you guys know about Amazon Prime is now coming to Etsy. So is that going to increase sales, increase loyalty on the Etsy platform? Will be interesting to find out.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from CRN.com and it's entitled AWS outage has Amazon services, ring, whole foods and Alexa. Um, you know a lot of stuff in this article. Maybe doesn't, you think doesn't apply. But this is maybe what happened. Like how many of you guys out there, I saw a lot of message boards and groups where, talking about a few days ago, the seller central dashboard was glitching like crazy, you couldn't even get into your Amazon advertising, et cetera. So it probably is related to this. So I saw some people saying, hey, is it just me or you're not able to get your data? Well, it's no, it wasn't just you. There was this big outage that even affected whole foods, uh, supermarkets from Amazon. So don't worry, it looks like everything's back to normal. Uh, but you weren't the only one affected, if that was affecting you.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, back to Seller Central Dashboard, and it's entitled Digital Service Fees Effective October 1st. So guess what, guys? We have got yet another set of fees, but it's not anything huge and it's because of some kind of regulation. So it says the Canadian government recently implemented a DST Digital Services Tax similar to those of the UK, France, Italy and Spain, and so on October 1st, we're going to start introducing a digital services fee to account for DST. Now, who does this apply to? All right, well, this DST rate is 2% in the UK, 3% in Canada, France, Italy and Spain. But it depends on the location of the buyer, the location of your business, et cetera.

Bradley Sutton:

So if you are a USA seller and you only sell in US, all right, so you're a US-based company and you're selling Amazon USA, you're not going to have to worry about any of this. All right, it's not going to apply. But if you sell in Amazon USA but your business is established in a country in which DST has been introduced UK, France, Spain, Canada now the sales in your Amazon USA store is going to apply to this DST fee. All right, so it is a 3% fee in the US store. Now you might be thinking 3%, good grief. Now that's crazy. If I'm already paying 15%, what? It's 18%? No, it's 3% of your Amazon seller fees. So if your seller fee is $2.25, like it is on a $15 item, you're paying only 7 cents more because it's 3% of that 225, as opposed to 3% of the 15. All right. And another example they gave here is if your product is in the UK, uh, that's going to be a 2% fee based on the Amazon fee, all right. So, so make sure to check your dashboard If you're not sure. Hey, is this going to apply to you? Um, you know, if you're outside of Canada and these other places, check the fee schedule in your dashboard for more information. But hey, it's not going to be a surprise if something is coming months from now and Amazon is giving everybody a heads up on it.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article here is from CRN.com and it's entitled Amazon looks to reduce costs to compete more aggressively on price as consumer habits shift. All right, so a lot of this was on their Q2 report. You know they actually had some. The shares of Amazon went down. But whenever you have these reports there's always some interesting tidbits that Amazon kind of like not leaks but mentions, and it kind of can give you insights into what their plan is in the future. And then one thing that Andy Jassy was saying is they're trying to make cost improvements, all right. And the thing that I thought affected sellers is. It says here Jassy said that the company will expand its use of automation and robots, continue to build out its same day delivery network Okay, great so far further regionalize its inbound network and strive for better inventory placement. He says it's going to enable faster speeds, more orders per box, and then here we go Fewer inventory transfers once items hit fulfillment centers. So that's the part that I liked. The other stuff, whether Amazon's using robots or not I don't know how that's going to affect me, but how many times have you had some inventory and all of a sudden it goes into transfer status or reserve status and then a lot of times that's because Amazon's having to move it around to different warehouses. Well, I think this is definitely going to help because the less you know, the more it kind of like you know distributes your inventory in a correct way and doesn't have to redistribute. Well, that's going to. That's going to help. You know your, your buyability, in my opinion, and how much you know units you have available to sellers or to buyers, and then you then it's going to help the shipping times as well. So let's see how this works out, if sellers are going to have an advantage because of these changes.

Bradley Sutton:

Our next article is going back to the Seller Central dashboard and it's entitled Update to how Product Detail Page Images Are Selected. So back in January on the Weekly Buzz, we had talked about how product details pages for hard lines product types are going to start displaying, potentially, images from multiple sellers. All right, now, in the coming months, this article says it's going to now include both soft lines and consumable products types. All right, and supposedly this is going to help increase sales. Um, but you know the they made a couple of tweaks to it since January. All right, they're going to prioritize brand owner images, thank goodness. All right. So if you're a brand registered owner, it's not like you're just going to automatically get your images removed. Um, and they're only going to use Amazon or brand registered sellers content If the required images are missing in the product detail page or to upgrade low quality content.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is what I talked about a little bit earlier, about what's going on, where sometimes, if Amazon says, hey, if you're not hitting our requirements on images, on title, on bullet points, we're going to step in and make necessary changes that we see fit. Now, again, this is the thing that I brought up like seven months ago, back in January. That I thought was super noteworthy, and they're reiterating it here. It says, as a reminder, each product detail page must have at least three required images one with the product on white background main image. One with a product in an environment that's what we call lifestyle images and one with product information such as dimensions or nutritional facts. This is an infographic. January was the first time I ever saw this where Amazon is basically saying you need a white background image, you need an infographic. January was the first time I ever saw this where Amazon is basically saying you need a white background image, you need an infographic and a lifestyle image. So they're reiterating that requirement. Now, you know, like three years ago you never, you only saw the white background image and the rest of the images could be whatever you wanted it. So, so make sure your images, guys, are in compliance.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the next article back to the seller central dashboard. I mean, it seems like they they just seems like they just spit all these things out back to back to back 're going to have to maintain a 90% OTDR on time delivery rate. All right, I don't know what it was before. I mean, 90% seems pretty reasonable, like I thought it was a hundred percent that you pretty much had to do, but it's recommending that you actually do 95% according to this article. And obviously this does not apply at all to FBA, you know, because sellers aren't responsible for on-time delivery promises. Okay, now another thing is transit time settings. Now, before this September 25th date, on August 25th, the transit time requirements are going to be updated to match delivery capabilities of shipping services. So if you're shipping within the continental US you know that means that's not including Puerto Rico and Hawaii and Alaska you have to have a maximum transit time of only five days for standard and eight days for free economy shipping. Now this is interesting to me because I know some sellers who are doing FBM. You know, including myself.

Bradley Sutton:

You know maybe your initial reaction is like oh, this is going to be a pain in the neck. But remember what was announced in the Weekly Buzz a few weeks ago by Carrie about how Amazon might have like a Teemu-ish kind of like setup where Chinese sellers can ship directly within like eight to 10 days. Well, if that happens, who knows, maybe this is kind of like a protection for those of you shipping for full but fulfilled by merchant domestically, where you're going to have a guaranteed advantage over those Chinese direct shipping where you know the buyer is going to see five days delivery time, all right. So this five day delivery time, it's because Amazon's going to be displaying this as the as the shipping time for the product. And then if the Temu ish ones have like eight to 10 days, well, you, the Temu-ish ones have like eight to 10 days. Well, you know, this might help you know the buyability of your products. There's a lot more information here in this detailed article on your Seller Central dashboard, so make sure to check it out when you can. If you are an FBM seller, if you do 100% FBA, you can just go ahead and forget about that article, as it doesn't apply to you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of Temu, this next article is kind of funny. Like sometimes, I think, amazon sellers, you know, like, especially when I read message boards, they get on the same page. They want to complain about the same thing of Amazon. Have you guys ever fantasized about or like thought about, let's all get together and let's like storm Amazon's headquarters not storm it, but, like you know, let's go there and let Bezos or let Jassy know how we feel and see if we can get up a meeting. Well, that might seem comical and like not realistic, but that is like literally what happened in Temu last week. All right, so this is an article for Business Insider and it says dozens of angry Chinese suppliers swarmed Temu's office saying they're tired of giving Westerners refunds without returns. Now, 80 people got in the building. There's like 300 people this article says was protesting and then 80 of them actually were able to storm the building here and they're disgruntled. So I know we're kind of jealous of what's going on with Temu sellers. Man, how could we ever match the prices? But not all is rosy over there. So these Temu suppliers are upset that Temu is trying to recruit US-based sellers and they're also upset about the refund policy.

Bradley Sutton:

So if they ship something from China to the customer and the customer says you know what, I don't like this product, it looks like I didn't realize this. I've never bought one thing from Temu myself, but Temu just returns the money and they don't even have to return the product to the, the product to the customer. So, like the sellers are up in arms about this. One merchant said told this Chinese newspaper that he lost almost all of his profits when he was fined $400,000 for customer refunds and complaints. First of all, holy crap, if he profited $400,000, how much did he actually sell in the last you know a few months? But anyways, this is what's going on in Temu. Don't get any ideas, guys. I don't think if 300 of you tried to storm Amazon Seattle offices that 80 are going to get through. Pretty sure Amazon has got some pretty tight security over here.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Next article, again going back to Seller Central. It's not necessarily a prime day, but there is going to be a special Labor Day sale that Amazon is going to have. All right, it's actually entitled Labor Day sale and this is going to begin August 26th and runs through September 3rd. All right, so right. There's going to be deals that you can offer and these are time bound promotional offers and go to advertising, go to deals hit, create new deals and then select the week of the 26th and then that's going to go ahead and see if you're eligible to be able to have a special Labor Day sale deal. All right, the next article is for the last time, I believe again going back to Seller Central Dashboard, and this is an article about peak readiness and timelines for FBA capacity limits.

Bradley Sutton:

Now a couple important things. Number one a date that you have to keep in mind. It says if you want to guarantee you're going to have the prime badge for black Friday we're looking way ahead you have to have your inventory in the fulfillment centers by October 19th. So set a reminder for yourself. However you ship your inventory to Amazon, you've got to have it in the fulfillment centers by October 19th. Now that's kind of crazy if you think about it. When is Black Friday? Isn't that like November? You got to get your stuff. Don't think that you're going to send it in the beginning of November. You got to get your stuff in there pretty early. And one more thing here about fees and actual elimination of a fee. You know for once. Isn't that nice. It says additionally, to help you simplify operations and manage inventory more efficiency during peak, we have eliminated this overage fee for storage effective July 1st 2024. So if your on-hand inventory exceeds your capacity limit, you are not going to get this overage fee. All right. So that's, how often is it that there's a reduction or elimination of fees? Usually the announcements we we give her are about new fees that Amazon is charging. So that's a nice little welcome surprise from Amazon this week. If you want more information on that, make sure to check that news article in your dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now we've got a few Amazon ads announcements, all right. So for those of you who are doing PPC, we have got some advanced ones, some beginners ones. Let's go ahead and hop into that. The first one from Amazon advertising. They announced new landing page in sponsored brand grow brand impression share goal Right. So what is this? That launch says the sponsored brand grow brand impression share campaign now allows advertisers to utilize a new landing page option in the product collection ad format. So you can select three products to advertise and then that's going to lead shoppers from a top of search ad to a new brand landing page containing these products.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So one of the differences is now this is a new type of landing page that Amazon creates that buyers can land on. So sellers who even don't have a formally prerequisite Amazon store brand store which hopefully you guys have, but that used to be a requirement to be able to advertise some of your top of search ads Well, now you don't need that prerequisite stores to say you can just start this campaign super quick and ensure the brand product discovery experience. So where this is is under your goals when you set up a new sponsored brand campaign, one of the goals is grow brand impression share and now you can choose, once you, if you select that one, the product collection ad format, and then there's a brand new section right here that says new landing page and says pick products to advertise and we'll create a landing page for you here. For those of you watching on YouTube, I'm showing an example of the shoe brand. Who's got one of these set up right now and where this is now available. It's across the board North America, south America, Europe, middle East and Asia Pacific East and Asia Pacific. Next news article from Amazon advertising.

Bradley Sutton:

It says scale your message with priority delivery using Prime Video programmatic guaranteed deals. I'm not going to go too much into details because probably not that many of you are using Prime Video ads, but basically they launch programmatic guaranteed deals for Prime Video so you can have run of service deals, contextual deals that can go on, like you know top best of TV shows, page best of movies, best of Prime Video originals, et cetera, and then audience based deals. Check the link in the comments below or the description below If you want, if you're somebody who uses Prime Video ads and you can get a little bit more information on this. Last article of the day is an announcement from Amazon Advertising says on this last article of the day is an announcement from amazon advertising says harvest high performing targets with target promotion now available for sponsored products advertisers. So this is kind of like funny. It's like like very similar to what like atomic and another you know PPC software does where you can supposedly harvest keywords from like auto campaigns and move it to a manual. Now I tried to test this in my account and it wasn't working. So like just got a bunch of error messages. But for those of you who aren't using software, you know this is a potential option for you. Um, I'm not sure I can suggest using it yet because I got to see first how the suggestions work. You know, like if Amazon's algorithms was perfect in advertising, they wouldn't we wouldn't even have to negative match keywords because once we get like 30, 40 clicks they would start negative matching itself. But no, if we don't do anything, amazon's still going to keep charging us. So you know that in mind, like I'm not sure if we can, you know, quote unquote just trust this Amazon suggestion thing to move keywords in the right way. But who knows, maybe it's going to be pretty cool thing to move keywords in the right way. But who knows, maybe it's going to be pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

But for me it doesn't affect me much because I've been doing keyword harvesting for four years using Helium 10 Atomic. I set my rules and I say, hey, if one of my auto or broad campaign gets two orders at this ACoS or less, I want you to go ahead and move it to this campaign and I could exactly set up the flow. So there's nothing that is coming out here that is going to really affect the way I do things, but maybe for those of you who are just trying to eyeball your Amazon advertising and not even using the search term reports and not making pivot tables and not using software or whatever, maybe this might be a feature that can help you a little bit. So check out your advertising console, go to one of your auto campaigns, go to the ad group, go to the search terms page and take a look there. Does it show you something that? Uh? Does it give you suggestions on what you can move? Uh, it did it on mine because it was broken, but maybe it's working on yours. Let me know what you think and I'll leave a message in the comments below. All right, that's finally it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

One last thing I wanted to give you a heads up. I'm going to be giving some cool strategies at the Seller Fest online next week. So if you want to get free tickets. I think it's free. I'm not sure if it's free or not but for more information, go to h10.me/sellerfest. Even if you have to pay, it'll be worth it. There's going to be tons of great speakers uh, other than myself as well, so I'm sure you're going to get a lot of value. h10.me/sellerfest for more information. All right, guys who that literally made a record? We've been doing Weekly Buzz for four years and this was the most articles, the most news stories in one week that we have ever had. So thank you, guys. For those of you who stuck to the end, let's see what's going to happen next week. Make sure to tune in next Thursday or Friday to see what's buzzing.

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Can bold, provocative branding be the key to skyrocketing your success on Amazon? In this episode, we are joined by the insightful Emma Schermer Tamir of Marketing by Emma, as she unpacks the art of building an iconic brand that doesn’t just blend in but stands out in a crowded marketplace. Alongside Kevin King, Emma demystifies the elements of branding beyond mere logos and names, highlighting actionable strategies to boost profitability and customer lifetime value. Using the example of selling water, she makes a compelling case for unique value propositions and effective communication with target customers.

Discover how AI can be a game-changer for your Amazon branding strategy. We discuss powerful techniques for competitor analysis, from examining social media presence to dissecting customer feedback. Emma explains how AI tools can streamline this process, allowing you to build comprehensive customer avatars that include demographic details, emotional drivers, and cultural references. By examining the bold and provocative marketing strategies of Liquid Death, we showcase the importance of truly understanding your target audience and aligning your brand to meet their needs and expectations.

Creating and maintaining a cohesive and evolving brand identity is more critical than ever. Emma shares the importance of continuously updating your customer avatar to reflect the shifting behaviors and needs of your market. She further explores the concept of imagining your business as a person, ensuring that every aspect, from marketing to product packaging, aligns with this identity. Through the compelling case of Liquid Death, Emma illustrates how bold messaging and sustainability efforts can create a deep customer connection. We wrap up by emphasizing the strategic benefits of thoroughly understanding your competitors and customer preferences to cultivate a loyal and enthusiastic customer base.

In episode 583 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kevin, and Emma discuss:

00:00 - Building an Iconic Brand on Amazon
02:06 - Copywriting and Branding Expert Interview
05:26 - Building a Profitable Water Business
13:14 - The Edgy Marketing of Liquid Death
14:44 - Differentiating Brand on Amazon With AI
18:08 - Powerful Branding Strategies
21:56 - Creating a Strong Brand Identity
30:02 - Effective Brand Storytelling for Communication
33:50 - Elevating Brand Strategy for Customer Connection

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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Join us on an incredible journey as we welcome Carrie Miller, a familiar voice on the Serious Sellers Podcast, who shares her remarkable transition from teaching to becoming a multi-seven-figure seller on Amazon and Walmart. Born in Florida and raised in San Diego, Carrie attended Pepperdine University with aspirations of becoming a teacher, only to find herself navigating a challenging job market. Despite the odds, she secured a position teaching high school Spanish and even coached basketball, showcasing her dedication and versatility. Carrie's global experiences in Argentina and China add a unique flavor to her story, making her insights into the e-commerce world all the more compelling.

Listen in as we explore her journey working for another e-commerce software company and shifting from customer interactions to creating content and masterclasses for their Academy. Her extensive experience with Helium 10 since 2017 played a pivotal role in her freelance work for various clients. Discover the impressive growth of their skateboard and apparel businesses, which saw significant milestones in 2020 and 2022, respectively. The discussion also touches on their successful foray into Walmart's marketplace and their upcoming venture into TikTok Shop, offering listeners valuable insights into e-commerce business growth and strategies.

This episode also uncovers the lessons learned in product inspections and the importance of targeting niche markets. Hear firsthand about the challenges of receiving a large batch of smeared skateboard decks and dealing with quality issues that impacted product reviews. We emphasize the critical role of thorough factory inspections and having reliable on-the-ground sourcing experts. Additionally, we tackle security risks and challenges on Amazon, including account hacks and listing issues, and share effective strategies for optimizing e-commerce operations. From managing supply chain fees to utilizing AI-powered tools for competitor analysis, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you succeed in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

In episode 582 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Carrie discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Strategies With Carrie Miller
04:07 - Global Teaching and Living Experiences
09:35 - E-Commerce Business Growth and Strategies
10:04 - Helium 10 Essential Tool for Agencies
13:52 - Success in a Competitive Apparel Market
18:44 - Learning From Mistakes in Product Inspections
19:38 - Security Risks and E-Commerce Challenges
24:41 - Success Through Consistency and Growth
28:13 - Unique Amazon & Walmart Strategies
32:09 - Optimizing Listing SEO Strategy With AI

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon FBA Inventory Reimbursement Policy Update | Helium 10
https://www.helium10.com/blog/amazon-fba-inventory-reimbursement-policy-update/

TikTok Reportedly Bringing In-App Shopping to Spain and Ireland
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/tiktok-reportedly-bringing-in-app-shopping-to-spain-and-ireland/

Additionally, we highlight significant updates on Amazon Seller Central. Discover the enhanced Voice of the Customer dashboard, which now includes new performance metrics and multilingual customer feedback. US-based brand-registered sellers can now create free 3D product models using the Amazon Seller iOS app, offering a 360-degree view to elevate the shopping experience. New brand analytics features are also on the horizon, focusing on customer segmentation to better target new audiences and reduce cart abandonment.

Lastly, we explore Helium 10's AI-powered features in the Listing Builder tool, designed to optimize and generate copy and seasonal AI images for Amazon Posts and product listings. Tune in for a comprehensive rundown of these updates and more!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:51 - Amazon Reimbursement Changes
02:47 - TikTok Shop Expansion
04:00 - Voice of the Customer Updates
05:09 - Free 3D Models
06:42 - New Customer Segmentation
07:34 - Pro Training Tip: New AI Features Of Listing Builder

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Amazon has a new reimbursement policy, TikTok is expanding to even more countries and free 3D models for sellers who have an iOS seller app. This and so much more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Carrie Miller:

So the first story is about Amazon changing their reimbursement policy. So, starting November 1st of 2024, amazon is going to proactively reimburse sellers for FBA items that are lost in Amazon fulfillment centers. They're going to issue the reimbursement as soon as an item is reported as a loss by the fulfillment center, which you can actually track in the reimbursements report on seller central, and Amazon is hoping that this is going to be a more seamless experience that's going to save sellers time and money by minimizing the need to manually research and file claims for lost items. However, if you as a seller do not receive an automatic reimbursement and you believe that your inventory has been lost or damaged, then you're going to actually also have to file a manual claim when they don't proactively do it, if there's a glitch in the system. Additionally, any removal claims are still going to be need to be filed manually. Also, starting October 23rd, amazon is actually updating their eligibility window policy, so all manual claims must now be submitted with the following deadlines. So, first, a fulfillment center operations claim for an item that is lost or damaged in the fulfillment center must be submitted no later than 60 days after the item was reported lost or damaged. Second, an FBA customer returns claim can be submitted between 60 to 120 days after the customer refund or replacement date. Claims must not be submitted before 60 days to ensure that the customer has time to return the item to Amazon for processing. Third, a removal claim for items lost in transit can be submitted 15 to 75 days from the shipment creation date. Claims must not be submitted before 15 days to ensure the shipment can be delivered back to you. And then, last, all other removal claims must be filed within 60 days of the shipment being delivered back to you. If you want more information, we actually wrote a blog so you can get that link to that blog in our description. So go ahead and check out the blog and it should answer all of your questions in regards to the new policy.

Carrie Miller:

All right, so next up, we have some TikTok shop news. TikTok shop is allegedly, or reportedly, going to be bringing in-app shopping to Ireland and Spain. According to this article, they're basically saying that they're expanding first to Ireland and Spain and have some plans to expand to more countries in Europe. Now, obviously, TikTok is already in these countries, but this is going to be the in-app shopping piece so that people can actually utilize TikTok shop here. And this is after a few months ago. It talks about here and here that TikTok had planned to bring this shopping feature to Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Ireland earlier this year, but they actually halted that because they wanted to focus on the US market. Now there's a lot of uncertainty with the US market, so they probably are going ahead with the expansion to Europe because of that. So we'll see what happens. I think this is an interesting development. It could be some really great opportunity for sellers to everywhere. So we'll see how this goes and you know, just keep your eye on these European countries. If you are a seller and you can potentially expand out there or, you know, maybe some influencers in these countries can start making money selling on TikTok shop.

Carrie Miller:

All right, next up, we have some information about how the voice of the customer dashboard has been updated as well as there are some new translation features. So Amazon says here to show you how your products perform against industry bank benchmarks, amazon has updated some features on the voice of the customer dashboard. The negative customer experience review rate and the NCX return rate show how your product review and return rates compared to the product category benchmarks. This information enables you to track your product performance over time so you can make informed decisions to improve quality. On the listings detail page, you can you to make corrective action and improve your product offerings. Amazon, finally also has enhanced the customer feedback section by now offering it in multiple languages. Previously it was only available in English and now it's available in multiple languages.

Carrie Miller:

All right, we actually have another update to share that was actually in your Seller Central dashboard and that was where it was announced, and it's for brand registered sellers in the US, and that is that you can now create free that's right, free 3D product models using the Amazon Seller iOS app. These models are gonna provide a 360 degree view of your product, which is going to further enhance your customer's shopping experience. So 3D scanning in the Amazon seller app is actually going to be a guided experience and the eligibility actually depends on the type of product is, because not all products are actually going to be good for a 360 model. So you know things like that more like hard products, and so they're going to look at the product category, the physical properties and other factors. So if your, if your products don't appear in the app for scanning, then that's probably wise because they're not actually eligible. In order to get access to this feature on your phone, you're going to need an iOS or an Apple device, and it has to have iOS 17 or newer, and your device language needs to be set to English. So you're going to also find instructions in the app on how to prepare your product for scanning, and a 3D artist will actually review each scanned model for quality and if your status if you basically it says in progress that means they've successfully received a scan, and then, once they've received the scan, it's going to take about three weeks to complete the model and then make it ready for your customers on your listing and it's going to actually just pop up there automatically, so you don't actually need to kind of check anywhere and upload it yourself. It'll automatically populate. So you just want to keep checking your listing to see if it's been populated.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, this last piece of news is actually with brand analytics. Amazon has actually introduced new brand analytics features that are going to help you to refine your segmentation of customers and help you to engage the following audiences. So the first audience is new audiences. That allows you to highlight declining top tier and declining promising customers segments for insights on groups of likely customers who are forecasted to spend less in the next year, and then next cart abandoners to spend less in the next year, and then next cart abandoners. So this audience is going to help you to engage and convert customers who have added your products to their cart and they have not yet completed their purchase. All right, so that is all the news, and you can see there's a lot going on. You know lots of really important information. So if you want to check anything further out, you can find some of those things in your seller central dashboard with some more information. Or if you want to check out our blog on those reimbursements, you can check that out as well. All right, so let's go ahead and get into our training tip of the week now.

Carrie Miller:

This is going to be in our listing builder, ai. We have a lot of really great ai features throughout helium 10 tools, but I wanted to focus on the ones that are in our listing builder because I think they might be a little bit overlooked or maybe you don't even know that they exist. This is one of our listings, this is our coffin shelf and what you need to do is you're going to just scroll all the way down. So we've already written this one and used AI there. But if you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you're going to see where it says Amazon posts, and sometimes you might have writer's block and not really know what to caption your Amazon posts with and you want to make sure that they're optimized. So what we will do is take the keywords that are in the listing here and just the information from the listing, and it's going to help write some different posts for you. So I just hit write it for me and then you're going to see some fully optimized posts come up here. So, for example, we've got here transform your space with this coffin shelf set, perfect for your goth decor. It includes a skull figurine and led pumpkin candle. Okay, so since ours does not include that, I'm going to just kind of I can just edit this if I wanted to use it. So you can basically kind of use it as a jumping off point and you can just start, you know, editing and doing whatever you need to do. You can also hit rewrite it for me and you can get some more suggestions that are rewritten for you right there and you can utilize those or kind of take some from this one and then add it to this one anything that you want to do, but that is a great way that you can get some optimized content for your Amazon posts.

Carrie Miller:

Next, we have how to generate AI images. Now, this is really cool because you can change these amazing backgrounds. Sometimes, especially going into different holiday seasons, you might want to put your product in a different background with a different holiday season. So all you need to do is just upload your product with a white background here and you'll just click browse and upload that and then you're going to choose a theme. So you could choose you know holiday and maybe you know Halloween or something like that, and it will give you kind of a suggested description. But you can actually edit this and do whatever you want to do.

Carrie Miller:

I already did one for you here. I uploaded this coffin shelf here and I chose holiday and Halloween spookiness, and I actually just kind of changed the item, the image description, and I was able to get some of these. Now, obviously, some of them are not perfect, but you can go ahead and edit the description and then hit generate images. Again. It'll generate some images that are different, so this is a really good place to get some of those really cool backgrounds, especially for those stationary products, and help to make your product look a lot more festive for the holidays or anything else. You can choose any of these themes. You can do home themes, abstract, whatever you want, and then you can choose a theme setting once you get over here. So really great cool things in Helium 10. We're always trying to innovate and give you the latest and greatest tools to help you with your Amazon business. All right, so thank you all for tuning in to this week's Weekly Buzz. We'll see you all next week to see what's buzzing.

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Join us for an exciting episode where we uncover the latest and greatest from Helium 10. We kick off by exploring the top 14 innovative tools and features introduced this 2024, designed to give Amazon sellers a competitive edge. We highlight the platform's expanded capabilities to include the Amazon Brazil marketplace, making it easier than ever to tap into this emerging market through Amazon's Remote Fulfillment Program.

Next, we introduce the powerful Product Launchpad tool, perfect for organizing multiple product research projects. Discover how you can track competitors, get AI-generated summaries, and even change Amazon prices directly within Helium 10. We also discuss the revamped Demand Analyzer tool and updated title length recommendations feature in the X-Ray tool, all aimed at enhancing your product research and listing optimization.

Finally, we explore advanced features like the automation of Cerebro, available on the Diamond plan, and how it can save you time by tracking competitor activities and identifying valuable keywords. Learn about the new AI image generator in the Listing Builder tool, which allows you to create customized product images with specific instructions. We also cover Helium 10's new Listing Builder Scoring System that enhances Amazon SEO by providing a comprehensive score based on keyword usage and relevancy. Tune in to find out how these features can transform your Amazon selling experience!

In episode 581 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - New Features in Helium 10
01:52 - Expanding Marketplaces With Helium 10
03:46 - New Tools for Amazon Product Research
08:32 - Helium 10 Niche Analysis and Features
13:09 - AI Image Generator in Listing Builder
18:19 - Tracking Competitors' Ads on the Product Page
20:48 - Helium 10 New Product Features
30:06 - Listing Builder Scoring System Overview
30:55 - Optimizing Product Listing With AI

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Did you know that since November of last year, Helium 10 has released 67 new tools and features? Today I'm going to go over my personal top 14 list of the best ones that can make you money right now, including one new tool that's going to make me over $3,000 for me on just one product alone. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world.

Bradley Sutton:

What I wanted to do today was I wanted to pick, I tried to pick, the top 10 best ones that can help you immediately as Amazon sellers right now, just from what we launched this year. All right, but I couldn't keep it to 10. So we're going to go to 14. So this, basically, these are my top 14 new features just from this year in Helium 10 that I think can help you guys out and probably apply to the great majority of you. All right, like, like it's not just like, oh, only a few people can use this one or a couple of people can use this, and I think you guys will find benefit in a lot of these, and I want to start going over these one by one here. Number 14 is now Helium 10 works for Brazil. All right, so we have a lot of marketplaces that Helium 10 works in. We have, obviously, Amazon USA, Walmart, Amazon Canada, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, UK, India, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates and now Brazil.

Bradley Sutton:

So why is this important, though, is what changed on Amazon? Is you guys know about the Amazon North American fulfillment used to be called North American remote fulfillment. Now it's just called remote fulfillment, I believe, but that allows you, if you're selling an Amazon USA, it allows you to be able to just click a button and then your listings go live and are translated for Mexico, and then also your listing goes live in Canada if it qualifies. Well, now last year or early this year, Amazon changed it where now, if you are activate remote fulfillment, you have the option to sell on Amazon Brazil, which is an emerging marketplace in the Amazon ecosystem. So Helium 10 now works for Cerebro, Blackbox, X-ray, Magnet, Profits, whole bunch of tools. So, for example, I entered in this cooler bag my Portuguese is not great, that's what I'm assuming his is here into Cerebro and, as you can see, I get all these Portuguese keywords and some English keywords come up to of where this product is ranking. So, guys, this, the first part of this has nothing to do with Helium 10 is hey, go in and check, do you qualify to go ahead and open up your listings for fulfillment in Brazil? Now, how it works is Amazon will ship from your Amazon FBA USA inventory to the Brazilian customers and you're not having to pay any extra fees or anything like that. So, first of all, get your listings active over there and then go ahead and use Cerebro, Magnet, et cetera, to maybe optimize your listings. Maybe, if you don't like the translation, you might change the translation for the listings up a little bit, using what Cerebro is telling you, and then obviously put in the Keyword Tracker, et cetera. So that's number 14 on the list.

Bradley Sutton:

Number 13 was a brand new tool that we launched. All right, so maybe some of you are doing multiple product research things at the same time. Right, if you do multiple product research things at the same time, you might have trouble keeping track of all your projects. Like hey, I'm uh, you know searching this in the home and kitchen category and I've got this one that looks like a good idea. I mean, you might have 10, 15. Well, now you can go ahead and organize all of them in product launchpad, which is a brand new net new tool to Helium 10. Now, this product launchpad allows you to go ahead and start different projects. Like here's one I had started a while back of coffin makeup shelves and gives me like aggregate numbers of what's going on in the coffin makeup shelf niche, what are the main keywords for these products. I can go ahead and add competitors to this. Like, hey, I want to start tracking this product and this product because they're part of the coffin makeup shelf ecosystem, the niche right and then, using AI, it's going to give me kind of like some summaries of what I have come up with in my product research. But the main part of this new tool is to just help you organize all of your projects so that you might want to not forget about what you had done and you might want to come back to it. Like, maybe you decide to go forward with one project, like, hey, I'm going to make this coffin letterboard, but let me save that makeup shelf for later. Now you can go back to your projects and then also add products, add keywords to it and then see if the AI has any other advice based on best practices, on what the future of that niche is. So again, that's number 13 guys, brand new tool that launched this year called Product Launchpad.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, number 12 thing of something brand new is you can change your Amazon prices inside of Helium 10. Let's say you're like, hey, you know what I'm not doing a prime, exclusive discount, but I want to go ahead and change my prices and just drop everything 50 cents because my competitor will now on your dashboard right, I think this might be for Diamond members and up you can actually change your Amazon price for your products without going into seller central. So you just go to the listing section of the SKU, zoom in here. I'm going to zoom in and you can see all of these little price fields. You can actually change your Amazon price right here inside of Helium 10. So that's number 12 in the list of new updates. Number 11 is the relaunch of an older tool that we used to have and now we relaunch is called Demand Analyzer. Let me give you a scenario here. Let's say you're searching for something on Alibaba, on whatever website Etsy, I don't care what website you're on. Did you know that the Helium 10 Chrome extension will work on any website to let you know something that's going on Amazon based on what you input? For example, I was searching at these crazy Alibaba companies that were copying my images for my coffin shelf and I was just curious what other things are these people selling in their Alibaba factory? And I went into this Alibaba factory page and I went to this category of letter boards, right? So, for example, what can I do here? Maybe I didn't know there was a such thing as letter boards, right? So maybe I'm wondering, hey, is there demand on Amazon for letter boards? Well, maybe in the past you thought, oh, okay, now I have to go to Helium 10, uh X-ray and be on Amazon and search letter boards and see what the search volume is. Or I have to go into Helium 10 Cerebro or Magnet. Let me see what are the related keywords. What is the search volume? No, you can actually do that right from here, so I can see here. This is like a pumpkin letter board, like you know, Halloween coming up and then maybe I'm wondering right now hey, is there any demand for pumpkin letter boards on Amazon? Well, let me go ahead and hit that and then I'll type in here pumpkin letter board, all right, and then analyze. Is anybody searching that? No, all right, I got to answer right away. It's something new and cool. But I see that there's an autocomplete says pumpkin, four letter boards, all right. So maybe I might want to look into that more. Maybe what about this one Hexagon letter board, hexagon shaped letter board? Is anybody searching? Oh, okay, there's about 50 people searching a month, but you see what I'm talking about here. You guys can now go on other websites and get product ideas and instantly see what is going on Amazon for that Um, and so I highly, highly recommend doing that when you get inspiration or ideas from other websites. All right, so that was number 11.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go to number 10. This is actually a newish, um, a newish thing that has been updated and this is in X-ray. Do you ever think about how long should my title be? Now, I know Helium 10 has scoring systems and stuff, but it's based on like overall best practices, right? Uh, as I've always trained you guys, I hope you guys follow the training videos. It's not one size fits all as far as what goes best for how long your title should be across the board on Amazon. I've always said look at the niche theme. What are some of the main players in your niche doing on page one, you know? Then you know, hey, if everybody's got long titles, well, it looks like long titles actually are a good thing for this niche. Maybe you're in a niche where there's shorter titles that work better, all right. So now how can you go ahead and figure that out? Well, you can go into X-Ray and then right here at the very top, you see you're going to have an average title character count. You guys see that there? Average title character count of the top 20 products on the page and so you can see in collagen peptides, oh, it looks like most people have long titles because the average title character count is 167. I can put my mouse here and I can see, all right well, of those top 20 products, what kind of distribution I can see. Wow, look at this. 65% of the top 20 products have titles between 180 and 200 characters, right? So I'm like, oh wow, definitely, long titles are working really well in collagen peptides. So if I'm going to start a collagen peptides product, let me go ahead and, you know, maybe put my title out 190 characters or so. Now let's go to the flip side. Let's look at this one accordion. All right, this is the accordion search term on Amazon and take a look here. What's the average title character counts. It's 110 way different than collagen peptides. Let's take a look at the distribution here. Look at that. Half of the listings on the top 20 have only between a 99 and 119. Okay, uh, limit, all right. So almost nobody has longer titles. Most people have you. So you see how it's different based on the keyword and based on the niche.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is not new, this strategy of, hey, look at what kind of titles people have. But in the past, what did you have to do? You would just have to kind of like eyeball it, right? Hey, let me look. Ah, it looks like they have long titles, but how, how many characters would you really know? Now you can see the title character count of every single listing on page one to see what your competitors are doing. Next one we are now in the top 10. Number nine I don't have a screenshot of because this is I don't sell in Europe, but Helium 10 inventory management historically only worked for Amazon USA and this year we launched it now for Amazon Europe, and so there's still a lot that we're working on for there, like you know, trying to integrate pan, pan EU uh forms of FBA, distribution and velocity. So, guys, if you are in Europe and please take a test drive of our Helium 10 inventory management, let us know what you like, let us know what you don't like, so that we can tailor it to your needs. All right, so that's number nine. Uh, number eight is not actually a new tool but a relaunch of a feature. You guys remember the Helium 10 Elite program we've had for years, but for over a year it was fully closed, like you could not get into Elite even if you wanted to, unless you were like a Supercharge member, like, like. Elite is actually part of the Supercharge program, but elite as an add-on just couldn't do it for almost a year. Well, we relaunched it this year and it has a lot of cool new features. So, for anybody interested in like a one-on-one call with me, a one-on-one call with Carrie, Elite members can do that once a month. Do you want to meet with other high level sellers once a week on zoom in round tables that aren't recorded so you can talk about anything and everything you want. That's available for a Helium 10 lead. Do you want to do quarterly workshops around the world and be able to learn from a high level speakers? We just finished one a couple a few weeks ago in Spain.

Bradley Sutton:

The next one is going to be right before Amazon accelerates. So if you sign up for Elite, you get to go to that one. It's going to be Kevin King as a speaker and destiny with Sean. We're going to have meals and networking and a lot of prizes and a lot of cool things and a lot of learning. Obviously, for those two, um, it's going to be on. September 16th is the next one. That it's going to be, like I said, in Seattle and maybe another one later on this year in Milan, Italy. I'm not sure yet, but we've got those. We've got monthly trainings with Kevin King and expert guests online where you can ask them live questions and you can learn from like high level things that's not normally in like a podcast episode or something like that. You get exclusive first access to tools and then the new price. Instead of having it being a separate Helium 10 plan like it was before, it is now just an add on. So if you've got a Diamond plan, you can just add on Elite for only $99 a month. All of that, what I just mentioned, only $99 a month, and a lot more. There's monthly Zoom calls with Kevin King, there's a private Facebook group. The list goes on and on. So, guys, I highly highly recommend giving that a spin for a few months. Helium 10 Elite if you've got the Diamond program, you can just add it on for only $99. All right, so that was the number eight thing.

Bradley Sutton:

Number seven is an AI image generator. All right, AI image generator this is living inside of Listing Builder. All right, so you go into Listing Builder, go into any of your listings and then hit generate AI images. And then this is super cool because you just put you know, you upload, like your maybe stock image of something or a white background or whatever, and then you put in your instructions of like hey, I want to see this. Uh, here's an example here. I want to see this product in a cozy, dim and inviting home setting, resting on a table, various natural elements around you and this is a candle, right, and you can see that this is all AI generated, what this came up with. I've done this with my coffin shelf listings a lot as well, and the cool thing about it is you can do this for different Amazon assets. Like, for example, if you are doing a main, if you're doing a main image or a regular image on Amazon, what kind of dimension should that be? It's a square right. You should probably have it 1600 by 1600 at the minimum. Or you can actually do a custom size, like for whatever reason. You have some custom uh image that you want to put on your website or something you can put the custom size Uh. Let's say, you want to do something for Amazon post. Amazon post should be 640 by 640. There is a preset for that. What if it's an A+ logo image, that's actually a banner size image, or it's 600 by 180. You can go ahead and have the AI create an image based on your regular image, but now it's made for Amazon A+ content, and the list goes on and on of different sizes and different things you can have. So I like using it for the Amazon post, especially since in Listing Builder we have an Amazon post caption generator. So, as you know, for Amazon post, you should be doing one per day for each of your products. Well, maybe you didn't take 365 images of your product, uh, you know, when you did a photo shoot. So how are you going to do 365 different images in a year? The answer is with Helium 10’s AI, you can go ahead and create 365 versions of a certain image, and then who wants to write 365 different captions that relate to that image? Nobody wants to do that, I hope, right. So again, you can use Listing Builder AI and it will go ahead and generate as many captions for your product as you want. So now it's kind of like Amazon post made easy. So that's another cool feature that Helium 10 released this year. That's number seven.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now we're getting into the top six. Uh, okay, so top six for new features of 2024 for Helium 10 is Freedom Ticket, all right. So Freedom Ticket is the number one course for Amazon sellers out there and a lot of you who are watching this. Maybe you're already Amazon sellers. That's fine. It's a great refresher course or you could share it with your teams. A lot of bigger Amazon companies use the Freedom Ticket course to onboard their new employees, to train them on the Amazon. It's not just oh, here's how you do Seller Central and stuff. It's like explaining the concepts behind Amazon. We've got tons and tons of modules here. There's about 20, 30 hours of training that we have in the Freedom Ticket and we're constantly updating it. That's a new update too. This is version 4.0. We've made three versions before, from 2017 up until 2021, 2022. And now this is version 4.0. Just film this year in 2024. And every month we're actually adding, with a live workshop, a new module so that you're always guaranteed to have the best information in 2024. For example, some of the things that we just did a couple of weeks ago, we had a virtual workshop on how to set up TikTok shop. That's all the rage these days TikTok shop, right. In a couple of weeks, we're going to be talking about advanced brand building, all right. So all of that is going down inside the Freedom Ticket program. Huge, it takes a lot of work, guys, to make an entire A to Z Amazon course and a lot of work, a lot of money, and so that's a big update that we have Freedom Ticket 4.0. Platinum members have access to it, Diamond members, obviously, Elite members all of you guys have access to Freedom Ticket 4.0. So make sure to take a look at that. So that is number six, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now number five is another one. Um, that is going back to the Chrome extension. Now, this is, uh, pretty cool. Let me show you guys, what you can do here now. Uh, the first thing is, if you're in the search results of a page, all right. So if I'm in the search results of a page, I can now see the different placements of the PPC, for example, sponsor brand ads. Maybe there's some sponsor display on the end. Now, all of that is going to show up here in line. Before, only sponsored product was showing up. But look at this. You see these little widgets here that say SB. Well, those are the three sponsored brand ads that showed up on the top header. Uh, what about sponsored video? That's going to show up here. Sponsored product is also going to show, uh, up over here. Uh, is so. Does something have Amazon's choice? We'll show that, um, over here. So be looking at that. You can see all the now, all the uh, start tracking all the different placements on the page for sponsored ads. All, right, now what about? If you're on a product page itself? Let's go like, like, maybe your own product page, like, hey, I want to know what listings on Amazon are advertising on my page, right, cause you know there's sponsored display ads here? Uh, there's, there's going to be, uh, this sponsor brand section. Um, there is your, your favorite brands. That comes up at the or not favorite brands, but, like similar brands on Amazon, shows up on the very bottom. All these things are ads writing on your page and you want to start tracking. Say, hey, who is showing up on my page, right? Well, now you can do that by hitting the Chrome extension, going into X-ray. Look at all these ads. So, all the different variations are going to show up here, all the different ads. You know this. This is the similar brands on Amazon. Here's sponsored product, there's going to be sponsored display, so now you can start tracking. I could just download this with one click, export it to an Excel file and now start tracking daily or maybe weekly. Hey, who is bidding for placements on my page? And maybe you want to target them right back right. Or maybe you know track who are the ones that stay there the longest? And hey, those guys might be having success stealing a couple of my sales. I got to figure out what they're doing. That's working right, all right, so that is something that, again, is available for all plans. I think super, super cool. That's why I had it in the top five of new features.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so now we are in the top four. Let me ask you guys I hope that part of your SOP for Amazon is to create or to run Cerebro on your product versus your competitor's product, maybe once a week, maybe once a month or whatever. And the point is, when you're running that over and over again, it's like hey, you just want to make sure, uh, are your competitors not getting sales from keywords that you're not getting sales from? Like, maybe they discovered a new keyword that they're ranking highly for that you're not ranking at all Right. So, so obvious. We've always told you, hey, you should be running Cerebro every now and then. Now, that's all fine and good If you've got one product right. You got one product, five competitors, we're all good to go right. But what about those If who've got 10 products? And having to run Cerebro on those 10 products and your 50 competitors? What if you've got 100 products right? That's a very tedious process. That's almost a full-time job for somebody, but you still got to do it because you got to make sure that you're keeping up with the Joneses, right, make sure that you're keeping up with all their keywords. Well, you can now automate that with Helium 10. All right, so this is the number four coolest new feature that we've launched in 2024 is kind of like the automation of Cerebro, and where that is in your dashboard. I believe this is for the Diamond plan, only so far. The first step is you have to make sure that your main competitors you're tracking, all right. So how you can do that, let me just show you. You go in, make sure that you have your child level set up in your or you're on your child level category here in your dashboard and then, for example, you just hit expand right here, which is the arrow right next to there, and then hit competitors. Now make sure you have got your main competitors right here. All right, these are your main competitors. And now, once you do that, you can actually not only first of all, this is not even this was another new feature, but I didn't even add, it, didn't even make my top 14 lists but you're going to be able to get notifications on hey, is my competitor changing their price? Is my competitor changing the number of variations they have? Are they running a coupon or did they take off a coupon? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You're going to get notifications on that. But the cool thing that this one is this is why it's number four is I'm going to automate the Cerebro.

Bradley Sutton:

You go to insights and then I am going to create a new insight and it is going to be a keyword insight, keyword suggestions based on my competitors. And then, once I hit that, I go here and these at the very bottom this are the settings that I could do. I could do a specific product or I could do it across the board. For all of my products. I can say, hey, it's basically a mini cerebral. I can say, hey, I want to look at keywords that are at least 500 search, 400, 300, whatever you want, and then where my product rank is All right. So for this one I would change. I would do two different insights, guys. This is how I have it set up. I would do one insight where it says where my products rank is zero minimum, zero maximum. What that means is I'm not ranking at all in the top seven pages, right? And then the number of competitors ranking for the keyword is minimum one and they are ranked, let's say, between one and 40. So what does that mean? What does that gibberish? I guess that means that basically says hey, Helium 10, run Cerebro on my product and my competitors every day, every week, whatever, and look for any keyword that's at least 500 search volume, where I'm not ranked at all, but my competitors are ranking on page one. Boom goes to dynamite. You're getting a notification whenever your competitors are getting sales for a new keyword. That's basically, in a nutshell what that is. Another one that I would do is I would say where my products rank is between, let's say, 50 and 306, and my competitors product rank is between one and 40. What does that mean? That means, hey, I'm ranking for this keyword, but I'm on like page two, three, four, five, six, seven, but my competitor is on page one. Don't you think that's a valuable keyword to know about this, guys? I can, I could, I could have spent this whole show talking about how valuable that is all right. That right there is enough for Diamond package by itself, just because of the time it saves. Now, if you're a Platinum member and you're wondering, is that worth it for you and you've only got one product, I'm no salesman, guys, but let me just tell you no, it's not worth it. Don't upgrade to Diamond just to get this feature because you're lazy, all right. And if you're lazy, go ahead and you're proud to admit you're lazy and you need Helium 10's help to help with a 30-minute job once a week or a 20-minute job. Go ahead and admit it. We'll be glad to take your money as a Diamond member. But as a realist guys, don't do that. But if you've got five products. We're not talking about a 30 minute job anymore. Now we're talking about a three hour job. What if you've got 20 products? Now we're talking about an eight hours a week job that Helium 10 can automate with the click of a button.

Bradley Sutton:

So now you can see why. You know, like, how beneficial it is to have Diamond plan based on how many products you have. This is when you're going to need that, all right, so that's pretty cool. That is the number four new feature from Helium 10. Now, uh, here is another, in my opinion, game changer. Now we're in the top three, okay, the top three of new things, and let me just show you. This is like super, super cool, and this is only if you have brand registry, All right. So hopefully you guys have brand registry, right, but basically it's linking brand analytics to the Chrome extension. So now you can see for last week, what were the top three products clicked on that had the most clicks out of any product for this keyword. After somebody searched for this keyword, what were the three products that were clicked on most. This is not some Helium 10 algorithm or estimation. This is literally direct from Amazon, all right, and so you can see here it's going to say ABA most click, number one, ABA most click number two and ABA most click number three. Now the thing that is also beneficial is don't always think that just because it's the number one most click product that it's going to have the most conversions or sales. Like, watch what happens when I put my mouse over the number one clicked coffin shelf, it says CVR 0%. What does that mean? That means that's not conversion rate, that's percentage of the conversion. So actually last week the most click product of coffin shelves got zero order. So now, all of a sudden, that maybe have my creative juices flowing. I'm like, hmm, why are people clicking on this? Maybe they think that's interesting, this product, but then what's wrong with the product page that nobody's buying it. And then I go to the second one and put my mouse over all right, ah, this product was a number two most clicked, but it had 20%. I don't know if you guys can see that there it had 20% of the sales for this keyword. So actually, the number two guys, the one I got to worry about, I'm like man, this guy got 20% of the sales, right. So this, guys, I hope changes the way that you look at search results. It's not just about who's ranked at the top one or two or three. Now, I know in this situation actually hold on. Look at this Is the number one most clicked product, the number one organic position? No, it's not. This is a sponsored placement. Where is this product showing up? This product is one, two, three, four. The number one click product was the fifth sponsored or the fifth organic position. So you can just get so much knowledge and ideas about what's going on in the niche just by looking at these search results that you maybe you didn't have before. Okay, so really, really cool guys. Whenever you're searching on Amazon, take a look for those blue bars that say ABA most click one, ABA most click two, and you'll be able to see that.

Bradley Sutton:

So now we are at number two, and number two is something that might have just saved me $6,000. That's why I put this as the number two new feature. Now here in the Project X account I don't have. I don't have it because not every account is going to have it. But what Helium 10 is doing is we are monitoring all of your products and if we notice you have got a product that is at the border of one of the Amazon size tiers and what are Amazon size tiers? That's like standard size, large standard size, standard oversize, bulky oversize, all those things right. If you are within one inch of one side of changing that, all right, if you are within one inch of one side. Basically, what's going to happen is we're going to send you an alert and say, hey, did you know that for blankety, blank product, if you just decrease the length by one inch, you are going to go from large standard size to standard size. I got one of these notifications in one of my accounts, guys and that one inch. Can you guys guess how much per unit I would save? And healing tends to show me $2 and 75 cents. That's the difference to go from large standard size to standard size or whatever it was, 2.75 per unit. Now do that math, guys. Let's say you are selling 10 units a day of this product. All right. That means that every day, like let's say the next time, you do a production run and somehow you're able to lessen the size of the package by one inch, that means every day. If I do this, which I am going to do. I am going to do it on my next product when I reorder this product. I'm absolutely doing this. I could save $27 a day just with that one inch savings. Now, times that by a full year, that is $3,650. I'm saving just by changing my package and I never would have known that unless Helium 10 told me. So that's what you guys should do, guys, is go into your alerts. This is Platinum, this is Diamond. It doesn't matter what account you have. This is number two, because this brings you like ridiculous amounts of money. Go to your alerts page and look at the very top left where it says overview. Everybody do that right now and you guys tell me if you have anything. I hope that nobody has it here. Like it actually kind of hurts to know that I've been wasting money for this long. Very few people are right there on the border of within one inch, but, like I said, my other account absolutely had it. Take a look under overview, right under, where it says Buy Box. If it has size tier optimization alert, you're going to see it right down here in this section, all right, so take a look. Everybody's listening to this podcast. Everybody's watching this live right now watching this on YouTube. Pause this, go to your alerts page and see if you have one, and it's going to be a game changer for you guys, like that's probably the most valuable alert we've come up with in years. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So now we have come to the number one new tool or feature alert that Helium 10 has created, and that is the Listing Builder scoring system. Okay, so this is something that people have been asking us for years and I've kind of wanted Helium 10 to do ever since I was doing SEO tools for the blogs, when I used to write blogs for Helium 10 years ago, where we had a scoring system where it says based on where I use my keywords right and based on how many times I have it and what's the relevancy, uh, to the niche, um, what kind of impact it's going to have on your score right, and that really you know the higher the score. Theoretically usually it's not a hundred percent. Nobody knows the Amazon algorithm a hundred percent but it's going to give you a better chance to rank. It's going to get give you a better chance to get sales. So, for example, I just create a full listing inside of listing builder for a brand new product I haven't even launched yet, but I create it and listed, but I actually use the AI to help me create it. But now I put all of the phrases in Helium 10 Listing Builder and I can see based on the competitor performance score. This is nothing new. This is actually the same score that you have in Cerebro. It's the last column in Cerebro. But once you put your competitors now I can see, hey, which are the most important keywords for my niche that my competitors are getting sales from. And then I can see oh, shoot, I already dropped off. I was number one a few days ago when I created this listing, but now I can see my score is 194,000. And then number one in my niche is 198,000. So I still have to maybe tweak my listing a little bit more to try and up my score. I could see what all my root keywords are. You've always been able to do that in listing builder, where we show you the one word roots. Now we can show you the two word roots that are showing up, the three word roots and more. Okay, take a look down here. I can actually go to my keyword performance score and see what's going into the score. I could open up competitor comparison and take a look.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, how do people have these keywords phrases in their listings, like, for example, let's look at the most important keywords, which is sorting it by competitor performance score, and I can see here here is a keyword that most people it's actually the most important coffin letterboard. Without a space between letter and board, and I can actually see wow, this product doesn't even have it in their title. They've only got it as a phrase form in their bullets. This coffin letterboard doesn't have it anywhere in their listing. So maybe this is an opportunity. Most of these competitors don't have it. Only two competitors have coffin letter board in their title. So there's an option. This is obviously not an important keyword to my niche. That's why the score is low. But coffin cooler, if I look here, not one of my competitors has coffin cooler in their listing in exact form. So now I, with just in seconds, I get I get insight into wow, if I put coffin cooler in phrase form, I'm going to be way more relevant to Amazon algorithm compared to my competitors. I can just see that at a glance. What if I want to see like, hey, what about? How am I doing on certain root phrases. How about words in my listing that have coffin? Wow, there's 27 words that were important to my niche that have the word coffin in it. How do I have it distributed? Oh, wow, look at all these keywords I don't have anywhere in my listing at all. Maybe I need to put it into my description, I need to put it in my bullet points. I mean, the list goes on and on. Guys, this Listing Builder scoring system is something a team worked on for months. I worked on the scoring part also for months. I created like over a hundred listings and I tested micro changes to make sure. Hey, is this scoring system based on what actually moves the needle for Amazon ranking? If I just put one keyword in a different place, is that going to, obviously, or is that going to instantaneously bring me to page one and get me a billion dollars for the sales? No, probably not. But these little micro changes, these are the things that give you a leg up on the competition that they're probably not doing, unless they're using Helium 10 to really see how they can optimize their listing for the Amazon algorithm, and I've been testing this. Like I told you, I'm launching four new products the last few weeks. All of this worked. Guys Like I'm just crushing my launches, getting to page one for all of my main keywords. Thanks to this.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Hope this was helpful. Those of you who are Helium 10 Elite members and those of you who are Serious Sellers Club members you get this every week, so make sure to tune in next week. If you're Elite member and you're not getting the invites for these calls, let customer support know. And for the rest of you who are Platinum, Diamond members, you are going to get access to this monthly call sometime in August. So we'll do another one of these sometime in August with a new training tip and a new Ask Me Anything. Thank you, guys so much and have a great rest of your day. Bye-bye now.

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Have you ever wondered how to conquer competitive markets without relying on PPC? In our latest episode, Melisa Vong, a Serial E-commerce Entrepreneur & Investor, returns after nearly three years to share her journey of exiting two successful brands in the beauty and supplement niches using innovative strategies. She dives into her unique approach of utilizing Reddit for Amazon sellers and stresses the importance of a diverse product catalog. Melisa also unveils her rapid product launch methodology, which employs extensive A/B split testing to constantly refine and improve her tactics.

But Melisa's entrepreneurial flair doesn't stop there. She takes us on an exciting detour into the world of escape rooms, revealing how her Amazon-selling success funded this new venture. Melisa talks about why she chose to become a franchisee instead of starting from scratch, and the benefits of partnering with an established brand to manage logistics and technology. She opens up about the investment required and how a side hustle turned into an unexpected career opportunity at the franchise's head office.

We also explore cutting-edge marketing strategies for e-commerce, including the use of Advite.ai to monitor Reddit threads for promotional opportunities. Melisa highlights how personalized branding can set you apart in crowded markets and discusses innovative tactics like Google redirects to drive external traffic to Amazon listings. Tune in for a wealth of practical tips and inspiring entrepreneurial insights, and find out how to connect with Melisa online to keep the conversation going.

In episode 580 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Melisa discuss:

03:47 - Success in the Competitive Supplement Market on Amazon
10:12 - The Impact of Creative Marketing
11:37 - Franchise Escape Room Side Business Discussion
13:43 - Potential Partnership Opportunity With A Game Company
18:11 - Melisa's Passion Project
22:26 - Innovative Marketing Strategies for E-Commerce
22:30 - Reddit Strategy
26:23 - Label Variation for Product Packaging
28:21 - Enhancing Customer Engagement With AI
30:40 - Heat Maps Strategy
32:18 - Targeting Dog Breeds for Marketing
33:29 - Networking and Escape Room Fun

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today, we've got Melissa back on the show who's going to talk about how she's exited a couple of brands. She's had success in competitive niches without even using PPC. She's got a cool Reddit strategy for Amazon sellers and now how she's using her Amazon income to start an escape room business. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello, everybody! And welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. I just had somebody recently on the show. I forgot who it was, but I was like man. It's been like forever since you've been on the show. It might be a record. Well, whatever it was for him or her, you have broken that record because I'm looking at my notes from Mel here and the last time you were on the show was 2021. So almost three years in between I've been trying to get you back. Melissa, you're just so hard to get a hold of. You're such a busy, busy boss lady. Anyways, how's it been going?

Melisa:

I know. I'm so sorry it's been a while but I'm excited to be back and thank you for your persistence and your patience with me. You know what they say the fortune's in the follow-up. So there you nailed that. But I've been awesome, you know, keeping busy not just Amazon, but kind of just dabbling in different worlds, and it's been fun, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, we're definitely going to talk about some of that stuff. You know I follow you vicariously a little bit through Instagram. It's kind of interesting to see some of the things that are going on your side. We're definitely going to dive into that. But if anybody wants to get more of Melissa's backstory, we're not going to completely rehash it here. Check out episodes 111 and also episode 302. All right, so episode 111, episode 302, you could learn a lot about her history and actually, one of the, were you in the? I don't think you had exited at the time in 2021, had you exited that? Was it a supplement brand or a beauty brand that you were doing back then?

Melisa:

So I exited a beauty brand and then also the following year exited in a supplement category, so still currently selling in supplements. I think when we last spoke, we did close out our exit.

Bradley Sutton:

What kind of beauty products was it?

Melisa:

So it's like natural and organic skincare. So things like castor oil. I know we've talked about it a couple times in previous so it's like vitamin c serum skincare. You know, moisturizers.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm all into that kind of stuff. As I get older, you know, like I've been, I've been going like I got it here on my desk been going heavily into k-beauty products. I got these products called Be Wants and it's funny because I always talk about collagen peptides on my podcast and stuff right, this is like collagen lifting cream, collagen essence toner the secret to looking like I do when I have a 23 year old daughter. So there it is Korean beauty products. That's the secret.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that, you know, beauty products and supplements are cliché as far as the most difficult things to break into. And then, of course, oh, maybe you, you know, somebody might say, oh yeah, she had a beauty brand. Maybe she started when it wasn't so, it wasn't so competitive, way back when, and that's how she was able to exit. But right after that, you said you went into supplements and were so successful. What's some of your secrets?

Melisa:

Yeah, obviously everyone kind of thinks that supplements is this weird and uncharted territory and it really is. It's a whole different ballgame in terms of how competitive it is, but from not just a black hat, you know perspective, because there are a lot of things that people will do to try to bring you down and it's unfortunate. But sometimes it's just about having a very wide catalog and just having you know a number of different products rather than just relying on one cash cow because then if you only have like one, really you know one real cash cow product that's bringing in all the money, if it goes down, then you're kind of screwed. So we kind of had to move quickly when it came to launches. So it was just speed to market. Just every quarter we were launching you know three, four new products, just consistently. And that gave us a lot of practice on launches and figuring out okay, what's working, what's not working. So we were able to kind of figure out and do a lot of AB split testing and see, okay, now we have like an actual template that we can work off of.

Melisa:

And supplements is one of those easy things where really you don't have to reinvent the wheel, it's really just slapping on. You know a label on a bottle and branding does pay a big. You know it's a big part of it in how you can differentiate yourself. But one thing that we did even now because we're still in the supplement space, so even though we sold that company moved into a little bit more of a niche supplement space. So now we sell gummies in particular and I also sit on the board for another company, which is like pharmaceutical crafted supplements. So a little bit more niche where it's like multi-ingredient formulations, so you can no longer just launch single ingredient products anymore and think you're going to rank for those super high volume keywords now we're relying-

Bradley Sutton:

Let me launch a vitamin c or some vitamin d and crush it.

Melisa:

Yeah, no, like you always use the example of collagen right there you no one should ever go into the collagen market these days. Even you know, five years ago it was very, very hard to break into collagen. So rather than focusing on collagen, we focus on solutions. So things for hair growth, things for, you know, hair, skin nails is also another big keyword, things like that. You want to go after more of those long tail keywords, but ones that target specific problems that people are having. So that's kind of what we've kind of shifted into, and then also doing things that you know are kind of following a trend as well.

Melisa:

So, for example, you know, there was that whole big craze it still is a craze where people are taking semi-glutides which are like Ozempic, you know, Manjarono, things like that for weight loss, and obviously with that comes a lot of side effects. So we were able to create a custom formulation that targets and helps with a lot of those side effects. So that really helped us gain a lot of traction because no one else was doing it. So we're creating different solutions for these problems. That kind of became more popular and more in, you know, more searched. So if you pay attention to different trends, keywords, things like that, sometimes you can get ahead of the trends. So, rather than trying to arrive a wave that's already dying, you're almost positioning yourself for the wave before it happens, and that's what any good surfer knows.

Bradley Sutton:

Something crazy. I don't remember if it was your beauty brand or your supplement brand, but you were talking about. At one point you were doing like 400 K of sales a month and you were not using PPC. Now, was that for the beauty brand or also for the supplements? You weren't doing PPC.

Melisa:

For both. Yeah, we never really focused too much on PPC. We did have a little bit for the beauty brand, but for supplements in particular, we focused on velocity, because if you can sell at a slightly you know lower price point and remain competitive, still making a profit. Our goal was not you know the amount of profit we're making per product, it was how much we could actually sell, how many units could we actually get out the door. Because not only that, we get more exposure to the customers if someone buys a product once, it's easier to sell to someone again rather than trying to sell to a new person. So we make it very easy for people to purchase our products because they're affordable, right. So not only that, it's negotiating with your suppliers.

Melisa:

We now have brought on our supplier as a partner in one of our brands, so we have the best terms. We have net 90. We don't have to pay them and it's basically until most of our stock is already sold, which is it puts us at a huge advantage compared to some of our other competitors, right, where you have to pay for it upfront, before it even gets sent into Amazon. You know, Amazon takes like four weeks sometimes to check in your inventory, depending on the season. So things like that definitely make a difference in helping us remain competitive. But the reason why we weren't needing to spend on PPC was because we were riding the wave of other people spending big marketing dollars to educate our customers for us and we just had to make sure we were positioned next to them.

Bradley Sutton:

Like direct influencers, or just riding the wave of just like search terms that were generic and those people weren't even necessarily pushing you? Or is it a mixture of both?

Melisa:

Right. The search terms and then also the branded search terms as well. But you know the whole craze with apple cider vinegar gummies, right? So there was that big company that they launched apple cider vinegar gummies. They were the first to do it. They were spending so much money trying to get Ellen, you know, on the Ellen Degeneres show, all these different outlets like paying out the Kardashians to promote this product and they were educating people for us on, okay, this is what this product does.

Melisa:

We just had to make sure we were showing up for the right keywords and showing up for their brand keywords as a cheaper alternative. So even if we could just get like a small percentage of their market share, people are going to try us. Just because we were undercutting them a little bit. They were charging, you know, a pretty high price point at the time and now there's so many different players in the space, so obviously it's kind of like a price race to the bottom now. So we don't currently sell it because that was in our previous brand that we sold.

Melisa:

But that was one of the things where, like, we saw the trend, we're like, okay, they're already spending so much money on marketing, we don't have to spend it ourselves. We just have to make sure that we show up in the right places at the right time because that's what marketing is. It's all about. You know, being there when someone needs something and the more times you can be in front of someone when you know, the time kind of persists because not everyone's going to need to buy certain things at that exact moment, so the more times that you can actually position yourself so that when they are ready to buy and you're there, you're more likely to be able to convert.

Melisa:

Like the cool thing about marketing is not just about how you say something but like there's so many different ways that you can say something. So like if you walk down the street and you see two different coffee shops, for example, right, and both of them have a sign out, one maybe says, like you know, we sell hot liquid from brown beans, and then the other is like hey, our coffee is stronger than your Wi-Fi. By the way, we have free Wi-Fi, you know? Like which one are you going to go to? There's so many ways to say we sell coffee. So it's really cool, because it's such a fun game of finding the most creative ways to say something.

0:11:04 - Bradley Sutton:

I like it. Now we're going to get back to your e-commerce strategies, but one thing, as I was mentioning, I live my life vicariously, sometimes through Instagram, and so I've noticed you know, you've done some side hustles and some other endeavors and investments, which I think is important that e-commerce sellers think about the next step too. It could be, for some, a hobby, like, hey, I've always wanted to do this, but now I have the means to do it because of my Amazon business, or they've exited and now they want to. You know, hey, what else can I get into? So I think it's something that a lot of Amazon sellers aren't thinking about. But maybe, talking about your experiences, you might stir some creative juices.

Bradley Sutton:

But one of the things that you decided to do and I'd like to just get into, like how you came to that was doing an escape room. So was like escape room something that you always like doing yourself, and you're like, oh, this is a passion project. Or were you like, oh man, there's in this area, there's a need for this. I think I can make some money off of it. How did you come? You know, land on that as your side hustle, kind of thing.

Melisa:

Yeah, I love escape rooms. I think, as entrepreneurs as well, we naturally are good problem solvers, so these are kind of like fun problems to solve, right. They put you in a situation where you need to complete all the puzzles and then you have to escape. But it's usually immersed in some sort of storyline, which makes it interesting. So essentially you become like the main character in a little video game and it's a lot of fun. So it's good for team building. We like doing it with family.

Melisa:

You know friends, other entrepreneurs I've met on my travels. I'll be like, hey, like I know we just met, but like, call me crazy, let's do an escape room together. I know it's crazy walking you know strangers in a room for an hour. Anything could go wrong. But some of like the strongest partnerships and I guess relationships I've had are, you know people I've done escape rooms with because you kind of see this different side of them and you work together. You're almost like you know how trauma bonds people. Well, this is like you're in a high stress environment where, like, you need to escape by a certain time and you know, naturally we're all competitive people, we're entrepreneurs, business owners, so it was like really cool seeing people work really well together to get towards a common goal. And then you know some of those people I still talk to today and it's really, really cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Now is this something that, like you, 100% did from scratch, or you bought into a franchise or something, or you just started your own brand and built it all yourself.

Melisa:

Yeah. So I am a franchisee, which is, I thought it was the best way to, you know, get into this space, because for me to learn everything from scratch, you know, like, how to program controllers, the logic flow, writing all the storylines. You know the prop building all that stuff. You know CNC, build it like printing 3D printing, all that stuff you know CNC building like printing 3D printing, all that stuff like that would be way too much for me to do as a single person. Sure, I could hire out teams, but it just made more sense to partner with an existing company. So I ended up doing some of their games. I was like you know what? These are really great. There's obviously some room for improvement, as well, which I would be able to take care of on my side for my specific location.

Melisa:

And then, you know, fast forward, they love what I did so much with my location that they actually offered me a job, which is crazy. Now I haven't accepted it yet, so it was like we're still kind of talking back and forth, but it would, you know, consist of some equity in the overall franchise, as well as, you know, a cushy paycheck. So it's it might be a cool thing for me to do or even as a consultant for them but they want to bring me on as part of the head office teams. I think that would be kind of cool and I really thought I'd, you know, have another job again after having a job for what? Eight years, eight-nine years now being self-employed. So yeah, it'd be definitely interesting, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, for this kind of thing. You know what kind of investment. Obviously there's a franchise, you know fee, and then there's, you know, construction and you know training new employees and getting everything together. So, like how much would I need? I mean, obviously you know I'm in California, it might be different than wherever you did yours, but you know we talking a hundred thousand, 200,000, $300,000 that somebody would need to be able to start an endeavor like this.

Melisa:

Right, so I mean out of pocket, you'd probably need at least $150,000, but it could be upwards of 500,000. Most of it would be covered by like SBA financing in your case in the States because it's an existing franchise. It's a lot easier to get you know that friend or that funding for a brick and mortar business, so that's also the appeal of it as well. So to be able to have you know outside sources or using other people's money we all know how great that is.

Melisa:

But in terms of like construction, that depends on the size of the space. So if you want to do you know, the bare minimum is you need at least 2,500 square feet of space. That's going to provide you with four different games. But if you want more space, obviously you can have a lot more space to work with, but it's going to cost you more in construction. So, depending on the space that you find, if there's already existing infrastructure like it has drywall, it has drop ceilings, the HVAC is already installed, it has bathrooms and you have very minimal to work with your costs are going to be much lower than if you were to work with an empty shell building. So for me, I literally moved into a building that was like completely empty. It was gutted they call it vanilla shell so I had freedom to do whatever I wanted with that space.

Melisa:

And it is very, very, very tall. It has like super tall ceilings. It's like 17 and a half feet tall. So obviously that's a lot more paint that I have to pay for, so it does get more costly, but it could run you, like I said, anywhere from 150 to 500,000. But in terms of like ROI, it just made so much sense because I went to a franchise show, checked out so many different business models the food space. You have all this overhead cost in terms of inventory. You have food costs. You have spoilage right. Food that doesn't get bought, or, like you mess up, you cook it improperly, so there's a lot that could go wrong, whereas this, you build it at once and then that's your main cost. The only thing you have is your rent and then the employees to run it, which really doesn't take that many people to run an escape room.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's something I noticed when I did my escape room with my family. It was like two people or one, you know, just the front desk person. There might have been somebody cleaning or something like that. Just thinking from an e-commerce seller's viewpoint, at what stage or what level of person should you say, hey, you know, I mean not necessarily escape room, but just anything you know like this, like what you know. Like hey, if you're making less than a million dollars a year and you're doing everything on your own a hundred percent, don't be trying to think about you know doing this. Or hey, once you get to the level where you've got two-three employees in your business on autopilot, or hey, you should not even think about this unless you hit this kind of you know revenue or profit, or like. What kind of guidelines would you suggest to people out there who might be like, hey, I've always wanted to do something on the side for some more steady income perhaps. How would you advise them?

Melisa:

The thing is there's so many ways to make money these days that don't require a lot of, I guess, startup capital. Especially when it comes to affiliate marketing or high ticket sales things like that. I always recommend, if you need to make some extra cash, get really, really good at sales. That's going to be, you know, the biggest skill build and investment that you can make into yourself. But also, if you just need to make cash, like sell for someone who has something really awesome to offer and you can make a big commission from that, right. But if you want to start like an actual, I guess for me this is very much like a passion project because I love escape rooms and it's kind of like I wouldn't say a side hustle at this point because it does require a lot of time and effort, just in the beginning at least. But once you have it up and running for about six months and your staff is trained, you have a manager, you know you could step away. That's why I was able to go to Hawaii. I was able to, you know, be in Hawaii with you for BDSS and take time off and not have to worry and like I'm not there right now, but I have staff there right now who are running it while I'm gone. I'll probably stop in later because we're doing a really cool collaboration with this local influencer. He has like 14 million subscribers on YouTube but we're getting him to do one of our escape rooms so I'm really excited for that but there's like so much opportunity for collaboration.

Melisa:

Anyways, in terms of how much you need comfortably to start something like an escape room or franchise, I guess in general it really depends on the franchise. You know McDonald's, it's going to require you at least a minimum one million dollars, right. Subway's a minimum 500, 000. This escape room very low entry compared to some of these bigger franchises. So, like I mentioned, 150 to 500, 000. But a lot of that is covered by the bank loan. So, as long as you have in excess capital, be able to float.

Melisa:

You know the time during construction. But there's ways to negotiate free rent during the construction period, which is pretty. It's often offered depending on you know the space that you're looking pretty. It's often offered depending on you know the space that you're looking at. If it's been empty for like a year and they want to put someone in it. They don't mind giving you four or five, six months free rent while you do construction, until you're up and running. So I'd say you know you would want probably half a million in assets before thinking about doing something like that, just because, in case something happens, it's always good to have a rainy day fund.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, I think it's funny because a lot of people obviously complain about Amazon and the problems that sometimes it has and new fees and this, you know, screw up by Amazon, or they lost my inventory, but they don't realize. Hey, businesses have trouble, too. So, like you just mentioned your fire thing, but then also, when you got started, did you like even get robbed, like right away, or something like that?

Melisa:

Yeah, we had a break in and, funny enough, a month ago we had another break in, but twice in one night. So it's just a different set of problems, right. Every business is going to have its own unique problems itself. Sometimes I joke, I'm like, oh, maybe I should just do an e-commerce. But I love what I do with the escape room. Obviously, it's very fulfilling.

Melisa:

I get to hire students. I have this amazing work culture. You know some of my employees they'll come to work even on their day off. Like it's so cool seeing that and to be able to provide that kind of and give back to my local community, providing a place of work where people can grow as individuals who can build these different skills. Just from customer service standpoint and, you know, learning the ins and outs of the business and being a key holder, things like that and being in proximity to me, because I have one girl that works for me and she's also kind of in the e-commerce world as well, so she's almost like my little pupil, little protege. So it's kind of cool just having that know mentor-mentee relationship as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice, nice, all right. Now, coming back to e-commerce, you know you won best speaker at Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You did some cool magic tricks. I remember too. But you know, obviously we're not going to rehash the whole entire Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You got to go to Billion Dollar Seller Summit, guys, if you want to get that good data. But I wanted know, like, maybe you can bring out one of the topics you did, maybe either the site map one or the Reddit one, your choice. But what do you think is relevant here in middle of 2024, that on one of those topics that you think that can help our sellers out there?

Melisa:

Yeah, I think that Reddit would be a cool topic of discussion just because it's such an underrated social media platform. Like cool topic of discussion just because it's such an underrated social media platform. Like when you think social media, you don't really Reddit is not at the top of your mind, but it's a really great place for people to do research. So most of your customers are still in their research phase, so you want to show up when they are doing their research. Right, and that's where, if you have all these different threads that you are consistently mentioned in, it's going to be so much easier when it comes time to them actually pulling the trigger to actually want to buy from you.

Melisa:

So there's this really cool tool called Advite that we use. That helps us A-D-V-I-T-E dot AI, I believe, and they use AI to basically scrape Reddit and all the different threads and it will actually ping you whenever there's a relevant thread that you should maybe comment on. It's almost like help a reporter out, but like, for you know people, just random people that need answers for questions, and it's usually very unique questions too, like whenever I have a specific problem unique to myself, I always like type in, like, okay, this is the problem I'm having and I put Reddit at the end because I know someone in the world has had this problem before. Maybe someone has a solution. So it's really cool because these threads they obviously live there as like a forever forum and once you've recommended your own product or whatever it is, or your own solution on it, it stays there.

Melisa:

So other people who might have that problem will end up coming back to that thread and you can hit people and it's very evergreen. It's like it's there. It's almost like you posted it once and it's going to be there forever for people to come back to. So that's definitely something you should keep in mind when trying to warm up your potential customers. And if you use Advite, it's going to ping you all of those different threads. Just be on top of posting, contributing, getting that good karma, those upvotes, things like that, and you can even get other people or higher VAs to comment on your behalf on different ghost accounts. And as long as you can show up multiple times, people are going to be like oh yeah, I remember that brand. I've seen it pop up a couple of times. That's the brand I'm probably going to choose because you know so many people have recommended it.

Bradley Sutton:

So now I see you active sometimes in the Helium 10 Elite Facebook group, you know. So obviously you're doing something on Amazon now, but you exited the other brand. Are you still working with that brand you exited, or you went and started another one? Or what exactly are you doing in the Amazon world these days?

Melisa:

No. So we've exited that brand and then started shortly after another supplement brand. Thankfully, we didn't have like a very strict non-compete, so we were able to get into that space and then also dabbling in pet supplements as well. So another cool thing is that we're kind of looking into is customization of packaging, because nowadays, like you, really do have to do things different. Amazon just announced that they're making it so much easier for Chinese sellers to be able to ship their products straight from China. So that's going to change the game a lot. And if you don't have a solid brand or you're not connecting personally with your customers, then you are going to have a very rough time once that starts kicking in and all of your the Chinese competitors are undercutting you. So things like the kitchen industry are going to get really disrupted, like things that don't really have a lot of branding. You know, like most people can't really brand a garlic press. People are just going to buy the cheapest one that they think is going to for them.

Melisa:

But in terms of like supplements, especially things for pets, like it's such a personal thing, like people will spend as much money as they can for their pet. They have the budget spread because it's like their second children really, especially for millennials, right, who can't afford children. Like pets are our new children. But yeah, in Hawaii, actually, Janelle page, she mentioned something in her presentation about Jones Soda Company, how they would let people vote on different photos to put on the bottles. So we kind of want to implement something similar where we actually have our customers, dogs, photos on the bottles of our products. So that's something that we're kind of logistically exploring right now and I think that everyone should be kind of forward thinking like that, if you can to personalize it, or even if you can't, you can, you know, do a lot more blanket. Like for this print run, we're going to feature one of your dogs, so get everyone to post selfies with their dogs, with your product, and that's a good way to generate more content for your company. So doing things like that aren't as difficult to implement, especially if you don't do the manufacturing yourself.

Melisa:

Difficult to implement, especially if you don't do the manufacturing yourself, but with labels nowadays, like it becomes a lot easier, as long as you can get them all printed on the same roll. We do have, I think, our manufacturer for labels. They allow you to have as many different variations of label as you want. Which I think is cool. So if we had even like a hundred different dogs that we like have on this bottle, so we had even like a hundred different dogs that we like have on this bottle, so it's not like a consistent one, but then at least when we do go to retail people are going to see oh, this is the same dog as my dog. Like I'm going to buy that just because my dog is on the product.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, yeah, I like that. I think I always wonder about you know how, when your listing goes down on Amazon, that there's a dog page, that, like I always wondered. It was like are those Amazon employees dogs? Or something like that. It was a similar vibe, I guess.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. That's pretty cool. Now what? What's one thing new you're doing with this supplement brand that's working, and what's one thing that you're not doing? That you did with the other ones because, like you know, the Amazon world has changed off of.

Melisa:

So I guess something new that we've done is, I mean, it has been pretty consistent across all of our brands is just doing like variations of Supreme URLs I know Super URLs and that kind of graduated but we've been doing a lot of Google redirects, so making sure that we have a lot of external traffic coming into our pages because before we weren't doing any of that, it was just strictly. We were so Amazon focused. We were just like let's rank for keywords on Amazon, like let's just make sure that we're good here. But now you can't just rely on Amazon anymore. You have to be well-rounded in on different platforms. And we've been doing a lot more social media. It's obviously a lot more work but once you have the systems in play, it kind of makes it easier when you have VAS pumping out that content for you. But yeah, we've been doing a lot more content. Like content is king. You know how they say attention is the new currency, like that rings true and truer than ever. So one thing I am trying to do is become more comfortable in front of the camera and almost like pull things that I'm doing from the retail side of things, like from the, from brick and mortar into our e-commerce.

Melisa:

So like, for example, knowing the life cycle of your product is so important because then you know, okay, especially because we're in consumables we know when someone's going to run out of their product. Usually, it's either like a 30-day or a 60-day supply. So if you can, you know, send out an email to your customer a couple of days, or, if not, like a week, before they're about to run out, or even just like as they're about to run out. You're going to raise, you're going to have that top of mind awareness and you're going to be there at the right time. You're going to be there when you know your customer is going to need you and then it's going to, you know, trigger something in their brain. It's like oh yeah, I'm about to run out, I should probably order more.

Melisa:

So we've been sending out like emails or follow-ups for our customers, even with like review generation. What we do at like the escape room, for example, is we do have like a funnel, almost, where people would like leave us almost like feedback and then we convert it into a review but now we've been doing it as like more personal. I'm trying to find AI tools to help us automate it a little bit more. But basically we have like a selfie of us holding like a whiteboard and then we would just put like the person's name on it and be like thank you so much, like so and so, or whatever, and just thank them for their feedback. And then they're like, oh my God, like this is so personal, like of course, I'll leave you a review, you know. So, trying to do like more personalized things like that, and I think AI is going to make it so much easier. And yeah, that's the other thing, right, AI, implementing so much AI and everything in all aspects of our business has been so different because, like a couple of years ago.

Bradley Sutton:

Obviously you're probably doing 10 different things, but if you were to say the most impactful, what is the most impactful AI thing that you've implemented?

Melisa:

Using Midjourney has been a huge game changer for us as well, because now content creation for us is so much easier and so much cheaper, even product images. So before, if you wanted to get a really high quality product render with crazy you know, like crazy fruit in the background, things like that you'd have to pay someone a lot of money to just get one photo, like from a photographer. But now AI can literally generate it and it costs you pennies on the dollar. And then copywriting oh my gosh, copywriting is so much easier now. So that's why we're doing a lot more email marketing too.

Bradley Sutton:

Last couple of questions here. Favorite Helium 10 tool.

Melisa:

Favorite Helium 10 tool. Well, the one that I use on a daily basis is obviously the Keyword Tracker that helps me keep on top of everything, but also the map that shows you, you know-

Bradley Sutton:

Inventory heat map and sales heat map.

Melisa:

And seeing like the clusters of customers and where most of your inventory is and kind of tailoring to that, because we've been doing a lot more location targeting as well. So kind of what I mentioned earlier was knowing what to show someone at the right time. So taking a page out of like Tim Hortons book, for example, I don't know if you know Tim Hortons, but that's like a coffee company in Canada,

Bradley Sutton:

That's like Canada. Yeah, I know, I know about it, yep.

Melisa:

Yeah. So they have an app where they'll show you different deals based on your location, but also who you are as a person or as an individual shoppers like personalized coupons, things like that. So there's this one platform we were using, called Aviva, for the longest time, where we can on our website. If someone visits our website, we can show them different popups based on their location.

Melisa:

So we can show them like a very personalized experience when they arrive to the website. So knowing where our customers are super helpful, and I think the Helium Heat Map tool is cool for that just seeing where our inventory is as well, because then you're going to have, like that, faster shipping. So you know that. You know it's going to show up as prime or even same day shipping sometimes, so being able to focus on a specific area is also super cool.

Bradley Sutton:

When you look at the sales heat map and see, like, where your sales are concentrated, do you do anything based on that, like, do you actually run Google Ads or something that geolocated you know, to areas that you're not doing well, or you double down on the areas you are selling? What's the action that you take after looking at that?

Melisa:

Yeah, we usually double down on the areas that have high concentration of our customers because that's where they typically are and sometimes it surprises you where some of your customers are. Like, we do get a lot of customers in New York. Obviously, it's a big city, but I think a lot of people during COVID they were lonely in their condos but because it's very constricted you get a lot of small dogs. So we'll start like doing like when we do our targeting for Facebook ads and things like that, we'll actually show a lot more smaller dogs in New York versus, like you know, in Texas maybe they have bigger yards, things like that. We're going to show the bigger breeds so that way we can hit more of our demographic.

Bradley Sutton:

I used to have a great Pyrenees, because I have a big lot here and I would actually have. I had goats and pigs and stuff and that's like a livestock guardian. But yeah, somebody in New York City would not have a great Pyrenees, which is the gigantic dog. Okay, cool If I were to give you the keys to the Helium 10 product team, like, hey, you're our CTO for the day and you're like Helium 10 needs to have this feature in an existing tool or it needs to make this new tool that we don't have now. What would it be?

Melisa:

Yeah, you guys don't do that anymore, but if you can create your own Google redirect URL targeting keywords, that would be cool. Okay, because I use that regularly, especially for launches especially for launches.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, how can people find you on the interwebs out there if they want to follow you or maybe connect?

0:33:34 - Melisa:

You can follow me on Instagram @melisa with one S, my mom's felt my name on a member certificate, so it's very fab of her. Or you can email me. Linkedin is also a good one. I'm starting to be a little bit more active on LinkedIn, but yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, Melisa. Thank you so much for joining us and I'm going to have to go to your escape room. But don't judge me on how slow I am. Sometimes it takes me up until the very last deadline to try and get out and I sometimes have to have help from the guide in those things because I don't think well in those kind of high pressure situations. But I'm going to give it a try. Hope to hang out with you at an upcoming conference soon.

Melisa:

Yeah, absolutely. I can't wait to catch up with you somewhere in the world. We always see each other, you know, in our travels.

View Details

Amazon Prime Day drives U.S. online sales to record $14.2 billion
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/18/amazon-prime-day-us-online-sales-climb-to-record-14point2-billion.html

Shoppers spent $14.2 billion during Amazon's Prime Day: Here's what they bought
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2024/07/18/amazon-prime-day-sales-record-14-billion/74457292007/

Prime Day 2024 drives record sales for overall US ecommerce
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/amazon-prime-day-sales/

Here’s some numbers that caught our eye when we looked at Pacvue data from Prime Day so far
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/melissaburdick_amazonprimeday2024-primeday2024-activity-7219460602312708096-Tmdu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Amazon Prime Day 2024 is officially over, and once again, broke records. Adobe Analytics' initial data shows that spending surpassed forecast, totaling $14.2B over two days.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pacvue_primeday-pacvue-commerceacceleration-activity-7219815051182919681-KIZw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Don't miss the introduction of the upcoming live monthly Freedom Ticket webinar on advanced branding techniques with guest expert Emma Schermer Tamir. Plus, get a sneak peek at new Helium 10 features, including the Adtomic Dayparting feature for Walmart advertising and an updated Keyword Tracker tool with enhanced functionalities. Lastly, discover how to effectively utilize the sales and traffic conversion tool to improve your e-commerce performance, and hear personal insights on tracking crucial metrics and making strategic adjustments throughout the year. Tune in next week for more invaluable tips and insights!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:01 - Prime Day Stats
04:13 - More Prime Day
07:09 - Community's Prime Day
09:07 - Freedom Ticket Webinar July
10:00 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
14:56 - Pro Training Tip: Amazon Business Reports Inside Helium 10

View Details

Meghla Bhardwaj, the globe's leading expert on sourcing from India, joins us for an illuminating discussion on the current and emerging trends in India's e-commerce landscape. Discover how giants like Amazon and Flipkart are transforming the market and how tier-two cities are becoming key players. Meghla also gives a heartfelt account of her personal journey of moving back to India from Singapore, shedding light on the adjustments and opportunities she encountered along the way.

We take a deep dive into the quick commerce revolution in India, where mobile apps deliver groceries to your door in mere minutes. From specialty e-commerce websites focused on categories like apparel and electronics to the impressive success stories of Indian sellers on Amazon.com, this episode covers it all. Learn how individual entrepreneurs and niche manufacturers in sectors like bedsheets and jewelry are thriving, and how Indian factories are evolving to meet the needs of Amazon sellers with improved packaging and labeling capabilities.

Beyond India, Meghla shares insights on sourcing opportunities in Turkey, emphasizing the high-quality textiles and unique designs that set Turkish products apart. She also discusses the growing electronics manufacturing industry in India and the increasing competitiveness of Indian sectors like organic cotton babywear and wooden toys. With a focus on the booming handmade sector and the importance of India sourcing trips, this episode is packed with valuable tips and personal stories for anyone interested in the dynamic world of e-commerce and global sourcing.

In episode 579 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Meghla discuss:

00:00 - State Of E-Commerce in India
03:34 - Rising Trends in Indian E-Commerce
06:14 - Success in Cross-Border E-Commerce
11:51 - Finding Suppliers in India - Tips
14:32 - Sourcing and Differentiation in E-Commerce
20:38 - Changing Sourcing Trends in India
20:48 - Growth of Electronics Manufacturing in China
25:04 - Utilizing Meghla's India Sourcing Services
31:58 - Exploring Turkey's Unique Products and Opportunities

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got the world's foremost expert on sourcing products from India, Meghla, back on the show and she's going to talk about a variety of topics, not just sourcing in India, but also e-commerce in India and even sourcing in other countries like Turkey. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Helium 10's got over 40 tools for e-commerce entrepreneurs. I know how overwhelming it might seem to try and figure out how you're going to learn how to use everything, or maybe even to know which ones you want to get started with, so for a completely free course that's going to guide you through learning everything you need in order to become a Helium 10 expert, visit the Helium 10 Academy that is h10.me forward slash academy. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we're going back on the opposite side of the world again. For the fourth time, Meghla 's here on the show. Meghla, welcome, welcome.

Meghla:

Thank you so much, Bradley. So excited to be here for the first time, yeah, but it's been quite a while. I think the last time I was on was a couple of years ago, wasn't it?

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yeah, so just you know, if anybody wants to get Meghla’s full backstory, I got a list here of all the episodes she's been on, so you guys can, you know, pause this one and go back if you guys want to, but she's been on the show since 2019. All right, that was her first time on the show, was episode all the way back in episode 84, then two, 10, then three, 31. And now we're in the 500. So, every couple hundred episodes she joins us here like clockwork, and so it's been a couple of years. I guess the last time was right towards the end of COVID there early 2022. First of all, what are you up to these days? Where do you live? Where are you calling in from today?

Meghla:

Well, I'm calling in from India. So, as you know, I was previously based in Singapore and two years ago I moved back to India. To, you know, focus a lot more on the India sourcing business, India sourcing trip. So now I'm permanently based in India and it's been

Bradley Sutton:

Whereabouts?

Meghla:

in Delhi.

Bradley Sutton:

How is it being back home?

Meghla:

well, it's amazing, I mean, I really like it. My son had a bit of a problem adjusting.

Bradley Sutton:

I was about to say like your son, never lived in India before or when he was little. Maybe or no, his whole life was in other countries.

Meghla:

Yeah, his whole life was in other countries China and Singapore and so it was a bit of an adjustment for him as well. He couldn't even speak the language very fluently, but now he's like totally Desi. Desi is like a local person, that's the word that we use. So, yeah, he's, he's adjusted. I'm really glad I moved back because there's so much opportunity, you know, so much happening in terms of the economy, manufacturing, exports, so I think I made the right decision to move back.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, nice, nice. Now let's talk a little bit about, you know, the economy over there and I know, like you know, social commerce is big, and but what about just the traditional? You know that's been one of the larger Amazon marketplaces. How is Amazon doing, you know, versus Flipkart, etc. What's the e-commerce situation in a nutshell that's going on in India the last couple of years?

Meghla:

Yeah, the e-commerce situation is very rosy. I mean, e-commerce is booming. There's, you know, increasingly the tier two cities are also getting on the e-commerce bandwagon and there are more sales from, you know, the smaller cities as well. It started with mostly the Metropolitans but now it's sort of you know, the tier two cities are also. A lot of people are shopping online over there.

What's really moving very fast is quick commerce. So that's something that is, you know, like for your groceries, for example, or daily use products. There are these apps and they're totally mobile based, right, there's no website that they have no browsers are only apps and you can basically order your groceries and they're delivered in minutes, like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, seven minutes. You know there's a race to like how fast the groceries can be delivered, so it's very convenient. Like since the time I've moved here, I've probably gone to the grocery store, maybe like twice or so. So, everything is ordered online by these websites or these apps basically.

Meghla:

So, I think that's really booming, that whole quick commerce sector. Apart from that, there are a lot of these specialty e commerce websites that are coming up that. So, for example, you know, for apparel, there are specific websites only for women's apparel, for electronics, for toys, for all of these kinds of things. So that's another trend that's happening. But Amazon is still sort of the everything store, so if you can't find anything anywhere else, you'll definitely find it on Amazon. And then Flipkart as well is sort of number two, you know, to Amazon, but it is. I mean, both Amazon and Flipkart are sort of neck to neck and they're still dominating the domestic e-commerce sector over here.

Bradley Sutton:

Are there more successful Amazon India sellers? You know, I remember when we first started like or around then, like in 2019, you know I was like, hey, I need some help with finding some, like, really successful sellers. And then you did come up with one, but that was about it. In those days there was, like you know, one main guy who was doing really well but uh, are you seeing more people have a lot of success over there, or is it still pretty kind of like just even like everybody's just doing okay and not many people have really made it big?

Meghla:

No, so there are some people that have made it really big and you know, they're doing like seven figures, eight figures in terms of cross border e-commerce, in terms of, you know, like selling on amazon.com mostly amazon.com at Amazon Europe as well. So that is definitely happening. A lot of the larger manufacturers, you know, they have established their own brands and they have, you know, started selling on e-commerce directly. So that's a trend that's happening. But, by and large, most manufacturers prefer not to sell directly on e-commerce platforms, even though Amazon themselves have been encouraging manufacturers to sell directly. But typically, the small, mid-sized manufacturers they want to focus on their core strength, which is manufacturing. They want to do large orders. That's where they really make their money and a lot of manufacturers have tried selling cross water but they have not been successful because, you know, of course shipping rates are high and there are a lot of returns and things like that. So not able to manage it.

Meghla:

But the people that are being really successful are entrepreneurs and individual sellers, you know, because they are good at marketing. So, they source products from different manufacturers and they sell those products cross-border. So, there are quite a few niches that are seeing a lot of successful sellers. So, for example, bedsheets. I know one manufacturer that's doing really well in terms of bedsheets being exported. They have their own factory and they're doing that. Then there's also things like marble products and jewelry. So, a lot of sellers, resellers and manufacturers doing jewelry from the city of Jaipur. So, there are niches where people have been successful.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know, speaking of sourcing in India, you know that was something we've been talking about every time you've been on the show. Now, in the early days, you know, like before 2020, it could have been said that, hey, a lot of the manufacturers I believe we even talked about this a lot of the manufacturers, you know some of them didn't have that much experience, as far as sourcing or supplying. I should say Amazon sellers you know the new ones is that go on with that, like the manufacturing time and the quantities, and interfacing sending stuff directly to Amazon. Like you know, a lot of the Chinese factories are ones who have been doing this for 10, 15 years and they know all the ins and outs and the requirements of Amazon and it's like clockwork. But, you know, in the early days, you know, I remember you had said that, hey, you know, some of the factories might be a little bit green when it comes to that, but now I think you know I hear more and more sellers manufacturing, or even ones who were manufacturing in China, you know, moving their manufacturing to India. You know, due to tariffs or whatever the case is. What's the situation now? Do you find more and more factories are almost like on par with the Chinese ones as far as experience now with dealing directly with Amazon sellers?

Meghla:

Yes, definitely. There are increasingly more factories that are familiar with the packaging requirements, the labeling and all of those things. In fact, I was visiting a couple of factories just last week in the city of Moradabad, where there's a lot of metal production that happens there metal and wooden production. So, I was visiting this factory that makes urns and they have a ton of Amazon sellers as their clients, and what they have started doing now like they're adapting to Amazon sellers’ requirements. So, for example

Bradley Sutton:

urns would be something good for my spooky coffin shelf friend, perhaps. Maybe you should think about adding that.

Meghla:

Absolutely yeah, and they're beautiful, gorgeous urns, right. And so, they cater to Amazon sellers. And what they have started doing is because Amazon sellers require inventory very fast, very quickly. So, they have started keeping stock of just blanks, you know, because the basic shape of the urn is the same, it's just it comes in different sizes and it's basically the patterns, the designs and the finish that differentiates one earn from the other. So, they just keep blanks ready in stock and so whenever you know Amazon sellers have sort of an order, they're like okay, quickly send it into production. So, they save a lot of time. And they specifically told me this is for our Amazon sellers because they require, you know, products to be shipped really fast. So that's happening. A lot of small midsize companies, because more Amazon sellers are sourcing from India now, they are definitely getting more familiar. The one thing that I'm seeing is that there aren't too many still like freight forwarders that are familiar. Not everybody is familiar with how to ship to Amazon. So just a couple of days ago I was talking to a freight forwarder and they were like we have no idea how to ship to FBA, but the one that we work with, for example, they understand how to do it very, very well. So, I think for shipping you just have to be a little careful. But increasingly suppliers sort of understand Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

When sellers who are sourcing from China experience increases in shipping costs, kind of like. Now what's going on? Is it pretty much the same across the board for India, or sometimes they're kind of immune to those, or pretty much just hey, anybody who's going that direction over the Pacific Ocean is going to have the same changes.

Meghla:

So, it depends. In some situations, India does face increases, just like China. So, for example, during COVID, both India and China, that was sort of a global phenomenon overall. So, even though, I mean, China’s cost increased significantly they were up to, I think, like $25,000 per container at one point, but India's cost did not increase that much. I think they were maximum $12,000 or so. So currently India's costs are increasing, but for different reasons, because it's mostly because of the whole situation in the Suez Canal and you know, because of which the ships have to sort of take a longer route to the US. So that's what's mostly affecting, you know, the shipping costs from India currently, whereas in China, I think it's a different situation, where, you know, there is sort of increased demand for certain products as such. So, yeah, it's not always the same trend, but it can be.

Bradley Sutton:

Obviously, you know, we'll talk a little bit about it later. You know, I think you know, one of the best ways to find factories is getting help from you and also, you know, maybe even visiting the factories on one of your sourcing trips or taking, you know, source. You know, maybe somebody can go on their own to visit certain factories. But what are you know, outside of that, what are some other ways that people can find the factories? Like, obviously, Indian factories have always been on Alibaba. Is that still a good way also, at least just to see what's out there? Or are there other websites that have emerged, maybe I don't know about, in the last few years?

Meghla:

yeah, so Alibaba and global sources, those are the two key global marketplaces. There are some suppliers from India and other countries, so you've got to use the supplier location filter to find factories from India. Plus, you can also just do a google search. A lot of the websites are now ranked on Google because Google is not blocked in India as it is in China. So, you'll find, you know, suppliers have websites, but of course, they don't keep their websites up to date. Sometimes they don't reply to emails that are sent to. You know email addresses on the website. So, you know, that's something you just have to keep in mind. Avoid the website India Mart, because that's going to come up very often, but that website is very domestic focused, and so there are a lot of companies that you know might not have export licenses, for example. So, yeah, I mean, there's also export promotion councils that you can go to, so visit their websites. You can download the list of their members, all of whom are exporters, but again, you have to like call them or email them to actually find out what their capabilities are.

Meghla:

In terms of other websites, I mean, I don't think there are any other supplier directories that have come up recently. There are some websites that have started, you know, selling products from India. For example, there's this website called expobazaar.com, which is basically they have stock in the US, which is basically they have stock in the US and so if you want to drop ship, for example, or if you want to buy very small quantities, like five, 10, 15 pieces, you can buy it from that website and then they can ship it directly. So, they have a lot of stock in the US and what they don't have in the US they can ship from India. So that concept is sort of picking up. Drop shipping is picking up for certain categories as well. Yeah, concept is sort of picking up Drop shipping is picking up for certain categories as well, and we have started offering sourcing services now like a sourcing agency. Previously we were just sort of connecting suppliers and buyers, but now we are managing the entire process because we found that a lot of people just stumble a lot. India is not easy to navigate, suppliers are not easy to manage sometimes, so we've started offering sort of end-to-end sourcing solutions as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Yeah, speaking of that, you know, like a couple of years ago we were working on what was going to be kind of like a version of Project X, and then most of it we kind of just postponed, like we filmed a whole bunch of stuff, but then, you know, with COVID and different things going on, like we kind of paused it. But the one thing that we actually, or the only thing in that project that we saw all the way to the end, was something that we sourced. I remember, you know, I I told you about it. I was like all right, you know, we obviously know in project X how to source products. Uh, you know, from China, let's try to do a product, that would be, that would be good for India, and then it was this macrame, product, and so, um, conversations and stuff. You know, I believe Shivali went directly to you but, walk us through, kind of like what happened? Like she, she maybe, contacted you and told you kind of like the, the, the kind of product it was, and then, first of all, you had to make the decision is this good to source in India or not? And we'll talk a little bit about that. You know what is good and maybe what isn't good to do in India. But then then, how did you go about finding and vetting factories, like, did you have one exactly that went to mind, or did you, maybe you know, shop around a little bit, get some samples? Walk us through the process a little bit.

Meghla:

Yeah. So, Shivali basically sent us a link and, I think, a couple of photos, and she had specific requirements. So, then what we did was we looked through our database, because we have a database of vetted suppliers and we do have quite a few suppliers that do macrame, because macrame is one of India's strong points. Like anything that is handmade, handcrafted, you'll find it is you know better in India, because labor is, of course, cheaper over here. So, what we did was we spoke to I don't remember the exact number of suppliers, but maybe like four or five suppliers we sent out the product to, we got quotes from them and then we basically went with the supplier that had the most competitive quote and also that had a good experience in macrame products, because a lot of the macrame products actually are done in homes by women, they're not done in factories and they're outsourced. So, it's very important for the supplier to be able to manage quality for such kind of products.

Meghla:

So, you want to make sure that the supplier has control. So, we spoke to quite a few suppliers and with this supplier we've done some other products in the past and we know that he's got good control over the quality of products and he has somebody to go around and check what's happening in each of the households or the communities wherever these products are being manufactured. And I personally have visited his facility over here in Delhi, so I know that he has the you know facilities to process and he has a process of you know like a checking and cleaning and packing and processing the entire product after it comes in as well. So, then we decided to go with this supplier and we got a coat and the coat was very competitive. So, you know, we negotiated a little bit with this supplier and we went to Shivali with the coat and she was pretty happy with it. So, we didn't have to negotiate that further and the only issue that we had was for the hook. So, Shivali, wanted a specific kind of hook,

Bradley Sutton:

That was me. I was the one who told her about that.

Meghla:

yeah, you're the one causing all the trouble.

Bradley Sutton:

Yep, yep, I remember that part of it.

Yeah, I'm always thinking about how to differentiate, and the reason why was, you know, like already. But you know, by the time we started working on this, it started getting saturated. I was like, well that's fine, I want to show what happens when you do launch in a saturated niche. But I'm always thinking about how to differentiate. And one thing I learned about, you know, from my experience with the coffin shelves and things and I do a lot of other home decor products and I do a lot of other home decor products was that something that differentiates is how much you know how heavy you can, you know put something that's hanging on a wall and there's two, two factors there it's not just how heavy, but how easy it is to install.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, like me personally, I hate something you know that requires like a drill to use or you have that plastic piece and you put a screw through and through and it leaves like a humungous hole you know, I might have to have a drill in my house, which I know a lot of people don't have. So, and then, plus those just screws that go straight in. You know, those always aren't the strongest, you know, unless you're going directly into a stud or something, and then I think they're called, like, monkey hooks, but that was what we started using a while back for coffin shelves, and it just like you can just put it in with your hand and then, because of gravity and physics and everything, the way it works is like the strongest, and so I was like, no, we have to have this special hook because we'd be the only, we'd be the only macrame holder that has that, and so I think, if I'm not mistaken, we ended up actually sending it from China to India right?

Meghla:

Yes, exactly. So, we tried sourcing those over here, but we couldn't find them. We could find all of the other types of hooks, but you know there are certain products that are just not made over here. Oh, there we go, that hook right here, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So, yeah, here's one of the listings. Like I'm using this, you know skipping to the end, you know to the end, you know we ended up getting this product from India and then I'm using it for a couple of my launching case studies, where I'm just analyzing the different effects and it'll be it'll be like a permanent product on Amazon too, but already we've been using this whole product, and then there's those, those hooks and nice little bag here that they came up with.

Meghla:

so, yeah, this is a real product, guys, that we are talking about here yeah, so the hooks came from China and that was a smooth process as well. We didn't have any issues. I mean our supplier over here. It was sent directly to his factory, so he was the importer. There were no duties or anything. It was very smooth process. So, yeah, that worked really well, and then the bag as well. So, the bag was also sourced from the same supplier, because he also does, cotton bags and things like that. So that was also one reason why we chose him, because he could do the bags too.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, did Shivali organize the shipping, or did, did? did you also find the shipper for it?

Meghla:

yeah, so we organized the shipping too and, because we used our shipper that you know, we're we've been using for a long time and they, they know how to ship out of India and also we used our shipper. Yeah, there was no issues with the shipping as far as I.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that product in particular, you know, like I just happen to know, probably from previous conversations we've had, and then sometimes I'll watch your live streams on LinkedIn and stuff so I knew that you know that was a good one to source in India. But what are some other do's and dont’s Like? In the past I believe you had said, hey, you know electronics, you know like consumer electronics maybe stick to China, you know they're very good at that, but you know textiles and things like that in India. What about nowadays? What would you say are the top three or top five to do in the top three or so that maybe another country is better?

Meghla:

So, electronics, I would say, still China is better, especially if you want to do OEM of things like Bluetooth headsets and if you want small quantities. But that's changing. I think maybe when I'm on the podcast, like in episode nine or so, I'll probably have a different story in the next couple of years, but that's changing too. There are a lot of electronics manufacturers that are being set up over here and, in fact, a lot of the bigger brands like Apple, Xiaomi. They have set up their factories and the supply chain is growing. So, there are a lot of like Bluetooth headsets and those kinds of companies that are setting up that are supplying to the domestic market and gradually these companies are going to export as well. So, the situation is definitely changing very fast. For example, there's this brand called Boat. They make a lot of Bluetooth headsets and you know, headphones, a lot of the small accessories, and now they have started exporting under their own brand and, of course, they will start doing OEM as well and they have, like I don't know, like 10 000 or so employees and across you know, various factories. It's a really big setup that they have and the government has been promoting electronics, but anyway. So, unless you are a big large, many you know brand electronics is still in China.

Meghla:

And then I would also say in terms of dont's, a lot of the very low value products. You know something like for example, recently somebody came to us with the you know these curtains, polyester curtains that are blackout curtains and they're selling for I don't know like ten dollars or something or $15 online and we were not getting them in India at a good price. So, something like that that is very mass produced and suppliers and manufacturers in China can sort of get you know scale by producing in high volumes. Those sorts of products are still better in China. A lot of the plastic type of products as well, I would say China is still better, although again, there is more manufacturing of plastic items happening here, bigger factories being set up, but still, by and large, China is better for plastic items as well. In terms of the items that are good, of course, textiles, any kind of fabric, especially cotton and organic cotton. So organic cotton is really a really high quality over here. We're seeing a lot of growth in baby wear, very high quality, organic cotton, kids and baby wear. That's a very fast-growing category. Also, toys so there's a lot of focus on the toy industry in India. Because what happened a couple of years ago, Bradley, that there was a bit of a tension between India and China at the border I'm sure you must have heard of it. It was probably around COVID times and so you know. China did a couple of things to you know, sort of in defense, and then India sort of retaliated and one of the things that India did at that time was impose very high import duties on toys being imported from China.

Bradley Sutton:

A toy Cold War.

Meghla:

Yes, a toy Cold War exactly, and so because there were these cheap toys that were flooding the market over here and of course, that was, you know, affecting the toy industry. But what that has done is that it's given a boost to the toy manufacturing. You know industry in India. So now, for example, a lot of wooden toys are coming up, and not only in, you know, like the traditional mango acacia wood, but like steam beach wood and pine wood, and very high quality and prices are very competitive. In many cases we've actually been able to beat China prices as well for you know wooden toys. Then there are a lot of factories being set up for you know regular like dolls and action figures and you know guns and sort of those types of things. Well, so that's a fast-growing category and a lot of local brands are also coming up and they are in fact exporting. So, there are a couple of local brands that do STEM toys, like India is really good with engineering and mathematics and all of those things. So, STEM toys is another huge category. There are some brands that in fact, we are helping launch them in the US and other markets, so that's another good category. Then I would also say, of course, all the entire handmade sector. So, there's wooden products, metal, ceramic, glass, all of those home decor items. That is still a very big category, especially for Amazon sellers and most sellers we know are finding a lot of success in those categories. Then there's leather, so a lot of beautiful, different types of leather. There are equestrian products, you know garments, shoes, accessories, bags, all of those things. And then I would also say, to add one more, eco-friendly products. So, if you're looking for anything that's made out of maybe cotton or jute or a lot of R&D is being done in alternative materials. So, for example, cactus material or banana fibers. Those are being converted to fabrics and they are used in bags and other kind of accessories, but of course they're not mass materials yet because there are niche and the prices are much higher than a normal material, but still that’s an emerging category.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting. Now, guys if you guys want to you know reach out to Megla to you know, perhaps you know, utilize her sourcing services, just like we did with success, as you saw. You know, one of the easy ways to remember is go to hubhelium10.com and then just type in India and then it'll come up right there, India sourcing network, and you could, you could connect her with her right from this page, right inside of Helium 10. Now I noticed also here on your Helium 10 hub page, it talks about India sourcing trips. So, are you still, have you still been doing, or did you start doing those again after COVID? Like what's the? What's the? You know? Like the cadence, is it once a year, twice a year, once every other year?

Meghla:

Yes, we're still doing the trips there twice a year, and we started after restarted the trips after COVID, and the one that we did after COVID we had 70 people on the trip, so that was amazing, and since then we've continued to do. The next trip is coming up in October. So, you know for people who don't know much about the trip, it's basically an eight-day tour to India where we teach you all about sourcing from India. We take you to a trade show that has almost 4,000 export-focused manufacturers, and then we also do some cultural activities and, of course, there's a lot of networking. You get to meet all the different service providers. You can also do factory visits. We can customize the trip so that you are able to find the products that you're specifically looking for, and it's just a very fun experience. And, Bradley, what are you.

Bradley Sutton:

What are some of the fun things that you that you do, because I still have been saying for a long time I'm going to go. What do I have in store for me the first time I go on one of these? For the fun side. Obviously, I know the work side, what's going to happen, but what about on the fun side and the food side that's very important to me, as you know.

Meghla:

Yes, the food side is amazing because we choose the menus and the restaurants very carefully because India has so much variety in terms of you know, the different food, um sort of flavors and items, like each state of India has a different type of cuisine, so we try to mix and make sure that you get a flavor of all different types of Indian cuisines, we do a Bollywood night. I would say that's the most fun night on the trip. You can basically wear an Indian dress. For men it's the Kurta, which is like a long shirt. Women wear Saris. We buy Saris for everybody. We have a live dance troupe. They're singing and dancing on Bhangra tunes. Bhangra is a very fast-paced band.

Bradley Sutton:

I love Bhangra. I have some Zumba routines for some Bhangra songs. Yes, indeed.

Meghla:

Yes, amazing. So, we have that, and then we're just, yeah, dancing and singing and drinking and eating, so that's a very, very fun night. And then we also go to Taj Mahal. So, I think that's also very special, because that's one of the seven wonders of the world, and especially if you come with your partner, like your better half, or your spouse, then you can get a picture in front of the Taj Mahal, which is basically a monument that's dedicated to love and romance. So that's also very special.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, interesting So, the next one, is in October, you said.

Meghla:

Yes, October 14th to the 21st.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. I'll see there's a chance you know I might be going, or I am going, to Maldives, as they do every year, you know, to film one of my every 100 episodes of this podcast, and then this year, I'm actually going to be going from Turkey. I'm speaking at Turkey and I think I want to ask you a couple questions about that it's Segue, but I found one flight that potentially has like a like a set, like a seven-hour layover or something, on my way to the Maldives from Turkey, in India, I think, Mumbai, and so I had never even set foot on soil in India. So, I'm like, all right, maybe that'll be my, my first dip and then next step would be going on the India sourcing trip. So, speaking of Turkey, I believe you said you just spoke at an event there and actually you've expanded some of your sourcing to there. And, like I know, you know Carrie, who works with us here at Helium 10, she was telling me you know she went like on a sourcing trip to Turkey on her own, like last year, for her own Amazon and Walmart brands, and she actually moved some of her manufacturing from I'm not sure if it was in China or Korea, but to Turkey, and has had good success. What, what can you? How did you get you know? Linked with sourcing in Turkey?

Meghla:

Yeah, so I was invited to this conference. I mean, we have been thinking about sourcing in Turkey. In fact, I got the domain name turkeysourcingtrip.com last year because we were, you know, sort of exploring that and that's the first thing you do, right, when you have an idea. So, you know, because Turkey is definitely coming up as an important production hub and in fact, somebody told me when I was there that Turkey is the China of Europe. So, if you're based in Europe, if you're sourcing in Europe, then Turkey is like the perfect destination for you. So, I was speaking there at the World Deaf Conference and, you know, I thought that, you know, while I'm going there, I would meet manufacturers and we already had had been having discussions with some sourcing agencies and some sourcing partners over there. So, yeah, I mean, in terms of the products, Turkey makes a very wide variety of products.

Meghla:

So, first of all, textiles, like any type of towels, bedsheets, like Turkish cotton is very, very famous and I was, you know, some of the towels that I saw over there at the factories. They were so unique. I've never seen any towels like that. They had beautiful embroidery, some of them had like beads, embellishments, like very, very unique designs. Even the bedsheets were like very different from what you'd find in China or India. Then another thing is that they do a lot of cosmetics. So, there's in terms of cosmetics, it's also like skincare, or maybe shampoos, or you know, soaps, for example, things like that. So, there's a lot of R&D happening at that front as well. There are a lot of brands that I met that were doing vegan and organic. You know, like creams and body. You know body products as well. So that was another category.

Meghla:

And then, of course, apparel. So, Turkey does a lot of different types of apparel, whether it's women's apparel, kids or even men's apparel. There are men's suits. They do a lot of linen fabric as well. That's very popular linen and cotton. Then they do things like carpets. In fact, Turkish carpets are very popular. Then there's some handicraft items as well metal and ceramic and those types of things. But I mean exports of those are very minimal. There are also some very good packaging companies that we found so like very high-quality boxes. If you are sourcing some kind of product from there, then you can get the packaging and all done in Turkey as well. Also, the domestic market in Turkey for e-commerce is pretty strong. It's growing pretty fast and in fact Amazon is one of the marketplaces there, but it's not very popular. The popular marketplace is called Trendyol. So that's a local domestic marketplace and you know there is an opportunity for you to also sell in the domestic market on Trendyol if you are sourcing in Turkey.

Meghla:

I also saw quite a few like wooden products and very unique designs. I mean that's one thing that sort of differentiated you know Turkey from China or India. The designs are very unique. And then some toys, some very basic kind of toys, like puzzles, some, you know, board games and things like that. So, I mean at first, not a huge variety of products like China or maybe Vietnam, but very niche, very unique, very differentiated. And I mean, if you're in Europe you should definitely, definitely explore Turkey, because it's just in your backyard and you can save on logistics costs and of course, the deliveries can be faster and you can order in smaller quantities as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, cool. So, another you know alternative place that not a lot of people yet are sourcing from. That I think sellers should, should look into and I'll be looking forward to when you actually launch that website, because it means you're going to have some events and I love Turkish food too and I so many places I want to visit in in in Turkey, you know Bible history, a lot of Bible history there in a lot of cities and a lot of like Maldives-ish kind of places even that people don't realize on some parts of Turkey. So, I know you'll arrange something good. Just to prove, I wasn't making it up, but I found one of my old videos here of some Bhangra dancing here. Look at the skinny me going and doing some fitness right there. That's me, that's me from like 10 years ago. and even you can see my kids in that in that video leading a fitness class doing some Bhangra dancing there. But, anyways how you know, I already gave you know I told people how they can find you from the Helium 10 hub, but if they want to find you, you elsewhere out there on the interwebs. What are some good ways that they can? They can reach you.

Meghla:

Well, I'm on all of the social media platforms, so just search for me on either LinkedIn or Facebook and or Instagram and message me. You can also go to our website, Indiasourcingtrip.com or IndiaSourcing.net, and then Vietnamsourcingtrip.com as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Vietnam sourcing too. Yeah, I know that's another hot place. I see a lot of people moving to. Maybe there was just a couple of kind of products, a specialty, but I know a lot of people who are not only moving sourcing there, but even some of their operations moving to Vietnam. I spent about a week last year there and the last couple of years really nice, really nice place to visit. So maybe next time we can talk a little bit more about that. Do you have like a 30 second tip or 60 second tip you can share with the audience? Could be about sourcing, could be about travel, could be about moving to a country your son has never been to. Whatever kind of tip you want to give, go ahead and hit us with it.

Meghla:

Yeah, I would say be adventurous in your business. You have to explore different markets. China is not the only place where you can source products. Sometimes we get too comfortable sourcing in China and like, oh, we're sort of scared to go to these other markets. But there's a whole world out there, like whole different world, and people who are more adventurous and who are willing to take that risk will definitely reap rewards, because there are tons of unique products to be discovered in these alternative production hubs.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright. Well, Meghla thank you so much for coming on here for the fourth time, we’ll look forward next year for the fifth time and hopefully maybe by then we can say that I've been on one of your sourcing trips, like I've been planning for years to do So hopefully that happens within the next year or so. But thanks for joining us and we'll see you back here for sure.

Meghla:

Thank you so much, Bradley Bye.

View Details

Unlock the secrets of skyrocketing your e-commerce sales with TikTok Shop! Join us as we sit down with Michelle Barnum-Smith, a leading expert on TikTok Shop, who will reveal why this platform is revolutionizing e-commerce and how you can tap into its immense potential. From unparalleled user engagement to an all-inclusive buying experience that supports brand building and data transparency, Michelle dissects the unique advantages TikTok Shop offers over traditional platforms like Amazon. Get ready to learn how full visibility of sales data and direct customer interactions can transform your business.

In this episode, we explore the seamless customer journey on TikTok Shop from sparking awareness to completing a purchase all within the app. Discover how the shift from traditional influencer marketing to a collaborative affiliate model is empowering creators to drive sales through direct rewards from TikTok. We also get into TikTok's growing prominence as a search engine for younger generations and the new shopping features that make discoverability effortless. This is a golden opportunity for sellers to leverage TikTok Shop's innovative ecosystem to maximize engagement and boost sales.

Prepare to be inspired by real-life success stories and practical tips for setting up your very own TikTok Shop. We cover everything from business registration and linking social accounts to optimizing your listings and content for viral success. Michelle shares invaluable insights on inventory forecasting and the ripple effect of TikTok Shop's success on other platforms like Amazon. Plus, learn the importance of adhering to community guidelines to avoid account suspensions and ensure your business thrives on TikTok Shop. Don't miss out on this comprehensive guide to navigating and conquering TikTok Shop's dynamic marketplace!

In episode 578 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Michelle discuss:

00:00 - Exploring TikTok Shop for Sellers
02:56 - TikTok's Influence on Consumer Purchases
06:23 - Enhanced Shopping Experience on TikTok
09:32 - Maximizing Sales Through TikTok Shop
11:04 - Reviving Live Selling With TikTok Shop
16:22 - TikTok Shop Viral Success Stories
16:40 - Success Tips for TikTok Shop Setup
19:55 - Maximizing Marketing Opportunities on TikTok
25:11 - TikTok Shop Guidelines and Best Practices
26:40 - Navigating TikTok Shop Suspension Guidelines
33:48 - Effective Creator Outreach Strategy Guide

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

TikTok shop is one of the hottest marketplaces in 2024 to sell on. Today we're going to do a deep dive into everything you need to know to get started selling on that platform. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our special Freedom Ticket monthly workshop, where we actually film live a training, a deep dive training, into a certain aspect of e-commerce and we put it later into Freedom Ticket so that you guys can benefit from it. But you guys here on the podcast are going to get the benefit of getting this training too. Now today's guest is going to be Michelle Barnum-Smith, who is definitely an expert in the field of TikTok shop and she's going to do a deep dive into like hey, what do you need to do to get started and what are some best practices? You know we've had some people on this podcast who sell on TikTok shop. You guys have heard them doing some crazy, crazy numbers, some of them even doing more than their Amazon business. So if you guys want to know what's involved with getting set up on this platform, this episode is going to be for you.

Kevin King:

Now, Michelle I've known for quite some time, and so today she's going to be showing you why you need to be considering TikTok and talking about some of the opportunities that are there and what she's doing to help herself and her clients actually crush it. So please welcome Michelle.

Michelle:

Today we've got lots of ground to cover and we're going to be talking about the TikTok shop opportunity. Just like Kevin said and Shivali said, unless you've been living under a rock, it is all the buzz, and rightly so. Some people don't realize this, but TikTok shop was born from a hashtag and the whole idea of TikTok made me buy it. This hashtag has been around for several years and it basically was like hey, I discovered this on TikTok and I went and bought it. And here I'm showing it off again because TikTok made me buy this. And essentially, TikTok shop allows businesses to showcase through engaging short videos, live streams and creator collaborations, and users can discover and purchase products directly within the app, creating a smooth and convenient shopping experience. And we're going to talk about, like, just how powerful this really is for you as brand sellers.

Michelle:

So the opportunity of a TikTok shop has never been hotter. I mean, essentially, we're talking about a billion monthly users. They're on the app 17 times a day, with 83% of people saying that TikTok has influenced purchase decisions on what they're doing and what they're buying. So consumers are on TikTok specifically to be entertained. They hang out for hours. One and a half billion monthly user base spending an average of 95 minutes a day on the platform. I want you to think about that. That's like at least three episodes of your favorite show on Netflix. It's, you know, it's like people are just like scrolling, scrolling, scrolling and, um, all, all times of the day, like, like we saw in that previous stat of 17 times. You know, essentially starting the app 17 times a day, kind of crazy. Um, they offer a frictionless buying experience from creator to product page, to checkout to back to scrolling in seconds, which is one of the huge reasons why TikTok and TikTok Shop is such a powerful opportunity for sellers, right this second, so you can literally go from an organic discovery experience to a checkout experience in just seconds, and you can amplify that opportunity with some certain promotional activities that we'll talk about. So, bottom line, TikTok shop really helps build brands, not just sell products, so they have more high quality traffic, more sales and repurchases, have full visibility of data, end to end loop closing data.

Michelle:

So one of the things that I love so much about TikTok shop is having previously just used TikTok to drive traffic to Amazon. So I have tried it a whole bunch and it is so frustrating because Amazon's a black hole. They don't share data back with you. So if you've ever tried to run ads, drive influencer content, even do social media like, just focus on the social media side of TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or whatever it might be. There's no data back from Amazon, even with using attribution, because Amazon attribution is 55% inaccurate to actually tell you what converted, what drove sales. It's kind of like a guess most of the time and if sales rise you're kind of like, okay, well, what contributed to that In TikTok shop? You know exactly what contributed to that sale. You know exactly what social posts drove how many sales. Which affiliate is your number one affiliate? If you're running ads, you know exactly how those ads are performing.

Michelle:

It allows you to speak directly with your viewers as well, your customers, your prospects, every step along the way. It's you the face of the brand, your brand, interacting directly with customers. So most of the time, most sellers, most consumers, don't realize that there's sellers behind their brands on Amazon. They just think that they're buying a product on Amazon. That's not the case with TikTok. TikTok gives sellers opportunity to interact directly with the customer on every step of the customer journey. So there's no question who is? You know who this relationship is with and there's serious marketing opportunities, and I'm such a marketing geek. I love all of the marketing opportunities that TikTok has. Just this, just today, they released promo codes. Super excited about that. So let's talk about the full shopping journey within TikTok. Essentially, TikTok allows you to discover through shoppable content and through short videos and lives to select, basically go and learn more from about the product on the product detail page and then actually check out and buy, place orders and check out without ever leaving TikTok. So why this is so significant? As a marketer and as a seller myself, if I have, let's say, the counter to that is on Instagram and if you've ever been influenced on Instagram, you know, let me know, raise your hand, you're watching, you're watching that content and then the person is saying, oh, go to the link in my bio and you go to the link in your bio in, and it's some linktree that may or may not have been updated and that link might take them to Amazon. Take you to Amazon, where their Amazon storefront is like laid out, all for you to have to sort through just to find the product that you were interested in that caught your attention for just a second, that interrupted your entertainment experience that you were there on Instagram to experience, and now you can't even find what it was that caught your attention. You just give up in frustration.

Michelle:

What I love about TikTok shop is that you can go from being entertained seeing a shoppable video, seeing something that a creator is promoting, to all the way to checkout in just seconds and back into your entertainment. That experience has very little interruption. So TikTok has several ways to checkout. Essentially, you have the opportunity to go from a shoppable video to a TikTok shop where you can see that brand's full lineup of offerings, and go to the product detail page where you can then check out. But this is not typically the shopping experience. Usually, it's you see a video. It takes you directly to the product detail page and then you just check out. These are the things and ways that you can build your brand on TikTok shop directly. So let's talk about the customer journey on TikTok versus Amazon. So previously TikTok, when it was just a social media channel, sat a little bit higher up in the customer journey. So if you guys aren't familiar, the customer journey is this idea of a funnel or this process where somebody goes from awareness to consideration, to purchase, to customer service, to going deeper in their rebuy or loyalty to that specific brand. So previously, TikTok the app, the social media side of TikTok was just in the awareness phase, the awareness and consideration phase. Just like Instagram, it was like a place of discovery, a place of entertainment, a place to maybe get educated, but it wasn't a place to purchase. That was where you would go to Amazon, and Amazon fit squarely in the consideration phase, like I need more information, I'm aware of my need already and then I'm going to purchase. So essentially, Amazon is solution solving. It's a search engine for buying. Customers are already aware of a need. They search, research and buy on Amazon.

Michelle:

Buyers don't hang out on Amazon for fun or entertainment, despite Amazon's best efforts with Amazon Lives, Amazon Post, Amazon Inspire, and that's really why TikTok shop has taken over in that regard. Not necessarily like I'm not saying that Amazon's going away anytime soon. Obviously that's a huge opportunity, but TikTok shop now owns the entire customer journey, from awareness through consideration, purchase, the customer service experience, all the way to rebuy opportunities, average order value increases, um rebuy rates, all sorts of things that TikTok shop makes available to sellers to be able to do and accomplish all within the TikTok shop platform. Are you guys seeing the potential and the opportunity here? And, as a marketer, this is why I'm so passionate about it, because if you own the awareness, if you are the one creating the awareness of the need and you immediately go into a checkout scenario, you win. The checkout is not okay we're making you aware and then you're being taken to a page where you and 100 other competitors are then brought up with different options and people are overwhelmed with options. It's not like that. It's literally going from awareness to checkout to back to entertainment in a matter of seconds. So TikTok really comes down to need awareness. Their focus is on entertainment and education and their goal is to keep users on the platform with their addictive algorithms. Users are made aware of products and the purchases is done within TikTok shop with quick checkouts and then buyers are back to scrolling within seconds. So that's really kind of the crux of TikTok shop there and live selling. I don't know if you guys have seen have been on the platform yet, but live selling it really had its heyday. I feel like you know as far as US consumer behavior goes in, like the late eighties, early nineties, Saturday morning infomercials Anybody remember those?

Michelle:

I know I was like, always sucked in. I was always sucked into those Um. And then there's QVC and home shopping network where, you know, basically little ladies hang out to buy kitchen kitchenware, but TikTok shop, specifically, is bringing live, selling back, and it's crazy's crazy, the amount of organic viewers you get checking out your products live, seeing what you have to offer live, you know, and it's a form of entertainment, so they're already on there to be entertained and then they get to watch you pitch whatever it is that you have. That's kind of crazy. And also creators we have this. Creators have been kind of like put up on this pedestal as influencers, right, and this kind of title and with that has come a little bit of a combative nature. When it comes to working with brands, right, how many of you have worked with an influencer where you've reached out to them, you've tried to recruit them and they're charging like a couple hundred dollars of post to like two thousand dollars a post, five thousand dollars a post for the honor to get to work with them. Anybody experience that. And then you're like, um, what did I get from that? I got a post. Did it do anything, right? So the awesome, the awesome thing with working with creators now is that they essentially become affiliates because TikTok is rewarding them for sales that they make through the platform. So creators are now motivated to work with brands and to push products and seek out opportunities. It's no longer just like oh well, I'm a creator and so my creative needs are above your needs as a brand. Now they're willing to be more collaborative with brands in and focusing on content that converts and that drives sales, because, at the end of the day, they want to make money right and we all want to make money, and so it makes it more of a win-win relationship. So that's one of my favorite things about this kind of shift is it goes from the honor of working with a creator and an influencer to now like okay, we're affiliates and we're in this together.

Michelle:

So there's kind of four native ways to discover and buy on TikTok. There's the browse area, which is shoppable videos. That's what you would generally see if you're just scrolling through TikTok. You're going to have some content that is just entertainment content. You're going to have content that's educational and informative and that sync to and our shoppable videos, basically, and shop pages. That's where you know brands show up with their brand presence, um, live shopping, like we discussed, and the shop tab. So that's the new kind of search functionality within TikTok. That's all about finding and discovery and searching for solutions. It's kind of crazy, but TikTok has now become a search engine for a certain demographic. Anybody who's less than 25 years old, instead of going to Google with their questions first, they're going to TikTok with their questions first, and it used to be that videos were what was served first in the search results and now it's product. Are you picking up? What I'm putting down? Like this is this is a significant opportunity. This is such a crazy shift and I will say that every almost like 80 to 90% of the in TikTok shop contacts that I have were recently recruited from Amazon. Like Amazon employees are moving over to TikTok shop just like clawing their way over here. So it's very soon there's gonna be some aspects that are native to Amazon that we'll start seeing show up in TikTok shop, especially this kind of search portion, the shop tab, and then the buying experience, like we've talked about, is very seamless, from the product page to the checkout page. You literally can like sync your Apple Pay with TikTok shop, click the side of your phone gosh and be back to doom scrolling in seconds, if I haven't, you know, beat that into you enough.

Michelle:

But let's talk about this idea and this question is TikTok shop just a distraction for you as sellers? I hear this kind of objection a lot, and from really big sellers, and so I'm a little surprised. I'm always a little surprised because, like Kevin said, I think that if you have an opportunity to make money, are you going to say no to that opportunity, especially when it's relatively zero to low cost to get started? You already have inventory. You just bring it over to TikTok. So let's talk about just some case studies really quick. Every time I talk to an Amazon seller who is looking to expand off Amazon or diversify their revenue off Amazon, they're usually happy with like, hey, if I can get 5% of my Amazon sales off Amazon, like my Shopify site or Walmart or Etsy or something, I would be happy if just 5%. So here we have a few sellers and I'm just going to cruise through here. This brand got serious about TikTok shop beginning of April and year to date, they are 8% of their Amazon sales on TikTok shop. This brand launched in September of 2023 with TikTok shop. They're one of my brands and we immediately went viral. Immediately, like the bestseller that we had became a bestseller on TikTok shop and then, as we got to know our audience a lot better and affiliates a lot better, launching products on TikTok shop with them, we saw halo effect on Amazon. Every single time that we launched a new product on TikTok shop it would go viral. It would go viral on Amazon as well. Rank would skyrocket and along with sales. So their year to date revenue is 11%.

Michelle:

Our biggest struggle with this brand is every time we go viral. Like it's really hard to forecast inventory for going viral. So we keep running into like our bestsellers going out of stock because they just take off. They just take off, so that I guess that is like one of the sides of TikTok shop that is a warning is that your shop could go viral and with your inventory. This seller I did a big training in Cancun back in February and in and around TikTok shop this seller was doing two sales a day before my training and after that, um, 180 sales in the week following. So I was a little proud of that. And then subsequently, uh, we've been working together and now their brands, their, uh, they have 15% of their total brand revenue, uh, of their Amazon revenue they're making on TikTok shop. I'm not going to talk a lot about these brands, because these brands are just like killing it. They're 16% of Amazon sales for this brand. This brand, gosh, they're just like. I just met with their category manager last week, their new category manager. They're number one in their category on TikTok shop, all of TikTok shop, and their year to date is 17% of their Amazon sales. So I guess you have to ask yourself, like, is it worth getting started? Like, yes, I think the answer is obvious, right, like I'm not doing a sales pitch here guys. I don't like this is you already have the inventory, right? You're already selling on Amazon. It's not too much more difficult to extend, uh, what you're doing and get started with that same inventory on TikTok shop as well. So, but there's some nuances to it and I want to talk about those nuances. So there are some keys that are necessary to a successful setup on TikTok shop. So this is where we're getting a little bit down into some specifics. On setup, I am not walking you through step-by-step a setup step-by-step at this point. This is not necessarily how to. This is more of kind of like lessons learned from setting up over 30 brands personally on TikTok shop and some of the nuances, some of the troubleshooting, some of the kind of like things to avoid, basically from a high level perspective.

Michelle:

So this is kind of my setup checklist to be successful, this is what. These are all the things that you have to do one time during a setup. You need to get through your business registration. You need to complete that. You need to link a TikTok social account that is US based based with your TikTok shop seller account that is US based. You need to create or connect a TikTok ads manager to that account ads manager account to your TikTok shop account. You need to get your shipping set up and your listing set up and your content optimized for TikTok shop. You need to import available reviews, meaning, if you have like and this is all legal TikTok shop owns well, TikTok is owned by a company called ByteDance and ByteDance owns lots of different tech companies. One included is the main tool that's used for importing reviews. So if you have a Shopify site or another website with reviews on it, then you can bring those reviews over. If you don't, you can import reviews from Amazon to your website and then import those reviews from Amazon. It's a little bit of a process. It's a process, but you only have to do that once. To help you build up, to start the process of building your review presence, you need to select and implement promotions for your listings, such as pre-shipping with qualifications, product discounts, flash sales. Now the new promo codes that are released, and for select accounts, if you qualify, there's now a customer marketing whole section where you can go back and offer, you know, present offers in app. So showing up in the customer's TikTok inbox, basically like they already bought from you once, or, if they're a potential client, you can get directly inside of TikTok users' inboxes with your offers. My marketing heart, it just loves this from an opportunity perspective and we can actually measure how many sales converted from those messages. I love email marketing, I love SMS marketing, I love all of that, but sometimes we just can't close all the loops. And when we're talking native platforms and the marketing opportunities that are native to that platform, we're able to see all those loops close. When it's when we're talking native platforms and the marketing opportunities that are native to that platform, we're able to see all those loops closed and the associated data with that. So we know what further to invest in, what's working, what's not working, and then, of course, they're the final step in success. A successful setup is making sure that you have an affiliate plan set up for affiliates creators to find your products and to start promoting them and to make sure free samples are available. We'll show that here in a second.

Michelle:

Okay, the second thing that you need to make sure that you do is to review the prohibited products list. So just because you can sell something on Amazon and Shopify doesn't mean you can sell it on TikTok shop. And this is probably like the number one thing that I see sellers screw up on, um, that they just like rush to get all of their products on TikTok shop and all of a sudden uh, they didn't ever check prohibited products and all of a sudden their account gets deactivated. Um, because they're promoting products or promoting it in such a way that's against, that's either prohibited products or against community guidelines in how you talk about it. So the most suspensions and account deactivations could be avoided by checking this first. So essentially, just, I mean you could even just search for it TikTok shop prohibited products policy and go on there or also look at their restricted categories on there as well to see is my product a prohibited product? I've been surprised how many products are not allowed on TikTok shop that are allowed on Amazon and, of course, on Shopify. You can sell whatever the heck you want to. So it's definitely one of those things that just because you can sell it somewhere doesn't mean you can sell it on TikTok shop.

Michelle:

And this is just from a having been through it so many times. Business registration is not what it used to be. In September, I was able to get just like a ton of brands on TikTok shop with very little effort. Now there's a few more steps. Now there's a few things that kind of slow people down. It's amazing to me how many sellers just like give up. They just roll over and they're just like oh no, I can't get it to work. And I'm like guys, you are Amazon sellers, it is selling on Amazon is not an easy thing. Why are we giving up so easily? Have some like, have some resilience here. Also, TikTok shop like says oh, your account setup failed. I wish they would use different language, because sometimes it's not true failure and sometimes it's like they're just um, you get to a certain place in the process and then the system is moving you forward, but it needs more information, like you need to submit additional documents or you need to submit them in a certain way, and so it says failure, but really it just means like you need to go add more, add more documentation or whatever it is that they're actually asking for. So my advice to you is just keep pushing forward, keep pushing through that. It is worth it in the end. And just as a little like hack is any requested documentation, even if it says that they accept PDFs and PNGs, only submit them as JPEGs. Like their system, their bots read JPEGs and more often than not they don't read PDFs. So just, even if it says it'll accept a PDF, just submit it as a JPEG. Okay, cause it will help you. And especially if you're talking to support, support. It's so crazy because support can't see submitted PDFs or PNGs, but it can see submitted JPEGs. Does that make sense? So that's a little, a little note for you to take and make sure that you're doing Okay.

Michelle:

This is relatively new and this has to be. This is around community guidelines. Community guidelines were updated mid last month and essentially it's just saying hey, this is the way that we behave on our platform. So there's, they become a lot more strict about what creators as well as sellers can and can't say on their product. You know, on the platform and that includes your listings and what you say about your products, especially, um, you know if something has an effect on weight or weight loss, physical performance or physiological effects or changes. So in this example, I had a seller reach out to me and they're like I don't know what I did wrong, I don't know why this account is frozen, or this product is frozen, I don't know what's wrong with it. And all I had to do was read through the title to see what the issue was. They're essentially saying this eliminates snoring and enhances facial structure and post-workout recovery claim, claim, claim, claim, claim, like you're physiological effects, physical performance, eliminate snoring. You can't say that on Amazon had. Like how can you say that? Like you can't say that on TikTok shop either? Um, and if you have any product in and around weight loss, I'm not saying it's not possible to sell on TikTok shop, it absolutely is. But how you talk about it is really critical. You cannot say weight loss, you cannot say metabolism, fat burning oh my gosh. I had another brand that was just like beside themselves. They were so like offended that TikTok shop suspended their product, their you know key seller, and I was looking through their account. It was like weight loss, metabolism, dah, dah, dah. And I'm like you can't say those things. You. You failed TikTok, you know like. You showed up like, oh well, we can sell it on Shopify. Yes, you can sell it on Shopify, because on Shopify you can say whatever the heck you want about your product. There's nobody policing what you can and can't say on your Shopify site. But this is their market and so they get to say what you can and can't say. And it's not just what you say in the text, in your title, in your bullet points, it's also what you say in the images, on the products themselves as well. So if you have packaging that you're showing and it's making claims. You got to scrub that. You got to like, get rid of it if you have infographics. So that's why I say you're not just pulling over everything that you've created for your Amazon listing or your Shopify listing. You got to be really careful in what you're bringing over and being aware of these community guidelines and what you can and can't say. These are the main ones. It's worth looking at, it's worth reading through and I do talk about that extensively in my course where I detail and outline it, but these are the top ones.

Michelle:

Okay, focus on your bestsellers. I often see that the second somebody gets started on TikTok shop, they bring their whole category, their whole catalog of offerings over at once and I really advise you to just test the opportunity and to learn the platform and which of your products is the best opportunity first. So too many products are a distraction to affiliates and your ops team. So, like in this example, this brand brought over gosh all of their products and anytime that they were doing creator outreach they basically all of their creator and targeted plans was just like hey, here's everything that we sell and that's a lot, that's too much. So instead we shifted their focus to okay, what's your best seller on Amazon, what's the one with the best reviews, the strongest call to action, the most obvious for how it helps a consumer? And they're like, okay, this one, their free sample request took off, the affiliate performance took off, their sales took off. So just don't flood. It's a distraction for your team. It's a distraction when you start to reach out to affiliates, so just focus on your best sellers first. Now hear me out. This is probably the biggest warning that I have for you. Second to prohibited products okay, so this is probably the biggest area that I want you to be really careful with. And don't use the shortcuts, okay. So oftentimes I see that sellers are you're on Amazon, you're on Shopify and there are apps available within TikTok shop where you can just sync your Shopify account or sync your Amazon account and sync over your listings. So all of your listing content immediately gets imported into TikTok shop, and I have seen so many issues with this. Like I've said so many times, there's things that you're saying on your listings that you can't say in a TikTok shop, and what happens, guys, is that your listings are not reviewed by human beings, right, they're reviewed by bots, and what I have seen happen so many times is that people have seen those listings and they bring over their entire catalog, like we just talked about, and they're making claims or bringing over prohibited products or something like that that they didn't know.

Michelle:

I didn't know and immediately they get account violations and account violations and they get a million account violations and then their account gets suspended because there's a limit to your account violations that you can receive, and then you lose your account, your account gets deactivated and it's over before you begin. So that's an extreme example, but I have seen that too many times to count what also happens, especially in the case of Shopify. For example, if you're syncing your listings, let's say you want to make a change to your TikTok shop listing, like your price or your title or something like that, because your listings are synced with these apps. You can't do that because Shopify and the Shopify listing owns the TikTok listing, so you have to go and make the change on Shopify If you want to make that change, show up on TikTok. You see how that's a problem, right? So and it's not an easy fix, it's not, it's not just like a quick separation, um, because I have a seller, like I've talked about. He's number one in his category and he set this up, his like. When he first got set up, an account manager told him to do this and they didn't know. These account managers have no clue, they really don't, um, and so he is dealing with this issue. If he were to try to separate at this point, he would have to create a new ASIN, for lack of a better term. A new listing for one of his best sellers and one of the big areas of social proof on TikTok shop is to see how many people have purchased the product. He would lose all of that history on that listing that now has like a hundred thousand purchases. So, yeah, it's, it's like a serious deal. So please don't do that. If you're wanting any kind of true shortcut, use the bulk uploading options. This is new the import product upload accelerator. Go this route if you're looking for shortcuts. But, like I said, I really do want you to like set up your listings manually first, at least the first couple, so you understand what TikTok is really looking for, so you can then go and add more products in the future.

Michelle:

Offer free shipping. Oh, my goodness, we're running out of time, guys, we'll send you these slides. Basically, bottom line, you set up the free shipping opportunities within the promotions tab and not when you're setting up your shipping templates and your shipping solutions. So it's a promotion and you can apply all sorts of qualifications to qualify for free shipping and fulfilled by TikTok is now a thing, and they're gonna start pushing this really, really hard. So start with your Amazon inventory, start selling via Amazon MCF syncing with TikTok shop. Once you've proven the opportunity for your brand, immediately apply for FBT as soon as you set up your TikTok shop account so that when you prove like, hey, is this an opportunity for me, cause MCF is expensive, you want to get that inventory into FBT and start taking advantage of the opportunities and like super cheap pricing that they have for fulfillment over there. Okay, I'm going to cruise through this, but, just like I showed you, there's kind of like the setup checklist and then there's the ongoing success checklist. This is what you need to do ongoing, daily, weekly, monthly to be able to make sales on TikTok shop. Really, what it comes down to is working with creators, making sure you have your free samples turned on. I have my three S's to targeted outreach, which is search, sort and then save. And just a warning if you are using bots or planning to use bots, that gosh. They've now put regulations in place where new sellers are limited and restricted on how many people they can reach out to because of these messaging bots that are out there. So I really recommend focusing on target collaborations versus and reaching out to creators that way, versus messaging and spamming methods. So this is my search and sort and save method. Essentially, you're under the find creator tab and you're searching via relevant search terms for your brand or your category. You're sorting I like to sort by GMB, and if they're fast growing that's even better, because then they're hungry, they're starting to see success, but they're not so successful yet that they you can't get the time of day with them. And then you hit the little save button over here and then when you go to target collaboration up here, you can import your saved folks I recommend at least 50 per day that you're reaching out to via this message.

Kevin King:

Thanks everybody for showing up today. We'll be back again next month to do this again on a whole new topic. Remember there's a replay of this, if you missed part of it, in Freedom Ticket inside the Helium 10. So if you're a member of Helium 10 at any level, there's a little button somewhere up around the top in the education section or resources section that says Freedom Ticket. You'll be able to find this recording in a few weeks in there, added as a permanent addition to the Freedom Ticket. So thanks everybody for coming today and thanks again, Michelle.

Michelle:

Thank you, bye, guys.

View Details

TikTok Launches New Program To Attract More UK Merchants
https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-launches-program-attract-more-uk-merchants/720798/

Temu Breaks With Direct-From-China Strategy In Threat to Amazon
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/temu-breaks-with-direct-from-china-strategy-in-threat-to-amazon

Amazon Price Matching Update: As we all know Amazon has been price-matching Target and Walmart for a few years now causing many issues for brands.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brandonfishman_amazon-target-activity-7215821589546721280-2Rv_/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Flip, The TikTok Shop Competitor, Expands Social Commerce By Acquiring Curated
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2024/07/09/flip-the-tiktok-shop-competitor-expands-social-commerce-by-acquiring-curated/

Amazon defeats US consumer lawsuit over ‘buy box’ product listings
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/amazon-defeats-us-consumer-lawsuit-over-buy-box-product-listings-2024-07-08/

Etsy loses its ‘handmade’ and ‘vintage’ labels as it takes on Temu and Amazon
https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/9/24190843/etsy-handmade-vintage-policy-change

Don't miss an exciting preview of the Amazon Accelerate event and how you can win free tickets from Helium 10. Lastly, Bradley talks about the latest update on Helium 10's Chrome extension, designed to give you the competitive edge you need in title optimization.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:47 - $1M TikTok Shop Program
01:43 - Temu Becoming Amazon-ish?
03:27 - Target / Amazon Buy Box Blunder
05:12 - New TikTok Shop Clone
07:12 - Amazon Wins Lawsuit
08:24 - Big Etsy Change
10:38 - Walmart Connect Updates
11:15 - Amazon Accelerate Updates
12:00 - Follow Helium 10 On TikTok
12:54 - New Feature Alerts & Training

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Temu's going after Amazon now. Big buy box issues. If you sell on Target and Amazon, is change coming to Etsy? These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that are going on the Amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we let you know what new features from Helium 10 can give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. All right, we got a lot of articles, so let's go ahead and hop right into it Now. The first article that we're going to be talking about today is actually from social media today, and it's entitled TikTok launches new program to attract more UK merchants. All right, so this is basically called the 1 Million Pound Club Initiative and it says it aims to help UK retailers reach 1 million pounds, or about 1.28 million in US dollars, in revenue via the app. Now what is involved in this program? Well, it says they're going to offer special incentives, support offerings, 0% commission, free sales, free storage, free fulfillment by TikTok seller support priority service. Some of you all might be saying, hey, sign me up. So it's kind of crazy these benefits that they're going to do Now. If you're interested in getting more information on this program, if you're in the UK, there is actually a link in this article that you should be able to get to down below.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go talk about another platform and it's funny. A couple of weeks ago, when Carrie was doing the weekly buzz, there was a news article she had where it was entitled Is Amazon Becoming Temu-ish? You guys remember that story. It talked about how Amazon's opening up a kind of channel where it's kind of like Temu, where they have Chinese sellers, sell directly to US buyers and then they ship directly low-priced items and it gets to customers in like 10 days. This is funny. Now this is entitled Is Teemu Becoming Amazon-ish? So there's this article from theinformation.com and it's entitled Teemu Breaks with Direct from China Strategy in a Threat to Amazon. And basically what this article is talking about is how Timo is trying to kind of go away from just the direct from China to US model and they are actively trying to recruit US sellers, or at least sellers who have warehouses in the US, to ship and then potentially, you know, who knows, maybe Temu would have some um fulfillment now for the very first time ever. I started like downloading the Temu app and looking at it and I'm like, oh, my goodness, uh, they've got coffin shelves and other stuff on there for super, super cheap prices. I'm not sure how it would work in the U? S. Now I I'm going to be actually trying to reach out to Temu and maybe do like a little mini case study to see how in the world they expect to have US sellers selling on the platform. But who knows, maybe it's an opportunity, like if they have a whole bunch of incentives where you can make a profit, you know, due to maybe no selling fees and very, you know, no advertising, et cetera. So let's see, come back in maybe three or four weeks I'll let you know how my project X team is going.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article but just a LinkedIn post. In case you missed it, Jason, who comes here on the podcast sometimes, and he along with the CEO of VitaCup, Brandon, were reporting on something that's going on where you know how Amazon price matches, you know, with Walmart, Target and other websites. And now target had this circle, target circle prices like target, that target circles, kind of like their club where they get special discounts. But then what's happening is, on this target circle Now they're showing the target circle price over here with the regular price, with a line crossed out of it. Now you know you might be wondering, well, how is that an issue? You know that's pretty cool. But no, it's not cool because what's happening is Google, I guess, picked up on that new Target Circle price which only a few people have. It's not like, oh, everybody's a Target Circle member, like everybody's an Amazon Prime member, almost right. So what's happening now is that's a special price, a special discount that I believe Target even gives. It's not really the buyer or the seller who's giving all of that discount. Target, I think, is subsidizing it a little bit. And now what's going on is that Amazon's price matching that and so of course, your Amazon listings are priced higher than that Target circle price. And so what happens when Amazon detects that? No, buy box. So a lot of sellers out there it's not just VitaCup, I've heard this across the board that a lot of people are being affected by this where Amazon is removing the buy box because it thinks that they're price gouging, right. So if you're selling on Target and your Amazon sales have gone down, take a look at your Amazon listings. That could be the reason. I don't know offhand of a solution, but I'm sure Amazon will come up with something before Prime Day.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Forbes.com and it's entitled Flip, the TikTok shop competitor, expands social commerce by acquiring curated. Now, I have never heard of Flip. I have never heard of curated, but it's interesting. First of all, why should we care about this? This is like you know. We're talking about social commerce where there's social media blended with buying right in one. That's, that's the whole kind of like premise. You know, there was TikTok and then now there's TikTok shop. Now this is big overseas. You think it's already getting big in the US. Well, the social commerce market in China is going to grow from 350 billion back in 2021 to 900 billion next year. Now US social commerce was 37 billion in one and it's projected to get to 80 billion. But that's like China's like 10x the ceiling. If it really starts to take off in the US, you know, who knows how big it can actually get. So it's interesting to follow, hey, who are the new players in the game? We saw what happened with TikTok shop in the US and now it says hey, it has over 500,000 merchants in the affiliate program selling products via influencer produced shoppable videos, as we know, right, bloomberg reported that TikTok shop expects to reach 17.5 billion in sales by the end of this year.

Bradley Sutton:

So now there's another social commerce player. It's called Flip and they're similar to TikTok shop, but it's significant differences, it says, could make it more appealing to customers. In the US it only has 5 million users, so this is not something that TikTok Shop is. Shaking their boots, oh, my goodness, this Flip company is coming after us, but they curate every brand. It features On TikTok Shop not anybody, but it's a little bit loose. But on TikTok or on Flip, it said pretty, a little bit loose, uh, but on Tik TOK or on flip it said 70% of the sellers that apply uh are actually rejected. Uh, giving customers more confidence. So, anyways, um, just another, maybe marketplace that you can maybe get in a little bit early on. Um, if you think it's going to get bigger, uh, take a look at flip.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Reuters and it's entitled Amazon defeats US Consumer Lawsuit Over Buy Box Product Listings. Now, at first when I saw this I was like, oh, did that crazy FTC lawsuit finally get thrown out? No, this was just like something that a couple of random Amazon customers wanted to do some class action lawsuit, saying that, oh, amazon is not rotating the buy box in a fair way. You know, it's actually showing some prices that were a few cents more expensive than other ones and we're all affected by it. So obviously the judge kind of like threw this one out because they're like all right, well, show us the receipts. Like literally like where's the receipts? And they're like well, we don't have any receipts. I guess is how it worked out. But you know, remember that other FTC lawsuit I haven't heard about that in a few months. You know, what I've said always from the beginning is like I don't understand why the FTC is going after certain things that Amazon is doing when there's so many other things that Amazon sellers are concerned about, like you know, the new fees and buy box matching and things like that. But here I guess anybody can file a lawsuit against Amazon. But hey, just because you do it, that doesn't mean you're going to win. Amazon won and these Amazon Prime customers zero on this one.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is kind of near and dear to my heart because a couple of weeks ago, literally two weeks ago, I got a whole bunch of my Etsy listings suspended. And I don't know about you guys who sell on Etsy, but when you sell on Etsy or you get suspended, like on a listing, there's like no way to contact customer support, no way to argue. It. It's like final, it's like this and that and my products, you know, like coffin shelf products on one account and on another account some other similar, uh, not mass produced products that I sell on Etsy. It absolutely falls within what Etsy is says. It's like the handmade policy. It's got to be handmade or made by a member of your shop, uh, or designed by you, like. I qualify for all three of those. You know pretty much. So it's ridiculous that Etsy was removing my listings but now this week the verge is reporting it. Etsy loses its handmade and vintage labels as it takes on Temu and Amazon. So what does that mean? Well, it says hey.

Bradley Sutton:

A policy update announced today creates four new classifications for items for sale on Etsy Made by, designed by handpicked by and sourced by. All right, all products need to fall into just one of those four to be eligible. Vintage items will fall under handpicked by. But again, this is kind of crazy. I had to redo a whole bunch of my listings just because Etsy erroneously removed it. Couldn't they have waited two weeks? Their policy was about to change anyways. There's no way that. I mean, who knows, I was already not breaking the policy. So who knows? I mean Etsy probably still could remove my listings. But anyways, this is kind of big news, I think. You know Etsy wants to kind of like, you know, make sure they're competing a little bit more with Amazon, and you know websites like Teemu, I guess, and so this move you know, let's see might help them. You know, let's see might help them. Does this open up the possibility for you to sell on Etsy? Maybe before you didn't think you qualified. But do you qualify under one of those four things? I, technically, if you design your product, even if you're not the one making it, you absolutely should qualify if you take that at face value. So a little bit interesting for those of you. Maybe you can start considering Etsy as a marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of different marketplaces, Walmart had a Walmart Connect few announcements that they sent out in email. They said they launched a couple of new things a video module, item and module reordering for brand shop. So brand shop is kind of like I guess you know the your brand store on Amazon, but now you can add a video module to that. You can also rearrange your modules on your brand narrative or brand shop page and do a couple other things. So I don't even have my brand store set up on Walmart. I better get on that and then I can go ahead and take advantage of some of these other features going to Amazon seller central they have.

Bradley Sutton:

This is the last story of the day Amazon accelerate We've been talking about for a few weeks. They announced a couple of the special speakers Amazon Store CEO, Doug Harrington, and also Martha Stewart is going to be joining Amazon Accelerate 2024. So there's your chance to meet a couple of celebrities of the Amazon and pop culture world. I guess there that you can do if you go to Amazon Accelerate. Now Amazon Accelerate, if you go to h10.me forward slash accelerate, you'll be able to get a hundred dollars off your um tickets, which I believe is only four 99 right now. But do you guys want to go to Amazon accelerate for free?

Bradley Sutton:

We have a contest going on right now. If you go to our Tik TOK channel right, helium 10 software. Right, helium 10 software follow us and then like one of our posts. All right, don't just software. Follow us and then like one of our posts. All right, don't just always just pick the first one I don't know why my face is all over this TikTok channel right now but pick one of the recent ones and like it and then comment something with the word accelerate. Don't say, hey, I'm entering the contest for Amazon Accelerate. Say something like Bradley, looks like your hair growth has been accelerated lately with your haircut, I don't know. Just trying to come up with a unique way of using the word accelerate. And then our social media person, Lailama, she's going to pick one of you to win a completely free ticket to go to Amazon Accelerate worth $600. So make sure to do that when you see this sometime this weekend, if you can. All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's get into a couple new cool Helium 10 feature alerts. All right, we've got some new things that are coming to our Chrome extension. Actually, they have come to our Chrome extension and here's the background of it. As you know, when you take some of my listing optimization classes, or if you've learned from other people out there, like Tomer Rabinovich, he's always said, hey, try and find out what is the niche theme? Right, like what kind of images the competitors are using and like what kind of style they have. But one part of a niche theme is the length of title. All right, it's not like hey, every single category, every single product, you should have 200 characters in your title. Every single product, you should have 50 characters. No, some could be 50. Some could be 200. Different things work in different niches, and so now what sellers were looking for is hey, how can I just really quick, at a glance, get an idea of what the top 10, 20 products on a keyword page? What is the length of their titles? Well, watch this.

Bradley Sutton:

If you go into the Chrome extension now, you are going to be able to hit Xray, for example, right here. This is a search that I have here for collagen peptides. And if I hit the search button now, as you can see, there is this new widget at the very top. It says average title character count 169. And then, if I put my mouse over the eye here and it says here at the bottom there's actually six that have 180 to 189 and there's seven, seven listings, 35%. So 65% of the listings on page one of collagen peptides have between 180 and 200 in the top 20. All right. So now compare that to another one. We go and search accordion on Amazon, all right. And then we run a Xray on this page remember the collagen peptides was 169. What's the average on accordion? It is only 116. All right, and if we put our mouse over right here we can see that, hey, 25% of the listings on page one actually have less than 100 characters, all right. And another maybe 50 percent or 40 percent have between 110 and 139. So completely different than what you were seeing for collagen peptides, right. So again, just because a list you know, even helium 10 has listing scores. It's just based on like kind of best practices overall. But this is something that is interesting, where now you can see what's going on at the individual product level. You can see the title character count of every single product on page one and on average. So pretty cool update for the Helium 10 Chrome extension.

Bradley Sutton:

Now one more update here in the Chrome extension. Hopefully you guys have had a chance to maybe use the new tool that we launched a couple of months ago that uses AI to kind of aggregate and analyze and organize your product research maybe projects, right. Well now, let's say you're researching accordions and you ran Xray here and you want to add a few products, like, oh, I want to add this to my product research project right in product launchpad. Well, now what you can do in Xray is go ahead and select any of the ASINs you want and then you are going to hit the button right here save product idea. And once you hit the save product idea, it's going to open up a widget and now, if you actually have some projects open in product launchpad, you're going to be able to choose it from here and then just add it right there. Or if you're just like oh, wow, I'm just browsing Amazon, this is like actually a really interesting idea. These mini accordions for kids never thought of that. I want to start researching that, uh, without having to go and do all this research right now. Let me save this for later. So then you would hit new product idea and now it's going to go ahead and save in your new project. So super cool updates this week from the Chrome extension and hats off to Simon at Helium 10 for helping push those through.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now it's time for the Helium 10 training tip of the week, and this also has to do with the Chrome extension. Maybe a new way that you can see who is targeting your ASIN and start tracking it. All right, it's not available like in black box or in the Helium 10 tool. It's available right here in the Chrome extension. Just go to your product pages or go to your competitors product pages If you want to track. Hey, who is showing up on my competitors product page? Where am I showing up on my competitors product page? Or vice versa, who is showing up and who is bidding for the most on the Product Targeting Ads on my page? Who's putting sponsored brand ads on my page? Who is putting a Sponsor Display Ads on my page? Let me show you how you can do that. You go into Amazon and like, let's say, this is my product. Actually, this is one of the products I work on in motion hemp cream. You can see that there's plenty of ads all over the page. Here's products related to this item. There was a couple of sponsor display or some sponsored brand ads down here towards the bottom. There's even more products down here that are showing up.

Bradley Sutton:

So what you can do, all you have to do now is hit Xray and then instantly all of the products on this page are going to show up. All right, so you can see here that there's actually um, let's see, it looks like 25 products are all appearing on the front of this page, from sponsor brand to sponsor products. Uh, maybe some sponsor display here, and I could just go ahead and just save this as an excel file and just start storing it to see. All right, hey, maybe you can have one of your VA’s do it. You know throughout the day, like, uh, or every once a day, it's like, all right, let. Hey, maybe you can have one of your VA’s do it. You know throughout the day, like, or every once a day, it's like, all right, let me just track who is showing up the most on my page. So again, that's just two clicks it takes to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

Make sure to start looking at your competitors pages. Look at your pages. I like looking at competitors pages too, because it might give me ideas on different products that I can target in my Sponsored Product ASIN Targeting Campaign. So, uh, pretty cool feature. I think you guys maybe are sleeping on. You might not have known that it existed. Make sure to go to hop on any product page, run Xray and tell me who is advertising on your page. All right, guys. Thank you so much for joining us this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Join us for an insightful episode where we chat with David Milstein, co-founder of SellCord, about the strategies that drive success on Walmart. David shares an inspiring success story of a client who saw their sales surge from $2,000 to $200,000 per month within just two months by leveraging strategic account managers and Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS). We also discuss realistic expectations for Walmart sales growth, suggesting sellers aim for 10% to 20% of their Amazon sales, emphasizing the importance of focusing on Walmart to unlock its full potential.

Explore the benefits and intricacies of using virtual multi-packs with Walmart Fulfillment Services in this episode. We discuss how virtual GTINs can create multiple listings for a single unit, like multi-packs of shampoo, without additional physical inventory, reducing storage fees and return orders while lowering WFS fees. David also sheds light on pricing strategies, highlighting the significance of the $10 price point, and the current beta status of virtual packs and their anticipated wider rollout, along with the role of promotions in driving sales on Walmart.

Listen in as we navigate the intricacies of Walmart's promotional campaigns and recent updates to their item specifications. We cover different types of promotional campaigns such as category-specific events and flash deals, and the strategic advantages they offer. Learn about accessing these campaigns through the growth opportunities section and the newly introduced Item Spec 5.0, which shifts from category-based to product-type-based listings. David also shares essential tips for managing Walmart accounts, including consolidating multiple accounts, transferring reviews from Shopify, and utilizing Walmart's Review Accelerator Program.

In episode 577 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and David discuss:

00:00 - Walmart Success Stories and Strategies
07:23 - Walmart Virtual Pack and Promotion Strategy
11:08 - New Walmart Promotional and Listing Strategies
11:38 - Accessing Growth Opportunities and New Promo Campaigns
15:55 - Optimizing Attributes for Walmart Ranking
20:36 - Walmart Account Management Strategies
21:01 - Bringing Reviews to Walmart Restrictions
23:58 - Flash Deals for All Sellers
29:05 - PPC and Listing Optimization Strategies

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Today we're talking with David Milstein from SellCord and he's going to be talking about some Walmart success stories and some strategies to help you to become successful on Walmart. He'll also be talking about the new item, spec 5.0, and Walmart promotions that can help boost sales.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and this episode is our monthly live Walmart Wednesday show where we talk about anything and everything Walmart related with different guests, and today's host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

Welcome to another Walmart Wednesday. I'm so excited to have a very special guest today. We have David Milstein here, and so we're going to ask him a lot of questions. He is definitely one of the top experts in Walmart. He definitely has taught me a lot of what I know about Walmart, so definitely a privilege to have him here today. I'm going to go ahead and bring on David. Hi David.

David:

Hey, Carrie, it's great to be on. Thank you for having me.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, thanks so much for coming on. So I told them a little bit about you. I mean, you are the co-founder of SellCord and you've been doing Walmart or in the Walmart game for like maybe three or four years now. Definitely an expert in Walmart and very, very knowledgeable about anything. Okay, so let's go ahead. And, David, I don't know if I've done enough justice for you about your background, but can you just tell a little bit about what you do at SellCord and just a little bit about you and your background and anything you want to let us know.

David:

Of course. Of course, sure, thank you for the opportunity. So, yeah, so I'm one of the co-founders of SellCord. Uh, we are a Walmart focused agency, so we only work on brands, on their Walmart growth, and we've positioned ourselves to just be exclusively focused in this, in this space, as we understand the future and opportunity that Walmart does have to offer. It's always great to be alongside Carrie, a fellow like-minded individual, who is with us on this Walmart train, so we're excited to chat, as always.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Okay. So let's go ahead and we're going to just get into the questions, and I think one of my first questions that I wanted to ask you about is because and I'll kind of give you a little bit of background a lot of people say you know, what kind of sales can I do on Walmart? You know if I'm doing, you know millions on Amazon, what can I do on Walmart? But I just wanted to see if you could give us some stories about, like a client who maybe got on Walmart. Maybe they were struggling with Walmart before they came to you and then you helped them to do certain things and they became successful. So, like you know what was the scenario, how did you help them? Any kind of thoughts you can give us about like client success stories would be kind of cool way to start this out.

David:

For sure, for sure. Actually, Walmart just did a case study with us on one of our clients. So you go on LinkedIn, you guys could check out like a post on this brand, Simply Magic. Uh, this was a brand you know they have a lot of success just historically, both on Amazon. Actually, they were at Walmart before and they were working with us. They were just trying it out. They were doing about like two thousand dollars a month like really really low business, not really giving it the attention it deserved. They came to us, we met with them and just due to their you know experience, we're able to link them with some really insider people at Walmart to be able to work with like a good Sam, the strategic account manager, and working with like the WFS team, and within two months we're actually able to get their sales to 200k, which is like that's, I don't think that's a normal scenario, like we really did. It went above and beyond with them, but that's just because of the opportunity that they had to offer. Now this is a major, major player the Amazon space. However, we do work with brands of all sizes and we have just general expectations of what you can get from Walmart. We typically like to say you should aim for about 10% to 20% of your Amazon sales. So if you're doing like $2 million, $3 million on Amazon, you should be able to expect $200,000 to $300,000 a year, which is again a very solid opportunity.

David:

It's obviously all about the long run, but so many accounts are coming to us. We meet these guys at shows all the time. Hey, I'm not even doing 1%, I'm doing 2% and just talking to them. It'll come down to some of the things we'll speak about in this call like different strategies, but it just often comes down to just focus and really giving Walmart the opportunity it deserves, but getting them up within just a few months the 5%, 10% and then it's about can we grow up more from there? And that's really where the opportunities lie, you know, if there's some more strategies to grow further than 10%, how you can do that and we'll speak, I think, a little bit about that more in this talk, in this podcast.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, Well, what do you think the top things are that they're not doing beforehand? Because I've definitely experienced this where people aren't necessarily doing. You know all the things they could do possibly, but what are some of the top things? People like they're just totally ignoring that they would never ignore any Amazon that you see with clients.

David:

So so the same way that you would give the opportunity to, let's see your copy on Walmart compared to, let's say, you know, Amazon, Amazon, you're in there like which keywords do I need where in my title and my description? Specifics, like you're very detailed with it, and then you'll just kind of use the same copy on Walmart. Walmart has a completely different guide. You know like they want to have a very different set of copy. They want to have a shorter title descriptions should be more keyword rich and we've done actually a lot of research also on like the keyword tracking and indexing and we found that if you're lacking your main keywords within your copy, those are the highest scenarios of just not indexing for those keywords. It's so related I could show proof. Like not being not having your keywords in your copy, you're just not gonna index. And indexing is even worse than ranking. That means you just don't show up at all for that keyword. And these are basics. That's just one great example.

David:

I think another very common one is being in the correct category or product type. We'll speak more about product types a little bit later. Just with Item Spec 5.0. Just being correctly categorized is so important because that determines which keywords you're able to rank for. Just don't make the mistake that Walmart is just some other random marketplace. It's going to be the next big marketplace. You can even see the trajectory of where things have come up thus far and how it compares to Amazon and just the growth it's seeing. And if you're missing that, you're just missing out on the opportunity. Treat it as if it's Amazon right now, you know. Think of it that this is an opportunity that Amazon was seven years ago, five years ago, whatever, whatever specific timeline. But understand that it is an opportunity. And if you had, the chance to do Amazon again now just think of it. What would you just do on Walmart?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's all good information. The next thing I wanted to talk about was the virtual packs, because I know I saw you post on LinkedIn about virtual packs that they had just come out. So what, you know what are they? You know how have they been doing? Have you seen a lot of success with them so far?

David:

Yeah, for sure I really love the direction Walmart's going with all their beta programs and the new things that they're rolling out. You know I love that they kind of have like Amazon to kind of like go after. You know they don't have to be the pioneer, they can be like hey, this is something that we like about Amazon and they're going all out. You know there's so many new programs coming out and virtual packs is like the latest and greatest. I just want to make a distinction. It's not a virtual bundle, it's specifically a multi-pack on a single unit, and this really what it allows you to do is to create multiple listings for a single unit. So let's say, you're selling a bottle of shampoo. Instead of having to create a second GTIN to list a second bottle of shampoo with it, you can now create a virtual GTIN and you can do up to as many as you want. And where the real benefits come in is actually through using WFS for the fulfillment. So oftentimes you know you might want to list a three-pack or a four-pack or a five-pack and then when you send it to WFS it doesn't actually sell, and then you have to deal with storage fees, you have to do a return order. It's just such a pain.

David:

So what this allows you to do is just to have one unit. You just send that into WFS and WFS will just create the virtual packs for you. And what's even nicer is that they will have actually consolidated and lowered WFS fee. Depending on how many units, for two units they reduce it by like a dollar for each one. You can look at the like. There's a great guide about this from Walmart where they give you the specific breakdown of the fees. But it's just a really good opportunity to expand your assortment and offer multi-packs where you might not necessarily have that opportunity. It also works really well when it comes to, let's say, you're in a category where, let's say, if you're under $10, there's an 8% commission break. So you think if you go two pack, if you had a separate two pack listing, you'd be paying that 15% fee because it's above $10. But with with virtual packs, you actually still locked into that eight percent fee as long as, like, the average price is lower. So that's really nice, you know, it's just like an opportunity that people aren't necessarily factoring in I just want to make a really cool point, though, about that is there's also in WFS if your products are under ten dollars. This is something actually people don't really know much about. I'm not sure why if your products are on WFS and your retail is under $10, there's a dollar fee that gets attributed to your product. So if you're selling it under $10, even if it's a multi pack of two and it's selling for $19, you still have to pay that dollar fee twice. So it's very important to factor in your pricing and how that impacts both your WFS and your fee.

Carrie Miller:

That might actually be a reason to kind of lower your price if you're just at like the 12 or 13 dollar mark, maybe I don't know. I guess you'd have to do the numbers but.

David:

It's kind of. It's kind of a hack. I like, like, I call, I call like the 10 perfect price.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah.

David:

It's exactly 10, because at 10 you don't have the WFS fee for a dollar, but if you're in certain categories you're still in the eight percent. So it's kind of like if you're at ten dollars on one cent, you're at 15% commission, and if you're $9.99, there's that extra dollar WFS fee.

Carrie Miller:

Wow. So interesting.

David:

So it's actually if you're around that price. Yeah.

Carrie Miller:

Very, very good to know. And those virtual packs are in beta, right? So when do you think they're going to roll out to everybody?

David:

Yeah. So from our information, they have like a virtual pack, a virtual bundle, virtual pack beta that we did months ago that only a limited amount of sellers got in, and other rolling it out across the board. The initial release was two weeks ago, I think on the June 13th, and then they're also going to be doing early sometime in July, I believe that should be the rest of the sellers that should be live for everyone and I'm pretty sure that's what. It's not confirmed, but we'll find out next month. You know, if you don't, you don't have it. It's a great opportunity. You know, open a case, reach out to your strategic account manager if you have one. Ask for these programs. You know they're here to help you and they'll try and get you in wherever you can.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's move on to another topic, and I want to talk about promotions. So let's go ahead and just talk about, like, what types of promotions does Walmart offer for sellers to participate in?

David:

Totally. So, I mean promotions is such a great topic on Walmart. I think, after advertising or even combined with advertising, promotions is going to be the best way to grow your listings. Kind of referencing that previous case study we spoke about, the way we were able to see such insane results so quickly is because we enabled these items to go into promotion, that to really grow. And so just to speak about, like, the different types of promotions on Walmart, there's two main categories that exist. There's promo campaigns, which are like category specific and they happen during a specific set amount of time. For example, there's a July event happening throughout the entirety of the month of July and then you have different events here and there. You have some highlighted special events. You know that we just had like Walmart Plus week this past week and you have like Black Friday like, but there's generally more like you know this is allergy season or like some like some random home and cleaning week, like something that they come up with. You know just where they're trying to get some products in and you could automatically enroll in that. If you go to growth opportunities, you'll see promo campaigns.

David:

If you don't have access to that just open a case and you'll be able to get access to that. You have to be an admin on the Solid Center account, which is pretty obvious, and you'll be able to roll your products in there and just be able to participate in that. And then another type of campaign which is called Flash Deals which is kind of similar to Flash Picks on Amazon, the difference being lightning deals on Amazon are Lightning deals are a single day, versus Flash Deals on Walmart run for a whole week and it's every week, I believe Sunday through Saturday, that it runs through a promo for your product and you can get in there with a basic 10% off and you can really roll through your catalog. You have to get approved for it, but you can't do back-to-back for the same product in two weeks, but you can do it every four weeks per product and it's actually a really, really great way to be able to quickly move your products because you get put into a special flash deal page and if you go to Walmart's home page, there's always a little icon for a lightning symbol. You can click it and, depending on how well your product does, it will fluctuate in its rank amongst the deal. So if you push a lot of ads, you'll actually quickly be able to move up the list just because you have a high conversion rate. Even if they're not clicking on the flash deals page, your listing just moves better. So you'll move up on the ranks and actually able to fly through units. Like that it's interesting. We've seen higher conversion rate. I mean it makes sense at a cheaper rate but very like a 30, 40% increase in sales, dollar wise, not even units specifically dollars. So even at the 10% discount, which is not a lot, you're still able to really kill it over there.

Carrie Miller:

So do you have to have a strategic account manager for that? I've noticed a lot of accounts don't have access to those Flash Deals or Flash Picks.

David:

I would say just open up a case. Yeah, I think with Flash Deals, Flash Picks it used to be called Flash Picks. They changed it to Flash Deals. No, that's Walmart, though wuickly changed things on the fly just to sound better, but open up a case. If you don't have a strategic account manager, just that case should be able to get it for you.

Carrie Miller:

Cool, yeah, let's go ahead and talk about something that I just saw roll out recently, and it's the Item Spec 5.0. Can you just tell everyone what, what the Item Spec 5.0 is and how it can help with the visibility of products, or just any information you have on the Item Spec?

David:

Yeah. So this is. This is one of the bigger buzzwords you know happening right now in the Walmart space and it's just because of how impactful this is for your listings and really planned forward with Walmart. Uh, Item Spec 4 came out quite a while ago and what they did was they changed the number of categories you were able to list under to like from like 20 something to like 77, and now, with Item Spec 5.0, they're doing it in a different, a different style. It's based on product type. That's how you set up your product, your items, rather than doing it in a general category, you now have to actually select the product type. This is similar to like my experience with Amazon. The minimal experience that I've had in the past with their flat files is you have to select, like, a product type prior to uploading it, so it's not a similar idea on Walmart. So I understand if you have a big assortment and you're trying to come up with how you could quickly list it. It could be a little bit harder now because you can't just generalize it into Home and Kitchen. You have to find your product types. But previously Walmart would automatically select the correct product type for your item and you can change it. But now that it's forced into the product type, as like the initial start, you do have to do a little bit more research on listing. But what's the point, aside from just the change in how you list your product and how you do edits to your product, what's the goal of what they're doing here.

David:

So this is actually, I expect, 5.0 was previously first released on actually the 1p side. So if you're doing edits through item 360 or supplier one, you should already have familiarity with this and all that was already done by product type for a while. And what it does is it enables a whole bunch of more attributes by product type. So each category has, like its list of predetermined attributes, but it didn't tell you which ones you should fill out for this. Like it could be in sports and like you're selling, you know weights and it's like what sports team is this? It's not applicable to your weights, you know. But then if you have let's say you're selling now with the new product type if you're selling something related to like a sports, like an actual sports team, it'll ask you for the sports team, but if you're selling something that's not relevant, it won't make it a required category for you. So it's basically they make attributes that are dependent on your product type, which is really cool in the flat files they'll gray out certain areas and it'll actually have like recommended attributes that you should be filling out based on your product type.

David:

So it's a lot more dependent. It's a lot more granular, which helps you fill in the correct detail with mine. This is like the number one thing that people are just what attributes do I fill out? There's just so many and some of them are useless, but like what's important. So now that with 5.0, I think it's only going to get better and better, Walmart's going to keep showing even more information on how to utilize it, but with this it enables you to actually see more attributes that were previously only restricted to one fee, which is interesting, as well as which attributes they recommend that you do fill out in order to rank better. So how does it impact your rank? I think this is like leaning into that Walmart's actually trying to not necessarily focus so much on the. You know, obviously, conversion rate is the number one driver of rank right now, but they want to have attributes actually have a bigger impact on your rank, because discoverability to them is something that's so important. So if you have like a very specified search, they want to be able to show your product, not just because of your relevancy from keywords, but also your relevancy due to attributes. So that's why it's so important to fill them out.

David:

I want to sort of tip about Amazon Fill out every attribute you can, even if it's just as N/A as long as that's an option, obviously or just type in something basic, even though it's not applicable to your product, just so that you have everything filled out. If anyone ever comes searching for you, you have literally all the information you need there. It might take you some extra time, but it's totally worth it because you're then setting yourself up for future success. It also limits the ability for someone to hijack your listing with content rights issues. Someone could just put your listing in and they could fill out one attribute and now all of a sudden, your listing's content rights restricted for that one thing which could be some miscellaneous attribute. So there is the opportunities for you as a seller and also opportunity for people that might want to try to harm you. Not recommended. But there is so much happening with Item Spec 5.0 and I'm excited to see the great impact because it is it is slowly rolling out for a lot of sellers. It's not fully live for everyone. We're able to see from the UI if there's like an add items or update items feature. You can see from your items page. You'll know if you're like in 4.0 or if you're still in a Harfian 5.0. So a lot of cool stuff there and excited to see what comes.

Carrie Miller:

So if you download it and still in the 4.0, do you just write a case to ask to get the Item Spec 5.0? Is that?

David:

I don't think they're going to help you with that. I don't think so. I think it's just going to like they'll just tell you like they might not even know what they're talking about, honestly, in that case, but they'll also just say it’s rolling out. You’ll get it when you get it.

Carrie Miller:

Okay.

David:

Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't push for you to ask your Sam If you have a Sam, maybe it's worth off to pick it up to them but oftentimes they'll also just say, you know, you're you'll get it in in September, you know. Hopefully everyone gets this sooner than later.

Carrie Miller:

Definitely. Um, somebody in the comments said that the drop downs in spec 5.0 are not working. I don't know if you have any. Have you had any any experience with that, with the drop downs not working or kind of some glitches with this, with the spec sheets?

David:

Interesting. So the drop downs are possibly for if it's great, look, if it's grayed out, is that what it is? It's something that's grayed out. But if it's grayed out it's not relevant to that product type. And is this specifically in a flat file? Because you'll notice when you go to edit an item and through, like the item page, it will. It will be a whole new layout. It's going to look a lot cleaner, a lot newer and instead of having three different tabs, it's all going to be on one page going down. Are you experiencing the same issues there? There are definitely issues and actually as of today, if you log into SolidSign, you'll see a line on top that says there's issues with files right now. So they are having some issues right now as a whole Walmart, so don't go crazy on them If it's still not working in a couple of days and once that banner goes away, that's something to definitely want to take a look at. See if it's something with the flat file, see if you're able to manually edit it. In that case, I definitely suggest opening a case. But I was just working on a file earlier this week and it seemed to be working just fine.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so I'm going gonna go in straight to the questions. We've got a lot of questions up here, so I'm excited about this, a lot of good interaction here. So the first one is we have brands A and B already on Walmart but would like to test B without setting up another account. Can we test list these, these products, on existing account that belongs to A? So I guess like testing products on different.

David:

Yeah, yeah, I mean there's, there's absolutely no issue with that, the only thing that you might consider is that it's going to say sold on ship by the store name. So if it's brand A, as long as you're okay with saying like brand B product is being sold on the ship by brand A, like that might be something to consider but there's no issue. But another thing you might want to consider is that if you eventually want to have an account added for brand B, it's a bit of a pain to have to transfer the content rights from account one to account B, but it is possible. If you set up brand portal for brand B on account A, I don't recommend that. You're kind of setting yourself up for future failure. But unless you plan to run everything through one account. We've actually worked with a lot of aggregators unless you plan to run everything through one account, we've actually worked with a lot of aggregators and at first a lot of them had one brand, like one account per brand, and they realized it was just such a disaster. Also think of it from like Walmart's perspective like they don't track accounts together, they don't really group them together, so they treat them as like 10 different accounts and it was just too hard for them to deal with Walmart. Too hard for them, like they would have access to beta programs in some accounts but not others, so it actually consolidated all to one account. It can become a little bit of like a billing issue if you have, like, different legal entities, but I would recommend sticking to one account unless you have a fear of really like getting suspended. But I would just recommend staying clear of doing anything that would get you in that in the first place.

Carrie Miller:

The next question is about the best way to bring reviews from Shopify or Amazon, if that's allowed.

David:

This is a good question. So there's a few options here. So, firstly, you're not allowed to bring in reviews from Amazon. Amazon officially, according to the terms of service, they own their reviews. You're not allowed to bring them to Walmart. Walmart actually won't even allow you to upload them. Back in the day, you'd be able to get away with it even though it wasn't recommended, but these days you cannot do that. You can, however, bring in organic reviews from Shopify and as well as from other sites as well, just not Amazon specifically. So there is a free version through Walmart. You just go to reviewsindicationwalmart.com. You'll be able to sign up for it. You can work with your Sam to get access to. It is through a company called Aspective. I believe Walmart purchase them. There are other tools as well, like there's the Yotpo, which officially does it. There's also Bizarre Voice, which, if you're like a bigger brand, I want to go that route because it's in the case to many, many platforms. But for most of like Amazon sellers, I find this just very expensive for what you're looking for. So I would just check out again that reviews indication the online economy. You can also message them if you have any questions. Just reviewsindication at Walmart.com, we'll go to them.

Carrie Miller:

All right. So the next one kind of goes with it, and it's about you know, is there a fine program on Walmart. So what is the similar program on Walmart?

David:

Right. So, Walmart does have what they call the review accelerator program. There is a requirement in order to get into it, which is you do have to have a sale. Recently they did change some things up. It used to be limited to five reviews, now it's up to 10 reviews, and if you work with a service provider. I believe it's up to 20. It's available through growth opportunities. They charge $10 per review. They recently changed the specifics of the program so I don't want to misspeak over here, but if you look in you can see the exact details of like. Walmart is great with their guides, like their guides are amazing and they're typically up to date. Just click on the guides you can read through, like the whole program. But growth opportunities reviews indication, I'm sorry review accelerator program that will give you what you're looking for and you can enroll products. There's even something cool which they say is there, but I've never actually seen it’s something called a pre-purchase. So post-purchase is very common, where someone purchases your product. Walmart will accept the buy and then give them a $3 credit to leave a review, you're not guaranteed to get a five-star review. Just keep that in mind. You could get a one-star review through the review accelerator program, but there's something called a pre-purchase, which I'm not sure when it's going to be enabled, but this actually will allow you to discount an item on Walmart in order to get a review up to 100% off. I've never seen it, but it's something that does exist in.

Carrie Miller:

Wow.

David:

You can see an option for this. You can enroll your items.

Carrie Miller:

The next question is is SellCord able to get my Walmart account access to a Sam? Strategic account manager is a Sam. For anyone who doesn't know.

David:

Right. For sure, we can definitely help with that. We work directly with Walmart. We have our own like agency level Sam and we work with them to in order to get a Sam through Walmart. Also, depending on what category and we work with a lot of categories we can even just reach out directly to other Sam's to try and get someone approved. They typically expect you to have good sales somewhere. We've seen randomly accounts get assigned to Sam. Walmart's trying to do like as much as they can, even for the lower end accounts, but for like. If you're like a smaller account, Walmart might not necessarily go for it, but if you could prove like sales to them, either from Amazon or from like another website, that's kind of the best way to get it. But we've had a lot of success with that. If you guys, if you want to reach out, we could definitely give that a shot.

Carrie Miller:

All right, here's kind of a follow-up with. The other question Is Flash Deals, are Flash Deals offered to brand owners only?

David:

No, you know, it's not restricted. Actually, here's a little fun, little fun fact there's sponsored brand ads, which is actually exclusive to brand owners right through advertising. You're not allowed to do if you sell, if you resell. But there's actually something called sponsored product, sponsored brand, like Flash Deals, which you can use, instead of having like the brand logo, to say flash deals and you can list your items that you're reselling. It's exclusively managed through Walmart you have to work with, like your product manager, but you can definitely run Flash Deals on items that you do not own the brand for.

Carrie Miller:

Someone asked where do I download or where do you download spec 5.0 from?

David:

It will either be on your account or not when you go to your items page to go ahead and make updates so you have like you have like on the top right Like add items or manage items. You'll just see from there it'll be a little bit of a different UI. Things will look a little bit different than they were before. Previous, it was like it would give you by template. You could update it by category or by g10 match now, just as like by g10 match or like by product or product, something like that. And if you click on like, do by g10 match that's my favorite to do it g10 match, just throwing all your g10s in there and just export the file and you'll see the name of the file will say 5.0, or we'll say something like 4.5.

Carrie Miller:

Here's another question, should our brand prioritize matching Amazon's prices on Walmart or focus on offering flash deals?

David:

Wow, this is, that's a great question. So, uh, I want to touch on this earlier with. I just want to talk about couponing, which I think would be something that also a long conversation, generally speaking, for most of you. Amazon is your main business and you shouldn't jeopardize your main business because of Amazon. If you're listing on Amazon is bringing in so much more than Walmart you don't want to risk losing your business there. We have found that Amazon is a little slow sometimes to catch price differences. We've been able to run a 10% flash deals for a week and actually be cheaper than Amazon, and the price on Amazon will. We won't lose the buy box and Amazon won't catch up. What I would just recommend is if you could get away with it for as long as you could and let's say Amazon does give you problems. Just quickly change your price on Amazon, just you got a monitor you gotta be on top of your game. What's cool is that coupons, which is also a beta program, is the only way, as of today, they able to actually offer a cheaper price on Walmart than on Amazon without having to lower your Amazon price at all. So there's a lot of strategy around that you could. Also, if you have a Sam, you can work with your Sam to be like, let's say, you want to get into a bigger program where they request like a 30% discount. You could do like 10% strike through and then a 20% coupon. They'll work with you and because they understand the Walmart damage on Walmart issue, I think that's the biggest issue Walmart's trying to deal with is how do you get a promo on Walmart without impacting Amazon? That's why Walmart loves Walmart-only sellers. They love these guys. They don't care about their Amazon, they're all invested in Walmart and there is maybe a strategy to having a Walmart-specific catalog. If you have a lot of different products develop bundles or even go back to virtual packs. Play around with things and see what you can do to differentiate your Walmart from your Amazon listings. There's also you could have a different UPC that you use on Walmart versus Amazon. I'm not sure that's going to last forever, but it does. It is a good way to keep Amazon from price matching your items.

Carrie Miller:

Let's see the next question here. Once copy is set up, products are properly categories and PPC is running, other than those two and those three tasks, what? What are other daily, weekly, monthly tasks that SellCord would do to make my Walmart business successful? What could a new customer expect to see SellCord to be working on every month in their account?

David:

So it's not just the copy on the categorization, there's also attributes. You know it's played a very big role, kind of spoke about, especially with items spec 5.0. And then PPC is really it's not a set end and forget. It's set up with Walmart. You know you want to make sure that you're constantly, you know, revisiting PPC, checking in daily, seeing how things are going, what's doing better, what's doing worse, especially at launch. It's so important to be tweaking things, you know. You see, we didn't really talk PPC strategy much, but learning what's happening, especially if you're new to Walmart, you can't just expect things to be a certain way. Every account, every listing has its own history, which is just so complex. It makes things so much fun just to be able to learn within each account. There's also constant work that you can do just to see like copy as well. It's not a set and I forget it situation. You want to test something out. You want to learn more keywords and implement them into your copy. You want to try out different categories, different product types, to see if you can succeed in different areas as well. There's also just working with brands to discuss promotion strategies, to just continuously work and figure things out. There's also constant audits you have to do on your listings.

David:

Walmart is like I'm not going to say notorious. It doesn't sound nice, but your images could just revert back. Your variation could split up your copy. If you have multiple paragraphs, it's squished into one paragraph. These things happen all the time. There's constant audits that you have to do just to make sure your things are, your content is good, and then it's just about primarily utilizing PPC as well as just promotional strategies to grow and grow, and there's also a lot of tracking information you know you have many items you want to be able to see. Let's say, keyword tracking. You know how. Am I ranking for my main keywords? Am I doing well overall? Is there more opportunity? Do I need to go more aggressively? Because even in ads like, are you ROAS focused or are you trying to just grow general sales? There's so much to go, depending on your strategy, Just like we deal with many, many different size accounts. We deal with accounts that are doing literally $5,000,10,000 a month. And then there's also nine figure Walmart sellers. You know that are PPC isn't necessarily their larger thing. It's about like having a strong pricing strategy because they have to win by $1. And then, not even having big margins, they just have to just make units sell. So so many different strategies depending on the count types.

Carrie Miller:

All right. Last question what program is best for keywords on Walmart and for optimizing your listing in general?

David:

Okay, so I'm a little biased over here, folks. So obviously Helium 10 is a fantastic tool for any keyword research. I live in Cerebro and Magnet. The fact that they're available for Walmart, I love it. It shows you. I mean, the amount of data that's in there is just fascinating. You can learn immediately what your top keywords are for your product. They have a search volume which is so impactful. It shows you historical so you can see, since it's seasonality, you can see one was this product doing well. It gives you the past, like two years or something like that's great. It'll really show you like where and when you can expect to do well. You also have to do the work you can't just like go here's everything. Do the work, make sure you're not hitting branded keywords, make sure they're relevant to your product, obviously. But it is really solid in terms of just keyword research, very, very highly recommended. In terms of optimization auger listings program-wise. I am also biased here, but that's just because this is what we do. We do listing optimization as a company, so obviously I'm going to plug SellCord, Carrie does Helium 10 have some sort of like AI tool to optimize listings for Walmart.

Carrie Miller:

So we do. We have a Listing Builder and as you, basically, you put the keywords in a keyword bank and then, as you write them into your listing, they get crossed off, so you make sure that they're fully optimized. So yeah, we have a Listing Builder that will help you to optimize using the keywords you find with Cerebro for Walmart.

David:

I'm sure it's fantastic. I mean, obviously we have a self core strategy, but I mean you guys make amazing tools. Definitely give it a shot.

Carrie Miller:

All right, that's all we have. Thank you so much, David, for answering all those questions. We had a lot of great questions, and definitely David's the you know the best to ask all these amazing questions too. So thank you so much, David, for being on. And again, if you are interested in SellCord, David, can you say your email address and how they can get in contact with you again?

David:

For sure. You can send us an email to david@sellcord.com S-E-L-L-C-O-R-D.com. You can do info@sellcord.com. If you want just more general, hit us up. Visit our website. Sign up over there. There's a lot to talk about.

Carrie Miller:

All right, sounds good. Thank you everyone for joining and we hope you have a great rest of the day. Bye, everyone.

View Details

Do you want to outperform your competition on Amazon Prime Day 2024? Join us as we explore cutting-edge Amazon PPC strategies with the esteemed Destaney Wishon of BTR Media, who shares her expert predictions and actionable insights to help you skyrocket your Amazon advertising game. With Prime Day 2023 setting a new benchmark at $12.7 billion in sales, we decode consumer behavior shifts and the unique opportunities presented by this mid-year retail extravaganza, differentiating it from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Our discussion dives deep into the art of managing Amazon ads around Prime Day, emphasizing the importance of defining your primary goal—be it maximizing profit or driving sales. We also unpack the extended attribution window's impact on ad spend, conversion rates, and ACoS. From the advantages of increased pre-event ad spend to capture window-shopping customers to the phenomenal conversion rates during Prime Day itself, we provide a holistic view of how to capitalize on this massive sales event. Destaney’s insights reveal the significance of targeted ad strategies in enhancing your organic rank and BSR, alongside the long-term benefits of acquiring new customers.

Get ready to maximize your Prime Day advertising efforts with practical advice on Adtomic Day Parting Schedules. Learn how to control CPCs and optimize conversion rates during peak traffic times, identify high-performing search terms, and strategically adjust bids. We also tackle the challenges of regaining momentum post-stockout, realistic budgeting, and leveraging coupons to boost conversion rates. As we navigate the new pricing rules and the competitive landscape with events like Walmart Plus Week, we arm you with strategies to ensure your brand is well-prepared. Whether you're a seasoned Amazon seller or a new brand, this episode is packed with invaluable tips to help you make the most of Prime Day 2024.

In episode 576 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

01:22 - Amazon PPC Readiness for Prime Day
04:20 - Prime Day Impact on Shopping Habits
08:56 - Amazon Prime Day Advertising Strategies
13:23 - Maximizing Sales Opportunities Beyond Prime Day
19:29 - Prime Day PPC Optimization Strategies
21:00 - Optimizing PPC Strategy for Prime Day
27:18 - Maximizing Creative Impact in Ads
32:06 - Prime Day PPC Strategy and Sales
35:48 - Maximizing Sales Strategy for Prime Day
36:42 - Price Matching and Marketplace Strategies
39:15 - PPC Spend Strategy for Prime Day

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

We continue in our series and helping you guys get ready for Amazon Prime Day 2024 with a special Tacos Tuesday episode with best practices for advertising, not just on Prime Day, but before it and after it. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week.Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic any level in the e-commerce world.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is completely bs free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in e-commerce world. Welcome to a very special edition of Tacos Tuesday. If you guys have noticed, for the last few weeks on, like the podcast and other live streams, we have been focusing on Prime Day readiness. We wanted to make sure that 2024 is your best Prime Day and today we wanted to go deep in specifically talking about Prime Day readiness for PPC. All right, because that’s one of the things that you can still kind of like control up until the day of Prime Day. So that's why we've invited the number one expert in the entire world on Amazon PPC Destaney Wishon here. Destiny, how's it going? Welcome back.

Destaney:

Hello, hello. Thank you so much for having me very excited to be here, as always.

Bradley Sutton:

Before we get into your training here, do you have any predictions for Prime Day. Like, are you expecting things to be just kind of like normal, business as usual? Are you expecting anything new and unusual this year?

Destaney:

I am going to predict that this year is going to be even bigger than last year, which is saying something, because I distinctly remember being up at like 4 am having to adjust budgets last year because everyone was expecting it to be a little bit lower, just due to the state of economy and kind of where we were at with inflation. And it was 9 am and we're like out of budget across the board and conversion rates were double what they were the two weeks prior. So, I was like you know, we're driving a ton of sales, our ROAS looks fantastic, let's maximize this. So, I'm expecting it to kind of see a similar trend and be pretty big this year.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. I hope that that prediction comes true. Share it. All right, I'm going to go off screen and let you go ahead and take it away. Destaney, that prediction comes true, share it. All right, I'm going to go off screen and let you go ahead and take it away, Destaney.

Destaney:

I think when it comes to inventory and deals and content, it's a little bit more of a one size fits all solution. But when it comes to Amazon advertising and Prime Day, there are hundreds of different strategies that you can run depending on where your brand's at from a profitability perspective, from a cash flow and a lifestyle perspective when it comes to repurchasing, inventory and things like that. That's going to influence your Amazon advertising strategy. So, I've always been a big fan of not giving one size fits all solutions. I think everyone who follows me is very familiar with that, and this is no different. Some people are going to go online and say do not increase your budgets, do not change your bids. And some people are going to say, to maximize that opportunity, but it's going to be really dependent on where your brands at. So, kicking things off, let's talk about Prime Day 2023 and why these matters.

Destaney:

$12.7 billion in sales. It was an absolute record for their largest annual event 375 million items sold. 37% of US households took part in Prime Day. That is really important. And also consider how many people share accounts you know grandparents, cousins, things like that so it's probably even higher. For being honest, the reason this matter is last year was the largest single sales day in all of Amazon history, and the reason I'm calling this out is because, as customers become more and more familiar with Prime Day, it's changing their shopping habits. For one, everyone knows that the first two to three weeks leading up to Prime Day you log into your app, it's the first thing you see. Right, they do a homepage takeover, letting you know it's Prime Day. They're also starting to drip out Prime Day deals. Now what this means is customers are going to stop their normal purchase habits. If I buy Tide Pods once a month on a Thursday, I'm probably going to hold off on buying my Tide Pods until Prime Day. If I have back to school items that I want to purchase, I'm going to hold off on buying those until Prime Day. Now the problem is customers are still shopping, they're still opening the app and they're clicking around, but they're not always purchasing. This is important to call out because the two weeks leading up to Prime Day and really the week before leading up to Prime Day, you're almost always going to see a drop-in conversion rate. Customers are still shopping, they're on the platform, they are clicking, they're adding to cart and they're building their list, but they're not checking out until Prime Day. So that's really important to consider.

Destaney:

The second part to consider is think about Black Friday, Cyber Monday. Everybody knows what time of year Black Friday, Cyber Monday, is and everyone builds their baskets beforehand. You know they get the magazines for Walmart and for Target. They circle all of the items they want to buy. The difference is those items are holiday specific. The consumer habits are still similar, but the items are different.

Prime day is smack dab in the middle of summer. People aren't necessarily buying their Christmas gifts yet. They're buying all kinds of gifts and they don't necessarily have specific items going into it. I, for example, will hop onto the Lightning Dill app and get caught up in all the excitement and the craze and just scroll until I find products that I want. So naturally, due to the flooding of customers on the platform, everyone is getting increased visibility. I think that's the biggest thing to consider. So, whether you have deals or whether you don't have deals, you're probably still going to see an increased visibility, but Prime Day is synonymous with savings. So, if you don't have a deal and you don't have a badge, you may not get that visibility.

Destaney:

Now another small screenshot I added here is from one of our accounts. Last year we had 101 campaigns almost out of budget. This is not due to Amazon trying to spend more money on Prime Day. This is just due to the nature of how the auction works. When you have five times, 10 times as many customers on the platform clicking around, your ads are going to get clicked more, and the more clicks you get, the more you spend. So, the more your budget's going to be spent. This is why the first level of optimization is almost to increase your budgets, because we know there's going to be so many more customers on the platform. They're going to be clicking so much more because they're shopping around. So, increase your budgets and we're going to dive into that optimization later.

Destaney:

But I thought it was really important to set that context and understanding just how many customers are on the platform during Prime Day and how that trickles down to your brand, whether or not you participate. Now there's kind of three important things to consider. You have lead-in Prime Day, lead-out, Prime Day either or. And why this matters is because the week before Prime Day is historically some of the worst performance you will ever see when it comes to Amazon advertising on the platform. Why? Well, as we mentioned, customers are still shopping. They may not be purchasing, but they are window shopping. Lead in period is really important because, again, people are logging onto a platform and they're starting to add to cart. They're starting to build their list for the products that they may want to purchase. This is important to understand because you can make your optimizations as early as 10 days prior or 14 days prior, and you need to optimize towards what you're wanting your outcome to be. So, if your only goal is profitability, then you should probably lower your budgets the week before. On the flip side, if your goal is maximizing sales and understanding consumer habits, you'll start to realize that those customers are adding to cart and clicking, so you probably still want to continue to run ads there, even though they're not purchasing.

Destaney:

Yet we all know that attribution is extended on Amazon. The majority of the time, it's a 14-day attribution, sometimes longer. What's happening here is the customers are going to add to cart and click on your ads, but they may not purchase until later. So, your clicks and your spend are going to be much higher and your sales are going to be much lower. At its simplest, conversion rate is going to be down because people are clicking and not buying, and a cost is going to be up. People are clicking and not buying, so some people will just say you know, it's fine, let's continue running my ads full speed ahead, knowing it's going to pay off later. That's typically what we recommend our brands do, but some people who are only focused on profitability that is it. They don't necessarily care about the Prime Day customer because they know they're too price conscious. They're going to lower their bids and budgets the seven to 10 days before Prime Day because they don't want to attract the customer who's not going to convert until later on. So, keep that in mind. The second thing to keep in mind is that there is a lead out period, which pretty much means that a lot of shoppers are going to continue to stay on the platform after Prime Day. As we know, Prime Day has now been extended to almost Prime Week and when you have Walmart and Target and every other major retailer running these discounted days and deals, you're going to see a much longer timeframe. So, we've actually seen the week after Prime Day have some of the highest conversion rates because shoppers are still ready to buy, but some of the lower CPCs because most advertisers actually pull back on their budgets after Prime Day. So, lead-out's another really big opportunity for brands. So, keep these things in mind as you're building out your strategy.

Destaney:

Here's just some kind of quick insights that I pulled from our personal accounts. As you can see the timeframe here impressions are definitely relatively high before Prime Day. Prime Day one last year was insane. It was one of the craziest days I've ever managed. Truly Before 9am we had blown through most of our budgets because there were that many people on the platform, I honestly kind of put the brakes on quite a few of our brands because I was worried that it was an attribution issue. But at the end of the day our conversion rate was about 2x 3x what it was on normal days during the beginning of Prime Day morning. You can also see the day after Prime Day there's definitely a drop off. This is influenced by the majority of our brands run deals, but impressions still stayed relatively high or back to average kind of a week afterwards, spend is the same thing.

Destaney:

So again, our brands we recommend continuing to spend at a higher-than-average pace leading up to prime day, because we understand customers are window shopping, so we want to go ahead and catch their eyeballs before the day even hits. We want to stand out, so we personally increase our spend for the majority of our brands. Now, again, if a brand comes to us and says, hey, my only goal is a cost, my only goal is profit, then we're going to pull back on spend the week prior. But that is a decision that needs to be made at the brand level, not the agency or software level. So, knowing all of this, I think, before we dive into some really specific strategies around how you manage your ads, from an ad type, from a bid, from a budget perspective, you really need to decide is your goal on Prime Day to maximize profit? Is that your only focus, yes or no? The second thing is do you want to maximize sales? Now, a lot of people argue of you know a Prime Day audience isn't the best, it's, you know cheaper, it's discounted audience. They're not actually looking for your product, they just want a discount and save money. But at the end of the day.

Destaney:

We've seen some two really strong effects from Prime Day. One, when ran appropriately, in an incredibly targeted way, you can take advantage of the heightened conversion rate on Prime Day and 100% improve your BSR and your organic rank on the page. We have run multiple tests with that. The second question I always get well, does your organic rank stick? Yes, if it's ran strategically in a very precise way. So, for us, we do like to maximize our presence on Prime Day because we know it's an opportunity to improve our presence on page one and improve our organic rank because our conversion rate is higher than our competitors. That's something really important to remember.

Destaney:

The second part to remember is, as we saw earlier, around 40% of households are participating, so think of all of the new eyeballs you can get in front of. So, anyone who has a product that's purchased more than once whether it's a supplement that's repeat purchased, or whether it's a brand that has multiple products, like fitness gear Prime Day is a huge opportunity to get in front of a very warm audience that's ready to buy. So sometimes you can bring them into your brand and then they'll come back post Prime Day to purchase your other products. So those are things to consider when you're deciding. You know, is your goal to maximize product profit and just take advantage of the wave of traffic and do nothing, or do you want to maximize sales and build on all these other opportunities and make sure that you're investing in a much longer-term strategy than just Prime Day? Once you know those two, you can start optimizing beyond that. So, for all of those here that their main goal is maximizing profit, there's kind of a few things that we want to look at here.

Destaney:

One bid management. We don't recommend making aggressive changes to your bids. In general, we see that brands who do not run any deals and are only focused on profitability will maintain around the same ACOS or ROAS. Sometimes it improves if they're in a category that does well during Prime Day. Sometimes it's worse because they didn't run any discounts and all their competitors did so. Now their conversion rates decreased. The traffic's going to your competitors and not you. If you're not running any deals, we do typically see a lower conversion rate. So, we sometimes recommend going ahead and lowering your bids a little bit, maybe 5% to 10% across the board, because customers are going to continue to click but not purchase, and again, this is because maybe your competitors are running heavy discounts and deals. If your competitors are running heavy discounts and deals and someone types in toothpaste and you're the only one not running a deal, you're not going to drive sales and you're going to have a lower conversion rate than everyone else. So, keep these things in mind. Lead-in is another strategy where maybe you need to lower your bids and budgets because your ads are not going to perform well leading up. Right, you can't sacrifice the increase in ACOS leading up because you're not going to drive sales on Prime Day without deals or discounts.

Destaney:

Budget management's another really big one. At the end of the day, if you don't run deals or discounts and your category is known for deals and discounts, you're going to perform worse. So maybe it's worth decreasing your budget on everything that is not in line with your performance expectations. So the two easiest ways to do this are just go into Ad Console or Campaign Manager or, if you're using Adtomic, you can easily make adjustments throughout there and look at your targeting tab in Ad Console or the search term tab in Adtomic, which is the better tab to look at, and you can filter by everything that has an ACOS that is not in line with your expectations the last 30 days and go ahead and decrease that bid, knowing it's probably going to perform even worse on Prime Day, right, and it's not always a drastic difference, but it's usually enough to make a difference. Same thing with your budgets. Maybe you leave your budgets or you decrease your budget slightly on everything that has over 100% ACOS, right, Everything that's just out of line.

Destaney:

Go ahead and decrease, and what's going to happen is you're going to optimize towards a little bit more profitability. You're going to get a lot more customers viewing your listing. Naturally, usually you know anywhere from 10% to 20% if you don't run deals or discounts. So, you're still going to drive more sales, but you're going to do it without advertising a ton. So, you're going to usually have a much higher profit on these days if you run this style of strategy. Again, the downside to this is, if all of your competitors are running deals and discounts, their conversion rate is going to be higher. They're going to drive three to four times the amount of sales as you and, as we know, the digital shelf is not unlimited. So, if they're doing much, much better and their organic ranks pushing up, yours is going to be pushing down on the page and that can be hard to make up for unless you're doing a ton externally or have other plans right outside of Prime Day. So, keep those things in mind.

Destaney:

Now the second half of the strategy maximizing sales is where we're going to have a lot more very specific strategic recommendation. If you're not running deals, you can still expect a lower conversion rate, but across the board, what you really want to look at is increasing budget. That's the first and foremost way to maximize sales. Everything, all of your campaigns that have a ROAS or ACOS within your target, go ahead and increase your budget 20 to 30% and what's going to happen is, again, your organic sales are going to increase. So, if you're also increasing your ad sales and your ad spend with an increased budget, your tacos is typically going to stay close to the same, but you're seeing an overall sales increase. So, your overall profit's going to increase just due to economies of scale. So that's kind of the first thing that we look at is making sure everything converting really well, everything within a cost of a row, as we're increasing our budget on. The next thing we do is increase bids that are in a similar situation, but we're a little bit more strategic on this. Again, I'll open up my search term tab and I'll say, hey, my average conversion rate for my account is 12%, but these five keywords that are my most important keywords they're converting at a 20%. Let's go ahead and increase my bids on those, because I want to drive as much traffic as possible to those precise keywords that are going to improve my organic rank as well as improve my overall performance if my conversion rates higher. The next thing we're going to do is we're going to be very strategic with our campaign creation, and that's what we're going to get into in our next few slides. We're going to create campaigns that are specifically focused on maximizing visibility.

Destaney:

A really quick pro tip and I'm only calling this out is because Prime Day traffic comes in waves. We typically see the morning of the first day of Prime Day as one of the highest. You can use Atomic Day Parting Schedules. So, if you're nervous to go in and just increase bids and budgets 24 hours because you don't know what performance is going to look like, you can use Adtomic Day Parting Schedules to choose those certain time frames where you can actually see your conversion rates higher and your CPCs are lower. So, we all know that your conversion rate does fluctuate throughout the day. You can use something like the day parting schedules to build out rules throughout the day if you want to balance that line of profitability and sales. So, keep that in mind, All right.

Destaney:

So, leveraging the search term tab this is a really quick screenshot pulled directly from Atomic that I wanted to shout out because it's one of the best ways to have a lot of control. So, a lot of people will go to every single campaign and add a crazy placement modifier, increase sales or top of search by 100%, increase budgets. But that's not very strategic because you're going to have some search terms that don't do well, some that do well. So, if you pull Adtomic, you can leverage the search term tab. If you're an ad console, it's the targeting tab and you can filter top down by spend. I'm a really big believer of operational efficiency and 80-20. So, I almost always go top down by spend efficiency and 80-20. So, I almost always go top down by spend.

Destaney:

What I am personally looking for are the terms where my conversion rate and click-through rate that's another good metric to look at is higher than average. So, as you know, we can pull our category average from insights and planning tab. More on that probably later when we hop into Q&A. But you can also pull it from your account average. So maybe your account average again is 8%. So, what I'm really looking for here are there any terms that have insane conversion rate that I know is better than the category? If so, you can assume that during Prime Day it's going to perform even better. So, I'm going to go control my bid and increase my bid on all of those terms, especially if my ACOS is lower than what my target is. This specific account does have a 30% average ACOS, as you can see here. That is our target. So, I'm probably going to increase performance on these terms. But if I see a term that's performing less than our average maybe it this 3% and 8% and it's not a strategy that the brand wants to run, I'm going to pull back my bids, right, Unless I'm running a dealer discount. This is a way that really helps improve your total sales and your organic rank while still maintaining some of that level of profitability. What you don't want to do is spend a ton of money on a term that has a terrible conversion rate. All that's going to do is hurt your organic rank because Amazon wants the products that are converting the best at the top of the page. So, keep that in mind when you're running your bid magic and be a little bit more strategic around these increases and decreases during Prime Day.

Destaney:

The second thing we want to do is if we're running deals or discounts, this is even more so. We want to create a couple of campaigns focused on winning top of search. Now, Bradley and I have talked quite a bit about this area and whether or not to use high bids or whether or not to use placement modifiers, but for Prime Day specifically, especially if we have a deal badge on our ad, we create campaigns for the top of the page. The reason being is, as we know, customers are looking for deal badging and the best place to see that deal badging is the number one slot on the page. Now, most people can't afford to win this 100% of the time. It's just incredibly expensive. In the supplement space it would cost you around $90,000 in spend to win one keyword over 80% impression share $90,000. And this was last year. So, this is why we create separate campaigns is because we don't want to compete with all of our other campaigns that are focused on profitability.

Destaney:

We create one to two campaigns for one to two top keywords that convert better than anything. Profitability we create one to two campaigns for one to two top keywords that convert better than anything else and our one to two keywords that we want to improve our organic rank on and we're going to set insanely high bids and probably put also a top of search modifier on it. And when I say insanely high bids, people always think it's three to four dollars. No, that is not going to compete during Prime Day, especially not in a competitive market. For some of our campaigns where we only want to win top of search, we don't care what the return on ad spend is during that timeframe, because people repeat purchase or because we have a good deal. I'm talking $10 to $15 bids or in the supplement space it's $40 to $50 bids. That is the kind of bid that is often needed in competitive categories on Amazon. And again, why we do this is because our conversion rate is so much higher with our deal. We drive so much traffic because of our deal badging that our organic performance will improve and stick for the next four to six to eight weeks. And if we continue to maintain that high and heightened level of traffic, organic rank will stick the whole time.

Destaney:

So, we don't do this with all of our campaigns. We don't do this with every keyword. We cannot afford it, we would hemorrhage money. But we create one to two campaigns with one to two keywords and we set a budget that we can control in order to piggyback off of that conversion rate and those sales. So, think very strategically around this what keywords in your account are you converting better than everyone else? What keywords can you afford to win top of search on and create some of these campaigns so that way you can start improving your organic positioning on the page through PPC during Prime Day. Another quick thing to note is when you create your campaign, put top of search, put Prime Day in the campaign name or whatever you need to see, so that way when you see a poor ACOS or poor ROAS you don't pause it, because that's not the objective of the campaign. The campaign is to improve your BSR and to improve your organic positioning, not to drive profitability. So that's kind of a really quick tip and we'll probably talk more on that in the Q&A section.

Destaney:

The next thing that's incredibly important is to consider how many people window shop on Prime Day. So more frequently than probably any other time of the year, customers are clicking around sponsored display almost always does really well during prime day because this positioning on the page is really valuable. So, what we do is we create really specific sponsored display product targeting ads where we only target all of our own products and we run these with the increased budget on prime day. And we run these with an increased budget on Prime Day because we know that customers are less loyal. Now it can be argued how much brand defense campaigns you should run throughout the year and I have some good data to kind of back into those areas but during Prime Day I'm of the opinion that customers are less brand loyal. They're looking for deals, they're looking for discounts. So, make sure to protect your listing, especially if you have a deal. If you have a deal, the last thing you want them to do is land on your page, see a better competitor ad and click out. So, we increase and run specific prime day targeting strategies for sponsored display. Don't throw in hundreds of products to target. Don't put expanded product targeting. Only target your own brand name to make sure you are defending your listing. Other sponsored display strategies we can talk about later whether or not it's audience targeting, category targeting or retargeting, but this is something that needs to be ran in almost every single account.

Destaney:

Profitability or scalability focused. Maximizing your creatives is another big one. So almost all headline search ads are being forced to move to a custom image regardless, but even more so on Prime Day. It's needed to maximize your creatives because you need to stand out on the page, and when there are hundreds of deals, hundreds of discounts, you need to stand out on the page, and when there are hundreds of deals, hundreds of discounts, you have to stand out by how you've built your brand. So, look at the differences in these two ads. They're both selling the same product, but one of them is way more eye-catching. The bottom one also will typically drive a 200% increase in click-through rate, which is incredibly, incredibly important, because as you're running these ads, everyone's running deals right. Almost everyone in your category is gonna run some level of dealer discount, so if you're not, you have to stand out.

Destaney:

Adding a lifestyle image is one of the number one way to improve the performance of your sponsor brand ad and your sponsor display ads. So go in there and get that done If you don't have the creative to make this happen, use Sponsored Brands AI Builder. Is it fantastic? No, not always. I said no really aggressively, but we actually have used it for a lot of brands. It's not always as fantastic as a professional shoot, but is it better than nothing? Yes, because even if it's a poor AI creative, you're not getting charged. A list of customer clicks. Sponsored brands ads are pay per click most of the time, right. So, get it up and running to bring eyeballs to your listing and then, if the customer is still interested, they will click on. So that is kind of the biggest thing that we recommend from a sponsored brand sponsored display ad perspective. Immediately get your lifestyle images uploaded.

Destaney:

The other thing we're going to discuss is creating remarketing campaigns. So, one thing that you have to consider is, again, 40% of households are on the platform. This is your opportunity to get your brand in front of hundreds of hundreds of thousands of customers. Now, some of them may not purchase. Some of them may look but not buy, as we know. So how do you take advantage of that traffic? The 30, 45, 60, 90 days after prime day, you create remarketing campaigns. You can create remarketing campaigns directly with an ad console with sponsored display. As you can see, there's a target added section here. Remove all of those targets. Amazon auto-populates some of them. Remove them. All you want to do is create a remarketing campaign within the look back window that you would prefer. Why this is so important is because if a customer was looking at your product during Prime Day, they are interested in it probably throughout the year, right? So, you're able to capture that customer ID and then serve them an ad 45 days later when maybe they're ready to repeat, purchase or buy a new one, right? This is a really valuable way to take advantage of all the traffic you're getting on Prime Day and monetize it later on throughout the year. If you run this same campaign within DSP, you can also get even more targeted. Within DSP, you can say hey, I want to go ahead and serve everyone an ad. Who viewed my page on Prime Day but did not purchase. Or who viewed my competitors but did not purchase, right? If I'm selling TVs, you don't want to continue serving someone an ad. If they already bought a TV, they probably don't need another one, maybe.

Destaney:

So, within DSP, you can set up and create that audience where you own that customer ID that viewed within your category and you can get really targeted of negating and or highlighting certain audiences. So, this is incredibly, incredibly important. If you're not a fan of DSP or if you have any concerns red flags you think it's terrible drop those concerns in the chat because I can answer them. Around. 90% of the time, DSP does not work because it's not ran appropriately or expectations weren't set or it was spent too much money without highlighting how granular you can get and, if that's the case, run sponsored display ads to dip your toes in and play around with getting really granular with your remarketing audience to take advantage of Prime Day traffic. Those are all the biggest things that we had here, so I wanted to leave it at that and then hopefully answer some of the follow-ups we had.

Bradley Sutton:

That was good. The main takeaway guys. I mean, there's tons of takeaways you guys should have, but I hope one of the main takeaways that maybe opened some of your eyes is that when we're talking Prime Day, PPC readiness, it's not just July 16 and 17 that you have to keep in mind. There's stuff you have to do before Prime Day PPC readiness. It's not just July 16 and 17 that you have to keep in mind. There's stuff you have to do before Prime Day. There are things that you have to keep in mind, like this last slide about after Prime Day. Prime Day has a big impact and it's outside of just two days, so just keep that in mind. If there's one takeaway, make sure you remember them. One question of somebody made about 10 minutes or so ago not necessarily about prime day, but it's especially important because of prime day coming up is she's been sold out a month and I've actually talked to some sellers like this. They're worried. Like prime day is coming back. Um, how do I regain my momentum? As far as you with PPC to make sure I'm okay for Prime Day, so what would you say to Paula?

Destaney:

Well, I think Prime Day is actually a fantastic time to launch if you can find out or carried away to stand out on the page. The biggest thing I would say is you almost need to restart your honeymoon period. I know this is more Bradley's area of expertise, but a lot of people will go out of stock and then come back into stock and expect to have the same BSR, same positioning on the page, same traffic as they did prior. That's almost never the case. From what we've seen, we see a huge drop in just organic positioning. So, the biggest thing is like setting expectations and making sure you're preparing your budget. When you come back into stocks, you're probably going to have to spend more money up front to make up for the sales volume that you did receive organically. Now, with it being Prime Day, I almost recommend at least having a coupon or something on your page to improve your conversion rate relative to your competitors and then just spending maybe a little bit heavier up front, knowing you're going to make up for that once your organic position goes back to normal.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, what else we have here? We've got, Gianna from. She says if I've paused keywords in the past, I've not performed well. Is it worth reactivating them with low bids during prime to generate visibility and perhaps sales, or is it better to leave them paused? Oh, that's a nice and juicy one right there.

Destaney:

I wouldn't say that they're gonna perform that much better on prime day, unless maybe you're a lot cheaper and you have a good you know deal badge or something along those lines. I would say why did you pause them instead of lowering your bids? Right, if they're absolutely converting terribly and you've got 50 clicks and no orders like, okay, that makes sense, pause it. But if they've driven any sales in the past, maybe you do start them with a really low bid just to see what can happen. But this is again drawing. If you're only focused on profitability, probably not. It's probably not conformed that much better out of the blue. But if you are focused on maximizing sales, maybe it is worth looking at. You know, last 90 days what keywords have driven an order, even if not profitably, and what should my bid be, knowing my conversion rate may be higher.

Bradley Sutton:

One quick question I have for you before I go back is I think one of the things differently this year is Amazon's new rules on like sale prices and coupons and things like that, where, hey, you've got to be lower, you can't just artificially raise your price and then. And then you know, like some people do, and then people see, oh my goodness, it's 60% off, but it's just because they raised the price by 60%. Now, that being said, obviously there's going to be some people who still game the system, maybe from variation, abuse or some black hat stuff. But one thing that I've found now is, you know, like me personally, what I would do in the past is I would still have some kind of sales discount before prime day a little bit, just to get some momentum going and maybe increase on my organic. But now I'm all of a sudden, I’m trigger shy because I'm like, oh shoot, whatever discount I do now, that's setting my, my baseline price for this month, which means I'm going to have to do it even bigger. Uh, you know discounts, even getting a coupon approved. So, has that new rule changed any of your strategy at all? Or? Um, are you doing less pre? Uh, prime day discounts um, or what's your strategy there?

Destaney:

Yeah, I would say, less pre-prime day discounts and or just being a lot more thoughtful around our overall pricing strategy. Because I think, like that's always, like the biggest complaint I see with Prime Day is some brands like, no, don't do anything, don't make any changes, it's not valuable. Everyone's looking for discounts and it's like, yeah, that is true, but also, as we discussed, you're getting in front of 40% of households in America. So, I think, just being a lot more strategic around the timing, also realizing that if you overlap high spend and PPC and steep discounts, you're not going to be making any money, so you better hope you make up for it with inflated conversion rate and improved organic rank. Another big factor I think is, as we're starting to see more with Walmart and other retailers and external influencers, is just price matching as well. It's making sure that you have price parity across all of your platforms and your discounts are lining up in a similar fashion.

Bradley Sutton:

That's actually important, because last year Walmart Plus Week was the same week as Prime Day, but then this year Walmart has two of them and they're both not on Prime Day. One was already last month and one, I think, is this week or next week or something. So, yeah, definitely what Destaney just said Keep in mind, guys, because if you could lose the buy box on one or other marketplace, if you're running discounts on one but not the other, Sydney says, alright, during Prime Day she's going to have a deal badge. But she's asking would you run an ad on a keyword that you already have your product organically ranked on the first page, or would you target keywords based on the conversion rate, regardless of organic ranking?

Destaney:

Great question. So, the line that I usually draw on my sand is if I'm ranked in the top four, then I'll pull back on PPC. That's kind of the line. Page one does not matter. In my opinion. 80% of click share goes to the number one carousel on the page, the top four, that's 80% of clicks go there. So even if you're ranked on page one but you're at the bottom of the page, you're not getting near as much visibility and you can be booted really quick. So, we typically say, hey, if we're in the top four, that's a great place to be. If I'm five through eight, sometimes that's okay as well. It really depends on the category. But you got to think as a customer. If you're shopping on mobile, you see a headline search ad, you see three sponsored product ads and then you see your four organically ranked, and then you have another sponsored ad carousel. So, a customer has to scroll quite a bit just to get to 10 to 50. So that's kind of the area that we see. Cannibalization starts happening when you're ranked in the top four and you're advertising in the top four. Other than that, you really don't need to worry about it too much. Maybe you lower your bids a little bit and you focus on that mid-point in the page. But yeah, good question.

Bradley Sutton:

Johnny says sponsor display as CPC or VCPM for protecting your own listings.

Destaney:

For protecting my own listings, I do recommend a CPC model. VCPM gets a little murky when it comes to attribution because it's quite a bit different, so I like just controlling my CPCs and only targeting the specific ASINs I want to target.

Bradley Sutton:

Danica says in order to maximize the sales, what percentage uplift or down of the PPC spend will you do in two weeks ahead of Prime Day, a week ahead on Prime Day, after the Prime Day?

Destaney:

Good question Really depends on ROAS and overall budget. If we're being honest, we have some brands that will do a 15% increase in spend for lead-in. So, we'll segment our campaigns that we want to increase. We know that performance is going to be terrible. We'll invest in DSP. We'll do a lot on the awareness side 15% to 20% heavy. Some brands that have a specific marketing budget will go even higher. But if it's like a traditional brand that's focused on tacos, ACOS, then we'll only increase 5% to 10% for lead-in. And then on Prime Day, again it really depends on budget because you can maximize your spend if you want to, but you got to make sure you're hitting sales targets. You spend if you want to, but you got to make sure you're hitting sales targets. Lead out, as mentioned, was stronger last year than we've ever seen it before. So, I believe our lift for lead out was around 12% the two weeks after.

Bradley Sutton:

Another good one here from Dion. He's, or she, is still in launch phase, so it's only been a little over a month since they created their listing, so he's not profitable. He's still trying to get that traction. Should he or she stay away from doing you know, prime Day activities and just keep going with his launch, or what is your suggestion there?

Destaney:

Honestly, as mentioned, I've seen multiple brands launch products on Prime Day and have an amazing head start because their traffic is so much better, even from a review positioning standpoint. If you can get 50 people to buy your product on Prime Day and 5% of them leave reviews, that's a really, really good start. If you don't have the money for it, then, yeah, probably stay away. But if you have enough reviews even in your launch phase to have a decent conversion rate, then it's a really big opportunity to get in front of a lot of customers. That's going to drive sales volume and increase your review count.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Last question of the day is any specific strategies for advertising listings with lightning deals.

Destaney:

Nothing too specific. You can create specific sponsor brand ads and shout out the deals in your headline. You can also. Usually what we've seen historically they change this frequently is if you run additional auto campaigns not necessarily additional, but if you have auto campaigns on the ASINs with lightning deals, they typically do win unique inventory on the page, whether it's frequently bought together, the lightning deals page on Amazon or other segments of like sponsored deals. So just make sure you have the maximum exposure we discussed

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so now, what homework do you have for everybody from now until next week? Again, like I said, guys, this is like the third, fourth, fifth thing in a row that we've been doing about prime days. We want to make sure you guys have the best prime day. What do you want people to do from now until next week? Uh, and then report back to you on when you come on.

Destaney:

I would say the biggest things are we released a prime day checklist which covers things outside of amazon advertising as well, so I would 100% check that out. The second thing I would do is really define is it that profitability or that scalability strategy? What are you trying to accomplish? And then go through the deck that I shared today I'm sure we'll send it out and just look for any of those low hanging fruit opportunities. Do you have your brand defense campaigns covered? Do you have your bids and budgets ready for lead-in, which starts really soon? Do you have the appropriate creative assets, custom imagery, video, lifestyle images, all of that? Do you have it ready to go? And then I think the reason we actually wanted to do a follow-up campaign is because a lot of the items that I mentioned are hands-on keyboard. You need to log in and make these adjustments. You need to look at your search terms tab in Atomic. So, we wanted to put a follow-up of like hey, here's everything we think you should do. Once you've identified what you want to accomplish, let's actually hop on and do a Q&A for everyone who maybe tries to launch a sponsored display ad and gets confused. You know, sponsored display is now overly complex. You have reach and sales and audiences, so we really wanted to give everyone the opportunity to then come in hot and ask questions. For hey, I tried to do this. It doesn't work, or this is what I'm seeing, this is what I'm not.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So, guys, I don't have the signup sheet yet for next week's live, but just if you're watching this on YouTube, make sure to hit the notification for when we go live and look out in your email, we'll send you a message to register for that uh workshop. You guys have got your homework uh cut out for you. I've got. I put the link that she referred to right there. There are some tips from Carrie, some tips from Destaney and others there. h10.me/primelist. h10.me/primelist. Destaney, thank you so much for coming on here and sharing your knowledge. I got to kick back for half the workshop here and chill. I just listen and learn like everybody else. So, thanks for that and we will see you back here next week. You, Destaney, and also everybody else out there as well. Thanks a lot, everybody.

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Will Shein and Temu lose the tariff loophole they take advantage of? TikTok Shop has its own version of Prime Day. Amazon Brand Tailor Promotions has an important update. These buzzing news stories and more in this episode!

EU plan to impose import duty on cheap goods could dent Shein and Temu
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/03/eu-plan-to-impose-import-duty-on-cheap-goods-could-dent-shein-and-temu

TikTok Shop to discount ‘thousands’ of items during sales event
https://www.retaildive.com/news/tiktok-shop-july-sales-event/720155/

Walmart+ Subscribers Break the 30% Mark
https://www.pymnts.com/subscription-commerce/2024/walmart-subscribers-break-the-30-mark/

Amazon Discontinues Security Robot for Small Businesses After 8 Months
https://www.pymnts.com/amazon/2024/amazon-discontinues-security-robot-for-small-businesses-after-8-months/

Virtual Stores are now showing up on some Amazon Storefronts. LinkedIn post by Liran Hirschkorn

Save 25% on Amazon Warehousing and Distribution storage costs
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/amazon-warehousing-and-distribution-promotion

But that's not all! Take advantage of our tips on maximizing Prime Day sales using Helium 10's Insights Dashboard. Many sellers are sleeping on these features. This episode is packed with essential updates and strategies to keep you competitive in the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

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In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:03 - Temu & Shein Crackdown?
04:23 - FBA Shipment Feature
06:05 - TikTok Shop Prime Day?
07:58 - Walmart+ Milestone
08:42 - Brand Tailored Promotion Update
09:49 - Amazon South Africa PPC
10:24 - Amazon Robots
11:38 - Amazon VR Stores
13:06 - AWS Discounts
14:03 - Pro Training Tip: Helium 10 Features You Should Use This Prime Day

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
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Get ready for an insightful episode as we gear up for Amazon Prime Day with strategies from some of the most experienced sellers in the business. We kick things off with Abdul, a seasoned seller who shares his journey of nearly a decade on Amazon. Listen in as Abdul recounts his best and worst Prime Day moments, including how he achieved a 2-3X sales increase last year without relying on costly promotions. Instead, Abdul utilized coupon codes, price adjustments, and leveraged off-Amazon traffic through social media and email campaigns. He also shares his game plan for this year, including starting targeted broadcasts a week before Prime Day to maximize engagement and sales.

Next, we shift gears to hear from Abe Chomali who has worked with multiple sellers, including a remarkable success story of a national electronics brand. This brand skyrocketed from $15,000 to $1 million in sales in a single day thanks to a premium deal position and massive advertising push. We also explore common pitfalls, such as internal miscommunications that can sabotage deals, and discuss the latest tactics for Prime Day 2024. Key strategies include leveraging new promotion types and recapturing potential sales from ad spend leading up to and during Prime Day.

Finally, we share diverse seller experiences and strategies for Prime Day from Rolando Rosas, Gonzalo Zamora, Carrie Miller, and Huy Nguyen, highlighting both successes and challenges. From managing PPC budgets effectively to the potential pitfalls of overspending on ads, we cover it all. Sellers like Rolando found that turning off PPC on Prime Day didn’t negatively impact sales, saving significant costs. We also explore the use of Amazon Live for increased exposure without extra expenditure and the crucial role of Helium 10 tools in managing campaigns and tracking performance. By leveraging tools like Helium 10’s Cerebro and Market Tracker, sellers can optimize for Prime Day-specific keywords and ensure continued sales momentum.

In episode 575 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Abdul, Abe, Gonzalo, Rolando, Carrie, and Huy discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Sellers Prime Day Strategy From Experienced Sellers
01:09 - Prime Day Strategy for New Sellers
02:54 - Improving Amazon Sales Strategies Over Time
08:15 - Maximizing Strategies for Prime Day
12:34 - New Strategies for Promotions and Sales
16:55 - Prime Day Sales Strategy Success
18:14 - Prime Day Strategies & Tools
27:19 - Successful Strategies for Prime Day Sales
35:20 - Optimizing Prime Day Sales Strategy

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Prime Day is coming up, so to continue in our series of Prime Day readiness episodes, we've invited seasoned Amazon sellers who've sold millions of dollars on the platform to give some of their best and worst stories from previous Prime Days along with what they're planning to do this Prime Day. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image, or Amazon changed their shipping dimensions so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash alerts.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Prime day was just announced, although, of course, helium 10 serious sellers podcast listeners have been knowing when prime day was going to be since April, since we predicted it but we weren't sure. But now everybody's sure July 16 and 17 is the day, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So, if you're a brand-new seller, by definition, this is going to be your first prime day, and so what I wanted to do is not just have me here give you guys a step-by-step tutorial. I wanted to bring different sellers on to ask them what their experience is, whether it's their own accounts or maybe, uh, they have a lot of clients who they've helped with their prime days, and it's funny, because the answer is not always oh, you've got to go all in the answer from some of these sellers. I'm not sure what they're going to say. Some of the sellers might say you know what I don't do extensive discounts on Prime Day, and that's fine too. We want to make sure that we give you guys a complete view of what people are doing and not doing on Prime Day, but just know that, hey, there's not just one size fits all, where there's one strategy and everybody's got to do it or else you're a failure on Prime Day. I think that's going to be, hopefully, the theme that you learn today that there's different strokes for different folks, and it's okay. So, the first seller I'm going to bring on the show with us today he's been on the podcast before is Abdul.

Abdul, How's it going?

Abdul:

Hey, Bradley, good, good and yourself.

Bradley Sutton:

Pretty good, pretty good Now. You and I have hung out all over the world. You used to come to our Elite workshops and we had it in California. I know at that time you were living in New Jersey. We've also hung out in Lahore, Pakistan. Is that where you're at right now? Are you in Pakistan?

Abdul:

Yes, I am, and indeed.

Bradley Sutton:

So, what time is it over there?

Abdul:

So, we're like 12 hours ahead of you. It's like 11PM.

Bradley Sutton:

11PM. Thank you for coming on so late. Now for people who maybe haven't heard your Serious Sellers podcast episodes. How long have you been selling on Amazon?

Abdul:

So, we're going up to eight, nine years, but the first few years were not so good. I did everything wrong, and just after that it's just been fixing things and it's been a roller coaster.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now, eight, nine years you've been there for the prime days and so tell us let me just start off, this is going to be a similar question as what I'm going to ask others what was the best thing you've ever done on a prime day? Like, maybe it could have even been an accident, but what's the best Prime Day result you had where maybe sales were up 50%, sales were up 4X? Whatever the case, what can you remember was your best Prime Day?

Abdul:

I think 2X, 3X last year was good.

Bradley Sutton:

Was that coming from a certain strategy, like, did you run Prime exclusive discounts, a lightning deal, or was it just 100% organic extra traffic?

Abdul:

So, that's something we did not do last year. Last year we did not do exclusive discounts, flash sales, because I think correct me if I'm wrong those are usually 200, 300 per ASIN. They can get very pricey quickly, right, sure? So, we did not do that. Last year we did a lot of. We signed up for whatever free we could find and we ran coupon codes, discounts. We fixed our pricing beforehand to make sure that our prices were just right, leading a month, two months before the Prime Days.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so what was your strategy right before Prime Day? Did you have anything different that you did leading up to Prime Day?

Abdul:

No PPC ran as usual. We just kept an eye. If anything was running out of budget, we would put more juice into those PPC campaigns. Otherwise, we were just concentrating on coupon codes off Amazon advertisements. We have a large following now, so we send out messages on our social media, on our email distributions, so bringing a lot of off Amazon traffic to our store.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, that's definitely good. And so, what are you doing in that regards for this year? Like, what's your plans leading up to this year's Prime Day? What kind of promotions are you doing for your off Amazon this year? Like, what's your plans leading up to this year's Prime Day? Are you what kind of promotions are you doing for your off-Amazon traffic? Are you like telling them, hey, we're going to have a Prime Day discount, or something like that?

Abdul:

So yeah, leading now that it's announced because people my customers don't like vague, it's going to happen in June, July. So as soon as it's announced, you start preparing for your broadcast. So roughly a week before anything you do a week before the dates, it's just prepping. You can't. People don't take that seriously. So, say, about seven to 10 days, you start, you hit them with the first message and you have a series of follow-ups A lot of many chats, if you have subscribers in many chats. A lot of emails. My social media if I have Facebook following or Instagram following you just start hitting them with what your deal is, what your products are, where to find them and to remind them. Don't go to my website, have the Amazon logo prominent. So usually, I don't like to drive people to Amazon store my Amazon products. I like them to go from social media to my own website. But this will be an exception.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what are you telling them, like, what are you doing? Are you doing prime exclusive discount? Are you just going to have a clippable coupon? Are you just running a discount as a regular discount price offer? What are, what is your plans for this July 16, 17?

Abdul:

I think it's going to be a visible coupon code this year, clippable discounts or typical clippable coupons. People tend to forget, so if something is right in front of them for everyone to see, as soon as someone lands on my page on my product, I want them to see the discount and I want them to be able to just apply the coupon and you don't want to put any hurdles in front of them.

Bradley Sutton:

What's your projected sales this year? Just so people have an idea about your level. What do you think you're going to hit for overall Not for Prime Day, but for your year. We're about halfway through the year. What do you think you're going to end up at?

Abdul:

This year has been a challenge. I have a lot of hijackers Just before Prime Day. I would touch that. We do see a lot of activity where they're using that infamous. There's a new badge, often return badge I'm being hit with that with my best sellers, and there's every year we see that. So that's been a struggle. We have to keep an eye on that and honestly, I struggle with that every year, yeah, so it's hard to say. It's always a surprise. It's hard to put a number on what this year is going to be like.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, but what was your best year? Was it during COVID?

Abdul:

During COVID, yeah, we were hitting 60,000 sales, 60k a month, so that was our best time. But after that I had some family issues still dealing with sick parents, so I haven't been able to give it much time and attention like I used to.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, that's the beauty about Amazon. You can be at home in New Jersey pushing it. You can go home to Pakistan to take care of family and still be running your business. That's the beauty about our industry. Well, Abdul, I wish you the best of success for this year's Prime Day. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and yeah, we'll definitely connect after to see how it was all right.

Abdul:

You're welcome. Thank you, take care.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, we've got Abe coming on. Your kind of a contrast with Abdul's just working with his own account, but you see many people's accounts because you work with a lot of sellers and so you've got some unique, unique viewpoints as far as selling on Prime Day and what you should do and what you shouldn't do. So, a similar question like amongst you know different accounts you've worked on previous Prime Day, is there something that was sticks out as like the best Prime Day for somebody? Like what's a cool anecdote you could provide us?

Abe:

Yeah. So, this anecdote is one which really stuck out by itself. It's one which is going to apply to very few sellers, but it was an eye popper. So, I work with a brand that has national distribution, so it's a recognized brand, and I work with them to sell a line of electronics like in the $200 plus price range. Now we were having trouble getting traction because in the electronics category there are lots of foreign competitors that sell the same thing for 40% less. So, the brand said we really want to make a push, we really want to see if it's possible to make Amazon pop. They were able to get a SAS core rep. They were able to work with the SAS core rep and say we want a premium deal position on prime day, something that's not in the dashboard, because there are spots that you can get that are not in the dashboard. When you have a SAS core rep, they vet you and they have to make sure that they think you can sell that amount. And that's part of the key, because they say this spot can sell $4 million for us. If you can't sell and you can't fulfill $4 million, we don't even want to talk to you. That's worth what the spot is.

Abe:

So, they were vetted, they were checked. They actually they couldn't even send enough inventory because Amazon could not process it. They had to share the information from their warehouses with Amazon and they accepted the information. Well, that day, prime Day, every single thing was turned all the way on. We launched 30 campaigns of every ad type, you know four different autos at different price points, high-priced ranking campaigns like every single type you've ever heard an experiment about. All launched on the same day and in 24 hours, they went from selling $15,000 a day on one on the hero skew. They sold a million dollars in one day of that skew, which is something like.

Bradley Sutton:

$15,000 to 1 million on that. So that means that there had to be a good number that was fulfilled by merchant too, because no way they had all that inventory in Amazon.

Abe:

Right yeah. three quarters of it was filled by merchant. yeah, so it can't be reproduced. A lot of people suggest very impressive things like it could be done if you flip the right switch. No, this is not. I would be surprised if I ever am part of a thing like this again. But I had the front row seat for it.

Bradley Sutton:

I love that. I love that. Now let's talk about the complete opposite. What was a disaster for somebody? Like somebody just did nothing, or maybe somebody screwed up on their discounts or they didn't realize it could stack, or have you ever what's the worst prime day you've ever heard of that happened to somebody?

Abe:

The worst prime day. It's a thing that keeps happening, but it's just as bad. Every single time it happens you have somebody who is not working with somebody else within the same company. They launch a coupon a week before. The new low price of 30 days is below the price of the submitted deal. Boom, your deal does not run. And every time it happens there's a meltdown because people count on prime day and all of a sudden it didn't work. They can't understand why. They tell me, Hey, why aren't we selling? Where's the volume? Why aren't we even showing for the deal? I said did anybody in your place run any kind of discount or coupon in the last couple of weeks? Cause we don't get a notification about everything they do in their account? And all of a sudden, you'll hear the yelling that Bob ran a coupon two weeks ago. What are we doing, Bob? He ruined everything!

Bradley Sutton:

Wow! Okay, so now what you know, things have changed in the last, in the last Prime Day. You know there's new rules as far as like discounts and coupons and plus there's new ways to. You know there's. I don't I don't know if brand Taylor promotions has been around for a full year yet, but I don't I'm not sure if that was around last year.

Abe:

They keep changing it, so yeah, and.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and yeah, even the one. Even in itself, it's not what it was two months ago, you know. So, right. So, with that, all that in mind, we're now talking about 2024 Prime Day. What are some general things that that trying this year with some of these new changes in mind.

Abe:

So, the number one thing we're going to be trying is, like you mentioned, the brand tailor promotions. There's something like 10 different types of promotions in there and what we're doing with every brand we work with, we're actually setting aside an hour for time to work with them instead of our usual, you know, shorter amount of time. We say listen, we need to spend an hour to look at each one, read the terms of what each one applies to and think about if this applies to our brand and if it does, let's lean into it. And with Prime Day, a number of those discounts are for people who looked at your product but didn't buy, for people who put it in your cart but didn't buy. And we want to know. What we want to do is all of the ad spend that we spent leading up to Prime Day, all of the money that we spent on Prime Day that didn't turn into sales. We want to do anything we can to capture it in the days and 10 days or two weeks afterwards.

Bradley Sutton:

Prime Day already has a lot of, you know, better conversion rate than normal days because people are coming on Amazon with more intent to buy. But if you are targeting people who already had even intent to buy before, because they added to the cart but they abandoned it you know that's one of the brand cart or cart abandoners is one of the brand tailor promotions that's like should do even better for you if, like, they're already coming on Amazon and they're already somebody who almost pulled the trigger on buying your product before. So that's, I think that's a great strategy to target, to target them.

Abe:

Yeah, I mean these brand tailor promotions have. In some cases, they've been fantastic. They do what DSP promised to do, which is to chase people around after they originally looked at you. These promotions are doing it more effectively than DSP in a lot of cases, because it's really direct and a big thing which is key is that they gave us the ability to run these promos at an ASIN level, which was originally it was just for the brand overall and at that point it was really clumsy in terms of running deals plus stacking something that goes across your whole brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you doing anything differently in Helium 10 as far as for Prime Day, like doing some historical research or looking at search volumes, or is just kind of like saying you know keyword tracker, paying special attention, or it's kind of like business as usual for you?

Abe:

So, I'll tell you one of the features we love best and I'm not sure which level of Helium 10 you need for it is the historical rank tracker for keywords. In Cerebro we love to compare time periods and with the accounts that are connected long enough, we can see how Prime Day did last year and we can compare Prime Day to different peak periods and we use those to set budgets. The number one thing we do when managing Prime Day, we don't do much with bids. We don't have a special bidding program for Prime Day the number one thing is being visible to shoppers as long as possible during the day, which is budget management. And the budget management goes also along with inventory management. You have to have enough product to sell and then you have to show enough to sell all the product you have. That's where all the planning comes in and that's where all the holes fall apart. Usually, either people didn't plan enough inventory, either people didn't assess the impact of their discounts against their regular margins, and then nothing is left over to spend on an actual ad. There's all the different parts that work together. But going back to Helium 10, it gives us an idea of how much of a boost we need in order to get full coverage those days.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you so much for joining us and giving us your insights and definitely want to keep us updated in the Elite Facebook group to let us know how some of these things worked out for you.

Abe:

Be happy too.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to invite three people on at the same time. We're just going to have kind of like a mini round table for the next few minutes and let's go ahead and invite the next group. We've got Gonzalo, we’ve got Rolando and we've got Carrie. So, we've got three experienced Amazon sellers of different of different levels, but experienced Amazon sellers of different levels, but all have multiple prime days under their belt. So, we're going to start with our two guests. Gonzalo, you've been on the Spanish podcast. I've never had you on the English podcast before, though right.

Gonzalo:

Right.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so give us some of your background. Where are you based and tell us how long you've been selling on Amazon.

Gonzalo:

I'm based in Chile in South America, in Santiago, and I have been a seller from 2019 before COVID.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you've got about like you know, depending on if you're counting the prime deal days or the other one that comes up, you know you got at least three, four prime days under your belt. Now let's just stick with you for a second here. What was your best prime day results. Like where it was really a big increase over sales, and then if you can remember what contributed to that.

Gonzalo:

I have one that I X by three in one year. That was pretty amazing.

Bradley Sutton:

Was it by accident, or did you do something different that year that really worked?

Gonzalo:

Actually, it was the one that I set as basis for the next year and I replied the same strategy from them. And what I make is, on my top seller product, I actually decrease the bids and increase the budget, so I'm just waiting for the sales, basically, but just on the top seller. On the rest of the product, especially on the ones that I need to move, I do the opposite thing. I create one week before I create a retargeting campaign because it's shown that you need to be seen seven times before someone bought your product. You need to be seen seven times before someone bought your product. So, I tried to show to the same person seven times before Prime to push them to buy the product on Prime.

Bradley Sutton:

You got some buyer psychology going there. I like it. I like it, yeah, excellent.

Gonzalo:

So, for me Prime started one week before.

Bradley Sutton:

What was your most unsuccessful Prime Day? Where sales just stayed the same or even went down, or you made a mistake and something didn't happen. Do you remember? I remember any. Do you have any bad stories for us from Prime Day?

Gonzalo:

The only one is I think it was the first one that I didn't realize that I got out of budget on my campaigns. I was selling great. I get out of target. Obviously, my sales drops and I didn't realize until the next day.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, we'll call back to you, so stay here Next up, Rolando. Rolando was just on the podcast a few weeks ago and same question for you. We've been asking your best Prime Day and, if you can remember, what was the reason for that success?

Rolando:

We're one of those birds where Prime Day doesn't mean anything for us. Really, it hasn't moved the needle. Last year I would say it was probably our best, and that's because we turned off the PPC. And what we found the year before that so that'd be two years ago was, we were like, oh, let's do something for Prime Day and we'll crank up the juice with ads. We saw a lot of clicks, but we didn't move the needle any further than the previous year. It didn't move the needle further than our average daily sales. So last year we said no PPC and we didn't even see a huge drop in terms of our regular run rates or anything like that. It was right around the same, like in just another day. So, for us that's a victory in that we didn't waste thousands of dollars for people that are browsing and we just kept selling. So that was, I would say, a win for us to really see the difference one year go cranking out on PPC, one year not cranking out on PPC, and so we learned a lot by doing that.

Bradley Sutton:

And that's important for everybody here. Don't think that, hey, I have to do something bold and outrageous on prime day or else I'm a failure. You know like Rolando’s company has sold tens of millions of dollars on Amazon and you just heard from him. You know they've tried both and that when you're selling on Amazon for a while, you can try something one year and try something else. I myself haven't done. I don't I don't do too much on Prime Day outside of just managing my budgets and trying to, leading up to Prime Day, making sure I'm ranked organically where I want to. But that's super important to know that if you don't do anything special, that doesn't mean you're a complete failure.

Rolando:

You know what you could do. That doesn't cost any money and something that we are going to be doing this year. We did this three years ago and also for is that around Prime Day, we start going live. It's great because Amazon does have a lot of stuff going on their social media accounts saying come to our website. You know, check out the live. So being live. Are you talking about Amazon Live. Amazon Live. So, we'll go live those days. It'll run on our Amazon store. It'll actually replay later on the Amazon store. So, we have content. We have our faces on there. We show the product how to use it. We talk about different things. So, exposure wise, it gets people to see oh, these are the people behind the curtain that are part of this company. So, from that standpoint, we look at live as a great day to get new eyeballs without having to spend a ton of money.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to Gonzalo, how does Helium 10 play a role in what your strategies are Like? What aspects are you using? You know, helium 10, obviously you're not using Helium 10 to create coupons and things like that or register for deals, because we don't have that. But on the research side, what are you doing? Or on the um or on the advertising side?

Gonzalo:

First of all, Helium 10 is crucial because I control my all my pay-per-click on Adtomic yeah, it's crucial for me healing time. And then I have two tools that I love. The first one is market tracker that I regularly is going to take how the sale is going and who are my competitors, and the second one is keyword tracking. Obviously, I'm watching always what is my ranking and what is, how do I doing and how it is impact the pay per click that I'm doing.

Bradley Sutton:

On keyword tracker, are you like putting boost on and then really checking, like your sponsored and organic, like on prime day, making sure you're not losing your sponsored rank and then, if you do, you increase your bid? Or is that how you're using keyword tracker?

Gonzalo:

Yeah, that way, and I also, when I start, when I open a new campaign on a new keyword, I'm start tracking with that, with the rocket, to see if I'm doing some impact or not on that keyword.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, good. Rolando, what are you do?

I mean prime day or Prime Day. What are your go-to Helium 10 tools?

Rolando:

I love, love the dashboard. I love the below the insights, where it tells you all you know, your competitor and all that Below. That is a row that's super customizable, where you can look at things with your by-product performance or by advertising. And it is for me the thing because we're really big in the last 18 months is focusing on profitability and we can go line by line, item by item. It's got everything in so you know your net profit per product and you can pick out the losers, cut them or be like we got to liquidate them or hey, we've got more margin on these, these group here. Let's add some more PPC and see what happens. And now you can work more intelligently than in the past, where maybe the PPC data was over there and the sales data was over here. This combines both of that, so you know immediately these are the losers. They got to do something on them right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it. Speaking of the dashboard, something I think a lot of people sleep on at least those with a diamond plan is add competitors to that dashboard, because it's not just about your product and then set up what we call them insights, that you can consider them alerts. But then it's especially good, like for Prime Day or around Prime Day, somebody goes out of stock, somebody’s changed their title one of the competitors. Somebody adds a coupon, starts a coupon. Somebody stops a coupon. There's little things that you can set alerts, that if you don't have Helium 10, fine, you still got to be looking for these things, but you just got to manually go to all these pages, start, you know, have somebody refresh a screen. But if you've got the diamond plan and you guys are using that dashboard that Rolando was talking about, add your competitors and look at, monitor their listings, you can't see their exact sales. Obviously, Helium 10 is not hacking people's accounts. But you'll see estimated sales and things, but you'll know when they change their image or when they change a coupon or have a sale price. So that's something important to look at. Last question we'll, we'll just stick with Rolando. Then we'll go back to Gonzalo. This year, prime day, same thing as last year. You're not going to do, anything special or are you going to do the lives or are you going to do any discounting or any off-amazon promotion? What's your strategy this year?

Rolando:

So, this year we're definitely going to do live. Then we're going to add something we've never done before. We've never done prime exclusive deals never. I hate giving money away if I have to, but in the, in the spirit of experimentation to see if prime exclusives work for us, we've got probably a dozen products that we will be doing some form. One of the things that we literally this morning was one of our meetings. We've found an opportunity where a multi-pack unit where we could sell 50 as well as a hundred. Nobody in our category has had anything like that and we know from what our amazon folks are telling us when we talk to them. They're telling us don't sleep on multi-packs. They keep telling us that they said that the man for multi packs is going up and up and up and up and up. So, a while back ago we tried just that not on a Prime Day. We added some more multi packs. Guess what? I'm kicking myself because we weren't doing it five years ago. So, we're gonna try some exclusives tied with some additional multi packs to see how that works with buyers that are looking for things in volume.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, same question for you, Gonzalo. What's the plan? What is the plan of attack this year?

Gonzalo:

It's the same one that I just mentioned. I just started for my main product I'm going to love it and stay calm on it and the one that I need to push a little bit. Actually, today I set the campaign with retargeting and increased bidding one week previous.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right, well, guys, thank you so much. Appreciate sharing your knowledge with us today. All right, Carrie, how many Prime days under your belt?

Carrie:

I've been selling since 2016. So, I guess eight.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you have? I know you've got a lot of horror stories, just in general crazy things, and I'm going to save some of those for future podcasts with you. Yeah, but do you have? Let's start on the opposite side. Do you have any horror stories that specifically are related to Prime Day? or at least just maybe a prime day that just didn't work out for you.

Carrie:

No, what's really cool about our sales is, over the years, they've just incrementally increased, and so every prime day has been better than the last, and so it's not been like, oh, one day we did like 200,000 in sales or something, but it's like we definitely did a substantial amount more than the year before and the year before. And so, year over year, we're increasing.

Bradley Sutton:

That's good. So, you never had one where you accidentally did too big of a discount or you thought you were qualified for a deal and you ended up not doing it. It's been pretty much as planned.

Carrie:

Yeah, for Prime Day. I mean, I have accidentally done a really big discount on a coupon where it was like something that was supposed to be $15 was like $1.99. And I was like, wow, it's selling really well. So off of prime day I've done that, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

But not for prime day. And then do you remember what year was your best prime day Last year? Have one that sticks out.

Carrie:

Last year was the biggest yeah cause every year it's gotten bigger. It was about 16,000. I remember our first one. It was like we were selling about $400 a day and I remember it went up to like a thousand dollars that day and we were like, oh my gosh, and so now we've gone quite a bit more for that day.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you did $16,000 on one day. Yeah, on Prime Day last year. And what would you attribute that to? Did you do something different or a special campaign just really worked out, or what happened?

Carrie:

We do coupons and so not only in the days leading up to Prime Day but also after, we still get a good amount of sales well over our normal average, and so I think that's a big part of it. But, yeah, we offer coupons and like the discounts, not Prime Day exclusive discounts or anything like that, we just do our normal discounts and that's how we do it and it works out really well. And you always have to make sure your listing is optimized and that you've got good product reviews, and so you know if you're, if your listing isn't optimized, you're going to want to turn off the ads on those particular products or if you have kind of bad reviews. But you're, you're heroes. You know if you do some, some discounts on there and you have it fully optimized, it's, it's definitely worth it.

Bradley Sutton:

Now speaking of Helium 10, we're going share her screen now and I want you to actually show, step-by-step, a couple strategies that you think are important for a seller to do leading up to Prime Days.

Carrie:

So, this is one of my favorite tools. I think Abe was mentioning this because I know he really likes this tool too. You can use this in a lot of different ways, but basically, you're going to do what I do is I just do a single ASIN search on a main competitor. In this situation, because I'm looking at Prime Day and I wanted to give you an example of you know some, a way to find some good Prime Day keywords. There's this, this vacuum mop that I have actually purchased and I know a lot of people have purchased this particular mop for Prime Day because it's usually a pretty good deal and so I wanted to just show you how you can find kind of Prime Day specific keywords. So, I took this ASIN and did a reverse ASIN search here, and what I love about this Cerebro tool is the show historical trend tool. Now, when you go to show historical trend, it's going to give you 24 months of data, so you can go all the way back 24 months and you can see where an ASIN was ranked organically and for their sponsored. You can also see the search volume history, and so it's really, really helpful so you can go back to the last prime day and the prime day before. It's just kind of just right there. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to click on this July 2023, because that was when our prime day was last year, and then I'm going to go down and click apply filters, because I want to just look at this month specifically, because I'm looking for prime day specific keywords. Okay, so, um, when, when I'm in this historical trend, if I go down here, you're going to see basically all of the keywords that this particular product was ranking for organically and sponsored. You can see their actual rank here. But I want to look for you can filter this down and I usually like to look at phrases containing. So, one of the phrases I like to look at is prime and if I hit apply filters, then if I go down here, I can see all of the kind of Prime Day keywords.

Carrie:

Now, this particular product they're ranking. They're one of the top sellers, I know, on Prime Day, but their organic rank on these major keywords is, you know, 230. They're in the 200s. They're way behind. So, they're not even really, they hadn't even advertised on these keywords, probably because they didn't really know they existed. So now, if you can go back, you can find the historical keywords. You can create campaigns with these specific keywords in them and you can start targeting those. I mean they've only they only look targeted this one. It was a Prime Day vacuums 1100 search volume, totally missing out on 8500 in search volume. You can also see here this is actually our up-to-date information. It's showing the trending of these keywords going up, up, up. Now a lot of times you'll see these keywords and it's like you know a month before it's going to be like oh there's, you know, 200 searches or whatever. So, this gives you the information of how much they're increasing and so you can even start these campaigns, you know, a month early, two months early, to just start getting yourself, you know, ranked on those keywords. And you can also leave these campaigns going all year round, kind of as an evergreen campaign, to just make sure that you're at the top of those searches and so that they have all their Christmas gifts you know a bunch of Christmas gifts for their family in December. You can you know search phrases containing gifts or anything that really pertains to your particular product. During Prime Day you can start searching for those terms you can look at. You know some of your biggest competitors, like the biggest competitor, and you can see what kind of keywords they're. You know they're ranking for but maybe not really capitalizing on, and so this is just a really, I think, amazing tool to get historical data and utilize it for this particular Prime Day.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us. I mean, you can use this what she was talking about for almost any period of the year, but obviously we're talking about Prime Day now, so that's why it's especially beneficial for you guys to use that leading up into prime days.

Carrie:

We have a prime day checklist that we put together that has amazing information from. We have Destiny Wishon from Better Media. She gave some PPC tips. We have Emma from Marketing by Emma, and she gave a lot of really incredible tips for optimizing your listing. These things are it's not too late to do them. So, there's a lot of stuff on this list that you could really implement. Implement now, even if you feel like you're kind of like behind in the game. These are tips also you can use year-round, because it's really good optimization. So, make sure you download that, check it out, do as much as you can before Prime Day, and it's going to help your conversion, even if you're just doing a small discount it will help your conversion.

Bradley Sutton:

So h10.me/primelist, h10.me/primelist. And then we will go ahead and invite we up, Huy, how's it going?

Huy:

Hey, how's it going, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

Pretty good, pretty good. Now what about you, we? How many prime days do you think you've experienced in your lifetime, your amazon lifetime?

Huy:

Since the beginning, so kind of lost count, I don't know, probably plus five years. What year did it actually start, Bradley?

Bradley Sutton:

I don't even remember. It was before.

And then, plus, there's two prime days a year. But let's just say you have a lot of prime days under your belt. Now, something I've been asking the different guests is what was the best prime day you had where, just like, sales were way more than normal and way more than other primaries? Do you remember what year that was or what the numbers were kind of?

Huy:

I don't remember the year, but it was definitely before COVID One of the things that it might've been the second year that prime day had been announced, right, and this was prior to them doing it only kind of like once a year, right, cause then they switched off to doing it twice a year, probably the biggest opportunity, the biggest win that we had. It wasn't intentional, it was actually when we got mentioned on. They used to do a live stream during Prime Day, right, Amazon did a live stream. They actually mentioned one of our products and we've never sold more products in one day than on that day. So, our product got mentioned in the live stream. We started seeing sales climb up. All the units we had allocated to that promotion were sold out pretty quick, but fortunately we were watching it and we were able to go in and adjust the quantities that we wanted to put in that promotion. So that's probably one of the things is like you definitely want to be making sure that you're looking at how many units you have available in that promotion and if you have the opportunity to adjust it just based on the demand. You know that was a huge win for us, I think. On the other end, though, Bradley

Bradley Sutton:

Disaster, any disasters or crazy things that happen.

Huy:

Not necessarily the disasters, but just to kind of put a point to that other one where it's like, if you put too many quantity in there, it's kind of like a psychological game as well, right? So, when there's a lot of deals that are going on, customers are looking and then they've got that progress bar where it says, hey, how many people have claimed this deal. So, if you put in too many units up in the beginning and then you're stuck between that below 10% claim number, people are not as excited to go out and claim those deals. So, I think that finding that balance of having it over 50% claimed people looking at it and then having that FOMO where they're going to go out and jump on it. So, I think, in terms of disasters, I'm going to be a hundred percent honest, we haven't been doing a lot of prime, uh, prime day, actual deals, lightning deals, and the reason why is the past couple of yeah, past couple of times it has not been effective. You know like, yeah, it's uh cost. What does it cost? $1,000 to run a deal, even if you have it on the day. What we used to do is we used to put all of our items available and put it into the promotion and then we, when they tell us the schedule, then we cancel the ones out that weren't actually on Prime Day or kind of you know, within that range, because they were putting some of us, like you know, the week before Prime Day or just a couple days after that was already not effective.

But I think that because Amazon switched to allowing everybody to provide that Prime exclusive discount you know, like not having an actual deal but just kind of marking it off and then getting that Prime Day exclusive badge that has actually probably changed the most for us. We found that to be most effective. There's no cost to do it and I think that everybody's got that strategy where there's just too much inventory of Prime Day deals out there that when Amazon expanded it out beyond just those lightning deals, everybody just started looking outside as well.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm happy you mentioned that because I think that people need to understand that. Once I've said it five times today is that prime day success is not contingent on, he who does the most deals or he who spends the most money in in PPC, or you have to do prime exclusive discounts or you have to do lightning deals. No, you can have success on prime day in a lot of different ways. For some people, that is what’s needed, or for some people, other people, it's doing everything like. Like Abe mentioned that crazy experience of somebody who went from $15,000 to $1 million on one product on Prime Day because they went all in on something that probably is not duplicatable. But again, there's different ways to have success on Prime Day. Again, Gonzalo, Rolando, Huy, and then Abe and Abdul, thank you, and Carrie, of course. Thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you guys’ next week. Bye-bye now.

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Join us as we bring together a group of innovative Amazon sellers from South Korea who share their unique insights and strategies in e-commerce. We introduce James Park, making his debut on an English podcast, who takes us through his fascinating journey from studying food science engineering in Korea and biology in Germany to working in the cosmetics industry. His story unfolds with a transition from traditional employment to launching his own e-commerce business, inspired by watching our other guest, Bopyo Park, on YouTube.

Our conversation continues with an exploration of the Seller Kingdom community, a dedicated space for Korean Amazon sellers. We dive into current trends among Korean sellers, such as the increasing preference for sourcing K-beauty and K-food products from Korea. Additionally, we highlight the Korean e-commerce landscape, mentioning platforms like Coupang and Naver Smart Store, which offer promising opportunities for third-party sellers. We also consider the potential and challenges for foreign sellers looking to enter the Korean market, emphasizing cultural differences and pricing strategies.

Finally, we explore advanced marketing strategies for Amazon sellers, focusing on optimizing PPC campaigns and enhancing product listings. We discuss the importance of auditing accounts, understanding market trends, and leveraging tools like Helium 10 for deeper insights. Unique approaches such as using search term reports and Google trends to inform listing updates are highlighted. We also introduce the Seller Kingdom Seoul Conference, an event aimed at connecting Amazon service providers with Korean sellers. The episode wraps up with a casual conversation about favorite Korean dramas and recommendations, providing a light-hearted end to a content-rich discussion.

In episode 574 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Bopyo, and James discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Sellers From South Korea
00:12 - Helium 10 Chrome Extension Demand Analyzer
04:41 - Career Aspirations and Education Paths
07:44 - Korean Amazon Sellers and E-Commerce Growth
13:41 - Finding Korean Amazon Seller Partners
16:54 - Innovative Marketing Strategies for Amazon Sellers
19:11 - Utilizing Trends for Business Growth
24:39 - Amazon PPC and AI Strategies for Amazon Sellers
30:13 - Korean Ramen and Silicone Manufacturing
35:54 - K-Drama Discussion with Bradley and Guests

View Details

lk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon’s 10th Prime Day Event Returns July 16 & 17, With Millions of Exclusive Deals for Prime Members
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2024/6/amazons-10th-prime-day-event-returns-july-16-17-with-millions-of-exclusive-deals-for-prime-members

Walmart's 'largest deals event ever' to rival Amazon Prime Day
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/walmarts-largest-deals-event-ever-to-rival-amazon-prime-day--plus-sales-to-shop-now-215140714.html

Amazon to launch discount section with direct shipping from China, the Information reports
https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-launch-discount-section-with-direct-shipping-china-information-reports-2024-06-26/

Target and Shopify Partner to Help Consumers Discover and Shop an Expanded Assortment on Target.com
https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2024/06/target-and-shopify-partner-to-help-consumers-discover-and-shop-an-expanded-assortment-on-target-com

Buy with Prime is helping this rapid hydration brand not only increase shopper conversion, but also bring in new customers.
https://buywithprime.amazon.com/customer-stories/case-study-hydralyte

Amazon is working on a ChatGPT competitor
https://qz.com/amazon-generative-ai-chatbot-chatgpt-metis-1851558879

Stay ahead of the curve with insights on the latest updates within Adtomic, especially the game-changing brand performance dashboard that offers critical data for making savvy pay-per-click advertising decisions. Our training tip of the week emphasizes the importance of leveraging historical data to boost profits during Prime Day, illustrated vividly with a real-world example of a Tyneco vacuum. Tune in to gain actionable advice that will help you optimize your advertising efforts and dominate search results as Prime Day approaches.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie talks about:

00:49 - Prime Day Dates Announced
01:35 - Walmart Summer Deals
02:20 - Amazon Temu-ish Service?
04:49 - Target and Shopify Partner
05:45 - Buy with Prime on Homepage
07:32 - Amazon Version of ChatGPT?
08:48 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
09:46 - Pro Training Tip: Leveraging Historical Data to Boost Prime Day Sales

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Prime Day Dates announced. Is Amazon trying to be like Temu and Amazon's new version of ChatGPT? This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Keri Miller. So, Keri, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, let's go ahead and get into it. The first thing I want to talk about is the Prime Day dates were just announced. So Amazon officially announced Prime Day 2024 dates, which is going to be July 16th and 17th. And now something interesting about these dates is that Bradley Sutton actually on this very show, he actually predicted that Prime Day would be on these exact dates way back in April. So let's go ahead and go back to that clip and show Bradley's predictions for Prime Day.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon hasn't necessarily announced the new Prime Day, but I'm like 95% sure I was able to figure out when it's going to be All right, so bear with me. Here's why I think that and by the way, spoiler alert, I that's just my rough guess.

Carrie Miller:

So there you have it. Bradley predicted these exact dates for Prime Day, so how cool is that? All right up next we have Walmart. Okay, so Walmart announced their largest deals ever, which is going to be from July 8th to July 11th. Now this is coming off of Walmart Plus week. That was last week, so during these days you can actually expect discounts on pretty much everything. Walmart Plus members are actually going to have early access to shop the best deals of the season by beginning at noon Eastern on July 8th, which is actually five hours before the rest of the public actually gets access, and this, I believe, is probably in competition with Amazon's prime day. So they're doing a lot of great deals over at Walmart. So not only as a consumer, that's gonna be helpful, but for sellers, it helps to attract a lot of people to the site, so really good for everyone all around.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, next, now this one. This next piece of news is a doozy. Okay, so Amazon plans to launch a section on its shopping site featuring cheap items that ship directly to overseas consumers from warehouses in China. Okay, so this seems to be a response to sites like Temu and Shein, and I actually asked some sellers what they thought about this move and they said they believe that Amazon is being more of a follower and not innovating and creating their own path. So they're basically trying to maybe catch up with Temu and Shein. I'm not really sure. Some other. Some other sellers also said that they think there will be an initial negative reaction, but buyers will probably try it out. So I'm curious to know what you think. Do you think buyers are going to be excited about this? I'm not really sure. Someone else mentioned that they think this could be what puts dollar stores kind of fully out of business. We've seen some of the dollar stores going out of business recently and they think that this would be a kind of a direct competition to more of the dollar store quality, so that that is another interesting perspective.

Carrie Miller:

The products in this program will be delivered from China directly from China to the consumer between nine and 11 days. So a big question in my mind would be will Amazon allow American third party sellers to drop ship from warehouses in China as well? Some sellers already store their products in China in warehouses, like with SKU Drop, and it's definitely something that they could do. Amazon said they are going to start signing up Chinese sellers in this summer and they're going to begin accepting inventory in the fall. This article also highlights that sellers in this program will be able to produce small batches to test the demand for any new products that they launch. So that's something else that we know that we have questions about. You know, a lot of third party sellers like to do the same thing. Will third party sellers have the same luxuries to be able to do this without losing rank, things like that? So really a lot of questions in my mind with this new development.

Carrie Miller:

This article also questions if these packages that are coming directly to a consumer from China, if they will be exempt from US customs, since there is a provision that exempts individual packages that are valued at less than $800 from taxation. Now, third-party sellers, you know, if they're not allowed to do this, they still have to pay the taxes that are coming in. You know, when we ship goods in from China. So that kind of defeats the whole purpose of the taxation there. It really is going to hinder, maybe, third party American sellers. So that's something to really think about too. All right, so I'm really curious to know what you all think. What do you think? This is a good thing? This is a bad thing. Are you enraged? Are you happy about it? What do you think? Please let us know in the comments.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so that leads me to my next piece of news, and that is that Target and Shopify are partnering to offer a selection of targets Popular merchants, such as their true classic and caden lane, to offer their products on target plus. The new partnership with Shopify will expand target plus and will give consumers more options to purchase from these selected brands. Target will also be the first mass retailer to work with Shopify to bring select merchants products into their physical stores in the months to come. If you want to apply to sell online and target, you can actually go and apply on target plus through the marketplace connect app. I really do believe that, with everything that's happening, all the changes that are going on, I do think it's really important to diversify. So you know, getting on target and starting to sell on target might be a really good option for a lot of third party sellers. So check it out, if you haven't already done that, because it's potentially a good opportunity to not only sell on target but to get in target stores. All right.

Carrie Miller:

So the next piece of news is a case study out of Amazon and this is for buy with prime. Now, this is a company called Hydralight, and Buy with Prime showed how they actually helped this particular brand increase shopper conversion and bring in new customers. The study highlights and they have it down here a little bit it's highlighting 16% increase in conversion rate, 37% of new customers purchased through Buy with Prime and 90% of the Buy with Prime customers are new orders. So that's not even the most interesting part, though. I know if you haven't added this button to your site, it's probably a good idea to do so. But the most interesting thing is I actually saw a post from Destiny Wishun from Better Media on LinkedIn and she actually showed a screenshot of these buy with prime merchants and their ads on the homepage actually directing straight to their actual site. So they're direct to customer site, which is really interesting. So I think they might be testing this out and I'm not sure if it was actually an ad or if, what the whole situation was, but there is. If you're interested, you can look on her LinkedIn. There is a whole clip of it and she shows how these actual little icons on the homepage are leading customers to the direct to consumer sites. So that could be a really good motivation and reason to participate in Buy with Prime, if you haven't already done it. I think there's a lot of evidence to show that Buy with Prime is really helpful for your conversion rate on your own site. But then if Amazon is going to start promoting your products on actual Amazon and directing them to your website, that is something that could be really amazing. So my question is what do you all think about this, and have you added the Buy With Prime button to your website? Leave comments below on that.

Carrie Miller:

All right, so let's get into the last piece of news, and that is that Amazon is working on an AI chatbot, internally called Metis, to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT. Okay, the chatbot is going to be accessible through a web browser and it's going to be powered by one of the company's internal AI models called Olympus. Olympus is supposedly even more powerful than Amazon's publicly available AI model, which is called Titan. Now Metis can generate conversational texts and image-based answers, provide source links, suggest follow-up questions and generate images. Amazon also reportedly wants to use retrieval, augmented generation or the RAG method for Metis, meaning the chatbot would be able to reference knowledge outside of its original training data and therefore could provide more up-to-date answers. Metis is reportedly also meant to be an AI agent, I guess, kind of your like personal agent, I guess, capable of completing tasks such as turning on lights and booking flights.

Carrie Miller:

So the question I have for all of you is with this change, do you think that more people are going to be doing voice search through Alexa? Do you think this kind of AI integration is going to change the way shoppers find products on Amazon and other websites? I do believe it is going to kind of change the context and way people are searching for products, but I'm really curious to know what you all think out there. All right, in our next segment, we are going to be talking about the latest rollout within Atomic and this is really important. Going to be located in Atomic and you're going to go to the dashboard and then scroll all the way to the bottom where it says brand performance. So what is being shown here is brand performance data and what you're going to be able to see is you can see the number of brand searches, you can see the detail page views and you can see the customer conversion rate. You can see the new percent of new to brand customers. You can see the shopper engagement rate. You can see all this great information all in one place and it's just really giving sellers more information that they need to make better data-driven decisions in their pay-per-click advertising. So it's going to allow you to see category comparisons how many clicks are within your category, how many detail page views are within that category and how you actually compare to the average. So I think this is huge in helping you to make better data-driven decisions in your pay-per-click advertising.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's go ahead and get into this week's training tip of the week Now. I think this is one of the coolest things for Prime Day that you could utilize to help you make lots and lots of money this Prime Day, and it's going into historical data. So what I'm going to do, I'm just gonna go ahead and I'm gonna share my screen and show you how this strategy works and how it can help you to make tons of money this next Prime Day. Okay, so I did an example and I took an ASIN from Amazon and this is the Tyneco vacuum, because I know it does pretty well on Prime Day every year. I know I've purchased one and many people I know have purchased one, so I wanted to use this one as an example, and what we're going to do is I just did a reverse ASIN search on it and then what we're going to do is we're going to go into historical trend.

Carrie Miller:

Now, once I click on historical trend, you can see all of these months. This goes back 24 months of data and what I want to do is I want to go back to the month of July of 2023, which is last year's prime day. So I'm going to click on that pillar right there with July of 2023. And then I'm going to click on apply filters. Now this is going to show basically all of the keywords that this ASIN was ranking for organic and sponsored and you can also see the search volume. So if we look through here, you can see their organic rank in here for a lot of these different words. Now, one thing that I like to do is okay, I can see these great keywords and where they were ranked and all of that, but I want to look at Prime Day specific keywords. So I look at, I go into the filter phrases containing and I put in Prime and I hit apply filters.

Carrie Miller:

Now this is going to show you all of the kind of Prime Day related terms that you're going to be able to utilize and maybe do pay-per-click advertising on, and you could even do an evergreen cap campaign on this, maybe even throughout the next year, to make sure that you can kind of start ranking and stay on top of these. But we've got Prime Day vacuum here and that they are organically ranked 230. Okay, they're not even doing any sponsored ads. This has an 8,500 search volume. That definitely looks like it's wide open. If you hover over this you can actually see who is ranked in the top for that keyword. But if you go down you can see all of these different keywords where this main competitor is not even ranking organically in the first page for these keywords and they're not even doing many sponsored ads. They've got one sponsored ad here, one there as well, so they're kind of probably just guessing.

Carrie Miller:

But you can utilize this historical search volume, historical searches, to do some exact campaigns and start, you know, making sure to capitalize on these keyword searches, cause it looks like a lot of people are doing even just stick vacuum cleaner, cordless, prime day deals got 1800 searches. So you know really good opportunities to do some exact campaigns to really win all of this where lots and lots of traffic is going to be. So if you haven't already checked out the historical trend, go ahead and check it out. It is an incredible tool and I do believe it can make you lots of money. Right now, some of those keywords are very, very low search volume, and so if you start advertising now, you could potentially get to the top of the search and start ranking for those before prime day. You still have some time, so go ahead and start trying to dominate those incredible prime day keywords. All right, and that is all that we have for this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz, and we will see you again next week to see what's buzzing. Bye everyone.

View Details

Want to crush Prime Day 2024? We reveal game-changing strategies to maximize your sales! From prepping your inventory to harnessing the power of influencers and email lists, this episode is packed with actionable strategies. Discover how to optimize your pay-per-click ads by tweaking budgets, targeting your own ASINs, and leveraging the Cerebro Historical Trend Tool to stay ahead of the competition. We'll also guide you on adding last-minute coupons, and provide a Prime Day checklist to ensure your success.

Learn how to launch new ASINs effectively, set up a brand website, and improve conversion rates through split-testing. We discuss the importance of fast delivery and the advantages of using FBA and the "Buy with Prime" button for seamless order fulfillment. You'll also get tips on building an email list for future events, and hear recommendations for resources like Bradley Sutton's Maldives Honeymoon podcasts for comprehensive product launch strategies. Tune in now to make Prime Day your biggest sales event ever!

In episode 573 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about:

00:00 - Prime Day 2024 Strategies and Tips
03:15 - Driving Traffic for Prime Day
09:33 - Cerebro Historical Trend Tool Overview
14:00 - Download The Checklist Here
14:21 - Building an Email List Strategies
17:12 - Split Testing A+ Content Conversion Factors
17:40 - Launching Strategies and Fulfillment Tips
20:50 - Expanding Into Walmart From Australia

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Did you know that you can make Prime Day 2024 your biggest Prime Day ever by implementing a few different strategies? That's right. Today, I'm going to be talking about some incredible strategies that can help you to make Prime Day 2024 your biggest Prime Day ever. I'm also going to be doing a live AMA. So stay tuned.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host Bradley Sutton and this is the show that is our monthly special training with Ask Me Anything session. And today's host is going to be Carrie and she's going to be going over some Prime Day strategies for you guys like, you know, we got Prime Day coming up, but even if you catch this on the replay, guys, guess what? Prime Day is something that comes kind of like twice a year because there's like a usually special other deal day. So still pay attention to this episode, even if you're watching this or listening to it after Prime Day, she's going to give some good strategies. And then also, you guys came in and gave some pretty good questions for her after that. That we're also airing live. So don't forget to join these sessions every month. These ask me anything sessions. I highly recommend it. Usually, I'm the one on there, sometimes Carrie will be on there, sometimes Shivali will be on there, but get your questions ready for us. It could be about any episode you've had or your Amazon business, and we'll get to those questions live.

Bradley Sutton:

One more thing, if you want more personalized help and don't want to air out your questions in public, don't forget there's a way to have one-on-ones with the Evangelism Team myself, Carrie, Shivali. Make sure to sign up for Helium 10 Elite h10.me/elite, h10.me/elite. If you've got the Diamond Plan, it's only $99 extra per month. You'll get special trains with Kevin King. You'll get a special trains with me and Carrie, and even one-on-ones once a month you can sign up for. So make sure to do that. But without further ado, let's go ahead and get into Carrie's training. Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

All right, thank you all for joining, and today we're gonna talk about Prime Day, and this is our monthly training, where we allow everyone into this, and it's about Prime Day. And Prime Day is coming up, and this could potentially be your biggest day of the year, and I wanna just give you some tactics and some strategies that are gonna help you to basically make it your biggest Prime Day ever. So, before I get started though, I wanted to make sure that you all know that you can put your questions in the comments, and I'm going to do my best to answer all of your questions for Prime Day because I want to make sure that, you know, you guys are all completely prepared for this. Okay, so this is my Prime Day prep strategies. Okay, so I'm going to go through you slowly, but again, if you have any questions, make sure that you drop them into the chat because I'm going to be answering questions at the end as well. If I see something, though, that relates over in the chat box then I'll make sure to answer that as I go.

Carrie Miller:

But okay, so here are some to do things now. In two days, your inventory should be at the Amazon warehouses, so hopefully you all have kind of prepared extra inventory and you've sent those in to the Amazon warehouses. If not, maybe you can just still try to get them in but it's going to be a lot harder. But just wanted to remind you. That's two days from now, so hopefully that's all done. And here's just some things to kind of think about ways that you can drive more traffic and have this to be a big Prime Day. You can create a discount code within Amazon and you can actually send that to your email list. So if you do have an email list that you want to give a special Prime Day discount to encourage them to purchase your products, then this is a good way to do it to kind of help keep traffic going. It can help with some outside traffic. Another thing is I personally always do this. I actually haven't done Prime Day deals, so Prime Day deals you already had to submit those, but I always add a coupon if I don't have a Prime Day deal going on, and they do very well. So I always make sure to have some sort of discount and coupons on there, on the actual listing itself.

Carrie Miller:

You can also utilize influencers. If you do work with some influencers, a lot of them really like to showcase products. So if you do have connections like that, then this is a really perfect time to start utilizing influencers. Here's some strategies for your pay-per-click ads. Okay, the first thing is you're going to want to increase your ads budget for the high performing campaigns.

Carrie Miller:

Now, obviously, if you're not really running any deals, you're not going to really want to do this for those products. This is for products that you're running deals that you know not going to really want to do this for those products. This is for products that you're running deals that, you know, are going to have deals like coupons or a prime day deal on. You want to increase to make sure that you don't run out of budget. And another thing is you want to run Product Targeting Ads against your own ASINS for defense. So you don't want to spend all this money for the clicks to get onto your listing, for then somebody just easily click away. So whatever you can do to kind of, you know, make sure that you are kind of defending your territory with those Product Targeting Ads against your own ASINs is a really good idea. And then you're going to also want to increase your bids for high converting products and then with deals, and then decrease your bids for those that don't have any deals because people are looking for deals on this day. So you don't want to waste a lot of PPC spend for products that you don't have any deals on. So just keep that in mind for just making sure that you stay in budget for Prime Day.

Carrie Miller:

Another thing is you're going to want to turn on the Sponsored Display Retargeting Campaigns to capture traffic that doesn't actually convert during Prime Day because you can retarget them. You can maybe continue some of your coupons or discounts going on for a few more days and then see if you can capture those sales. And then also you can update your headline copy to, you know, mention deals or you can add different photos based on whatever it is that you want to do for Prime Day. So, you know, I think headline definitely, you know, just headlining that you, you are running a deal is a good idea for your ads. Definitely you know just headlining that you, you are running a deal is a good idea for your ads, okay, so then make sure also that your listing is retail ready. So that means like when you're running all these ads, you want to make sure that it's done so that it's gonna convert.

Carrie Miller:

And there's a lot of things that you can do to make sure that you do optimize your listing and the first thing is you know if your brand registered, you want to make sure you have you’re A-plus content added with a brand story. I actually did this, I think, like when it came when brand story came out, I started adding my other products in the brand story and I started noticing people buying products that they don't normally buy together and that was pretty amazing. I really think that it's a really good opportunity to make sure that you have, you know those that brand story in there so that you can get those kind of like bundle deals, I guess you could say, without actually doing a virtual bundle. So I think if you aren't doing that, then you're really missing out. So when you do your brand story, you can write, you know, a little blurb about your brand and then you can actually add your products and people can scroll to the right, or is it to the left? They basically can scroll to see the other products that are available within your brand. You can also, once you've got brand, your brand story on all your A-plus content. Then you have access, you unlock access to premium A-plus content and so you can add a comparison chart on there and the comparison chart also allows you another placement to add more products from your line as well. So you can kind of cross sell and make sure to kind of like increase your cart value. Especially, you know, on Prime Day you're spending more on ads and you're spending, you're giving discounts, so you want to kind of increase those, those cart values.

Carrie Miller:

Also, add virtual bundles. Now I talked before about, you know, making sure that that you're doing those Product Targeting Ads to the ASIN Targeting Ads, to make sure that you're doing those product targeting ads to the ASIN targeting ads, to make sure that you're defending your products. But adding virtual bundles can also really help defend your listing because it takes up a whole row of where advertisements could be. So this is another way to defend your listing. So if you haven't had virtual bundles, definitely put them on. Some people are always like I put a virtual bundles and they didn't really sell. Well, honestly, for this purpose, the purpose is really to take up space and make sure that you're defending your position and your whole page from competitors advertising and getting those clicks away from your actual listing. Also, you're going to want to update your images, if needed.

Carrie Miller:

This is one of the most incredible tools for optimizing your images. I love that you can actually go on here to this little media comparison tool. So what I did was I put in a bunch of ASINs. You can put your ASIN in there. First, we put my ASIN in here first this is our Mania's Mysterious Oddities and then we put our competitors in here and you can see a bunch of things that are going on. You can even see if they're running coupons. So this is good to kind of keep track of them.

Carrie Miller:

But my favorite thing is, since you're preparing, is media comparison. So you're going to be able to see where what images your competitors are doing that maybe you're not. So you can see all the images all stacked on top of each other. So maybe some of your competitors have, you know, dimensions and you're like, oh, I didn't even do a dimensions photo, or they have a cool infographic that you want to kind of do a similar one like that, or lifestyle images that you hadn't thought of. That is a great way to kind of continue to optimize your images and you can also see, you know, which listings have videos. It'll show you this one has one video, so you can see okay, my competitors aren't even, they don't even have a video, and you can put up a video. That's another thing. If you haven't added a video to your listing, this actually unlocks for Amazon influencers to be able to post up in the upper carousel actual video reviews of your product and this can really help with your sales. So if you open up this by just adding a video in, I think that can really people that are doing the influencing program can kind of find you a little bit easier and then they can place their products or their review videos on your actual listing. So it's another great way to get more videos for free, basically.

Carrie Miller:

So the next thing I want to go back to my presentation here. I went all the way back to the beginning here. You want to update your keywords? Okay, so I'm going to show you a little bit about our Cerebro Historical Trend Tool, and I absolutely love the Historical Trend Tool. It's one of the coolest tools that I think we've come out with. You can go back in time and you can find where any, basically, you can go back at 24 months, okay. You can find out where any ASIN was ranking in the organic and the sponsored positions. You can also see the search volume history of any keywords so it’s really, really an amazing tool to, basically, you know, get ahead of the competition. So I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to show you that tool. Okay, so I already I already went into Cerebro and I actually took a product that I know sells super, super well on Prime Day and I put in the ace in here.

Carrie Miller:

And this is just a single search. When you're doing the Historical Trend, and what you're going to do is you're going to click on the show Historical Trend Tool and I think this is kind of hidden some people don't know where it is. It's literally right in the middle here and you click on this. You click on show historical trend. Last year, Prime Day was July, I believe, of 2023. So I'm gonna click on this July of 2023. You can see that it's highlighted here. So we're gonna click on July 2023 and then I'm gonna click apply filters and this is going to give me all of the keywords that this particular product was ranking for and sponsored and organic positioning. So one thing you could do is you could say, hey, I want to, like, I want to see where they were ranked between you know, in the sponsored position, between one and 20. And you can apply those filters, you can see where their, you know, main targets were for their sponsored ads, so you can kind of get some new keywords that way. Another thing is, once you're in here you can also kind of sort and filter for particular keywords and one of the ones I like to do for Prime Day is just prime. Okay, so I'm just going to see what keyword phrases have prime in it and I'm going to go down here and look okay, so this is kind of incredible because this vacuum literally I think is one of the top sellers for Prime Day and their organic rank for Prime Day vacuum is 230.

Carrie Miller:

So not even ranking. They're not even really Sponsored Rank. They have some Sponsored Rank, I do believe, on the Prime, Prime Day. Let's see if we can sort here. I think I saw them before on some sponsored. They have some some keywords. So they're ranking in the sponsored for Prime Day vacuums or they were cordless vacuum, Prime Day, but those are kind of, you know, smaller keywords. So this one actually is kind of incredible because Prime Day vacuum, you know, there's just a wide open opportunity to beat this particular competitor. You can usually see the top clicked and top converted keyword or products in there. So you can also kind of look, take a look at your other competitors and see what potential Prime Day keywords you have. So you can literally come up with a whole list. Maybe some people are shopping for gifts so you can see like gifts I don't know if this is really a gift item, but you could see if there'sany gifts. Okay, so you've got some gift keywords in here so you can do that for any ASIN and people are sometimes looking for gifts, you know. Even you know on Prime Day, for people start shopping early. So you can sort for gifts and see if there's any gift keywords that maybe you can target in your pay-per-click advertising.

Carrie Miller:

I was actually looking at some other, another historical search for our coffin shelf and there was a search that I did for May and I was like there must be something wrong with this. Witchy gifts for women had this huge spike and it went up to like from like 700 to 12,000. I went up to Bradley I was like there's got to be something wrong with this or something sort of glitch, but it's. He's like well, maybe this is for Mother's Day that people are searching which witchy gifts for women. So I thought that was kind of crazy, that like that's a crazy opportunity keyword for you know, this random month I not really random because it's Mother's Day but like I would have never thought Mother's Day would be kind of a gothic type search term.

Carrie Miller:

But you can, you know, look and find these types of keywords when you do these historical searches, and you can do that by filtering the different phrases. You can even just download the whole list and kind of take a look where they were ranking in the top 50 sponsored spots or the top 100 or whatever. You can look at all their sponsored rankings and you can see, okay, what keywords am I missing and that have a good search volume that maybe nobody else is really targeting. So I think it's a really, really incredible tool that if you have not started utilizing it, then it's really, really a great tool to use. I'm also going to share the. There's a link here that is for the Prime Day checklist that we actually made so you can download that and you can go through it again. There's actually some more details in there for Prime Day and we put it together. There's stuff with Helium 10 tools, there's stuff without Helium 10 tools. It really is geared towards giving you as much information as possible to help make Prime Day a really big day for you.

Carrie Miller:

So, all righty, I'm going to go back and I'm going to start answering questions. How do you build an email list? So this is something that takes a little bit of time and this is something that maybe you, if you want to do this for the next Prime Day or next holiday season, you can start now. But we do have a way. You can put QR codes into your products. Basically, you can create these little QR codes where people can kind of maybe register for a freebie, something or a warranty of your product or something like that, and basically that's kind of how you can start collecting email addresses in there, and that's a great way to do it. So that's one way or you can have a pop up at your website. I know you know, if you have like a Shopify site, make sure you have a pop up that goes up and then it can save a list of emails if you create that Shopify site now and I know not everyone has that but if you're selling just on Amazon, then these inserts are really the best way to do it. We do have different YouTube trainings that you can actually go and kind of search for our inserts trainings on our YouTube channel but that is a great way. We also, I think, did a freedom ticket extra episode on that. It would be in our freedom ticket 4.0. So that is another way that you can, you know, learn more about how to build an email list. But it's really, I think, a great tool.

Carrie Miller:

Somebody said I missed about the A-plus content and can you give me some more information? Yeah, so on the A-plus content, what I was mentioning was that you want to make sure that you add a brand story in you’re A-plus content because you can add more products on your carousel there so you can do a little blurb about your brandster, but there's a space where you can actually add products that are in your line. So I noticed that when I added a brand story, that more people were buying more of my products together when they're actually kind of different types of products, but they were kind of buying more like together. So it increased the cart order value and that was a really great thing for the brand story to help just kind of increase the cart value. But also, once you do a brand story for all of your A-plus content, then you can actually get access to the premium A-plus content and you can do a chart comparison and in there you can also add more products that you sell. So really good places to add, you know help to you know increase your cart order values, especially, like I said, you're paying more for ads. You know help to you know, increase your cart order values, especially, like I said, you're paying more for ads. You're doing some discounts. You want to kind of get some more bang for your buck.

Carrie Miller:

Does it make sense to adjust daytime parties short before and during Prime Day? So in terms of some people kind of stop running as many ads during the week before, but I actually don't and I've actually seen, you know, continuous sales. So I guess it really depends on your strategy. In terms of day parting, that's usually when you kind of like turn things off during certain times where you're maybe not converting as well and maybe increase it as when you are. But I think Prime Day may be different but it really is probably dependent on your product.

Carrie Miller:

Shivali says do you recommend split testing A-plus while we're still a few weeks out from the speculated day? Yes, there is actually a way that you can split test you’re A-plus content in Seller Central. So I would suggest, if we do have some time before, I think we have like probably four weeks so you can start split to see. It usually takes about four weeks to kind of give you some good information. So if you were to start, you know, you’re A-plus content today and get it all up, you could start doing two different versions and split testing.

Carrie Miller:

Helium 10 Serious Sellers Podcast and Freedom Ticket have been such a great partner in our journey best ever, awesome. I'm really glad to hear it. That's awesome. Okay, let's see here. Our ASIN has the fastest delivery of five to six days compared to others of one day. Not sure if this is affecting conversion, because we are getting tons of clicks but not converting or it has to be images and A+, so there's a lot of things that could be affecting your conversion, but definitely the speed of delivery is going to affect you. So you're going to see a lot less sales for sure in terms of that kind of a delivery. And then you also need to probably split test your images to see if there is a better image for your main image and maybe some of your copy. You can do that split testing within Seller Central.

Carrie Miller:

Somebody asked what are the best strategies for launching a new ASIN, I would recommend going to listen to the Maldives Honeymoon Podcasts from Bradley Sutton. Those are the podcasts where you can really learn how to launch a product that gives you tons and tons of information. When do you suggest to create a .com website for my brand on Amazon? My sister and I are about to launch our first product soon. I actually would say you could do it right away. Shopify is really cool because they have these templates. You can literally buy a website address and you can connect it to Shopify, and Shopify has templates that you can kind of click and drag and add photos.

Carrie Miller:

Personally, I created my own site myself. I took photos of my friends using my products and I went and just did the templates. I looked at all the templates that they had available and I purchased one that I thought was really cool and would work well for my product, and then you can also, you know, purchase stock images too if you needed to. There are places you can buy stock images for your website, but I would suggest just putting something together. You can do a very basic one there and that way you have kind of some brand recognition people looking for you. They can find you on that site. I think, you know, if you have some time to do it, you can do it right away. Bradley wants me to announce what is going on with Freedom Ticket as far as Walmart, we are actually working on our Walmart Freedom Ticket right now, so we're in the process of starting to film that and put it together, and it's going to be full of incredible Walmart content. So you're going to get everything you need to know to sell on Walmart and be successful.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, can you fulfill Shopify orders via Amazon? You can use FBA to fulfill your orders. So you can. There's a little plugin that you can use to connect your FBA account to Shopify and so you can fulfill it. Just basically, you'll pay for the fulfillment fees. Another way you can do is there's a button you can get on your website. It's a little bit more challenging to get this, but it's called buy with Prime and people can literally just buy. It's really an easy click and they can just use their prime account to buy on your website. So that's another way that you can do it. I actually have that on my site and it works pretty well. I think it's also good for people you know if it's your site and they're like I don't know if I trust this site yet, but if you have one of those buy with prime buttons, they're like oh, I could just easily use my Amazon account and it's easy for them to do. And they don’t have to fill in anything. It’s a good way to go.

Carrie Miller:

Andy says is there any news on Walmart for off shore entities. Actually, I have helped some Australian sellers I know you're in Australia get onto Walmart recently. What you have to have is an EIN and you have to have a business address in the US. So those are the main things that you need to have. They are expanding the country, so some countries that are not officially allowed to sell, you do need to have an EIN and a business address and they have to match. So, whatever your EIN, the business address there has to match the US business address in order to get accepted. So yeah, Andy says he knows that's my specialty. Yes, it is. Also Amazon. I mean Amazon, I've been an Amazon seller since 2016. So definitely Amazon is a specialty as well.

Carrie Miller:

With buy with prime, does it capture customer info to add things like an email list. They capture it too, but you can see it. You can see your customer information. That business address cannot be virtual. Some people use the 3PL, but there are some kind of like, you can pay for addresses and different companies allow you to do that. So that's another way to do that to get on to Walmart,.

Carrie Miller:

Someone said how should we launch a product with 50% off price offer coupons? There's a lot of different ways that you can do this. You can do a discount and then kind of gradually raise the price. But some people are saying now that you should do you know full price items. It really is kind of saying now that you should do you know full price items. It really is kind of depending on what you want to do but the discount does help you to convert more, especially if you don't have any reviews. So I would say you know, that is a good way to do. You know, to start off is to give a discount and then you can start getting those reviews coming in and you're obviously going to have to run pay-per-click advertising. You can run coupons and all of that stuff and all of that is going to be helpful for you to convert higher.

Carrie Miller:

If we need help from Walmart, how do we reach out to you? Is it possible to use Amazon to fulfill Walmart through Amazon? These are good questions. If you need help with Walmart, I do have a Walmart group you can tag me on Facebook. It's called Winning with Walmart, or Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can join that group. You can tag me with the questions there. I do go live every month in that group too and I answer questions.

Carrie Miller:

But you can just tag me there. But then also never fulfill Walmart orders with Amazon. They will shut you down. They're competing against each other. They do not want you to, you know, fulfill with Amazon, even if you do the MCF and it's like a plain box. Sometimes they make a mistake and it might be delivered in a Prime Box and it could be a problem. So I would suggest that you get a 3PL if you're going to do Walmart, or you can use Walmart fulfillment services. Walmart fulfillment services are, you know, pretty much the same thing as FBA. You ship in some inventory to them and they will pick, pack and ship for you. So that is, I think, the best way to do that.

Carrie Miller:

Someone asked, I guess we have another one, is it wise to give away coupons to Amazon visitors for Amazon ASINs, in terms of listing a coupon on your site? Yes, I do believe that's a great thing to help with conversion.

Carrie Miller:

All right, everyone. Thank you all so much for joining this live about Prime Day and just ask me anything as well, and we will have this again live for everyone in a month again. Otherwise, if you're in the Serious Sellers Club, you can join every week. So thanks again, everyone, for joining and we will see you all again later. Bye everyone, bye, bye.

View Details

Join us as we explore crucial importing and inventory management strategies with Afolabi Oyerokun, a seasoned Amazon seller with over 20 years of experience. Afolabi takes us through his remarkable journey from Nigeria to the United States, where he transitioned from fashion design to computer animation before making his mark in e-commerce. Discover his insights on avoiding costly pitfalls when importing products from overseas, managing inventory effectively, and ensuring you don't run out or overstock.

In this engaging episode, Afolabi shares essential tips on navigating U.S. customs seizures and maintaining effective communication with overseas factories. Learn about the common reasons for customs stopping a container and the importance of accurate documentation to avoid severe penalties. He also highlights the risks of using email for factory communications and suggests using platforms like WeChat to prevent scams. Plus, get the lowdown on labeling requirements for imported goods to ensure compliance with U.S. and Amazon regulations.

Listen in as we discuss the critical role of third-party logistics (3PLs) in maintaining a diverse and efficient supply chain, despite Amazon's introduction of its AWD. Afolabi outlines the strategic advantages of using 3PLs for fulfilling orders across multiple marketplaces and offers practical tips for optimizing shipping. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of compliance with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations and introduce a new tool to help track and ensure compliance with U.S. government regulations. Finally, get to know Afolabi a little better as we share contact information for his services and enjoy a light-hearted exchange about Nigerian cuisine.

In episode 572 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Afolabi discuss:

00:00 - Importing Products From Overseas
03:54 - From Fashion to Tech
10:17 - Avoiding Customs Seizures in Online Selling
11:20 - Customs Seizure, Communication, and Mold Ownership
22:45 - Factory Confiscates Mold During Dispute
25:27 - Supply Chain Visibility and Customs Compliance
28:52 - Importance of Taking CBP Seriously
31:06 - Online Contact Information for Tariff Services3

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today's guest has got tons of strategies to help you avoid potential pitfalls that would be extremely costly when importing products from overseas, but he's also got a wealth of experience since he started selling on Amazon over 20 years ago. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed. Organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And it's funny for the first time in like 570 episodes, I was recording an episode last week and then noticed that the recording wasn't working, so we're having to start all over again. So thanks to our guests for being accommodating, but at the same time, thanks to my terrible memory, I think I already forgot most of what we had talked about already. So it's going to be still new for me, just as it is for the audience right here. So, Afolabi, welcome to the show. How's it going this morning? Thank you again for coming on for a second time.

Afolabi:

I'm good. Thank you, Bradley, for having me over. Thanks a lot, I'm excited.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome! Now we were talking about where I'm from right before this call, where I'm at right now. Where are you in the United States right now?

Afolabi:

I'm in Pennsylvania. I'm sitting at a 3PL here in Eastern PA.

Bradley Sutton:

Ah, so this is not your home, this is like where you work, your office.

Afolabi:

Correct. This is our office.

Bradley Sutton:

And where were you born and raised?

Afolabi:

Born in Nigeria, West Africa. I came into the US this January of 97.

Bradley Sutton:

Ah, okay, now hold on. This is something new already we didn't talk about last time, because this weekend I was at a church event and I met somebody from Nigeria and maybe I'll throw a picture up of that. But I asked him I'm a foodie, so I ask him if I find a good Nigerian restaurant here, what should I order? And he said something let's see if this is what you suggest too. He said fish, pepper soup. So is that a great cuisine that I should try for Nigerian food?

Afolabi:

Fish pepper soup is good, beef pepper soup is good and then you can. If you like rice, you can eat jollof rice. I love rice. It's spelled j-o-l-l-o-f. It's a traditional, uh, very nice, uh tasting rice. But I have to caution you on the fish pepper soup. If you don't like hot, spicy food, don't.

Bradley Sutton:

That's no problem. All right, the rest of the audience, you guys, beware. Me, I don't have to worry about that I love hot spicy food. So that makes it even more. That makes it even more exciting for me to taste it.

Afolabi:

Good.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, excellent. Anyways, we're not here to uh to talk about food. Otherwise, yeah, my diet is day one today and I'm already going to lose out on that if I get too hungry here. But let's talk about, let's go back more to your origin story. So did you attend university in the United States or back in Nigeria?

Afolabi:

Yes, so I had some university in Nigeria and then I transferred and came here to New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology, F.I.T. as everybody knew it, and I majored in fashion design for my first two years and then the final two years was in computer animation and interactive media. Weird right?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's a big contrast. Some people say oh, what's your major? Oh, I'm majoring in business and I minor in management or something like that or maybe a language, but your double major was IT and also fashion. So how did you end up like, what was your first dabble in e-commerce and what year, and what did you do?

Afolabi:

I did some little freelance work here and there, and then I came up with the shoe designs while I was doing freelance for a company in New York.

Bradley Sutton:

And there's your fashion design coming in already. I like it.

Afolabi:

Now, bear in mind, I did not do shoe designs, I didn't do footwear designs when I was doing fashion, but I just liked all these Nike shoes and all these really cool shoes. I was just inspired. So, I started designing my own shoes. And now, when I had a computer full of shoe designs, now the next stage is how do I make these shoes? So, I was looking all over. I couldn't find any shoe manufacturer, and then I sent inquiries out. Those were the days Alibaba was just coming up. It wasn't very popular at all. Anyway, I found some Mr. Johnson somewhere in Taiwan that replied to my email and it's like no, you have to come here. We can make your shoes, but you got to come here. I'm like okay, whatever.

Afolabi:

So I went to Taiwan with the last dollar in my hands. I didn't even have money for the hotel. My host had to pay for my hotel. So I went to and they didn't know I didn't have the hotel. They were just being, you know good host. So I went to Taiwan, met with Mr. Johnston and that was the beginning of me making my shoes. And after I made the shoes, I you know my wife reached out one way or the other. She reached out to Amazon that you know Amazon was just getting out of selling books, only to start it. They just opened up the platform for.

Bradley Sutton:

When was this? Early 2000s?

Afolabi:

2002.

Bradley Sutton:

2002.

Afolabi:

Yes, so that was 2002. And Amazon. You know, some rep in Amazon said oh wow, we like these shoes. You want, would you like, to come on board our platform? Like, yeah, I don't have any other choice. You know how come? You know? So I, uh, I started selling those shoes there and they were doing really good until we realized that they were made too small, they were like a size smaller and uh, by the way, these are some of the things, things I shared in the model, you know, in the Freedom Ticket. For people that are listening, you know, I would say for them to go get that and listen to my full story there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, all right, so now was that? So then Amazon kind of became your main income in the early two thousands? Or were you also selling online, or how? How did you end up, you know? Cause you're down to your last dollar when, when you got started here. So what happened?

Afolabi:

So, I was selling on Amazon but it wasn’t, there was no FBA right, so we were fulfilling it by ourselves. It was so hard and I had a side gig which I was doing, you know, graphics and web for people on the side, and I went to a footwear show in New York. It’s called Fanny, F-F-A-N-Y. And I met some people and they were like “How did you make these shoes?” And I told them and they said, oh, can you make us shoes too? So I started doing consulting for other individuals that want to make their own shoes. So that's how I kept on keeping the body and soul together while I was building the brand on Amazon and when the shoes were made small, so we started getting a lot of returns, people saying, oh, I have to return this and buy a higher size. So people were returning it, they'll buy a size eight, They'll return it and buy a size nine. And it was just a nightmare and I couldn't take it. So I found a liquidator or some guy out of Florida and he bought all my inventory and that's how I ended that part to sell off all my inventory.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, but now you kind of found out that, hey, I've got a thing for this, you know design, I've got a thing for importing. This is maybe something I can help out with.

Afolabi:

Correct.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, was that the kind of start of your consulting company?

Afolabi:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

That you've been doing ever since.

Afolabi:

Yes, so that's how sourcing and logistics started for me. I started sourcing for a lot of companies providing logistical support and then somehow, in 2014, my friend you know came to me and said, hey, let's sell on Amazon. I'm like I've done that before. You know, it was too hard. He's like no, no, no, it's different now. You know they have something called FBA. I said what's that? He's like no, they'll fulfill the order for you. You just ship it to their warehouse. They'll do the pick and pack and ship them. Oh, that's easy. So we came up. He came up with some cool designs and signs and banners and school supplies. So that's how we went back into Amazon. We were selling craft vinyl, we were selling anything we could lay our hands on. It was so easy to rank, it was so easy to launch. Those were the days that viral launch was also, you know, getting started and stuff. And so we were. We were growing really fast because, you know there was there were no competition. You know people hadn't woken up to Amazon. So selling on Amazon became our main income at that time.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, all right, interesting. Now you reference that you're in in Freedom Ticket. So, yes, anybody who has a Helium 10 and has a Starter plan, Platinum plan or above has full access to our full Freedom Ticket course, which is more than 20 hour course with every aspect of selling online that you would need and Afolabi 's module is under compliance and risk management. It's called mistakes to avoid when importing products. We're not going to do the whole thing today, but I want to give some highlights from here, just so that people can understand some of your expertise and you can go ahead and help people out with some things. But my first question is one of the things that you mentioned in your module was about custom seizures and how people can avoid that. So, first of all, what is a custom seizure? Sounds very dramatic. And then how can people avoid? Or, you know, nobody can 100% fully make themselves foolproof, but what are the things that people can do to make that less likely of happening?

Afolabi:

Yes, correct, thanks. So custom seizure is when the US customs just flags your container or flags a container containing your product for examination because they're suspecting something. It could be randomly done, or it might be that your freight forwarder or your broker has been under their watch list and they want to start looking deeper into all the imports that this cheaper or freight forwarder has been doing. So they would stop your container for examination, so they'll bring it to a yard and they will open it up and see what's in it. Now you cannot really protect yourself from being, you know, spotted or from your container being stopped, but when it gets stopped, that's what you can protect. What happens after it gets stopped is what you can protect. You can, you know, can help yourself out. Some of the things that make customs stop a container could be you're importing from a factory that has a forced child laborer. You are importing products under the anti-dumping laws or countervailing laws, whereby it's almost like you're smuggling those products because the quota for those products is already filled out and you're still bringing in those products. They don't want you coming to flood the US market with those products. Above all, the most annoying one is the False Claims Act, which is you're not paying the right duty. You are falsifying your duty classification of your product so that you can pay the lower duty. You are bringing in a pencil and then you're lying in your. It may not be you. Actually it would be your shipper. Unknowingly to you, your shipper may be falsifying your customs form to declare a lower value, or you're declaring a lower value than the amount you ordered the product for. So these are all the things.

Afolabi:

For me one time that my container was stopped and it was actually destroyed. The problem was that I had been ordering this giant industrial product for a long time and one time it was stopped at the port of Jacksonville and they looked at it. They said there was the power cable. Can you imagine the power cable that has the UL logo on it. They wanted me to prove that the cable came out of a UL certified factory. And then there's another capacitor in that product that has the logo CMA on it, which is a big association. And I went to my factory. I said, hey, you know my container was stopped. Can you send me certification and proof that your factory is a member or is approved by UL and you are also authorized to use the CMA logo and they ran away. They disappeared.

Afolabi:

So I told the customs can I come and just stick all these things out and I can cut out the cable. I can do this. They're like nope, it's going in the trash. So the whole container about who knows 50,000 worth of product was trashed. On top of all the penalties, examination, demurrage, all manner of fees climbed on top of it. So if I had falsified the document and say, oh, I'm bringing something else that is duty-free, the penalty would have been a lot severe. So those are some of the things you should watch out for as an importer. Make sure that you're using the right HTS code, the right tariff code, to correctly declare your goods, so that they will not penalize you under the False Claims Act.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, another thing you mentioned was that you do not suggest that anybody communicate with their factories using email and instead another means. So why is that? And then what? How do you think people should be doing 100% of their communication with their factories?

Afolabi:

Great, well, I learned that from experience. So I was using my Gmail account to talk to my factory. I didn't know that there was a scammer that intercepted my factory's email as acting to my factory's email, as acting to my factory's email address and hijacked our conversation. So all the while I was talking to the scammer, I didn't realize it was the scammer, because he was impersonating my factory through email and I was able to send money to the scammer. The scammer changed the bank account on the invoice and everything and I sent the money to him, not realizing that it was a scam. If I had been communicating with my factory through WeChat, I wouldn't have fallen for that, because from the very beginning of my conversation now when I'm talking to factories, I take it out of Alibaba, I take it out of every platform and I put it in my WeChat. That way, before I even start talking about sending money or whatever, I already have a communication directly with the factory from my WeChat. So if anybody hijacks that, I would know I will double check through WeChat. I can double check through both emails and WeChat and I also secure the transaction with the Alibaba trade assurance.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Yeah, that's crazy. Your email might have been secure but not the uh. You know not the uh, not the suppliers there, okay. So, yeah, we chat is the way, uh, to go. Now, another thing that sometimes I struggle with and then you talk about in your module, is knowing which labels is a requirement of the country and then also what's requirement of Amazon. So, for example, united states at what? What kind of bags need that? No suffocation like, is it only a bag that has an opening, but if it's fully vacuum sealed bag, it doesn't. Or explain when I need to have that, that, those child warnings on my bagged products coming from China.

Afolabi:

Well, uh, for safety, I just put it in, uh, all kinds of anything. Anytime I'm bringing a product that has bags in general. Uh, I know for Amazon it has to have an opening that you put the product in. It's not like those uh uh bubble bags, but it is a bag you open and put a product in. But me, just for the sake of sanity and safety, I just put it on anytime. Anytime I'm bringing the product.

Bradley Sutton:

What does it say? What exactly does the label say that you're putting on these bags?

Afolabi:

Yeah the suffocation. It's a generic suffocation warning which you can find the text anywhere online.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so that's important too. Another thing that was new to me that you talked about was mold ownership. Now, me, I don't have any molds, or actually I do for a couple of accounts. But obviously, project X, we know, we're doing egg trays, we're doing, we're doing, you know, coffin shelves and things like that Wooden products. It didn't require a mold like for plastic product. But a lot of people, when they're making original designs or you know, brand new product, that requires tooling and molds. Hey, this is a kind of a big investment at the beginning. What are some things that that sellers should avoid? Because one thing that you know some people might think is logical is well, maybe we can split costs or with the supplier on this mold, but you actually said that's not a good idea, right?

Afolabi:

Yes, correct. So when your, when your product involves or requires a mold and the supplier says, well, you know, we can share the mold cost with you, you know, so that we can make it easy and cheaper for you to get into production, it's a no-no, because the moment they share the mold cost with you, they jointly own that mold and you're bind and married to that factory forever. If you try to move that mold, they'll say no, it's our mold too. We paid for it together. Another thing is to always have a mold ownership agreement when mold comes into play, have it in writing, both in Mandarin and English or Cantonese and English, and say I own this mold and I can take it anytime I want. I can move it to any factory. Okay, what if this factory gets into trouble? Or what if they run out of capacity and they can't even? They don't even have the capacity to fulfill your production anymore. What are you going to do your stuck? So it's better to always have that clause in your mold that you own your mold 100% and you can take it anywhere you want.

Afolabi:

Another thing I tell importers or product innovators is that when you're doing mold, make sure you don't ask your factory for their input on your design, you say, hey, what do you think? This is the way I want to make this product. What do you think? The moment your factory contributes to your designs, then by Chinese law they are co-inventors with you. If they're co-inventors, they have legal claims on your idea and they can sell it to whoever they want. They can make that product for anybody they want because you jointly developed it together with them. So you got to be very careful on contribution or collaboration. You don't collaborate with your factory. Hire your own industrial engineering or structural engineer or whoever, and you guys talk about it, come up with your product and then you give it to the mold maker. Sometimes people use their factory to negotiate the mold. I don't do that, honestly. I take my molds to the mold maker. I go to a mold maker to make my mold and then I bring it from the mold maker and I bring it to the factory. Many factory will want to say, oh, this is our mold. It's $2,000 for the mold. You don't know where they made the mold from. And if you don't have the connection to the mold, how would you retrieve the mold. If something falls apart between you and the factory, right, they would tell you where the mold came from.

Afolabi:

I actually had a situation and this is one out of a million whereby we made a mold and we stopped production of that product and the factory thought we were going to move the production to another factory, but that was not the case. But he's like no, I'm not going to release this mold. We were like but we paid for it, it's ours. He says I know, but I'm not giving it back. Why? Because this mold was made from a mold maker that we don't even have a contact of, so we don't even know how to reach this mold maker. Only the factory knows how to get to them. And they said nope, we're not telling you nothing, we're not releasing the mold. We went back and forth. They said okay, we can pay you for the fraction of the mold. I'm like why would you want to pay us for the mold? We don't want you making it for anybody else. They said nope, we will pay you $600 and we'll take the mold. We're not making it for anybody, but we need to safeguard it, we need to make sure it doesn't go. I'm like that doesn't even make any sense. Yeah, we, we, unfortunately, we had to abandon the factory, abandon the mold and just get out. But the, the, the confiscated the mold. They did not release it.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow. Okay, so that's definitely something to keep in mind as well. Let's switch gears and talk about stuff that's not in your Freedom Ticket module. For the rest of what you're talking about there, the Freedom Ticket students definitely can and should go check it out, but I didn't even know until today, for some reason, that you also did the 3PL services. Now, since you said that you're in a 3PL right now you know, in 2024, obviously the biggest change you know you've been selling on Amazon for 20 years, but, uh, probably you'd agree that one of the bigger changes that Amazon sellers are worried about this year is the new um fees. You know, like, of course, we've got a high return product rate fee and there's also uh, but now there's inventory fee, low inventory fee, and then the big, the big one that affects literally everybody using FBA is the inbound cost when you are inbound placement fee. So, as a 3PL, what you know more than just one seller who only has their situation, you're dealing with many, many sellers and who are all navigating these things differently. Yes, what's the consensus Like? What are your clients doing? What are you suggesting to them to do in order to help alleviate the cost of these new fees? What are they doing differently than they did before these fees?

Afolabi:

Well, we have different customers that have unique situations. Many people think that when Amazon came out with the AWD, which is the warehouse distribution, that they go ahead and fire their 3PL. We don't need 3PLs anymore and stuff like that. But they're learning more and more that I think it's Amazon's way of controlling and maintaining visibility and shutting you out of visibility, where they kind of control your whole entire supply chain. So if you're selling in other marketplaces, I still feel that you need your 3PL for you to be able to diversify, sell at Walmart, Ebay, whatever anywhere else, Shopify your own store to be able to fulfill from all those places. I know Amazon wants to fulfill those places so that you can get access to your customer data, but I want to maintain visibility. But in terms of fees placement fees I know even the AWD is not for all products, it's only for a certain small number of you know product catalog I still believe that if you can be sending your product, if you time it really well and you're watching all your inventory very well, I think you can be. If you're on top of it, you send, you know, maybe case basis or pilot basis or using freight like here we use a lot of freight for our customers and it saves them a lot of money and the products get there on time, because we have UPS freight truck come here every time and when they come here they take it straight to the depot. When they take it straight to depot, it ends up in Amazon within a day or two, so they're able to save.

Afolabi:

Also, if you want to use Amazon Freight from your 3PL, that's also advisable. What do I mean by that? So if you're shipping sometimes more than 10 or 12 pallets of goods, it may be better to just request for Amazon to send you an empty truck from their freight service. So you go to freightAmazoncom, they will send you an empty truck and you pay for everything you fill that truck with. So the truck rate could be 750 bucks or 600 bucks, depending on where it's going to, but they send you that truck. You could fill it with either 15 pallets or up to maybe up to 26 pallets or something. It's the same 750 bucks, which saves you a lot of money when you're, you know, shipping your products to all the fulfillment warehouses. So that's what, uh, that's my number one way. I would, you know, number one thing that I'll tell uh uh sellers to make sure they're able to consolidate and sell box shipments in chunks like that. If you're not that big, you can just be sending. SPD is still okay, whereby you send a few boxes today, keep watching your inventory and then send another few boxes next week or two weeks time, based on your velocity.

Bradley Sutton:

What's your 30 or 60 second tip? We call this that 60 second tip of the day that you can give. You know you've been giving strategies throughout this whole episode, but if you were to have a quick hitting one that you think people should be following, what is it?

Afolabi:

What I would think would be good now is it's not sexy, but it's very important and is to start taking the CBP, which is Customs and Border Protection, to start taking them seriously, because they have started to check all these cargos, especially coming from China. They already know that people are rerouting their products. They already know that people are falsifying their documents and stuff like that. They're clamping on forced child labor a lot. I was just talking to somebody last week and his product had been stopped since December because one component in his product was made out of a region in China that was known for forced child labor and for that they sent his container back to China after detaining it for many months. They had to send it back and I see that popping up in Mexico as well.

Afolabi:

So start taking CBP seriously in terms of check with your broker. Check that your products are compliant to US government regulations. We're actually rolling out a product this end of this month that can actually help you track all your products and cross check it across all governmental agencies. If your supplier or if your product has something that the US government doesn't like, it will flag it so that can be found on a tariff terminator website. Very soon, like end of this month, you will start being able to track and monitor your ASINs to make sure that your risk of being stopped or your product being destroyed or being prohibited from coming into the US. You would be better prepared and know ahead of time to know all the watch lists, to be aware of the watch lists of all the people and factories and things that the government doesn't like, because it's not pretty for them to stop your goods and don't let it come in.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Good to know. Good to know. Now, if people want to get more information from you or reach out to find out more about your services. How can people find you on the interwebs out there?

Afolabi:

So they can find us at honuworldwide.com or tariftaminator.com Tariff as in T-A-R-I-F-F-T-E-R-M-I-A-N-A-T-O-R. Tarifterminator.com, or Honu Worldwide as H-O-N-U Worldwide.com, or you can send us an email at savings at HonuWorldwide.com.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Afolabi, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'll let you know what I think of the fish pepper soup and maybe we'll reach out to you next year to see what's new in your world. Knowing you, you'll probably be on five different things already in this short year. So thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.

Afolabi:

You're welcome. Let me know how the fish pepper soup tastes. I always want to. I'm curious.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, All right, I'll let you know. I'll let you know.

View Details

Amazon's new AI-powered tools
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-ads-image-generator-adds-aspect-ratio-capability

https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/empowering-small-business/amazon-announces-expansion-of-generative-ai-listing-tools-to-sellers-across-europe

Amazon Ditching Air Pillows

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/20/amazon-plastic-air-pillows-to-be-replaced-with-paper-filler.html

Imagine saving thousands annually on fulfillment costs by optimizing product dimensions. We explore the financial benefits of Helium 10’s size tier optimization feature and how reducing an item’s length by just one inch can lead to significant savings. Additionally, learn how Helium 10’s Listing Analyzer and media comparison tools can give you an edge over competitors by enhancing product listings. With actionable insights and practical examples, this episode is packed with strategies to help you stay ahead in the e-commerce landscape. Tune in for all these valuable strategies and stay ahead in the e-commerce game!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Amazon AI Power Tools
02:27 - Expansion of AI Tools in Europe
03:34 - Walmart+ Week
04:28 - Walmart Connect Video Module
05:22 - Amazon Air Pillows
06:35 - Affiliate Marketing Example
08:42 - SQP + BTP Updates
12:22 - Follow Serious Sellers Podcast
13:18 - New Feature Alert
16:34 - Training: Listing Analyzer

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

AI tool expansion from Amazon, a Walmart new video feature, recap of new features in search, career performance and brand tailored promotions this and more on this week's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that's going on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new Helium 10 features were released. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing Just a couple of news articles of the day, so let's go ahead and hop right in it.

Bradley Sutton:

The very first one is from Amazon. It's entitled Amazon's new AI powered tools help advertisers easily create engaging and vibrant images. All right, so this is, you know, been out for quite a while now in in sponsored ads how you can upload an image and then create different backgrounds for that image. And now there's a couple of new features. First of all, this kind of cool, this article that we have linked to, probably down below in the comments has some quotes from our very own Melissa, right here from Pacvue, and you know she talks a little bit about it. Now, one thing that's interesting is or a couple of things that I noticed new that they're releasing is, first of all, that I noticed. New that they're releasing is, first of all, instead of you just having to do the prompt in order to let Amazon's AI know what to do for the background, it's gonna start scanning your listing and maybe kind of add some of its own flavor, even without you having to specify every single thing. The other new thing is that you're now able, through Amazon's AI image generation, to do it in different formats. You know like not just one exact. You know 10, 80 by 720 or whatever the heck it is Right. But you can do different formats because obviously there's different ad types, different image sizes for different use cases inside of seller central for ads or other things. Now, obviously, if you've been using Helium 10, or you've been using it or not, you hopefully know that you have access to not only this image generator but also, in Listing, builder is another image generator that you can create images for Amazon post sizes, for different A plus content modules, et cetera. So a lot of new AI stuff that, um, you know can definitely help you from Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of AI from Amazon, one more update about this topic. Another article here is entitled Amazon announces expansion of generative AI listing tools to sellers across Europe. So you know, months and months ago, we reported how, in Amazon USA, there's like a listing content builder that they had and some other things that have been released to Amazon USA. But now, as of a few weeks ago and through today, they're fully announced or fully launched in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom for those AI listing building tools, amongst some other things. For those AI listing building tools, amongst some other things. Now, you know, the last time I used it, it's not as intuitive, maybe, as you need to really make a great listing because it's not going to include all of your main keywords that you're going to need. But it's a good way to kind of like see, hey, what does Amazon think is important for your listing to have? But to really make your listing, still definitely use the Helium 10 Listing Builder. Make sure you're using all of the keywords in your listing. But now some of those AI features that we, as US sellers have had for a while now it is available in Amazon Europe.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article not really an article, but just a reminder from Walmart. It's kind of like their version of Prime Day this week. All right, so that has been from June 17th and it's going to go for a couple more days. Walmart+ Week is what it's called, and so I'm just curious have you checked your Walmart sales, those of you selling on Walmart? What kind of bump did you see? And it did your Amazon sales? Maybe those of you who sell on Walmart and Amazon, did you see? Maybe Amazon get a little bit of a bump? I'm also wondering how did you manage now that Walmart+ week is in a different week than prime day? Um, you know, if your listings are tied together, you can't really discount on one site and not on the other. So those of you who did deals on Walmart+, did you go ahead and do those same deals on Amazon? Just curious as to what some of your strategies were. Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Another announcement that actually comes from Walmart. This is an email that went out to Walmart sellers. Take a look here. It says Walmart Connect is pleased to announce the launch of a video module, an item and module reordering for brand shop via shop builder. All right. So it says here bring your brand to life like never before. Use the new video module to create an engaging narrative about your brand and educate customers on your unique offering. So there's a couple more things that they announced, but this is you know it's. It's a lot of stuff that you know maybe we take for granted on Amazon, but Walmart hasn't had these kind of things like being able to put videos on your brand page. I mean, Walmart hasn't even had a brand page for that long. So a lot of cool things coming to Walmart that you're probably used to on Amazon, but now hopefully that'll help you get a little bit more, maybe some better conversion, maybe some more sales on the Walmart platform.

Bradley Sutton:

Next news article is from CNBC and it's entitled Amazon is ditching the plastic air pillows in its boxes. How many of you have gotten Amazon packages or maybe even gotten samples of your own shipments and maybe Amazon used like a big box and it had those like bags filled with air, right, airbags, I guess you can maybe call it. They call it air pillows right here in this article. But that is going away, all right, because they want to use 15 billion fewer plastic pillows annually, and now they're going to be adding paper fillers that are made from recyclable materials. All right. Now, from a customer standpoint, what I'm worried about is, depending on what this, this paper fillers is, is. If it's what I think it is, it's like those stuff that almost looks like comes from a shredder. I'm just worried it's going to be like that and then customers are going to complain that all this stuff got all over their packaging and all over their house and it's a little bit messy. You know, those air bubbles, just like you know, explode it and for a bad or worse experience for the unboxing part of it Does it make a big mess. You know, might, might be worth looking into. Hopefully not.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article, or it was an article. It's by in style, but I brought it up to kind of like show an example of what happens because of affiliate marketers out there for Amazon. So this is actually something that just came up in the news and it really uh. You know, sometimes when I, when I'm looking for e-commerce news, I type in just regular keywords like Amazon and stuff, and this has nothing to do with e-commerce sellers, but it's something that got a lot of views. All right, this is an article by in style and it's entitled Priyanka Chopra just unlocked my new go-to airport outfit and it's $15 at Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so this is a person who just made this article, you know, a couple days ago, and then you know she doesn't know this actress, right, but she just like saw, she just took an image from this actress's Instagram, put it on here, and then what she did was she found different sets from Amazon and other websites that look like what this actress was wearing, and then the links I noticed here were like Amazon affiliate links. Now, the one that was $15, I went to that listing here on Amazon. All right, so this is a. It says B T, f, B M woman's pajama set. Right Now, take a look before the article came out yesterday or two days ago now, on this on the 19th, this pajama set or whatever the heck it is, um, had a BSR of 453,000. All right, now this article comes out on the 20th yesterday and the BSR goes from 450,000 down to 6,000. I think you can probably see that that's a big sales increase.

Bradley Sutton:

So, again, a cool strategy for you is. You know, can you make your own article. That gets picked up. You know, the show starts showing up in news. Can you get your products? You know, somehow that come out in some of these blogs and articles and it could drive tons and tons of traffic to your list. I thought that was just a cool example of something that literally was just released yesterday, and then you can see the effect that something like that has on an Amazon listing A couple of things that actually were released like a month, two months ago. But when I look on LinkedIn and other places, I don't see too many people who know about it, and a couple of people I talked to like hey, did you know that brand analytics and brand seller promotions has this and that? And they said no. So I wanted to just go ahead and highlight, even though it's not like brand new news. Like I said, this was probably released a month ago. But just a reminder to check those of you who have brand registry go into your search query performance and then go into your monthly view at the brand level. You know, choose a month. You know, maybe choose May. That's the most recent month. And now, when you go all the way over to the right hand side and you hit the generate download button over here you are going to get some new options that maybe you haven't seen. So the ones you've seen before is simple view, comprehensive view, but now you've got a couple other reports here that maybe you knew about these. If you did, great. If not, go ahead and check it out. One is called Amazon's Choice Badge Data. All right, so it's going to show you, hey, how did your catalog performance go when you had an Amazon's Choice Badge, as opposed to when you didn't have it? The other one is Search funnel outliers data and it says search funnel metrics that include your top and bottom performing queries or outliers, and this allows you to focus on specific search query performance without the need to review thousands of queries. This data is only available at the monthly reporting range, so go ahead and take a look at your search query performance at the monthly level and at the brand level If you have not taken a look at this before.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing that was launched a couple months ago or about a month ago that I don't see too many people talking about. You know we talked months and months ago about brand tailored promotions, and now there's a few new audiences that are available in brand tailored promotion, the ones that there's a few here that you know Amazon has had for forever right, or at least since it launched. I forgot if it was like late last year or early this year, but you know you've got your at risk audience, which is customers who haven't purchased recently nor frequently, with varied spend. You've got what I think is one of the one of most powerful ones here the brand cart abandoners. You know people who added your product to the cart but didn't actually purchase. You've got your brand followers here, but now you know there there's some other ones here that maybe you haven't seen, depending on the last time you check this, but you're able to make. Remember, the whole point of this page is you're able to make special promotions that go directly to these audiences.

Bradley Sutton:

So one is declining, promising All right. You ever heard of that one. It says customers from your brand's promising audience who are predicted to spend less with your brand in the next year. Uh, declining top tier. This is customers from your brand's top tier audience who are predicted to spend less. You've got your high spend customers. That's always been there. You've got potential new customers. What is that made of? It says customers who have clicked on your brand or your storefront or products, added products to their cart but have not purchased from your brand in the last year. Okay, so they never even purchased from you. You've got promising. All right, these are customers who purchased recently. They buy occasionally and they spend above average. All right, they've you've got recent customers. This is just a five percent sampling of your brand's customers. You search group performance. Those of you who are brand registered, go in there, take a look, play around some of these things. Maybe there's some potential for you to make some more sales, either by looking at some different data points or by targeting a new group of buyers.

Bradley Sutton:

I just wanted to show you, if you're watching this on YouTube guys, you know maybe getting this a little bit late this version of the news, the news, always comes first, as well as all of our podcasts. It comes out first on your podcast player. So if you have an iPhone, go into the Apple podcast app right now. All right, and those of you who are already following, just scroll down a little bit and pass the first few episodes. You'll see this. Ratings and reviews Do me a solid. Why don't you go ahead and give a rating, and if you're listening to this on the podcast already, you're on the Apple podcast player hit this ratings and review, and make sure to go ahead and leave a review right here by clicking on that. Just hit the tap to rate and then put the stars that you like. I would really appreciate it. Now, if you have Spotify, it's actually the same exact thing. Just type in serious sellers podcast, make sure to hit the follow button and then you'll be subscribed. You'll be the first to get these news each week. All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

Now we're going to hop into the Helium 10 new feature alerts, and it is a doozy, guys. This is pretty cool. I guarantee that none of you even knew we had this. Maybe a couple of you might've seen it in your alerts, but basically, this is something that could save you tons and tons of money. So it's called the the size tier optimization suggestion. I think it's going to be called. But basically, what you guys want to do, I want everybody who's got Helium 10, go into your dashboard and then go to your alerts page and then look if you have a message that says products with size tier optimization suggestions and then hit this button with the number. Basically, in a nutshell, what this is is if you have a box or a package in your entire catalog that is super close to like, maybe going from one size tier to the next, like if you could just take away a half inch or an inch and then you go from large standard size to standard size or something like that. We're going to give you a notification because a lot of you might not realize you're right on the border and maybe you can go ahead and shave like a half inch on your box, your next production run.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me just illustrate how much money this could make you. All right, this is one of my Project 5k account. So I'm going to go ahead and click on this number three because it says I have three products. That has size to your optimization. So when I hit that it takes me to those products and then I put my mouse over this information. You can see, look at this. It says we've identified an opportunity to optimize your fulfillment costs. If you reduce the length by one inch, you could go from large bulky to large standard size, likely decreasing the FBA fulfillment costs from 1075 to $7 per unit. Guys, my computer, like mine, tells me that that is $3.75 difference if I just take one inch off of one side of my product. Now let's just say that, uh, actually I know what, what, what this product is. This product sells an average of about five units a day, all right, so it's not like a top seller, but that's five, five units a day for the entire year. So let's, let's just take five units a day and times that by $3.75. Okay, that's $18.75 a day extra I could be getting or less in fees right Now we times that by 365.

Bradley Sutton:

This one alert guys that Helium 10 just gave me, if I actually act on it and obviously if I am able to shave an inch off $7,000 for the year, is that a valuable enough alert for you guys? And this is an item that only sells five? This is not one of my top sellers, obviously, right? What if you guys, if this was your item and you sold 25 units a day, all right, instead of five, that means that this alert potentially just made you $35,000. Are you guys rushing to your alerts page yet? I hope so. So again, go to your alerts page. Take a look at the top left. Does it say, products with size tier optimization suggestion. If so, take a look. You can't always shave an inch off of your package. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't, but I think you'd agree with me it's definitely worth a look.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now let's go to our Helium 10 training tip of the week, something that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers. Let's say you're looking at X-Ray at your niche and you just want to kind of like really get a quick look at what's going on with the top competitors, because you're about to launch a new product I'm about to launch this new egg rack, or I am did launch this egg rack this week as a test on project X. And so, like I'm here in the Amazon search results and you guys maybe have selected different ASINs here. And what do you normally do when you select ASINs from X-Ray? You probably hit the run Cerebro button to go check on their keywords. That's great and all, but did you notice, right next to the run Cerebro button is a run listing analyzer button. So let me show you how this can be useful. So maybe let's just say these are all my direct competitors, these stackable egg racks.

Bradley Sutton:

Once I hit run with listing analyzer, it's going to take me to the listing analyzer tool and of course here in the middle I can see just some general stats about these other products and check their listing quality score and see you know who's ranking for the most important keywords and stuff like that. But there's a hidden button here that a lot of you do not look at. Now this is for those of you with a diamond plan, but it is called the media comparison button. So once you hit media comparison it takes you to a page where it shows all of the images that are in all of your competitors listings in a nice little format that you can download as a PDF. And first of all, I'm just going to look at this and see do I see common themes? This is this is nothing new. This strategy we've been talking about for years comes from Tomer Rabinovich. Shout out to Tomer. But it's like you should be looking at your competitors' images to see what common themes are working Like.

Bradley Sutton:

For example, I noticed that so many of these showed the stackability right. It showed how you put different egg racks and stack them up together. I see four out of the five. They've got human models in their listing. But basically you use this and kind of work, your photo shoot strategy, if you're using like a photography studio or maybe just somebody who's going to do 3D design or something like that just go ahead and print this, export this as a PDF and then now you've got all these images right here on one page instead of, you know, like trying to print off you know seven, eight different Amazon listings and then, you know, trying to coordinate that way with PowerPoint or something like that with your graphic designer.

Bradley Sutton:

So really cool tool that I think a lot of people are sleeping on right here in Listing Analyzer. But you can import listings directly from Xray in your Chrome extensions so that you can hit that media comparison button. All right, guys. That's it for the news this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

week’s Tacos Tuesday show is brimming with expert advice on leveraging Amazon's new data rollouts, like brand metrics and category insights, now seamlessly integrated into Helium 10’s Adtomic tool. Discover how these new metrics can help you understand both organic and sponsored performance, offering a pathway to improved conversion rates by analyzing category averages. Plus, we dive into innovative advertising elements, including AI and sponsored TV, to future-proof your Amazon PPC strategies.

Launching a new product on Amazon and unsure about the best PPC tactics? Destaney breaks down the nuances between phrase, broad, and exact match campaigns, emphasizing the necessity of bid evaluation and search term analysis to boost exact match performance. Learn about keyword isolation and its potential to enhance relevancy and campaign success. With actionable tips on using our Keyword Tracker to analyze Amazon's recommended rank, you’ll find out how to significantly improve your organic ranking during the crucial launch phase.

As Prime Day approaches, how can you keep your ad campaigns sharp and your sales soaring? We explore effective strategies to drive extra traffic while overcoming eligibility issues, such as running sponsor brands to subpages and utilizing alternative platforms like TikTok and Google. Our discussion includes crucial advice on building landing pages for optimal conversions and making savvy budget adjustments for Prime Day. Balancing defensive campaigns with organic sales is key, and Destaney shares her wisdom on maintaining a competitive edge without cannibalizing your organic presence. Join us for this insightful episode packed with practical tips to elevate your Amazon advertising game!

In episode 571 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising Strategy Session & AMA With Expert Guest
03:11 - Brand Metrics in Advertising Strategy
05:31 - Value of Amazon's Search Query Performance
08:48 - Understanding Repeat Purchases for Supplements
13:44 - Keyword Isolation Debate and Strategy
17:13 - Amazon Relevancy and Ranking Insights
20:45 - Optimizing Pricing Strategy for Prime Day
22:43 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising Budget Allocation
23:59 - Alternative Traffic Sources and Prime Day
30:22 - Amazon Advertising Strategies and Tips
31:31 - Planning for Prime Day Success

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got expert guest Destaney back on TACoS Tuesday and she's going to be answering a lot of advertising questions on a variety of topics such as keyword isolation, sponsor display strategy, Prime Day, PPC tips and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ad’s reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show, that is our monthly TACoS Tuesday show, where we talk about anything and everything Amazon advertising related. And as always, we have special guests on with us each month and every other month we have the specialist of guest here. So, without further ado, let me go ahead and introduce her Destaney welcome, welcome back. How's it going?

Destaney Wishon:

It is going incredible. Super excited to be here.

Bradley Sutton:

Can you believe we are in the middle of June of 2024 already? It's like I don't know what's going on here.

Destaney Wishon:

We're already being thrown straight into Prime Day planning, like it never stops.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it's never ends and, like I think the last few years that I've been in the Amazon world, it has been the fastest years of my life, like it's just going by. There's always so many things to do. So, just right off the bat, let's, let's just kick it off with anything new in the Amazon advertising world. Over the last couple months since you've been on here, you know like new reports from Amazon or your team has been trying out some new strategies or trying out some new ad types or different things, anything you can update us on.

Destaney Wishon:

I think the two biggest things Amazon's given us a lot more data lately. Helium 10 and Adtomic have already been pulling in some of that data from like a category perspective, so insights and planning brand metrics, which is being tied directly into Adtomic now, is one of the best rollouts in my opinion, and they've recently updated it to add even more data around like subscribe and save and lifetime value and repeat purchases, which is always a conversation for sellers, as well as allowing us to see category comparisons how many clicks are within our category, how many detailed page views are within our category and how are we comparing to average. I think that was a huge rollout. And then the second big rollout is just all the creative elements we've gotten recently, either from an AI perspective or like sponsored TV. I think those are really big and even if you're not ready for them yet, it's showing the direction Amazon's going, which is the important part.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, now I was on some kind of training yesterday or day before and somebody actually asked about that the brand metrics that is showing in advertising, and so that brand metrics page that's showing all you know the data there is across organic and sponsored, or it's only showing you what's happening in sponsor. Okay, good, yeah, I was like there's a 50-50 chance. Somebody asked me which one and I'm like I'm going to, because I saw there was some like fine print and it just made it seem like it was across the board. So how are you, which parts of that are you using and how is that affecting your ad strategy?

Destaney Wishon:

I think the biggest thing is again, it's showing you retail and advertising, organic and advertising combined so we don't really have a lot of resources for that anywhere else. Those are two different API’s from a technical perspective. So, amazon doesn't usually give us that data. But you know there's a lot of questions already in the comments asking about conversion rate and performance and efficiency. And Amazon advertising is amazing for driving clicks. That is its job. Think about it as a customer. If you click on a sponsored ad, you're ready to purchase and if you don't purchase, it's because the price was wrong or the listing was poor, the reviews were poor. If the ad drove the click, it was successful. The reason brand metrics is important is because brand metrics gives us conversion rate compared to the category. So, you can pull up brand metrics right now and like, let's say, I'm selling dog toys, I can see that my conversion rate is a 23%, but the category median is a 30%. If I'm converting less than the category, my PPC is not going to be near as efficient, because people are going to click, but they're going to buy a category product and not mine. So that's probably the biggest thing that I'm using it for.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, cool. Now you know. Speaking of conversion rates, you know obviously there's search create performance that can help you with your conversion rates at the even keyword level. But then there's also the counterpoint that sometimes people do is that, hey, you know, the data there is so limited compared to overall. You know, like anybody can just see the number of sales and compare it, because there's only a certain kind of, you know a certain set of situations where it's going to register in search query performance. You know, like if somebody clicks something today and then 25 hours later, they actually buy it, it doesn't count. They click on something, they click something else, they hit back on their browser and they purchase. It doesn't count. You know, like I don't know about your experience. My experience sometimes is between twenty-five to forty percent of overall purchases, but my opinion I just want to get yours is that it's still valuable because it's still apples to apples it's not giving you the whole picture but valuable because it's still apples to apples. It's not giving you the whole picture, but you can at least benchmark what's happening with you at the keyword level compared to the exact same situation for other competitors. Is that how you feel, or are you kind of ignoring that data.

Destaney Wishon:

A hundred percent. From a volume perspective, like a sales volume or an impression, I don't use it because, like you said, it's a smaller data set, but from a conversion rate perspective it's probably still showing you. You know 30% to 40% of your overall data set, but from a conversion rate perspective it's probably still showing you. You know 30% to 40% of your overall data set. Here's how it converts. So that actually scales out pretty well in my opinion, and that is super, super valuable to understand. Because, again, if someone else is converting better than you, they're going to get the same amount of clicks but drive more orders. That's what conversion rate is at the end of the day. So. when you're able to dive into SQP, you can actually see those comparisons on the search term level.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, absolutely. All right. Now, going back to Atomic, you had talked a little bit about Adtomic and some of the newer features, but something that's been out for a while now is the custom bid rules. Have you, for any of your clients that you're using Atomic for, have you started at all with the custom bid rules? or are you still using, like, just the Adtomic algorithm and making decisions based on that?

Destaney Wishon:

Anyone who, I think, has followed me knows that I'm a pretty big fan of breaking out by strategy. So, that's where we recommend implementing custom bid rules is because there are certain keywords that maybe you are willing to take a loss on at the end of the day from a keyword level. Again, be clear. I don't want to say you know, go run your overall amazon advertising at a 400 ACoS but there's certain strategies that are going to need different rules and that's why it's so important not to have a set it and forget it automation running. In my opinion, now if your only goal is a 20% ACoS, you don't care about anything else. Your only goal is profitability for your business, for your solopreneur endeavors. That's fine, but if you're really building a brand that's going to scale, it's so competitive in the category and CPCs are kind of increasing that you're going to need to have some keywords that maybe you target at a 50% ACoS because they're your top sales driving keywords, and then maybe you're creating a campaign targeting competitor ASINs that you want to run at a different ACoS. That's where it gets really important to start building out those segments and strategies. We also do it on the lifecycle level. So, if you have an established product with hundreds of reviews, you can run at a lower ACoS because your conversion rates higher. If you have a new product launch, you don't want to set a low ACoS or else you're going to drive zero sales and your honeymoon period is going to flop because you have no data.

Bradley Sutton:

So, there's a lot of people, maybe even watching, who are for the. If they're just getting into supplements, they're. They probably have some crazy sticker shock of what kind of cost per clicks they have, but you know how, how do you count? You know how, how do you calculate LTV? You know, with the data that Amazon you know gives and tools available and where is your like, like, how do you, you know help brands like that really focus to make sure long term they're profitable?

Destaney Wishon:

Historically, this has been a really vague area in Amazon. They haven't given us a lot of insights. I know that we have a lot of plans on the Helium 10 side here, but the first thing that you need to consider is just that repeat purchase rate. In supplements we consistently see $20 to $40 cost per clicks for a $20 to $40 product. And the part that people need to remember is, if you get a customer to buy your supplements and you believe in your product, your supplement should be good enough that they buy it the next month and the month after and the month after. So, that's why lifetime value is so important to understand, because if they end up buying your $20 supplement four times, that's $80. So, even though you paid $20 cost per click, the product you sold was actually $80, because ideally, they come back and repeat purchase from you. So, it's super important. I think. When it comes to actually coming up and finding those insights, the majority of people rely on typically their DTC information because that's where you have it most easily accessible. Amazon gives you subscribe and save data within brand metrics, insights and planning. Amazon gives you subscribe and subscribe and save data within brand metrics, insights and planning, like I mentioned, and also through DSP, you can have a pretty clear indicator of what you subscribe and save or your repeat purchase rate is, and that's what helps you justify those high cost per clicks and that's why you see them as well. People know that someone comes back five to six times. They're going to be willing to pay for that first purchase because they have a great product.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, we got the first question from Joan. Joan says it's a pretty common question. I would say what's the best strategy to control ad spend? For a $21 item in a competitive niche, cost per click is often over $2. Some of those supplement sellers wish they had cost per clicks at $2. But we're selling product but we're only helping Jeff buy more rockets. We aren't profitable unless I can improve ad spend efficiency. So, right off the bat, if at $2 on a $20 product they're not profitable, probably their conversion rate is not very high. I'm assuming on some of these keywords.

Destaney Wishon:

A hundred percent. The first thing is to realize whether or not you have a conversion rate problem or an Amazon advertising problem. So, going back to our initial kind of call out, I recommend going into Adtomic, going into your account overview. A few people later on have asked this question on where you find the data I mentioned Adtomic, account overview, brand performance and then, once you're within brand performance, you can niche down and figure out how you're performing compared to the category. If you're converting better than the category, then it is an ad efficiency issue. It means you need to improve the keywords you're targeting. Instead of going after dog toy, which may be too broad for your dog toy, go after soft dog toy for small dogs, where you're going to be sacrificing lower volume but a higher conversion rate because the keywords are a lot more related to the product you're selling. So, you can justify that $2 cost per click. The other answer is to just lower your bids. If you can't afford $2 because you're not converting, well, lower your bids. What's going to happen when you lower your bid is your ad's going to show up in less premium real estate at the bottom of the page, or page two and page three, but it's going to be cheaper and more profitable for you. So that's the trade-off you're going to have to make until you improve your conversion rate.

Bradley Sutton:

Jay Smith says hello from the UK I recently launched should I be doing this in a British accent? I recently launched a new product and I'm finding my phrase and broad match campaigns are performing much capital, much better than exact match. Are there any scenarios where you would suggest pausing exact match campaigns and only running phrase and broad during the first few weeks of launch? I don't think I've seen this question before.

Destaney Wishon:

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend pausing them. I think the first thing you need to realize is do you have different bids across all three of them? More than likely your exact match bids are higher, so it's maybe just a little bit more expensive for you. The other thing to consider is, again, if I'm targeting dog toys, an exact match that's really broad from a term itself right, so it can be a little bit competitive targeting just dog toys. But if I run dog toys and broad, I'm showing up for dog toys for small dogs, dog toys for this, this and this. So, sometimes your broad and phrase match are going to be a little bit more profitable because they're targeting longer tail terms that are more aligned with your product. So, open up your campaign, open up your ad group, look at the search terms that those broad and phrase matches are performing on and if they're long tail, take out those long tails and put them into exact match and you can control the performance just as well. Easy answer is lower your bid on exact match to find the conversion ACoS point. But the longer answer and the better long-term solutions to figure out why the search terms and your broad and phrase match are performing that much better and then move them to an exact so you can control a bit precisely within your exact match campaign.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. On the flip side, here's one that we get all the time and this is, you know, the eternal debate. this is an eternal debate here. Uh, it's from hey, hey there. When you use a search term from an auto ad for an exact or product ad, should you move it to negative in the auto to avoid redundancy? Is there any cost per bid difference that could affect impression and conversion between those ads? So, this is also called keyword isolation and Destaney, what's your philosophy on that?

Destaney Wishon:

I am very familiar with why people isolate keywords. We personally don't isolate keywords because we find that when you move them from an auto campaign to a manual campaign, you're starting from scratch from a relevancy perspective. So, within your auto campaign you got to think, your bids are typically lower. They're typically slowly focused on profitability, so you're casting a really wide net. So, the ASIN or the search term you're converting on within the auto campaign could be on page seven and page eight. It could be within the frequently bought together section that's a new sponsored section or anywhere else on the page and it's running well for a reason because Amazon has, you know, the shopper history and they're targeting those placements because they have a lot of data. When you pull it out, if you negate it, there's pretty much a hundred percent chance it's not going to perform the exact same when you put it into a manual campaign. Most people kind of almost restart that relevancy journey that they were on and find that their manual campaign does not perform as well, especially in the first six to eight weeks because you have to refine that sweet spot. We continue to run them separately and just control the bids.

Destaney Wishon:

There's a few scenarios where I could recommend isolation. If it's your core keyword, eating up all of your impressions and sales in your auto campaign, sure move it over to a manual. But then also the second part of your question is there a cost per bid difference? Yes, typically there is per bid difference. Yes, typically there is. We find autos are typically winning inventory for lower CPCs and impression conversions. Also, a yes, your manual campaigns typically higher impression because you're typically running a bid specifically for that keyword.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. All right, a question I think I can handle. I'll do this one that's from Jay Smith. During the first week of launch, my sales have been really high, especially on top keywords, but my organic rank is not moving much on many of the top keywords. Any tips for improving organic rank during launch, or does it just take time and consistent sales? My BSR is top 10 in my subcategories when my sales are good. So, a couple of things. First of all, make sure that you have boost on in keyword tracker so that we're checking 24 hours a day and rotating browsing scenarios just to see you know, who knows, maybe your rank is improving in some locations, just not, uh, others or some browsing scenario. So, make sure you have that boost on. That's that rocket ship. The other thing is look at the CPR number inside of keyword tracker. Once you have you know you already said you have the keywords in Keyword Tracker there's a customized CPR number. It's actually different than the one that's in Cerebro and Magnet because it's specific to your listing, takes into consideration the age of it, your Title Density and things like that, and then see what that number is. If that number is, let's just say, 50, that means that, hey, over a week, week and a half, you would need around 50 people to search, find and buy your product, whether it's organic, whether it's in PPC. Probably it's going to be PPC. If you're not organically ranked very high, it's 100% from PPC and so you can clearly see how many conversions you're getting on that keyword and that's the best chance, that number of getting you to stick to page one. So, if you're not at that number yet, well, there's another reason.

Bradley Sutton:

The other thing to look at is you could have a relevancy issue to Amazon. So run your product in Cerebro and then sort it by Amazon recommended rank. All right, this to me is the most slept on mini feature in all of Helium 10. It's a direct link to the Amazon API. This is not a Helium 10 estimation or an algorithm or anything like that. It's directly to the actual Amazon advertising API. But it gives you a look into what Amazon thinks your product is. So just sort that in ascending order, meaning it's, you're going to see the Amazon recommended rank one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and just take a look at the general uh, those, those general keywords. It tells you what Amazon thinks your product is. And so, if it does, if some of the keywords you're trying to increase your rank on are very specific and none of them even appear, like in the top 20, 30, 40, 50 words, well, yeah, it might take you. It might take more effort, to get to page one. Or you need to re-optimize your listing to kind of like show Amazon what your product is. But I've had issues like that where my listing was fine but Amazon was confused about it and so, even though I was getting sales, it wasn't increasing my organic rank. So, there's three things that you can try there. Kim says is there any magic mojo way to control profitability? When bids quickly rise due to an upcoming event like Prime Day, I often find that the increase in sales rarely offsets the lost profit. So, if I could find an automated way to control bidding, it'd be helpful. There's some good questions today.

Destaney Wishon:

There is. Your bids don't change unless you're changing them is the first thing that I'll say. So, unless you're using a software with rules that you're changing them is the first thing that I'll say so. Unless you're using a software with rules that you're not controlling or you have aggressive placement modifiers on, your bids will stay the same, regardless of what-?

Bradley Sutton:

She's probably talking about cost per click. I bet you she mistyped that probably.

Destaney Wishon:

CPCs. So, if we're talking about CPCs, it's also related. You're not going to see a major change. You can keep your bids low during Prime Day if you want. Just know that you're probably not going to get as much traffic because the rest of the market is increasing their bids. So as everyone else is bidding higher and higher and higher, it's like bidding on real estate. You're going to be showing up lower, lower on the page, so you're just going to get less sales and some people are okay with that on Prime Day. I will say personally, across the board, as an agency, we find that the increase in conversion rate almost always offsets the increase in bids when we're really strategic. That being said, the majority of our brands do have some type of promotion or deal or discount, so their conversion rates inflated because customers think that they're getting a deal. So, short answer is don't rely on placement modifiers and keep your bid management software set to a target ACoS and you're probably not going to see that big of a change in bids on the day of.

Bradley Sutton:

Shubham says what's our launch strategy for 50 product? Prime day is also coming up, we wanted to reduce the price to where our customer buys, but how many keywords shall we run in? Launch PPC? But let's just take the other part of that, you know, those people who might have some products that are going to be ready in the next, uh, month, month and a half. Should they just go ahead and launch? Should they wait until actual prime day and take advantage of that? Should they wait until after prime day? What's your general strategy as far as timing goes?

Destaney Wishon:

The first brand that I managed on my own as a consultant was a prime day launch and it was incredibly successful, but this was seven years ago. The thing to consider is how much you're going to lean into Bradley's point. If you don't reduce the price, you are going to drown in Prime Day and not do incredibly well, and you may not anyways, because you don't have a lot of reviews. That being said, if you plan on doing a pretty heavy discount on Prime Day, it is a fantastic way to get inflated traffic from people who are ready to buy, and customers on Prime Day are a lot less sensitive to reviews, in my opinion, and a lot more sensitive to price. So, I always hate this question because I feel like it's so dependent on budget and financing and all these other variables. But if you want to heavily reduce your price and stand out, then Prime Day is the way to go. There's no other industry that drives this amount of traffic on any specific day. I don't think, so definitely take advantage of that.

Bradley Sutton:

He had a follow-up question. He or she had a follow-up question. At what point should we start using Adtomic? We're new launching our very first product, so is there, like you know? Is this something that somebody should be using from day one, should they reach a certain advertising spend figure? What's your personal opinion?

Destaney Wishon:

Personal opinion is it's really dependent on, I think, what your skill set is internally and where your time's going. PPC is a major efficiency time suck. I think it's probably one of the most hands-on, consistent, redundant tasks and that's where everybody needs a bid management solution, no matter if that's you going in every day and managing bids by hand or relying on a tool like Adtomic. I'll leave that up to you. But if you're running any Amazon advertising campaigns and you're not managing your bids, that is the biggest mistake you can make. So, I think the convenience of Adtomic, incorporating directly into category insights and like Market Tracker 360, is the biggest value add in my opinion. But if you're in your first few weeks and you have time to go in and optimize bids manually, then that's perfectly fine.

Bradley Sutton:

David says what metric do you look at to determine where a budget needs to be increased or decreased across your campaign types? Sponsor brand, sponsor product and sponsor display?

Destaney Wishon:

Love this question. As a whole, we typically see sponsor products drive around 70 to 80% of sales because they make up the most real estate on the page. Sponsor brand. Sponsor brand's video is 10 to 15%. Sponsor display is the least amount of budget, only because most people aren't fully utilizing it appropriately. At the end of the day, sponsored brands and sponsored products, RoAS and ACoS should be almost the same if you're running them appropriately. I've pulled this across hundreds of millions of spend and it's still just targeting keywords and setting bids. So, for those two ad types, you should increase or decrease based off RoAS, for the most part, or ACoS, but your ACoS and RoAS should be the same. That being said, if you are managing a brand that has a good DTC presence or a meta presence and you have amazing video assets and amazing lifestyle images, sometimes we'll shift more budget to sponsor brand and sponsor display because we want to educate our customer with those videos before we convert them with sponsored products.

Bradley Sutton:

Chris says if you've got an eligibility issue, what are other ways to drive traffic aside?

Destaney Wishon:

A great question. If one thing we'll see is some brands will only have certain products running into eligibility issues, but all their other products will be okay. If that's the case, we recommend still running sponsor brands to the store. You can create a subpage with some of your products that are ineligible and some of them are eligible and continue to run sponsor brand traffic as a really quick workaround. Beyond that, I think it really depends on product type. Like TikTok can be fantastic if you're great at the videography and the UGC needed to make TikTok successful. Google can be good, but typically you need to build a landing page between your Google and your Amazon ads so that way you have your conversion increase still, Bradley, do you have any other recommendations here?

Bradley Sutton:

No, you kind of hit it, you know. And then, plus two, you know there's other platforms that you know might be able to drive some traffic. And then you know, the more your branded search increases, the more organic, you know, eyeballs you guys are going to get without, you know, sponsored, but you know that goes for anybody. You know whether you are eligible or not. That's kind of like the goal is to is to get a lot of organic eyeballs on your products without having to spend, without having to spend. Brendan. A lot of people think about Prime Day coming up, how do you approach prime day, lead in, lead out? When it comes to budgeting also, what's a fair estimate for cost per click lift? So, like, is there a rule of thumb where, hey, usually you need to increase your, your budgets this amount, you know to make sure you have enough, or usually you need to you know boost your cost per click X percentage.

Destaney Wishon:

I'm going to start with the lead in, lead out. That one's super easy to kind of answer. Typically, the seven days leading into prime day are historically the worst performance in all of Amazon advertising. End of story. That being said, the part that people forget is that customers are shopping. They're just not buying. That's why your clicks are up but your sales are down is because customers are starting to build their carts for Prime Day. They know that Prime Day is now a national holiday, so in the back of their mind, they may go onto a platform and say, hey, shoot, I need my toilet paper that I always buy. Oh wait, I'm not going to buy it until prime day, so I'm going to hold off.

Destaney Wishon:

So, some people like to lower their bids and budgets on the week leading up. I prefer to continue to run at the same strategy if I'm running a dealer discount, because those customers are going to add to cart and click and then when they see my discount the next week, they're going to check out. So, I am still building my funnel and attracting my shoppers the weekend, even though they're not buying until seven days later. That is one really important key to mention. Again, if you're not running deals or discounts, maybe it's worth it lowering your bids and budgets on lead in lead out. The last two years has been some of the strongest conversion rates we have seen across the board even stronger than prime day in a few instances. And that's because prime day is no longer prime day, it's prime week and it's being challenged by Walmart and every off platform. So, customers are still continuing to shop on the days after.

Destaney Wishon:

So, lead out, we continue to keep bids and budgets high and we'll also run a lot of retargeting if we're running any type of DSP or sponsored display, because sponsored display and DSP allows us to capture all of the traffic and all the clicks from Prime Day and then continue to retarget that audience after Prime Day. So that's super important and super valuable. And then estimate for CPC lifts. There's really not one because it's like every agency or software that releases CPC insights is skewed by the type of brands they're managing. Right, pack view always cracks me up. When pack view does like their insights, it's going to be skewed by a lot of enterprise brands. So, their CPC lifts could be 50% because they're running crazy discounts and have crazy marketing budgets. But maybe a smaller software won't increase their bids because they don't believe in Prime Day right, so we personally do 20% to 30% increase in bids if we're running deals or discounts and just go from there.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Last question of the day before we get maybe into just your closing comments or your closing tip. This is from somebody new who hasn't asked a question today. Zee says does sponsored products and sponsor display defensive campaigns eat up organic sales? Does it affect my TACoS in the long run?

Destaney Wishon:

The answer is yes. There's some level of defensive campaigns. That would have happened anyways, but that's really hard to prove because the way Amazon is set up as a platform what happens if you do not advertise there? Someone else will. So, you need to decide on the balance of do you have a strong enough competitive advantage that a customer's going to stay on your page and not go to your competitor's page, and is it that big of a deal if you do cannibalize some of your organic presence? I would rather cannibalize some of my organic presence than lose a customer to a competitor. So, it's just deciding. Now, that being said, Celis, who is on the Helium 10 podcast, at one point he runs Lego, or used to run Lego. He was one of my great friends in the space and he tried to convince me that, like, branded defenses never need it. And I was like Celis, Lego doesn't have competitors, like, of course you don't need to bid on Lego. Who the heck's gonna try to compete? So, it's definitely a little bit dependent on depending on your category. I like the. I'm enjoying the conversation here on if it's niche or niche.

Bradley Sutton:

Andre says it's niche in the UK, all right, niche in the USA, he says so as well. Okay, yeah, we have started a big debate here this is the one takeaway that people have from today. But in order to make that the not the one takeaway people have, can you give us like a 30 or 60 second uh strategy to close this out, something you think that could uh help sellers, maybe leading up to Prime Day? Or it could be just a general advertising strategy or a metric that you think people are sleeping on, or an ad type anything at all that you can think of that quick hitting and people can take away from today?

Destaney Wishon:

I'll give two really big ones. Start viewing your Amazon advertising by strategy. Have some keywords solely focused on profitability, where your goal is to lower your bids and have an amazing ACoS and RoAS. Have some campaigns that are all about sales and driving volume and organic rank. Have some that are for brand defense. And when you segment out these campaigns, that gives you budget control. So, to Zee's question earlier of like hey, maybe I do realize my brand defense campaigns are eating up my budget. Lower your budget and shift your budget over to your organic rank campaigns. When you segment, it gives you maximum control. The second thing I'm going to shout out is the last webinar we did on ad type expansion. This is a hundred percent. The second biggest issue I see within accounts is not expanding to sponsor brands because they don't think it's right for them. At the end of the day, sponsor brands will perform almost identical to your sponsor products with good bid management and good campaign setup. But it's more real estate on the page that's unique real estate. So, you're going to show up at the very top of the page. You're going to show up on product detail pages in placements that sponsor products does not win.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right. Well, Destaney, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. You're not going to be back here on TACoS Tuesday, at least before Prime Day. Maybe we can. We can talk offline about doing something Prime Day related, since there are so many Prime Day questions. It's obvious that it's top of mind and, unlike inventory and other things you know, PPC is something that you can kind of like up to the day before prime day, kind of like, you know, lock in your, your strategy, uh. So that is something maybe we can think about doing next month right before prime day. But, Destaney, thank you so much for joining us and thank you all for such great questions. It seems like every show, the questions get better and better. So, thank you guys for tuning in and we'll see you next month for TACoS Tuesday.

View Details

Join us in this episode as we bring you an exciting update on Project X, where we gear up to launch a new product on Amazon. We walk you through our meticulous process for keyword research, listing optimization, and advanced photography techniques, essential for any Amazon seller looking to boost their e-commerce game. Utilizing tools like Helium 10's Xray and Cerebro, we identify top-performing competitors and extract valuable keywords to build a successful product listing. This episode is packed with actionable insights, including expert advice from Lailama Hasan, Helium 10’s marketing content manager, and Tayyaba Hasan, project manager at AMZ Onestep.

Next, we explore the significance of competitor analysis in optimizing your Amazon listings. Using Helium 10 Listing Builder’s Competitor Performance Score (CPS), we highlight the importance of identifying high-performing keywords that competitors are ranking for, such as "coffin letterboard" and "coffin decor." We also discuss how to enhance product descriptions by addressing common customer pain points and incorporating unique product characteristics. By reviewing competitor images and customer use cases, we gather valuable insights to improve our own product's features and marketing strategies.

Finally, we dive into the art of creating impactful product images to boost conversions. With expert guidance from our expert guests, we explore the three main types of images required by Amazon: main images, infographic images, and lifestyle images. Practical tips on lighting, equipment, and setting up backgrounds are shared to help you capture high-resolution, detailed images. Additionally, Tayyaba Hasan explains our four-step approach to creative image development, from research to optimization, and the importance of A-B testing and updating creatives based on customer feedback. Stay tuned as we wrap up with a sneak peek into next week’s webinar about TikTok Shop.

In episode 570 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Lailama, and Tayyaba discuss:

00:00 - Listing Optimization Workshop for Amazon Sellers
02:12 - Amazon Product Keyword Analysis Strategy
09:06 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With Competitor Analysis
11:09 - Using AI to Write Product Listings
20:21 - Optimizing Amazon Listing Images for Conversions
21:16 - Product Photography
32:51 - Listing Image Optimization for Amazon
33:04 - Optimizing Listing Images for Conversions
36:24 - Image Concept for Pre-Cut Letter Boards
41:23 - Product Sizing and Reviews
43:38 - Stay Tuned For Our TikTok Shop Webinar

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today's a deep dive update into Project X, where we're going to launch a new product soon and together we're going to go over how I found the keywords and how I make the listing for this product plus get guest expert advice on photography, A+ Content and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool. I think

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And you guys can see that I've got all my Project X gear on today because this is a Project X update where you know for those of you who don't know Project X was this case study we did where we found coffin shelves and a whole bunch of other products that we started selling on a real Amazon account and we've kept it going throughout the years. And so I decided to launch a new product, a coffin letter board and I'm going to open up my strategies into how I find the keywords a little bit of a generalization on it, but how I find the keywords, how I put together my listing, and then we're going to talk about some advanced strategies for photography, like when you should use a agency, when you can do it on your own, and how you should tackle things like A+ Content, and how you can look at competitors to get ideas, et cetera. So we're going to go deep into this. This is a recording of a live training that we actually did a few days ago, and so we've cut it up so that you guy s can get the best of those strategies and hopefully you can take some of this and apply it to your next product launch or maybe your first product launch out there. So hope you enjoy this listing optimization workshop.

Bradley Sutton:

And I'm going to take you from ground zero, getting the keywords first. So here is on Amazon. First of all, let's go to the main keyword for this product coffin letter board. All right, and this is just a easy way in which we can get the main keywords. Okay, once I get to this page, I like to run Xray on the page to see who are the top sellers. All right, so who is really making the most money in this coffin letter board niche? And this is a niche that you know. I've been watching this for a while. You know like I wish I would have been one of the first ones to sell this, like I was for the coffin shelf, but unfortunately, I wasn't. All right. But that's all right. I wanted to show you guys hey, you don't always have to be the very first to the market.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, when you're running Cerebro on a product that you don't even have yet. Like me, I don't have a coffin letter board yet. I need to choose another product to be the baseline product, all right. So I'm just going to pick one here from like around the bottom of the page. It's not selling. Well, let's go ahead and pick this. So that's the first one that you click on. Needs to be a product that is not going to be one of the main competitors. And now what I want to do is I want to select the like five, six, seven or eight top competitors for this product. All right, that are very similar to my product informant function. So this is the number one guy. This, this nom new coffin letter board. All right, believe it or not, this guy is selling 500 of these coffin letter boards a month. Kind of crazy. Uh, here's another one. They're only selling about 29, but we'll go ahead and throw them in, uh in there as well. Here's another one. They're selling 119 units a month. So I definitely want to see what's going on with them. I'm not going to choose this LED one, all right. So this is interesting. This is a. Is this a coffin letter board? Yes, but because it's got this LED like and it's very small, I can tell because of the price is $12. I am not going to look at the keywords for this product, all right, because I don't think that it's going to be super relevant, uh, to me. I want to get hyper relevant products to my product. All right, let's go ahead and choose a couple more here. This one's selling 65 units a month. Here's another one that's selling 29 units a month. All right, this is good. Let's go ahead and enroll with this, all right, so we're going to hit run Cerebro.

Bradley Sutton:

What am I doing? What did I just do? Why is this an important step? I want to analyze the competition right. That's where I'm going to get my keywords. What are the keywords that are driving sales, and some of them are doing incredible sales, and these are the keywords that are going to form the base of my listing. And now what I'm looking for is I want to get like the top 10, 15 keywords and make sure those are in phrase form in my listing. All right, and listing builder is going to help with that. But then I don't only want to be relative or indexed for 15 keywords, these uh products. There might be 50, there might be a hundred, there might be more than that of keywords that they might be getting sales from, uh, or that they might be ranking on page one for, and that means that I probably should be able to rank on page one for these, for these keywords. So this is going to be what I'm looking for what are all of the relevant keywords to all of the products, or at least some of the products that I want to be indexed for or searchable for? Okay, so let's go ahead and see the results here. All right, so 8,000 keywords. I know there's a lot better way to find this in 8,000 keywords. Now what I'm going to just do is I'm just going to show you a quick one that I can do, but again, this should take like about an hour by itself. I'm going to do this in five minutes. I'm going to say minimum search volume 200. And then I'm going to go to these advanced rank filters and the number of competitors. I'm going to say minimum one is between rank one and 30 under competitor rank. So basically, what I'm saying is show me all of the keywords Helium 10, where this product, these products, one of these letter boards is ranked between one and 30. That means they're on page one.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and so I have a whole bunch of keywords that have come up here. You can see some of these coffin letter board sign. Here's a keyword that's a brand name. I always delete those. I don't want to have a brand names on here. I don't want to. You know that's against Amazon terms of service to put brand names in your listing. Okay, um, so I probably should take a lot more time to see if there's any other brand names, but let's just go with this as is. Again, we have videos that have very detailed a strategy on keyword research, but you guys can watch that. We're just going to pretend that we already vetted all of these keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to export this to the clipboard, okay, and then, the next thing I'm going to do is I'm actually going to go into listing builder and I am going to put these keywords in. Now, this is the. This is where listing builder comes in. I could just have this list of keywords, right, and you know, have it in a Google doc or an Excel file or something, right? But I want to be able to make sure that I'm indexed for my important phrases. Plus, I want to make sure that I'm indexed for the phrases that maybe I don't have room for. But I need those individual keywords, and if you're trying to do that just with a naked eye, you know, like that, that's almost impossible to make sure. All right, I'm going to show you how Listing Builder is going to help with that.

Bradley Sutton:

So, here in listing builder, um, I'm going to add a new, a new listing. All right, I'm going to say create from scratch and let's just start building. Okay, the very first thing is I need to put in my keywords. So I'm going to hit manually add keywords and I'm just going to paste all of those 114 phrases. Now there's a lot. I know I probably don't want to see like I already see another one that has that brand name. I'll just go ahead and delete that. But again, we're just kind of like fast forwarding this process. But whatever tools that you use to get all of your keywords that you want to rank for, go ahead and make sure that they are all here in your keyword bank and then hit the word add to bank. Ok, now it's going to show me all of these keywords plus their search volume, and now I'm pretty much ready to start going with my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

So I'm going to go ahead and hit next and now you can see here that I've got all my 112 keyword phrases and I've got all of the one word roots that come from it, the two word roots, et cetera. So this is the important thing because, as you see, if I were just to write my listing right now, if I were to type in Halloween decor, okay, do you see what happened here on the left-hand side, Halloween decor as a phrase got checked off because I just put it in my listing, and then those individual words of Halloween and decor both got checked off, and so this is important, because this is how you're able to make your listing and know that you have used all of the keywords that you want. So, at the end of the day, my top keywords, I want to make sure I've got in the phrase form. There's no way I can get 112 phrases right into my listing in phrase form, but at least my top 10 or 15, plus every single one of these individual ones that and these are the words that make up these phrases here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so let's go ahead and go to the next step. You'll notice that this CPS is blank. Okay, so CPS is blank. This is very important. This is what tells me which of my keywords are the most important, because they're getting sales for most of my competitors. So what do I have to do? What do you guys have to do when you're making your listing like this? I have to go down here and I click keyword performance rank, okay, and now I have to hit add competitors. And so what competitors am I going to put in here? I'm going to put the same, the same competitors that I had in Cerebro, okay, now I want to. I want you guys to see what's going to happen when I do that. What's going to happen now is this competitor performance score, which actually is the same thing that was from Cerebro. If you look in Cerebro, the very last column in Cerebro, guys, is competitor performance score. This is not new to Helium 10. This has been in Helium 10 for years. This is what tells you the strength of the keywords compared to the competitors. All right, so this really helps you understand which are the keywords that most of the competitors are ranking for. Okay, and there, I did it there.

Bradley Sutton:

Now everybody's got a score. All right, I got to take away this because it was still giving me a score, even though I only had one keyword in there. But look at these scores. All right, so this is the number one, uh, one, and sure enough, they're the number one seller. You look at that, guys. The number one seller happens to have the number one listing SEO score. All right, so this is based on all of the keywords, how many of the keywords they're using, how many in phrase form, and how they have it optimized throughout the listing. All right, right now, what is my score? My score is seventh out of seventh, I have a zero because I haven't put anything in my listing, all right, so now I can sort this, my keyword phrases, by competitor performance score. All right, now I can see some of the top keywords here. Coffin letter board is a 10 out of 10. Coffin letter board sign. All right, uh. Coffin decoration, coffin decor All right. So these are some of the keywords that I know I have to have in phrase for my listing. So what's the next step? I'm actually going to do this, where I'm going to get some help from AI to actually write some of this listing. And again, these steps, you guys should take at least 30 to 45 minutes. I'm going to try and do it in like less than five minutes here.

Bradley Sutton:

So, right, here I want to start putting in some of the characteristics of this product. So let me go ahead and do that here. Let's go ahead and say hey, this is 17 inches by 10.5 inches. This product, our product, actually includes a special coffin-shaped um chalkboard as well, includes mini coffin shaped chalkboard. So I'm going to write that as a characteristic. That's something that's I chose so that I can differentiate it. So that I can differentiate it from what's uh, what's going on. Let's uh with the competition. All right, what else do we see? Well, can I put includes wooden stand. Can hang on wall. What are some other places that I can get ideas on what to put here? Let me show you really quick. Let's say, I go into that top selling coffin letterboard right here I'm going to run Helium 10 review insights. Now, the first thing I'm just going to look, though. I want to look at the images. This is important for all of you guys. Look at the images of what people are leaving reviews for. Take a look here at some of these. This really gives you a good idea about what's going on, about how people are using this product. So you should do this for your competitors.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so I'm going to look here at the review images that people have been doing. So now, look at this. I can see that people are using. Guys, this is a crazy product. Like I cannot believe how many people are buying this and how many people love this kind of product. It's kind of crazy. But you can see here this is something that I identified early on in the process that I didn't want to do. Do you guys see these letters and how you have to, like, twist them to take them off. So our product is going to have pre-cut and pre-sorted letters. So you know what? That's a good thing to put right here. So let's go ahead and do that. Includes 500 character or letters and spooky emojis. Letters are pre-cut and pre-sorted, all right. So that's like a definitely a key feature, because these images people are complaining about this how you know, like, like this is like impossible to one by one take away these letters. But now I can see, um, you know some, somebody did one for like a divorce party. It says 99 problems, but a husband ain't, one is one. So there there's a little like humor I can find to do here. I see some people have this for coffee shops. Some people, a lot of people, have it for looks like a wedding and birthday party. So there's all of a sudden, just in seconds here I'm getting tons of use cases and guess what, guys, we're going to talk about this later. This is also the kind of thing you should be looking at when you're trying to plan your images that you're going to take. Don't just look at the images that the other sellers made, but now go ahead and take some cues from what customers, actual customers of this product, are using this as use cases, you know, because there's tons of stuff I never would have thought about, you know, like I wouldn't have thought about a divorce party having it. Look at this. Somebody has says on their coffin letter board tips appreciated, normal is boring, stay weird. I mean, some of these are pretty ingenious, right. So this is some great ideas.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the other thing that I can do is I want to run review insights here. Okay, and this is going to tell me what are some of the two, three, four word phrases that people are mentioning a lot in the reviews. All right, so the way you can do that is you click here on keywords once it loads all these reviews, and now I'm going to get some instant insight into what are people concerned about with this product and hit keywords, and then here we go. So look at this, a lot of people are saying so many letters. So maybe I want to see what are people saying when they say so many letters. Oh, it comes with so many letters. Perfect size comes with so many letters. So this one had 500 letters, and so this is. This is again something I should have looked at before, which I did, which is why I wanted to make sure mine had 500 letters, because I could see that a lot of people like that it had a lot of letters, right. But now I want to see what else that people are complaining about letters off, what is that? All right. I recommend use a sharp scissor to cut the letters off. This person says it's pretty easy to pull the letters up, but a lot of people are concerned about their having to pull the letters off or cut the letters off. That's why I made sure to call out in my listing that, hey, our letters are pre-cut and pre sorted, all right. I'm going to go ahead and analyze these and get even more points that I can put in my listing. All right, uh, let's say here good for parties and weddings, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So now let's go ahead and put our brand name, Manny's Mysterious Oddities, and I want to put that at the beginning of the title. What is the product name? I'm going to say coffin letter board sign. Now, this is really important because I saw here that two of my most important keywords are coffin letter board and coffin letter board sign. Now, if I just put coffin letter board sign in the title, that means I get two keywords for the price of one in my title and it's going to help me on my bang for my buck, for my SEO, my SEO title. All right, let's go ahead and pick a tone here. Let's pick humorous. This is a humorous product, right? Um and again, I? I should be filling this completely up with a whole bunch of information. I only filled up 200 out of 500 characters, but you guys get the uh, the picture. Now I'm just going to hit hey, write it, write it for me. But look at this in seconds. Now I have a title that says Manny's Mysterious Oddities coffin letter board sign. There it is. That was exactly I wanted to get two keywords in one. Beetlejuice decor, Halloween party decorations with mini coffin chalkboard. You see, the AI knew what I had in here 500 pre-cut letters and spooky emojis, perfect for parties and weddings. It got so much of my stuff just in the title. All we have done here is the title, and now I can see that once I say use suggestion, look at this. I was able to knock out a lot of my individual keywords and keywords, and that's basically how I do the rest of the listing, guys, what I'm going to do is just say, write it for me, and now AI is going to give me some suggestions. And then the point is I want to try and use up all of these individual keywords as much as possible so I can be indexed for all of these phrases. And then anything that has a high competitor performance score I definitely want to make sure that I have in phrase form in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so that's how you make a listing. Again, this this took me 20 minutes to explain. It should probably take you an hour or two hours because you should be doing a lot more work on this. I would probably go in here and I'm going to just I'm not going to just go with the AI um, suggestion for it. The AI can really give me a good start with using the keywords and having like a certain theme or vibe to it. Like I, in this case, I put a, um, you know, humorous vibe, right, and now I just finished writing my listing up and I make sure that I use these uh keywords, uh, make sure that I use these keywords up. So this is important, guys. This is just a simple way of doing your listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of SEO, what if English is not your first language and you're trying to write a listing here in Amazon USA or me? I don't speak perfect Japanese and I want to write a listing for Amazon Japan. I'm not going to use my own knowledge of Japanese to try and write that. No, you can write these prompts here in Listing Builder in whatever is your native tongue, and then you tell Helium 10, hey, this listing is going to be for Amazon Japan. This listing is going to be for Amazon Spain, and it will write the listing in a common language of where that marketplace is, and when I say common language, I mean, like common grammar. Right, it's not, like you know, Google Translate, which is all weird and everything right. So this is really a great way to make your listing and, like I said, I did this in 20 minutes and I almost have a better listing than most of these competitors already. Imagine how good I can make it if I just spent an hour or two hours, and this is the beauty about listing builder right. So that is how you can go from keyword research to actually making the structure of your listing and then making sure that you are optimized for it based on the score.

Bradley Sutton:

One last thing I just want to quickly show you is, as you write your listing, you want to see how your score is going on, right? So here is my listing. Let's go ahead and rewrite these bullet points. My score is going to start changing as I start utilizing this, and the goal is hey, I want to be more optimized for the main keywords than my competitors. I want to be number one here, and so that's what you kind of shoot for when you are doing this. Image copy is just one aspect, right, it's just one aspect of the listing. The rest of it is what images? It's A+ Content. So I brought in some experts to talk a little bit about the photography aspect of things and some other listing optimization aspects. So let's go ahead and invite our first guest up here is Lailama Hasan. Welcome, how's it going?

Lailama:

Hello, thank you for having me on. I'm just going to quickly introduce myself. I'm Lailama and I'm currently working as a Marketing Content Manager at Helium 10, where I plan and execute social media strategies. I have a background in Amazon selling and as a commercial photographer specializing mostly in Amazon brands. I've also consulted these brands on optimizing their listings with the goal to boost conversions optimizing their listings with the goal to boost conversions. So here I am, back on this webinar with Bradley talking some more about product photography, how to do it yourself, and then whether it makes sense for you to outsource to an agency or not. And if it does not make sense for you to outsource, then how do you go about conducting research for those images that you will create out of the pictures that you've taken?

Lailama:

Now, a lot of people are overwhelmed by photography, right? A lot of people say I don't have the creativity to take my own pictures. Well, where do you begin? I just want to start by saying simplify, you know, let's break it down into the three image types that are required by Amazon. So every listing has three types of images and each image requires a different photography approach. So we'll go over each image separately to understand, like what is the goal of these images and how to go about photographing them? The first one is your main image. It's going to be a white background image. You need bright lighting. The main purpose is to bring people onto your listing, so you want to give them all the information possible about your product. Maybe there's a USP that you want to highlight, so make sure you put it in bright white lighting. People are able to see the color, the textures so they can make an informed decision and go on to your listing.

Lailama:

And then the next one we have is infographic images. So these are usually the second type of image that you see in the middle. These are going to be like your hero shots. These are really functionality or USP focused shots. You might need to throw in some reference items for sizing or explain to people how to use these products. So that's the goal you want to keep in mind. And so take pictures from every angle. Explain how to use it. If it's not a simple product, what benefits and features it's going to give you. So you want to. When you're doing the photography, you want to keep these goals in mind.

Lailama:

And then, lastly, you have the lifestyle images. So here you're selling your brand a lifestyle. You want to have models in it. You want to have the models that are representative of your target audience and so usually like have the product you know, show the use case of your product here. And then you know, just before when you're taking the pictures, you just want to, again, keep the goal of the image in mind. So once you have that, it's gonna make the task of photography a lot easier for you. Now the next question that comes up is okay, there's so many options out there. What equipment do I use? You just need a few items to get started. So I'll break it down again by image types just to make it easier for you to. You know, pick out your equipment. The first one for main image, you simply need a camera. This can be your phone. If you have a good quality camera or you, you could also rent out a DSLR and put it on auto setting. Again, there's no really preference here, but if you want a higher quality image, then I would recommend renting a DSLR camera. And then the second thing you want to have is two sets of lighting. These can be, you know, any lights around the house. Make sure that it has a white hue to it and then you can mix it with natural lighting. If you can photograph next to a window or outdoors, that's going to, you know, really bring up the quality of your image.

Lailama:

I do recommend again renting out Godox lights just for that professional look, so that you can have a higher quality of image. The reason I talk about higher quality is because when you're uploading these images to Amazon and finally when people come to your listing, they're going to have that zoom in feature and so if your image quality is high, they'll be able to see the details. But if the quality isn't high enough, then your image can look a bit blurry. So just to like mitigate that risk, I would say rent out equipment, and just for the DSLR camera and for the two lights, the rentals might be $150 max if you're not going for anything new or fancy. But again, phone and regular lighting will do as well. Next, you, for your main image, you want a solid white background, so for that I'd recommend going for like a sturdy piece of paper. This could be a construction paper that you can find at any stationery shop, and then, if you have a bigger product, I would say, go for like a white cloth. The only reason I wouldn't take, you know, pick that as my first choice is because that'll need to be ironed out and that's more work. We want to make things easier, so, you know, a piece of paper might just work better.

Lailama:

Okay, and now for infographics. Of course you're going to need the same camera, the same lights, but for backgrounds, you know, these are your hero shots, so you want to show your product and its functionality, and so these are going to be like really clear images of your product, but also looking aesthetic. So you want to pick out a background that might be like a solid color that is a part of your branding palette. Or you can pick out like a linen cloth, a wooden textured, you know, paper or something. So let's say it's a kitchen product like this example here. You can go for a marble background, a wooden texture, you know, switch it up whatever looks aesthetically pleasing but also like doesn't take away from your product. And if you don't want to go through any of this hassle, then you can also just take a picture on a white background, just like you would for your main image, and then overlay it on top of an artificial background with apps like Canva. And then, lastly, we have our lifestyle images. For this, you're really just gonna need your product put onto like a relevant lifestyle setup. So in this case, we have a yoga mat, and they've literally this could have literally been shot in your living room. Um, if you have like an outdoor sport product, let's say it's like um, soccer ball or something, then you might want to go to a park. So there's like lots of options for like free locations where you can do your photo shoot. And so, once you've done your photography, you figured it out.

Lailama:

A lot of people are also thinking, okay, well, should I do it myself? Is it worth it, or should I simply outsource it? Like, what is it gonna? How do you decide that? How do you make that decision? I think it's all a matter of time, money and effort. So you know, these are all three of them are resources, because time and effort is also a big resource when you have to move fast, when you're launching your product, and it really just a lot of the times boils down to what your budget is. So if you have a low budget, then you're going to have to pay with more time and effort, and that's when you go the DIY photography route. But you know again, the question is okay, are there any other factors that I should consider outsourcing to an agency? Well, you are going to be a one man army versus the agency is a whole team. So you're going to need the expertise of a photographer, videographer if you're making a video a creative director, an Amazon specialist editor. You're going to need models. So it's a lot of moving pieces and this can take a lot of time and effort on your part, and maybe even some freelancers to put all this together. The agency has it all figured out. They have a blueprint, a process of how they're going to go about executing this project for you.

Lailama:

So you can save time and effort. Um, by outsourcing. And that's why I say outsourcing isn't just a cost-saving measure, the cost being your time and effort. It's also a strategic move that empowers you to focus on your core competencies. And so, let's say you've decided against outsourcing to an agency. Well, you're going to have to create these photos into listing images. And how do you go about that? There's a lot of research that goes behind it to make sure that these images actually convert, because it's not just a matter of putting these images up. They need to resonate with the buyer, they need to give the buyer the information that they need in order to convert them from a view to a sale, right? So how do you turn these images photos, into listing images? Well, it's usually you know it is a time consuming process, but you can use something like it's one of my favorite tools. It's called Listing Analyzer by Helium 10. And they have this feature called media comparison where you get a holistic view of all of the pictures that your competitors have put up, and so you can really see, okay, what are the best ways that I can showcase the features of my product? And, you know, make a decision once you've looked at all the visuals and you pick out the maybe seven best images out of that. So, now that you know how to showcase each features, but which features should really take priority, and that's where your customer comes in.

Lailama:

And so you're going to have to do review analysis, the Q&A analysis, go on to your, you know, trying to figure out like what are the burning questions, what are the common misconceptions within your product niche? So pick out your top 10 competitors five might be the best, five might be average and run Review Insights which is again a Helium 10 tool on each listing and dive into the one star, the two star, the three star rated reviews and find out what these misconceptions are and incorporate that information into your image. And then, another thing that I like to do when running research for images is outside marketplace analysis and this is your external inspiration. Um, that'll help you elevate your brand because you're looking at the best players in your niche, but outside of the Amazon marketplace. This could be Pinterest, you know, and you'll see, like a mood board, like this, or it could simply be a Google search and you go on to like the best companies that are in your niche. These companies will usually have strong branding, so you can really learn how to present your brand and its messaging from these top brands.

Lailama:

And lastly, you can never predict what image will perform better, which one's going to resonate with your audience, and that is why I recommend doing split testing, so you can showcase the same information in multiple ways, but you'll never know which image is going to communicate your message the best, and this is especially true for main images like here you know it's the same dog leash, but is it better to use a model? Is it better to use to showcase your variations? If yes, then do you show all of them in one picture or do you focus on the main variation? So these are the questions you'll have answered through a split test. I really like using Helium 10's audience, which will allow you to split test your images and make that decision pre-launch, which is the biggest advantage here. So run the split test and see which one will convert the best.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's go ahead and go into our next speaker, who's going to talk a little bit about something. Some other aspects that you need to be thinking about when you're doing your listing optimization. All right, well, take it away, Tayyaba.

Tayyaba:

Sure. Well, hi guys, how's it all going? I am Tayyaba Hasan and I'm going to be talking about the creatives and the image aspect of Listing Optimization. And we're a Canadian company, so that is optimization with an S I'm going to be giving you some insight into how we created the listing images for the coffin letter board. I'll discuss a little bit about our approach and get into the process and maybe you can take some tips and tricks and apply it for your own business.

Tayyaba:

So a little bit more about myself. So I work as a Creative Director. I worked as a Creative Director at AMZ One Step and now I work as a Project Manager. So we work with Amazon sellers to scale their business with data-driven creatives that convert, and we do all things creative. So images storefront everything in between.

Tayyaba:

Now I do want to talk a little bit about our process and kind of how we approach creating some images and these creatives that convert. So there's a few steps, four steps that we typically take. So the first one, of course, is that research. Lailama and Bradley went into some good detail about how to do that research, but the main part, the main takeaway, is really just to identify the unique features and benefits of your product. This can be done using all of the tools and the strategies that were discussed. And then the next plan. The next step would be just to create that plan. So gather all of your ideas together and put yourself in the shopper's mind and really create like a storyboard outline for the images. This is really just a fine balance of knowing you know what sets my product apart, what questions would the shopper have, and then how can we just show the two visually. Now, after that's all done and you've got a really good idea of what you want each of the images to kind of portray and what the text is gonna say, you're gonna get into production. So, of course, that is just the shooting and executing the design. Whether you do that yourself or you outsource it to an agency, that's up to you. And the fourth step would, of course, be that optimization. So Lailama did touch a little bit on A-B testing. So if your creatives are done by a professional agency, ideally there's less chance of misrepresentation and negative reviews, but every so years, in any case, if you decide to upgrade your product, change something about the features, improve it, you're going to need to update the creatives, and a few years. Even if you don't update your product, a few years will give you enough data to really spot any trends in your customer reviews and adjust accordingly.

Tayyaba:

The research aspect, like I mentioned, is pretty much dependent on understanding the difference between a feature and a benefit. So a feature is very straightforward it's that specific attribute or the functionality of the product. But the benefit is actually the value that that feature is going to offer the customer. This is the part where we're going to address their needs or, you know, solve a problem. We're going to tell them that this is how this product is going to optimize their life in any way, or how it can play a role. So how does this apply to that coffin letter board? Well, when Bradley came to us, he let us know that there was a very key feature and that, of course, was that 500 plus, you know, pre-cut and sorted letters. That's an amazing feature, but the benefit to the customer is really what you want to relay. So what is the benefit? It's going to be the fact that it's that hassle-free. It's that hassle-free message creating and you have uniform and polished letters every time, as opposed to where you had to cut them. It saves you time and, of course, it reduces mess.

Tayyaba:

So first we sort of came up with the image concept to tackle the image that's going to portray this feature. So we wanted to show the polished look of the pre-cut letters with someone using our product and maybe show that versus a competitor. We want to show this in a way where it shows also a common use. So in this case, the header very straightforward. You can even ask ChatGPT give me a header for an image like this, give me 10 headers and they'll do that. So pre-cut for hassle free decorating very straightforward, and some icons or text that really are going to drive the benefit home is the fact that there is a uniform and a polished look and it's mess free. And then we also have to consider the common uses. So, if you recall, one common use was that these coffin letter boards are used in Halloween themed parties, kind of like a welcome board with a punny or a clever text. So this was sort of a screenshot and we just sort of analyzed all of the images of the competitors so we can see if you were to zoom in, you'd be able to see that a lot of them have that punny text and a lot of them you can see actually have they're not pre-cut, they're all just you've got to cut those letters out. So these images that you see in between, that's all showing you the letters that don't arrive pre-cut.

Tayyaba:

So the common uses we want to consider this and then apply that to our products. So we want to look at these trends. We see that there's, you know, messages written on the board. They're all sort of a play on words. It's either Gothic or Halloween themed. We see the we want to show how the polished look of the pre-cut letters is better than, as opposed to just the mess of dealing with competitor products which are not pre-cut. And then we sort of applied that into a rough kind of a sketch. So we created a plan. Now this plan, we knew that we wanted to use the relevant setting right. So this is sort of like a Halloween gothic themed party. We know that we want to showcase the coffin letter with something punny, and so I just wanted to chatGPT and said you know, give me a quirky, punny message for a Halloween party letter board. And then I know that I wanted to showcase the competitor image as well. So if, ideally, you can order the product of the competitors, but if not, you can use some Photoshop magic to manipulate it. So this is the actual image that we came up with in the end, so to give you a little bit of an idea. So, tying all of those together, this is a Halloween theme. The chatGPT said something very cute like eat, drink and be scary. So we let our production team know to write that message on the board.

Tayyaba:

And this is actually white background photography. So, just for the sake of simplicity, I'm just showing you what it looks like when you do white background photography and you Photoshop that into a Halloween sort of a background and it's not really, you know, necessary. You could recreate this in a real life setting. You could get the props, but this is just a more budget friendly option. So if you look at the text, it really drives that point home and we were not actually able to order the competitor product. So what we did was we just took a close up of the existing one and if you look at that. It's a bit torn, which is pretty accurate as to how it might look when you know when you're removing it yourself from a competitor product. So we just sort of fake the fact that the competitor's product is not nearly as polished or uniform as ours is, and then those icons, like we mentioned, really drive that point home. So uniform and polished look and mess free. So that's what that image looked like.

Tayyaba:

Now it's not all about just the features and the benefits and manipulating the visuals. Sometimes it can be just a lot more simple, and so you have to put yourself in the headspace of a shopper. You know what questions would the shopper have, and so the other approach is just to sort of tackle, tackle, that kind of um question. So Bradley did mention that while most of the competitors are selling coffin letter boards with a stand um, you know, for for a niche like this there's not that many like bundled items. So maybe the shopper is just a little bit going to be curious as to what exactly am I getting? I see there's a letter, I see there's a smaller chopper, what does this mean? And so we want to just answer that question for them. You know exactly how big is each item? How much space is it going to take up in my home, especially the fact that these are bundled items and one is bigger, one is smaller? So the review insights tool is a pretty good way just to get like an idea as to exactly what questions do they have.

Tayyaba:

If you don't have the access to look at all of these you know three thousand reviews, two hundred and seventy nine reviews, nine thousand reviews and just really analyze them and look for the trends. That's where AI comes in, so you can use the review insights tool, export all of those, copy the Excel sheet into ChatGPT and ask it to analyze the questions so you can say something as simple as, like you know, look at the negative reviews, what trends do you see? What are customers complaining about? Where does this product fall short of expectations? And that's really where you want to address something. Or you could take a much more sort of simpler approach and even just look at the very quickly, just look at the tags. So this is actually something that I saw off of the competitors. So one thing that they were talking about was sizing. Now there are overall positive reviews, but if you look at what I've highlighted here, Amazon has sort of summarized that it fits. You know it's good, but it's larger than they thought that it would be. So that is something you know you could ignore it because it's such a positive overall review 57 positive and five negative but it's really important to just catch that and then use that to your advantage.

Tayyaba:

So when we look at the competitor images and I look at the way that they've approached the dimensions image, it's pretty easy to see why there might be confusion. You know, yes, the numbers are right there. In fact, some of them even go into two decimal places. But the reality is shoppers are not going to pull out a measuring tape and you can't really rely on that. So I'm going to give you a little bit of insight into how we approach creating the dimensions image and how we can went about maybe mitigating these negative reviews. So, instead of just giving them the numbers, what we did was we threw in hands in there and so immediately you can sort of picture just how big the bigger one is and how big the smaller one is. And hopefully I can already imagine that shoppers without an image like this and just going back and you know if we should show the chalkboard like this, I can imagine already negative reviews saying you know, the chalkboard is way too small, it's a lot smaller than I expected. Which it is it's about? You know, three inches wide and that's about the length of my pinky. So what this does is it really gives them the idea of they can picture it basically in their home. So this is just one way that we approach creating images to avoid negative reviews. And that brings me to the end of my presentation. I hope this has provided you guys with a little bit of insight and thank you guys so much.

Bradley Sutton:

Tayyaba for you. If anybody wants to reach out to you for more information or to get more help or to utilize your services, like I contracted you guys out to do this coffin letter board, how can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Tayyaba:

Absolutely amzonestep.com, and if you've got any inquiries, any sort of creatives that you'd like to get done, feel free to reach out.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and then also you can. If some of you have different plans, I suggest contacting them through hubhelium10.com and look for AMZOneStep, because they sometimes give different coupons for different members out there as well. All right, guys. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks for staying here to the end. Thank you to Leilama and Tayyaba. We will see you later next month with another new topic that's going to be in Freedom Ticket. Actually, next week it's all going to be about TikTok Shop. So look out for an invite for special training on TikTok shop and until then, we'll see you guys later. Bye-bye now.

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Could this single change to Amazon's Subscribe and Save program revolutionize your Amazon selling strategy? Listen as we unpack all the latest buzzing news in the E-commerce space!

Registration is now live for Amazon's premier selling partner conference: Amazon Accelerate.
Go to: h10.me/accelerate to get your tickets and use the code “HELIUM10SELLER” to get additional discounts

Virtual Packs Are Available on Walmart.com
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/david-milstein-53692611a_walmart-walmartmarketplace-ecommerce-activity-7205970821775822850-m-0y/

TikTok Shop is huge for the beauty industry
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/11/24176221/tiktok-shop-beauty-wellness-industry-growth-ecommerce

Amazon Is a Top Destination for Brand-Focused Beauty Shoppers
https://civicscience.com/amazon-is-a-top-destination-for-brand-focused-beauty-shoppers/

Temu Attracts More Repeat Buyers than eBay, Challenges Amazon
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/temu-attracts-more-repeat-buyers-than-ebay-challenges-amazon/ar-BB1o4ili

TikTok comes for Google as it quietly rolls out image search capabilities in TikTok Shop
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/11/tiktok-comes-for-google-as-it-quietly-rolls-out-image-search-capabilities-in-tiktok-shop/

Finally, gear up for some valuable training sessions, including a free TikTok Shop webinar and strategies for making the most of Prime Day with Amazon’s latest advertising tools. Plus, a cool new update to Helium 10’s Demand Analyzer tool. Don’t miss out on these essential updates and strategies to boost your e-commerce success!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:50 - Amazon Subscribe & Save
03:12 - Amazon Accelerate
04:32 - Walmart Virtual Packs
05:26 - TikTok Shop Beauty
06:38 - Amazon Beauty
07:57 - Temu Vs. Ebay
10:03 - OX Insights
11:34 - Walmart 4 Star +
12:46 - TikTok Image Search
13:53 - TikTok Shop Webinar with Helium 10
14:20 - Prime PPC Webinar
14:51 - New Feature Alert & Training: Demand Analyzer

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

A big Amazon subscribe and save change. Walmart's got two new features coming. TikTok shop is skyrocketing. The beauty niche these stories and more on this week's Weekly Buzz how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on the Amazon, Walmart e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new features that Helium 10 has. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

We got a number of news articles and things to go over today, so let's go ahead and hop right into our very first story, and this one is actually just directly from the Amazon seller central dashboard and it's for me, it's a, it's a big change. For some of you this might not affect at all, but basically this is entitled. Subscribe and save will launch for seller fulfilled orders on June 27th, All right. So those of you who are just using FBA, this is meaningless to you. For those of you who are like me and every single one of your products is FBA and you have an FBM SKU because you've got your own warehouse or you've got 3PL. Well, this is kind of big because until now you can only enroll FBA SKUs into subscribe and save. But now those of you who do both, like me or maybe there's some of you who just, for whatever reason, for regulatory reasons maybe there's some products that's not allowed in FBA, like meltable products or other things at certain times of year, guess what you can now keep that subscribe and save going, even if you are FBM.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so this article talks about how they're automatically going to enroll all of your eligible replenishable products at the default discount set in your subscribe and save settings. All right, so the whole percentage discount thing is going to apply, like the you know, the 5% discount, uh, et cetera. Now, remember, you know these subscribe and save orders normally are just generated automatically for FBA, but now in your FBM pending orders you're going to start seeing subscribe and save order. So make sure to take a look at that. And if you, for whatever reason, don't want to, um, have this automatically set up, I don't know why you wouldn't want to if you have subscribe and save on. But maybe there's a reason why you don't Like, maybe you're not confident in your FBM inventory. Well, you can go to growth and hit explore programs, click increase conversion and then, under subscribe and save, click learn more and you'll have a dashboard there where you can opt out from this automatic enrollment or, as it says, set your discount funding for each product after the June 27 launch. So some pretty cool stuff that is coming to subscribe and save. And don't forget that on the Helium 10 insights dashboard, you can actually add a module or widget for your subscribe and save metrics. So if you haven't done that, make sure to go ahead and do that. You could start seeing the rate your units sold, the amount of sales and the total discount for your subscribe and save orders.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, an announcement from Amazon. This is not like not some breaking news, but now the Amazon Accelerate Conference, which, in my opinion, is the premier event Amazon event in the entire world to go to, like. If people ask me uh, what is one event I have to go to? 10 out of 10 Amazon accelerate amazing event, the only time outside of Helium 10 cell and scale summit that we had a couple of years ago where you could actually go up to high quality uh or high ranking reps from Amazon and get your problems fixed. But anyways, as of yesterday, you can now register for Amazon Accelerate. It's going to be September 17th to 19th To get tickets. Go to h10.me/accelerate. There's already a hundred dollar discount right now and then you can use the coupon code. I'm not sure what kind of discount or if any discount it gives, but give it a try. Helium 10 seller no spaces, but you already get a hundred dollars off if you go ahead and register now, and then that Helium 10 seller might give you another extra discount. But again, I'm going to be there. The whole entire team is going to be there. What feels like the whole entire Amazon seller community is going to be there. Thousands of sellers there. Make sure to go. If you're a Helium 10 Elite member, get your tickets a day early, because September 16th we're going to do an event as well, so be there from the 16th through the 19th.

Bradley Sutton:

Next news article is actually not really a news article, but it's from LinkedIn, a post by David from Cell Quarter. He's been on the podcast a few times before and he's actually going to be on the podcast in a couple of weeks. He's been on the podcast a few times before and he actually is actually going to be on the podcast in a couple of weeks, but now he announced hey, virtual packs are available on Walmart.com. It's kind of similar to what we know as virtual bundles on Amazon, but it has a couple of advantages, according to David. All right. So, like you know, on Amazon, when you do virtual bundles, you don't get any kind of discounts on your fulfillment fees, right. But according to this for WFS, you are actually going to get discounts on your fulfillment for multiple packs, all right, and you also don't have to seemingly create listings one by one. So that is something that is going to be pretty cool for you Walmart sellers who want to do virtual bundles or virtual packs. I guess Looks like there's some cool stuff coming to Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

Switching to another marketplace now, TikTok Shop. This article is from theverge.com and it's entitled TikTok Shop is huge for the beauty industry, all right. And there is this article where it says hey, TikTok Shop is the ninth biggest online beauty and wellness retailer in the United States. You might think ninth. My goodness, I can't even name nine marketplaces, you know. There's Amazon, there's Walmart, there's Target. No, it's not marketplaces. I mean, that's any website. You know people go to Sephora.com. People go to Ulta Beauty whatever the heck that website is right. People go to the. You know Maybelline or whatever. You know actual companies. Including all of those websites, TikTok shop is already number nine out of everything. So that's kind of crazy. This article talks about beauty. Content is one of the most popular types of videos on TikTok, with some creators making a living by sharing tips or testing out products. All right, so this is kind of you know, impetus, I would say for the few of you maybe in the beauty category who have been completely ignoring TikTok shop might want to jump on that bandwagon because it's blown up in the beauty category.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article Along those same lines how is Amazon Beauty doing? Well, you know this is an article from civicscience.com and you know, to no surprise, amazon, according to this article, has 68% of US adults buy beauty and personal care products on Amazon, at least on some of their purchases. So yeah, they are by far. Amazon is by far number one. However, there's distinct differences when it comes to how beauty buyers shop on Amazon. It says official brand storefronts are the most popular destinations among Amazon beauty shoppers. It says shoppers are twice as likely to purchase a beauty or personal care item from an official store than from an independent third party seller. All right, it says many prestige and luxury beauty brands are partnering with Amazon's premium beauty storefront. So this is something to think about. All right, you know, we just talked about hey, make sure your beauty products are on TikTok shop. You should probably make sure your beauty products are on Amazon, of course, but you know, branding is important in the beauty category on Amazon, right, if you're a no name brand, that doesn't mean you have zero chance at making sales, but there seems to be more of a skew toward more branded, you know, or brands that are more well-known in the beauty category on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is from MSN, and this one, you know, to be honest, I'm a little bit skeptical about All right. So now the title of this from MSN is Temu attracts more repeat buyers than eBay challenges Amazon. Now, this article had a general statement that seemed pretty legit, says hey, you know, we see that Temu is making more, or customers in the US are making more repeat purchases on Temu than on eBay. Maybe, all right, but here is what I'm just like flabbergasted by All right, let me quote this directly. It says the survey, which pulled 1000 consumers, revealed that 34% of respondents made purchases from Temu at least once a month. Hmm, you guys know what my initials are? Right, my name is Bradley Sutton. You know what my initials are. I'm raising my initials flag on this one. Okay, I don't know one person in the last year who has bought even one thing from Temu.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, don't get me wrong. I understand Teemu is the thing. I know there's people who buy stuff out there, but I'm just finding it hard to believe. 34% of people of 1000 people, 340 out of 1,000 people bought something on Temu. And I don't know one freaking person who bought something from Temu. I'm just not. This made me a little bit skeptical on this article. You know like I'm not the one who made this poll, but again, I'm just throwing that out there. Now. It says Amazon dominates the field, with 76% of the respondents shopping there at least monthly. That number seems almost low for me. What? Only double the amount of sellers or buyers bought something on Amazon to Temu? Only 76%. I mean, like I think every single person I know buys something from Amazon. You know I'm not talking about, obviously, people in the Amazon industry. I'm talking about, just, you know, people here in my community, you know. But anyways, this might be an article you want to take a look at. I still maintain whether it's right or wrong that that Temu is no real threat to Amazon, maybe outside of the the you know clothes, you know low price clothing category, but hey, who knows, maybe Temu is making moves that I'm just not aware of.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from going back to Amazon Seller Central and it's entitled Use Reviews to Improve Product Launches with New Customer Review Insights. So customer review insights is nothing new. This has been in Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer for a while now, but they have new features in there. So there's something new called review trends that show shift in customer sentiment. There's Parent ASIN Insights, so it gives insights at the parent level of products. As you know, Helium 10 Review Insights has been doing that for seven years now almost six years. It takes Amazon a little bit to get caught up, but no, this is cool that Amazon is doing this. They've got some other cool stuff that Review Insights doesn't have. They've got ASIN benchmarking, where it compares your product star rating now to the category average star rating. All right, that's new. And then also they have topic drill down. So like here's a picture, like I'm looking here in Product Opportunity Explorer at one of the competitor coffin shelves and then I could see some of these new features that they have here where they break it down to the child level and they show some topics. So a lot of this you know is available in Helium 10, you know the review insights tool for Helium 10, elite members. We've also had an advanced AI review sentiment tool that you guys have had access to. I'm not sure when or if that's going to be released at Diamond and Platinum, but elite members, make sure you're using that. If that's going to be released a diamond and platinum, but elite members, make sure you're using that. And if you don't have Helium 10, we'll make sure to use for free the review insights tool inside of seller central product opportunity explore.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article. It's not really an article, it's an email update from Walmart connect. All right, kind of cool announcement, but very, maybe it's going to be very similar to something you know. But basically Walmart Connect says, hey, we're launching an A-B test on item pages that introduces an additional carousel called drumroll, please four-star and above items. All right, does that sound familiar? I think we've seen four-star and above before. Nothing wrong with that. But this is going to start on June 17th and it's going to be a test that they're going to run for about four weeks and it's a carousel that's offering prominent placement opportunity that can promote inspiration for shoppers. Now the difference here is it looks like you can actually target this carousel. As we know, the four star and above on Amazon it's just kind of random. It's not like I can just choose to my product to show up in this four star and above place. There are some that are automatic, according to Walmart, so it's not all manual, but you can automatically get in there or you can manually get in there. So this Walmart Connect if you guys are a Walmart seller, you should have gotten this Walmart Connect email. Make sure to check it out and see if you can get in on this test.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article of the day is from techcrunch.com and it's entitled TikTok comes for Google as it quietly rolls out image search capabilities in TikTok shop. So it's pretty much this article is just as that title sounds. So you know how you on Amazon and Google you can like take a picture of something. I do this on eBay a lot too. You take a picture of something with the app and then search by picture instead of searching by the keyword. I use that on eBay all the time when I'm like trying to like price match baseball cards and different things like that. That's how I. That's how I do it, instead of actually searching with words. Well, uh, you can now do that on Tik TOK shop. Now, to me, this is a notable because it took years for, like Amazon and eBay and other apps, even Google, to have something like that, and now TikTok shop in the US hasn't even been around for a full year and it already has it. So that's kind of cool that that TikTok shop is making these kind of moves, and anything that makes it easier to find your products on TikTok shop actually obviously would be, um, you know, beneficial for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of TikTok shop, um, we've got a TikTok shop freedom ticket training coming up next week, okay, so if you haven't registered for it completely free of charge, make sure you're joining. We're bringing a guest expert and they're going to be talking about how to get set up on TikTok shop. This is going to be a module that's going to be in Freedom Ticket. So if you want to register for that, make sure to go to h10.me/tiktokwebinar. Also, you know we've got Prime Day coming up next week. I did a special training on advertising for Prime Day and beyond with Amazon Advertising Headquarters in New York. If you guys didn't catch that live, make sure to catch the replay. You might have to do a free registry. It's completely free, though. If it asks you to register, just go ahead and register for free and you'll get access to it. The link to get to that training is h10.me/primeppc.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into our New Feature Alerts. Now, this is actually going to be new feature alerts slash training tip of the week, because it's we're re-releasing a tool that we had to redesign of. For the last six months. You haven't been able to use it, and so let me show you what that tool is and then show you how to use it. So we're combining two for the price of one. Let's say you're on any other website on the internet off of Amazon. You're on Etsy, you're on a Shopify website, or watch this. Maybe you're going to be on Alibaba, okay. So maybe I'm searching for coffin shelves and here, as you can see, I see a whole bunch of factories offering, offering coffin shelves. Let's just go ahead and pick a random one here. And then something that I like to do, um is I like to sometimes check other products that the factories have. So I'll hit their factory name and then I'll just start browsing their product catalog to see what kind of stuff they have. So let's just take a look. I'm here looking at this Alibaba store called Shangdong Junji Trading Company, all right, and I'm just going to start taking a look if anything jumps off of the page, all right. So I see they've got a lot of bamboo products. I actually have a bamboo brand and one of my Amazon accounts, so let's go ahead and look at some of their stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

So here, sofa arm tray I'm not sure if that's the main keyword, but maybe I'm wondering hey, is there any demand for this kind of product on Amazon? Instead of having to go now into Helium 10, instead of having to maybe go to Amazon and run x-ray, watch what I can do, I'm going to use this re-release tool from Helium 10 called demand analyzer. How you can access is in just the Chrome extension button. Hit that and then select demand analyzer and now all I have to do is type in the keyword that I think is what they're talking about. So let's do sofa. I forgot what even when I said sofa arm tray.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's see, is there any search volume for this keyword on Amazon? And lo and behold, holy cow, a keyword I never heard of until right now. There's actually 3,000, as you can see here, 400 searches a month. Revenue on the main page is almost $600,000. And I can see some of these top sellers and actually, look at this guys. I did not even look at this. I found the exact same product that is being sold here in this Alibaba store for $6 and on Amazon it's selling for $24. Now, right off the bat, I can tell you I don't think that's enough profit margin, but right here I can just instantly see what is going on with his demand. I'm still on the Alibaba website right now. I'm not on Amazon. I'm not on Helium 10, but I'm able to get this Amazon data Thanks to the Helium 10 Chrome extension. I can see other keywords that are in this niche, such as sofa, tray, table, and I can just dive a little bit deeper into it. So this is a great tool.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, maybe you're searching for product ideas, or you're doing just something on any random website at all whether it's Etsy, whether it's Pinterest, whether it's Alibaba something comes to in your mind. Don't think that, yeah, oh, let me go log into my Helium 10 account or let me go to Amazon and start searching an Xray and stuff like that. No, but you're one click away from getting Amazon and Helium 10 data by using this new tool that we're releasing Amazon Demand Analyzer. So it's going to work, should work on any page. Make sure to start using it now. All right, guys. That's it for this week's Weekly Buzz. Don't forget to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Join us for an insightful episode where we sit down with Christi Michelle, an expert in scaling Amazon businesses and the founder of The COO Integrator. Christi shares her fascinating journey from running an Amazon brand management agency to becoming a fractional Chief Operating Officer. Discover how she blends visionary ideas with tactical strategies, and hear about her comprehensive competitive analysis of 25 brand management agencies, revealing the importance of understanding unique value propositions. Christi's wealth of experience provides valuable lessons for e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses effectively.

In another segment, we explore key strategies for measuring business health and scaling effectively. Learn how to assess your business's performance through crucial data metrics like PPC statistics and P&L statements. Understand the significance of evaluating employee performance and fitting within your organization. We also discuss Tony Robbins' 10 life cycle stages and their relevance in identifying your business's current strengths and weaknesses. Practical tools such as the EOS organizational checkup and core values exercises are highlighted to help you align your company's direction and goals for balanced growth.

Finally, we tackle the challenges of managing remote teams and maintaining productivity in the e-commerce world. Discover strategies for fostering a strong company culture and maintaining relationships. Learn the importance of holding productive meetings that drive progress without creating unnecessary busy work. Additionally, Christi shares her transformative experience at a two-week water fasting retreat in Costa Rica, offering insights into personal growth through struggle and simplicity. Whether you're looking to scale your business or find balance in your entrepreneurial journey, this episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiration.

In episode 569 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Christi discuss:

00:00 - Scaling Amazon Businesses With Expert Guidance
04:34 - Brand Management for Major Brands
08:03 - Business Evolution and Maturity Stages
09:32 - Measuring Business Health and Scaling
14:27 - Navigating Amazon's Rising Costs and Fees
20:11 - Key Role of HR in Business
21:03 - Effective Remote Business Operation
23:52 - Creating Constructive Meetings for Company Culture
25:33 - Costa Rica Spiritual Retreat Experience
29:20 - Business Growth and Simplification

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

So many Amazon sellers don't treat their Amazon businesses like a real business. So, we brought on somebody today who's an expert in this and she's helped countless number of businesses really scale up, and there's going to be great points that you're going to be able to glean from this as well. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits. For more information, go to h10.me/profits. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And I'm still here recording in Spain, Madrid, Spain. I'm here at the Avosk office and we are here with somebody who has not been on the podcast in like two, maybe even three years, over three years Christy in the house. How's it going?

Christi Michelle:

Hi, doing well. How are you?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm doing just ducky. I recorded Leo earlier today, but he did his presentation already, so I was able to ask him some stuff on it. But I don't know what you're going to talk about yet, so I'll ask you that in a little bit. But since it's been so long since you've been on the podcast, what in the world have you been up to?

Christi Michelle:

I think the last time I was on I was running an Amazon brand management agency, and so that was the first one that I was running at the time. And after that we merged, slash, sold to a larger agency where I was the head of operations as well. We had about 100 clients, about 90-ish employees, so really kind of scaled up, which turns out that's kind of my forte, and I was there for a little while and then I left and apparently, I just can't get enough of the agency world. So, for the last about two and a half years I've been running what's my new agency? The COO Integrator, and so I am a fractional chief operating officer. So, it's that second in command. It's the one that says, OK, here's the big vision of what the visionary wants, the CEO wants, and OK, now how do we turn that into tactical strategies that we can, implement and get everybody rowing in the same direction? For so I do that.

Bradley Sutton:

Hold on. So, you're the CEO of this company or you're, like, a CEO of many companies.

Christi Michelle:

I'm the CEO of my company, my agency, but I play the role of the COO, which actually quite works for me because I'm a good blend of both the visionary and also the integrator. I like taking the really big concepts. That's a lot of fun for me, but I need to distill it down and make it very practical, set some goals around it, and I use a lot of my business strategies to make sure everything gets executed. So, it's both.

Bradley Sutton:

Went out to dinner last night and I remember you Vincenzo was there and you found out he worked at a PPC agency and you're like, oh man, a couple of years ago I did I looked into like 25 PPC agencies was it?

Christi Michelle:

It was a brand management agency. So, I was trying to do a competitive analysis. I wanted to understand. So, one of the things that I think a lot of companies, especially when they're getting started or they're so kind of single focused you don't realize that they don't understand their unique value proposition. And so, what makes you different? Why, if I were looking at two different agencies, why would I choose yours over someone else?

And most folks, unfortunately, they're oh, it's you know, we've got great customer support or we're so good with our clients, and it's very generic and they all kind of say the same thing. And so, I really wanted to understand okay, well, who are my competitors in the space? And I find it to be a very non-competitive space in the sense that we're all very friendly, it's very open. What I love about the e-commerce space is that it has kind of that good feel to it as an industry personality. But theoretically, these are my competitors and I wanted to see, well, okay, what are they offering? What do they charge, what are their contract terms? So, I really, I called dozens of them and I just said, hey, this is what I'm doing. I'm just I called dozens of them and I just said, hey, this is what I'm doing, I'm just what's unique about you? I just want to know these different things. So, it was a competitive analysis. It was just sort of a landscape.

Bradley Sutton:

And you know, obviously you don't have to mention any names, but what was just some things that stuck out to you about, I don't know, maybe price point or something that you saw was a hole in the industry or something that everybody had, or what were some of your big takeaways, I guess, like I'm asking.

Christi Michelle:

You know that most companies actually did have something that was quite unique. I would say more than half the companies. They would tell me something and I'm like I haven't heard that before. That's really unique, like that is. Do you know that as unique to you? So, in a way I was kind of helping them with their marketing like go ahead and highlight that. So, some folks you know they would specialize in major brands like big Fortune 100 company kind of brands. That's not typically what an Amazon brand management agency, but if you think about it those are. Most of those companies are kind of dinosaurs so they don't know how to kind of pivot and get online. So that was a unique one. A lot of companies had different contract terms but most of them were a flat fee plus once you had a certain point. Then we take a percentage. Unique ones were maybe it was a contract they just go month to month, and other ones they said we just went two years because we're going to invest with you. So really, I think knowing what those are, what your differentiators are and what's important to you, can help you, I guess, decide what type of clients, your ideal client, who you want to go after. Some clients are just like I just want to test this out, is this going to be good? So, they would probably want to go with an agency that has a lower fee and month to month contracts. But other ones who want to deep dive, they know they're going to invest in this, they know where they want to go build that partnership. So, it helps, you kind of weed out the clients that you do want and get rid of the ones that you don't. So, I don't know what really stood out. There was a lot.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now let's just flip the script a little bit. I'm an Amazon seller, I'm new or I'm big, I'm a seven-figure seller, eight-figure seller? Who is the persona or what type of person should be looking for a brand management agency as opposed to you know what? You probably should just try and handle things on your own at your stage.

Christi Michelle:

That's a loaded question. I would say that it actually depends on your personality type. So, there are people who want to understand there's a level of control that says I want to bring all of this in house, I want to bring in an expert who is a good PPC expert, someone who does graphic design. I want it to be so customized because it's my business. If that is your personality type, you probably want to build in house. But if it's not and you really just want kind of the simple life, you can find a partner partnering with an agency that has all of that already in-house. I would go that route. But it really depends on how you want to run your business in general. So, it's more of a personal decision on your lifestyle. With that there is an influx point, especially because, like I said, a lot of agencies will have sort of a flat fee to start with for the first 90 days or whatever, and they get to a point and they say, okay, wait, we expect to build traction at this point.

Christi Michelle:

So, from that we want to, once we hit this threshold, we want to flip and we want to take a percentage of sales. Well, that's fantastic, especially if they're doing a really good job. But if you go from doing, 50,000 in sales and then a hundred thousand in sales and then 500,000 in sales, and suddenly you’re doing millions in sales that you know taking 5% or whatever that is, at some point you're going to be paying the agency hundreds of thousands of dollars that it makes more sense than to just bring it in house. So, there is a scaling point that I would say unless you're super comfortable and you just love working with them and you don't care to give away that percentage as long as you don't have to think about it, because clearly, they've done a good job, then at some point you would probably want to bring it in house.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Now I think, looking now I remember looking at the title of your talk today like wasn't one thing about helping people scale, all right, so we have listeners of this podcast, from newer sellers all the way to maybe seven, eight figure sellers. What are some? I know a lot of the stuff you talk about is targeted, you know, depending on their exact persona, but maybe there's some general things that you could, some tips that you can give out about, because I think everybody wants to scale, unless they're just like trying to do this in their hobby. That hey, I'm very happy at my level of the rest of my life. My, my day job is this. That's probably like 3% of people. I think 97% wants to scale. So, what are some tips you can give?

Christi Michelle:

It's very customized because it depends on where your maturity of your company is. And so, I use the word maturity and the evolution of your business because most people say, well, I'm a million-dollar company or I'm a $5 million company or I'm a $40 million company, that really doesn't matter, because I've had clients that are 40 million, I've had clients that are 2 million and they're at the same stage. They experienced the same influx of issues. So, I like to identify them. So, Tony Robbins has a really good. He has a really good model that's called the evolutionary 10 stages of your business and it starts literally from like a child. It's like birth. You have infancy, you have toddler, teenager, young adult, and then you're in your prime and then eventually, at some point things always kind of deteriorate and you kind of go down that path. So, I like for people to be able to identify where they are. That helps them understand what their bottlenecks are. Able to identify where they are. That helps them understand what their bottlenecks are. So, one tip would be figure out where do you stand like, where is your evolution of your company and what is it going to take for you to go from a teenager to a young adult, or a young adult to get to you when you're in your prime. So, understanding that about yourself. Another thing that I would say is most companies, you're just very focused. Most people don't understand this. If you didn't get an MBA, you don't understand all the facets of business, right? They think, well, I've got a product and I've got a or a service. This is what I'm doing. Understand that if you want to scale, you kind of need to do it. The best way to do it is very, is as balanced as possible, and so another exercise that I do is based off of EOS, which is the Entrepreneur Operating System. They have a model. So, this is that's a business blueprint.

Christi Michelle:

Every company should be working from a business blueprint, and so, if you can do that, there's a several questions that kind of prompt you well, how well are you in each of these categories of your business? So, you can say, okay, well, how is my data measurables Like? Do I know what I'm measuring? Do I know what my PPC statistics are? Do I know what my P&L looks like? Do I know what my turn rate is? Do I know? There's lots of things to know. So, understanding that category, understanding your people. Do I have the right people? Have I hired you know? Are they doing the best that they can? So, there's lots of different ways that you can measure the health of your business. You can take it as a 20-point questionnaire. You can go to EOS I think it's called; I don't know. You can download it for free. In five minutes, you can kind of figure out sort of like a general health of your business. That will also tell you OKAY, here are the areas that I'm unbalanced. These are my strengths and these are my weaknesses. But as you want to scale, you want to scale as balanced as possible. Also, understanding different personality types. You start off as the visionary of your company and different visionaries and I kind of have had several different buckets that I would put them in. But there's different visionaries, create different problems, create different solutions and problems in their companies. So, you get the ones that are.

Christi Michelle:

They're just very what is it Gregarious? Like, very like outgoing and big and let's try all the things, and they don't have a big sense of risk. They don't have a correct sense of risk. They go above and beyond and that's really fun. They're usually very grateful. They're a lot of fun to work with, but there's very little. The opposite side of that is they don't come with a lot of accountabilities they just trust you. Yeah, go do the thing. I like you. You seem smart, let's go. And they won’t’ve that type of leader. Understand what your strengths are and also understand what your weaknesses are. Right, because that can create a lot of uncertainty in your employees, and a lot of employees love you, but they just feel like they're constantly concerned about what's happening with their job. So, I could go down a whole rabbit hole on different personality types, but those are the things is understood who you are, what you bring to the company and kind of the health of the business overall. I mean there's tons of tools out there that in five minutes. I love doing workshops because I want people to learn about themselves, where they stand relative to who they are, what they bring to the table and you know what they're going to need to balance them, because everybody has strengths and weaknesses.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I'm looking here. I'm guessing this is part of, like, your workshops that you're going to be doing,

Christi Michelle:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Or is this a handout that people are going to have?

Christi Michelle:

Yes. Okay, very tactical hands-on.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe you can describe some of this so that people can maybe do this at home even without you. At least get started on this framework here.

Christi Michelle:

Sure, well, I mean, I kind of did mention a little bit, so I would look up Tony Robbins. So, business mastery he has the 10 life cycle stages of your evolution of your business. So, if you can look that up, he kind of gives a definition, as I said earlier. So, you have birth, you have infancy, you have the toddler, you have the teenager, you have the young adult. What are those? What are the pros and cons of each one of those? So go look that up and if you could do that, read there, help yourself identify. Once you identify, let's say, you figure out that you're in a teenage stage. That's a very exciting stage. It's also one of the most dangerous stages and a lot of people get stuck there, a lot of visionaries get stuck there, and so I won't have time to go into detail about it. But if you are able to identify yeah, that kind of sounds like where I am going ahead and look at what the next stage is after that. What is it going to take for me? So, the teenager stage I think it's usually fun and reckless, right? Teenagers? I think of them as driving 100 miles an hour down the highway that they've got their sports car because cash flow at that point is less of an issue. But they say yes to everything and they don't know how to say no. Everything looks like an opportunity, so they pull resources from everywhere. It's very unfocused. So, I think about that teenager driving 100 miles an hour down the highway. If they take one wrong turn, they could seriously wound the business. They don't really recognize that. There's a sense of overconfidence with that. So, if you look that some of those are usually the signature problems that you have as a teenager, then look and see okay, well, what is it going to take to get to be a young adult? And I kind of like quote that as a young adult would be a rebirth. You grow up right. You're like okay, we have to have some responsibility. We're going to bring in some professional staff at this point. We're going to so anyway. So really good way.

Christi Michelle:

Another thing that I have here, as I said, sort of this grading. I turn it into sort of a wheel exercise so you can kind of self-grade. And it's the EOS, I think it's organizational checkup. Go there, it's 20 questions, it's Likert scale one through 10. Grade yourself. You can share that with all the other people in your company, so that you get a collective grading for everyone. And it comes back and it says okay, well, your score is a 57 out of a hundred. Okay, well, what areas do we need to work on? So, it will quickly highlight for you some of those pieces. But I core values exercise, creating your one page, your business blueprint. Who are we? Where are we going? Why are we doing what we do? What makes us unique? What's our ideal client? Really, building on a business blueprint? Because when you look at going back to the stages, if you look at the when you're in your prime, this is like, this is like Apple. I mean, there's just, there's a. You just know that they come out with excellence at all times. Right, and you can be in your prime for decades. You can be in a prime for a long time. When you understand what that looks like, you want to strive to get to those levels of like. What's the pros of each one of those? So, self-education.

Bradley Sutton:

Taking it back to, I think, something that is at the top of mind of a lot of Amazon sellers nowadays. You know you started selling on Amazon and kind of like the glory days where you could just like fall into making tons of money by accident, not even knowing anything. You're doing right Nowadays I'm sure you talked about this with Amazon sellers. I think I see so much more fear and anxiety over all the new fees that Amazon has. You know rising PPC costs, rising logistics, this and that and now many people are stressing about how I mean not only just how to scale, but just how to stay afloat. And so, some of your successful people you talk to what are their characteristics or what are they doing to? Because it's still very viable to make money on Amazon. So, what are the successful people? How are they navigating all of these fees and increased costs?

Christi Michelle:

Well, first of all, they're treating it the successful ones are treating it like a holistic business. It's not just I'm going to throw up a product, make some money and then maybe I figure out a little bit of PPC with that right. There is an evolution to actually truly building something like a business, and so I say that in tandem. When I think of truly building a business, it's you have to look at all aspects, so it's not just the single focus of what are my resources within the Amazon or e-commerce space. So, for example, so when we talk about fees, one of my clients you know is has nothing to do with this, but it overlaps he gets the best rates on UPS and FedEx that you can imagine. Okay, well, maybe we can't. If you're doing FBA, then you can't necessarily use those right, because you're not going to get better fees. But if you are diversifying and if you are going, if you want to do FBM or if you want to do Shopify and you want to go to other places, those fees you can offset them by getting unbelievable discounts for those and you can kind of offset the cost of what Amazon is rising by decreasing the costs of other platforms in your Shopify store, let's say. So, that requires that you step out that you would not know that this person, this type of service exists, because it's not really talked about here, because most people go FBA if they're going to be selling on Amazon. But being resourceful and looking at just look at the problem plainly Okay, amazon fees are going up.

Christi Michelle:

What is my? If you look at your balance sheet, if you look at your P&L and you say these are all the costs that are associated with my business, what are ways that I can offset each one of these? Like I look at it, I like put my little MacGyver hat on and I'm like, okay, what else can I do? What else can I bring to the table? What else is working in completely different industries? What are they doing that I can kind of take and then bring that over into my space? So, I say two things. They treat it like a business, like it's holistic, it's not. I'm not just selling a product. They know that they're building a brand, they know that they're trying to. And if they try, if they know in two years they've got their vision, two or three years we want to sell for X amount, okay, well, you start working with folks, that will help you kind of get you set up for a sale. We'll do that a year and a half in advance. There's some brilliant tactics for how you can set for decisions you need to make today that 18 months from now will greatly pay off so that you can find the right buyer. So, these are all different ways that are just it's not just looking at selling a company or your business, it's what are all the resources that you're going to need in the future. So, thinking in advance, treating it like a business and looking for resources outside of space.

Bradley Sutton:

I think what you said is important, because there's a lot of Amazon sellers, I would say that this is probably the first business they've run. Maybe they came from the corporate world or they came from working a nine to five and so they don't have that experience. And there's a tendency, it's because it's such a different beast, on one hand, where it's like, oh no, it's not a real business, but then all of a sudden, they're like wait, this is a business doing seven figures a year. In your experience, when you first talk to people like that, what are they doing wrong? As far as not treating it like a business, like what's the most common things that you're like, okay, we got to get this fixed right away, okay.

Christi Michelle:

Okay, I'm going to answer this in sort of an evolutionary piece. So, most people, when they start a business, it's just you in your basement or wherever, and you're selling either your product or service, but probably your product, right, if you're not going to do an agency style and you figure that out. So, you go through that and it's just you, it's you're trying to do everything, and then you kind of get that going and then maybe you hire a customer service person or maybe you hire someone to help you out with the day-to-day operations. Okay, let's bump up the sales, let's do the marketing, let's get in some PPC how else can I get a lot more sales? So, then you switch your focus next to the department I'm going to put that in air quotes the department of marketing and sales, and you try to figure out let's pour some gas on this. We've got your product and service. Then you have your marketing and sales, okay. So finally, then we've got that flowing, we've got that going, we know what we're doing there. Oh crap, I'm making a lot of money. Now, what's my P&L look like? What's my balance sheet look like? What does my profit look like? What is margins? What is this about? So, then you start taking okay, do I have the right people? Okay, am I like doing the best that I can, and do I have a high turnover? So, then it gets to HR. So, my answer is actually HR.

Christi Michelle:

People ignore HR because in the evolution, it's the last, it's, we call it like crisis by management by crisis. Most, every one of those stages you're saying what's the biggest crisis that I need to focus on? So, HR doesn't feel like it's crisis, but it actually is like the underpinning of everything. So, most people ignore HR. So, one of the very first things that I do when I come in is I say what do our people? What does it look like? Do we have the right staff? Do you trust your people? Because a lot of times they'll hire someone but they don't trust them and so then they micromanage them and they never let them flourish. And then you have it keeps growing and growing and growing. And then you have this owner who now has like 15 employees. They've technically become successful, but they've got golden handcuffs because they can't leave, because they haven't figured out how to actually delegate and trust. That is one example.

So, when I come in, the first thing I do is. I say what does HR look like? Because usually and, by the way, the whole time, whether you're doing the you're, you're doing your product surface, your operations, your marketing sales, your finance, you're still hiring people along the way. But that always tends to fall on the visionary, which most people didn't go to HR school. They don't know how to interview, they don't know how to hire the right people, they don't know how to manage and make sure that they're setting those expectations.

Christi Michelle:

So, I tend to think of that as I will come in first. I'll look at HR, because I know that that's one of the number one thing that's going to make or break a company. But it feels like it's the underpinning. It doesn't feel like it because it's not so much a big crisis loud thing usually, but that's the underpinning and it always falls on the visionary and that's not necessarily going to be their forte. So, if I can teach them how to do that and we can kind of clean house and get the right people in the right place and get the systems and all of that, that's typically what I see.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Now. You and I were just talking to elevator about. How Helium 10 are remote company. I would say nowadays most Amazon businesses as they scale and become a real business, it's almost all remote. Either they're hiring people within the United States remotely or in most cases hiring people from other countries, be it Philippines, Pakistan, et cetera. What are some things that Amazon, business owners can do to. In a remote lifestyle where they can just make sure, hey, everybody's on task. Like Helium 10, we started as an in-office company so it was easy for us to know like oh wait, this person is slipping when we run remote or like we know what. But, Amazon sellers from day one. They're kind of a remote company. So, how do they structure it to make sure that it's still operating as a well-oiled machine, even though maybe they've never even met some of their employees in person?

Christi Michelle:

Sure. I mean, I think it's a really good question. I think there’s a lot of challenges the people have because it’s not a natural state if you think about humans and how it all interactive with each other coming from villages that living, but this is very new thing. Covid did not help but it really exacerbated the fact that we so I would say the same way that you would handle a social situation if you moved away from your friends and family you, it takes effort. You actually have to put in conscious effort to reach out and create a relationship with. You can't like, if you moved away and you have all of your best friends and your family that lives back in your hometown, you no longer it's not. You have to actually put in the energy and effort to ask them how they're doing, see what they're up to, have constructive conversations. When you're in person, you just don't really think about it. You kind of take it for granted. You're like, oh, I'll just go bump into you at the water cooler. Hey, just pop in my office. That kind of thing. It's so much, it happens kind of effortlessly. It takes effort to actually maintain relationships and you have to build. You kind of have to rebuild your social skills. So, I would say that, from a culture perspective, is that you need to figure out what that looks like. So, I have a lot of clients where we'll implement. Just, you know, we do like happy hour Fridays where everybody, at three o'clock or four o'clock, we're like hey, let's all get on here, we’ll share, we’ll do trivia, they’ll do things. So, there's lots of things you can do from a culture perspective.

Christi Michelle:

But in terms of just operations, of business, cadence of meetings and I say that carefully because I think a lot of people roll their eyes, I have a lot of meetings, lot of meetings. A lot of people roll their eyes at me because they hate meetings. Most people hate meetings because they're not productive meetings. I, like I said, I am a hands-on, tactical person. I don't want homework after a meeting. Don't make me do anything. As soon as we're over the phone, I'm done, I did my job. So, the moment that I get on meetings, I know what we're working at, I know what we're trying to solve and if it's, we don't know the answer. I'm building a matrix. I'm building, we're typing it out, we're having a constructive conversation and leading it. I'm constantly monitoring people to say okay, what are we trying to solve? You have this question how can you get our audience to solve? What do you need to move forward? So being you just have to be more cognizant about having constructive meetings. So, it's a lot more communication in that sense. But that more communication does not need to be waste of time.

Christi Michelle:

I think a lot of people have that sort of this equals that? Not true at all. Just have productive. So, learn how to have. So, I had to summarize one. Decide how you want the culture of the company to be and put an effort to make sure that that happens, that you are making building relationships again, whether that's a happy hour, you guys do like a weekly, like shout outs or something like that. And then the second one is learn how to have productive meetings. Learn how to have constructive meetings where you actually get work done during the meeting while everyone's together. They can put in their input if that is needed. Learn how to have constructive meetings that you don't have to have a lot of busy work on the other side and then you guys are learning and building and growing together, which just creates more camaraderie.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right, any last words of wisdom like a message you want to get out to Amazon sellers around the world here, what can you help them with? Like I sometimes call this like a 60 second strategy, but I'm not going to tie you down to a certain time, but just anything you want to close this out with.

Christi Michelle:

Oh goodness, I mean I think I've harped on the fact that treat it like it's a business. Truly, if you're not working on a business blueprint, you know EOS is a good one, it's. It's a limited. It's very, very good, but it's limited. There's, you have system and soul. There's lots of different ones. Get like, find, a business blueprint to work from, because most people don't understand strategic frameworks and it's not anybody's fault If you didn't go get an MBA, if you didn't know this, but you have the entrepreneurial spirit. You do have to educate yourself on how to run a business. So, treat it like it's a business, that there are all different components and aspects to it and I think that you will find that scaling and growing and educating you will be more balanced and less stress and you'll have less of those true deep pitfalls that I see a lot of people having.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, one more thing. At dinner last night I kind of got a little bit of this. But Boyan was telling me you went to Costa Rica and you didn't eat food for like two weeks or something. So, tell me a little bit about what prompt cause? You never. there are some people out there who are I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus, but like the whole very spiritual and touchy, feely and yoga every morning, and let me go find my, my inner priestess, or whatever. You never struck me as that kind of person, but so I'm wondering what prompted you to do this retreat, what did it involve and what did you get out of it?

Christi Michelle:

So, funny that you said that, and I don't think that I used to be, but I'm happy to openly admit I'm actually quite a spiritual person. I'm not a religious person, but I am a very spiritual person. And so, what prompted it? Two things I could say. We grow by the most through our struggles, and I've read this in a lot of different places and people talk about I wanted to go do something that was challenging. I wanted to do something that pushes you, because in this particular retreat I was in Costa Rica, definitely out with the bugs. Every night I had to look for spiders and scorpions and snakes. In my bed, on top of not eating at all, you had a one job and that was to drink as much water as humanly possible.

Bradley Sutton:

So, I was doing you ever have those things in your bed?

Christi Michelle:

Not in my bed but, I definitely have a situation a very large spider that was a.

Bradley Sutton:

Crossing Costa Rica off my bucket list.

Christi Michelle:

But it's so beautiful there, but you're there and it's. You know, I meditate a lot, I mean. So, I thought I was. Oh, I'm just going to go there, I'm going to meditate for a couple of hours every day. I'll take some naps. No, you had one job to do and that was to drink as much water as possible. So, I was drinking up to 1.75 gallons a day. But the thing is, when you're not eating, when you're not eating, you're not replenishing the electrolytes, so you have to drink 16. You can't drink any more than 16 so that you don't flush it, so it's little sips. So, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, so from 7 am to about 10, 10.30 at night, all you have to do is drink, and you're not supposed to. There's no internet, there's no WIFI, there's, I mean, you can have your phone, but there's nothing that you can't, like you know, download anything. No one tells you physically purging. Most people that went there I was very different. Most people who went there had very much had cancer, had different things. Cleansing of your body is. It's fantastic. I recommend anybody research what fasting like water fasting can do. It's one of the best things I think you can do for your body, but so there was a combination of wanting to kind of do a good cleanse, but it challenges you mentally, emotionally and physically to be uncomfortable, to be in a space you don't have any.

Christi Michelle:

Most people use food for comfort or to repress I mean, we all do it right or to repress some feeling, or to kind of just enhance. I mean we use food almost like it. I mean it truly is kind of like a drug where you don't have that to rely on. So, then you're sitting there by yourself, no one really to talk to, nothing to entertain you in traditional ways. You're stuck with your thoughts and you go through a lot through that. So, I like to do pretty strong challenges and so that was one of my big challenges for this year. Can I do it? And I would probably not ever do it again, I mean, unless I got very, very sick, and I thought this would. If I did, I thought that would be the best thing that it could do. But, it's just to, to challenge myself, to grow to do something different.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, cool. All right, man, we'll see. I've tried a lot of different things. Maybe, maybe I can try that, just minus the scorpions and snakes and spiders. Yeah, all right. Well, how can people find your company, or are you out there on the interwebs these days?

Christi Michelle:

I am in fact on the interwebs. I think that we have so I am right now. So, my main is I'm the coo integrator that is my agency, so that's just coo for chief operating officer, the coo integrator, that is my website. And right now, I mean, the truth is I I'm extremely fortunate that I do have a backlog of clients. And, funny enough, I don't really scale my company of all the things. Who don't she helps people scale, but she doesn't when you've had so many companies and you're responsible for hundreds, you know dozens, if not a hundred, plus people there comes a point in your life where you're like I think I'm just good with keeping things simple, but you kind of have to go through that to appreciate this. It's kind of like water fasting you have to go without food before you can appreciate the food there. but yeah, so I'd love to. I usually do free analysis with people, thank you, thank you, just to kind of help them and I can point them in the right direction. So, I'm always just kind of happy to help guide people, and anymore now I spend some time on boards of companies and I do other investments and things. So, I love the game of business. I'm always happy to talk about it. So please reach out to me, Christy, at the CEO integrator, and I'm happy to chat.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Well, hope to see you sooner than later and I don't have to travel around the world just to be able to see you. Like Karen Spade,

Christi Michelle:

Yeah, going to Europe, right All right, we'll see you guys in the next episode.

View Details

Join us in this episode as we sit down with Leo Segovio, a top expert in the space, to discuss a wide range of topics that are essential for E-commerce sellers. Leo shares his unique insights on how optimizing Amazon images can significantly impact indexing and ranking. He also opens up about his recent ventures, including a software project for influencer and affiliate marketing, and an intriguing Airbnb project in Italy. Additionally, Leo provides valuable tips for Amazon sellers looking to diversify their income by investing in real estate, highlighting the importance of strategic investments to complement a thriving Amazon business.

Listen in as we explore the evolving landscape of influencer and affiliate marketing strategies. We discuss how leveraging platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can empower brands by building robust affiliate networks. We highlight successful brands and share advanced techniques for optimizing listings to ensure better visibility on Google and Amazon. Practical tips for using press releases on high-authority domains to improve Google indexing are also discussed, offering listeners actionable advice to enhance their marketing efforts.

Finally, we talk about the significance of Google indexing for Amazon sellers and the benefits of driving traffic from Google to boost Amazon rankings. We discuss the theory that paid traffic may hold more weight and the value of optimizing images with keywords to enhance discoverability. Additionally, we examine Amazon's evolving search algorithms and how intent-based optimization is changing the way products are discovered on the platform. This episode is packed with valuable insights and strategies to help Amazon sellers navigate the complexities of e-commerce and achieve greater success.

In episode 568 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Leo discuss:

04:14 - Investing In Real Estate Investments
09:41 - Leveraging Creator Marketplace for Affiliate Networks
15:56 - Google Indexing for Amazon Sellers
18:16 - Google Traffic Boosts Amazon Ranking
24:01 - Google Indexing Boosts Product Visibility
26:46 - Search Algorithm Evolution and Intent-Based Optimization
29:13 - Optimizing Amazon Listings for Intent-Based Search

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got one of the top minds in the entire Amazon game back on the show, Leo Segovia. He's going to be talking about a wide variety of topics, such as the impact on indexing and ranking by optimizing your Amazon images, and much, much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And speaking of the e-commerce world, I'm on the other side of the world right now. For those of you listening, maybe I sound a little different. We are in the AVASK office here in Madrid, Spain, right in the middle of our Elite Workshop, and just about 15 minutes ago we had our very first speaker. All the other speakers are very mad at him because he started off and he set the bar really high with his talk, but we've got no stranger to the show, Leo Segovia. Leo, how's it going?

Leo:

Bradley, good morning. How are you doing?

Bradley Sutton:

Doing great, doing great.

Leo:

Awesome. Yeah, this morning was great. I'm actually happy this is my first time in Madrid. Yes, I actually just stopped once. I think I was on my way to Puerto Rico, but yes, I got to enjoy the city. Today I'm here at the AVASK office in Madrid, so happy to be here and happy to be your guest again.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. So now you know it's been a while since Leo's been on the show, so let's first just catch up with what you've been up to. Have you been launching products on Amazon? You've just been focused on building software. What have you been up to the last couple of years since you've been on the show?

Leo:

Yeah, it's been a crazy year for me actually. I've been involved in a couple of different projects. We are obviously always looking for new products to launch. What kept me very busy in the past year has been software that I've been working on for influencer and affiliate marketing, and actually this Airbnb project in the south of Italy, which has been kind of a roller coaster. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you actually moved, I remember you went from Canada to Florida and then a few months ago you moved back to your home, uh, country of Italy, but then this was always meant to be kind of just like a like a winter, uh or summer home for you.

Leo:

Yeah, that is correct. Uh, I have a family in Italy. So, and recently their area of Italy is called Puglia, it's in the southeast was becoming more and more popular and more expensive, and so I decided to buy a property there so that we could spend a week or a month in the summertime, perhaps, when in Florida is too hot, you know, go inside of Italy. Invite some of my Amazon friends, you know, mastermind, and so that's the plan. Now, I was supposed to be there only for a couple of months, just to see what was going on, but when I got the keys, I realized that the place needed a lot of work, and so I've been stuck in Italy since November, actually, of last year, and I'll probably stay there until for two more months before going back to Miami.

Bradley Sutton:

What passport do you have? What country passports? I have Italian and Canadian passport. Okay, so then, when you bought this house, you use your like Italian citizenship?

Leo:

No, actually I well, I could participate to an auction because I bought this place at an auction. Not the $1 ones, it was more than that. But yes, because of my Italian citizenship it allowed me to participate to an auction. But everything that I'm doing is as a Canadian citizen. It works out better from tax perspective and all that.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So that's why I was asking about this, because I think this is, you know, like somebody might be jumping on the show. What are we talking about? Airbnb here? But as e-commerce entrepreneurs, Amazon sellers, maybe we make a little money, maybe we're not interested in exiting our business, but now we have extra money, like do we start other businesses? You know, maybe something that has nothing to do with Amazon, but I hear of more Amazon sellers doing something similar. Where they go you know, not necessarily Italy, but another country, buy a house and then so, as a Canadian citizen or as an American citizen I would assume it's about the same. What's the process of participating, like in this Italian auction to be able to buy this house?

Leo:

I think you need to have someone in Italy or a friend, someone with an Italian citizenship, in order to buy a place at auction. Otherwise, you just have to go to a real estate agent and buy a regular place. The reason for me it was convenient is because it was a good deal. If I was able to win the auction, and so in real estate, you make money when you buy, not when you sell. Right, if you buy for less, that's most likely guaranteed revenue or earnings whenever you sell, and so that's the reason why I did this. Now, I don't know exactly the process if I didn't have any Italian citizenship, but yeah, a lot of entrepreneurs you know, especially Amazon sellers whether, when they exit or you know if they're already doing quite well and they have good cashflow, they normally tend to invest in real estate Airbnb’s. You secure yourself passive income from that, and it's always a good investment.

Bradley Sutton:

So then would I have to have all cash though to once the auction closed, I can finance over there.

Leo:

Okay. So that's an interesting thing. I was going to finance the project. I ended up buying a cash because it just made more sense for me, but in Italy they actually give you a mortgage as long as you can prove that you have income outside of Italy.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. And then so you calculated out, like how much you can maybe get an Airbnb. And then so have you calculated hey, for the other months of the year where I'm not staying here, I need to rent this place out x amount of time of the year. And it's going to be worth it, have you like, and did that analysis?

Leo:

Yeah, so in this specific region of Italy and the location of what I bought in August for a place with a pool and four or five bedrooms, you can charge 5,000 to 6,000 euros a week. So you make your money in the summertime. Ideally, as an investor, you don't want to go and spend time in the summertime there, but you want to go, perhaps either early, like May or September, when the season starts to kind of slow down and so you don't take out money from your profits, right? So my plan is to rent it out June, July and August. If I have some good offers in September, maybe I'll rent it out, otherwise I'll go myself there in September or May, but, yeah, normally throughout the year.

Leo:

You know Italy is a destination where you have a lot of tourism during summertime, unless you're in Rome or Venice or Florence, which is always busy throughout the year. You know south it's a summer destination, right. So you get a lot of tourism summertime. Wintertime dies down, so you probably can get us or what you can get in the summer. But you know it works out well because if you have a small apartment, for example, in a big city, and you are charging, you know, 200, 300 a night? Um, at the end of the year you make the same money. So with this kind of properties is a little bit of a different um investment. I went more on the luxury kind of market, hoping to work only with Americans. You know foreign tourism, but in my opinion it's a great one.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so there you have it, guys. You know, like, maybe you've had some success on Amazon and you're thinking of what kind of things to invest in. You know, getting a property at a low price and maybe fixing it up even though it's a headache a little bit, you know could be the route that you want to go. Now you know we're going to talk a lot about some really cool Amazon strategy coming up, but you've been developing some software lately for a while now. That's not necessarily for on Amazon, but it helps Amazon sellers. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Leo:

Yeah, I've been working. The software is called Spliced. I've been working on this for about two years now and I was supposed to be already in market, and the reason why I'm late is because of what I just explained. It took me, you know, it took resources and energy a little bit off the other project, but now we're ready to go, and the reason why I built this software is, you know, Bradley, you know I have Convomat, which was my first software that I built, and then Amazon changed it to iOS, and so I had to find a way to pivot. But I already knew that influencer and affiliate marketing was the way to go, also for us Amazon sellers, in order to have a little bit more control over the traffic, over the business and the revenue that we drive to our brands. And so, with Spliced, my goal is to leverage the creator's marketplace, which is huge between TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, and leverage that to build affiliate networks for your own brand.

Leo:

There are already a lot of sellers out there that are doing a good job when it comes to affiliate marketing. Look at a brand like Goalie. Goalie, one of the key strategies for Goalie was actually the affiliate marketing, and so with Spliced, my goal is to allow brands to look up into our marketplace, which has already been built with we have over 20 million creators and then approach them with an affiliate partnership instead of just UGC content. This is the reason why we didn't build in Spliced, just UGC campaigns. There's already plenty out there of softwares that you can use for UGC, but in my opinion, if you have a solid affiliate network, you can keep launching new products, relaunching the same products. We use it for reviews. If you need something like that and you have more control over your business, and if you decide to launch your D2C website, you can leverage the same network and start pushing traffic off of Amazon. So there are a lot of reasons why I believe people should use a platform like that. It's like building an email list, but instead you're actually leveraging the creator marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, interesting, I think TikTok how it works, people's eyes are really open to more of influencer marketing. I mean, it's basically influencer marketing. There's not really SEO on TikTok, or it's not even. Even if you understand the hashtags, it doesn't necessarily guarantee the rally. It's a numbers game like getting you know. You get out to 25 influencers and maybe 24 do nothing, and then one person, even though they're small, they get on the For you page or something like that and literally can bring thousands and thousands of dollars. There's somebody I've been helping with, you know, shipping their products and they're you know they're doing me sometimes some days a thousand fifteen hundred units of sales for like this planner and it was a hundred. They didn't spend any for PPC on TikTok 100%. You know they just push the product to influencers and then one here and one there just goes viral and it just means a lot of business.

Leo:

Yeah, I think you know it's probably right now a big hype. I mean the TikTok shops everyone is talking about them working with affiliates and it's probably one of the oldest marketing strategies, if we want to call it that way. You know the affiliate marketing works because of the power that the individual creator in this case has to influence people right, and so people want to buy from people, and if you, as a brand, do a good job in recruiting a few super affiliates in this case we're talking about good creators that will turn into affiliates, then you have to worry less about that promotion part of you know launching new products.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. Okay, now let's move a little bit back towards the Amazon world and actually I'm going to go a little bit off of Amazon, but it's something that you talked about today in your speech and we're not going to go too deep into it. If you guys want to really hear his presentation, you have to be an Elite member. So you Elite members definitely make sure to look out for the recording on that. But one thing you were talking about when it comes to images, but the way you discovered this was you said you were checking indexing on Google. So we know, on Amazon, if you want to check indexing, you just use Helium 10 index checker, right? Or if you don't have Helium 10, you can use the old school method of put the ASIN plus the keyword and then search and see if it comes up. For just rudimentary index checking for keywords. If you want to see if your Amazon product is indexed on Google, how do you even see if you are?

Leo:

Yeah, so normally on Google you will copy your URL, search it on Google. You can also do a site column with your URL and then Google will show only search results that are related to the domain you're searching. But if you type the whole domain, the whole URL, the canonical URL of your Amazon listing, if you are indexed, it will show there.

Bradley Sutton:

But what about if you're? Can you look if you're indexed for a specific keyword?

Leo:

So if you're indexed for a specific keyword, then you want to put that URL plus the keyword and then or amazon.com/dp/your ASIN, or you can also do ASIN in quotes plus the keyword and then you will see if you get, if you're indexed on Google from that keyword. It works in a similar way. Um, but yeah, the presentation we touched a lot on you know the details of what was going on Google which was dependent on, uh, the way that the listing was optimized on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

You talked about some advanced strategy. We'll talk a little bit about that, about like images and stuff. But without the images, is there a way to force yourself to be indexed on Google, like, for example, if you create a custom canonical URL, just insert the keywords and then if you actually happen to you know, like maybe run some Google ads, get some conversions on that, will that index you for that keyword on Google?

Leo:

Yeah, so, based on some experiments that I've done, the easiest way to get indexed on Google is to publish some press releases on domains with good authority score domain rank and have your you know pointing a link to your listing with the anchor text that you potentially also want to rank for using that specific canonical tag that you get from your Amazon listing. So the reason why this works better is because normally Google indexes across these websites. Like you know, if you publish through PR, news or something like that, they will be crawled, and so Google will find these links and then follow your Amazon listing, which obviously, as a consequence, would be indexed.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting. Now, taking it a step further, why should an Amazon seller even be concerned about indexing on Google like, um? Obviously, if you're running Google ads, you know your goal is to get direct sales from it. But just being ranked organically, um, what kind of bumps do you see on sales? Or how does it help a to be ranked high? I'm not just index. I mean index doesn't do much if you're ranked on page 30 or something, but how does ranking organically for a keyword? What's the potential there for helping sales?

Leo:

So there, are a few reasons why you want to be indexed on Google, and for the most, let's start from the most advanced ones, right? Advanced sellers they normally try to send traffic to Amazon, especially during the launch period, using external traffic, right? So Google, we know, is a good referral that tends to help your rankings, and so Amazon tends to reward you if they see traffic coming from Google. So if you're not indexed, you lose a chance to show Amazon that you are getting traffic from Google. Now, I have a theory that paid traffic has a little bit more weight than organic, but the reason why you want to be indexed and the reason why you might want to be indexed for certain keywords is so that when you drive traffic through the URL to Amazon, you can actually give attribution to that keyword. That's number one, right? So you can actually use these URLs as your two-step.

Leo:

Number two if you do a good job with your indexation and your listing is optimized, you actually also appear in the images, right? And so if people are looking for specific products, sometimes I search on Google using images because I'm looking for specific products that might be hard to find on Amazon, but if I look through the Google images and I find the product, then I go to Amazon, and so if you're not indexed, you're also not going to be able to be found there, and Google images actually gets a ton of traffic. So here are some of the reasons why, two of the reasons why. I can think of many more, but the most important are these ones. Google is still one of the largest search engine, and so missing out on that opportunity, I'm afraid it causes a lot of missed visibility for an Amazon seller at a listing level.

Bradley Sutton:

And then you've done some tests before where you noticed that if that Amazon can read what the search was from Google, so that when you get sales from a keyword in Google, it also potentially could help your Amazon ranking for that keyword, right?

Leo:

Yeah, that is correct. There was a test that we have done two years ago where everyone was talking about Google traffic and so we drove traffic straight from Google paid to Amazon without using any keyword in the URL, and then we noticed that for the keywords that we were actually bidding on, we saw a lift in ranking. I remember going from position I think it was 35 or so to position seven or five. So surprisingly we saw that Amazon was able to attribute that search query on Google and then the ranking as a result for the keyword was actually improving on Amazon as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, interesting. Now let's switch and talk a little bit about images, because this also has to do with ranking on Amazon. It has to do with ranking on Google, getting indexed in Google. What has more of an impact with getting discovered or being able to be read by Google? Is it if you have an infographic and the actual words appear in the infographic, you know on the actual image, or is it the metadata, or it only works the best if you're doing both?

Leo:

In my opinion, you have to do both, and the reason is that right now, every search engine uses AI to detect subjects, text and everything on an image. You know, if you look, if you're a Facebook advertiser, you probably know that they've had this for a long time. If you add more text on an image than the image, the visual itself, your ad wouldn't have been approved, and so AI detection for images has been going on for a while. But now, since you know, ChatGPT came out and you know Lama from Facebook, we have, you know. We know we have a lot more information about this topic, and what we found is that the search engines, including Amazon and Google, they scan the content of your image and they're able to rank these images based on the content of that image, including subjects, context and in the subjects and text. Did I say that?

Leo:

So, basically, what Google cares the most on top of that is also the metadata, because the metadata helps the search engine classify that image. So, while the content itself helps them understanding okay, this is what this image is about the actual metadata is more technical for the crawlers, the engine themselves so that they can place you in certain categories. And so when it comes to Amazon, the content on the image right now, I noticed that through some different experiments, that is being used for ranking reasons. And so if you look at some products that don't have, for example, keywords on the images, they are less. You know there are multiple factors. Obviously, they play when it comes to rankings, but if you put two products side by side same ranking, same ratings, same being on market for the same time period, timeframe and same price one has text on images and keywords and one doesn't. Most likely the one with keywords on images is going to rank better.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So then what Amazon sellers should be doing is for their main images, or you know, the in their image carousel and their A+ content is I mean, obviously you can't have text in your main image. You know that's against terms of surface, although if you can have the packaging there, that's a good, that's a good opportunity. But then to get, hey, you use the right keywords, but then also, if you're using like photoshop or something you have and we're not going to go into detail, it's like there's a bunch of crazy stuff about copyright and there's fields there that he talks about in his presentation. You'll have to watch the Elite workshop for that. But you've been doing testing where it one has, it one doesn't, and then it gets you indexed on Google. You've actually seen where the ones who did it, their Amazon sales were like way higher than the ones who did it.

Leo:

Yeah, that is correct. We analyzed an e-brace on Amazon and this is, you know work that I was doing with a friend of mine, and we were trying to understand why these competitors were actually indexed on Google and they were indexed for certain keywords. Not the main keyword, but a variation of them. And so what I did I created this Google sheet where I was helping me understand which ones were indexed and for what keywords they were indexed and that led me to see that the ASINs that actually were indexed on Google were indexed for keywords that were present on the A+ banners. And so when we did that, what happened, this happened within 48 hours, we noticed that Google indexed that specific product image and they were actually featuring it as a search result on Google for the main search query, so that image wasn't used as a snippet or thumbnail for the listing itself. So the URL wasn't amazon.com/dp/ASIN, it was amazon.com/ the search you know embrace.

Leo:

So it took me to the search results page, but the image that they took as a featured image was actually the one of my client, and so that was very interesting because Google detected a refinement and it detected an update in that listing. It saw that that image was very relevant for the search query because of the way that we optimized it using metadata and then they used it as the main image on the Google search results. Now this, to me, is fascinating and is very important, because if you are a shopper and you're searching on Google for an e-brace and then you see this image, most likely that's psychological, most likely when you land on the Amazon search results page, you're going to go and find a product, you're going to go and click that product. So that added traffic, that added conversion rate, helped us recover the racing and the sales that we were losing. But that was a very interesting experiment that we did.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, okay. So again, if you guys want to get more information about that, that almost might be worth it just to subscribe to Helium 10 Elite for one week, just to get that presentation. So if you guys want to look into that, go to h10.me forward slash Elite and see it's only $99 extra, so make sure to sign up for that. Now, another thing that I think a lot of people have been talking about not just you, but you were one of the first ones to talk about semantic search and Cosmo and things like this, and we'll talk about what that means. But I think, just to set some groundwork, I think everybody understands that any search algorithm will evolve over time. That's the whole purpose. Like the companies who don't want to do well, they'll just keep their algorithm the same right. But anybody you know whether we're talking about Google, Facebook, TikTok has an amazing algorithm, Amazon. It changes over time and we've seen that.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, if we were searching five years ago on Amazon, it's different. And now if you've bought some how many of you who have bought something you search for a keyword that has to do with that and that thing that you bought is now at the top on your Amazon maybe not somebody else. That didn't happen like five, six years ago. Last year we showed an example of how you search a keyword that doesn't really exist. It's called noodle camera and no listing has the word noodle camera in it. But there was like maybe 30 listings that came up and it was like a stethoscope camera it looks like a noodle. So five years ago you put noodle camera it would say zero results because nobody has that in their listing and these listings don't have that keyword in there. But it's showing up because Amazon shows history that, oh, people don't know what this is called stethoscope camera but then they think it looks like a noodle. So now it's showing listing. So we've seen this even for a year. Now, first of all, Amazon science documents we've talked about it, but maybe 80%, 90%, never actually is 100% in production. Sometimes it goes into production, sometimes it doesn't. But what was it that made Cosmo so interesting these documents that talked about it, that you're like man. This is something that you think that Amazon is going to move towards.

Leo:

Yeah, the reason why, I think is something that would be applied at scale across the marketplace is because, as searchers, as buyers, as shoppers, our goal when we use a search engine is to find a product or information that we need in order to solve a problem. And so, as a technology company in this case we're talking about Amazon their goal is to improve, like Bradley said, the algorithm in order to simplify that search result and give you exactly what you're looking for, by burning some steps in the middle, right. And so that's what Cosmo is designed for. Cosmo is designed to be a man in the middle, between yourself and the search results, right, when you work together with it to give feedback back and forth. And so what they do right now they learn. You type a search query, they give you some result, you refine that result by clicking on some products that you think are relevant. And what they do with this information? They start building this knowledge graph, right. So a classic example if you go on Wikipedia and for something, Wikipedia normally links to other relevant sources. That's what they call the knowledge graph, right? They know that this is relevant to that right. And so what cosmo is trying to do, instead of you having to refine the search. They're refining it for you.

Leo:

So the example that I give in my presentation this morning is that, if someone is searching for winter coat, we saw a product that ranks number one on Amazon that doesn't have the word winter coat in the title. But yeah, they're ranked number one, and so this is shocking, right, like everyone's like oh come. Title is supposed to be the most important element on the page when it comes to optimization and some SEOs, but this time Amazon understood that you are looking for something that keeps you, to keep you warm, right. So now we're shifting from a keyword-based search to intent-based search, and so, as sellers, right now, what we need to do is understand what is the actual intent behind the person. What am I selling this to? I'm selling this to someone that wants to stay warm, right, that's what the purpose of a winter coat is, and so, with that intent in mind, we need to optimize listings so that we can convey the message through images, through the title, bullet points and description, so that Amazon, the new Cosmo, understands that this product is something that helps people stay warm.

Leo:

And what I think is going to happen also because of the shift in the way that these search results are built, which is more intent-based, is that Amazon then will start recommending also related products. So if you're looking for, if you type in winter coat, they say, okay, well, this person is trying to stay warm and so let me show them also some winter gloves and winter socks and maybe some winter boots, and that will change everything right. They will change the way we advertise, they will change the way we try to be associated with other products. They will change the way we also promote our listings. So that's very interesting and fascinating, but I think it's a good thing for the buyer, right, while for our sellers might be challenging to figure out again, how do we optimize our listings keeping this semantic concept in mind for the buyer? And they've already proven. If you look at the Amazon science document in the research papers, they're already saying that they're seeing a lift in conversion rate when Cosmo is applied to a search result page. So we must pay attention to these and monitor certain. It's challenging right now to understand where this is applied, but we need to monitor better the Amazon marketplace and then evolve and adapt as Cosmo gets released into more categories.

Bradley Sutton:

Not to be controversial here, but to me it's almost it's different, but it's not different. Like, at the end of the day, Amazon wants to make money, right, so that winter coat that became number one. It's not number one necessarily because of new algorithm, because it would not be number one unless that is one of the best converting ones, because that's what gives Amazon the best chance to make money. But I think where the difference here is, or what's something that's quote unquote new, is it gives people more at bats. Like maybe I never. Even if I didn't have winter coat in my title, it might've been almost impossible for me to get on page one. But now Amazon is all right, let's just throw it here. Oh, shoot, look at that, how well it's converting. Let's go ahead and push it all the way to the top, whereas maybe you know, four years ago, you know, unless you were super optimized for a certain keyword, you would never even have the ad back. Like you would never even be able to get on page one, you know, outside of PPC or something. So to me that's like the difference, but something also. Again, I keep saying I don't want to be controversial, but it's going to be because there's a lot of people I respect in the industry who have been talking a lot about things that and I agree mostly with them. But I completely disagree when they say things like, oh, tools like maybe Helium 10, if they don’t change it’s going to be out of date. To me, I cannot see a world where the traditional forms of keyword research, are going to be not as important In the future, if Amazon is super intuitive, of course that's going to evolve.

Bradley Sutton:

But the main reason we do keyword research is to get indexed and to also make our listing. Initially because the Amazon algorithm is based on buyer interaction, right. So once it's been out there for three, four weeks, they have so many data points and how people searched and what they clicked on and stuff that. Okay, now we can start doing advanced algorithms. But to even get it in the right pages you had to have done the regular keyword research to show Amazon. Because when you're brand new, day zero of your listing, Amazon has no idea what it is. It goes by the image, it goes by what you have in the title and how you have it. So my personal opinion is that no like. Of course, little things are going to change with keyword research here or there, but the main core of hey, let me find the most important keywords. That's not going to change because you have to tell Amazon on day one what is your product.

Leo:

So, Bradley, I agree with you and I think there is one important detail that is the link between what you're saying and what this all semantic stuff is about. Right, the reason why that winter coat might be ranking number one, even though the winter coat is not in the title is attributes of the winter coat. You know Amazon right now, which before they probably weren't doing before Cosmo, right, they're looking at the attributes. So most likely they are ranking this one very well because it contains, uh, goose feathers, or they have 300 grams of goose feathers per square meter or whatever foot, and so they now are using these attributes to understand is this product warmer than this one? So, while the keyword research tools are always going to be needed, what I think is an opportunity for companies like Helium 10 is now provide additional information to the seller together with the main keywords. That helps also the listing be more relevant for Cosmo, using attributes related to those keywords. So, if the keyword is winter coat, what are the main attributes of coats? Right? What does a coat have to have? Waterproof, has to be warm. What kind of feeling? Is it polyester? Is it goose feathers? Also, is it long or short? Things like that are going to be the difference between the traditional keyword research tools and the semantic powered keyword research tools. If you guys give the sellers the same list of keywords and, by the way, here are some attributes related to these keywords, that will help Amazon Cosmo understand more about your product. I think that's the winner, in my opinion.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and in his presentation he talked a lot about different things you can do to be more semantically relevant and you know, using ChatGPT, so some really good features there. But that's important because you know, the it's not just, we're not just talking about Amazon SEO, it's also going to help you on Google and Bing and these, these other things and there's things that just the human mind we can't process, but a computer can process and tell you hey, this is, this is the keywords with the buyer intent and this is the most important, this is how you can relate yourself. So, regardless of how much of this Amazon develops, it's already important now for outside of Amazon indexing. Now, before we get into your last strategy, and I have just a couple of questions for you if people want to get more information, reach out to you, find out about your new project you're working on, or just reach out to you. How can they find you out there?

Leo:

I have my own website right now. It's leosgovio.com, so you can reach out to me on through my website.

Bradley Sutton:

And spell that, because it's not spelled exactly as you might think.

Leo:

It's l-e-o and then s as in Sam, g as in George, o, v as in Victor, i o. Yeah, over there I have some information also about the semantic SEO stuff. So if you're more interested about this, I'd be happy to share my knowledge in depth, and LinkedIn is one of the platforms that I use the most.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. All right Favorite Helium 10 tool?

Leo:

Magnet

Bradley Sutton:

If you were a head of product at Helium 10, what is one tool or function that you would bring that we do not have currently?

Leo:

I believe I will combine what we just discussed about into one tool, and so it's an hybrid between a listing analyzer powered with recommendation based on the semantic stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

And your 30 to 60 second tip can be about anything for sellers out there.

Leo:

Leverage. Try to think about your current strategy when it comes to product inserts. To leverage it for UGC.

Bradley Sutton:

All right guys. If you want more information, go to leosgovia.com. Check them out in the Helium 10 Elite, the Q2 workshop replay. But thank you, guys, so much for joining us and we'll definitely be reaching out to Leo next year to see what he's been up to.

Leo:

Thanks, Bradley, I appreciate you having me again and, yeah, looking forward to the next one.

Bradley Sutton:

Adios desde España.

View Details

TikTok Shop Puts European Plans on Hold, Concentrates on US
https://www.pymnts.com/news/social-commerce/2024/tiktok-shop-puts-european-plans-on-hold-concentrates-on-us/

Amazon Small Business Report
https://sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/impact

The Amazon 2024 Force for Good application is now open! Amazon is searching for mission-driven selling partners who drive positive change in their community.
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/force-for-good

Learn how Amazon uses AI to spot damaged products before they’re shipped to customers
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-ai-sustainability-carbon-footprint-product-defects

But that’s not all! We’re also thrilled to announce Helium 10’s new Japanese version, designed to support Japanese users with native language navigation and subtitled tutorials. Plus, we've got a brand-new dashboard widget for tracking Amazon account metrics over time. Don't miss out on the hidden gems of our Chrome extension that could transform how you manage your Amazon business. And for those looking to optimize Amazon FBA fees, we share critical tips on monitoring package dimensions to save on unnecessary costs. Tune in as we unpack these game-changing updates and arm you with the tools to elevate your e-commerce game!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:52 - TikTok Shop Cancelled?
02:33 - Amazon Small Business Report
04:33 - Walmart Review Mapping
06:11 - Amazon Force For Good Awards
07:30 - Amazon Project PI
09:22 - Follow The AM/PM Podcast On LinkedIn
09:50 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
12:39 - Pro-Training Tip: Under The Radar Chrome Extensions Features

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

TikTok shop plans canceled in some countries. A chance to win cash direct from Amazon. Walmart now allows you to tie reviews to orders. This and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We give you what's new inside of Helium 10 as far as new feature goes, and we also give you training tips of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We got a few news articles today and then we got some cool training tips that I want to get to as well. So let's go ahead and hop right into the news Now

Bradley Sutton:

The first news article of the day is from Payments.com and it's entitled TikTok Shop Puts European Plans on Hold. Concentrates on US. So it's full steam ahead here in the US. But if you remember, a few weeks ago on the Weekly Buzz, we had reported that, hey, a release in places like Europe and Mexico and Canada was imminent, but now it is backtracking. So it says here in this article that, hey, TikTok had planned to roll out shopping platforms Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Ireland as early as July, but they have put a pause on these expansion plans, along with intentions to bring the TikTok shop to Mexico and Brazil. Now this article says, hey, that this decision reflected ByteDance, which is TikTok's parent company, their strategy of focusing on the US market in order to avert a possible ban. Now, one of the other reasons that they did this it says that they were afraid that European expansion plans might run into potentially regulatory scrutiny, kind of like it has happened in the U? S. And so they are like, hey, we're not about to uh, deal with that at this time. So for those of you who are excited in Europe about being able to start TikTok shop, unfortunately it's a no-go Now if you are in another country. It's pretty difficult to sell on TikTok shop in the USA because you need a social security number. But if you're based in the USA, you want to learn more about how to sell on TikTok shop. Make sure to check out our workshop next week. We'll have signup information this weekend in your email where we give you a detailed training on getting set up with TikTok shop.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the next article here is actually from Amazon, and there's some interesting stats that you might not have known. Right, you know, like before, in the past, 50% of sales came from third-party sellers. You know how much it is now 60%. Do you know how many employees Amazon USA sellers are employing? 1.8 million. That's crazy. 1.8 million people are employed by Amazon sellers out there. How many sellers hit the seven figure mark for the first time last year? 10,000. So 10,000 sellers hit that seven figure mark for the first time last year. Are you one of them? Well, where is all of this data coming? This is from a report that Amazon put out called the 2023 Small Business Empowerment Report, so linked somewhere here in this. You know, above or below. Wherever you're watching this on, make sure to download this report, because it is super detailed and it's got a lot of cool information Like did you know that? The five most shopped categories from US for third-party sellers, what do you think? Number one health and personal care. Two, beauty. Three, home. Four, grocery and five, apparel. It also has this interesting map here we can click on any state and see some stats Like, for example, I live in California. There are 77,000 sellers in California who sold 715 million items. Now if I go to New York, there's 37,000 sellers but almost sold the same amount as the California sellers 721 million. I was like just picking random states here to see, hey, which one really doesn't have that many sellers. And I hit South Dakota. South Dakota only 600 Amazon sellers and they only sold 5 million products. So it's a pretty cool article and also this download is super detailed, with a whole bunch of information on what Amazon has done last year and some stats that maybe you never knew, that you wanted to know.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually not really an article, but it's an email I got from Walmart. Maybe some of you Walmart sellers got it and might make some Amazon sellers jealous. What have Amazon sellers always wanted to be able to see, as far as like, for example, negative reviews, I mean for years and years. This is what Amazon sellers asked for. Is what? Yes, it's like hey, can I see who is the one who left me this review, or can I see which order it was? And, as we know, that's not available on Amazon. In Amazon, you can, if you're a brand registered seller, contact people who have left you a negative review using the Amazon templates, but you still it's. You know, for the majority of orders you can't really tie the order or the review to an order. But check out this message from Walmart here. This says it's entitled Ratings and Reviews. This brand new dashboard serves as a centralized hub for monitoring and managing customer reviews. So it's a new review dashboard, it says. Now you can connect reviews to specific orders and pinpoint the products behind negative or positive feedback. This streamlined approach makes it easier to resolve issues with fulfillment, listing, quality or customer service. So if you guys didn't get this email, go check your dashboard in your seller center in Walmart and see if you can start mapping those reviews, both positive and negative, to exact orders. And then, are you, you know, does Walmart allow you to contact those buyers? Again, I think this is something that Amazon sellers definitely wish we had. But now, Walmart sellers, you can now tie reviews directly to orders.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually a press release from Amazon. It's entitled Amazon 2024 Force for Good Applications is open, all right. So this is basically an award that you can possibly win be featured on Amazon Accelerate. You can win cash prizes. This is for, you know, those who are third party sellers who have you know good stories about. Hey, are you giving back to your community? Are you involved in charity? Are you doing something with the proceeds from your Amazon business? You know that is for your local, community or neighborhood. Last year, there were three individuals that won these prizes. We don't know exactly what they won, but they're also featured at Amazon Accelerate, so it's free to apply for this award. You only have until June 12th to apply for it, so check somewhere below. If you're watching this on YouTube or listening to this podcast on a podcast player, we should have the link there or you can find it in sellercentral.com. Just look up Amazon Force for Good Application and, who knows, maybe we'll get to see you on stage at Amazon Accelerate and you'll be able to treat me for dinner because you just won a whole bunch of cash for winning this award from Amazon. Actually, yeah, if you do win and you found out because of this podcast, I expect a nice dinner at Amazon Accelerate. On you, all right, all right. Last article of the day, also about Amazon, and it's entitled Learn. On you All right, all right. Last article of the day, also about Amazon, and it's entitled learn how Amazon uses AI to spot damaged products before they're shipped to customers.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this, I think is kind of cool. First of all, this is something that Amazon is saying hey, we're actually doing this. You know there's a lot of speculation and a lot of change coming with AI and some things we see. You know, we see in seller central, where Amazon is allowing you to use AI sometimes to make your listings, which I don't think anybody's actually doing, um, because it's still not that great yet. Um, you know, there, there there's rumors about where Amazon search might be going with AI and the kind of roles that it's going to play. We don't know, but this is something that's a hundred percent confirmed. I mean Amazon is doing this. Um, but this is something that's 100% confirmed. I mean Amazon is doing this in certain warehouses. It's kind of interesting. There's like this tunnel now that Amazon is putting products through, and then you know this AI can, like, detect, like is the package broken or is it damaged or other things that this article talks about, and this it's called a project PI for private investigator. So I think this is, this is, overall, going to be good for us, for sellers. How many times have we lamented that we see a bad review and what we find out is that a customer got a product that was like return from another customer and it's in bad, it's in bad shape and we're like why in the world did Amazon even send this product, you know, in this shape, to the customer? Um, well, hopefully those kinds of situations are going to be decreased the more that Amazon uses this uh project PI here to kind of detect those things. So move in the right direction, I think, by Amazon are.

Bradley Sutton:

One last thing, last thing A lot of you guys have LinkedIn and you follow Helium 10. Great, you also see you follow me on LinkedIn. Excellent, make sure you're following Helium 10 and myself. Just look up Bradley Sutton on LinkedIn, but now also add the AM PM podcast. All right, so just type in AM slash PM podcast on LinkedIn and you'll be able to get some snippets from the AM PM podcast that you otherwise might have missed out on in some little nuggets from Kevin King here and there. So again, LinkedIn. Follow three accounts myself, helium 10, and then now also follow AM slash PM podcast. All right, let's get into the new feature alerts for Helium 10. All right, now this first announcement I'm actually going to give in another language. You'll see why in a second.

Bradley Sutton:

皆さん、お知らせがあります。 Helium 10の日本語版の正式にロンシー。. Basically, I just said all right, guys got an announcement. Helium 10 now has been launched in Japanese. Now this is kind of big, because this is not Helium 10 works for Amazon Japan. No, helium 10 has worked in Amazon Japan for years, but a lot of our Japanese customers were like, hey, that's great that we can use it, but we want to actually see Helium 10 in Japanese. So now for all Japanese users, you can go to the very top of Helium 10 and change a language. Japanese users, you can go to the very top of Helium 10 and change a language. You've been able to do English, German, Spanish, Italian and Chinese, and now you can do Japanese, so that all of the menus inside of Helium 10 and you know the columns and everything else is in the Japanese language. Also, you're going to be able to see all of the learn button videos in Japanese with Japanese subtitles. So I hope everybody is able to get use of that.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the next new feature alert from Helium 10 is a new widget for your dashboard that allows you to view different metrics from your Amazon account over time. So let me show you how you're able to add that. So when you're on your dashboard, go to the very top right and where it says add a chart, hit that button and then select chart library. Now the very first preset that's going to come up is a brand new one. It's called performance over time. When you add that, it's going to show up here now at the bottom of your main Helium 10 dashboard, and now you can chart different things up to four different metrics over time.

Bradley Sutton:

For example, right here I have tracked day by day gross revenue on the same chart as net profit expenses and my cost of goods sold. I can actually change one of these and start tracking advertising costs or units sold maybe page views, sessions, unit session percentage and now you can see how different key metrics for your business might interact with each other. And I can do this at a daily level, a weekly level, monthly level, quarter or even a yearly level to see these charts. So at the bottom here you can also see alerts. So if something happened, like for example here on this day it says I got a new one-star product review, maybe I want to see did that have an effect on my sales or did it have an effect on my sessions. I can actually chart that here and see, hey, when it started and if it had an effect on any of these metrics. So, again, start playing with this. Add this chart, customize it however you want, and then you will be able to get some insights into your product performance.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get now into our training tip of the week, and what I wanted to talk about is just a couple under the radar things that you can do with your Chrome extension that I bet 95% of you are not using. Here's the first one. All right, if you're on a product page, like maybe your product page or your competitor product page, I'd say do this to your product first. At the very top, there's this product summary widget that comes up right. Click the see more data right where it says all marketplaces. And now what this is going to do it's going to tell you this product, if it's yours or if it's your competitor's product. What other Amazon marketplaces is this product being sold in? Like? Look at this product. This product is being sold everywhere, from Amazon United Arab Emirates, amazon Saudi Arabia, amazon India. The only one where it's not being sold, it seems like, is Amazon Netherlands Right now If this was your product and you know you're only selling in US and Canada and all of a sudden you see active listings like this is showing, plus the stock of the inventory of the products, now you know what your product is. Your listing is being hijacked in other marketplaces and somebody else is selling your product, or maybe a facsimile of your product, and you might need to take action. So that's one thing that I think everybody should do with your own listing. Let's say you're on your own listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Another under the radar thing is kind of a hidden technique. Scroll down here to right underneath, where the Helium 10 BSR widget is All right, and underneath here you're going to see it says calculators and you're going to see revenue calculator and sales estimator. For this one you have to click on Revenue Calculator and then click back on Sales Estimator. And when you do that, this new secret widget comes up and I like it because it has the item dimensions and the package dimensions right here. Now how is this beneficial? Like, for example, this collagen peptides? Obviously it's not something that you fold or expand. You know the product itself is going to be really similar to the size of the package, right, and sure enough. You see that here Helium 10 is telling you the item dimensions is 7.3 by 4.4 by 4.4 and the package dimensions 7.2 by 4 by 4.4. So obviously it's a little bit wrong. You know how can you have the package dimensions a little bit smaller than the item, but you'd be happy if you saw that here. Where is this very crucial? Well, what if you know that your package should be about the same size as your item, but your item dimension length is 7.3, but all of a sudden the package length is something like nine inches or 10 inches.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, now you know that Amazon must have probably remeasured your product and you didn't know about it. And you could be wasting hundreds of dollars a week, if not more, on extra FBA fulfillment fees because Amazon has the wrong dimension. So this is kind of like a cool way to just use Helium 10 to see, hey, does my package dimensions make sense compared to my item dimensions? Or do I need to dive a little bit farther and then now go to Helium 10 Alerts to see, hey, when did Amazon change my package dimensions? I need to get some money back from Amazon. So there's a couple under the radar things you know everybody always talks about Cerebro, Magnet, Black Box, Xray, but these are a couple of things here in the Chrome extension that I bet a lot of you weren't using, and I hope you can get some use from it. All right, guys, thank you very much for tuning in this week. Don't forget to tune in next Thursday to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Can a minor tweak to your Amazon listing images earn you an extra $40,000 a year? We uncover the incredible power of optimizing click-through rates and how even a 4% increase can transform your sales figures. Using split testing and tools like Helium 10 Audience, we guide you through the process of obtaining crucial market feedback to enhance your listings. From experimenting with main images and titles to leveraging Amazon's "Manage Your Experiments" feature, we leave no stone unturned in our quest to maximize your product's potential.

What if you could figure out exactly which product image will capture consumers' attention before you even launch on Amazon? We dive into a fascinating case study involving a coffin shelf to reveal how audience testing can refine your images and help customers see the full value of what you offer. By investing in audience feedback, you can start with the best possible image, avoiding costly mistakes and boosting your chances of success right from the get-go.

Ever wondered how psychological and demographic factors influence shopping decisions? We explore advanced listing optimization strategies and the importance of organic ranking during product launches. Through a real-time example with our Project X egg rack product, we illustrate how offline split tests can provide quick insights without risking revenue loss. Plus, discover the mechanics of A/B testing for product images, using Helium 10 Audience powered by PickFu to enhance your listings and drive your Amazon sales through the roof. Don't miss these game-changing tips and practical advice on making the most of your Amazon presence!

In episode 567 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Optimizing Amazon Listing's Click-Through Rate for Sales
01:08 - Split Testing Images for Amazon Success
09:22 - Amazon Listing A/B Testing Image Results
11:17 - Optimizing Product Images With Audience Testing
16:00 - Improve Your Product Launches With Helium 10
19:13 - Targeting Audience for Advertising Campaign
24:13 - Listing Optimization Strategies and Launch Tactics
26:18 - Importance of Helium 10 Audience Testing
30:34 - A/B Testing for Product Images
31:33 - Testing for Best-Selling Variation in Audience
34:30 - Utilizing Tools for Amazon Sellers

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Did you know that improving your click-through rate from search results on a product even only 4% for a product that maybe only sells even on just 10 units a day could mean up to $40,000 of extra sales in a year? Today, I'm going to show you exactly how you can split test your listing images in order to achieve results like this. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Not sure on what main image you should choose from, or maybe you don't know whether buyers would be interested in your product at a certain price point. Perhaps you want feedback on your new brand or company logo. Get instant and detailed market feedback from actual Amazon Prime members by using Helium 10 Audience. Just enter in your poll or questions and, within a short period of time, 50 to 100 or even more Amazon buyers will give you detailed feedback on what resonates with them the most. For more information, go to h10.me/audience.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask Me Anything, where we do a training on a certain topic and then we open it up to all the members out there to go ahead and ask whatever questions you have about Helium 10 or Amazon that we can help you with. And today we're going to be talking about split testing images, both on Amazon, off Amazon, and we're going to do some live examples of this, and we're going to talk about why this is important and how it can help you. I think it's one of the most slept on things that a lot of Amazon sellers aren't doing.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get started here. Now let me just give some framework on why I think this is something that literally every Amazon private label seller should be doing. When we create a new listing right, we have in our own mind what might convert the best as far as images, as far as titles, things like this, and it's based on, you know, hopefully some solid research. You know, maybe we've checked out the competition, maybe we know this certain niche right, but the problem is sometimes we might be a little bit biased, or we might kind of like overvalue our own knowledge of a certain niche, and when we do that, we could be leaving money on the table. You know, let's just do some calculations, guys. Let's just say that you know you want a certain click-through rate from the search results.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's just talk about main image, right now. Let's just say that your conversion rate, once people actually get to your page, is 10%. Let's just say it's 10%. All right, 10% of the people who click on your product they're going to convert. Now, if your click-through rate is also, let's just say 10%, right, that means that on a certain keyword page or just overall, let's just talk about it overall let's just say you know you're getting like a thousand impressions, right? You know a thousand people see your product and if you have a 10% click-through rate on it I'm not just talking about PPC, just in general I'm doing some general numbers here that means a hundred people click on your product. If it's 10% your click-through rate and then if your conversion rate is 10%, how many people buy your product? 10. All right, so 10 out of 1,000. So let's say your product is a coffin shelf, that's $30. With these numbers. Right, that means you're doing every day about $300 worth of orders. Okay, $300 worth of orders over the course of a year, that's about a hundred thousand dollars. So you've got a six figure product, a hundred thousand dollars.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's just pretend that nothing else changes except your click-through rate. That means that the more the people see it in the search results, then the more they're going to click on it. What if we could bring your click-through rate from 10%, not even 5%. Let's bring it from 10 to 14. So that's a 4% increase. All right, 4% increase. So that means if, instead of 100 people a day clicking on your product, how many is that going to be? So we take 100, or we take 1000 and multiply that by 0.14. That means that 140 people are going to see your product. And if you still have the conversion rate of 10%, how many people are buying that per day? That's now 14 people who are buying that a day. So we take that 14, Times it by what's the retail price? $30. That's $420 a day you are doing on your product. We times that by 365. Now you have gone from a product that does just over $100,000 a year $109,000.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you've got a product that is getting $153,000 per year. You just increased by over $40,000 and you did not even change your conversion rate. You only changed the amount, your click-through rate, the amount of people who see your product in the search results and click through it, and not even by 5%, a 4% increase. Okay, Now, that's what I'm talking about here. So this is why I think this is a very important topic, and I'm just only talking about one thing you know what are the things that influence click-through rates. You know it could be your price point, it could be the way you have your title set up. It could be your main image, which is what I was talking about. So, this is why it's so important to make sure that, at the very least, you start split testing different things of your listing. All right, now Amazon has a live split tester and we're going to talk about that. First, how many people use, you know, manage your experiments. Those of you who have, who have brand registry. All right, let me show you how to do that, and then I'm going to talk about in what situations I use it, but then also the potential drawbacks of using this.

Bradley Sutton:

This is in Seller Central, in the how Cool Is that? Project X account. The part that you can do split testing for free if you have brand registry is called manage your experiments. So you click on brands and then you click on manage experiments and what this does is it allows you to do live split testing of new things. All right. So, the kind of things that I can split test is my A+ content, I can do my Bullet Points, Product Images, Product Description, Product Title, A+ Brand Story, or I can do Multi-Attribute. All right, we're just going to keep it real simple and mainly talk about main image, because in my opinion that's one of the biggest things that could really make an impact on your either click through rate or conversion rate. All right. So I did a few of these recently, all right, one of them is going right now, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is a product I had called a bat bath mat, all right, and I had two different main images I was split testing. Let me show you the actual content. One was an old, like computer generated image I had and one was a newer one that AMZ one step did, all right, so you can see very similar images. Those of you watching this online, I can see. You can see it's very similar images, but just different angles, all right. And so it's like hey, I wanted to split, test this in the search results and take a look at this is ongoing. This is literally going right now. That's why it hasn't gone through yet and you can see that one of them, I sold 24 units and the other one 18 units. All right, one of them, 11 units sold from search. The other one, 4 units from search. Okay, one of them has a 0.07 conversion rate. One of them has a 0.05.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so it looks like version A, which is what I have, is going to win. Okay, so that's one that's literally going right now. Here's the other one we're going to be going over today is the coffin shelf, all right. So here is this one and it completed. Okay. Now look at this one here, this one actually, I started around the same time, but look at this one. This one had a 0.1 version at a 0.04 conversion rate and the other one had a 0.005 conversion rate. That option A sold nine units over this very short period of time, and the other one only one unit. So this one already stopped because Amazon's like, oh my goodness, this is like night and day. This is going to be the good one compared to what I was showing. All right, so this one shows good information. But here's the thing. Let's just say that, on this live split test that I was doing with Manager Experiments, this one was it was almost like a 10X better one image over the other. But how Amazon is doing this is it is showing this product with the different images and search results like half of the day showing one, like half of the day showing the other.

Bradley Sutton:

So the problem with doing this live split test if it's a brand new listing especially is that, by definition, sometimes half the time you are showing an unoptimized image. What if, during this time, I was showing just the good image? I would have maybe, in this situation, almost doubled my sales, if not more, because I was wasting half of the day showing an image that was not well converting. Ok, now I think there's a time and place to do manager experience, especially some with some of the nuances of your bullet points, A+ content or more mature listings. But when you are trying to, you know rank or you've got a brand new product, you can understand maybe a little bit why it's probably not good to just go ahead and launch a product and then do a manager experiments from the get go, because you don't want to be, by definition, screwing your listing 50% of the day, if that makes sense, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So let me show you what I think that everybody should be doing and I've been doing this for years is using a service called PickFu and inside of Helium 10, it's called Helium 10 Audience, and before I even launched my listing, I am doing this research, all right. So let me just show you. I did the exact same test yesterday and we're going to do a couple of tests together. Let me show you what I did yesterday or last night in Helium 10 audience. I set up a poll and I told the customers hey, you are searching for a coffin shelf. This coffin shelf includes a gift box and spooky accessories. If you saw the following 3 images in the search results for a product, which would make you want to click it the most, and do you see the one that won by overwhelming amount, a score of 56 to 22 to 22, this one that won in the manager experiments.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, let's just pretend that this was a brand-new product release. I mean, this is not a brand-new product release. This is the Helium 10 coffin shelf that's been out there. But I came to the exact same conclusion using my test audience, and so I could have started from day one with the right image without having to have 50% of the time a bad image showing up because it's a live listing. So this is the beauty about using Helium 10 Audience that I think everybody like literally every single product launch. You should be running this. Now granted, you know some of you may have, you know, be launching, like you know, 20 products at a time. I was just talking to my friend, a Helium 10 Elite member, Yizhak, and he was launching some leggings and you know, when he launches leggings, he's got like three different kinds of variations. Launching some leggings and you know, when he launches leggings, he's got like three different kinds of variations. So every single group has, you know, like 100 variations because it's three different kinds. He's got size and inseam and color and then each of those has like eight combinations, right. So I'm not saying, oh yeah, Yizhak should have done 100 Pickfu or Helium 10 Audience tests, that that's not very economical or feasible, but at least you want to check it once.

Bradley Sutton:

For the main, you know image results, right? So the beauty about this is it's not just, oh, random people are voting on what image they think is the best to be able to get money. The people who are doing the Helium 10 Audience, you know they actually get paid. That's why each time we do this, it costs money between 50 and $60 or so because each of the people who are responding are getting paid to give their responses. And to give their response, they have to give you information, and you don't have that in the manager experiments in Amazon. So, for example, some of the people who picked option A, which is the one that won you can read here what they're saying. This one person says hey, this image shows me all of the accessories and multiple angles of the box. Another person says option A shows the coffin both open and closed, as well as clearly showing what the accessories look like. Now, this is important. This is important, I never would have thought about this. Did you guys catch this? They think that this tells me something right here the fact that two people said multiple angles of the coffin. Let's go back to the image. This is not multiple angles of the coffin.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, these are two products that are included in the product. One is a coffin shelf and one is a coffin shaped box. So, right away, this is not something that I'm just going to go and say oh, this image one, right? Because now, all of a sudden, my thought process has changed. I thought that this image is going to clearly show that a gift box is included and it's two separate products. But no, here are two people who just said that they think it's the same product, but just showing open and close in different angles. So now I know I might need to go back and figure out something to make it more obvious that, no, you're getting two products for the price of one. This coffin box is a gift box that's separate from the regular coffin. Let's keep reading. I literally haven't looked at these until this second. Here's another person. I find A more appropriate. It has an all-around preview of the product. Okay's another person I find a more appropriate. It has an all around preview of the product. Okay, another person says I like to see the two trinkets at the bottom right of the image. That was important to me because I wanted to make it clear that people who order our coffin shelf they get, like this LED candle plus something else.

Bradley Sutton:

So, I'm going to keep reading this and see how many people are saying that they think that this is just showing a different angle. So, you see how it's different levels. All right, it's not just a matter of oh, which image is best. But now I might have to go back to the drawing board and say how do I make sure that people understand that they actually get two products in one? And then I would. I would go ahead and try to make a new image and then run it again versus this one, versus the other images. So sometimes I run Helium 10 audience maybe three times on a certain, a certain product. Okay, I hope you guys understand the value of this Number one. The first value is before I even launch a product, I can make sure that from day one I am launching with the most optimized image. The other option I could have done is even taking it a step further is Photoshop this into like Amazon search results and actually show the title and maybe show a couple of competitors. This is why I run Helium 10 Audience, sometimes 2,3 times. Yeah, it cost me like 200 bucks to do it. I mean I was using this since it was PickFu, since it wasn't in Helium 10, but it was worth it to me, the kind of insight I get.

Bradley Sutton:

So number one is hey, am I running the most optimized search result image or experience? I guess, if you can consider the title also in the price? And then, secondly, am I completely overlooking something like I just did here, where I thought it was very clear that people are getting 2 different products here in the same package, but some people thought it was just a different angle of one product? Okay, we are going to run this live, a brand new one, and it just has two options, and it's a brand-new product launch that I'm doing. So let's go ahead and run this live together. I'm going to go to Helium 10 Audience and I have 2 images that are very, very similar. Okay, very, very similar, and it's a product I'm going to launch today or tomorrow on Amazon. So here's what we do. We go to tools in Helium 10. Under listing optimization, we hit audience and then I'm going to hit create new poll. All right, and I could do use poll builder or build from scratch. I'm going to go ahead and use the poll builder and we are going to do. You can see all the different things that we can test here A+ content, a general idea, logo, infographics or secondary image, product listing, product title, a video, a voiceover, even something about a website. All of these things we can do. I'm going to do product images, which is main image, right here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, do I'm going to do product images, which is main image, right here? Okay, now I'm going to write my question. So let's go ahead and write. A question is, you are searching on amazon for a stackable egg rack? Which of these main image options would make you want to click on the product more? I can probably have made this better, but we're going to do this live, all right, let's go to the next step. All right, what are my two options? Let's go ahead and add these. See, very similar, but again, I want every little bit counts. Remember, I just showed you guys that having a difference of even just 4% for my click-through rate could mean $50,000 a year, almost all right. So you can see there's two different images here. One has a full rack of eggs and one only has half of them, and it's a slightly different angle. Let's go ahead and see the next step.

Bradley Sutton:

I can pick the audience, all right. So I could just go general audience first, available respondents. I might just go ahead and do that now. Or I can choose a custom audience where I'm like hey, I want men, I want women, I want dog owners, I want people who exercise four times a week. There's a billion different options here. The one that I usually pick is Amazon Prime subscribers. All right, that's what I'm looking for. I could pick an age range, right, in this case. I want this to run super fast, because the more I segment it like this, it takes longer. I'm just going to hit general audience because this product is general. You know, like men like it, it all ages. But like if I was doing a pet grooming product and it's specifically for dogs, you better believe I'm going in there and I am going in and choosing, you know, like dog owners or something like that, or if I have a product that's specifically for men or for women of a certain age group. I'm going to go in there and make sure that the people who are going to vote on this are exactly my target market. I'm only going to choose 50 people for the audience. I can find out, you know, behavioral habits or personal traits of the people who are responding here if I wanted. I'm just using the free option here. Next, step 50. Let's just go with this.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Now again, is this the best way to do it? No, the best way is probably to also show my competitors you know image, okay, and maybe even show it in the search results. I'm doing something simple, just so you can see how this works. All right, let's go ahead and proceed to checkout. Boom, okay, it is working now. All right. So, this one is going to be in progress. We're going to poll it up right here and we're going to keep going back to this. This is live. It's literally going out to a whole bunch of people right now. We're going to go back and check that. What situations would you want to use this, compared to when you would want to use the Amazon manage your experiments. Well, if I haven't launched my product, 10 out of 10, I am doing this, I mean literally 100% of the time that I launch a product I'm running a Helium 10 Audience on some of my main aspects right, because, remember, I don't want to start off with potentially an unoptimized or not the best option for my image or title. Right from day 1, especially during the honeymoon period, I'm trying to get the best click-through rate possible and the best conversion rate.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, sometimes, if I'm just testing something else and I don't, I think I'm doing pretty well and there's nothing I'm going to do. That's going to be a big change. Well, yeah, I'll go ahead and run manager experiments, because it's free, right on an exact listing. And actually, when you run manager experiments, you can get additional details on what's going on, as you saw from what Amazon was showing, right? Let me just show you again what are the kind of things that you can see. You know you can see what your conversion rate is. You can see how many units are sold from search, how many sales from search. You can see the exact sample size, et cetera, et cetera. So in that situation, if I'm like, hey, I've got a pretty optimized listing. I've already run my Helium 10 Audience before and I just want to tweak something that I don't think is going to make a big difference.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, yeah, I'll go ahead and use the manager experiments, but if you have not tested your main image on a brand-new listing, you haven't launched yet. 100% guys, I do not launch any product without having run this, and so if you are out there and you're launching products and you are not split testing your image first, or split testing perhaps your price point or how the product might show up in the search results, I strongly believe you could be leaving money on the table. I mean, some people can change your click-through rate by up to 10%. Even if you change it 1%, 1% guys, on that one that I was showing you, that would sell what did I say? Like 10 units a day only. If I was only selling 10 coffin shelves a day and if I just change my click-through rate by 1%, we're still talking thousands of dollars difference per year I'm getting by increasing my click-through rate just 1%. So is that worth a $50 Helium 10 audience? Well, you better believe. That's why I do it for every single one of my listings.

Bradley Sutton:

Any questions so far with this concept of like split, testing your images before you launch. Kan says can you show me please how to navigate to the experiment page in Helium 10? Yeah, absolutely, let me show you really quick. So where this is you click your main menu in Helium 10 at the top left where it says tools and under listing optimization. And, by the way, everybody has this option. This is not something that's only Diamond, because it's a pay-per-use, so everybody has access to it. You click under listing optimization. It's Audience. All right, there's. Oh, my goodness, look at this, guys. I just started this like what? 5 minutes ago, not even 5 minutes ago. What am I saying? Like 3 minutes ago, and I've already got 18 results. And do you remember? I said you guys were kind of split down the middle between option A and option B. Well, take a look here. We've got now 10 to 9, so it's very similar with what you guys had thought, except it's slight chance to option A.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so what are, what are some of the things that people are saying all right, one person here says I'm more likely to click on A, the left one, because this is full of eggs, which makes me think that'll hold a lot more likely to click on A, the left one, because this is full of eggs, which makes me think that'll hold a lot more, even though I know they hold the same amount. It feels like it can store and organize more. It's also more visually appealing to see the eggs neat and orderly like this instead of the other image, so it makes me, you see, like that's something I didn't even think about. You see this other one where it's like you know, somebody with like ADD or something like might be looking at this and like, hey, why do people just have random holes in this egg rack used? And it's not all full. It's like it's just a psychological thing. All right, so I see, always when I run this guys, I always have new things that I didn't think about. Look at this in the last one minute that I was talking, seven more people already responded.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and load those seven. We are still at almost half each here. Wow, that's crazy. Right on the line of what people want more. I could see hey, what's the age range of the people who are responding right now, it looks like 58% of younger people are choosing B, but of the older age range, 45 and up, 66% want option A. So there's something right there. All of a sudden, I have some insight. Well, if my target market is older people, I might go ahead and favor option A regardless of the score here, because that's who likes my product more. So that's the kind of level that you can go in, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So, your takeaway, guys, is if you're in the midst of launching a product, don't ever launch a product without running Helium 10 Audience. Okay, this is how important I think it is. You might think you have the best main image or the best title, but really make sure you have some solid proof before doing it. Now, if you already have a listing active, you still if you never split test anything and it's something big like the main image it might be still better to run Helium 10 audience just so that you can get instant results within like a day, of which one might be better, and then immediately change it if you need to. Because remember, if you run manager experiments in Amazon, it might take 30 days to get a. You know enough results and in those 30 days 15 of the days, half of the day, half of the month you are running an image or a title or whatever. That is not exactly that. That is not optimized, and so you know you can just kind of understand that you might be leaving hundreds of dollars on the table half the month if you're running something, a live split test like that. So that's why I always like running my split test immediately in one day and offline.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Did you say that when you do an A-B test on Amazon, they automatically convert the listing to use the best image they tested? If you choose that. So that is an option on Amazon where you can say automatic it's called, automatically publish the winning result or something like that it's called, and you just check that if you want it to automatically do it, or you just say you uncheck that and then you just look at the results and then you decide which one you want to go with. You have both of those options on Amazon. All right, we already have. The vote is finished for the egg rack pictures, and the one with all of the egg racks won with a score of 52 to 48. So this is not like a very clear cut winner here, but you know, like the other one, the coffin shelf one which had a score of like 50 to 20 to 20. But now at least I have a little bit more confidence to go with this image that has all of them, and then I'm going to start reading these comments here to see if I get more information. Look, it's 50 people respond in like what? 10, 15 minutes here and now I have all this data to go through to really make my decision when I launch this later today.

Bradley Sutton:

Matter of fact, as soon as I get off this call, I'm probably going to do it. What am I? Which image am I going to use? And is there something I didn't consider. Like remember what happened on the coffin shelf? I realized that people think that it's the same. It's the same image, just a different angle. So I'm going to definitely read this once I'm done with the call. Ali says using launch strategies like the Maldives honeymoon, when do you really start focusing on actual profit and long-term viability of the product? What's the perfect balance? So all I think about during the launch strategy is getting to page one organically. I'm not concerned about profit. Now, I usually can't, you know if I'm not launching a super competitive niche. I can usually get to page one within a week and then at that point I start maybe rate if I got, if I started getting my Vine reviews or other reviews, I might start raising the price up and take my foot off the gas. But I'm usually going really hard and heavy. Even if I get to the top of page one for 10 full days, even if I got to the top of page one after only 2 or 3 days, which happens sometimes in my launches.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So I try to go really hard and heavy at least 10, 10 days to help me stick my landing more, and then at that point it's a matter of all right now do I start to try and rank organically for my secondary set of keywords and then I just do it all over again. I still go really hard and heavy and losing money. Now if after 30 days of launch and losing money and putting a lot of money in PPC, I'm not getting the conversions I need organically or maybe I'm getting bad reviews, I have to. I have to like, kind of like, take a step back and look at what am I really doing Right? What am I doing wrong? Why am I not sticking my landing? Why are people not converting? Or why is my listing, not converting even though I'm at page one, all right. So these are things that you have to start considering, you know, after 30 days or more of your launch. Great question by Alex says how would you do your A-B test for your image against competitor images on Amazon search result pages?

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so what I would do? Let's just say I was doing this large coffin shelf. Well, I'm not going to take a picture of the Helium 10 widget up here, right, I might take a screenshot. I would have to take away this previously viewed of this whole image right here, from the top of the image all the way down to the price, potentially right. And then I would make that an actual image, right? And then I would go ahead and choose a couple of the main competitors and take that same spot. And then you say, hey, you searched for large coffin shelf and these were the 4bmain search results you saw at the top of the page. Which one would you select and why? And always, I'm going to get comments on not just the image. Sure, I'll get comments on the image. But then some people are going to comment on the price, some people are going to comment on the reviews and the star rating. And then now you can understand how people kind of like navigate the search results a little bit more by using the Helium 10 Audience there.

Bradley Sutton:

Joan says a little bit more by using the Helium 10 Audience, what do you test show if you have six variations? Well, you want to pick which one is the best-selling, right, because that's probably what's going to be in the search results. So, for example, for coffin shelves, I've got three variations, right. I've got a black one, I've got a purple one and a pink one. I do not test the purple and pink ones why? I know even before day one of when I launched my coffin shelf, the black one is the one that sells the best for everybody else and it's the one that shows up in the search results right. Now if I was doing some super, super niche tests where I was like, hey, I just want to test my pink coffin shelf versus other pink coffin shelf, sure I could do it, but in this situation I'm only going to test the black coffin shelf because I know that is the one that sells like five to one over the other ones, and that's the one that is the one that shows up in search results for everybody's listings.

Bradley Sutton:

Kim says would you also recommend doing A-B tests on infographic images or is it more useful, important for the main image? All right, this is a great question. And then Kim says essentially have you found your conversion improved by testing infographics? Yes, okay. So remember I said I was only talking about one thing today, which is improving your click-through rate of the actual images. And remember I said at the beginning hey, we're going to assume that your conversion rate is going to stay the same and I showed how much your sales could increase just by improving your click-through rate from the search results. But you can take the opposite. Let's say you already have a fully, fully optimized main image and price point and title and your click-through rate is not going to improve. Well, what's the other thing you can improve? You can improve your conversion rate. It's the same exact thing almost. I mean not as much of a scale as the click-through rate, but if you can improve your conversion rate by 3%, right, that means if you get 100 clicks a day, you get three more orders if you improve your conversion rate by three.

Bradley Sutton:

So it's the same thing. So maybe, if you think the infographics can make a difference if it's not optimized. Absolutely, that should be something that you can test. All right, I always want to start with the thing that moves the needle the most and that's the click-through rate. Because, remember, if I improve 3% click-through rate on a thousand impressions, that's a big difference compared to changing the conversion rate by three, right. You know, on something that only gets 100. So you want to go ahead and split test your A+ content. Split test the things that are inside of your listing, your bullet points, like I've done that before. I show screenshot of bullet points and then Photoshop in other bullet points and then see what people think. Absolutely. All right, guys. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We're going to go ahead and shut it down soon. We did a live test of Helium 10 Audience. I showed you how to use manager experiments in Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

I really hope I got through to you, because I'm looking at numbers of how many people use Helium 10 audience or how many people are using PickFu, and it should be 100% of private label sellers Literally should be, but it's not anywhere close to that or what people are using. So if you don't have Helium 10, use PickFu. If you've got Helium 10, you've already got it right there in your Helium 10 Audience tool. Make sure to do that If you've never run it. Go to your number one selling product and get some variations of the image you know based on what else is selling, or compare your image to your competitors and get some insight, guys into how your target audience is interacting with your images and price and title in the search results. And if you're launching a new product anytime soon, always have your graphic designer give you three or four options of main images and then split test that first before launching your product. So hope you guys found this beneficial. Thank you guys for joining and we'll be back next month for another. Ask Me Anything, but if you're a Serious Sellers Club member or Helium 10 Elite member, we'll see you either next week or the week after, since we do this every single week. Thank you guys very much and enjoy the rest of your day or weekend. Bye-bye now.

View Details

Join us on our latest journey through the innovative world of AI-assisted Amazon selling! We kick off with the transformative capabilities of Helium 10’s Listing Builder tool. Listen in as Bradley guides you through the intricacies of crafting the ultimate Amazon listing, utilizing cutting-edge tools with the power of AI to enhance searchability and PPC effectiveness. We also unravel the secrets behind the Listing Quality Score, ensuring you leave with the knowledge to make your product stand out in the Amazon marketplace.

Discover the future of e-commerce imagery with our dive into AI image generators, perfect for your lifestyle main images, Amazon Post, and all A+ content formats. Bradley also shares his personal experience in creating stunning visuals, emphasizing the prompt-writing process to achieve images that could even eclipse the originals. In this conversation, the power of keyword optimization comes to life as we import vital search terms into Listing Builder, setting the stage for an Amazon algorithm-friendly listing. Whether you're a seasoned seller or new to the game, you'll gain invaluable insights on making your product shine.

In our final chapters, we tackle the craft of creating and optimizing Amazon listings with the assistance of AI. Bradley walks you through the process, from studying competitor listings to tailoring the tone of your product description. The strategic use of keywords is front and center, as we focus on targeting specific audiences and enhancing product visibility. We wrap up with a look at how to optimize listings against competitors and discuss the advantages of syncing listings directly to Amazon. With these strategies at your disposal, you're well on your way to mastering the art of Amazon listing optimization.

In episode 566 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Mastering Helium 10's Amazon Listing Builder With AI
03:39 - Optimizing Keywords With Listing Builder
07:52 - AI Image Generator and Listing Creation
09:53 - Generating and Editing Amazon Listing Images
13:35 - Optimizing Keywords and Competitor Analysis
14:43 - Creating Amazon Listings With AI
21:22 - Optimizing Keywords in Listing Creation
25:11 - Understanding Amazon Keyword SEO Score
33:10 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With Listing Builder
33:41 - YouTube Keywords Analysis for Listing Optimization
40:38 - Creating Amazon Posts Efficiently with AI

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

10 strategies that's going to help you craft your best Amazon listing with the help of AI, as well as even image generation and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And this is another one in our series of Seller Strategy Masterclasses where I go deep into one of the Helium 10’s tools that helps with a specific use case, and today we're going to be talking about Listing Builder. That's why I got my LB hat on right here. So we're going to be talking about everything from how to check the SEO score, about how optimized your listing is to the Amazon algorithm potentially, to how to generate images for Amazon posts, how to generate captions for Amazon posts, how to write a listing from scratch without even AI, how to use AI to write a listing in any language that you're trying to make for a new marketplace. How to import listings, how to export listings and sync them. We have a lot of strategies today. Hopefully, I don't have to split this up into two episodes. I don't even know how long this is going to take me, but this is going to be a lot of great information today that you're going to be needing in order to make your first or next listing on any Amazon marketplace that Helium 10 works on. So let's go ahead and hop into it.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's first talk about an introduction and overview to just Listing Builder tools so you can kind of get to know it and understand how to navigate in it. So, Listing Builder if this is your first time going into it, the way you can navigate there is through your list in under listing optimization in your menu and then hit the Listing Builder button. Now, if you've never had Listing Builder before, you're not going to have any listings here. I've got a few here because I've already obviously made some listings and done some test listings here in Project X. But this is the main dashboard when you sign in, where you're going to be able to view all of the listings that you are editing here in Listing Builder. And then there's different filters up here, like if you want to see, hey, which ones are the ones that are linked to Amazon listings, which are the ones that are synced to Amazon listings. We're going to talk about what that means later. Now one thing right off the bat is if I want to add a listing, I hit this button at the very top, add a listing. And here is where I can actually go directly to the image generation with AI tool. So there's going to be a specific training on how to use this. But if I just want to hop in and say, hey, I don't want to make a listing right now, but I want to be able to take one of my images and create something with AI, you're going to be able to do that. I can also create a listing from scratch or optimize an existing listing that I might have already.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the core functionality of Listing Builder is just as the name sounds it's to build listings. So, in Listing Builder, this is a place where you can start writing your title, your bullet points, your description and even your backend generic keywords, and, if your listing has it, you can have subject matter here as well. Now, why even make a listing in Listing Builder as opposed to writing in Seller Central? Well, it's about the keywords. Obviously, Helium 10 is known for our keyword research tool like Cerebro, Magnet, etc. You've probably utilized it to get the best keywords for your product or niche. Well, what you're going to want to do is import all of those keywords to Listing Builder. I'm going to show you how to do that in a later strategy here. Now, by having all of your keywords here in Listing Builder, now you can make sure that you're using it in your listing. There's a line that comes through every time you use it. It even tells you how many times that you have used those keywords and also it shows you all the individual keywords that make up those phrases up here at the top. So again, this is so important because you could have the best keyword research in the world. But if you didn't put that keyword in your listing, are you going to be searchable for it? Are you going to be able to run PPC on that keyword? Probably not, because you're probably not even going to be indexed.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, some newer features of Listing Builder that we're going to talk about is listing quality score. There'll be a strategy about this, your keyword performance rank. You know I developed a formula over the course of like six to eight months where I launched tons and tons of listings and I was able to try and get as close as I could to the kind of way to optimize your listing that is most beneficial for the Amazon algorithm in ranking, and so we developed a formula so that this score will go ahead and reflect how optimized your listing is. So I'm going to show you, throughout these strategies, how to use that score to make sure that you've got the most optimized listing compared to your competitors. Now, if you have a diamond plan, you've got access to those listing scores, as well as also the ability to build your listing with AI.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now, who might this AI feature before? It could be. Maybe you, like me. If I'm selling in Amazon Germany, I don't speak German. I can use Helium 10 to get all those German keywords. I don't even know what those keywords maybe mean. I can actually write a perfect sounding German listing with AI, even though I speak English, by writing English into Listing Builder and putting all the German keywords I want to rank for, and this Listing Builder will go ahead and use AI in order to write all my title, bullet points, et cetera, using those important keywords I want. Another use case might be well, maybe you're a native speaker of the language that you're trying to write a listing in, but you've got writer's block. That happens to me sometimes. Right, where I'm like man, where do I start? I want a different vibe, right? Well, in this Listing Builder AI tool, you put the description and everything, and then you can say, hey, I want this to be a humorous vibe or educational, or empathetic or inspirational, et cetera, and then this will go ahead and create your listing in your own language, but maybe you're not going to use it exactly, but at least it gets you on the right track and like, ooh, I like the way, I like where the direction this is going. Let me go ahead and hop in there and kind of like tweak it a little bit so you can do that for your listing, or even make a Amazon post captions as well. So a lot to kind of like, you know, tackle here in Listing Builder. We're going to have a total of nine, 10 strategies now that I'm going to show you how to do a lot of the things I just alluded to here in this video. So let's go ahead and hop into it.

Bradley Sutton:

How to create images for Amazon using AI. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, in the past, you know, our only option was to maybe take you, you know, rudimentary, kind of like ghetto looking images with our phone or something like that, or pay a lot of money if we had it, you know, for professional pictures. That's still what I do, actually, but not everybody has enough money to be able to invest in professional photography right off the bat, or maybe we did, but then now we're like, oh man, I have this other idea for an image, or I want to do this or that, right. Well, that's where AI can come in, because AI can help you create different images. Now there's a lot of different kinds of images that AI can help you with. Now our AI image generator. Let me show you what it can do. It can create main images for your listing. It can also create images in the format of Amazon Post, which is a different format than a main image. You can make A plus logo images, A plus image header images all the different A plus module types of images you're going to be able to create using this AI image generator. You also would be able to make images that are designed for best viewing on a mobile browser.

Bradley Sutton:

So what is the process for this? I actually pulled up a listing here of a competitor product. All right, this is a coffin shelf. That is not my coffin shelf, but I saw a couple of his images and I'm like you know what this very well could have been done, maybe with AI, or maybe he paid a lot of money for this picture. And so, like I'm like, is it possible for me to duplicate this image that this guy has of his coffin shelf on this wall? You know, for those listening to it on their phones, I'm trying to describe it here. It's just a picture of a coffin shelf on a gray wall. There's like a plant on the ground, um, some books on the table, et cetera. Right, so I just downloaded his main image of his coffin shelf and then I went ahead and started writing this prompt so, so this is the prompt I wrote. Now, what I could have done is I could have just, you know, chosen a theme here and a theme setting, but I went to go in and make a description, so I put here hey, the pictured shelf is hanging on a light gray wallpapered wall, includes subtle decorative elements such as a small plant, a few simple artwork on the surrounding wall, separately from the main image. All right, I have things such as the product scale. This is the size I want the product to look like in the image. I can have things like a void, what I don't want to see in the image. I can choose different engine models stability, ai or AWS, bedrock, titan. What is the AI style? I chose photographic. I could have chosen comic book, digital art, anime, analog film, 3d model, et cetera, and then basically let's go ahead and see what happens. You know I didn't put too many details here.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's hit, generate images. All right, here we go. This is what has shown up. I got four images it put. A couple of these are pretty decent. I mean, arguably, these images are maybe better than what this Amazon seller was using. You know, like this is not a good resolution that I'm looking at right here because I'm not zoomed in, but you know, I would almost say it's better than this image that this best-selling coffin shelf is using right now on their listing. So now, if I want to use it, I just go ahead and download this and I can go ahead and upload this to my listing. All my previous images are going to show up down here. This is just scratching the surface and maybe you guys are better at making prompts than me. You can even use ChatGPT to help you make a prompt to generate some higher quality images. But if you're looking to make, you know, take one image and make it in the format for A plus content or Amazon post, or change out backgrounds. You know, maybe you're doing a holiday theme, you know, for one of your listings and you want to put, like, some Christmas ornaments or some Halloween things or whatever. This is a way that you can just do it without having to like have a reshoot. So hope you enjoy using that feature.

Bradley Sutton:

How to import keywords into Listing Builder. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, this is pretty much the crux of using Listing Builder. Otherwise, you don't even need to use Listing Builder if you're just going to make your listing in Amazon Seller Central. But the whole point of Listing Builder is showing you, first of all, that you've used all of your main keywords and your secondary, supplementary keywords, your indexed for, and you've organized it in a way that is best for the Amazon algorithm. And that's what Listing Builder is going to help tell you. Where do these keywords come from, first of all? Okay, so that's a very good question, and you would hopefully have gotten your keywords from other tools, in Helium 10, Cerebro, for example, like let's just go ahead and say that I had done a search for bat-shaped bath mat and I had the 77 keywords as part of what I was going to target for my listing. Now you might have 100 keywords, you might have 150, you might have keywords that come from Google, you might have keywords that come from our other tools like Magnet or Blackbox. But let's just pretend that these list of 77 keywords is all we had. All right, I'm just going to go ahead and copy these to the clipboard.

Bradley Sutton:

And in Listing Builder. Now there's two places in Listing Builder where you can add it. You could just go ahead and add keywords here if you happen to get on this page, but I suggest doing it right here on the main first tab, which is add keywords for listing. I'm going to click on manually add keywords and all I have to do is paste all of the keywords right here. Then I hit the button add to bank and now all of those keywords are going to show up here on the right hand side. I'm going to see the search volume too. You might notice this CPS, that's competitor performance score. I haven't entered any competitors yet. That's why these are all blank. But this is now the list of all of my keywords, then it's all right here now on my main keyword bank, and what Helium 10 is doing here is it's splitting all of these keyword phrases there were 77 of them into one word, two words or three words, okay. So, for example, right now, by default, one word is chosen. So I see Gothic is a keyword that is in a lot of these phrases right here. We've got decor, we've got Batman, we've got witchy. Now I hit the two word roots. I can see home decor is something that is in some of these phrases. Three word, uh, three word roots. There's only one rugs for bedroom. That is appearing multiple times here in these phrases. But again, this is going to be the key because this is going to be your guide now, as far as hey, these were all the keywords that I found in my keyword research. I have to make sure that I get them into my listing. Uh, you know, the way the Amazon algorithm works is usually you're not going to be indexed for keywords that you do not have in your listing. All right, so again, import the keywords from wherever you did your research into Listing Builder, and then you're going to be ready to start making your listing.

Bradley Sutton:

How to import an existing listing into Listing Builder to edit. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, I've told you before that this is not just about creating new listings. You can also import your existing listing so you can start managing it in Listing Builder and making the updates inside and seeing how your SEO works. Another kind of strategy that I think is slept on is you can import your competitors listing into your Listing Builder. If you kind of want to see. Hey, how is their keyword density like where do they include certain keywords in their listing? Let me see how they have their SEO set up. Let me show you how you can do either of those. Right here in Listing Builder, I'm going to hit the button add a listing. All right now once I do that, I have three options create from scratch, optimize your listings or generate images with AI. Let me just show you what happens if I hit optimize your listing. It's going to be linked to my Amazon account. If you have already included your Amazon connected your Amazon account to Helium 10. And now I can just choose any one of my listings and it's going to go ahead and import it right here into Listing Builder. But, as I said before I can import anybody's listing. So, for example, here is a competitor bath mat out here. Maybe I want to see how they have their listing set up. All I have to do is copy the ASIN and then I hit create from scratch and then I choose the marketplace. So remember, I can go ahead and import a listing in Amazon USA, Germany, France, UK, Brazil, Belgium even didn't realize we had that India, Japan and more. This one is going to be from the USA. I'm going to go ahead and put the ASIN right here and then I'm going to hit start building.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what Helium 10 is doing right now is it's importing the title, the bullet points and, if it's available, the description right into my own Listing Builder. So if I had a whole list of keywords now I'm going to be able to see hey, how do they have their listing all set up? Now, if you've got the diamond plan, you kind of don't need to do this, this kind of competitor checking, because we've got the competitor performance score that I'm going to talk about in a later strategy. But if you're just in the planning plan, you want to be able to have visibility with how your competitors have their SEO set up. This is the way to import their listing right into your Listing Builder and so, as you can see right here, I've got their product title, I've got their bullet points and no description, since they had A plus content. So, again, if you're getting started with your own listing ad connected from your own account so you can have a base here and just remember, Listing Builder is not just about making new listings. This is kind of like your hub where you can manage your existing listings so that later, when I show you how to sync them, it's going to be a lot easier as opposed to having to go back and forth to Seller Central copying and pasting. But even if you're not doing that, this is also another way that you can look at your competitors' SEO, with how they have the keywords placed and how many of the important keywords that you identified they have in their listing.

Bradley Sutton:

How to create an Amazon listing from scratch, with or without the help of AI. Now, why is this important? How can it make you money? I've said before that you know maybe you don't speak a certain language fluently that you're trying to write a listing. Well, you can get help from AI. Maybe you do speak the language fluently, but you have creative writer's block right that we all have sometimes. You might need AI to help get you started. Or maybe, hey, you speak a language just fine. You just need a place to be able to write your listing with the help of understanding that you are using all of the keywords. Well, this is what I'm going to show you how to do in less than five minutes here. Now, let's just say you're going to go ahead and write a listing with the help of AI. Now you would have hopefully already put which marketplace you're going to write the listing in and, based on that, it's going to know it has to make the listing in English, Japanese, Spanish, etc. You can write the description for the AI in any language you want your own native tongue. Now for this situation, all I'm doing is just writing a listing for the Amazon USA marketplace for that bat-shaped bath mat, and remember those 77 keywords I had found in a previous strategy. Well, I've got them all here in my keyword bank, and now what I did was I have 500 characters where I can put as many characteristics as possible.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you can see I only use 161 characters. This is not going to be my real listing. I'm going to use I'm just doing this for demonstration purposes but some of the characteristics I put as different phrases is like bat shaped bath rug extra thick, 32 inches by 20 inches thick, chenille, fiber machine washable, water absorbent, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The other thing I can put is the brand name, and then, where I want to put the brand name, I also have here the product name. That's what is going to show up at the beginning of the title, and then I have here what's called the tone. So we have some preset settings where maybe you have a listing where you want it to be formal, or maybe you want it to be casual or empathetic or inspirational. I chose humorous because you know, I think you need a little humor if you want a bat shaped bath mat, right? Um, I also have target audience, so I put just a couple things here, like men and women who like gothic decor or people who want to buy gifts for spooky decor lovers. There's also a section here for words and special characters to avoid.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the first thing you're going to want to do is you're going to want to go ahead and make the product title. Now maybe I want to definitely include my most important keywords in my title. All right, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to edit these keywords that I'm definitely going to include in the title and choose them from my keyword bank. Now one thing you could do is just kind of like use find keywords that are nested within each other. I've talked about that in other episodes, but in this case I just chose two words. I'm like saying, hey AI, I want to have these in the title Bat Rug and Spooky Bathroom Decor. Then all I have to do is I hit this AI write it for me button and it's going to take all of this information up here that I had put in and then take a look at the keywords that I entered in. You know I had put those from Cerebro and it's going to go ahead and create a title. Now take a look right here. It made the title right here just in seconds. It says spooky bathroom decor bat rug, non-slip, water absorbent, 32 by 20 inch bat shaped bath mat with thick chenille fiber, machine washable, no creases. The perfect gift for Gothic decor enthusiasts, Manny's mysterious oddities. So, basically, it wrote a pretty decent title for me If I want to use it. Um, I can go ahead and hit use suggestion. And now look what happens. Now that I wrote this here, there is now going to be a line on the left-hand side through all of the individual keywords that I now have in my listing and it's also going to show me all the keyword phrases that I have if I have used them. So, for example, remember I said use bat rug. There's bat rug right there. Spooky bathroom decor. It's got a line through it because I used it right here in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Same thing with the bullet points. If I'm satisfied with the title, I'll just move on to the bullet points. Hit the button that says AI, right for me. And now I have five bullet points that it made. Some of these say bat shaped bat rug, perfect for goth bathroom, this unique bat man rug. And if I can hit use suggestion and look how many, it's trying to use up all of my keywords in my keyword bank, both individual and the phrases, as much as possible, and that's how I would write my listing. That's AI and how it can help. Now, if you've got the diamond plan, that's how I suggest starting your listing and then maybe just tweaking it to make sure you've used all your keywords. What if you only have the platinum plan? You still can use Listing Builder and just write it manually. You would use it the same way. So basically, you would start writing your listing manually, trying to make sure that you are using all of the keywords in your listing. Like, let's just pretend I was going to come up with this bullet point right here and I start writing this gothic rug is great for Halloween decor, something like that. Did you guys see what was happening here on the left hand side as I was writing this bullet point? Well, it started crossing out the words that I am using. By the way, if you are watching this on YouTube, you can see. If I put my mouse over some of these keywords, I can see what are the search results, the top 10 search results for that keyword. It kind of gives you an idea about, maybe, how relevant it is. If I want if that's annoying to you, I wanted to turn it off I just hit the settings button up here and I can turn this top 10 ranked products keywords off.

Bradley Sutton:

But anyways, I would just keep making my listing, trying to make sure I have all of the individual keywords and or phrases. Now, remember, you've got to know which are your most important keyword phrases. All right, usually you want to get at least 10, 15 in phrase form of your most important keywords and then all the rest of the words to be indexed for the phrases. You just have to have the individual words, and that's why that root keyword section is very valuable. You know, hey, I just got to get these individual words once in my listing to have a chance to be indexed for all of those other keywords. So here is another great technique of how you can completely make your listing, with or without the help of AI, using Listing Builder.

Bradley Sutton:

How to measure your listing's Amazon SEO score. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, if you are trying to make a listing, you don't want to just keyword stuff. Right, all fields in a listing also are not created equal. If you put a keyword in the title, it's worth more than if you put it in the description. If you have a main keyword phrase in phrase form, it's better than if you just have the individual keywords from that phrase just in random spots in your listing. There's so many things that kind of like drives relevancy for the Amazon algorithm. Now, nobody knows the exact formula of Amazon, and if anybody tries to say they do, they're full of baloney right. But you know me, what I did for over eight months was I tried to study the algorithm as much as possible you know, launching hundreds of like fake products just to be able to see the effects on the algorithm when you change keywords around and so I was able to come up with our data science team this formula that helps sellers understand the effects of placement in the listings. But again, this is not like some exact formula. I do not have special insight into the Amazon algorithm. I can only make this formula based on my observations, but it's definitely going to help you for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's go ahead and hop in with how you can actually use this. The first step, if you want to have a listing score, is you need to go down here to listing analysis and then hit keyword performance rank and once you get there, you are going to have this button that says add competitors. Now, once you get to the add competitors page, you are going to need to enter in all of your competitors, like right now I'm in a coffin shelf listing and it already gives me like suggestions of which ASINs I can pick. But I suggest putting your own ASINs right in here. I entered, I think, like seven or eight ASINs and then, once I do that, instantly you are going to get a full score for your listing. Now, the reason why you didn't have a score before was because it's using the competitor performance score and the search volume to be able to know what your score is. So, for example, right here, my keyword performance score is 181,011. And I can actually see what goes into it.

Bradley Sutton:

There's different ways that it calculates your keyword SEO score. Like, if I have it an exact match, one of the keywords for my list, it's going to give me a certain number of points If I have it a plural or singular match. What does that mean? That means, like, if the keyword is spider web shelf but then I put spider web shelves, it's still going to give me points, but not as much as if I put the exact keyword spider web shelf. If I have it in phrase match, that's a. The keyword is Gothic, coffin, spider web shelf. Well, you can see here in the title I've got Gothic and coffin together, but then spider web shelf is way at the end of the title, I still have all the keywords. So that's what's called a phrase match, where maybe a part of the phrase is together and then the other part of the phrase is in a separate part of the same section. Then I've got field broad match. That means I can have a full phrase but it's spread apart with no two keywords together in a field in your listing. And a field means the title, bullet points or description, right, and then I have listing broad match. That means maybe I have a three-word phrase and then you know, one keyword is in the title, one keyword is in the bullet points, one keyword is in the description. That's called field broad match.

Bradley Sutton:

So as you write your listing, this score is going to change. So, for example, here's a keyword coffin decor that it says I haven't used an exact phrase form. Let me go ahead and throw it in my bullet points. By the way, you can see, my score is 181,000. Let's go ahead and put just randomly coffin decor right here in that first spot and then, yeah, look, I got a line through coffin decor and my score now went up to 183,000. So first of all, that just shows you can manipulate this score. So, like you know, technically you could just throw keywords anywhere and get the highest score. I would like to hope that you understand that that's not the point of this tool is to just try and get a high score at all costs. You can't just keyword stuff. Nobody likes that. But that's just to show you how that scoring system works.

Bradley Sutton:

How to compare your listings Amazon SEO score to competitors? Why is this important? How can this make you money? Well, you can optimize your listing to get the highest score that you want to get. But at the end of the day, your goal should be to have a more optimized listing than your competitors. And if you can do that, theoretically speaking, interactions with your listing is going to help you more than your competitors. Like, if I have the keyword coffin shelf an exact phrase and I've got a coffin shelf and I have got it two, three times in my listing, Amazon knows I'm very relevant. Somebody buys my product after the search of that keyword. I'm theoretically going to get kind of like more bang for my buck with that purchase, as opposed to somebody who might be just indexed for that keyword and they've got coffin in their title and shelf somewhere in their bullet points, all right. So that's the value of this score is you're trying to make sure that you are well optimized for SEO, especially in comparison to your competitors. So how can you do that? Once you've entered in all of your competitors and you've optimized your score, you're going to want to check this keyword performance rank of your competitors and right here, as you can see, you can see that this coffin shelf I have is number one. I've got a score of 181,011, and the other listings on this page or that I imported, they all have less of a score than myself.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, I personally don't look too much at the title ranking and bullet points ranking. That doesn't affect things too much, but it's right here, just in case you want to see it. So again, check this frequently, because this is going to change based on your competitor listings and you want to make sure that you stay number one. If you want to, just if you're wondering, hey, did this get refreshed or not? You can just go in here, delete them from your competitors and then add them right back to make sure that it has the latest version of the listing, but use this especially against your main competitors, to make sure that you always have the best SEO score that you can in comparison to your competitors.

Bradley Sutton:

How to check your keyword performance for your Amazon listing. Why is this important and how can it make you money? Well, you might not be able to fully see the effect of how your listing optimization has affected that score. All right, I showed you before. You could just go ahead and put a keyword in. You can see your score move up and down. But maybe you want to dive a little bit deeper to really get into the nitty gritty of what is going on in that score scoring system. This is how you do it. If you've got the diamond plan, you've got access to this button up here called keyword performance. So just hit the open keyword performance and it's going to open this thing at the very bottom. And now this is how you can use this section. It's very, very powerful. Uh, first of all, on the right hand side, I've got this section called root keyword usage and performance and it has all of those 72 root keywords, those single keywords that make up all of those phrases, right here, and it's interesting because I can actually see, um, how many times these are used in my listing, like, for example, the root keyword sick coffin. I've got 16 times in my listing and I could see oh, it's four times in the title, it's six times in the bullet point. Now here's a really, really cool thing what, in which keywords do I have coffin in it? I can hit this filter button and now on the right hand side I can see all of the keyword phrases that has the word coffin in it and which ones I've used and which ones I haven't used, and it says I've got 49 phrases that have used the word coffin, right, and then so here's one of them coffin shelf. If I look down here I can see, first of all, how important is this keyword. Well, it has a competitor performance score of 10. What does that mean? That means that most of the top competitors are all ranking for that keyword. By the way, that's an important metric to be looking at to understand how important the keywords are. I can see title match exact phrase and also I have it as a field broad in the title. All right, so I have that keyword right there in the title. It says I've got it in exact phrase form in my bullet points and I've got it in exact phrase form in my description. So I've pretty much maxed out the points that I can get on this keyword coffin shelf.

Bradley Sutton:

Here to the right I can actually see some stats about that keyword. Like, should I be focused on it? Oh, wow, it's got 2,500 search volume, 20 estimated sales for a keyword. It's got a title density of 25. It's got a brand analytics data right here. So this is pretty cool in that it's going to give me a lot of data about this keyword. If I'm ranking for that keyword, that rank is going to show up right here on the right-hand side. Now, this is a listing that is not even active right now. That's why it's not showing any organic rank. Take this other keyword here. Let's just pretend for a minute that this keyword coffin knife holder is super important for this listing. Obviously not, but instantly. Just by looking at this in a second, I could have identified that. Wow, this important keyword I do not have in any phrase form or long tail form or any form at all anywhere in my listing. And if this was an important keyword, like if it has a very high competitive performance score, that's a hole in my listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Another way that I like to do this that actually helps me with PPC is, as I am making my broad campaigns in PPC, I want to see what are the root keywords that show up most in my listing. Remember I told you coffin has 49 keywords, or 49 keywords it's in. I probably am going to make a broad or phrase campaign, PPC for the word Coffin because it has so many long tail keywords. All right, maybe Gothic. All right, Gothic has 11 of them, so Gothic is another keyword that potentially I can go ahead and use in a broad match campaign. So, guys, this is really what's going to help you understand what is driving that score, because it's going to tell you what keywords you've used, how you've used it and where you use it in your listing. Did you use it in exact phrase form? Did you use it in the plural form? Is it just in field, broad form? And if you have important keywords that don't have a good placement in your listing, it's going to be super easy to visually see which keywords those are and what part of the listing that it doesn't even have anything in it, so that you can make sure that you can go ahead and edit your listing and get those important keywords activated.

Bradley Sutton:

How to analyze your listing's competitor comparison table. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, you know, we've been talking a lot about just the overall score of your listings. We talked about looking at the keyword performance of your own listing. Now this is the tool that's really going to bring it all together. It's called the Competitor Comparison and now, instantly, you're going to see which ones of your competitors are really well optimized for certain keywords and which ones that you are extremely lacking on. Take a look at how easy it is to use this. If you've got the diamond plan, you're going to be able to hit this button up here called open Competitor Comparison, and once you do that, it's going to open up this amazing and super detailed chart. For those of you watching this on YouTube, you're going to be able to see all of those keywords that you had identified that you wanted to be in your listing, right? I've got 111 keywords here and now I can instantly see, all right, the most important keyword, the one that has a 10 score here in my competitor performance score coffin shelf I can see how everybody has it in exact phrase form. These are all my competitors and I can see hey, everybody's got it, except one person in exact phrase form in their title, right, I can see that this coffin shelf large. On the other hand look at this not one person has it in exact phrase form in any part of their listing. So again, if this was an important keyword for me, what I'm going to be able to take from this is wow, I've got an opportunity. Then if I put coffin shelf large, it means that I'm going to be the only person in this niche to have prioritized this keyword and have my listing optimized for it.

Bradley Sutton:

Same thing down here. I can just easily see the keywords that nobody has in any phrase form in their listing, myself included. Like here's another one a spider web shelf. Obviously this is not irrelevant, that relevant of a keyword, right, but I can instantly have seen if it was that it's a big opportunity for me, because not one person. Not only do they have it in phrase form, they don't have it in broad form, in plural form or any other form in any part of the listing. So I can just go through and compare how I have my listing set up compared to these competitors.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, these aren't the old days of selling on Amazon, where all you need to do is hey, let me just throw in all my important keywords. But it's also about where you're placing your keywords and how your competition is placing their keywords. How are they indexed for certain keywords? Do they have keywords in exact phrase form? Do they have it in plural form? What do you have? These are all things in this new world of selling on Amazon that you have to be considering that maybe you didn't consider back in the old days. And having a tool like Listing Builder here, and especially with the diamond plan so you can get access to these advanced features, it's really going to help give you a leg up on the competition where, all of a sudden, your competitors will be like how in the world is this guy beating us on these keywords that we used to be getting sales from and beating them on? They don't realize that you've got this secret weapon of Listing Builder.

Bradley Sutton:

How to sync your listing to Amazon? Why is this important? How can it make you money? Do you need to use an outside tool to sync a listing to Amazon? No, you can just edit listings right from Seller Central. But tell me this how many of you before have tried to edit your listing in Seller Central and sometimes it just doesn't update and it might not update until you use a flat file sometimes. Or maybe you have to open up a whole bunch of cases to seller support. Well, interestingly enough, you know, the Helium 10 Listing Builder is not like guaranteed to update your listing, no matter what kind of garbage you put into it, and it's going to overwrite something on Amazon. It doesn't always work that way, but it actually has a higher contribution status than if you were to just hit edit listing in seller central. I've had situations where I tried to edit my title or bullet points in seller central and even after 48 hours nothing happened. But then I do it in Listing Builder and I hit sync and within 30 minutes that update has processed. So that's definitely one of the reasons why it's good to use Listing Builder.

Bradley Sutton:

The other reason is just because if you're making your listings in Listing Builder, you want this to be the source of truth, right, and not to have to remember wait, did I go to Seller Central and then copy and paste one by one the different fields? If you don't have the diamond plan at Helium 10, that's what you have to do and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, our first tool before Listing Builder was called Scribbles and you could not sync the listings. You had to go into Seller Central and copy the title, copy the bullet points. There's nothing wrong with that. But obviously, if you have a one button push to Amazon, that is what you're going to want to use. So here's how you can use that. The first thing you have to make sure is that you’ve linked to one of yours in your Seller Central account. And the way you can make sure that if you did that is this button up here. It'll say link to Amazon. If you don't have it linked, mine is linked, I already linked it to a certain SKU. So all I have to do is hit this button, sync to Amazon and it's going to update whatever I have. Now, keep in mind, it's going to overwrite whatever is in your seller central, all right. So just make sure that you have everything filled out in the right way.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, sometimes there are certain things that Amazon does not allow you to update. Like, some listings have more than five bullet points, right, if you, if I, had six, seven, eight bullet points, it's only going to sink the first five. Another thing that sometimes doesn't sink over is the subject matter, because not all listings have the subject matter available to be written, but it does allow you to overwrite the generic keywords here as well. Now, how long does it take to update after you have hit the sync button? Could be as quick as 5-10 minutes. Sometimes it might take a day or so. It all depends on how Amazon works. So, everyone, if you have linked your product to Amazon, make sure that you are syncing your listings after you edit it in your account. Now, how you know if it has been synced or not is go back to your regular page that has all of your listings, your dashboard, and it's going to show in the status right here if it has synced or not or if there is an error. You'll also have that message. So again, everybody, make sure to sync your listings. You've got the diamond plan and that's pretty much all you need to know about creating listings and looking at SEO scores and syncing them all the way to your Amazon listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, in the next strategy, I'm going to talk about something that actually you can do inside of Listing Builder but doesn't even have to do with your listing. How to generate captions for Amazon Post with AI? Why is this important? How can it make you money? Amazon Post, for now, is a completely free service. Think of it as kind of like an Instagram newsfeed, but for Amazon. Let me show you what Amazon posts are here. I just found a bath mat company and if I went to their storefront and I hit the button post, here are their posts. It especially turns up really well on a mobile browser. This one, obviously, is a desktop browser, but you can see that they have a lifestyle image of their product and then they have got a uh caption here for each one. All right, so you've. The best practices is to create an image every day here and then make this post. Now, as you can see here, products are linked here to these posts and so obviously, the main goal is to be able to get brand followers and then, hopefully, they see one of these posts, are inspired by it, they click the product and they purchase it and you're not having to pay for any of this. Now, as I said, the best practices is to make an image every single day and a caption every single day. That could be time consuming and maybe very difficult to do. Number one if you don't have that many images, how are you going to get a different image for 365 days out of the year. Well, that's, first of all, what you could have done with that other strategy I told you about in an earlier video, which is how to use Listing Builder to create the AI Amazon Post images, right? Well, what about the caption though? Right? Watch this. This is pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, do you remember earlier I had written, with AI, this listing that was a bat-shaped bath mat. Well, if I scroll all the way down, I can actually see Amazon post sections. All right, now there are five sections right here. I just have to hit this one button. Write it for me, all right, and within seconds, it's going to write five Amazon posts based on my listing, and boom goes the dynamite. Just like that, I've got five different posts that I could use, with five different images that I might have produced from my AI image generation. Take a look at one of these. Add a touch of the macabre to your bathroom with our bat-shaped bath rug, and even put like a bat emoji. Perfect for gothic decor enthusiasts and a spooky addition to your Halloween decor. It even had a hashtag here gothic decor and Halloween rug. Here's another Amazon post it generated within seconds while I was talking there. Step out of the shower onto our spooky non-slip bat rug. Make your bathroom uniquely yours water absorbent and machine washable Hashtag bat rug. All right, so within seconds I got five different captions. All right, so there's my one week almost all finished, and then, as I showed you before, if I just hit one, I can just do one generation of Amazon AI images for Amazon posts. I would have had four or five images like that. I combine it with these and I can have one of my VAs or employees just every day. Hey, go ahead and put a new post up and I don't have to take 365 pictures or 10 photo shoots of 36 pictures each. I don't have to pay a professional copywriter to write captions. So this is a really quick and easy way that you can create this content for nearly free. That is free on Amazon. So make sure to use these AI-generated Amazon post captions along with our AI Amazon post image generation in order to get those extra views for your Amazon store and your Amazon products and get those quote-unquote free sales that aren't costing you any PPC or any professional copywriting.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, well, I hope you enjoyed this Seller Strategy Masterclass, where we went deep into Listing Builder. This is the crème de la crème as far as a listing creation software that is out there in the space. So make sure you use every bit of what we went over today. And is there something that we're missing? Is there something you'd like to see? Make sure to let us know. We'd be happy to take all requests and the ones that get asked the most. We'll go ahead and integrate those into the tool. A lot of the features that you saw today come from our customers asking us for them, so I hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll see you in the next one. Bye-bye now.

View Details

Walmart launching sale ahead of Amazon Prime Day
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/30/walmart-plus-week-sale-amazon-prime-day

Amazon Prime now includes a Grubhub food-delivery subscription
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/30/amazon-prime-grubhub-subscription.html

Amazon gets FAA approval to expand drone deliveries
https://www.axios.com/2024/05/30/amazon-faa-drone-delivery

Amazon expands A-to-z Guarantee in Europe to include property damage and personal injury claims
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/customer-trust/amazon-expands-a-to-z-guarantee-in-europe-to-include-property-damage-and-personal-injury-claims

Why Temu’s E-Commerce Model Is a Threat to U.S. Patent Holders
https://observer.com/2024/05/why-temu-poses-a-threat-to-american-businesses-and-patent-holders/

Join us as we break down the latest feature alerts from Helium 10, along with a must-know training tip of the week on how to know who is running ads on your product page and your competitor’s product pages. Don't miss out on the insights that can make you a serious player in the e-commerce world!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:45 - Walmart+ Week Announced
01:40 - Amazon x GrubHub
02:51 - FBA Inventory Analytics
04:02 - Amazon Drone Deliveries
05:00 - Amazon A-Z Claims
05:43 - Temu Counterfeits
06:33 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
07:40 - Pro Training Tip: How To Know Who Is Running Ads On Your Product Page

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

Walmart+ week dates released. Amazon Prime now including a Grubhub food delivery subscription, and Amazon's new analytics page. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest New Feature Alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Today, our host is going to be Shivali Patel, and so Shivali, take it away and let us know what's buzzing.

Shivali Patel:

First up, we have a news article from Axio stating that, in a strategic move to outpace Amazon, Walmart is launching its Walmart+ week ahead of the annual Prime Day sale in July, signaling an early start to the summer shopping season. Last year they ran it around the same time as Prime Day, but this year they are running it a whole month early, from June 17 to the 23rd. Since, while Amazon has yet to announce the exact date for Prime Day 2024, it is expected to be in July, I hope that those of you who are Walmart sellers have enough inventory in Walmart WFS to cover the increased sales that you'll be experiencing. And for those of you who are Walmart buyers, this year's event extends well beyond product deals to include significant discounts on gas, travel and more, so that's something that you will want to stay on the lookout for. For example, they're doubling their gas discount to 20 cents per gallon at certain gas stations.

Shivali Patel:

Next up, we have this news piece from CNBC, which informs readers that Amazon Prime will now include a Grubhub food delivery subscription. This is definitely an enhancement to their Prime membership program, contributing even more to the ease that it offers its users. The decision aims to attract and retain members amidst the growing competition from Walmart and Target's loyalty programs. Previously, they actually used to offer a year-long Grubhub subscription, but they've now switched that over to free 99. Who doesn't love free 99? And that allows for free delivery on any orders over $12. Additionally, non-prime members can place Grubhub orders directly through Amazon's website and app. This announcement follows Amazon's 2022 agreement to secure up to a 15% stake in Grubhub. That was contingent on performance metrics and, though this might not directly affect sellers, there's always room in the conversation for added perks that Walmart and Amazon give to their Plus and Prime memberships, because, theoretically, the more value that they're able to add, the more that people will stick around on those platforms, leading them to shop for our products.

Shivali Patel:

Moving on, we then have some news directly from Amazon that you can find inside of the news section of your Seller Central account. Some news directly from Amazon that you can find inside of the news section of your Seller Central account. Amazon just launched a new FBA inventory, age and excess analytics page to help sellers analyze their aging and excess inventory. As it says here, the new tool is meant to provide a summarized view of aging trends over time. It aligns FBA sales and aged inventory surcharges with aging inventory, as well as offers other key performance indicator cards like SKUs with estimated excess units, excess inventory recommendations and surcharge summaries. If you click onto the page that it's linked, it provides additional information, such as the page allows for filtering by date range, SKU granularity, such as daily, weekly, monthly, to tailor your analysis, and then an inventory age trends graph, which will help you visualize the aging inventory data, with options to include non-aging units and view fulfilled sales and surcharges and more. Note that this page includes one year of historical data and for more information and access instructions, you can always just head over to your Seller Central News.

Shivali Patel:

Now the fourth news segment is a topic that we've touched on time to time on the Weekly Buzz and there's not too much expansion, but maybe this will change with this. New ruling received Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA's approval to fly longer distances without visual spotters, allowing the expansion of its prime air service, as it says right here. Now why this matters. Amazon aims to deliver 500 million packages a year by drone by 2029, and this authorization marks a significant step in meeting the safety standards in the crowded skies. The company has spent years developing proprietary detect and avoid technology with drones equipped with cameras to scan for obstacles on the ground as well as in the skies, and it's finally set to scale, beginning with more densely populated areas in College Station, Texas, and expanding to Phoenix later this year using next-generation drones. Who knows, maybe soon we'll have drones flying overhead with coffin shelves on the way to project X customers. Amazon also is expanding their A to Z guarantee. Amazon's A to Z guarantee ensures that customers can shop with confidence, offering protection for every single product that is purchased in its stores. This guarantee has actually been in place for over 20 years and it's provided hassle-free process for refunds if customers are dissatisfied with a product's delivery or condition. But as of May 2024, the guarantee now spans several European countries to further include and cover property damage or personal injury caused by defective products. I think that this commitment underscores Amazon's dedication to providing a really secure and trustworthy shopping experience.

Shivali Patel:

Lastly, let's switch over and talk about Temu. So Temu sellers might be copying your Amazon products. As you can see here, it says as an inventor, Temu sellers are a great way to get your Amazon products. Entrepreneur and small business owner with multiple patents, I've experienced firsthand the impact of the economic battle we're fighting against Temu and similar foreign companies undercutting domestic businesses. As a creator, I front row to the behind the scenes e-commerce corruption that typically involves unethical practices and fraud. So things that can occur are counterfeit or unauthorized replicas of well-known brands, including your brands, hopefully not being generated across these platforms, and so you will want to be vigilant about whether or not your products are getting listed, or your images or title bullet points. Whatever the case may be, are they getting duplicated so that way, you can come up with strategies to navigate that. With that, that is it for this week's news.

Shivali Patel:

Moving on to our New Feature Alerts, we have just one for you this week, and that's going to be our Tracked Keyword Widget. The Tracked Keyword Widget is something you can add to your dashboard. It's separate from our Insights Dashboard, as you can see here, when you are on your dashboard page, what you are going to do is click the plus chart icon or button, and when you select that, you'll be given the chart library option, and by selecting that, you'll be able to see it loaded right here. In doing so, you can click add and go down to the bottom and you'll see it load right somewhere on that dashboard so you can access this even if you are a platinum user, and essentially it brings that Keyword Tracker to the main page. You'll be able to toggle organic and sponsored. You'll be seeing all those keywords that you've selected inside of your Keyword Tracker in descending order of search volume. And let's say you have multiple products, you can always select this dropdown and switch into a different product if you would like. So that way, every time you're going into your dashboard you're always seeing your keywords in that spot. Very quick access and you can monitor your keyword ranking. So that way you know if you need to switch up your strategy.

Shivali Patel:

Switching over to the training tip, before we close out, do you guys want to start keeping track of who is advertising on your product page and your competitors' product pages? Run Xray on any product page. I have the coffin shelf open here and it's likely only going to show me products from the variation when I open up Xray, as you can see here. But what you will want to do is click this filters option and then uncheck, mark, hide sponsored products from results. So when you do this and you click apply filters, what you're going to see is it's going to reveal to you many of the sponsored product ads and widgets that appear on the page, allowing you to see who is advertising. You can then use this information in other product targeting campaigns or to determine where to increase bids on your defensive product targeting ads, so that way your products will appear more frequently. All right, guys, that is a wrap. Hope you guys enjoyed this week's episode. We will see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Join us for an insightful conversation with a true pioneer in the online marketplaces as we journey through a remarkable 20-year e-commerce journey featuring Rolando Rosas, who has two decades of selling experience, including 10 years on Amazon. Listen in as we unpack strategies to amplify product reviews on Amazon, ensuring compliance with their stringent terms of service. The discussion takes a turn down memory lane, recounting our guest's rich personal history from Panama to the United States and an unexpected career pivot that led him away from the medical field.

The e-commerce landscape is constantly shifting, and our latest chat explores how sellers must evolve to keep pace. We reflect on the transition from physical storefronts to digital dominance, discussing the necessity for adaptability in response to the surge in online shopper activity. The dialogue further reveals the struggles and triumphs experienced by our guest, as we navigate through topics such as profitability challenges, hybrid business models, and the utility of analytical tools like Helium 10 for pinpointing underperforming products.

In our final segment, we focus on maximizing profitability through cost control and the strategic use of available tools. We talk about the potential impact of Amazon's forthcoming FBA fees and how meticulous inventory management is key to thriving in e-commerce. Rounding out our discussion, our guest Rolando Rosas offers his insights into maintaining an online presence and the significance of podcast collaborations, sharing his accessibility on various platforms and his journey with Helium 10. So, tune in to gain valuable knowledge from a seasoned expert who has navigated the e-commerce waters with agility and success.

In episode 565 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Rolando discuss:

00:00 - 20-Year E-Commerce Journey
11:04 - Evolving Strategies for Amazon Sellers
12:44 - Adapting to Changing Amazon Strategies
17:24 - Optimizing Amazon Seller Profitability
20:34 - Sellers Discuss Zero Fees and Profit
22:51 - Strategies for Maximizing Profitability With Amazon
24:37 - Amazon Advertising Strategies for Success
28:53 - Strategies for Reselling and Private Label
29:23 - Cost Control and Profit Increase Tools
34:01 - Online Presence and Podcast Collaboration

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Unlock the secrets to boosting your Amazon sales without crossing the line with product inserts as we team up with our Freedom Ticket instructors, Kevin King and Rafael Veloz of Share It Studio. This episode is your ticket to understanding how to legally and effectively use product inserts to build your brand and keep customers returning for more. Ditch the confusion and stay ahead of the competition with actionable insights and real-life examples, including Kevin and Rafael’s success stories with calendar sales and customer-retaining newsletters.

Prepare to transform your customer experience and drive repeat purchases with inventive strategies that resonate with your audience. We'll reveal the power of no-code apps as lead magnets, the smart use of QR codes, and how to craft calls to action that balance immediate sales with long-term loyalty. Rafael's Telly award-winning expertise shines as we navigate the nuances of customer engagement, ensuring your marketing efforts are not only effective but also compliant with Amazon's stringent policies.

Wrap up with a toolkit of marketing finesse, from leveraging QR codes for product-related apps to utilizing calls to action that truly speak to your buyer persona. Whether it's offering warranties, discounts, or even prize draws, we've got you covered with legal and effective strategies that hook customers in. This episode is brimming with tactics and takeaways tailored to help you master the art of Amazon product inserts and skyrocket your e-commerce success.

In episode 564 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kevin, and Rafael discuss:

00:00 - How To Build An Unbreakable Brand With Product Inserts
00:59 - Advanced Amazon Product Inserts Discussion
08:57 - Leveraging Mail Leads for Calendar Sales
09:09 - Maximizing Sales Through Package Inserts
13:59 - Strategies for Amazon Product Insert Cards
18:10 - Enhancing Customer Feedback With QR Codes
26:35 - Amazon Review and QR Code Guidelines
27:15 - Prohibited Methods for Soliciting Reviews
31:02 - Generating Effective QR Codes for Customers
34:45 - Dog Treat Sample Pack Promotion
36:34 - QR Codes and Call to Actions

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Is it okay to do product inserts on Amazon? If so, what can and can't you put on those? We bring on Kevin King and expert guest Rafael to answer these questions and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we have our monthly special. This is called Seller's Edge, and this is actually a unique one, a new thing that we're doing, where we recorded live a module that's actually going to go mainly in the Freedom Ticket program about advanced Amazon strategy, and this one's going to be all about Amazon product inserts. There's a lot of misconceptions out there and so we brought on some people to talk a little bit about it. Now, the main core of this workshop that we did is actually in Freedom Ticket, all right. So. if you guys don't have a Freedom Ticket, any Helium 10 paying member has access to it. So, if you're a Platinum member, make sure to go into your Freedom Ticket account or your Helium 10 account and then hit Learning Hub. You can get the full details.

Bradley Sutton:

What we're going to have here is some clips from that training and then we're going to have a lot of the Q&A. What we did we did this live, where a lot of people were watching this training and they were giving a lot of questions like hey, what's okay to put in inserts, and can I send people to another website, and can I do this and can I do that? Kevin King got a little riled up there a little bit on some of the questions we were asking. So again, we're going to just give you some of their presentation just a little bit, and then mainly focus on the questions that you guys were answering. I'm positive. A lot of these questions are the same exact questions that you might have on inserts as well, so let's go ahead and hop into it.

Kevin King:

So I met today's guest Rafael around 2019, maybe 2020. But it was in 2020 where I really first got to know him. The guys over at PickFu actually came to me and said, hey, we're going to run this contest with like four different agencies and we want to feature your product. And at that time I was doing a hand sanitizer as a company called Germ Shark and I said I'm sure they said these guys are going to compete, they're going to create videos, they're going to create images, they're going to create A plus content. And then you get to go through it all, Kevin. You get to decide which one you like the best, and then it's up to you whether you want to go with them and pay them or not, if you, if you like it enough. And so, uh, Rafael's company, uh, Share It Studio was one of the winners. There was two, two companies that actually kind of came close uh, real close to each other, and one of them I liked one of their things and then them I liked the other thing, but a Share It Studio did the best job overall and they ended up creating a really a kick-ass video for us and a whole bunch of really cool content. So that's where I got to know him and you know this guy. His background wasn't necessarily an Amazon seller. He was a three-time telly, award-winning marketer and filmmaker, and then he decided to go out on his own and he saw this need in the Amazon space, where there's just not a lot of good agencies creating good, good imagery and video content. So in 2018, he founded Share It Studio and as a marketing Amazon specific marketing agency.

Kevin King:

Now they do a few things. It's not Amazon, but they focus on Amazon and it's they really want to set themselves apart, but not just saying, okay, we'll create some pretty pictures and we'll make some nice videos, but it's data driven. So they're actually looking at the data, looking at what it is that they actually need to do. What are the trigger points that are going to make people buy? Not just create a beautiful video that looks great, but what can they say, what can they do? What about those first three seconds? And just create a really custom, bespoke package of creative services just for Amazon sellers on the Amazon platform. They look at everything from. They do everything from PPC videos, premium A plus content, images, branding and a whole lot more, and they're really good at what they're doing so.

Kevin King:

Rafael is going to be coming on in just a minute and sharing us today specifically on package inserts, and before I bring him on, I want to talk about package inserts for just a second, because there's a lot of, what I believe, misinformation out there when it comes to package inserts. There's a lot of people that say you should not use package inserts on Amazon. You will hear that on Facebook groups. You will hear that from some of the people that help fight against Amazon. They say don't use package inserts, don't do it, you're putting yourself at risk. I 1000% disagree with that. 1000% disagree with that. I think there are certain things that you should not do on a package insert. Those anything you know people say well, you can't direct traffic off of Amazon. Bs, yes, you can. What you cannot do is put your package insert or your URL. If you read the terms of service carefully, Amazon says you cannot direct traffic off of Amazon, but that's on Amazon. That means that don't put your URL in your product photos. Don't put something in, don't email you know, using the customer follow-up something to take them off of Amazon. Anything on the Amazon platform in imagery or text. You cannot send them off of Amazon to do something that is against the rules. But when it comes to your package insert, all the big brands look at Sony, look at any of the big brands they have package inserts for warranty registrations, for accessories, for different things. It's totally fine in my opinion. But there is a line you have to draw and this is where a lot of people get in trouble and some people don't understand where that line is.

Kevin King:

You cannot do anything to influence reviews on Amazon, and that means in the old days people would say please leave us a five-star review, click here and they would take you to the review page. You can't do that. You can't put a smile and five stars. Five stars is a kind of a trademark icon of Amazon. That kind of indicates give us five stars. You can't do that. You can't say something like if you have trouble with this product, please email us. Don't contact the buyer, don't contact Amazon or contact where you bought it. If you have trouble, contact us. Otherwise, please leave us a review on Amazon. That's directing negative traffic to you, even though that's a good thing to do. You want to take care of the situation that's indirectly directing negative remarks that might have been a bad review to you. There's other ways to say that. You can say something like if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us, something like that that has no indication of. If there's a problem or there's something wrong, we want to fix it. And I understand you're trying to steer bad things away and you're trying to be good, but that can be seen as as as a negative. Or what happens a lot of times is people will have some sort of innocent package insert and then they will, they will send that and send it to a warranty page or some sort of registration page and then in the follow up sequence so everything is clean, but in the follow up sequence there's something that's a little gray or shady and that's where people get into trouble too. So but if you're doing the package inserts right, and I think you're totally fine and there is a way to do them you know I get a lot of Amazon packages and a lot of times I throw the package inserts out.

Kevin King:

I mean, it's one of the first things. I used to look at them to see what other people were doing. But now, obviously, I probably get 20 Amazon packages a week. I probably look at one package insert and that's what Rafael is going to show you today is some ways to make sure that that yours is the one that I'm looking at, and there's a reason that I only look at. One is because most of them suck. They're little business cards or they don't have good graphics, or they don't catch my attention or they're buried in the package in the wrong place. There's a whole number of reasons that I don't look at where there's no value to looking at it. It's just a bunch of text, or they all look the same. There's ways to stand out, and I use a package insert, and my calendar business is one example that I like to give, and what I do is I put a four by six card in there and I say congratulations, you've won a free calendar. That's what the package insert says, and what that package insert then says, because I'm selling calendars. Calendars are like selling milk they go bad.

Kevin King:

So right now we're in May of 2024. Most people don't want to pay full price for a 2024 calendar. The year started five months ago, so it's hard to sell them. So if I have extra calendars left over, I got to get rid of them. I can throw them away, I can donate them somewhere, I can try to liquidate them, but what I do is I use my extra calendars as a premium and so I say congratulations, you've won a free calendar. Just pay $10 shipping and handling and you can go to my website and get the URL out there and enter this code to get the calendar for $10. Or you can send a check or money order in the mail. A lot of people send checks or money orders in a physical envelope in the mail to my post office box and it works really well and I get a lot of leads that way. What do I do with those leads? The next year I've got 17,000 people on this list. The next year, when my calendars come out, calendars are pretty much bought between mid-November and mid-January. That's the big two months that most of the sales happen. You're selling 400, 500, 600 a day of some titles, but in September people aren't really thinking about 2024 like last year, so they're buying like two or three calendars a day. But that's where I use my list and I send them out.

Kevin King:

If I have their email, I send an email and I also send a physical postcard through the mail to them and says hey, the new calendars for 2024, or, in this case coming up 2025 are out. You can buy them directly from me and pay $9.95 shipping and handling, or you can go to Amazon, if you're a Prime member, and buy them on Amazon and get free shipping. And what does that do? It allows me to launch my product completely with no PPC, no launches, no having to do Vine reviews, no, nothing. Because people go and I have four different titles and a lot of them. They buy all four, so that gets them in the frequently bought together. And then they also buy other calendars so they might buy a motorcycle calendar or something like that. So then I start showing up on these motorcycle calendars as customers who looked at this or viewed this or those sections. And I started this flywheel going and I'm selling two or three a day in September and I just ride that wave all the way up and I do zero PPC for these calendars. I do zero launch and that's the power of a package insert. And then I can sell these guys other calendars that are not available on Amazon.

Kevin King:

I do it for my dog products with a dog sample packs. I do it with a lot of things, but in nowhere in there and no my emails, nowhere do I ever ask for a review? Do I ever indicate five stars? Do I ever indicate anything that's manipulating the system? It's all above board and I've been doing this for 20 years and there's nothing wrong with it. Usually, if you dig deep and someone says I got in trouble for package inserts, I didn't do anything, look deep into their package insert or into their funnel and you're probably going to see that there is something that's a little on the edge there. So if you keep your nose clean and do this right, it can be powerful. And so Rafael is going to come on right now and he's going to spend some time showing you some really cool ways to actually do package inserts. Hey Rafael, how are you doing, man?

Rafael:

How's it going, man? Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It's an honor.

Kevin King:

Appreciate you coming on and doing this man, this is going to be great. I’m looking forward to seeing what you got. Learn a few things myself, hopefully.

Rafael:

All right guys. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time. I am the Founder and CEO of Share It Studio. Actually, my background was in law. I went to law school. I did four years of law school in Venezuela and then I went to filmmaking because I hated law so that's like a really little fun fact. And then I started working and I graduated from filmmaking. I started doing filmmaking, I moved to New York, etcetera. I worked in a lot of companies CNN, Nickelodeon and then in 2018, I was working for Nickelodeon and I decided to quit because I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to get out of that rat race, which I think a lot of us maybe were there and wanted to escape. So, yeah, so let's get started.

Rafael:

So this is a little bit of what we do at Share It Studio. I just wanted to give you a glimpse. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm just trying to give you a glimpse of what we do. So we only focus on creating content. Why I feel like a jack of all trades is a master or none. We like to specialize in one thing, one thing only, and anything that has to do with visual and visually enticing or visually manipulated. You could say a little bit that buy or that conversion, so anything that has to do with videos, listings, et cetera. So what are product inserts? You can read this, I know you can, but in my own words it's a way to give the customer more experience, right, to give them more value. The more value you give, the more value you're going to get in return. So it's a powerful tool, obviously, to enhance the customer's experience. You can request feedback, you can promote your repeat purchases. It's all going to depend on the product itself. It's the same thing to have a product insert for supplements for a hand sanitizer than for a garlic press, for example. Those are consumables. You can repeat them. The garlic press, you can probably buy one when it breaks. But if it breaks too fast, it means the bad quality garlic press, right? So, depending on your product, I would say try to steer and try to analyze and strategize that product insert.

Rafael:

Okay, let's keep going. So do's. Some basic do's. Deliver value. This is like just a general thing in life. Let's go into newsletters. I don't read newsletters. I find newsletters actually very boring or they're all the same. But I came across and I'm trying to plug this in in any way. But I came across one a few months ago which is Kevin King's newsletter right, the Billion Dollar newsletter and there's so much value that I actually enjoy reading them. That's because it's given me value, like a bunch of value. If it wouldn't give me value, I just would discard it, archive it or read it or delete it, et cetera. So make sure you deliver value. It's the most important asset. If you do not deliver value, you're not going to get anything in return. Some ways you can deliver value additional usage guidelines, care recommendations, general insights, coupons, customer experience. There's a lot, a lot of ways. Right, make sure you maintain informativeness, meaning that you are talking about your product's advantages or attributes on the product. That's dependent on the product. Again, these are all dependent on the product that you have. It's gonna. It's not a, it's not a one. It's not a cookie cutter, it's not a cookie cutter template, it's more of a. What do I have? What fits into this mold type of situation from my point of view, at least in my experience?

Rafael:

Encourage reviews. You want to avoid 100% encouraging any positive reviews or avoiding getting, or encouraging avoidance of getting negative reviews. Like Kevin said at the beginning, that goes against Amazon's TOS and, just like the taxman, the Amazon man is also going to find out at some point. Okay, so I would say, steer away from that. So politely, solicit feedback from the customers. As simple as your feedback matters could help. Extend support. Again, it depends on the product, but extend support If it's maybe it's a product that it costs I don't know a hundred bucks, most likely if that product is a little bit faulty or people don't understand that because it's hard to assemble, or something you can extend support, maybe a video, maybe a hotline, maybe an email I don't know something that gives them support. Um, cross selling if your product, you can match it with other products. For example, I'm going to show you an example in a bit of a baby product. But let's say you sell in the baby category and there's a lock and you're selling a lock um securing mechanism for the door for babies, right, and you and you can also cross promote the outlet protector for babies. So you know you kill two birds with one stone.

Rafael:

Don'ts. Avoid soliciting positive reviews, guys. Do not do that. That's like bad, bad, bad. Referring from cherry picking reviewers, such as what Kevin said, like hey, if you're having a bad experience, you know, come back and we can help you before you leave a bad review. That's a no-no. Steer clear from external links. Like Kevin said, Amazon wants everything in their ecosystems. What I've seen recently, though, is that they send them to a landing page, but the payment processing takes them directly back to the Amazon page. So what does that mean? That means that, from the product insert, it takes you to the landing page. You gather data from there, like the pixels, the Facebook pixels well, that's not Facebook anymore, it's the Metapixel, et cetera. Now you have marketing data from there, and then it redirects them back to Amazon. I've seen that recently. Eliminate misleading information, false hesitations, exaggerated claims, deceptive details. You want to be as transparent as possible and as truthful as possible. Remember, giving value is about being real, maintaining real, and abstain from manipulation. Definitely abstain from manipulation, because that's also you're trying to cherry pick that review. Okay, and avoid interfering with packaging. This is more on your end. You don't want to have a package that's extremely hard to open because of the product insert, because it's not going to give value to the customer experience, and customer experience is everything. All right. So it's a simple thank you enough. It could be, but you know it's there's not more, so it's basically wasting your money.

Rafael:

So if you want to win and if you want to actually get results, you should definitely take action. So things you should include you in your insert cards. Things I would include that we've included with our clients is warranties, how to guides, how to take care of the product, benefits of our products, guidelines, but it's going to depend again on the product. I want to make sure that everybody understands that it depends on your product. But, in summary, if you want to get value, you should get value. That's a rule of thumb in life. Actually, we should all get value in life, so we can get something valuable as well. So type of products, inserts or strategies. So review hunting that's like the most basic one, right? You want to get reviews. The most reviews you get, the better. I'm gonna show you some examples afterwards. You can put up a QR code and ask for feedback. You can use jokes, for example. So you put the joke and then you put the answer. Kevin usually actually does this. He puts stump bases in the beginning of the email newsletter and then at the end, he gives you the answer. This allows him, this allows that you read through the whole thing and then you have a reward at the end, which is kind of cool. So, for example, for this one, this is plainly emotional. Hey, scan this QR code and speak your mind. That's it. I just want your feedback, and your feedback means the world to us. It's very important. You're being sincere, trying to be as sincere as possible.

Rafael:

This is some of the content with this. For this seller, we also did that his packaging and he inserted it. And also, you added more value. He's not in a lead generator. So if you want to watch this video, it's time to install this. Watch this video, right? So you scan this QR code. Basically, it takes you to a landing page. It asks you for your email to unlock or to send the link of the video to that email. So, right there, you're getting more information. A simple joke is cool. So what type of candy is never on time? Chocolate, you get it, I didn't know. So ChatGPT helped us with that, by the way. So, yeah, so after they peel it, okay, and then, hey, since we're here, share your experience with our candies, and then they scan your codes. You know you're asking for it. All right, this is for stickers.

Rafael:

And another type of strategy is free purchase marketing. So there's a couple of things you can do. You can add custom coupons and you can add also cross-selling. So a coupon is you'll we all know what well, maybe there's new or sellers. Here's coupon is just basically a way that you give them something, a discount or, yeah, a discount for the next purchase or the new purchase or something, and cross-selling or it could be even an external coupon and cross-selling is when you promote something, another product, okay, based on that product, that at least simulates or in some way it connects with the main product that they just bought. So, for example this is the example I was going to give you it's a baby clear outlet plugs, right, and the baby toilet plug. So, welcome to Parenthood. Since you bought this, we want to help you. Here's more things that you can get and you're going to get these products. You head to storefronts and you get some offers from those products. Boom, so they're buying this, but they're also, oh, these guys also sell this, because maybe when they get this through their Amazon. They're like oh, I also need this. So you're cross-promoting that seller. Okay.

Rafael:

So list building it's extremely important as well. As we all know, Amazon is their own ecosystem and they have the last say in everything. So, like Kevin was saying about his calendars, it doesn't matter if he sells them on Amazon or not. He has a list. So Kevin doesn't even need PPC because he has a whole list already. So that's one of the things that you should be doing list building. So it's basically just as a gift.

You can create a strategy. Number one is a gift. Basically, you create a lead magnet from your website or app and you just tell the customer like hey, you want this, we need this in return, and they gave you this, which is this well, you can ask for several thousand information, email, phone number, et cetera. Or strategy to a newsletter. You know, create a newsletter with interesting content to promote, to promote it and put it in your insert card. You're giving value. For example, we have a client that he sells bonsais. I didn't know this, but bonsais are very much. It's like a culture, like there's like a thing for bonsais and people are really into it. So they read newsletters, they read articles, they see videos, they watch videos. Part of this newsletter is giving value to them, so that's how they're building their list, also through social media.

Rafael:

This is, for me, the best strategy up to date, which is an app. Why? it's also going to depend on the type of product you have. But why the app? Because the app you're always going to have them there. There's nothing more intimate right now, technology-wise, than the phone for a human. It literally holds our work, our life, our secrets, our laughs. Like, if you leave your house without your phone, most likely you're gonna return back home just to get your phone, because it's literally a third arm that we don't have. So by having that, you have so much access to that particular buyer. For example, this is QR an app that it's going to help you, you know, work out and it's going to give you a workout. It's a workout app, right? This is the one I'm using for to get ready to for BDSS in Hawaii soon Kev. I'm just kidding, I don't have a six pack, so this app is going to help you that and there that you can promote also other types of products. For example, I have another app which is a scale. I bought a scale and that scale helps you track your weight through the app. And through the app, sometimes I get push notifications which is hey, we just launched this product, would you like to look into it? Or hey, we saw that you're hitting your fitness goals. We have this new product that can help you reach those fitness goals, et cetera. So there, you're going to give a lot more value. And what are they doing? They're just cross promoting, they're cross selling. So that's, I mean, I think that's brilliant.

Rafael:

Remember, one step at a time. It's depending on your level of being a seller. If you're in stage one and you just launched your product, focus on reviews. If you want to do everything at the same time, great. But if not, if you want to take it step by step, focus on reviews, then focus on repurchase marketing and then build in a list all right, but this is a must at the end. If you want to build a brand, building a list is a must. Another thing if your package is, you don't want to create it in any way possible, like you know, maybe you don't want to destroy or interrupt this opening process you can add it to a label like the top, because you all know that it can only be a sticker, for example, every bottle or not every bottle. Most of the bottles have a seal on top right, so if they have a seal, why not put it there? They either way have to open it up, so why not put your discount or give them that value there? For example, these are supplements. Hey, next bottle you get 50% off. If I like them, I'm going to use that 50% off coupon 100%.

Rafael:

So another thing that you could be doing, which I love this one is A-B testing. Marketing, just like life, it's not one plus one equals two. Marketing is just trial and error. Trial and error. Obviously, you're spending a bunch of money. You're investing a bunch of money into your future, so you want to mitigate that fail as much as possible. For example, when we were doing Kevin's videos for the Germ Shark, we ran like 100 pick food tests. We were actually the company that ran the most pick food tests. Why? Because we want to mitigate the most amount of errors as possible. We didn't come out of the studio we're like, oh, let's just create this, it's going to be a winner. No, we tried it out a lot of times. So what you could do is, in your packages you can have two QR codes and see which one converts the most, depending on your product. Again, and you know, get creative and that's it. Um for overachievers, make sure that you're evaluating your KPIs. So repeat purchasing metrics. Are they buying this again? Is this working? Is it not working? Brand loyalty metrics. Are they going back? Are they not buying back off Amazon influence, Amazon attribution, advertising and sales. Percentage of off Amazon sales. For example, Kevin gets a lot of off Amazon sales because he has that list right and that is it.

Kevin King:

That was good, good stuff, Rafael. I want to just do something real quick before we get into answering specific questions. Come and listen to what I'm about to say. You, absolutely positively, can send people out of the Amazon ecosystem. Okay, you do. You can put your social media links. You can put a link to your website. You can do that. Quit following for the misinformation that's all over Facebook that people are talking out their ass, that don't know what they're talking about are doing. Quit it. Quit spreading this stuff. I see this in the chat and it pisses me off because you're wrong. This is one of the reasons I created Freedom Ticket back in 2017, when Manny Coats came to me and said hey, do you want to create Freedom Ticket? One of the reasons I did is there's so much misinformation out there. Quit falling for it. You can absolutely do it. There's certain things you cannot do. Raphael showed you that Bradley just posted in there like you, don't want some people to go buy this on Target instead or Amazon's competition, but if you're going to create an app, that's a brilliant thing. You can create apps with no code software now, with AI, you don't even have to be a programmer. You can go and create a very basic app and say it's a great lead magnet, download this app. You know, he said he showed the example of the one that's for monitoring your weight. Um, which is probably a little bit more elaborate, but you can create a very simple little app. People are more likely to download a cool app that goes with their product than they are. Um, you know, if I'm doing dog treats, I could do a dog training app. You know it's got a few videos embedded in it and it's a great lead magnet.

Kevin King:

You can send people off. What you cannot do is anything around reviews or influencing reviews or something like that. But you can send people off, you can capture information. Just don't do anything that would hint at influencing reviews. That means putting five stars. That means saying leave us reviews and then putting five stars under it to say, kind of imply that you want five stars To say if you have a problem, contact us. Otherwise, go leave a review on Amazon. Don't do anything, don't offer discounts. If you leave us a review or if you do that, I'll give you a coupon. Don't do anything like that to incentivize reviews on Amazon. That you cannot do, and don't even do it on your own website, just so that there's no gray area there. But you can send people off and they can buy things on your website too. Okay, so I want to get that straight. Okay, so quit falling for the misinformation, quit.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, tell us how you really feel, Kevin. But let me start pulling up some questions. First of all, we answered Oleg. Oleg says Kevin answered my question before I even asked. That's perfect, all right. So let's just-.

Kevin King:

No, I think Kane says you can't. Yeah, they don't want you sending to other marketplaces, like that's what Kane just said here. You can go to your own website and they don't want you sending people over to Target or to eBay or over to a competing website. I would steer clear of that kind of stuff. Saying our product is available and you put the Amazon logo, the Target logo, the Walmart logo, that is a no-no. But taking them to your own website to do after-sale warranty, to get an app, to get some sort of other accessory for your product that's, an add-on to the product, or to grab a coupon for their next order on Amazon, all that is fine.

Kevin King:

Hope says that coupon codes last for 30 days on Amazon. Then you have to create a new one. So you can't. What you do is you put a, you create a QR code you can use Bitly or whatever your favorite QR code tool is and create one that goes to a specific landing page and then you update that page every 30 days. You create a new coupon and you just update the page. You update that page so that QR code stays the same. So even if your product doesn't sell for a year, you're updating the page, not the QR code to a specific place. That's an easy workaround.

Rafael:

Yep, and also not even coupon codes. Maybe you want to offer something new now, that QR code that Kevin's saying that you can update. You can do whatever you want with it. It's your QR code, basically.

Bradley Sutton:

I have one here. I know what I saw here that would have got this flag, but I just want I'm curious about what Kevin saw. Maybe you saw this one. But Maria says hey, I know somebody who had an insert that said let us know how we did Leave us a review on Amazon. We value your opinion. With a QR code below which said for a free book on the dangers of what their product was working to protect. Scan the QR code and Amazon close the listing, force the seller to remove these inserts. The seller did not ask for positive reviews. Is it not okay to ask for reviews at all? I know what I saw here, that that might have triggered it. What about you, Kevin?

Kevin King:

That's an incentive. You're basically I mean it doesn't directly word for word say it, but that can be read as an incentive that if you leave us a review, we're going to give you this free book. You can't do that. That's a no-no and that right there is an example of you've got to keep your nose super clean on anything around the words reviews and you're tying them together. They didn't say hey, go leave us a review and we'll give you a free book, but they tied them together in that same paragraph and you can read into that. That's kind of what they're implying. Don't do that. That will get you in trouble. As far as number of QR codes, I would never do more than two and put them on opposite sides of the page or opposite one at the top, one at the bottom, or opposite sides on the bottom so they don't get crossed. But I would never do more than two. One is best. You always want people to take one directed action. One action is always better than multiple and confusing them. But if you have a valid reason, you could put two, and I think that would. That would be okay.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Mahak said how do I generate QR codes to direct customers? So there's, you know, any QR code generator can do it Helium 10 Portals. If you have access to Helium 10, you've got access to Helium 10 Portals you can create the QR code there. You know, Rafael showed some examples of QR codes in his presentation, but pretty much any QR code.

Rafael:

And also Mahak, it's not just creating the QR code. Make sure it's something like Kevin said, like it's in their face, like they want to see it, they want to scan it and it's not just like scan this, because most likely they're not going to scan it. You want to get, I would say, 5%, 10% of those QR codes scanned at least. If you're getting less than that, you should re-evaluate how you're presenting that insert packaging.

Kevin King:

Hope what you just asked is a no-no. Can I ask for an honest review in an email follow-up after they enter the review on a landing page? No, don't do that. Basically, Amazon will see as like you're filtering reviews. So you're saying, go leave us an honest review on our own landing page. They're typing it and, even though you made the confirmation page, may automatically say, uh, please, uh, you know, be kind and post this to Amazon or somewhere whatever. Amazon could see that as that you're filtering. Like if they left you something negative, then you're not asking them to do it, and if there's something positive, you are asking them to do it. So don't, don't do that. You can ask, you can say on your we love reviews, please leave us an honest review. That general wording by itself, with nothing else around it. Any other stuff about a free book or something is like way down the page or somewhere else or not even on there. That should be okay. You got one um.

Bradley Sutton:

Marcy says how many QR codes per insert do you think is acceptable? I've got one for my YouTube and one for my Facebook group. I want to add one for man. She wants QR codes all over the place. I want to add one for a 10% off, a coupon with an attribution tag so I can get the brown referral bonus. What do you guys think?

Kevin King:

Uh yeah, I just answered that. I said don't do more than two, don't do more.

Rafael:

Okay, I would present it. Marcy, maybe I would present the 10% in a different way. Maybe not a QR code, maybe it's just like literally just a code. But again, that does expire, like Kevin said. But I'm with Kevin 100%, I wouldn't do more than two. Like you saw in the light bulb example that I gave you, there was one at the top, one on the bottom. It wasn't next to each other, because it can get tricky like that. You want to separate. Even the color was separated in the package. It was like a different color in the background. So you want that separation as well.

Kevin King:

Tadara is asking can we add samples of other products and inserts or offer to send free samples? Yeah, you can add samples as an insert, especially with little accessories. Here's a free. If you're selling something sewing, here's a free button kit. Or here's a free bead kit or something. You know we have 16,000 other colors available on Amazon. Here's a free sample as a gift. You know there's little gifts like that work. I mean there's a video. Rafael will understand this there. Back in the day before that everything was digital, I had to order to do all of our video production. We had ordered beta tapes and we had ordered these big beta tapes, uh, and HD tapes, uh, these, you know, they're big like squares that you put in the big cameras and we'd order them out of this company in Philadelphia and every time they would send me these, these packages, uh, with my shipment of 10 tapes you know these tapes were like a hundred dollars a piece or something I would get two little packages of M&Ms, like you see at Halloween, the little, tiny, little sample size packages of M&Ms, and during the summer they didn't put those in there because, but instead they put a note sorry, due to the heat, these might melt, you know, and so they wouldn't put them in and it would always tick me off that I didn't get those two little packages of M&Ms. These are, you know, 20 cents. But the fact that I would get those in there was a thing so surprising people with a gift can be great.

Kevin King:

Another thing that I've done with a power to insert on my dog products is I've offered us I've had where I sell antlers, I sell bully sticks, I sell duck treats, I sell a variety of other dog treats, and what I'll do is I'll make a sample pack and I'll say get a free sample pack of all of our seven dog treats on Amazon that we sell on Amazon. I'll put a picture of the Amazon listing photo and actually you know and put it, put it on there and say we'll send you a sample pack with this along with a coupon. Just pay $7.95 shipping and handling. It costs me like $4 to send it out. $3 basically covers the cost. I send them a sample pack through the mail. That way. They have to give me their address, they have to give me their phone number because I'll say this is for how we deliver delivery, updates and shipping tracking numbers is by phone, so give me a valid phone number and then we send that sample pack out and in. There is a sample pack, and then there's a coupon that says get this on Amazon. I mean 20% off your first order, your first bag, use this coupon, it works really well. And then I capture their name and email address and I'm driving stuff back to Amazon. I'm creating this whole circle and it works really, really well.

Rafael:

Amelia has a good question.

Bradley Sutton:

So Amelia said here can you improve our current package design? If yes, would the insert card and the package design be connected to our current branding design and what would the creative process be behind this?

Rafael:

okay, um, I don't want to do any sales right now, but yeah, we can help you. But just in case, um, the insert, I would say that you do need to, um, to keep it harmoniously, um, I would say like it should be aligned to your branding. That's why it's a branding. It should be aligned to your branding. And if you can actually put it within the packaging, maybe you wanna save money in the insert cards and you wanna put it on top of the lid of the box or something like that. You could do that depending on your budget. So many questions that I have to be able to answer that correctly. But, yes, and the process you do it is what I was talking about. You should have understanding the product, the niche, the buyer persona, their needs, their troubles, their fears, everything that you can gather from them and give them to that, okay. So maybe if it's a fitness product, I'm trying to get fit for BDSS. Okay. So for me, it was getting something to help me maintain my weight scale, understanding where I should eat, what time I should eat. So when I was looking through products to help me with that, the insert cards or the products like the hero images gave me that it was like, oh, this scale has an app. It was through the hero image. I was like, okay, let me check this out, and that's how I got hooked on that scale. So yeah, I hope that answers your question, amelia.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, we got a question from Joseph, who's got a scenario here. He says all right, I've got this QR code. Says something to the effect of learn more about the benefits of our product here. Takes them to an about page on our brand website, which website is also a Shopify D2C website that has a shop page. Is that permissible?

Kevin King:

That's a gray one right there. Um, I would that. That's a gray one that one could be seen as either way. Um, I would probably, if I would probably, cordon off that Shopify page. Uh, I think Shopify allows you to do this. I think Esther Frystone has a landing page that goes on top of Shopify that allows you to corner off the rest of your Shopify site, like to focus it on a single product. Um, I mean, if they get creative and they hit a bunch of buttons and they might go back to your homepage, but I would avoid any confusion there. That's a gray one.

Rafael:

A question really quick from Henry. He says that all products need to have warranties. I'm not saying that your product shouldn't have a warranty, definitely if you want to include warranties. 100%. But what I'm saying is that what's going to take action to scan that QR code? Is it going to be the call to action for a warranty or is it going to be a call to action to like hey, for your next product, if it's a vitamin, for example, that you know they're going to repeat the consumption, here's 10, 15% off. I'm not saying don't include it, of course, 100%. If you want to include it, I include it. But when you say the call to action, what's going to be that action that's going to make them scan it? Is it going to be the warranty or is it going to be, depending on the product? That's what I'm trying to say there, just in case. I don't want to make any confusions there.

Bradley Sutton:

I was just saying Lance is wondering how to get in contact with Rafael. You can be connected directly to them at hubhelium10.com and just type in ShareIt Studio. They're all over social media as well. Rafael's on LinkedIn. If you're in Helium 10, the easiest way is just go to hubhelium10.com and enter ShareIt Studio and you'll be able to even see. Maybe if you're a certain member of Helium 10, you might get certain discounts with them as well if you're logged in on that page.

Rafael:

If you're seeing this, this is my insert card. If you're seeing this, if you say Bradley and Kev are the best, we'll give you a really good discount.

Bradley Sutton:

There we go. I like that. Kevin, you had a question you said you wanted to answer, or was it someone else?

Kevin King:

I just saw one. Someone said they're doing a. Where did it go? They offer a 100-pound Amazon voucher prize draw each month. It's an image or video tagged on Instagram or TikTok. Each image uploaded gets one entry in the drawing. Opinions, please. Yeah, I don't see any problem with that. That should be totally fine and that's good marketing. Yeah, so you should be totally fine with that.

Rafael:

Angela Reategui. I hope I'm not butchering your last name, Angela. She asked can I include a QR code for free e-book? Uh, yes, we've done it with clients, especially in the home and kitchen, like food sector. It's worked really well with them. Uh, so yeah.

Kevin King:

Kane's like says can we offer discounts only on Amazon? Can we offer coupons for our own website? Um it, you can offer a coupon for your own website but, like for accessories or something, I wouldn't do it for the same product. I wouldn't say, come and buy, you know this exact same product. Or you don't want to do stuff where you're putting people into their, into your flow. You know, if it's a subscribe and save type of product, Amazon's probably not going to like it too much that if you're trying to get them to come to your subscribe and save on your Shopify site versus you're on Amazon, that that's a gray area, and so I would. I would just stay away from something like that. But offering them a discount hey, you know you just bought this blender. We have an accessory kit. As an Amazon customer, you get 20% off. It's not sold on Amazon, it's only available directly from us. Then yeah, that should be fine.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, guys, thank you for all the great questions. We're going to be back here next month with another guest, Rafael, Kevin. Thank you so much for joining. Don't forget to reach out to Share It Studio, hub.helium10.com. All right, guys, hope you enjoyed that training. Don't forget again, the full, actual detail of the training, without the Q and A and all that other stuff, is in the Freedom Ticket course. So go to your learning hub inside of Helium 10. And if you have no idea what Freedom Ticket is, want to get more information, just go to h10.me/ft for freedom ticket. And let us know if you're watching this on YouTube or somewhere else. What other advanced topics would you like us to do? A deep dive, Q & A and bring an expert on with Kevin? Let us know in the comments below if you're watching this on YouTube or another place. Until then, we'll see you guys in the next episode.

View Details

Target, Walmart shoppers seek home goods, grocery delivery online
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-walmart-shoppers-seek-home-goods-grocery-delivery-online-2024-05-22/

Join the Amazon Ads team and our very own Bradley Sutton on June 4 and 5 for a free virtual event to help you maximize your brand and performance marketing during Prime Day, coming back this July. http://h10.me/primeads

Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul — and a monthly subscription price
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/22/amazon-plans-to-give-alexa-an-ai-overhaul-monthly-subscription-price.html

New Beta Amazon Advertising Product Launch - Canva Connect
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffreycohen_la-canvacreate-activity-7199484241636728835-1SAS/

TikTok unites ad tools (including new AI-driven products) with TikTok One hub
https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/05/23/tiktok-world-ad-announcements-ai-symphony-one-shop/

Amazon Ramps Up Logistics Expansion to Speed Delivery, Reduce Costs
https://www.pymnts.com/amazon/2024/amazon-ramps-up-logistics-expansion-to-speed-delivery-reduce-costs/

Amazon continues laying the groundwork for Prime to be to sports streaming what ESPN was to cable. https://www.axios.com/2024/05/19/amazon-nba-deal-nfl

Will Walmart Dominate Virtual Retail?
https://retailwire.com/discussion/will-walmart-dominate-virtual-retail/

In another part of our episode, Bradley highlights the latest from Helium 10, starting with a must-have Prime Day preparation checklist courtesy of Carrie at Helium 10. Tune in for updates on Adtomic's new features, including advanced custom PPC rules and insightful metrics that could be game-changers for your strategy. Don't miss our training tip that leverages Cerebro's historical data for seasonal product research, exemplified by a dive into Valentine's Day candy keywords that could give you an edge in the market. Whether you're new to the e-commerce scene or a seasoned pro, these discussions are packed with actionable advice to help you stay ahead of the curve.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:58 - Online Sales Surging
02:54 - Amazon Prime Day Ads
04:06 - Amazon Alexa Update
06:05 - Amazon x Canva
07:02 - TikTok One Hub
08:12 - Amazon Size Chart Tool
09:02 - Amazon Logistics Plans
11:33 - Amazon x NBA
12:42 - Walmart Virtual Retail
14:28 - Prime Day Checklist
14:58 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
17:05 - Get A Free Demo Of Adtomic
17:13 - Pro Training: Cerebro's Historical Data Analysis

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

E-commerce reaching levels it hasn't released since COVID. Big changes coming to Amazon Alexa. Walmart releases a new virtual shopping environment. These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories and goings on in the Walmart, amazon and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features that Helium 10 has that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

We've got a lot of articles today. I keep saying this guys, it's so weird how things just come and go Like I remember last week there's like three articles that was worth reporting on. This week we've got about eight, nine, so let's go ahead and hop right into it. The first story is from Reuters.com and it's entitled Target and Walmart shoppers seek home goods grocery delivery online. Now, this article was kind of talking about Walmart and Target, not too much about Amazon, but what is interesting here is that it's saying, hey, US online spending experiencing a rebound, spurred by high gas prices, convenient delivery options and a surge in deals following a brief post-pandemic slump. Us retailers say Now the key stat here I wanted to bring out where it says here e-commerce sales made up 16% of total US retail sales in Q1 this year, the highest since they peaked at 16.4% when, during the height of the pandemic, in 2020 Q2. So a lot of you had, you know, super, you know huge sales during COVID perhaps, and maybe some of the sales slumped off afterwards. Well, this is kind of interesting. We're seeing some big numbers according to this article here. Now. Target especially says it's online sales returned to growth in the Q1 after more than a year of decline. So a year, week over week, it was declining and then finally, target start had an increase and that's probably going to keep going because of their upcoming release of Target 360. Walmart had a 22% surge in online sales last week, which exceeded the 17 percent growth recorded during the strong holiday season. Now, this again is interesting because, if it continues, what does that mean? That means good news for you guys. Again, this article didn't talk too much about Amazon, but if there is a general increase in online sales, you got to know that Amazon's got to be a part of it, since Amazon is the, you know, the biggest online sales channel or platform out there. So let's keep a close watch on this. Are your sales up the last few weeks? Hopefully they are.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is just from Seller Central. An announcement on your dashboard you might have seen. There's Amazon. I think this might be one of the first ever. I don't remember this before Amazon Ad Summit, especially for Prime Day. All right, so this is June 4th and June 5th and it says here don't miss the chance to join our Amazon ads experts for exclusive workshops, in-depth discussions and more. Now, the cool thing is it's almost all Amazon employees who are doing this, but if you go ahead and register for this h10.me/primeads, you'll notice that on the signup page there's an outside expert. There. There's only one outside person, and this is a guy here with the name of Bradley Sutton. So check me out, guys. I flew out to Amazon's headquarters in New York to film this and it was pretty cool. We went over some just general strategies that sellers of all levels can learn from. So if you want to learn from the Amazon speakers and yours truly, again, go ahead and register for this. This is not a Helium 10 event. This is 100% Amazon. You can even see this in your Seller Central. Again, go to h10.me/primeads and register for this training that's coming up.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from CNBC and it's entitled Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul and a monthly subscription price. Now, this hasn't been confirmed by Amazon yet, but according to this, hey, amazon is supposedly not going to include Alexa free of charge in Amazon Prime subscriptions anymore and it's going to offer like a more generative AI kind of feel to it. Because, you know, like Alexa believe it or not is like 10 years old now and it's kind of like almost antiquated, you know, when you compare it to a lot of the generative AI things that you see out there. So, again, there's no comment from Amazon on this, but it's going to be interesting to see why, because how is this going to affect shopping with Alexa? We've been talking about for years how you know you should probably optimize your listings for Alexa, but the you know, until now, sales from Alexa is not that great, right, and it's probably because the experience is not that intuitive, right. But if there's this huge overhaul with Amazon Alexa. It would kind of like be you know. Go without saying that the shopping experience might be a lot easier on there. And now, all of a sudden, it could be exponentially more important that you do optimize your listings for the Amazon Alexa AI, whatever it's going to be. So just something to keep your eye on. I'm not 100% sure this is going to be like a big thing for Amazon if they start charging, I mean, who knows, like I'm not even sure I'm going to pay for it. If it's like $3 a month, since I have like a million Alexa devices in my house, sure I'll pay $3 a month, but if they're going to be like oh yeah, you want generative AI and it's going to be $30 a month, I might just go ahead and give up my Alexa devices because that that might not be worth it. So again, let's. And how it's going to affect shoppers and sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article, but from our buddy Jeff Cohen from Amazon. His LinkedIn post talked about Canva. There's going to be a new kind of like collab between Amazon and Canva so that you can seamlessly connect Canva to your Amazon ads creative library. You know, as we know, there's a lot of like generative AI tools where you can create images. Even Helium 10 has that in Adtomic and even other parts of our tool suite. But it's going to be interesting to see, hey, what new features does Canva allow you to do that the generative AI couldn't Like. For example, generative AI the one that Amazon has doesn't really allow you to put text on images. So if you're trying to create infographics or something like that, you really can't. You still have to go to Canva outside right. So maybe this could all be now in one you know kind of like process. You can go ahead and create infographics with text thanks to this Canva integration. Let's see how that works out.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from tubefilter.com and it's entitled TikTok unites ad tools, including a new ai driven products with TikTok one hub. All right. So this is a an appeal to advertisers. It said um, where they talked about some new things coming to TikTok, including an ai driven tool named TikTok symphony and a marketing optimization solution for TikTok shop. Now this is especially going to affect those who are doubling advertising with their TikTok shop strategy. These new improvements, this article says, will enable new opportunities for advertisers who are already seeing strong returns on TikTok In a newsroom post recapping TikTok world, the app noted that 61% of users have made a purchase either directly on TikTok or after seeing an ad, while 79% of TikTok users show a preference for brands that demonstrate a clear understanding of how to create content specifically for the platform. So, hey, you know we've talked a lot about TikTok shop. I'm not selling on TikTok shop yet. I'm going to very soon. But let me know those of you who are also selling on TikTok have you seen this new platform yet and do you think it's going to help you with your advertising?

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to Amazon Seller Central for the next article here, something entitled brands can now add size charts with the new self-serve tool. So, you know, are you selling in apparel or do you have a product that has like size variations? Well, now there's this brand new tool that you're automatically going to be enrolled in if you have brand registry, and this new size chart tool is going to have features such as existing size chart templates that can be used for new charts, the ability to apply a size chart from a single product to up to 1000 ASINs across entire product types. So you're not having to make 1000 different size charts anymore, you just create kind of like one template and then apply it to the rest of your products. You can also receive real time instruction to improve your size chart accuracy. So if you want to get more information on this, go ahead and check your Seller Central dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Payments.com. I found this one interesting. It's entitled Amazon ramps up logistics expansion to speed delivery and reduce costs. Now, in the past and weekly buzz, you know we've talked various times about Amazon like downsizing their footprint as far as warehouses goes. But now it says, hey, amazon has leased, bought or announced plans for over 16 million square feet of new warehouse space in the US this year alone, according to this report, and this is in addition to they're already over 400 million square feet of real estate. It also mentions how it says they've overhauled their domestic shipping network, shifting from a centralized network to nine regions that are designed to operate independently. All right. Now, again, they're trying to get goods closer to consumers, enabling faster delivery times and lower cost, it says. In Q4 of 2023, amazon reported more than 65% increase in orders delivered same day or next day in the US compared to the previous year.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, it says, to support this new approach, what is Amazon doing? Well, we know what Amazon is doing. Right, it says here it's requiring itself and third-party merchants on the platform to hold inventory across multiple locations rather than in a few centralized places. Well, that's a nice way of saying that, causing Amazon sellers to pay more fees if we only send it to one or two locations, as opposed to spreading it across the country. But also something interesting says the company has been opening inbound receiving centers, which are warehouses that are from like 600,000 to 1 million square feet to store goods across the country. All right, so they're opening up smaller warehouses in rural areas as well for last mile delivery stations. So it's going to be interesting how Amazon kind of like you know, expands their network. How Amazon kind of like you know, expands their network. You know it talks about here that this is partly maybe in response to Walmart being able to fulfill through all their 4,600 stores. Right, so Amazon's, like you know, amazon doesn't have stores across the country as much as Walmart does, so it wants to get a little bit closer to the consumers to give faster delivery time. So, again, all of this is something that's going to affect Amazon sellers. It already has. Part of this is causing us to have new fees, but then is this, you know, faster shipping time going to cause customers to order more from us. You know, then, maybe in the long run, this could actually help Amazon sellers. Let's see how this works out.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Axios.com. It says Amazon's big league ambitions and, just briefly, it's talking about how, you know, amazon might be part of this bid with, like NBC, to broadcast NBA basketball, professional basketball games. It talks about it has a deal with the NBA. It's been doing football, you know, like a Thursday night football for the last few years. It's talking with a regional sports network, one that I used to watch my LA Clippers on, where they're going to try and pull it out of bankruptcy and maybe get games on Amazon. Now, this is it. Why would you care about this? Maybe you're not a sports fan like I, am right, but this is important because we all know that Amazon is really pushing sponsored TV and all these new ways for average sellers to be able to have ads on their streaming platforms or another kind of like media in which you, potentially, might be able to run ads, and so the more deals that Amazon makes like this, the more opportunity for you to get your products in, you know, in front of different audiences.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article of the day is from retailwire.com and it's entitled will Walmart dominate virtual retail? All right, so this is kind of interesting. Virtual retail All right, so this is kind of interesting. It says Walmart has launched a virtual shopping flat platform called Walmart Realm. All right, now, this is an innovative marketplace, it says, that includes a unique blend of influencer led virtual stores and it creates an immersive shopping experience for consumers. Now, part of this is like these. Virtual, it says consumers. Now, part of this is like these virtual. It says fantastical worlds of shopping that it creates in virtual environments that allow users to interact with products, but they all also offer nostalgic online games, making the shopping process engaging and entertaining. Now, it says, at the core of this, this Walmart realm, there's distinct virtual shops that are led by influencers and inspired by social trends and, for example, a few of these. One of them is called so Jelly. This is described as an underwater playground filled with vibrant colors and whimsical surprises, providing a playful shopping experience. Now, it says, in addition to these themed shops, it's also going to have content from their creators, enhancing product discoverability and engagement. Now, for those watching this on YouTube. I'm just going to play this video here where you can kind of see a little bit of how this virtual world is. It's kind of wild Like I'm not sure if I want to shop in this kind of thing, but hey, this could be the future of online shopping and Walmart could be a pioneer in this. I'm sure, if it's successful, we'll see that coming to Amazon as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news this week. One quick note before we go into our next feature is Carrie, here at Helium 10, made a cool checklist, a printable PDF that you can use as a kind of like guideline for what you need to do to prepare for Prime Day. So in order to go and download this checklist for free, go to h10.me forward slash prime list, h10.me/primelist, and then you can just enter in your email and we'll email you this PDF for free help you get ready for Prime Day, which is coming in July. All right, let's get into our new feature alerts from Helium 10. And these are going to be from Adtomic. There's actually nine different updates this week. I'm only going to mention a couple of them and then refer to some of the others, and you know, for those of you using Adtomic, you can hop in there.

Bradley Sutton:

Now. One of them is you know you've always been able or not always, but for the last couple of months you've been able to create custom rules in Adtomic so that you can kind of like help reach your own goals for your bidding right Now. A lot of you guys had feedback on what you would like to see, and so now we have, more than ever, different criteria so that you can design your own PPC rules, like you've always been able to make it off of hey, if my ACoS is above this and below this. But now you can do it all based on things like the impressions, the current bid, the conversion rate, the click-through rate, the number of PPC orders spend, et cetera, et cetera, and then even the actions. You now have more options Like, for example, instead of just increasing or decreasing the bid based on the criteria that you put, you can say, hey, take the cost per click and multiply it by this target ACOS, right? Or multiply the current bid by this target ACoS. There's a lot of new features that you guys ask for and that we now have. So if you haven't checked out the custom bid rules in Adtomic lately. Make sure to hop in there and do it.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing that we have here in Adtomic is on the analytics page. You guys wanted to start seeing some of the Amazon metrics that we didn't have in Adtomic, such as impression rank and impression share. You're going to be able to see that now on the analytics page of your Adtomic dashboard. Now, I mentioned that that's just a couple of the new updates to Adtomic. Some of the other ones are you can add keyword harvesting and negative rules in the campaign builder. You can now sync your data on demand from Amazon to Adtomic. You're going to be able to see day partying heat maps now and when you're creating day partying schedules. The list goes on and on. Make sure that you are up to date with everything that is in Adtomic, and if you guys haven't used Adtomic, interested in trying it out, go to h10.me/adtomic for a demo.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's get into the training tip of the week. So we were at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Kauai, Hawaii, and it was interesting that, for a hack, Carrie mentioned something about doing historical analysis. Now, this is something that's not new, like it's been around for two years and most of these. I think there's only two people in the room had said they had used this before. All right, so I was like you know what this needs to be our training tip of the week, because it's super valuable, my opinion, one of the most valuable things that we have here at Helium 10. Now let me set the stage here for the first use case of looking at historical data on Cerebro and, by the way, this is for those of you who have the diamond plan and up. Now, let's say you're in a seasonal niche, or looking at a seasonal niche Like right now we are in what? May-June of 2024.

Bradley Sutton:

Valentine's Day passed, and if you were to look up a certain product in Cerebro for now that was maybe a top seller for Valentine's Day, you might not be able to see too many good keywords, right, you're not going to know what were the main keywords for it during Valentine's Day, because already Valentine's Day was months ago, right Now. Here's an example. Let's say I was using a Helium 10 Amazon brand analytics tool in Blackbox and I was like, hey, during February 18th to February 24th, let me look for keywords that had 2,000 search volume each, that had the word Valentine's in it and that got some sales and I could see a whole bunch of keywords here, such as Valentine's Day decorations, men's Valentine's gifts, etc. And then here's one Maybe I'm interested in Valentine's Day candy and for that week of February, right before Valentine's Day, I see that the number one purchase product, or the number one click product was Reese's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter. All right. Now, if I look at on Amazon, now that that product here in May and June, I can see that this product isn't even in stock. There's not even a buy box here. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So if I actually ran it in Cerebro right now and I was like, hey, what keywords is this product ranking in the top 10 for? As you guys can see what I've done here, for search volume of 500 or more, look what comes up? Zero, there's no keywords that come up for it. Right. So it's like if I want to get ready for next year for Valentine's Day and I want to really, you know, do well with a Valentine's Day candy or something I'm kind of like, not, you know, able to see, what keywords do I need to put in my listing? I can't, I don't want to wait until February to actually see. But then this is where the historical Cerebro comes. All I have to do is hit this button right here called show historical trend. And then I want to go back to February, right, first of all, I can see here, and if I hit the show historical trend, I'm going to be able to see the history of how many keywords, month by month, that this product has been ranking for. And then when I actually go into February of 2024, I do that same exact search. Hey, what were the keywords that had 500 search volume, whereas ranked between one and 10. And now I see over 10 keywords here, all right, like, for example, reese's hearts or Valentine's Day Candy 2,000 search volume. Valentine's Treats 20,000 search volume. During February that keyword was nowhere to be found right now because nobody is searching Valentine's Treats, right? If you're searching Valentine's Treats in May and June, you got some relationship problems, probably. So this is the first way in which you can do this Looking at seasonal products.

Bradley Sutton:

Take a time machine in Cerebro to go back and look at when that product was really at its peak in its season. What keywords was it getting sales from? And now, you know, maybe come the end of this year, November, December the search volume for those Valentine's Day keywords is still low. That's when I want to get my product maybe in stock and start ranking for those keywords and then come February everybody's going to try and like, play catch up to figure out what's the main keywords. I'm already on page one for all. What are the best keywords for that product in Valentine's Day? All right? So that's use case number one. Here's use case number two. Let's say that you are checking out your competitor, like right here, here is a rival coffin shelf. This coffin shelf is actually the Amazon's choice for coffin shelf right now, not the helium 10 one. And I'm looking here at the BSR chart history, all right. So I can see with this helium 10 BSR chart, looking at last year's. So I can see with this Helium 10 BSR chart, looking at last year's, I can see that, wow, look at this, like in December or you know, the sales were pretty okay, especially in the middle of December, right, look at this BSR of less than a hundred thousand sometimes. But then look what happens in January They've got like 200,000 BSR. So the sales really went down when you look at December of last year to January of this year.

Bradley Sutton:

So, again, let's look at their Cerebro, right? So I just run Cerebro on them and I could do that with one click. I just hit keywords right here on their product page and sure I can see where they're ranking for right now. But what I want to do is hit the show historical trend and then I'm going to open up in two windows hey, what were the keywords that it was getting in sales from in December compared to January? So, for example, here I opened up their December keywords that's when their sales were popping Right and I just did a filter of hey, what were the keywords that had a thousand search volume where it was ranking in the top 10? You could see there's 10 keywords that it was getting sales from right here in December. Now, in another window, I'm going to run the historical trend again and take that time machine. I just took the time machine to December of last year. Let's take that time machine to January of this year Remember, that was the month that I saw they had low sales. And look at this there's only six keywords that hit that criteria of a thousand search volume, organic rank one through 10. So now what is the next step? Well, the next step is all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Where were the keywords where they maybe lost their rank. You know, I could see here, coffin bookshelf is on both lists, so they. They kept their rank right there. But look at this keyword here emo decor thousand search volume. They're organic rank two. Look, when I hit January, they aren't. They aren't even in the picture for emo decor, right. Look at this keyword gothic shelves, 1100 search volume they're organic rank four. Oh, gothic shelves right here, they're still organic rank six. So that's not a good example. Here's another keyword here gothic bookshelf, thousand search form. There are page one, position three during December. But in January they were no longer there in the top 10 for that keyword. So now, all of a sudden, I have a picture of my competitor, or this could have been my product, right, if I notice a big drop in sales and now I know like, oh shoot, this product lost sales because they lost rank on these certain keywords. I can do this the opposite way. What if I saw a month where sales increased a lot? Well, I'm going to look at the previous month and say, hey, what keywords did it all of a sudden hop into the top 10? And now I know, wow, these are keywords that are money driving keywords, because there's a direct correlation with them getting the top 10, with their sales increasing. So there's so much possibility that you can do with this.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, this is like probably one of the top three features, if not top two, in the entirety of Helium 10. And a lot of you are sleeping on it. So, if you've got the diamond plan, this used to be a Helium 10 Elite only and I was like, man, this is too valuable even for Helium 10 Elite, like I would pay Helium 10 elite just to get this. And then we moved it down Like we always do with everything down to the next plan, and now it's only. It's available even if you have diamond. So, guys, if you have diamond, you got to be taking advantage of this. If you don't have diamond, this, in my opinion, pays for itself. This one feature is like what diamond should be, you know, like that makes diamond worth it. For me, I would pay double just for this feature. That's how valuable this is. So, guys, make sure to make use of Cerebro Historical Trends. All right, that's it for the news and features and training of this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Is the Amazon marketplace's tide too strong, or can new and seasoned sellers still navigate the choppy waters of Amazon PPC to find success? Join Shivali Patel, along with Matthew FitzMaurice from Pacvue, as we chart a course through the intimidating yet rewarding seas of Amazon advertising. This TACoS Tuesday, we're not just talking shop; we're equipping you with a compass and map to master keyword research, manage bids with precision, and understand the rhythms of dayparting that keep your budget afloat and your goals in sight.

Amazon's landscape is dominated by PPC, but that doesn't mean getting organic sales from your campaigns is a lost cause. We share a lot of tactics for enhancing retail-ready content and fine-tuning your bids to catch the eye of shoppers sailing by. Learn how to stay vigilant on the metrics that matter—CPC, impressions, and click-through rates—while also steering the helm of your PPC campaigns with the discerning eye of a captain deciding when to lower sails (daily budgets) or adjust course (bids). Our discussion also offers insights into managing the choppy waters of high-cost keywords and understanding when it's time to make a strategic retreat.

Our final topic dives into using Amazon advertising to claim your market share. We uncover the secrets of sponsored product placements, brands, and display campaigns, aided by the navigational tools of Helium 10's Adtomic and Pacvue. Whether you're launching a new product flotilla or reinforcing the fleet of established offerings, we're here to help you sail smoothly through budget considerations, historical data analysis, and the essential practice of continuous testing. All hands on deck—this episode is a voyage to the heart of Amazon advertising success.

In episode 563 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Matthew discuss:

00:00 - Amazon PPC Q&A and Ad Strategies
05:53 - Optimizing Keyword Campaign Performance
06:57 - Strategies for Boosting Organic Sales
11:37 - Optimizing High-Cost Keywords in Campaigns
14:09 - Optimizing Keywords for Market Share
16:41 - Keyword Performance Evaluation and Decisions
17:01 - Optimizing Amazon Advertising Performance
18:59 - Analyzing Sponsored Product and Display Performance
20:16 - Optimizing Sponsored Display Campaigns for Success
23:35 - Optimizing Keyword Campaigns for Efficiency
25:53 - Maximizing Amazon Campaign Performance
28:19 - Automations in Advertising Platforms

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:
Today, on TACoS Tuesday, we answer all of your PPC questions live, while also discussing the nooks and crannies of bid management, day partying, different ad types and so much more.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And this episode is our monthly live TACoS Tuesday show, where we talk about anything and everything Amazon, Walmart, PPC and advertising related with different guests, and today's host is going to be Shivali Patel. Shivali, take it away.

Shivali Patel:
Hello guys, this is Shivali brand evangelist here at Helium 10, and we are back with a TACoS Tuesday episode. You guys are in for a treat. I know you have plenty of advertising questions and we have a special guest expert here to answer those questions for you. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and bring on Matthew, who is here with us to answer your questions. How's it going?

Matthew:
Good Thanks, how are you?

Shivali Patel:
Good, good. Thanks so much for jumping in. I know people have plenty of questions to throw your way, so before we really jump into those questions, I want to talk a little bit about you. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your background, what you do here at Pacvue and your, I guess, history with advertising.

Matthew:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'm Matthew Fitzmaurice. It's nice to meet everybody. I initially started in traditional advertising at a local agency in Baltimore where I live, very focused on kind of account management there, had exposure to social campaigns and kind of the traditional out of home. It was interesting. And then I kind of found my way into e-commerce and kind of felt it to be more relatable honestly, just like being on Amazon so much and just kind of interacting with different brands and products on what I felt like was a deeper level. So that's kind of how I got my start in e-com. I've been in e-com in general I guess for probably four years now, specifically managing mostly PPC campaigns kind of at the enterprise level in some form of an agency to client relationship. It's been the majority of it. And then I have loved my time at Pacvue. Leveraging the tech has been fantastic. I think it is absolutely best in the industry. Helium 10 has been a fantastic add-on as well. So it's been awesome, it's been great.

Shivali Patel:
Amazing. Yeah, I know advertising is really the bread and butter for so many brands and businesses and so being able to understand that or have a really good pulse on it is so important. So I know, because there's so much that goes into the advertising metrics and monitoring that what would you say are some underlying factors that really affect PPC that you want to keep a pulse on?

Matthew:
Yeah, I think goal setting is huge. I think understanding what you're trying to achieve allows you to set the framework really appropriately for any campaign, for any platform, for any retailer. So I think for me it really comes down to understanding the end goal, and I think contextualizing what those KPIs are tracking towards is also really, really important.

Shivali Patel:

Now we already have one filing in. We have Kristy asking Hi, I have a product and sell to retail but worry that the Amazon fees will be too expensive. Is it too late to be successful on Amazon? So I would say no, but I want to hear your side of things as well.

Matthew:

Yeah, no, I totally agree. I don't think it's ever too late, I think, obviously, understanding what those fees are associated with. I know there's a lot that goes into it and fees can get out of hand quickly with Amazon based on packaging, shipping, the list goes on and on. But I would say, do as much research as you can try to understand what those thresholds are and what your capacity is. And I would say, obviously, once you're in Amazon and in the network, the upside is large. So I would say, not too late and definitely give it a try.

Shivali Patel:
I would definitely agree there. I think it just depends on if you know where to look, and there's certainly plenty of opportunity there. Amazon's growing year over year All right, well, in other news of PPC. So we said it depends on the goals. Right, going back to that conversation, and you're looking at keywords. So how would you say you kind of tackle keyword research for, I guess, a new seller as well as for somebody that you're auditing an account for?

Matthew:
I think there's a lot of ways you can go about it. I think the way that I always start is kind of in the mind of a shopper how do I look for the product? What are the things that I'm typing into the search bar to say, hey, how do I find this? I think Amazon is being used more and more like a Google or you know being or not that many people use big probably, but probably more like a Google right, where people can search and interact with products and do some almost preliminary research just on Amazon without having to go to Google. So I think, try to stay in the mind of a shopper, kind of as you're getting going and then from there, Helium 10 has some fantastic tools. Magnet is something that I use frequently looking at search volume, looking at competitor ASINs that are on similar terms, things like that to kind of get a feel for the category. Any add on that you can kind of have from the Helium 10 tool, even in the search bar within Amazon, gives you related terms based on search volume. If you're in Seller Central there's SFR, things like that. So I would say, use those tools as much as possible, but try to stay in the mind of a shopper and experiment. You can run auto campaigns and run different reports to generate what kind of new keywords are being pulled. So I mean, the list goes on and on. But to start, I would always say think like a consumer.

Shivali Patel:

But even on that note, let's say that you see you want to rank for a specific keyword and you're ranking at the bottom of a page, right, and you want to get back up to the top. How would you really go about changing, maybe the campaign that you're looking at? For example, when is a good time to negative match a keyword?

Matthew:

Yeah, it depends how specific you want to get with your actual campaign, but negative targeting can be really helpful if you want to be very, very laser focused. I personally am a huge fan of exact match keywording. For me, I feel like I have the most control over it. I know exactly where my ad is going to place if, obviously, you win the auction. But for me I definitely will default to the exact match and then from there, I think, understanding what my budget limitation is, leveraging things like day parting and trying to get the most out of every dollar. So that way my ad is serving as efficiently as possible on the right times of the day to kind of get that engagement and then drive up organic rank.

Shivali Patel:
We have Daniel asking what would be the effective strategy to boost our organic sales for our product. Currently, 60% of their sales come from PPC sales and they want to get their organic sales to improve more than their PPC sales.

Matthew:

Gotcha, yeah. So this is a common problem. Amazon and a bunch of other marketplaces are becoming increasingly more kind of pay to play, if you will, where the majority of the sales are going to come from, those top four sponsor placements, which makes it competitive, can make it very expensive, and driving that organic sales share up is really important and I think really some of the things that I've done that have been helpful is kind of, you know, adjusting some of the more you know quote unquote retail-esque metrics, making sure your page is retail ready. Having content developed that is bulletproof is as good as you can possibly make it, and then kind of coupling that with that PPC strategy of making sure that your bids are targeted to exactly where you want them to be. If strategy of making sure that your bids are targeted to exactly where you want them to be, if you're casting a really large net, it's difficult to gain that relevancy. So I'd say, be prescriptive where you know you want to be and then from there just track how you're progressing up the page. And then you know always I would say always test. So test things like day parting schedules, test things like different bid multipliers to see what it takes to get out the page and then from there I would just kind of keep iterating and keep making little tweaks and trying to refine that as much as possible.

Shivali Patel:
Definitely. I think split testing is a large part of it, and then refining that based off what you're learning. What metrics are you really looking at when you're considering day partying and doing all the split testing?

Matthew:

Yeah, I think again, it kind of depends on the goal. But if the goal is just strictly for organic sales, what I'm looking at is kind of cost. I want to see what those CPCs are. I want to see kind of what the relevance of and kind of try to determine what the right to win is for my product in those particular campaigns and the particular auctions. So looking at CPCs, looking at impressions, looking at clicks, click-through rate, things like that, just to kind of see what that level of engagement is mostly.

Shivali Patel:
Okay, and I see we have another fantastic question from Joy that says I'd like to know in which case I'd like to lower the daily budget and in which case I should lower the bid. I want to understand the difference in situations when to lower the daily budget and when to lower the bid.

Matthew:

Sure, yeah, I think a lot of times they go hand in hand. I think if there are strict budget restraints that are preventing you from spending to X amount or a budgeted cut, or you need to pull money from one bucket and put it into another, the budget transition would be the most concrete. I think what happens when you start decreasing bids within a campaign is those bids out over a certain period of time will kind of almost naturalize if that makes sense, where you can have a campaign budget be, this is extreme, but say $15,000, and many of the keywords within one campaign can have lower bids, higher bids, but kind of have room to kind of breathe and almost live and go up and down day to day. I think if there's one-off cases where it's like we need to pause ads, we need to get this off, you know the listings as quickly as possible. Reduce budget, reduce bids, and then that'll pretty much suppress from an advertising standpoint how visible that is. And then I think in terms of when to increase, kind of on the opposite, if you're finding efficiencies and kind of finding where that keyword sweet spot is and what time of the day in particular you have the strongest right to win and when CPCs are reduced a little bit, that can be a really good strategy to kind of minimize the overall cost and make sure that you're getting the most for each click.

Shivali Patel:
When you're talking about, you know every keyword has different bids, so how do you really determine how many keywords you're putting into a campaign structure? Let's say you're looking at a new account or even an old account. Where would you like to see a cap for certain keywords or ASINs?

Matthew:

Yeah, I've done a lot of testing around this. Actually I've gone as low as two keywords a bit a campaign. One keyword as high as 50. So, I think it depends. I think when you increase the amount of keywords that are in a campaign you obviously run the risk of people clicking on them and then the cost going up. So I think there's a bunch of different ways to break that out where you can have kind of a priority campaign with your priority keywords. That might be five to 15 of your keywords that you definitely want to be advertising on, that are really important to driving your business. From there you can kind of have a secondary bucket where it's kind of the nice to have so you can kind of keep the bids a bit lower, don't necessarily need to win those placements to be driving the bulk of your sales. And then you can kind of have the expansion type of campaign where there might be more keywords where you're just testing to see the validity, which can maybe move up to the next bucket and then up to the priority bucket if they tend to do well. So it just depends on, kind of, I think, what you're trying to accomplish with each campaign or your overall strategy. But I found that to be really helpful, and kind of understanding those top priority terms I think between five and 15 keywords has been the sweet spot for me.

Shivali Patel:
Yeah, I think pretty much the same, even for my campaigns. All right we have. When the ACoS of a targeting keyword in a sponsored product campaign is high, how can I determine when to lower the bid or turn off the keyword entirely?

Matthew:
Yeah, good question, and this is something where it's going to be somewhat category dependent. There are some categories that are just wildly competitive, like vitamins, supplements, things like that, just one that comes to mind. Some of them are naturally going to be high. This is where I would kind of weigh out what that difference is, or kind of what your threshold is, and what I mean by that is basically if your sales are still growing, if your business is still growing and there's a couple keywords that may not be the most efficient. That's kind of the risk reward of like, how far do we push? Are the sales new to brand sales? Are you gaining incremental sales? I know incremental is one of those buzzwords but it is really important when you're considering do I lower a bid? If it's a really high search volume term and you're getting new eyeballs to your page, it might be okay to kind of let that run a little bit below the overall goal. But from there, ensuring that the rest of your campaigns are built out for efficiency and making sure that you're getting those sales and conversions where people are relatively determined to get your brand is going to be equally important in keeping the portfolio ACoS where want it to be so I think, use it as a guardrail. I don't think it's going to be the end-all be-all. I think it's an important part of the overall strategy that you're deploying, but if it's driving your business in the right direction a little bit of a high ACoS is something that could be tolerable, but if it simply is just tanking that campaign and is not driving the sales, then I would say that's probably when to pause.

Shivali Patel:

I think tolerable is a good word for it, because it does come down to risk tolerance as well as where you are in your seller's journey. I mean, if you're a little bit in the beginning, right, you're going to potentially have higher ACoS because you're still trying to get the clicks and the conversions and you don't necessarily have the social proof there.

Matthew:
Yeah, with new products too, it's tough to break into that kind of relevance threshold and work your way up the page. And yeah, for new products it's definitely a fine line. But I think just keep testing and keep reducing bids, keep increasing, keep trying to kind of remake how that campaign is structured.

Shivali Patel:

Definitely. Travis here asks how do you usually find a balanced approach to setting bids for keywords? Is there a happy medium for higher bids that get more exposure versus lower bids that provide a high return on your spend?

Matthew:

Yeah, I think this kind of goes into the conversation we just had. So a good example for some of the campaigns that I have. I break them out by category and branded and competitor and auto, all single ASIN, all exact match. Just is how I tend to run it. So I think it gives a very, very accurate read of what's happening with each bid. For some of my products that I would say are the big business drivers, I have a much higher tolerance to say. I can live with these bids being higher for this particular product, this particular ASIN and within that campaign there's kind of its own little ecosystem of these three keywords within this campaign drive 80% of my sales for this campaign. Those three I'm okay if the ACoS or ROAS is a little bit down from where I want it to be. In terms of some of those lower flighted ones, some of the longer tail keywords where it's not necessarily the core of the product, or the highest SFR ones. Those ones I'm okay with letting the bid be a bit reduced and those are going to be more of those efficiency finders where people may be putting in something that isn't the first kind of snap ready come to mind term for the particular product. So I tend to skew a little bit higher on the bids for the keywords that I know are driving the bulk of the sales.

Shivali Patel:

We have a question on how to increase market share further. They run sponsored and sponsored brand ads, product and brand ads. We use 80-20 rule, so is there something you can share on that?

Matthew:

Yeah, in terms of overall market share, I think it's important to understand how many campaigns that you actually are running. So the 80-20 split I think is very, very fair. It makes a lot of sense. I think sponsored product is going to be the core obviously of the business driving placement, so definitely would skew heavier towards that in terms of the overall market share. I would also take a look at what your competition is doing. Where are they winning kind of? Where aren't you winning? I think there's a lot that can kind of go into some of that exact match keyword. I'm not sure how your keywords are set up, but if it's phrase or broad, it may not be as focused as you want. And I think also when you're talking market share, you can go all the way down to the keyword level, get super specific where, if you're looking at, say, three keywords that drive the majority of your business, those are the ones that would really focus on kind of increasing and even reshifting the overall budget to kind of have, you know, that bigger chunk to those really important business driving keywords. I think that might be a good way to kind of also reshape the way we look at market share a little bit, but I would just try to capture again the most amount of sponsored product placements on the most important keywords that you have available, and just the consistency is going to be absolutely critical for that. I know budgets can change, things change, business happens. So the more consistent you can be with that strategy, I think it will start to increase over time.

Shivali Patel:

So you mentioned the most important keywords. On the alternative side of that, there's obviously keywords that aren't doing so hot. So Fernando asked when do you think it's enough to pause a target keyword when there's no sales happening, no PPC orders? How many clicks is enough?

Matthew:
Yeah, clicks is a tough one to measure. A lot of it depends on, I would say, search volume. If it's a really low search volume term you probably won't see the clicks or the sales kind of as a bit of a result. If it's something that has historically been like a top performer and it's changed, I would say that's kind of maybe warranting a test of let's pause it, let's try something else, let's try a different keyword or a group of keywords. I think sales for me is always kind of the north star and kind of the rest of those KPIs that we look at around them are good guardrails to understand how the overall business is achieving that sales goal. So I think if sales are very low, I think it's probably safe to say that that's okay to pause. But again, if it's something that's been tried and true in your strategy, I would try to rework it. Maybe even if it's an exact match, try phrase match, try some PAT targeting similar products on those keywords and see if there's any life left in it. But I think if clicks are low, like below 30 to 40 a month, I think that's probably a good time to reevaluate what the bids are and kind of just take a deeper look at what that keyword's actually doing.

Shivali Patel:

You are absolutely killing the questions, so I want to interject here with a question of my own before I continue with the questions that are being asked. So what sort of level would you say a seller needs to be to consider Pacvue as an advertising solution?

Matthew:

I mean the tool itself, I think can be beneficial for any budget. I've managed budgets that are in the hundreds of dollars a day as well, on the app or on the tool, and it's been seamless. I think there's a lot of data that it provides you that is incredibly painful to find in the actual UI and it's clunky, it's difficult. The way that Pacvue has it organized is very customizable. It's very streamlined and you can really find the answers you're looking for and really customize those pages to basically be driving to your key business goals, which it's effective, and I think it's been a total treat, honestly, to be able to work with it every day. I've really enjoyed it. So I can't speak highly enough about it, but I think, regardless of what your budget is and what your goals are, I think this tool would be a benefit for sure.

Shivali Patel:

OK, and with that, Michael asks can you elaborate a few of the most looked at report format sponsored product, sponsored brand and sponsored display?

Matthew:

Yeah, I would say for a lot of the stuff that I'm looking at I'm probably pulling the raw data and looking for how I want to twist it in terms of what I leverage in the actual Pacvue tool. A lot of the kind of the home dash screens of kind of giving that initial read of what's happening, are helpful.

But what I always find helpful is just kind of for sponsored product and sponsored brand specifically, kind of breaking out by product group or by brand or however your business is situated, looking at it by brand kind of the big, big metrics like spend sales, CPC, ROAS, conversion rate. I love to see that kind of at the sponsored product and sponsored brand level. I also love going through targeting type. So pulling targeting type with branded category, auto conquesting, pat and kind of evaluating that way as well and layering the two on top of each other then is incredibly helpful to get a read of what's happening, kind of at that 10,000 foot view more or less depending on the time frame you're looking at. But I think that's a good place to start and then from there kind of whittling down, going into the actual campaigns and pulling data that way. For Sponsored Display, I've always used it as kind of a nice to have. It's typically a little bit lower performing, but I think what it offers is the reach and I think from that side of it, looking at clicks, impressions, click-through rate, that's typically what I would be pulling to analyze the sponsor display campaigns I run.

Shivali Patel:

Sherry asks with the Helium 10 Adtomic function, how can I see, excuse me, Helium 10 Adtomic tool? How can I see visually when I change a bit, to know if the impressions are picking up over time? So you can go into Adtomic, go to the Analytics page or the Ad manager and then go to your campaign and target, put in a date range to whenever you made the bid change and then check out your daily impressions and then change the date to afterwards and check that as well. You can also go into Keyword Tracker and check out how your sponsored rank has changed as well. Okay, next question, what PPC strategy do you recommend for a newly launched product in a competitive niche?

Matthew:

Yeah, for this one I would definitely say pick the keywords that matter most to you. Focusing on those, I would say test out the CPCs, see what you're actually kind of going up against. From there, PAT targeting is incredibly helpful. If it's a brand new category, it's a definite cheaper rate for basically, the way that I describe PATs generally is kind of the nice to have, but it can be very, very strategic. Pick the number one product in the category, pick the highest organic rank and put a PAT on those particular ASINs and go where the eyeballs are going and you'll get it at a cheaper rate. You'll be on their PDP, kind of at the bottom of that carousel ad which is going to be lower volume in general. However, it's going to be a really, really good way to kind of have that brand recognition. I'm not sure how consumable the product is or if it's something that is, you know, like a subscribe and save option or kind of like a replenishment is high. But if your brand is being put next to those top performing brands in the category, it's at minimum when you are serving on those sponsored product placements. There's going to be that recognition which is going to be critical. So I would say, try to establish yourself on some competitor PDPs through product attribute targeting campaigns. From there also if you have a variety of products, your advertising sponsored brand campaigns can be really beneficial because you get to show 3 products for one campaign more or less, or one placement. CPCs can be a little touch and go there as well. But I would say, start there. Leverage your auto campaigns as well. Try to build relevancy. Continue to run the keyword reports from those auto campaigns, see what's winning and keep your pulse on search volume and just go after a couple of keywords hard for a while and I think that should help build up whatever niche you're in.

Shivali Patel:

Adam's question is in terms of testing new strategies like dayparting, do you suggest we start a new campaign or just make tweaks to existing ones?

Matthew:
Yeah, I'm a big fan of keeping existing. I think that the algorithm is going to reward campaigns that have been live longer and there's going to be more data behind the campaign. You're going to have just more context to pull from. So I would say, keep your existing campaigns and just continue to iterate off of that. If it's day parting, in particular, if you're looking to expand into further testing, then I'd say probably would warrant a new campaign. But for day parting in particular, stick with what has the most data, because then you'll, when you go to compare what your changes are, you'll have a much larger sample set to say, did this work versus what we had before? And I think that's where I would go with it, just in terms of the evaluation part.

Shivali Patel:

If I want to reduce wasted spend on broad campaigns because there's a lot of wasted spend on single click keywords. Should I start making exact campaigns to harvest my profitable keywords, or should I keep them both running and see what performs better? My main concern is that if I shut off my broad campaigns, my exact campaigns are not going to perform as well.

Matthew:

Yeah, really good question. I mentioned a couple of times. I'm a huge fan of exact match keyword campaigns. I think you have complete control over everything in terms of what's in your campaigns, what your bids are, so I am a huge proponent of it. I think again, at minimum it's worth a test. I think broad serves a purpose. I think it can generate keywords. It can kind of help you at least get the product visible.

Whether or not it's always a one-to-one is a little bit tough to kind of determine. But I would say, look through your broad keywords and what's being pulled in. Some of them are very, very far off what you want to be. So I would say, pull back on spend. As you've kind of developed your PDPs and your content and kind of your relevancy on some of those keywords, I would pull back from that broad and move more into the exact and from a performance standpoint I would expect it to perform well because you are targeting exactly where the sales are coming from at a very prescriptive level. So you then would have complete control over how much money you're funneling to that and kind of how aggressive you want to be. So I think it's definitely worth a test at minimum.

Shivali Patel:

Hello Gonzalo. We have how many clicks on a keyword target without sales before closing it, lowering bids or dismissing it?

Matthew:

Yeah, I would say evaluate what keyword it is. If it's a long tail low search volume term, then I think probably pretty safe to keep the bids either very, very, very low or pause. If it's a really high priority term for you, I would say stick at it for as long as you can tolerate the cost and see if there's a way to break through and become more efficient if the auction dynamic changes at all. But I think a lot of it's going to come down to how high that search volume is on the term, but I would say if it's driving sales and your desired ROAS is like $3 and you're at a $2.15 or $2.20, I think it's worth pursuing it. Again, I say sales is kind of the North Star here. So I would say before pausing anything, evaluate kind of what it's doing for your business and then move forward from there.

Shivali Patel:

Eric has a question that says for a well-known brand with large global media spend but brand new to Amazon, how would you structure all Amazon campaigns to maximize performance on a $5,000 per day ad spend for five products?

Matthew:

Certainly starting with sponsored product placements, and I would say breaking into the category terms is going to be absolutely critical. If it's a well-known brand, that brand recognition piece, which is very difficult to build, that box is checked. So I think that's a huge benefit and then just really trying to find those areas where your shoppers are looking for you is going to be really, really important. So I would skew pretty heavily towards sponsored product category campaigns, probably get an exact match and I would have for your five products five separate campaigns for those, and then I would also layer in some branded campaigns. I think this is going to goes back to which I had about it earlier. But if someone searches for your brand and they don't see you, that is an immediate missale and obviously not a great shopping experience. So I would say have some branded campaigns as well to layer on. And, depending on what that overall cost is going to be between those two ad types, definitely work in the auto campaigns, keep those low. And then, depending on how much you have left over and if you have creative assets, sponsored brands are going to be huge with, just again, kind of putting those products on display, giving your brand a little bit more of a real feel for people shopping. I know it's difficult to kind of attain that on Amazon a lot of the times, but lifestyle imaging, sponsor brand videos is something you can leverage as well, and I've done a ton of testing with the AI generative media creative within Amazon and I would say, if you don't have creative, try the AI tool. It's really, really interesting. I could go on for hours about it, but it's a really really good way to kind of get some sort of creative live for sponsored brands. So I would say kind of to kind of recap that, definitely sponsored product category campaigns, one, followed by some smaller budget branded campaigns with auto campaigns, and then expand to sponsor brand if you have the budget for it.

Shivali Patel:

Do you use any software for automation, such as Adtomic? If yes, what are the basic rules and criteria you suggest for creating any sort of automatic updates?

Matthew:

So I personally use Pacvue and the automation tools within that are, again, fantastic. There's a bunch of different ways you can go about, I think, automation in general. But I would say, make sure that your goal is very, very clear. It's just kind of blanketed statements for automation in general. Make sure your goals are very, very clear and always have that safeguard of if you're going to increase bids to a certain point, make sure that there's a cap on it. The last thing you want is to have, check your ads console and all of a sudden your bids are $40-$50 because that automation continued to increase based on the threshold you set. So make sure there's some safeguards in place. But for Adtomic I can't speak to Adtomic in particular, but for Pacvue overall there's a whole litany of automations that are used for profitability, for weeks of cover, for impression gaining, for new-to-brand driving. So I think that it's an endless kind of whole of test and learn, potential and all kinds of good stuff. So I would say test, test, test for automations for sure.

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, and when you're inside of Helium 10, it's the same exact thing when you're setting up those rules. I know we've talked quite a bit about goal setting here today and that definitely is true even inside of Adtomic. When you're doing your rules, it's going to really depend on what niche you're inside of and what your risk tolerance is, how much budget you have, what you're bidding on your keywords, and then you can go in and decide from there. I mean I know that as a standard I've gone in and done 20 clicks, no sales, you're negative matching that keyword. So it really just depends. But Adtomic certainly has ways that you can put in those rules and automation, so you're not spending so much time on trying to audit your entire campaigns. So with that, we've had a really great list of questions here today and I apologize if I didn't get to some of the newer ones, in which case we have a Facebook group. So make sure that you guys go to our Facebook group, you go to Helium 10 members and post up any of those questions that you really have, because we are active in there and we do answer those questions and if not, somebody else definitely can. So make sure you guys are tapped into our communities, and thank you so much, Matt, for being here. We appreciate you coming on and sharing your time and knowledge.

Matthew:

Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me and hopefully got to the bulk of the questions for everybody. Yeah, it was a treat to be here. I appreciate it.

Shivali Patel:

Likewise. Likewise, All right with that, we are done. We will see you guys next time, Take care.

View Details

Join us as we embark on a captivating journey with Clarence Cheang, one-half of The FBA Bros, who takes us through his inspiring transition from a full-time civil engineer in Singapore to a successful Amazon FBA entrepreneur. Clarence opens up about the rocky start to his online business back in 2019, where he faced a series of setbacks in the highly competitive niche. Despite facing compliance issues and patent infringement roadblocks, Clarence's relentless spirit and innovative product research techniques eventually led him to leave his day job behind. His story is a testament to the power of perseverance in the face of adversity.

Listen in as Clarence shares a remarkable case study on the unpredictability of the Amazon marketplace, illustrated by the unexpected success of doormat sales amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The surge in home decor interest during lockdowns provided a boost for one seller, but also taught a harsh lesson in inventory management as stockouts led to a loss of organic ranking on Amazon. Clarence walks us through the seller's recovery process, employing meticulous data analysis and keyword research, culminating in the serendipitous success of an egg pan product that turned their fortunes around.

In this episode, we delve into the nuances of product research and the strategic brand-building essential for standing out on Amazon. Clarence Cheang highlights the crucial role of competition analysis, discussing the tools and techniques necessary to dissect competitors' keyword strategies and assessing product viability. Clarence exemplifies the success of this approach with his 'egg pen' product and underscores the importance of value addition through bundling, which propelled his egg pan to market prominence. We wrap up by exploring the advanced capabilities of Helium 10 tools and the pivotal insights provided by Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer, emphasizing their role in sustaining a product's top-selling status amidst the ever-evolving marketplace challenges.

In episode 562 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Clarence discuss:

00:00 - Amazon FBA Seller Success Story
01:55 - Career Exploration And Amazon FBA Launch
08:33 - Amazon FBA Success Through Product Research
09:15 - Stock Mistake Leads To A Big Loss
11:48 - Amazon FBA Success Through Research
13:55 - Product Research Success and Brand Building
19:17 - Strategic Niche Domination
24:32 - Amazon Success and Helium 10 Tools
28:24 - Competitor Conversion Analysis and Cerebro Queries

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we have Clarence on the show, also known as one half of the FBA bros, and he talks about how he had over two years of Amazon failure but didn't give up and then hit Amazon success and was able to quit his day job thanks to his new product research techniques that he's going to share with us. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed. Organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And speaking of serious strategies, we talk a lot about Helium 10 on this show. So if you are interested in giving it a try, if you've never tried it out, make sure you use our podcast discount code, SSP10. Ssp10. Go to Helium10.com, sign up for your account and save 10% off for life. Somebody who's been using Helium 10 for a very long time and coming to us from the opposite side of the world, where it's like almost midnight over there Go ahead and introduce yourself. It's your first time to the show.

Clarence:

Yeah, so thanks for having me on board, Bradley, it is an honor. So my name is Clarence. I've been selling on Amazon for close to five years now, actually. I started in 2019. And at that time, I was just treating it as a regular side hustle, right? So I worked as a full-time engineer for the government and I was working in the civil industry Basically, it's like construction, right, I think that's the most common term for about close to five years. Yeah, so that's really my background, and I dabbled into Amazon FBA in 2019 after about close to five years in the construction industries, and that's where, as you can see, the rest is history.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So you born and raised in Singapore that's right, that's right, okay. And then went to university there Is being an engineer. Like at what age were you like, hey, this is what I want to do. Or did you just decide once you got to university, or had you been wanting to do that for a while?

Clarence:

Yeah, I mean it's an excellent question because, for I think, majority of my life I didn't really know what I wanted to do. So it's more like oh, my grades allow me to enter to this program, so why not just give it a try? So I was pretty much aimless, you know, for the better part of my earlier years. Only after that, when I went into the workforce and I realized, oh dang, I don't want to do this for the rest of my life, man. So that's the epiphany moment. And it took me about five years into the job to realize that I need to start a side hustle. And that's why I started researching. And lo and behold, Amazon FBA came out.

Bradley Sutton:

Your first start was what year again? Your first product that you launched.

Clarence:

I launched in 2019. 2019.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so pre-COVID still and you launched in Amazon USA, or did you try Amazon Singapore, or where do you launch first?

Clarence:

Directly on Amazon US, just because it's the largest marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So at this time, you're still doing your full-time job and you're like hey, let me, let me go ahead and start researching products. Now, the product that you launched way back then. Are you still selling it, or did you get out of it before? What's the situation there?

Clarence:

Yeah, I've gotten out of it already. It's just when I launched my first products, I made a lot of mistakes and I realized that that's actually not really the best niche to be in. Right, it's in the lighting. What was it? It's in the lighting niche for lighting OK room. Yeah, so that was a pretty brutal market. It's high competition, you need compliance and literally like one year later I got slapped with this compliance issue that I need to show Amazon that I need to get ungated for this entire category.

Bradley Sutton:

So then pretty much your sales went to a complete stop, because you couldn't provide that compliance? How much did you sell of that product before you had to get out though?

Clarence:

I sold about close to 1,000 plus units, and that's in a matter of like two to three months. How much did you sell of that product before you had to get out though? I sold about close to 1000 plus units, and that's in a matter of like two to three months, and, lo and behold, I thought I was doing well, and that's where the ungetting email came in.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you're still making some profit on it, right I'm? Assuming until you couldn't sell anymore.

Clarence:

Okay, yep, and then so did you lose a lot of money, like did you have a lot of inventory that you just had to throw away? Or I didn't really lose a lot, thank god, because it's more of like, uh, I just need to get the ungating done. But that stopped me from selling in the q4 season because the email came in on october and I took one to two months to get the compliance issues are settled up. So I missed the q4 season and when I'm ungated it's January and yeah, it's back to normal.

Bradley Sutton:

So you were actually able to get the approval and everything for you. You didn't have to give up on that product. No, I don't have to.

Clarence:

Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

So now 2020. Was that 2019? Q4 you were talking about?

Clarence:

So this is now 2020, the Q4. I mean Q1 when I started selling in January. So I was I mean, I'm happy with that one product and I managed to launch another variation right. And then another tragedy hit, which is at around June, the June of 2020, I got hit by this patent infringement from a competitor, and that is like the last straw for me for this product, because it's just, yeah, it's tough, it's tough, and eventually I found out that, yes, actually I was in the wrong. I didn't do my research properly and somehow I infringed on the design patent that was already approved and somehow I didn't find it out earlier. Yeah, so I spent quite a bit. My lesson here was I spent some of bit, uh. My, my lesson here was uh, I spent some amount of money, uh, to to fight out the case. I actually hired the? Uh, a lawyer to even help me write letters to Amazon and all these things, but it just got nowhere because clearly I'm in the wrong Right. So I think that's my very first knockout punch on Amazon. Okay, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So at that point did you go to zero, or had you launched other products already?

Clarence:

then I had to go to zero for a while I was fighting this case. So I think the recovery moment was when Amazon asked us to recall all the units because it was just sitting there right, not selling. So it's the right thing to do. We call everything back to our 3PL, the third-party logistics warehouse, and I had to make a decision to take out the offending design, which is just a stand it's like a stand for the lamp and that's the only offending design that's been complained about. So I had to took that out, destroy all the offending design and get my supplier to send in more stands to replace it. So I had to pay a lot of money to get this product out and going, and I remember I had about 800 plus units just to get that retrofitted. And once I got it in, I sent it back to Amazon and I just told myself after this, I'm done with this product, I'm going to move on to the next one. Yeah, so I did sell all 800 and thankfully it is still not too great of a loss at least.

Bradley Sutton:

You sent the new product in, but then you still gave up on the product because you said you're not selling it anymore today. Right, that one, no more already.

Clarence:

So as of 2021, I'm out of that market. Yeah, I'm done with that.

Bradley Sutton:

At what point did you start looking for another product, though?

Clarence:

That was when I started getting hit with the patent infringement. That was right. That's my epiphany moment and, yeah, I know that I need to have a second product.

Bradley Sutton:

How did you do your research, trying to find a new product?

Clarence:

Yeah, I mean back then, you know, in 2019 to 2020,. There were a lot of advice, so I was just figuring things out along the way and I think I fell into this trap where I sell product that I think that it could work. Basically, my gut tells me to work. I mean, looking back right now for what I learned today, that is the foolish mistake that I have done right. So, in essence, the second product that I sold it was a home product like a very simple doormat right, something that's for your, for your entryway, and that product, wow, is also tough. It's a lot of competition, the PPC cost is high and you can't really raise your price as much. So I also learned another valuable lesson there all right, right.

Bradley Sutton:

So. So then you, you started selling this other product. Now you know some people. You know already a year, two years, a lot of problems, failures and headaches, and lawyers and stuff. You know. Might give up, uh, at this point. But what kept you going? We're like you, just like no, I have to make this work.

Clarence:

Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, the things that I go through will probably allow like majority of other sellers to give up on Amazon, but I think it's just. I know that this is a viable business model. I've seen it to work for other people and I just tell myself why not me, right? Why not just give myself another shot? So that was like the tenacity that I had in me to just want to make this work so that I don't have to keep getting stuck in the nine to five red race. I think that was my main driving factor.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so then you know all the time you're still at your, your job. Now are we almost in in COVID times.

Clarence:

Now that's right 2021, that's when COVID hit and the sales boom right. So that was when I the second product, the Dormat product, that one really flew off. I mean that one flew off the shelf really well because of the COVID boom, All right, and I ran out of stock, the doormat sales went up during COVID Doormat of all products doormat.

Bradley Sutton:

Why, like nobody's visiting your house anymore to wipe their shoe?

Clarence:

I guess I have more time spending time to decorate the house and doing, okay. So that was the time where a lot of people were doing, yeah, a lot of things at home. So one of the ways, all right, whatever, I don't know. Yeah, okay. So now things are looking up. And then what happened? Exactly? And I ran out of stock. So this is my second mistake. I didn't buy enough, right? The demand just spiked out of nowhere. So I ran out of stock for a good two to three months. And that is where I learned another valuable lesson on Amazon. As you know, right, if you run out of stock for a long period of time, the algorithm literally punishes you in terms of the organic rank. And I lost it all in terms of the organic rank and I thought the sales was good. I had this illusion where this product is doing great, right? So I literally ordered, like, like, doubled the number of inventory as the first inventory and, wow, that was a huge mistake, because I lost all my organic rank during the season where I sold very well. And when I restock, when I'm back in stock, I realized that, hey, my sales is I don't know are no longer like 50 or 60 units a day. They were like trickling, trickled down to like five units or even like three units a day, and that was very worrying because I had doubled the number of inventory I needed to clear right. So that was another great learning lesson for me, which is, hey, manage your inventory well. I think that's really-.

Bradley Sutton:

How many months were?

Clarence:

you out of stock. Three months, that was a long-. Okay, yeah, and I'm sure everyone recall that was the period where there's a lot of shipping delays because of COVID and etc.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so that affected me quite a lot, and that was your only product at the time, that doormat, exactly. Yep, all right, so now, another kind of problem. Now you invested so much money in all this inventory. It's just sitting there. So now, what's your next step?

Clarence:

So after that, we have like 2000 units of doormats right Stuck in Amazon and I just, yeah, I'm unable to sell it. So what I did was I tried to reduce the price. I did all I can, you know like, increase my PPC budget, reduce the price to even like, like it just doesn't make sense to sell it anymore. So even then I couldn't really sell it as fast as possible, so I had to liquidate that batch of uh doormats right. So that is my second product and it failed spectacularly.

Bradley Sutton:

yeah, all right. So then you went back to zero then at one point because you didn't have another product going at the same time. So again back to zero. Are we already now in?

Clarence:

this is like round 22 or two zero.

Bradley Sutton:

Two to amazon, zero to me all right, yeah, now you're two, or was it? Was this about q1 2021 or q1 2022?

Clarence:

we're talking about. This is about q still 2022, roughly q3 yeah rightly okay.

Bradley Sutton:

So about q3? Now you're just like I can't sell these things. So, but again, still, you didn't uh give up. So what was your next step?

Clarence:

Yeah. So, after learning the actual ropes and I realized a lot of mistakes that I've made, which is, I need to go deep into the data before I choose a product, make sure that the competition is not too great, so that I can win them in PPC in the keywords. So I really learned a lot, Bradley, in that year. It was probably one of the lowest season of my life in my Amazon FBA journey and this is like my final chance, right? If this doesn't work, that's it. Man, I'm stuck in my nine to five right, so I have to make this work. So, and thankfully, when I launched my third product and this time around, it finally took off. So this one is actually one of the more public case study, which is the egg pen right, which I showed that off in a lot of my social medias and even on YouTube channel. So with that launch itself, it set the trajectory that, hey, this is a system that we actually, after we take the inputs from many sellers, we combine it together and we didn't just take it wholesale right, we also tweak it in a way that we want to test some, some items so that we can rely on this proven system to keep launching products on Amazon. So now yeah, by the way, that's 2021, right, that's when we started launching our Egg pan and it became a great success, all because we note down on product research and keyword research. I think these two items really make the breakthrough for us.

Bradley Sutton:

The FBA. So how did you find that specific opportunity Like, how did that come Like? First of all, let me tell you, I probably never would have found it because I hate eggs. It's funny because now I sell egg trays in the Project X but, like, I hate anything that does with eggs. But how did you find that product opportunity?

Clarence:

Yeah, that's a great question really, because the egg pan product came to me when I was just I'm just walking around in Singapore. There's a lot of malls, right, there's nothing much you can do other than go to malls after malls and in one of the shops I encountered this Japanese kitchen store. Right, it's just a store that specializes in Japanese kitchen items and, lo miho, I just took a photo of the category out there Basically it's an owl and I went back home and did my research on all of those products and, lo and behold, I found the Japanese egg pen to actually pass our funnel, which is our product research funnel that we have developed.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, talk a little bit about that. What are those? I know you have something completely fancy. I've even seen the videos. Somehow you have some bots that connect to Discord and connect to Helium 10 and a lot of crazy stuff. But like in a nutshell, like what are the things that you are looking for? That means, hey, there could be some opportunity here.

Clarence:

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the big deciding factor in choosing a good product is the competition level, which I think a lot of sellers may have missed out in the earlier stages of their product selection. So how we deep dive it is by the use of Helium 10, Cerebra too. We compare or we picked out the top 10 competitor in any of the niche because basically they're doing well, right and we want to learn from them. So by analyzing their keywords and how many of the keywords do they rank on page one and we can have the. It's a very beautiful Excel sheet that we have developed in a way that it allows us to show us how strong each of the top 10 competitors are in terms of keyword strength, right? In fact, I went through that in great detail in one of my YouTube channels I mean YouTube videos, right. So when we did that, we realized it's an epiphany moment, right? Because we realized, oh dang, now we have this tool to analyze competition level for any market on amazon.com. And that is so powerful because it allows us to, even before we invest money into the product, we can roughly tell how easy it is to defeat the top 10 competitors and if it is easy to defeat them roughly, we can win the market. So that is really the initial epiphany moment in our product research journey. And the egg pen right, bringing back to the egg pen, that is one of the products that actually showed us that there's actually like eight in the top 10 competitors. There are eight really weak competitors, as in they don't rank very well on Amazon, and two of them it's just okay, they're good. They're just ranking about 40 to 50% of the overall keyword for this market. So I think that's a no-brainer decision for us to enter.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you're looking, hey, at their strength. It's not just, oh, I mean, which also is a case like, oh, these people don't even have A-plus content, they don't even have a full image, their listing sucks, but you're also looking at the keyword level. Um, you know, how strong are they in like their, their, their, uh, their SEO and things like that, right, all right, so I'm actually, um, while you were talking, I went and I found your product on Amazon and, and, yeah, you're like still the number one seller on this, so that's pretty impressive. But let's just take a look at your listing here Now. Did you start off with all of these like little accessories at the beginning, or did you like develop this over time? How did you know, like, not just to come up with just the pan, but to have all of these little things as well?

Clarence:

Yeah, I love that you bring up the screen here, right? So, like I have all the different bundles to the egg pan, so one of the amazing tool is basically to answer your question. I have all of those bundles right from day one, right? That's how I really win the competition in terms of adding a lot of real value to the market. Yeah, so I found this through Helium 10 Blackboard's product targeting, using a comparison of the top ASIN and see Amazon's frequently bought together items. So this is one of the way to think of some bundles for me to get into.

Bradley Sutton:

So like people were buying the other competitor's pan but with like the serving plate or spatula and stuff like that Exactly.

Clarence:

And, to be honest, those smaller items are not really expensive. They are less than like 20 cents USD each. So I can just bundle it together, add a lot of value and at the same time, still sell for a decent profit in this market.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Okay, cool. So you found this opportunity. Now, what kind of sale. You know, I see that you're selling. You know, looks like you know five, six hundred units a month. Now, back when you first started, what were the main competitors doing as far as sales? Like, were the top ones selling also this many, or was it less? Was it more? What's going on?

Clarence:

So the main competitor right now is going to be it's this neon color, pink color competitor, right? I'm not sure if you can search that up also on Amazon they're probably still there. So initially when we did our research, that guy is the top selling competitor, so he was doing close to about 600 to 700 units a month, right. But if you look at, I think today because the seasonality do change along the way and I think he's doing close to 200, 300 units a month right now, I think yeah, I mean, we basically snatched a bit of its market share.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah.

Clarence:

So that's true from the first week, right the moment we launched, when we have zero reviews, just because we understand keywords and we differentiated a little bit. In terms of bundling, yeah, we managed to get like the top the best selling in terms of sales velocity in a matter of one week for this market.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, wow. All right, what was your launch strategy in those days? Was there still like search, find, buy and stuff back in those days, or was that already past the time where you're not allowed to do that anymore?

Clarence:

I can't do SFB. It's gone already. Those methods are.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, what was your launch? Just PPCs is what got you there, to page one for those things. That's right, PPC. PPC only launched?

Clarence:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Now what's kept you at the top? You know, like anybody can find a new niche, right, or not new niche, but a niche where there's weak players, right. But then usually somebody comes in and does the right thing, even if they have the right bundle and they got the right keywords. Now the other competitors like, oh man, we better step up our game. And now we're, we're, we're doing it, but but you've still kind of staying almost near number one. Um, here you know, two years later. So what, what has helped you?

Clarence:

to do that, do you think? Yeah, yeah, great question. In fact, the observation that we had was the moment we launched into this market. I mean, the competitors got spooked right and they will definitely improve their product bundling or even in terms of offering. So we did see new entrants number one, that came into the market. Number two, we did see our current competitors improve, basically, their offering. So, to combat this, I think the number one thing is understanding the keyword basket for this market. So, like example, we did our research and we found out there's actually 241 relevant keywords for this specific market and we definitely want to get page one on all those 241 keywords. And I think that's where our advantage comes in in terms of a keyword basket for ranking, because a competitor will come in later on. They, he or he or she may not understand that there's 241 keywords to rank for this market, but we do and we already know it at our product research stage. Yeah, so we keep doing that again and again and use PPC to rank for them and it has been doing us, yeah, a lot of success so far. Just okay excellent.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, at this point you know, like you, you got a lot of success. Did you start other accounts and start selling other uh products? Or what was your, your, your next step? Because you know you could have one successful product, uh, but this one successful product maybe is not enough to like, make somebody like, yeah, okay, now I can quit my engineering job, you know yeah, yeah, it's not.

Clarence:

it's definitely not enough. You definitely need a lot more products. So with this first launch, in a way, it's like a proof of concept to our research formula and we are repeating it again and again. So to date, I think we have close to at least I think we have 10 different products right now across multiple stores. So our brand building strategy is very simple we want to launch one store in one niche and grow that product line right. So basically, let's say, the egg pan niche, right, or the Japanese kitchen niche, so you will launch other products that's in a similar niche for the brand Yamomnom. So, similarly, we are also launching other brands. Like, we just recently went into this camping and outdoor brand and is selling a lot of these kitchen utensils for outdoor camping. So we have been seeing a lot of success in that area as well. So, yeah, that's our brand building strategy there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So did you already quit your job or you're still doing your job? I've already quit long ago. Already Quit long ago. So now you get to just enjoy being an entrepreneur and not having to work the nine to five. So now, uh, now you get to just enjoy being a entrepreneur and not having to work with the nine to five. So your original purpose of getting into Amazon finally got fulfilled. Now talk a little bit more about your, your strategies. You know, like. One thing is about, you know the, the, the keywords, but is that the only thing you're looking at for the validation steps, or are there other steps of your, your validation? Or is just, hey, looking at the keyword strength? That's, that's enough for you.

Clarence:

Yeah, um, it's definitely keyword strength is just one of our many criteria to look for in a product to launch. Uh, we have like up to 14 different criteria that we look at. Uh, one of them uh, maybe the easier one is like a return ratio. We don't want to enter into market with, uh, let's say, higher than 5% return ratio, right? So the egg pan shows us it's only about 2.86% return ratio, so that was perfect for us. So that's one of our criteria. The other criteria is like the seasonality and the kind of the trending kind of a season for the product. So that's something that we want to avoid as well. The other one is like the differentiation opportunity. Are we able to find improvements to the product? Can we add value in terms of bundle? How about the premium packaging side of things? Yeah, so we do have a lot of criteria in our research funnel right now that we have tested for many years and we have seen a lot of great success coming out of this funnel.

Bradley Sutton:

Actually, yeah, now this funnel, actually, yeah, now, some of your you know, you also do a lot of out there and you have a big, you know a lot of students, um, you don't, you don't have to mention their name or their product or anything, but can you, can you describe like one of the success stories, like somebody who came and they had no idea what was Amazon. They found this product and now they're selling this amount or something like that.

Clarence:

Yeah, yeah, I'm truly very proud of this student. He's based in the UK and he just recently crossed the seven-figure mark on Amazon using the exact formulas that we have teach him. And, yeah, we have so many success stories just by repeating and reusing this formula that we have developed. And, yeah, at the moment, our students like one of them based in Singapore as well. He's just, like, I think, 19 years old. He launched his first product on Amazon ever following this product research funnel that we've created, and he instantly made like 30K sales revenue in the first month of launch. So we're very proud of a lot of these success stories and we're always fine tuning this research funnel. We're not perfect. We're not saying that we have made it there. It's just I think we've got something going on and we are always open to test the system out to make sure that we refine the criterias so that we can increase our probability of success when we launch products on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

You don't get a little jealous sometimes of your students where they get success right away and you had to have three years of failure in Amazon?

Clarence:

I mean all power to them. And yeah, I always tell my students right, don't do the same way as me. Invest in someone who has been there, done that, and you catch up the learning curve and they really have All right yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's talk about you. Know how you got connected with Amazon, like, like, how did you get on Amazon's radar? Because you know I'm wearing my like, uh, my project X hat right now. We actually did a filming with Amazon Singapore, but actually in Vietnam where we were filming a new show called project X mini, not out yet, probably be out in a couple of months, based on when you're listening to this. But how? How did you get like on Amazon's radar where, now that you know, they invite you sometimes to their headquarters there in Singapore and doing trainings and stuff like that?

Clarence:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's interesting that you brought it up because, to be honest, we we do not know until today, right, I mean David is my business partner as well. I'm just one half of the FBA bros, right, and I mean David runs the social media and the business development side of things for us. Yeah, that's out of blue. One day amazon just reached out to us, I guess I believe that's from social media. And, yeah, and I think one of the one of the employees I believe her name was Yuri, right, so shout out to you, Yuri, for organizing all of this together. And she saw one of my TikTok videos. I was in Egypt and I was just filming some FBA content near the pyramids, and I went to the dead sea as well and just filmed some FBA contents, right, and I think she took some inspiration from that and proposed the entire project and it turned to be Project X Are you talking about Yuri from Amazon Singapore.

Bradley Sutton:

She's Korean. Yes, that's her. I was just with her in Korea. As a matter of fact, we're doing another film and I was. I was just talking to her, like literally two hours ago on Kakao, talk about hey, when is our project? I didn't realize you. You, she was your first connection, also with Amazon way back.

Clarence:

Yeah, so you raise the. It's the main guy right, the main person that's in charge of this entire thing. So yeah, kudos to her Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, cool favorite tool in Helium 10 is probably Cerebro. So so tell me, why is Cerebro your favorite tool in Helium 10 and what's your like your second favorite tool then, next to Cerebro?

Clarence:

Yeah. So I love Cerebro because I mean, frankly, it has made us a lot of money. I think the investment that we made in Helium 10, which is a no brainer right. I mean, we're just paying, I don't know, sub $200 plus a month, but we're getting close to 10 to 20,000 plus in profit every single month. So, yeah, I think it makes sense. So why I love Cerebro? Because it works right. It helps us to identify all the keywords, like what I mentioned earlier 241 keywords. Even before we invested into the eggpan market, we found it through Cerebro, right. So we have a certain way that we adjust the filters to bring out all those keywords. Yeah. So second tool I love I have to give Amazon their own shout out as well. Amazon's product opportunity explorer. I think that one was. Yeah, it's really a good tool because it's directly from Amazon. The data is, I think, as close as you can get to accurate and, yeah, they display a lot of valuable data.

Bradley Sutton:

So, I love what are some of your, your, your, the things that you like in Product Opportunity Explorer to look at Awesome.

Clarence:

Yeah. So I love two main metrics that I see over there. Number one is it will tell you when you search for any of the keywords and Amazon will niche it down for you. It will tell you how many competitors are there or are you going to be competing with. Right. For example, there's this number that said the top 90% of the clicks and there's a number right, so that number itself is going to be a foreshadow of how many guys are you going to be fighting with in terms of your PPC campaign, because these guys are getting 90% of the clicks right and you're probably going to be fighting out with them. So if that number is as low as 25 or lesser, that means you don't have a lot of competition to fight and thereby your Amazon PPC bids will be a lot more favorable. Right, below $1 per click, right. So that's my number one favorite matrix to look at. Number two is when you go to trends under Product Version Explorer, you will see the average search conversion right, and this is something that is a very valuable data, because this shows you, out of the basket of competitors, how well are they converting for that market right. You can even go down to keywords and it will show you the individual keyword search conversion rate itself and when you compare it to your own business reports, especially your unit session percentage, it's like a yardstick for you to measure how well are you performing compared to your competitors. So I always go back to that matrix to see hey, do I need to improve in my conversion rate?

Bradley Sutton:

so let me see and compare to my competitors okay, now going back to Cerebro, do you have like a diamond account with helium 10 or higher? I, I think I got a diamond account. I'm so sure have you ever used? Then the new I mean actually just recently got to diamond but the, the Historical Cerebro, where you can like kind of like look back over time where somebody was ranking any time in the last two years. Oh, yes, yes, I've seen, I've seen that, yeah, and I think I tested. So then you know, like, like, what are your thoughts now on seasonal products? Like, do you stay away from seasonal? Or now that you know, like now that there's the historical Cerebro, you can kind of really understand what were they making sales for in their season, or do you like only products that are like evergreen throughout the year?

Clarence:

I think it depends on the level of selling journey that you're in. Like for me, after I've launched a few products already, I'm a little more confident now. So I think I'm willing to go into the seasonal product niche, like the camping niche. That sells out very well in summer and in December, but for the rest of the year it was a little slower right. So I think we're fine with that. But if you're new and you're just starting on Amazon, I will not recommend you to go into seasonal products, just because there's a little more nuances in inventory management. So I love that tool that you mentioned. It allows you to instantly see literally how many units you need to buy. You know in advance in terms of your inventory management based on your competitors, and that is yeah, it's a very helpful tool.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay Now the other question I asked my guest who used Helium 10 is if I give you the keys to the kingdom, like hey you, you get to direct the product team to make some new tool or some new feature that we don't currently have, what's the first thing you're going to tell them to do, like what's on your Wishlist of something that Helium 10 doesn't do for you right now that you'd like?

Clarence:

Yeah, I love that because, um, I mean, the one thing that I would love is I I wish there's a way that we can automate product research. Right, like I mean, ai is all the rage we can go through the funnel, like the funnel that we have, and if there's a software right, I'm praying Helium 10 will be it If there's a software that we can just put the top 10 ASINs in there and it will tell us okay, this is your top 10 competitors. They are ranking for this amount of keywords. They are not very strong in a keyword rank, so maybe that's an opportunity there for keyword competition. Maybe another one will be return ratio. Pull the data from Amazon and say, oh, this is the average return ratio, it passes this criteria. Let's move on to the next check and then go all through the 14 checks and at the end it spits out the answer for you it's a pass.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Well, hey we actually we started something like that. It's called Product Launchpad, not fully exactly like you said. I'm going to connect you with our product team and maybe you can help guide that tool. But yeah, we do have an AI powered product research tool that is like 50% what you said, so so maybe you can bring it now to 100% with your direction there. So I'm going to connect you to a Vincent for that. But anyways, what about last 30 or 60 second tip of the day? Our 60 second tip? What is a? An Amazon strategy you can share with the community that you think is beneficial for them?

Clarence:

Yeah, TST right, 30 Second Tips. So I think number one is I think we as Amazon sellers, after we sell for quite a while, we tend to be very detached to the customers because it's all the numbers, right. We download Excel sheets, we look at Helium 10 data, we look at Amazon's data. So I think the number one thing is always go back to the human being, because you're actually selling to the actual human being on the other side of the computer screen. So understand them, right. Like, really, you're selling your products to, let's say, a mom or a father who's buying a gift, right? So if that's your customer profile, then make sure your listing resonates with that as a customer profile. So I think the biggest tip that I can leave you guys is understand your customers, create your customer profile and make sure that your listing speaks to them directly, because the first trick is always click-through rate. Yeah, I mean, click-through rate is a little easy to get, just get your main product, I mean your main images and your pricing right. But the moment they are on your listing right and a lot of customers do bounce away sometimes from. So you need to find out why are they bouncing away from your listing? And this is one of the way customer profile and create images that speaks to them directly. All right?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, people want to reach out to you, get more information. Find you on the interwebs. How can they find you out there?

Clarence:

Yeah, so that's. You can search us on either Google YouTube the Google YouTube or Instagram the FBA Bros. So I'm Clarence, so the FBA Bros, as in T-H-E, f-b-a-b-r-o-s. So that's our handle on Instagram, tiktok and YouTube. So feel free to follow us for a lot of the advanced level tips that we share. And we don't hide things, right. I mean, we show our products. We even launched the egg pan in a mini PPC series on our YouTube channel. So we even go through the steps on what we click to launch the product. So I think there's a lot of value that you can learn from there as well. Looking forward to add value to that.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Well, clarence, thank you so much for joining us, and I hope to be invited again to speak at the Amazon Singapore conference that they usually do in fall, and so maybe we can connect again at that time. But don't try and serve me any eggs in your egg pan because I can't eat eggs. All right.

Clarence:

I will see you later, man. Yeah, thanks for having me on board, Bradley.

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Amazon's new fee policy is shaking up the game for sellers with high return rates. But that's not all - we're also unwrapping TikTok Shop's leap into markets like Mexico and Europe. This and more buzzing news on this episode!

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest tools and features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.

Amazon has announced some changes to the returns processing fee, which is expected to impact sellers on the platform who experience high return rates.
https://www.helium10.com/blog/return-rate-processing-fee-update/

TikTok to expand e-commerce business into Mexico and major Western European markets amid scrutiny in the US, EU
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3262039/tiktok-expand-e-commerce-business-mexico-and-major-western-european-markets-amid-scrutiny-us-eu

Amazon VP Alan Moss Tells Advertisers At Tech Giant’s First Upfront That Putting Ads On Prime Video “Connected The Dots Across Our Universe” – Update
https://deadline.com/2024/05/amazon-upfront-mike-hopkins-paul-kotas-streaming-advertising-1235915381/

Join us for an exciting in-person event held in the heart of the thriving city of Madrid. Home to the Kings of European Football Real Madrid, the Spanish Royal family, and some of the largest cultural events and landmarks in Europe, and now the AVASK Plus / Helium 10 Elite Madrid Seller Workshop!

We have a day packed full of amazing speakers and topics that we’re sure you’ll love. Join some of the largest sellers in the e-commerce space as we deliver no-nonsense guidance for e-commerce sellers serious about making it big.

Did you know that in Helium 10, you have a heat map of where in the USA your inventory is being held so that you can see the distribution of it, as well as a heat map of where your sales have been at the city or state level, over any date range? In this episode, we show you how you can find these maps and how you can use them!

Plus, Helium 10 is changing the product research game by bringing back the Pinterest Trend Finder and adding the new tool Amazon Trending Keywords tool, revealing hot items with a simple click. Get set to spin the wheel of fortune and discover what's sizzling in the market on this episode of the Weekly Buzz.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:46 - Amazon High Return Rate Fee
04:57 - TikTok Shop Expansion
06:55 - Amazon Sponsored TV
09:31 - Event in Madrid
10:31 - Pro Training: Inventory Heat Maps
12:53 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts

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From eBay to the e-commerce big leagues, Jason McLellan of VitaCup joins me to unpack the strategy behind his success in Walmart's evolving online marketplace. We kick off with an exploration of Walmart's responsive improvements to seller feedback and their platform, which has leveled up from just another retail site to a critical component in the omnichannel market. Jason's transition from an individual seller to a mover and shaker with VitaCup showcases the agility needed to thrive in today's digital retail space, and he doesn't hold back on sharing the victories and challenges of managing inventory and leveraging Walmart's coupons and subscription beta programs to forge lasting customer relationships.

Then, we wade into the realm of subscriptions and coupons, tools that have become indispensable in the arsenal of online marketplaces. We dissect how VitaCup uses initial discounts to reel in customers and the art of maintaining them through smart cohort analysis. It's all about the numbers as we dive deep into data-driven decision-making, assessing how to track subscriber trends and harness coupons to boost conversions and brand credibility. And for those looking to sharpen their product listings, we provide a masterclass on balancing keyword richness with Walmart's preference for conciseness, ensuring your products shine brightly amidst the digital shelves.

To wrap up, we tackle the nitty-gritty of optimizing product listings for peak sales performance on Walmart, balancing the act of keyword incorporation without tipping into overstuffing. We peer into the crystal ball of Walmart's future advertising enhancements like negative targeting and muse over the challenges of price parity and infringement headaches. If you're navigating the Walmart maze, the Helium 10 Winning with Walmart Facebook group is your compass – a community where sellers come together to trade secrets and solutions. So, stay tuned for the next round of insider tips next month on Walmart Wednesday, where we'll continue to chart the course toward success in the Walmart marketplace.

In episode 561 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Jason discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Success on Walmart.com
05:57 - Optimizing Listing Quality for Success
10:43 - Difference Between Amazon and Walmart
13:57 - Optimizing Subscription and Coupon Strategies
0:19:32 - Optimizing Walmart Product Listings for Sales
0:29:44 - Helping Sellers Navigate Walmart Issues

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Listen in as Grace Kopplin, a seasoned e-commerce expert with a marketing background and former Helium 10 blog writer, shares her journey from a Midwest upbringing to managing an Amazon team for a nine-figure e-commerce business. Grace's initial forays into retail buying and planning led to her pivotal shift to the e-commerce arena. As she recounts her experience honing analytical skills as a business analyst, we get an inside look at the strategies driving profitability and sales growth on the ever-evolving Amazon platform.

During our conversation, we tackled the significant changes that Amazon sellers are facing, especially with the latest coupon and sales strategies in Q1 2024. Grace reveals how the new minimum discount requirements for coupons have transformed selling approaches, impacting product badging and organic ranking. We also talk about the intricacies of Amazon PPC advertising, including the exciting new video campaign options and store spotlight formats. Additionally, Grace provides insight into how resellers can navigate sponsored brand ads amidst fierce buy box competition and the potential for platforms like TikTok Shop to skyrocket brand awareness.

To wrap up this episode, Grace and Bradley explore the implementation of AI in Amazon-selling strategies, noting the platform's dominance and the emerging significance of marketplaces like TikTok. We delve into how new Amazon data points and tools, like the Product Opportunity Explorer and Helium 10's Cerebro, are essential for content strategy and maintaining a competitive edge. Plus, don't miss our discussion on the unique challenges of managing large assortments in categories like apparel, footwear, and jewelry. Whether you're a seasoned seller or new to the e-commerce game, this episode is packed with actionable strategies and expert insights you won't want to miss.

In episode 560 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Grace discuss:

00:00 - E-Commerce Strategies for Serious Sellers
01:21 - Grace's Backstory
06:11 - Managing Brand Registry and Fees Strategy
13:24 - Amazon Advertising and Selling Strategies
14:45 - New Amazon PPC Strategies and Challenges
20:02 - Amazon Launch Strategy Evolution
23:01 - Amazon Strategy and AI Implementation
25:12 - Leveraging Amazon Data for Strategic Advantage
32:22 - PowerPlay Hockey Jerseys and Conferences

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today, we've got a seller who used to write blogs for Helium 10 but now works at a company that's a nine-figure seller online with Amazon, obviously, being their number one moneymaker. But you might be shocked when you find out which marketplaces brings in the second most amount of sales. Find out what that is plus get her Amazon strategies in today's episode. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And just wanted to throw a quick shout out here, we have a new TikTok channel at Helium 10. It's helium10_software. So if you want some unserious strategies you know sometimes we got some serious strategies on there too. Make sure to give us a follow. All right, go. You can even see me singing in Chinese on one of these videos here but go to h10.me/tiktok or just type in Helium 10, one zero underscore software and follow us on TikTok. We're going to have somebody who I don't think I'm not going to ask her to do a TikTok dance for us here. But Grace, first time, I believe first time on the podcast, right, for you.

Grace:

Yes, yes, first time.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, well, welcome. Like you, actually, you know, we met years ago at different conferences and stuff but also for a while when I was running the content team, you were one of our actually contract workers where you would, you know, write some Amazon related blogs. But it could be that I know some of your backstory, but since I'm like 10-second Tom from 50 First Dates, I just forget everything. So, regardless if I remember or not, let's go into your backstory because nobody else on the show might know who you are. You just told me that you're in Minnesota, but it sounds like you're not from there. Where are you from?

Grace:

Yes, I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so I'm still a Midwest gal, but I made my way to Minneapolis about six years ago now.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, how can you be a Twins fan? Shouldn't you still be a Brewers fan then?

Grace:

Fair Weather fan, I suppose.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So Milwaukee, the Frozen Tundra of Milwaukee, and then going into college. Where did you go to college at?

Grace:

Yes, I went to University of Wisconsin in Madison, so very big party school had a great time.

Bradley Sutton:

What is the mascot? Why can't it? It's not the

Grace:

The Badgers.

Bradley Sutton:

See? I was going to say I knew it started with a B. I was like no Beavers is Oregon State. What B is it the Badgers? Yes, all right.

Grace:

Bucky Badger.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what did you? What did you major in over there?

Grace:

Yeah, I got my BBA in marketing. I've always been just like super business oriented and I wanted to do something that was pretty broad, so I did what anyone would do and got a degree in business, and I've done a lot of different things since then.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and what like. Well, as soon as you got out of university, you know, got your degree. What was your first gainful employment that you did?

Grace:

I feel like in business school they always teach you. It's like you can either go into finance and be a consultant or if you want to work in retail and you like business, let's go be a buyer. Those are like the two things they tell you that are options. I was like I need to be a buyer so I started my career in retail in a buying office doing buying and planning. So that gave me a pretty good basis of just how retail works. So I focused a lot on brick and mortar retail, buying products for stores, allocating the inventory and doing the forecasting for that.

Bradley Sutton:

And what was your first exposure to e-commerce?

Grace:

Yeah, it was actually my first job out of college. We actually slated all of our ads by writing it down in a journal and submitting it through marketing, and our e-com business was super small back then. It wasn't that long ago but that was my first exposure to e-comm and it was always really interesting to me. And as the retail atmosphere changed in the early 2010s, I knew that's where I wanted to be for longevity, for my career.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, was it at the same company that you're working at today?

Grace:

No, I've bounced around a lot and my career has led me in a lot of different ways. Unfortunately, a lot of the large big box retailers I worked for all had their demise for any reason or another. So I kind of bounced around until I found an e-commerce centric company, which is where I'm at right now.

Bradley Sutton:

What did you start doing at this company and then? What have you been doing over the years and not now? What is your main role?

Grace:

Yeah, so I started as an e-commerce business analyst, which is pretty much jack of all trades when it comes to anything analytical. So I was kind of the person who would be pulling all of the reporting from Amazon, creating forecasts, pitching to our executive team. This is why we need to buy this inventory for Amazon. This is how it all works. So I was really in the weeds and I feel like that gave me such good experience in what I'm doing now, which is kind of managing the full Amazon team really a strong focus on profitability, but also sales growth, which has been such a hot topic recently. So I've done a lot of different things.

Bradley Sutton:

Is this like a company that has its own brand and manufacturers own products?

Grace:

So the company is called Powerplay Retail. We started as a manufacturer's rep group, so working with brands, helping them get into retailers. It was really focused on brick and mortar retailers. Obviously, we have Target and Best Buy here in Minneapolis, so companies like us exist to help brands who don't know how to get into retail do just that. And then we kind of morphed into a distributor, as brands needed help actually shipping into retailers. And then when brands were like, hey, can you help us sell online, we were like yes, 100%. So then that's why our e-commerce arm exists.

Grace:

So we're a third-party reseller that partners with brands that don't want to bring Amazon in-house. So we buy and sell inventory out of our own large 3P account. We're also an Amazon agency, so I manage brands in their own 3P accounts. So I manage brands in their own 3P accounts. So I kind of do it both ways and it kind of just depends on what brands need. And over the years we've also dabbled in private label. We've created our own products and sold those in our accounts as well. So it's been a really cool experience being able to try it just every different way of selling on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

How many seller accounts do you guys have?

Grace:

Yeah, right now from an owned perspective we have three or four, but just from our full partnership perspective, I'm probably in maybe 20 different accounts on a daily basis.

Bradley Sutton:

So how does it work for when you're managing somebody else's stuff, like for brand registry? Like do some of these brands already have their own brand registry and then you somehow just get authorized or are you the one who is actually registering their brand because they never were before? How does that work?

Grace:

Both. So some companies are more Amazon savvy and right from the beginning and get go they registered with brand registry, which is great, and in that case we just become an authorized reseller and an administrator under their brand registry so we can act on their behalf. And in some cases they don't know, so either I'm kind of coaching them through that setup process or actually registering it on their behalf and managing everything. So it kind of just depends on how hands-on they want to be or how hands-off I want to be. So whatever works best for the brand, always the brand in mind for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's just skip ahead. We're going to talk a lot of strategy, but I think the thing top of mind for so many Amazon sellers and I think you have a unique perspective because you're dealing with so many different accounts I'm assuming you've got customers in many different categories, many different size of products, different, you know, types of products. The fees, you know, there's low inventory fees, that's coming. You know, there's low inventory fees. That's coming, you know, depending on when people are listening to this episode, maybe it's already there. There's the inventory placement fees, so that's been out for a little bit longer. How has this affected the brands that you're working with and what are the different strategies that? Like how you guys have pivoted? Like, are you doing your shipments any different or are you just like taking in the chin and it's costing us 20% more? Like, talk a little bit about some different experiences with different brands.

Grace:

Yeah. So these fees have been a huge topic of conversation for us in my operations team on how we can best handle these. Obviously they're real and we have to figure out a way to respond to them and maintain profitability above all else. So in terms of the shipment processes, we've been kind of going back and forth between the Amazon optimized shipments and just kind of eating the cost, depending on what our profitability looks like. So when these fees were introduced, our first step was like recreating our Amazon profitability model. I know there's a good Helium 10 one out there. Amazon kind of has its own Revenue Calculator tool.

Grace:

But what we did internally is create a very, very extensive profit and loss model outlining all of those different new fees and how they could impact us, so estimating at like a per pound dollar amount what this inventory placement fee would be an impact for us by SKU. So we can just first see how much can we afford to spend on advertising now that we have to spend more on logistics and operations costs, because that's kind of our flexible cost. And then, two, how is that going to impact our sales if we're investing less on some of the advertising side of things and then when it comes to the low inventory fee side, I was actually surprised that the fee even rolled out when it did. I know there's some concessions that Amazon is making right now and I think they're going to probably continue to make more concessions as some of the loopholes are found. But the fact that it's getting charged at the parent level is a huge problem, especially for a lot of brand partners that we have in the clothing and apparel and footwear side of things.

Bradley Sutton:

Wait, hold on, hold on. I've just been so busy with stuff I haven't even been checking that. So at the parent level means like you could have 10 variations and nine of them are cool, but then what? Don't tell me. You're saying that if one of them is low inventory, everything gets charged.

Grace:

No, it's not one of them, it's the sum of all of the children up to the parent. So no, it's not one of them, it's the sum of all of the children up to the parent. So they take like the average part of the supply chain, like it's not under my control if there's an issue with the supply of the raw materials needed to create my product and I can't ship it into FBA. So we're definitely looking at those, estimating them and seeing how we can respond, and there's definitely been some strongly worded emails to my Amazon Account Manager about just how these are impacting us and how critical it is to our business, as profitability right now is, it's hard for all third party resellers.

Bradley Sutton:

So your team is not the one controlling the inbound? I mean, obviously you're not controlling the manufacturing. But what about from, like you know, some of these brands have 3PL, are you the one who created the transfer shipments?

Grace:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So how are you doing those differently, if at all?

Grace:

Yeah. So we have decided because Amazon is encouraging us to send in more units at once to decrease our frequency of shipments into Amazon. So in efforts to maintain a very lean weeks of supply, we've implemented a process to send in weekly replenishment orders based on the last week sales which makes a lot of sense, right. But now as Amazon is encouraging us to send in more and more and charging us more to send in less, we've had to weigh those costs and benefits of sending in shipments weekly. So now, depending on the size of the product, it might even be monthly that we're sending into Amazon, and we've been relying a lot on LTL shipments to save on prices. But now it seems like small parcel might be a little bit more cost effective for us in some cases. So it's definitely changed how we've managed this and I'm really interested to see how these fees potentially change moving into Q4, as we're sending in a ton of inventory into FBA and shipments just become so much more regular.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, okay, interesting. We've got Prime Day coming up in July and what you know. You've got a number of Prime Days under your belt. What are some things that you're planning on doing the same or and or differently as far as what kinds of deals, if any, you're doing, like how you tackle your PPC? Let's just have a quick Grace's Prime Day Playbook 2024.

Grace:

You know what I was thinking about this today, because Lightning Deals and Prime Exclusive Discounts are due by midnight and with all of these changes, and also I don't know if you've heard about the new return fee assessment happening on June 1st but this, I think, is going to have a huge impact on us and just our profitability and how much we're going to be able to afford on markdowns and promotions.

Grace:

So my theory, at least for Prime Day this year, is people are going to be a little bit less promotional just because of how hard it's been to be profitable with these new fees. But then again, there are those discount minimums that we need to meet in order to get that prime day badging which means so much to your sales. So for our top moving, best products, I'm still going to be at least 20% off, like I need the badging if I don't get the sales. It doesn't matter if I'm profitable or not, so I'm definitely be. I'm definitely going to be pulling back on some of the costs, like PPC, in order to fund my promotions. So I think, to answer your question succinctly, I will be definitely promoting steeply on my best products, but maybe my middle tier and my lower selling products. I might just keep those at full price because of profitability reasons.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of discounts and things like that. You know another thing that kind of rolled man 2024, when I think about it, the Q1 was just like a doozy for a few things. So the restrictions on, like coupons and discounts and, like you know, the sales history yeah, minimum discounts for coupons.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. So like, how has that effect? Like I mean, for me it didn't affect me too much on the coupon side, because I don't always use coupons. But what about you? Were you guys using coupons? And if so, has your strategy had to shift now?

Grace:

Yeah. So I wasn't even aware of the new discount minimums for coupons until I was looking at one of my listings and I was like why is my coupon not on? We used to really heavily do that like 5% coupon on one week, off the next week, five on the next week, just to keep some like badging on our listings Because we believe that has a really significant impact in like bestseller ranking and organic ranking and keywords. So we used to do that quite a lot. We're not doing that anymore just because we can't afford to be that steep of a discount on coupons. So we haven't actually come up with what our strategy is going to look like since that is so new. In the last like month-ish, we've kind of just been keeping our normal like promotion strategy and hopefully it doesn't impact sales too much. But that's something I can't answer right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, a lot of this stuff is so new that it's going to take us all a little bit to try and figure out what. What we're going general PPC strategy you know PPC is they're doing more adding, as opposed to like taking stuff away or changing big rules. Like I hadn't added new video campaigns in a while like could have been maybe a year even and then I noticed, like a couple months ago, now all of a sudden I can do ASIN targeting video campaigns and keyword targeting video because I'm like, oh, that's new, that's pretty cool. But, like you know, Amazon's always launching new kinds of targeting and new kinds of, you know, what is it called for the sponsor brand? Is it like the vertical ads and things like that? What new-ish things are you doing, if any, on the advertising side?

Grace:

Yeah. So I agree with you. I think if you're not in Amazon every day, you're missing something. So that's something that I try to do. I'm not like actively in charge of PPC or managing campaigns, but I always like to stay abreast of like all the new different techniques and see how it works with the team. One thing that I'm really excited to try is the new store spotlight format, where you can actually click to different store pages in the sponsor brand placement, which I think looks really cool. If anything else, definitely, want to test to see if it drives extra sales.

Grace:

One thing for us that's challenging with sponsored brand ads, though, is as a reseller, and a lot of times we're not the exclusive reseller. Spending on sponsored ads for sponsored brands leads to sales for the brand but not necessarily sales for us. So if you're rotating in the buy box spend on sponsor brand, you're driving sales for the brand. It's not necessarily just for us. So how do we manage that? That's been a hot topic for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you personally doing anything on other platforms, be it Walmart, TikTok shop, or if so, or if not, is there anybody at your company who is focused on those channels?

Grace:

Yes, we are. We are really focused on TikTok shop right now. We've been using it more so as like an awareness driving tactic, more so than a sales driving tactic right now is a lot of the brands that we work with are more in a premium price point, so we've found that the TikTok items that work the best are really kind of almost that impulse item. So we've been using it to drive awareness, drive conversations around the products that we sell and the brands that we work with. And we've seen great halo effects on Amazon with branded search going up as engagement and content goes up for the brand on TikTok. So we've been using TikTok shop in that way.

Grace:

In terms of Walmart, that's always been a strategy for us. Transparently, Walmart just hasn't been a volume driver for us. It's been a steady but it hasn't really been a place that's warranted a ton of focus for us. But another marketplace that has been great for us is actually Target's marketplace, Target Plus, and that's been a key piece of our success, especially with working with brands who are looking for store placement at Target. For example, we've had a few items that we've listed on Target's marketplace that have done really well that have gotten the attention of a buyer and actually got store placement, which is really exciting. And at the end of the day, getting an item placed on shelves most of the time can drive more volume than a mid-tier listing on Amazon, so we tend to try to use that strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you get on target these days, like wasn't it invite only back in the day or now that Target is adding that 360 or some kind of like?

Grace:

Yeah, I think it might still be invite only, but I know they've been actively adding a lot of sellers. I know that their back end is still quite archaic compared to what Amazon is. It's probably what Walmart was like four years ago. But I think it is still invite only but definitely something to reach out to your connections and see if you can get a connect with a Walmart e-comm buyer.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I mean, that's what I've been saying about Walmart for years is the end game and the reason for Walmart.com. You know there's people who say, oh, you know, like you know a lot of the SKUs, I'll just have like 10% of my Amazon sales. No, you're not trying to. I mean sure, if it's profitable, why not increase your sales by 10%? But the main end game is you could get on the radar of Walmart buyers potentially and go 1P which increases. And then the next step is getting into 4,000 Walmart stores, which is like yes, is now going to dwarf your Amazon sales even. But on the target side totally makes sense. That you know there's not that many people buying. You know consumers buying stuff on Target compared to Walmart or Amazon's even less than Walmart. But then that's not the end game. The end game is if you can get well like, give me an example, some of those that you said you've been able to get them in Target stores, like those POs are for what? Like how many units? Like thousands, right?

Grace:

Yes, tens of thousands.

Bradley Sutton:

Tens of thousands, wow.

Grace:

And what's also really cool about Target's marketplace is that it's gated from a seller perspective. So once you list a product on Target, it is gated for you to sell it, which I know has become more and more an issue on Amazon, with unauthorized resellers and different brand protection strategies that are maybe a little bit gray market. So I think that's something that is really interesting to sellers who fight for the Buy Box on Amazon, and it's a little bit of a relief to be able to list it and not have to check it or wait for the Helium 10 notification to come up that the Buy Box has changed and also your advertising spend, as you can continue to advertise when you have a Buy Box. It's something that we love about Target.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to Amazon, now. Let's say you've got a brand who's launching a new product, what is your go-to launch strategy these days? Obviously gone are the days of things like two-step URLs and search, find, buys and giveaways and things like that. So for your launch, are you just doing PPC and maybe having a lower price, or you're only launching stuff where there's already some kind of brand recognition, where you don't have to do too much special?

Grace:

We do both. So we've worked with brands who have sold on Amazon for a long time and already have hundreds of thousands of monthly searches for their brand on Amazon and we've also worked with brands that are brand new and maybe are selling a new product that doesn't quite fit into a category that exists yet on Amazon. From a review perspective, we definitely lean on Amazon Vine. I think it has been getting better - the quality of reviews and just the ease of use of that tool, just to ensure that we're adhering to Amazon's policies. But just from an overall launch strategy, we've been thinking about top of funnel marketing a lot more. It's easiest to win when you have branded search on Amazon already, just so you're showing up on that first page of search results. But we've been using we talked about TikTok shop. Using TikTok is a really important part of our launch strategy and also just advertising outside of Amazon. So working with content creators to introduce a brand or introduce a product, if it's like a new product line under a brand that maybe people are already familiar about, using promotion codes that type of thing, as well. Are you then those influencers sending people to a TikTok shop product, or sending people to go search on Amazon, or a mixture of both?

Grace:

We'll mostly send to TikTok shop, but we do see just like an organic halo effect and someone sees it on Amazon. They maybe have more trust for the marketplace and they go and try to find the product on Amazon. So we've got a couple of cool case studies on that.

Bradley Sutton:

I probably should have asked this at the beginning. But, just like you know, I know you don't have the numbers in front of you, but if you were to talk about last year's sales or projected 2024 over all the stuff that your company manages, what do you think it's going to be on Amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop and Target rough? You know I don't need exactly. Yeah.

Grace:

So our goal is always double every year and we have in the last two, three years, as we've expanded marketplaces, our brand partnerships and ASIN count. I think the ASIN count that I manage right now on Amazon is upwards of 50,000 ASINs, so we're always adding more products. It's so many.

Grace:

That's a topic for a different time of how frustrating that can be at some time. But I mean we're in the triple digit millions going into 2024, at least for the e-commerce side of things. So it's really exciting and there's a lot of growth ahead of us and I think the biggest challenge for us as a three-piece seller and a distributor is managing the profitability and the agency side of our house is looking a lot in terms of outlook is looking a lot more profitable for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice, nice. What about what's this number two thing, so the nine figures? Is Amazon only or everything together? I mean, obviously it's going to be everything, but does Amazon by itself hit that?

Grace:

Or not everything together? I mean yes, Amazon by itself hits that.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so what's number two then marketplace?

Grace:

Target.

Bradley Sutton:

Target over Walmart, what in the world?

Grace:

It is. It is.

Bradley Sutton:

What? That's a shocker.

Grace:

It is. But again, like I said, that we work with a lot more premium products and premium brands tend to lean more towards the Target customer rather than the Walmart customer. So it's probably Amazon, Target, Walmart, TikTok, right now, but that will probably change pretty rapidly.

Bradley Sutton:

For TikTok, where is the inventory coming from for the orders. Are you doing fulfilled by TikTok or is it coming from Amazon?

Grace:

No, we're doing MCF from Amazon FBA centers. We can also drop ship from our own 3PLs as well, but we like MCF cause it's easier on us.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon strategies. You know like things are changing on Amazon. New data points you know come out like search query performance and new things in product opportunity. Explore just in the day, today, things of Amazon. What new things is part of your SOPs now. That maybe wasn't there two years ago. Or maybe you just think you've got some unique strategies even on something that's been around for a while because you know you can't get to nine figures without having some cool unique strategies. That's setting you apart from the competition.

Grace:

Yeah, I love using the Product Opportunity Explorer. It's now a daily part of what I do. I also use it to do competitive research, which might be a little bit different. So grabbing an ASIN that I'm interested in learning more about and looking at the customer insights, specifically around returns, which is a hot button topic, obviously, with this new fee coming into place with if your return rate is higher than what the threshold of the category is, there's new fees that come into play. So, just understanding what those negative insights are about your competing products and taking advantage of those in your content and I mean in your second image or in your first bullet point has been something that's worked really well for us. And as I'm going and I'm potentially auditing a new brand partner or I'm doing a pitch for new business, I'm always looking at that. I think the data that Amazon's been able to provide there is really useful and we've never had that access before. It's always been like here's how much they sell directionally. Here's what their seller ranking is. Here's the keywords that they rank on.

Grace:

Here's what the keyword sales are but, like, the actual sentiment from the customers is really interesting. And something that we like to use in our content

Bradley Sutton:

Favorite Helium 10 tool and why?

Grace:

I like the Cerebro. I love doing keyword research, as we just talked about and I think, finding those niche keywords and using those in your PPC. Even though it's an old strategy, it works and it's always changing and not everyone has auto campaigns anymore, so it's something that's really important to do and I still like to do it because I love to know, like, what's changing. And another, really important, like leading or trailing indicator either one would be like branded search around your competitors branded search, so just understanding how many people less are searching for your competitors versus you. I think that provides a really unique opportunity to win.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. If I were to give you the keys to the Helium 10 Product Roadmap. Something you know like hey, you're in charge of all of our product team a tool or a feature or a function that we don't have that you need, what would it be?

Grace:

I have two, okay, I think I asked about this already but Target Plus. I'd love to get a plugin, cause I love your dashboard, where I can see, like all my different marketplaces US, Canada, Mexico, Walmart all of that rolled up into one. I know it's probably still far out, but that would be really cool to be able to see that. Maybe TikTok shop I don't know if that's coming or maybe

Bradley Sutton:

What would help on TikTok shop specifically?

Grace:

I really like the sales product performance. That's like when I come in the morning I'm like what sold yesterday. That's where I'm looking okay and that's probably my favorite part about selling on Amazon is just seeing what's selling and how I can sell more of it. And then the second piece of it would be a Walmart ask. I know there's a tool where we're able to see kind of what the sales are on the listings for Walmart. I think there's probably opportunity to get that tool just sharpened a little bit so we really can see where the opportunity is on Walmart. I think there's still a lot of questions from everyone on like who's winning on Walmart? Like we know like CPGs are winning, but what brands are winning? There's a lot of information about amazon brands who are winning, but I think Walmart's still a little bit of a Black Box. So any tools that are available from an Amazon perspective, rolling those out and sharpening them for Walmart, would be great too.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool, cool, all right. So, what other strategies can you help people with out there who you know like, obviously it. You know somebody might be listening to this and like, well, what does this apply to me? I'm not a nine figure, I'm not even an eight figure or even seven figure seller, but some strategies that you're doing that, hey, even if somebody's new on Amazon or maybe you know six figure seller, they could. They could definitely be doing something you haven't mentioned yet today.

Grace:

Yeah, I think I'm going to speak to specifically the apparel and footwear and jewelry sellers out there. It's really hard to manage the assortment and I know I manage the 50,000 ASIN count, but we've developed processes internally to make that a lot easier. And I know catalog management is probably a hot button topic for all those apparel sellers out there. Managing sizes, colors, widths, all of that, tracking the variations that's something we can help with. So, whether it's managing variations, bringing them into one listing, separating them out, testing variation strategy, that's something that's kind of niche that we do all the time with our footwear brands to see how we can gain more share of shelf or share of click on different keywords, mostly branded. And then there's also way different style guidelines for apparel and footwear and we've learned how to harness those and utilize those to the best of our abilities. So just know that you don't have to do that on your own. There's agencies and sellers out there that specialize in just that and can help you free up your time to work on the strategic stuff and we can handle the catalog management side of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Last question I guess would be you know, I'm assuming maybe you might use some AI things, especially having to manage so many listings like have you leverage AI in your amazon management business and, if so, how?

Grace:

Yes, we've definitely started utilizing it from a copy perspective. We use a bunch of different AI tools, but one thing that's worked for us is taking our keyword research, plugging it into pick the engine that you want to use, give them your product description and have them help at least get a starting point for what your bullet points and your title should be. It just saves so much time instead of sitting there and being like okay, here are my keywords, here's what I want to say, but I don't need to type all of it out on my own. So, yes, it's not going to be perfect, but it's a great place to start and, honestly, a great place to start with really anything, whether it's Amazon copy images or even just writing an email to a brand partner or a proposal to leadership it. Leadership Like it's just a super helpful tool that'll save time across the board.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Cool. All right. Last non-Amazon question. I see your Instagram. You're traveling a lot, favorite travel spots and what's on the bucket list for you that you haven't been to?

Grace:

Oh, my gosh. Okay. So recently my friends and I rented a beach house in Oak Island, North Carolina. It's like a tiny little town on the coast, but it was so beautiful and so fun and it was like a great way to disconnect. We literally saw dolphins from our balcony. It's like so cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow.

Grace:

So that was really fun. I was just kind of wholesome and nice to be able to unplug a little bit, although I never truly unplugged because slightly addicted to selling on amazon. Um, that's why we're here, right. And then, in terms of bucket list, I've never been to Europe, which is crazy. I need to get to Italy. I'm such a wine person, I'm such a like I love food. So that is on my bucket list. I hope I can get out in the next few years.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe get your boss to send you to. We're doing a it's not Italy, but nearby to Madrid. End of May we are doing a workshop, high-end workshop, in Madrid. So, that could be an opportunity to business expense for your company and learn some new strategies. And you get to, you know, maybe make a side trip to Italy on your own dime. So if anybody else is interested, I'll know. I going to try and get Grace to go. h10.me/elitespain. It's open to everybody to join. All right, well, Grace, thank you so much for coming on here. It's been great to see all that you've accomplished on Amazon. I wish you the best of success in the future and maybe we'll bring you back on and let's see how you know how deep into the hundreds of millions that your company has been able to sell next year.

Grace:

I want to plug. I have an amazing team. This is not just me. I just happen to be the voice of them so I want to make sure I give them a shout out too.

Bradley Sutton:

If somebody wants to like maybe find you on the interwebs. I mean you can be incognito if you want, you don’t have to answer this. But how can they find you out there?

Grace:

Yeah, so if you're interested in services from PowerPlay, powerplayretail.com, find us on LinkedIn. Otherwise, you can find me on Instagram or LinkedIn. I'm also like a LinkedIn crazy person, so I will respond probably in the first one minute but that's the easiest way to reach me.

Bradley Sutton:

Is the founder of your company, like a hockey fan or something. Is that the name? Is that where PowerPlay comes from?

Grace:

I get that question a lot. No, but we always like use that as kind of like a hook, and we're also in Minnesota so hockey and Minnesota.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's what I was about to say. Minnesota is a hockey. Yeah, okay, all right, well, Grace.

Grace:

PowerPlay Hockey Jerseys, so I will say.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, you know me about my Helium 10 jersey, so I'm all about those jerseys. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us and I hope to see you at maybe what Amazon Accelerate in Seattle, where's the next one.

Grace:

Yeah, I'll be at Accelerate. I'll be bopping around to different conferences but maybe I'll see you in Spain.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, let's do it. Let's do it, all right, we'll see you later, Grace.

View Details

Amazon launches Amazon.co.za in South Africa
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-south-africa

Amazon announces the launch of Amazon.ie in Ireland in 2025
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-ireland-store-launch

It’s getting harder to avoid commercials: Amazon joins other streamers with 'pause ads'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/05/08/amazon-prime-video-pause-ads/73614614007/

Walmart shopper data will soon feed targeted ads on Disney Plus and Hulu
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/24152172/walmart-disney-plus-hulu-targeted-ads

Amazon Marketing Cloud now supports offline sales insights
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-marketing-cloud-now-supports-offline-sales-insights/

Starting in March 2024, Amazon began rolling out a new experience designed to make it simple for sellers to comply with certification requirements related to the US INFORM Consumers Act. Now, starting in May 2024, if you have 200 or more transactions or $5,000 or more in revenues during a continuous 12-month period, you may receive a formal notification to review and certify that your business information is correct. However, you do not need to wait to receive the formal notification and can take action now to avoid the risk of account deactivation later which could affect your upcoming sales events.

The episode continues with a must-attend call to action for all sellers aiming to refine their competitive edge: the Elite Workshop in Madrid, Spain. We've got an impressive lineup of speakers who will share invaluable insights on strategies for success on Amazon and Walmart. Tune in for Bradley’s tips on harnessing Helium 10's Insights Dashboard for effortless competitor tracking, covering everything from pricing to sales and keywords. And don't miss out on the discussion about the critical role of click-through rates versus conversion rates, using Helium 10’s Chrome Extension with Amazon Brand Analytics data to illustrate why attracting clicks is only half the battle in e-commerce. Discover the power of coupling high clicks with strong conversions, ensuring your products don't just catch the eye but also seal the deal.

(Time Stamps) -

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Amazon South Africa Launch
01:50 - Amazon Ireland
03:37 - Prime Video Ad Update
05:52 - Walmart Video Ads
07:34 - AMC Update
08:33 - INFORM Act 2024
10:42 - UPS Ground Saver
11:34 - Instagram Integration
12:45 - Seller Workshop In Madrid, Spain
13:42 - Pro Training Tip: Competitor Tracking Using Helium 10

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon has launched a marketplace in two new countries. There's soon going to be another way to use sponsored TV ads. Make sure you confirm your seller information with Amazon so you don't get your account suspended. These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world and we give you training tips of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. All right, let's go ahead and hop right into the news stories Now. The first one is actually about a new marketplace that has launched. All right, there was a while where Amazon was launching marketplaces left and right. Then there was like a year or two where it seemed like there wasn't many new after the ones that launched in, like Poland and Netherlands, et cetera. And now we have a article from Amazon entitled Amazon launches Amazon.co.za in South Africa. All right, so Amazon has now launched and customers in South Africa can now shop on this website that I just mentioned, and they've got desktop browser, mobile browser, everything. Well, there's 20 different product categories that they have, and they actually get free delivery on their first order and then free delivery for any subsequent orders above 500 of their currency, which is about 27 US dollars. Interestingly something different in South Africa, they receive their status updates via WhatsApp. All right, so that's how they can track their orders there, and they also have hassle-free returns. So here's another English language-based country that is opening up, and so, as the opportunity to sell there come for foreign sellers might be a little bit easier to get your listings ready for that market.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of English-based countries where Amazon is expanding to, another announcement was made this same week, again from Amazon, entitled Amazon announces the launch of Amazon.ie. You guys know where that is Amazon.ie in Ireland. All right, not this year, but next year, 2025, amazon is going to launch there. Now, this article mentioned how there's already a lot of people in Ireland who are searching on Amazon, but they're having to search from other countries, and so now there is going to be a dedicated Amazon marketplace in that country. Now, right off the bat, there's going to be a lot of local sellers who will be able to take advantage of that platform. This article says that there's already over 1,000 small and medium-sized Irish businesses already selling on Amazon and they generated over 150 million euros in export sales in 2022. So, you know, sometimes when they launch new marketplaces, there's like a slower rollout or a local rollout that you know starts before the major rollout. So I would assume, if things go similar to these other launches, you know some local sellers might have first access to be able to sell on that marketplace, but again another marketplace where it's English language based for the most part and you're not going to have to, you know, go through some like heavy duty translations to get your listings live in that country. So what about you? Any? Do we have any Irish sellers who are selling in other marketplaces Amazon UK or Amazon USA? Are you looking forward to having your own Amazon Ireland? Let us know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, also about Amazon, and this is about advertising. So we this article is actually from the USA Today and it's entitled it's Getting Harder to Avoid Commercials. Amazon Joins Other Streamers with Pause Ads. So what is the pause ads mean? So that's like, let's say, you're watching a streaming program and you hit pause. Got to go to the bathroom or you're doing something on your phone or whatever, so you hit pause. Well, instead of just the screen pausing, now there's going to be ads that will be visible and also shoppable carousel ads that are going to play during scheduled commercial breaks on Amazon Prime Video. Ads on Prime Video is nothing new, you know. This article reminds us that. Hey, earlier this month, you know, prime Video started to push advertisements on its basic tier viewers and remember it costs $8.99 per month or $14.99 per month as part of Amazon Prime, and then you have to pay $2.99 a month more if you don't want to see these ads. Now, ads on streaming television is nothing new. You know, like Hulu, peacock have these pause ads before, and so now Amazon is doing it.

Bradley Sutton:

So the three types of ads that USA Today reports that Amazon is going to have number one carousel ads. It's going to pop up in a sliding lineup during prime video ad breaks and pause ads, which I just mentioned. If a show, movie or even a live sport is paused, there's going to be these like translucent, transparent ads that'll have brand messaging and imagery and even add to cart buttons on there and then brand trivia ads. That one I'm not sure about, but it says it's going to share facts about the brand with the viewers while also giving them opportunities to add the product to their Amazon cart. So again, if you, I'm just wondering, you know, has anybody been using amazon sponsored tv? These are things I might not even have mentioned in in weekly buzz a couple years ago, because no regular sellers would be able to have, you know, be able to qualify for this kind of advertising. But now, with sponsored tv, it's kind of made it available to even smaller sellers. As a matter of fact, I just started the sponsored tv campaign in project x and was able to do it for like $20 a day budget, so even smaller sellers are able to get into this.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of streaming video ads not to be outdone. Walmart made an announcement this week on the Verge. Isn't it funny how Amazon will announce something, then Walmart will do the same, or Walmart will announce something. A few days later there's going to be an Amazon announcement about something similar. It's like they don't want the other one to one-up each other. Right. I love it. It's great for us consumers out there that they're competing for new features and good for sellers, giving us new opportunities to advertise, right? Well, Walmart here in this article from the verge, says Walmart shopper data will soon feed targeted ads on Disney plus and Hulu. All right, so now, uh, information about shoppers, both in store and also those who shop on Walmart.com are going to be kind of like shared um for Disney's streaming portfolio, which includes Disney plus and Hulu. Now this article says, as part of this deal, Walmart advertisers will be able to match the retailer shopper data with Disney's audience graph tools, helping them target audiences and measure data better Now, I'm not sure you know and measure data better.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, I'm not sure you know how you know, if a regular you know Walmart sellers, how many of them can participate in this. But again, it's just interesting to me to see where we're coming. You know, three, four or five years ago, not only were people not even selling on Walmart, but you know, nobody would have dreamed that. Oh yeah, let's go ahead and maybe put some of my Walmart products on Disney show or a Hulu show. There was, no, I don't even know if there was a Hulu like four or five years ago. But anyways, it's just interesting how you know the ecosystem of advertising and streaming is progressing and it's affecting, you know, amazon and Walmart sellers Going back to something advanced.

Bradley Sutton:

Now. This might only affect some of you, but I wanted to bring it out those of you who are using Amazon Marketing Cloud. Amazon Advertising announced this week that AMC, amazon Marketing Cloud, now supports offline sales insights. All right, so to get this, you subscribe to something called NCS CPG Insight Stream. It's a paid feature in AMC. Now, the difference of what this is providing compared to before, well, well, you know, you could use AMC to be able to see hey, how is our ads impacting online engagement of what you know our consumers are doing after they view our ad? But now it's going to you're going to be able to measure the impact of offline sales. All right, I'm not going to go too deep into this because I know it only affects. You know very few of you are of the level that you're doing AMC, but if you are, make sure to take a look at the article that I linked to below about this and see if this is something that you could leverage Now, something that affects every single third-party seller on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Some of you already might have got it, but you saw the announcement that, hey, you've got to review your business information for Inform Act requirements. Inform Act that's a law here in the United States where you've got to confirm your contact details and your address and stuff. It's hard to believe it's been a year already since this came out. We talked about this a lot in the weekly buzz last year, where, you know, amazon was like sending all these like warning messages hey, you might get your account suspended if you don't do this. Well, now you're you're starting to see these notifications come up again and you need to act on it right away. So what the threshold is is starting last month. If you've got 200 or more transactions or $5,000 or more in revenue during a continuous 12 month period, you are going to get this notification that you have to review and certify your business information. This is not just some Amazon rule. This is like the law you know, like any marketplace is going to have it. I'm sure Walmart will have something similar as well. However, you don't need to wait for the notification. All right, you can go to your account health page, all right, and review your account information. If you look in your news on your seller central dashboard, you can get the link where to check this and you're going to be able to kind of like proactively do it because, let's say, you do get that notification. Well, you only have 10 days, all right, in order to certify this information. Now there's a lot of questions that sellers are having about this, like you know different scenarios. So um Shivali has been writing a blog about this with all your frequently asked questions. By the time you're watching this, if you're watching this live, I'm not sure it'll be available yet, but sometime later on today, Thursday, go to h10.me/blog and you should see it towards the top a blog article about the INFORM ACT. It's going to have the links where you can go check in your Seller Central dashboard. It'll have pretty much the answer to any question you might have about this. So make sure to go to h10.me forward slash blog later today and you will be able to get more information about what you need to do to make sure your account does not get suspended.

Bradley Sutton:

Another small announcement from Amazon Seller Central. Last week we talked about a new FedEx service that you can buy if you're doing merchant fulfilled FBM Right. Well, now you also can do UPS ground saver. That's like one of the cheapest forms of shipping for UPS for residential deliveries, all right. So you, it's a new option that you can go ahead and buy shipping labels for UPS ground saver All right, and I didn't even know this. Uh, ground saver actually deliver seven days a week. I was like, what UPS delivers on Sunday? Didn't, didn't realize that, all right. Um, you can even deliver two PO boxes. Uh, with this, all right. So you know, like you know, normal UPS, you can't really deliver UPS, but I think what this does is like transfers it to post offices or something like that. But anyways, check out the Seller Central dashboard. You'll get more information on this. I'm all about shipping.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article, but you guys remember last year, like about last November in the weekly buzz. Remember last year, like about last November in the weekly buzz, I talked about this news article that came out that said hey, meta is letting Amazon shoppers buy products on Facebook and Instagram without leaving the app. So this was something that CNBC and other articles were reporting way back in November of last year. Well, if you look on LinkedIn, our Serious Sellers podcast, buddy Liran, he's talking about how he's actually now seeing it in his Instagram account. He had a video here that that showed how he was on his Instagram and there was an ad that he saw and then it allowed him to sign in, while he was still on Instagram, to his Amazon account and, you know, able to purchase that product. So he had a lot of like discussion, uh discussion on his LinkedIn about, you know what he thinks is coming, uh, if this really is rolling out, or maybe he's just special. I'm not sure, and that's why he got to see. I haven't seen this yet, but you know, like I said, it was announced way back in November and so, hopefully, maybe this is finally going to get rolled out. We might see some more official announcements about how, uh, amazon sellers are going to be able to leverage advertising on Instagram, perhaps even in Facebook. Yeah, it's going to open up a world of opportunity. Uh.

Bradley Sutton:

Last thing, I just want to remind you guys, uh, in a few weeks, I'm going to be in Madrid, Spain, with a lot of other sellers, all right, so make sure to sign up. I don't care if you live in the United States. If you can make it to Madrid, get out there. If you're in Europe, man, that's like a $60 Ryanair flight away. Hang out with us in Madrid, Spain, we are doing our Elite Workshop, normally only open to Elite members, but we're opening it up to others, together with AVASK. We've got some amazing speakers like Leo Sgovio, Alina, Carrie, we've got Vincenzo Toscano. We're going to be talking about a lot of high-end Amazon and Walmart strategy. We're going to have a lot of networking opportunities. Really looking forward to our first ever event in Spain. So if you'd like to get there, make sure to go to h10.me/elitespain.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into our training tip of the week, and this one is about a couple of things I want to highlight, and the first thing is about competitor tracking. This, I think, is something that people sleep on. I think you know competitor tracking is not new. A lot of people have been doing it, but it's a manual process, like what kind of things do you want to track with your competitor? Do you want to track if they're getting sales from new keywords that you might not know about? Well, what do you do? You probably run Cerebro once a week on them, or once every other week or something. Do you want to check if they have price changes, like they're lowering their price or raising their price, maybe they're running a coupon, maybe their category is changing, maybe If you're monitoring that, you're probably like having somebody go to their Amazon page and refreshing it or something, right? Well, remember, you don't have to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

So, Helium 10 members, diamond and up, you've got access to what we call the insights dashboard. So how you can have Helium 10, do all this work for you is just go to your dashboard, go to one of your products, click the arrow that opens up the details of it, and then go to the competitors tab and make sure to add competitors. All right, so you can see right here those of you watching on YouTube. I added four main coffin shelves right here that I'm monitoring and I now will know, hey, if any of these coffin shelves change their price, or maybe their sales get better than mine, or sales get worse than mine, or maybe other fulfillment type changes, or maybe they start running the coupon or maybe they end a coupon. I'm going to see that.

Bradley Sutton:

In addition, if they start getting sales from a new keyword that I might not have in my listing, I can actually get a notification of that. I don't have to go checking Cerebro all the time. So how I did that was I went here to my insights and I hit insight settings at the very bottom, and in insight settings I was able to make new insights. Where I do that, there's two kinds. The keyword one is right here. Under keyword, I select the thing that says keyword suggestions based on my competitors, and after I select that, I can set the parameters where I can say, hey, if I'm not ranking for a keyword but one of my competitors is ranking from one to 20 or whatever ratio I want, it's going to give me a notification that they're on page one for that keyword. The other one here is under competitor. I can start selecting things like competitor changed their price, or they started or ended a coupon, their performance changes. That could be anything from their BSR is more or less than mine, the review count increases by a certain percentage, their sales increase by a certain percentage, or maybe I want to see when they change their listing, like their title or their main image, their category, their subcategory. And so we've got all of these options that allow you to set these notifications so that we're doing the work for you and you're not having to go constantly every day refresh the listing to see what your competitors are doing.

Bradley Sutton:

One more thing, speaking of competitors, you know I've talked about this before, but to me this is just like an amazing asset. Whenever you are going on Amazon, this is like one of the things that I look at, and anywhere, as long as you have the Helium 10 Chrome extension installed in the search results. Now you are going to see a blue bar above the three products that are the brand analytics top click for the previous week. All right, so you'll? You'll say ABA most click, number one. This is super, super insightful, because now it's not just a matter of oh, I think the products that are performing best for this keyword. Maybe they're the ones at the top, or maybe they have the most sales or whatever. No, I can literally get the information from Amazon, from brand analytics. Now, the only way you'll see this is if your account has brand registry, because by Amazon terms of service, we can only show it to those who have brand registry. But you can now see which are the most click. And not only that if you put your mouse over that ABA most clicked, it's going to tell you what the conversion percentage is like, like the one that was most click. Look at that. They only have this coffin shelf has only 7% of the sales. Now this one that was the second most click they've got 38% of the sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Now take a look at this one. Here's the third most clicked. It's actually a makeup shelf. So you might think, oh man, this person probably has a third most sales on this page. If I mouse over it, even though they're the most third most clicked, I can see that here they have 0% of the conversions in a full week. So, like I'm not even worried about that coffin shelf, if they're not getting any sales, let them have all the third most clicks on the page, because people aren't liking what they have, right? So, really, really beneficial tool that is available if you have the Chrome Extension. All right, guys. That's it this week for the Weekly Buzz. Hope you found this insightful and make sure to join us next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Ever dreamt of cashing out big time on your Amazon business? Scott Deetz of the Northbound Group, an Amazon business exit expert, joins us today to unravel the strategies that could lead to a windfall sale in 2024. His expertise in the shifting sands of Amazon acquisitions is not just a beacon for those sailing towards a lucrative exit, but a lifeline for those aiming to navigate the complex seas of e-commerce business sales. Together, let’s dissect the importance of positioning your business as an alluring catch for an array of buyers, from eager individual investors to the more discerning eyes of private equity firms. Scott shares golden nuggets on how diversifying your business and sharpening your niche can amplify your business's appeal and, crucially, its final selling price.

The conversation takes a turn towards the post-sale horizon, where your involvement could sweeten the deal even more. We dive into the world of non-competes and post-sale roles, revealing how your sustained presence and niche passion might command a higher premium and ensure a smoother transition for the new owners. Moreover, Scott illuminates the strategic planning and negotiation maneuvers that can elevate your business from a standard market offering to a premium, sought-after asset. With his guidance, even the most veiled aspects of exit planning become clear, from managing the intricacies of your financials to negotiating earnouts that benefit both parties.

Wrapping up, we pivot to the ultimate goal: securing seven to eight-figure exits that transform your financial landscape. Scott's advice ranges from the practical—such as maintaining a robust product pipeline and savvy capital management—to the tactical, like understanding the fresh impact Amazon fees may have on the buyer's calculus.

In episode 559 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Scott discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Business Exit Strategies in 2024
05:19 - Evolution of Successful Amazon Business Exits
07:07 - Maximizing Amazon Seller Exit Strategies
16:11 - Financial Freedom and Business Exit Strategies
16:28 - Maximizing Business Exits With Strategic Planning
22:08 - Exit Planning and Negotiation Strategies
25:03 - Maximizing Business Value Through Strategic Planning
28:25 - Strategies for 7-8 Figure Exits
31:08 - Capital Strategy for Business Growth
34:43 - The Importance of Business Forecasting
36:00 - Actionable Knowledge and Contact Information

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a brand that thrives in the crowded e-commerce marketplace? Janelle Page, a brand-building expert, joins us today to unfold the strategies behind her success. She's the mastermind who's been turning heads with her product launches, teaming with celebrities and YouTubers to elevate brands to unprecedented levels. Janelle breaks down the art of weaving brand identity and storytelling into products that not only look good but solve real-world problems. From stylish protective eyewear to celebrity-backed health supplements, tune in to learn how Janelle's approach is revolutionizing the industry.

When it comes to spreading the word about a brand, influencer marketing is the game-changer. In this episode, we dissect how to navigate through this landscape, striking genuine partnerships and leveraging platforms like TikTok and Amazon to maintain brand momentum. We get into the nitty-gritty of budgeting for influencer campaigns, the secret sauce of engaging organically with online communities, and the savvy of paid advertising to funnel traffic. Whether you've got a hefty budget to play with or you're scrappy and bootstrapping your way up, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help your brand shine.

Beyond the confines of Amazon lies a vast expanse of e-commerce potential waiting to be tapped. This episode paints the transformative journey of Dolce Foglia, a brand that's soaring by mastering a clever blend of SEO and influencer marketing, with a strong B2B backbone. Janelle shares the blueprint for expanding into international marketplaces and prepping for the future of global online trade. If you're eager to discover the next chapter in your brand's story or just love a good entrepreneurial success tale, this heart-to-heart is your front-row ticket to inspiration.

In episode 558 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Janelle discuss:

00:00 - Brand Building Strategies With Janelle
01:18 - Entrepreneurial Success and Brand Partnerships
08:36 - Influencer Marketing Strategies and Tips
15:27 - Choosing the Best Marketplaces for Launch
16:35 - Maximizing Sales With Amazon and Shopify
22:57 - Building Brands Through Storytelling
25:52 - Product Launch Strategy Without Revealing Secrets
31:34 - Expanding E-Commerce Success Beyond Amazon
31:58 - Expanding Amazon Brand Into Other Marketplaces

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got Janelle back on. The show sold over 100 million dollars in her time on Amazon and other platforms, and now she's working with a lot of celebrities and YouTubers to launch their brands and she's going to share her best brand building strategies with you all today. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And, as we do, we start off these episodes with a serious strategy. And, as we do, we start off these episodes with a serious strategy. And one thing hope you guys know that in Helium 10, there is a full inventory management tool, and that's exactly how I am able to manage all of my accounts in just a couple of minutes a week, making sure I don't run out. I don't have too much inventory in Amazon. So if you guys want to find out more information about our inventory management, go to h10.me/inventorymanagement. And now we've got somebody who has done everything from inventory management to launching brands, to working with celebrities and whatnot. We got Janelle back. I believe this is the third time you're now on our show. Welcome back, Janelle.

Janelle

Hey, thank you, Bradley, it's a pleasure. I always enjoy shooting the bull with you and learning what you've been up to too.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it. Now. In the past, you've been on episodes. By the way, if anybody wants to check out her full backstory episode 294 and episode 401, you can hear about how she was working for companies that were doing nine figures a year on Amazon. We talked about stuff like my love for red iguana, uh, Mexican food from her, uh, salt Lake, uh, where she's at now. But we want to catch up because we haven't had you on since, like December of 2022. So you know, around that time, you were talking a lot about how you had done this crazy Shopify launch. I did $500,000 in a weekend and you were doing Kickstarter launches and stuff like that launch. I did $500,000 in a weekend and you were doing Kickstarter launches and stuff like that. So, since that time, what has been your?

Janelle

main things like in 2023 and now almost halfway through 2024? Wow gosh, I didn't realize it had been so long since we last talked. So last year I was saying 2023, I think I did over six or seven new brand launches and even like brand new brands and also new products, and they were all six to seven figure launches Shopify, and then we moved to Amazon. I've been partnering with YouTube, YouTube celebrities I guess we call them YouTubers and celebrities to build products and brands and that's what I've been doing. So I mean we could probably include links to a lot of those products or whatever would be the easiest way if people wanted to go check them out. But we did a power tool line Athena power tools. We've done more products with Matt's off road recovery If anyone's familiar with that YouTuber super, super fun channel. We did shop shades with John Malecki. He's an incredible carpenter, woodworker.

Janelle

He does like live edge furniture and those river tables We've launched these totally sexy like protective eyewear, personal protective eyewear Cause, like you know, safe is sexy and usually like the if you think about traditionally eyewear, like for people who are in the woodworking industry, they're like ugly, they're hideous, they're these big plastic goggles and nobody wears them. So you know, he even noticed in his own shop, like my people aren't wearing their protective eyewear. Heck, I don't even want to wear my protective eyewear. It was kind of a thing. So he came to me with this idea like I want to make, like you know, the Oakley or like the sexy shop shade.

Janelle

So maybe we'll throw some links because these products they turned out beautiful, the branding which you know I kind of love. That's why I'm seeing I want to make it super sexy. Super was a. Oh, Dr. Eckberg, we launched his supplement line, did incredible. So you've XCS. So I'll throw those links, cause I always think it's so helpful for people to see. I think when you you do a killer launch, you gotta have a killer video, you gotta have a great brand, the look and feel, the storytelling, and if they just go to my landing pages and check it out, I think maybe they'll get some ideas for their brands.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Now you know you're talking about brand building. That's actually part of your module that you recently recorded for the new Freedom Ticket 4.0. Anybody who's a Helium 10 member can go get that module. But what were some of the main points from there as far as brand building, and why do you think it's probably more important than ever before here in 2024 to talk about this subject?

Janelle

Yeah, definitely go check out the module, but for me, that's the only way I know how to build and sell brands. Is I build a brand Like I didn't come to Amazon, the traditional way that some people, like they use tools to look up, like what the top selling products are and they try to enter into, you know, the market and create something that already has search, demand, the customer and like thinking about, like a problem that I have. Or when I partner with, like, say, a celebrity or YouTuber, there's usually, like I was just saying with John, a problem that he wants to solve, like hey, man, I don't want to wear my personal protective eyewear because it's hot, ugly and I can't see through it and it's there's. I look like a goon and I'm on YouTube trying to look cool, so I don't want to wear this, so that's want to solve. I always tell someone if you've got a problem that you want solved, there's a chance that there's a lot of people like you out there that also want to solve that problem, and so that's how I approach a brand.

Janelle

Building a brand is first, let's solve a problem for a person, and I keep that person in mind Because then when you're trying to think well, which product should I launch next? It's like well, what other problems does a person a carpenter or woodworker have that I can solve? Because John is the avatar. He's intimately acquainted with all the frustrations or the opportunities within the realm of a serious or even just a hobbyist woodworker, and so you know the next product he starts talking about that he gets passionate about. He's like man, I want like a pocket chisel. You know like, yeah, you have like pocket knives that like you know like a switchblade or things like that, like guys like tools, it's like a power tool. But this is like not a power tool, it's like a cool like. Can you imagine having when you're doing woodworking, like a chisel is just kind of like a boring tool, but it's actually something they use a lot when you're doing like live edge type furniture work. So why not make a pocket ch almost like a switchblade? That becomes super cool and fun that people would geek out about. If you're a woodworker, you know, and so you have this ability to start creating stories and products to serve that person that you can geek out about.

Janelle

I just got off a console I was doing with a client that they own. Basically they're a wholesaler of ATV parts. You know the side-by-sides stuff like Polaris, St. Polaris, Hondas and stuff and they were asking for brand help because they're like we just feel like we're just hawking wares all day long. We really want to be a brand. So I spent the hour talking to them like how could this I haven't said the client name, but how could you become like the Tesla in the side-by-side space? That's what they want to be. They want to be the premium go-to innovation, like if, if you are into ATVs, this is the brand for you, because they have everything and anything under the sun and the way that they teach and educate and innovate is going to be, you know, heads up, shoulders above everybody else, instead of just selling a bunch of parts on Amazon or on their website.

Janelle

So that's what we're working to create. What's the story going to be? You know how do we convey that in our messaging. What's the look and feel like, who is our avatar? So we spent the whole time fleshing that out and you know they're excited now. Now they have a very clear direction on what type of content they're going to create, what type of ads, like messaging, to attract that ideal customer. And also we created a product roadmap for them. Like, where do we go next with our line extensions that will best serve this person that we now have in mind with everything that we do in our brand? So we create this movement kind of a thing.

Bradley Sutton:

You've talked about working with YouTubers, celebrities and stuff, and obviously I think when people come with that personal brand awareness, it's a leg up on the competitions. You've already got a bunch of raving fans and it doesn't necessarily have to be celebrities. Everybody might have some kind of specialty. I used to do the Zumba stuff and so I had probably a following on YouTube and stuff, and so that would have been something where, first of all, just like you said, I would have known the pain points that maybe other Zumba instructors had or people dancing Zumba, and then I already had the initial following. So I always think that if somebody does have something, yes, you should double down.

Bradley Sutton:

That being said, let's flip the switch. You know I'm sure you have clients who are not celebrities, so they're not YouTubers, they're not famous. So how do you and that's actually most of our listeners, you know potentially might not have a following? So if I'm just you know, joe entrepreneur, sally entrepreneur sitting out there listening to this podcast, how can I do what you just said? But where I kind of maybe don't have that headstart on the audience and the people who know me, etc.

Janelle

Love it? That's a great question. So, like there's people that you can hire that do this right and you can do it yourself. You can reinvent the wheel Like I have a vast network now. So when I am working with clients I usually will just be like hey, here's my guy that will build your influencer marketing program in-house. Like we're going to use him, like I have options, like we can do the training we can. I can show you how we've built it out and you know you can do this. Or I can bring in this guy and he will do it in three months and it's this amount of investment and you will have like a fully flown, blown out, like gifting program, influencer marketing program which, honestly today, like it's the fastest way to grow a brand like influencer marketing. So if you don't have the audience, you aren't the influence and you don't partner with one, you've got to build out an influencer program and you know there's a lot of people that take oh, do you use, join brands or use. You know like, uh, drawing a blank on all the 50,000 I've used over the years, but really it's, there's so many softwares now you can use and to have someone in house all day long just reaching out and doing gifting and getting influencer content Cause the thing with the influencer marketing why it's so beautiful is not only do you get these people posting on your behalf about your product, but they also create content for you that you can amplify. With paid, you can run ads behind it. That's the best type of content and the highest converting ad material that you're going to get is content from actual people using your products and talking about what they love about it Social proof built right in. So brands I think that everyone knows that that's what you need to do now to like generate traffic, generate brand awareness.

Janelle

And Amazon, to me, is like this ecosystem. I always think like, think of a wheel right, and there's all these different sales channels and Amazon is just one spoke in that wheel. It's a very important spoke, but your website's a spoke. You know Walmart.com is a spoke. You've got retail. You've got affiliates. You've got I mean how many other places that you sell? I don't know.

Janelle

I've sold on so many different marketplaces Temu, you know, TikTok shop. There's so many spokes now and I don't like to have just one that I rely on. All of these make my wheel run true, right and spin like a flywheel and I can get speed. So when I think about that, with influencer marketing, anytime we build out this influencer wheelhouse, which we need, or influencer marketing program, they're going to be driving sales on Amazon website Temu, TikTok. It doesn't matter, I am I am sales channel agnostic. What I'm doing primarily when I build a brand is I'm creating desire, demand and a movement so people can buy wherever they want to buy. Okay, so influencer marketing today is just. It's just how we market best. It's how I do it. It's been very successful.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's say I don't have that huge of a budget. Is TikTok the most economical way to find potential influencers? Or should I go use one of those services?

Janelle

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, all those Influencers are on a lot of different platforms. I really like having a well diversified like just how I diversify in my investments. Yeah, have influencers on all types of platforms, but how to go find them? I mean, you're going to need to have. I say, if you want to launch a brand, you're going to need to have a budget to give away product or get product in people's hands, like you should plan on that. That's why sometimes you know, I see all these gurus on you know whatever YouTube or in my feed running ads saying you can make millions. You know, starting an Amazon business and you know, with only $2,000 investment and I'm just like man, that's so not true. You need money to get the product and the development and you've got to buy inventory, and then you're going to have a budget to give product, you and you've got to buy inventory and then you're going to have a budget to give product. You know, get product in people's hands to get some feedback or just some traction, or you've got to pay for it. You have to generate sales somehow. You have to generate awareness somehow. That's paid or that's organic or you can use your time. I do want to suggest and I have done this the scrappy way because I have more money than time now I will short circuit things by paying ads. It's the fastest way to generate traffic. Buy it right. If you don't, if you have more time than you have money, then there's organic strategies that work incredibly well.

Janelle

I mean 10 years ago, how I built my brands, when I had no influencer marketing strategy and I had no celebrities. I was partnering with is. I was literally in Facebook communities, on Reddit, and I was posting in communities that had people like me. I knew where my avatar was. So, like, let's just say, right now I'm working on that celebrity line with the Huffs they're dancers, right, let's pretend that I didn't have celebrities. But I wanted to create a supplement line for artistic athletes or dancers. I would be on every subreddit right now that has, you know, artistic athletes or dancers in their hip hop. Um, you know Zumba, like you said, salsa, cha-cha, tango, and I'd be talking about my product and what I've developed and what I'm working on. I'd start just from conception, taking them through that whole journey. I think there's been some great books written over the years, like show your work. Um, you know, build out loud, like taking them along on the journey, getting feedback the whole way, so that I start building that audience right. And then also Facebook. There's groups. There's so many Facebook groups about dancing.

Janelle

Right now I'm working with a brand that does flavoring right, and so we're in every group that has a baker's, confectioner's, like coffee makers anyone that's like would use flavoring we're in there. We're asking questions all the time about a new flavor we're developing, wondering if anyone has any. You know new flavors they want developed. We ask them about pricing. We ask them about bundles and people are like, oh, you can't make sales. You know posts in those groups where you get kicked out. I'm like, yeah, don't make sales posts. Get in there and ask questions, like I'm just doing. I'm like literally just put together what I call a Mother's Day bundle and I wanted to ask the group what would you pay, you know, for these products if I put them in a Mother's Day bundle? Like what would be the discount that you think would be like motivating you know to grab this and are these the three flavors that you think most mothers would like, based on, you know, the flavors that we offer? That post gets through all day long and I have all these people telling me what they think I should add, you know, for my mother's day, or the essential baking, you know, um, flavors that should be included in the bundle. You can just kind of be strategic. I think people are so like intellectually lazy or they're just looking for excuses to not have to do something. They're like, oh, that doesn't work. I'm like man, you're pathetic, like you couldn't figure out how to make that work. Like you know, just put a little elbow grease into that. So much free traffic. So now I don't do that anymore with my time, but it's one of the first hires I make is a VA. That's just my organic poster in these, in these forums, adding value. They're in there answering questions.

Janelle

The thing about you guys I think Helium 10 did this so well originally, um, and you still do it. You're in these Amazon groups and even in your own groups that you've cultivated on Facebook, answering questions. When somebody asks a question, you could count on Bradley answering it. I know you're not maybe doing that anymore, but you have people doing it. That's huge for the brand Any business. You can build a business like that in any industry. When I just built my marketing company. That's what I was doing. I was in chamber of commerce, answering posts, answering questions. I literally helped a guy I was dating. He was an electrician and he was like I don't have a lot of business. I'm like dude, get on Facebook in your county and every little like real estate group anyone that asks an electrical question you have someone that is just chiming in and answering and adding value, like you will have so much business coming out your eyeballs. It works, so just get in there and start organically drumming up your business if you don't have a lot of money but you have more time.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, let's say I'm going ahead and I'm going to push forward with this plan. You know, supplements, the supplements that you've done, the other products that you've been doing. What are your main marketplaces? You're starting off, you know, like you said, there's like 20 marketplaces probably nowadays. You know even Target now, you know, is starting something. Obviously, there's Walmart, there's TikTok shop, there's eBay, Esty, amazon, you know, like Shopify, WooCommerce, whatever. Do you have like a set, two or three that you suggest launching on, because it sounds like, unless I'm mistaken here, that you rarely do something that's exclusively Amazon or exclusively one marketplace. So what are like your two, three, four go-to marketplaces for somebody to start?

Janelle

Okay, perfect, yeah, so if it's a celebrity launch or YouTube or someone with an audience already like and I know I'm going to do six figures or a million dollars, it's like it's always Shopify, cause, like we control the audience, we have a list or we have a channel like a platform we're going to be posting on. We're going to control that flow of traffic, and the best place to do that is on your own website. So we drive them to Shopify. I've done Kickstarters. I do have strategies for Kickstarters that I will talk about maybe some other time. Just send them to your website. Shopify now allows pre-sales too. So even if you're like nervous, you don't know, like, will I get enough funding or I want to pre-sell it, you can do a pre-sell. The shop shades that I'll maybe include a link to that was all a pre-sell that we did. You know, we didn't know, like, how many units we'd want to initially order, how much interest there would be, but like, yeah, we, we blew it out of the water. So Shopify is number one. If, even if you didn't, if you didn't have any audience at all, then I'd probably say launch on Amazon, right, because you're going to steal keyword traffic. You're going to be like, basically, take the hotdog stand and instead of sitting it in your cul-de-sac where nobody's at, you're going to go to the state fair and put your hot dog stand out. You're going to sell a lot more stuff. So, even with celebrity launches, if you do Shopify, you know whatever or influencer, you have an audience. It's definitely Shopify or whatever. Your own website, I don't care if it's WordPress, but I really just love Shopify now because I just know, like the suite of apps that I need to install for everything, for optimization and you know, increasing average order value and my ATV, and you know I just have my little toolbox for high converting. You know Shopify sites, but I know some people like a WordPress site, fine, but go to Amazon for sure. Like we list everything on Amazon because there's just still a subset of people that want to buy everything on Amazon. It's just so easy for them. You know, and we call those Halo sales. Even with my celebrities and my YouTube launches, we still have a large portion of people that will go over to Amazon, even though it's not listed yet, and you can see that in Helium 10, you can see the branded search.

Janelle

So when I launched Euvexia that's a brand, new brand. Nobody had heard of it. This is Dr Sten. You know he has a pretty large following, like a couple million, on YouTube. They went and we see all of a sudden Helium 10, Euvexia has searches like overnight shooting up right. So we created that brand demand and you know we weren't on amazon yet because we didn't have products shipped in there. We just launched on our website. So, yeah, we probably lost some sales, people who wanted to buy it on amazon. Maybe you can say well, maybe everyone who wanted it actually ended up buying on your, on your site. But I I do believe a lot of people won't buy on a website. They're just like, especially the older generation they don't want to put their credit card in, they don't want to have another password, they have to whatever. So I just think you're silly to not list on Amazon and I have strategies that you know. We have one of my very large brands. We will hold back certain products that we don't list on Amazon because we still want that consumer to come to our website ultimately, so that we can capture their information, we can pixel them, we can remarket to them and so some of our best used or like our limited editions won't ever go on Amazon because people have to go buy that on our website. So there's different strategies you can use, but just make sure the halo sales that you will get on Amazon especially as you incorporate influencer marketing, you start doing paid media, even you know, creating some organic like where you're blogging or you're doing YouTube and you're just driving your own traffic You'll have people that will still go to the Amazon looking for your product, that halo sales, and you want to be there to capture it. So, website, amazon those are the top two. If you didn't do anything else, you'd probably be just great. You're probably capturing 80% of the market.

Janelle

I then will usually move to other Amazon places. First I'll go to Walmart.com. Usually it just depends A lot of my brands because we're in the beauty space. We can't be on Walmart if we also want to be in Ulta or Sephora, so we have to keep that in mind. So Walmart.com is not always where I can go, but I do like to go to Walmart.com if I can. And then it's expanding. Amazon Canada, amazon UK those are my order that I go to. I haven't played around with many other marketplaces. I know it seems that everyone starts being like oh, you should do Amazon India, and there's Amazon Japan. I tried a couple of those. It was very minimal return. I'm not saying it won't ever work, but for me right now no, I don't have anyone on Brazil, Japan, so yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

You mentioned Shopify being the first place to go, so obviously the beauty about Amazon is it's got that existing traffic Shopify you won, remember, I think before I was even a Amazon.

Janelle

I don't want to say, I don't want to refer to myself as an.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon guru.

Janelle

People always call me Amazon guru, but before Amazon was like a big thing that I spent a lot of time teaching people how to do well, Um, YouTube was my thing and I still love YouTube. I still do. Uh, in fact, today I do a consult for YouTube channel strategy. I've done a lot, built a lot of channels and brands on YouTube and I think YouTube is one of the greatest ways to drive traffic. And same thing with blogging. You do that with content articles you can write. So a strong SEO strategy where you're bringing in traffic to your website. So I'm a I'm a big content creation junkie because it works. So people will say, oh, I mean, I tried YouTube. I didn't get any traffic. I'm like you have to understand YouTube is an algorithm, just like Amazon, and you know how. Helium 10 has great courses teaching you how to understand the A9 algorithm. YouTube has the exact same thing. There's courses. I have courses and we teach, we consult. There's lots of people out there that do that and teach you how to build a YouTube strategy to drive traffic to wherever you want them to go. Strategy to drive traffic to wherever you want them to go. Usually it's your website and a lot of that YouTube strategy also will carry over to Halo sales on Amazon. So that's probably my favorite way influencer marketing and content creation, your own content creation. The brand should always be creating content and educating to drive sales. That's how you control your destiny. You add value. You teach people why they should use your product. You help them solve their problems. You help them scratch their itch. You become the go to person and the trusted brand in your, in your space.

Bradley Sutton:

You know you mentioned some steps as far as finding that, these pain points and stuff. You know going into Reddit and going into Facebook groups, but but talk more about your process before your, before the actual product is made. You know, like you know, are you doing a lot of samples? Are you just getting some? You know like 20 samples and actually testing it in the market. Are you just deciding that on your own? Are you getting focus groups, like? What's your entire process about? That goes from, hey, finding that initial pain point to validating it and then all the way up to actually having a product.

Janelle

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is funny because I don't do. I mean I do now because I understand the value of creating the story, but I guess I've been in marketing long enough that I know the power of a story and a story well told. So I always just say story, sell right. And so I guess I know that I can tell a story that will be compelling. And when I first started, my very first brand was a toy brand and I just knew I would crush it because the story was like kids were sitting around on their iPads and playing video games all day. And this was like in 2014, when everyone's like there was no e-sports team, there wasn't kids making millions of dollars, you know, playing video games. It was like grandma and mom were so, so, deathly concerned that their kids were all going to have their brains turned to mush. And so I create this kick fire classics brand line and the whole story is just going to be like good old fashioned fun get your kids off their butts and outside of playing. And I knew that if I ran ads in front of every mom and grandma about these classic toys, that they could get Johnny to get them off the iPad and you get outside, you know, flying a kite or playing with juggling balls or you know the Diablo, it would sell. It was just I didn't need to do market validation that that that whole sentiment existed. I was a mom and I hung out with moms and they were all having the same, you know, battle cry of like our kids are, you know, they don't know how to get outside and have fun. So that that was. I launched the brand, I told that story and it crushed, you know.

Janelle

And then my second brand was a weight loss supplement and I'm like I understand, as a woman living in America, like everyone wants to be thin, you know, and you have to bust your butt to stay thin and and if you can create a weight loss, a meal replacement weight loss shake that tastes good, that helps people lose weight, and you tell that story and you have, you know, results, it's going to sell. So I guess I don't really ever go into a market. I've never. Even now I'm like right now, with this celebrity supplement, like we have created the whole product line, the core four. We're doing a stack right and I work with Derek and Julianne Huff who are these beautiful artistic athletes and they're very well known in the space. I think that's easy because they have followers and they're going to, no matter what they say. You know, we could probably one of our investors is like you could just, you know, bottle dog poop and put it in a bottle and people would buy it. And that's not what we want to do. But you know that's how well-known they are and trusted in the space. But I really don't even think we had to validate anything, but because I understand the power of story and I want to build a movement and a community.

Janelle

I am getting people involved, I am getting their audience to. You know, we are doing what we call a pilot run, which is not everybody does. It's kind of more expensive, it's unheard of but and I wouldn't say unheard of a lot of people it's heard of but people don't do it because the extra time and cost. I want to do it as part of the story, because Derek and Julianne, this works for them. But I want to get it into the hands of their top dancers, like Derek's on tour right now and he's got, you know, he's like 50 to 100 dancers with him. What if I can get all of them using this right now and giving us feedback. You know that's going to create content, that's going to create story and I just want, on tour for the media, to see all of his dancers backstage pouring their little powder packets from the foil and being like what is this stuff that everyone's taking? It's kind of creating that curiosity and building hype.

Janelle

So I'm doing this strategically for my own PR, but I don't need to do this, but I want to to make the story better, if that makes sense. It's like, uh, Paulo Acosta, who does you know his secret juice? And he has that bottle and he has secret juice written on the outside. If you don't know who he is, he's a UFC fighter. Just Google it. He drinks that and everyone wants to know what the hell is in that juice that he's drinking. It's brilliant. It creates such a stir and you know what it's like. We're going to go launch him a supplement drink and then everyone's going to know what was in that dang bottle, right? So that's the thought behind a product launch. When you can build that, everyone's kind of excited. They know you've been working on something. I started posting and teasing out content with Derek and Julianne just on my own socials and they're teasing it out and that's going to be a part of the huge buildup to the launch. If you have an audience, that works great. If you don't have an audience, this also works really well to build the audience as you go along, because people want to be a part of something and feel like they're helping create this product.

Bradley Sutton:

What is just some other, just general strategy Can be about anything you want to talk about. That that, hey, our audience could probably learn a thing or two from your experience.

Janelle

Gosh, you know, sometimes we I really enjoyed your session that you did at BDSS. It was more like life stuff. I think sometimes we all talking about you know business, business and you you talked about your like near death experience. I'm going to say near-death you died. You literally died and got brought back to life, right. So I think, just like the longer and maybe this happens as we get older, like we're more generative, we start thinking about, like what kind of legacy do I want to leave? Like I know, like earlier, when I was in the grind, I mean I was a single mom with four kids under the age of five, like hustling, working like four or five jobs, like I had to bust my ass to get where I am Right. And now I feel like I'm really just so blessed or lucky or I mean whatever it is.

Janelle

I've been very fortunate in my career. I play a lot of pickleball, I get to travel the world, I spend a lot of time with kids, I work with incredible brands, incredible people and I think, just remembering that, you know what like there's, I don't know, you do have to pay the dues, you have to work hard, but we're doing it all for a reason. There can be joy. I've always been happy. I can look back in every phase and it's not like I was like man. That period of my life sucked. It was like that building was super incredible, and to be where I am now and to look back it even makes it such an even more happy memory. To be like I busted my ass and I'm here now and it was all worth it and I love what I'm doing. I even love the hard part shoveling manure in the trenches and so I just maybe reminding people that, like, remember why you're doing it and if you're not enjoying the doing of it, when you get to where you're trying to go, it won't be all of a sudden beautiful, like there has to be that magic along the way. I don't know.

Janelle

I just think if you wake up too many days in a row thinking that I don't want to do this, like you're not doing the right thing, and then I don't know what comes next, I don't know if there's another life and I mean I just want to be able to say this life I lived my best life and so Whatever that means to you. Maybe just take a moment to look at your life and how you're living. Is this your best life and are there any changes that you need to make? Because you almost didn't have a second chance. You know, and it was over and I think you have a new perspective. I have a new perspective. I lost a lot of people I love just in the last few years to cancer. They died young and I'm so grateful I'm alive and I don't take that for granted every day. I'm just like it is a gift and I just I love making money.

Bradley Sutton:

Always got to remember the more important things. You know like, like we, sometimes we can get caught up in the whole business and an entrepreneurial journey and stuff and we forget about what really what really matters at the end of the day. So that's a good, good advice. I like that.

Janelle

Favorite end of the day. So that's a good um, yeah, good advice. I like that favorite helium 10 tool. I'm like magnet. I'm just like. The keyword research tool for me is just like I go look up all the time. I think this is the one I use the most and all my employees is like did you do the keyword research? Like what does it look like? And you get ideas too. Like when I'm doing keyword research, I can see like whoa, this is a good product extension. Like you know, in the search, in the search results, when I see like like the other day I was doing you know, with Glamnetic, we're doing some press on nail launches, and I was just like, oh, like, people are looking, they're calling them false nails. Like I never really even heard of that, you know word. I thought it was press on nails or fake nails, but false nails. So I just think it's a, it's a treasure trove, not only to you can get product ideas from there. And it's like, okay, well, I'm going to do a whole new line. That's like optimized for faults, that whole word Cause there's like hundreds of thousands of searches that can, you know, aggregate on that right there. So I think it's important.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, you mentioned, uh, you know so many different, different things that you've been working on. How can people, maybe you know, find you on the interwebs out there or see a couple of these projects you're working on, either in social or just websites out there? Uh, throughout some, websites.

0:30:23 - Janelle

Okay, so janellepage.com is is my website, and then there's also on that website you'll see like I probably should update it, but there's a lot of projects I've worked on on that website. So it's j-a-n-e-l-l-e-p-a-g-e like a page in the book.com. You can go there and then, like shopshades.com. Euvexia is E-U-V-E-X-I-Acom. Athena Power Tools let's see Vital Kind. We don't have our website up yet, but in a couple months you'll be able to see Derek and Julianne's brand that we'll be launching, working right now with some really big pickleball pros. We're launching a pickleball line, so that'll be exciting. Don't have the name yet, the name yet, but I'll start posting about that as we develop it. We have our kickoff meeting on Monday. Um, I don't know if we put anything in the notes. Oh, matt's off-road recovery. You can check out that. Robbylayton.com, um, oh, m1 motorsports that's our motorcycle line. Glamnetics a great line, gee, is that. Is that good enough or they can all be like that's good, that's great stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm sure people get to be able to get some ideas and take a look at what you've been working on.

Janelle

That one's a hard one to spell, but that one and flavor frenzy. They're beautiful Cause they were originally Amazon brands that didn't have a clue about DTC and I helped them build out their DTC strategy and we're crushing and B2B, so we built out that whole thing. So Dolce Foglia is like D O L C E Foglia is F O G L I A com, and you will see the beautiful website we've built. Just think how fun because if these if a lot of the listeners are Amazon only brands, I want them to see like what you can do. They went from Amazon. Now they have a true e-commerce where we have full build out of like SEO strategy and influencer marketing and we built out the B2B side. It'll link you over to their B2B flavor frenzy and maybe just get you excited about the potential. Let's was like literally just an Amazon brand that's now crushing on all different platforms and we're moving into like Temu and all these other different I guess I didn't talk about any of those Like a lot of other countries have marketplaces that are like bigger than Amazon, as we start to list there.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's maybe something we can see in a year when we have you back on the show and see how those marketplaces are doing. I know a lot of them are making a lot of noise out there, so it'll be interesting, all right. Well, Janelle, thank you so much for joining us. It's always a pleasure to have you on the show and look forward to where we can hang out in person soon.

Janelle

Awesome Thanks, Bradley.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Sr Brand Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Shop tops 500,000 US sellers after 2023 e-commerce launch
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3261114/tiktok-shop-tops-500000-us-sellers-after-2023-e-commerce-launch

TikTok Shop Marks 500,000+ Merchants in the US
https://www.pymnts.com/news/social-commerce/2024/tiktok-shop-marks-500000-merchants-in-the-us/

Amazon’s latest actions against fake review brokers: Lawsuits against fraudsters target the source of fake reviews
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-latest-actions-against-fake-review-brokers

Amazon Business Celebrates Third Annual Small Business Month with New Immersive Educational Hub and Over $250,000 in Grants
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2024/5/amazon-business-celebrates-third-annual-small-business-month-with-new-immersive-educational-hub-and-over-250-000-in-grants

Amazon issued a new policy update in seller forums regarding low-inventory fees.

Moving from defense to offense in the Amazon marketplace, our conversation shifts to the art of strategic advertising. We lay out how to use sponsored brand and product ads to not only protect your listings but also to proactively stake your claim in new territories. Carrie Miller unpacks the wisdom behind a proactive approach, providing practical advice on employing competitor analysis to your advantage. Together, we outline how to harness these insights for defending against competitors eyeing your listings and for targeting theirs, ensuring that you remain a formidable presence amidst the fierce online selling arena.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali talks about:

00:50 - 500K TikTok Shop Sellers
02:43 - New Amazon Discount Page
04:16 - Amazon Fake Reviews
05:43 - Amazon FedEx Shipping
06:05 - Amazon Grants
06:26 - Low Inventory Fee Postponed
08:26 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
10:44 - Training Tip Of The Week

View Details

Join us as we explore the incredible journey of Tom Reid and Alex Birch of Honest FBA, two UK expats who have made a name for themselves as Amazon entrepreneurs in the sunny climes of Spain. They've successfully launched a booming business that's on track to hit a remarkable two million dollars in sales. Throughout our conversation, these innovative thinkers share their personal experiences, from their individual paths to Barcelona, where their paths crossed, to the strategies that propelled their Amazon venture to new heights. They offer valuable insights into the world of e-commerce, including a glimpse into Tom's previous venture organizing bachelor parties and how they've navigated the complexities of Brexit as UK citizens abroad.

Listen in as these entrepreneurial spirits delve into the nuts and bolts of their business, from an inflatable games venture to a travel brand that was smartly sidestepped just before the pandemic. Discover how they succeeded in the pet space within the Amazon US market, generating impressive sales figures and expanding into content creation with a YouTube channel and coaching course. They provide actionable advice on inventory management and product innovation, recounting both their victories and hiccups, such as a costly inventory dimension miscalculation, while emphasizing the importance of adapting and reinvesting in the face of product failures.

The episode wraps up with a forward-looking discussion on brand building and the intricacies of scaling a significant e-commerce brand. Our guests highlight the vital role of a strong brand presence, not just on Amazon but across multiple channels, and the use of external marketing efforts to drive growth. They also tease an upcoming London event and a future Helium 10 event in Spain, marking milestones and networking opportunities that promise to inspire and connect like-minded entrepreneurs. So whether you're an established seller or just starting out, tune in for an engaging session brimming with lessons and strategies to elevate your e-commerce game.

In episode 557 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Alex, and Tom discuss:

00:00 - Expat Entrepreneurs Launch Amazon Business
05:34 - From Lockdown to Seven Figures
07:11 - Amazon Entrepreneur Journey and Strategies
09:41 - Growth in Annual Sales Performance
14:32 - Amazon Sellers Discuss Product Success
14:49 - Branding and Supply Chain Success
19:12 - Thinking Outside the Box With Subscriptions
24:13 - E-Commerce Brand Building Strategies
26:40 - Amazon Event in London With Sponsorship
31:46 - International Event Plans and Goals

View Details

Ever felt like you've hit a wall with your Amazon listings, unsure how to climb the ranks? Our latest episode is the secret weapon you've been searching for! We dive into Helium 10's Listing Builder, a tool that's changing the game for sellers by revealing how to prioritize keywords using the new Competitor Performance Score. Picture your products climbing Amazon's search results as we dissect the art of optimizing listings with advanced strategies that include leveraging root keywords and their variations. And for those moments when words fail you, discover how Listing Builder's AI feature can effortlessly craft captivating product descriptions.

The battlefield of Amazon is won through intelligence, and we're not talking about IQ. In this tactical session, Bradley pulls back the curtain on importing and scrutinizing your current listings against the competition. We navigate the listing analysis section, showcasing how to pinpoint underutilized keywords that could be your secret ammunition for visibility. Imagine transforming your product images with the touch of a button through the AI image generator feature, leaving your competitors wondering how you do it. This chapter isn't just about throwing in keywords; it's about strategic placement and analysis that propel your listings to new heights.

Closing out, our journey with our Project X products illustrates how to optimize listings with finesse, responding in real-time to questions about differentiation and opportunity keywords. If you've ever second-guessed which Helium 10 membership fits you best on your journey, or how to sync listings without a hiccup, you'll find your answers here. We wrap up with an arsenal of tips and tricks, from saving and restoring previous listings to pinpointing those elusive low competition, high demand products. It's not just about listing; it's about dominating—let's get your products the spotlight they deserve.

In episode 556 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Listing Optimization Training and Q&A
02:57 - Keyword Optimization Strategy Simplified
07:46 - Optimizing Existing Listings Against Competitors
16:14 - Amazon Listing Optimization Strategies
16:50 - Understanding Opportunity Keywords in Cerebro
26:58 - Amazon Review Request Guidelines
27:53 - Amazon Selling Tips and Strategies
29:57 - Optimal Title Length for Niche
33:39 - Keyword Stuffing Strategy in Amazon Listings

View Details

n. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

How YouTube Shopping is upping its social commerce competition with TikTok
https://www.modernretail.co/technology/how-youtube-shopping-is-upping-its-social-commerce-competition-with-tiktok/

Online Shoppers Are Starting to See Amazon as a Fashion Destination
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2024/online-shoppers-are-starting-to-see-amazon-as-a-fashion-destination/

TikTok won’t dial back on TikTok Shop content, but it may not matter for time spent
https://www.emarketer.com/content/tiktok-won-t-dial-back-on-tiktok-shop-content-may-not-matter-time-spent

Amazon ends California drone deliveries
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/22/amazon-ends-california-drone-deliveries/

Strap in for a gear shift with Helium 10's groundbreaking new features aimed at elevating your Amazon selling game. Bradley talked about the Inventory Management overhaul that's set to streamline your operations, whether you're balancing SKUs or toggling between FBA and FBM. Unravel the mysteries of Amazon marketplace SEO with the latest in keyword ranking analytics, and plunge into the Customer Behavior Dashboard that's a lot of actionable insights. Plus, for the data-driven dynamos, Black Box Brand Analytics is now within arm's reach for Platinum members. And, because knowledge is power, I'll guide you through Black Box’s freshest training videos that are sure to sharpen your competitive edge in Amazon product research in 2024.

Lastly, in our Pro Training Tip of this week, Bradley discusses the feature inside Helium 10 that is most slept on. Listen/watch now to learn what it is and transform your approach with these cutting-edge tools and strategies! Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:45 - Youtube Shopping
02:26 - Amazon Grocery
04:26 - Amazon Clothing Gains
05:51 - TikTok Shop Usage
07:02 - Amazon Brazil
07:40 - Drone Deliveries
08:23 - Helium 10 Elite Workshop In Madrid, Spain
08:54 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
15:18 - Pro Training Tip: The Most Slept-On Helium 10 Feature

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

YouTube shopping updates. Amazon launches new grocery delivery service. Amazon fashion is on the rise. This and more stories on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new Helium 10 features are available. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

Just like a few articles, a handful of articles today, but wanted to bring out what I thought might be interesting to you. Our first one is actually from Modern Retail and it's entitled how YouTube Shopping is Upping Its Social Commerce Competition with TikTok. Now YouTube Shopping. You might not have heard of this article it's actually a couple weeks old already, but just wanted to highlight it because we didn't highlight it last week. There wasn't enough room but it's talking about updates to the YouTube shopping feature, especially in regards to what's going on with influencers, content creators and the ability to monetize their channels. You know, I think Amazon and other platforms are definitely seeing how successful TikTok shop has been in. And now in YouTube shopping there's an affiliate hub that gives creators access to more than 300 of YouTube's partner brands, like Target, Alta and Adidas. So this is not some TikTok shop killer. The fact that it's only available at 300 partner brands means, you know, obviously this is not something that would affect third-party sellers yet, but it's just interesting to see where the space is going when it comes to social commerce and influencer marketing. I think this is definitely going to increase and your success, or your sales on Amazon, is going to partly be tied to how well can you get affiliates, influencers, to promote your product effectively. And, of course, obviously the perennial question is all this costs money. Cost percentage here, percentage there you know they want, you know affiliates want to make money. Where are you going to find these percentages in order to stay profitable? But interesting to see YouTube now kind of I don't want to say jumping on the TikTok bandwagon, but maybe moving towards that direction.

Bradley Sutton:

Another Amazon update is from Amazon itself. It says Amazon's new grocery delivery subscription offers big savings to Prime members and EBT customers. So what is this Basically? Now, hey, prime members, or if you have an EBT card, you can get a monthly subscription with unlimited grocery delivery if you get orders from over $35. And this is from Whole Foods, amazon Fresh, other local grocery specialty retailers, and it says this is a benefit that pays for itself with one delivery order per month. I'm not sure what that's based off of. Maybe based on the old fees that Amazon would charge for delivery.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't know, I don't use Amazon delivery, but you know, honestly, maybe I will. You know I've used like Instacart and stuff for things, but I might check this out. This is why I'm bringing it up. Anything that increases value to Amazon Prime members and gets more people on the app, I think is something that should be interest to sellers. Now this charge is going to be $9.99 for Prime members to subscription and this actually includes, says one hour delivery windows at no extra cost in some locations and 30 minute pickup orders. There's there's recurring reservations for a weekly grocery order we mentioned before, unlimited delivery on $35 orders and plus from local grocery and retailers such as Cardenas Markets, save Marts, Bartell Drugs, rite Aid. Rite Aid Wait a minute. Does that mean I get Thrifty's ice cream with my Amazon Prime? Okay, all right, say less Amazon Thrifty's ice cream in 30 minutes. I will take that, but anyways, it's going to be available in 3,500 cities, and so it might be something to look at. I don't think a lot of us are selling products that are in grocery stores, so that's not the advantage here. But again, the advantage is does this make Amazon Prime members more sticky? Does it add more Amazon Prime members? I see like there's this battle going on between Walmart and Amazon as far as grocery deliveries, right?

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from payments.com. It's entitled online shoppers are starting to see Amazon as a fashion destination. I thought this was interesting, because if you weren't looking at the numbers and somebody were just to ask you hey, what do you think's going on with Amazon's market share in the clothing industry, maybe you might think it's going down because of, you know, last year, sheen and teaming with all these low cost alternatives, right, you know, I've been saying for a while I don't yet see those websites as huge threats to Amazon, but, interestingly enough, you know, amazon's market share in clothing for online sales is increasing All right. For the first time ever it actually rose to over 50%. It rose up from 47.9% the previous quarter. So it's interesting. This website shows a chart going back all these quarters, the last few years, about Amazon's market share of e-commerce spending. And you know the low one would be health and personal care. I was kind of surprised. You know only 6.6% but it's still up. You see here the clothing and apparel 51%. Last year it was 47%. Sporting goods, hobby, music and book 85%. Amazon has a market share there. But pretty much all of these main categories Amazon is increasing quarter over quarter, year over year as far as what its market share percentage is.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is from emarketer.com and it's entitled TikTok won't dial back on TikTok shop content. But it may not matter for time spent. You know we've been hearing these comments and articles about TikTok users regular TikTok users upset with all the TikTok shop content. But this is interesting. They did this survey here and it says yes, nearly two-thirds 62% of US TikTok users notice a change in shopping-related content in the six months. However, almost all 91% of respondents who noticed that change said their TikTok usage either rose or remained unchanged, with 70% reporting an increase. So you know some people might have been scared that. Oh, maybe you know. Or the ones that are like really successful in TikTok shop is oh, I see all these articles about TikTok users being upset with all the shopping stuff. Maybe they're going to dial back how much they promote TikTok shopping. But if this survey matches what TikTok has seen, I would say no, because there is no sign that people are kind of like dialing back their TikTok uses because they're getting frustrated with the TikTok shop stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article from Amazon Seller Central itself. Just another reminder. This came out a couple of days ago. It says eligible North American unified accounts can now expand to Brazil. All right, so if you've got a North American Brazil unified account, you can switch back and forth between Amazon Canada, Mexico, us and Brazil. Now to list products there. Don't forget Helium 10 fully supports Amazon Brazil, all the main tools, chrome extension, Black Box, Cerebro, et cetera. So it would definitely be something to look into if you have not optimized your listing for Amazon Brazil.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from TechCrunch. It says Amazon ends California drone deliveries. All right, this wasn't some massive, massive thing. It was one city in California. They were doing testing in addition to their one city in Texas that they were doing testing for deliveries of products, of drones. It was in this Leckford California. I live in California. I've never heard of Leckford California, but anyways, they're not doing it there anymore, it's going to be in Texas and now they're going to open it up in a city in Arizona. What this means I don't know, but we've literally been reporting about drone delivery for like four years and the fact that it's only in one city in California now zero cities doesn't look like drone delivery is going to be some massive thing anytime soon. All right, that's it for the news this week. Don't forget, if you have not signed up yet and you're living in Europe or want to go to Europe for a couple days, hang out with me, hang out with Kerry, hang out with amazing speakers and about 100 other Amazon sellers. Make sure to join our Helium 10, first ever event in Spain. It's going to be in Madrid May 28th. Going to be an amazing lineup of speakers, h10.me/elitespain. If you want to get tickets, h10.me/elitespain. Don't miss it.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's get into the Helium 10 New Feature Alerts. All right, we had four last week. I thought that was a lot. We got five this week, all right. So, as usual, helium 10 cranking out the new features. The very first one is an inventory management. So an inventory management had kind of like a big refresh as far as the interface. But a couple things I want to call out is you can now see things at the ASIN level and at the SKU level. Now this is important for those of you who especially those of you doing furniture or other larger products, where maybe you have two SKUs per ASIN. Right, you've got an FBM SKU and FBA SKU, or maybe, for whatever reason, you had two of the same or two of the same ASIN, but two different SKUs of the same match type, just because maybe you updated some packaging or something like that and you would want your inventory velocity to be based at the ASIN level, not necessarily the SKU level, because that's what you order on. So now you're going to be able to do that. You can just toggle back and forth between ASIN and SKU. Again, for those of you who do FBM and FBA, use this filter and then toggle between if something is FBA and something is Fm. As far as what you're at the skew level is going on. We can now toggle based on the selling type that it is. So take a look at inventory management guys. It has a completely new UI here. Don't forget, last month we had uh features such as EU. You know inventory management now works for EU as well as multi-warehouse, like if you use multiple third-party warehouses. Uh, inventory management can take that into consideration. Uh, next update here is in listing builder really a quick and easy one, uh. If you go into listing builder now on the main page, if you're using the new listing builder scoring system, you are going to be able to see your keyword rank All right, your keyword ranking for based on the scoring, and your keyword performance score All right. So your keyword performance score is right here, so you can see when it's updated and also see if maybe you've lost some ground as far as SEO goes on your listings.

Bradley Sutton:

Next Helium 10 update is for supercharged customers and in your customer intelligence tool all right. In your customer intelligence tool, which is right here on your main dashboard Now, you're going to be able to see purchase behavior. You're going to have a purchase behavior dashboard so you're going to be able to see from your own brands and products. What sequence are people ordering your products in? All, right, like, hey, they're first ordering the pink coffin shelf and then they order more pink coffin shelves. Or maybe they first order a bat shaped shelf and then they order a coffin shelf. Right, you're going to see the sequential things. Like, for example, my number one multiple in Project X, my number one multiple order is how people order one of my stackable egg racks right, the top one and then they order the bottom rack. You know, makes sense, they can stack ones up higher. I see some customers ordering the black coffin shelf and they order another black coffin shelf and then the third one is a purple coffin shelf. So I might just have some like interesting insights, and I can see how many times this has happened as well. So, again, this is only for supercharged customers in your customer intelligence tool.

Bradley Sutton:

Next update is in the Chrome extension, review insights. All right, so review insights has been a popular tool so that if you want to go, you know, take a look at what are the common words that are being brought up in your or your competitors reviews. You can see it. Well, let me just show you how that looks now, if you are on Amazon, like here's a, here's a collagen peptides listing. And if I were to go ahead and run review insights, I can do it right here on the sidebar. I hit review insights and all of the reviews come up. Now if I look at reviews grouped by keywords, it's going to show me the, by default, the most common phrases that are showing up in the most recent reviews. But now we have this really cool thing where I can edit it by how many words, like maybe I don't want to see the individual words, but hey, what are the two word phrases that people are saying much? And like here in this collagen peptides, I see the number one two word phrase that people keep bringing up is morning coffee, all right. I see a lot of people saying joint pain All right. Protein shake All right. So now I'm just getting insights into how people are using this product. I can now even go for three word and up phrases if I want to see what things people are saying. I could see here that there's a number of people saying does not mix well, all right. So that's something that you know if this is my product I definitely want to take a look at.

Bradley Sutton:

Next update is for platinum members. You now have 10 lifetime usages of Black Box Brand Analytics, all right. So where you can get to that tool is into just going to Helium 10 Back Box and then hit the tool ABA top search terms. This shows all of Amazon's brand analytics If you've got brand registry right. But it just gives tons of other information such as showing you the search volume and the history of the click share et cetera, and then gives you tons and tons and tons of filtering capabilities. Like hey, show me all the keywords where, if you add up the top three clicked products, it had less than 20% of the overall clicks. I mean, you can go deep in filtering. That you just can't do if you you're looking at a brand analytics in seller central, just downloading the reports, tons of extra information on here that ties in helium 10 data.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if you want to see how to use this tool, make sure to hit the learn button. The learn buttons are, uh, are being updated here in black box. So if you don't see the two videos for the learn button here, just go to black box keywords, black box. And, by the way, I want everybody to do this because these just got updated. So if you want to know. If you want to, in like 20 minutes, understand all the tools here in black box. We just updated all the training videos. Go to black box keywords, hit the learn button and you are going to have 10 videos, really short, three, four minutes long each, on how to do different things for product research and other things like how to find competitors for any Amazon product, how to find product opportunity using Amazon brand analytics. That's the one that you know you would need to look at to know how to use brand analytics, and there's a lot more strategies here that can definitely help you in your Amazon journey.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now let's get into the training tip of the week, and people ask me sometimes what is the most slept on feature of Helium 10? And it's an easy one. For me, it's this feature called Amazon Recommended. Let me just show you how powerful it is, and you know we've had this feature for almost five years now and it's funny, even five years ago. I'm like, oh yeah, you're like you know we're the first to have this feature, but I'm sure other people are going to copy us and have it soon because it's so powerful. Five years later, we're still the only people to show this. This is directly from Amazon, guys. So how would you use this?

Bradley Sutton:

Have you ever had a product where you're just not getting the impressions that you think you should be getting in PPC, even though you think your listing is optimized for a certain keyword? Or maybe you're not getting any impressions at all, or maybe you have a keyword, like man. I'm getting sales for this keyword, but my organic rank just doesn't seem to be increasing so much. You know what is going on. Well, what it could be is that Amazon doesn't think you're that relevant, for whatever reason. According to Amazon's own algorithm and Helium 10, it's the only tool that gives you insight into what Amazon thinks you're relevant for, and it's in a live data feed. This is not something that Helium 10 is calculating or put some algorithm in. This is a live feed. Every time you run Cerebro, it shows it, and where you can get this is in Cerebro, like here. I ran on Coffin Shelf. I'm like man my Coffin Shelf listing is not getting the impressions I want it to in PPC and I can't get past Amazon rank five. So what does Amazon think my product is? Well, you sort it by Amazon recommended rank right here in Cerebro. All right, platinum members, diamond members, doesn't matter what level of Helium 10, you have access to this super valuable tool. And now I can see well, at least Amazon is not fully confused what my product is Like.

Bradley Sutton:

I can see the number one Amazon recommended rank is coffin shelf wall, I can see. But then I see a lot of like, uh, you know, random stuff here, like Halloween decor, indoor home is the number. What is this Number five keyword here? Number six keyword? But then the word coffin shelf, which is my main keyword, is all the way here at 27. So now it's like oh, I have a relevancy problem, for whatever reason, with this product. How can I fix this relevancy problem? Well, that's another story about trying to optimize your listing for the Amazon algorithm. But let's just take another example of coffin shelf. The number one overall pick of coffin shelf, all right, and it's the number one seller right now. It's not me anymore If I look at that product and run my competitors. Cerebro, look at his Amazon recommended rank. He's organically ranked number one. But look at the Amazon recommended rank for the same keyword that I was 27th for, which is coffin shelf, and he is number two.

Bradley Sutton:

What does that mean? Any interactions with his keyword for coffin shelf. He's going to get more bang for his buck because Amazon thinks he's super, super hyper relevant for the keyword coffin shelf, so all right. So, guys, run your own product through Cerebro and sort by Amazon recommended rank. This is the number one most slept on feature, I think, in all of Helium 10 that every literally every paying customer of Helium 10 has access to. So give that a try. Let me know in the comments below, if you're watching this on YouTube, what you see there in the results. All right, guys, that's it for the Weekly Buzz this week. Don't forget to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Join us on a journey through the world of e-commerce with the latest release of the revamped Freedom Ticket 4.0 course by Helium 10. This comprehensive training course, tailored for Amazon and Walmart sellers, brings forth the hard-earned wisdom of industry veterans. Listen in as Kevin King reveals the inspiration behind Freedom Ticket, designed to combat the misinformation spread by the infamous 'Lambo gurus' in the space. Our conversation unpacks the wealth of knowledge shared by our esteemed guests on subjects ranging from the nitty-gritty of Amazon patents to the essentials of e-commerce insurance, Amazon compliance, and the art of hiring and managing virtual assistants with Josh Hadley.

In this episode, we also underscore the critical importance of intellectual property for entrepreneurs carving their niche in the e-commerce landscape. Our dialogue with guest experts such as Chris McCabe provides actionable insights into maintaining a healthy Amazon account amidst a sea of policy changes. Learn about the intricacies of insurance requirements from Ashlin Hadden, the strategic timing for patent applications from Rich Goldstein, and the importance of understanding the legal frameworks that underpin successful online selling.

Our exploration continues with a practical guide to navigating the financial and regulatory aspects of running an Amazon business. Hear firsthand from experts about setting competitive employee salaries, the significance of meeting Amazon's insurance mandates, and the proactive steps for securing trademarks and brand registry. We also tackle the dos and don'ts of insert cards and highlight the valuable resource that is Google Patents for those seeking product inspiration. Every bit of advice is aimed at empowering sellers to maintain profitability while adhering to Amazon's evolving guidelines. So tune in for a masterclass in building and sustaining a thriving e-commerce business.

In episode 555 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kevin, Ashlin, Rich, Chris, and Josh discuss:

00:00 - The New Freedom Ticket 4.0
01:56 - False Promises of Lambo Gurus
12:04 - Amazon's Insurance Requirements for Sellers
16:47 - Importance of Patents for Amazon Sellers
21:12 - Importance of Trademarks for Amazon Sellers
21:31 - Staying Profitable on Amazon FBA
24:30 - Challenges With Abuse Suspensions and Reviews
29:01 - Hiring VAs and Managers for Amazon Businesses
35:18 - Determining VA Salaries Based on Skills
38:25 - Q&A With Our Guests

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► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're introducing the newest version of the best training course for Amazon sellers out there, Freedom Ticket including. We've got some special guests who are going to give us some strategies that range from Amazon patents to compliance, to insurance, hiring VAs and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think you want to see the size of your niche or your market? Maybe how much sales overall is it generating? And, more importantly, how the size of your piece of that pie changes over time? Or maybe you want to know when there's a new mover or shaker, an up and comer in your niche that you need to be on the lookout for. You can monitor these things and more with Market Tracker by Helium 10. Find out more information at h10.me/markettracker. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And today we've got a special episode, a little recap, of our reintroduction to Freedom Ticket 4.0, the premier course for Amazon sellers and Walmart sellers out there. And today we have some special guests like Chris McCabe and Josh Hadley, Ashlin Hadden, Rich Goldstein, who are going to give us strategies about what their topics in Freedom Ticket was. That can help Amazon sellers right now, including Kevin King with a little bit of a history lesson on the Freedom Ticket course. So, to find out what we can learn from them, let's go ahead and hop into the workshop. And we have a special guest who's just gonna be on here for a little bit Kevin King. All right, I know you're only gonna be here for about five minutes, but for everybody out there, just can you give like a brief history of how the Freedom Ticket came about? And then now even people are asking in the chat like what's different about the new Freedom Ticket 4.0?

Kevin King:

Yeah, sure. So the way the Freedom Ticket 4.0? Yeah, sure. So the way the Freedom Ticket came about originally is back in around late 2016. There were some courses out there and, as most of you know, we call them Lambo gurus. They're doing stuff on YouTube or showing screenshots of look how you can make a million dollars I launched. Here's my client, Johnny. Here's a screenshot of $100,000 in his first two weeks of selling on Amazon. I can do this for you too, and I'm like you guys are so full of crap. I was gonna say another word, but there's children watching. You're so full of BS. Yeah, there we go. You know, Bradley Sutton, no, no.

Bradley Sutton:

Full of my initials there you go yes, full of your initials.

Kevin King:

You're so full of BS. This was a launch. These were all giveaways that you just did and that's why your sales figures are a hundred grand because you just went in the hole 20 grand. It's not what you're telling people and you just got to be frustrating. There's all these people on Facebook, and so someone would post something, someone would ask a question, someone posts an answer and it'd be totally off base and totally wrong, whether it's branding or how to launch a product or whatever. And you just got to be frustrating with all these people just basically, and people that were doing courses. They were leaving out all the stuff, including some of the biggest names in the space. Some that are still around today would show you a course that, look, I can sell it for $20, and I can buy it in China for $3. And look at these crazy margins, that's an 80% profit margin. I'm like no, you're leaving out all the fulfillment costs. They're not telling the whole picture. So, I decided I want to do a course and I was going to do it. One of the reasons, too, is I was doing a fancy wedding in Cartagena, Colombia. I was getting married, and this wedding was the cost for getting out of hand. It's like I got to do something. I need a little extra cash on the side, so why don't I just do a course? And then I talked to Manny and Guillermo, who were the original founders of Helium 10. And they said well, we're talking with Scott Volker. And I said Scott, why don't we do it with you? And I said, all right, sure, it makes sense to me and we'll just go in 50-50. We got the VAs, we got the team, we got the audience, you have the knowledge, you put together the course and we'll put it out there. That's a good deal, because if I was going to do affiliate marketing, I'd have to give away probably a 50% commission to affiliates to drive all the traffic to it. So, we put it out and we didn't know what to price it at. Everybody else was like at $5,000. And we tried $1,497, and then we tried $9,997. And we got about 800, 900 people or so to do it. We shot it in August of 2017 in a Freedom Ticket 1.0. It was a hurricane that just hit the coast of Texas. I'm not on the coast I'm about three hours from the coast but this hurricane devastated part down by Corpus Christi and part of Texas and we got the residual effect in Austin. And so if you look at that course, the very first modules, like first 10 modules, there's like four people because we put students there. So, we're like, why don't I teach? To make it different. So, it's not just me on a Power Point presentation, I'm like in a classroom. So we have like four students asking questions and you notice one of those people disappeared and wasn't there the rest of the course. It's because one of the bridges that he had to cross to get from his house flooded during the storm. He couldn't get back. You hear hail on the roof.

Kevin King:

The audio on that, the video quality, was just not very good, but the course did pretty well. Manny and Guillermo was like you know what? This is not up to Helium 10 standards. We need to reshoot this thing. So in 2019, plus, some things have changed in the space, so we need to update the course. So in 2019, I came out and we don't ever know what Kevin's going to say. Sometimes he might say something that he shouldn't say or he needs a babysitter when he's recording this course. So we're going to do proper cameras, proper lighting, proper everything. Kevin, you fly out to Irvine, to Helium 10 course, spend a week out here shooting it and Bradley's going to sit there with you the entire time. I was like, who's this Bradley guy? He's like, don't worry, he's going to. So Bradley was my babysitter on that first one, I got to do what I wanted. I outlined the entire course, I designed the modules, I wrote the whole thing, but battery's there to make sure I didn't cuss or make sure I didn't say some derogatory remark or to make sure you know, whatever, he had his mission, and I think I did a pretty good job. You didn't have to do much. We kept it up to date, as things would change from 2019, you know, 2020, some things changed. So we reshoot a few modules, but then every two years, basically, uh, pretty much every two, two and a half years, we reshoot the entire thing from scratch. So we don't just like, okay, let's go plug the holes or change this module, change that. That would be the easy way out. We completely redo it from scratch. So that's what we've done on 4.0. So in February of this year, I flew out uh to uh out to Irvine and spent three days riding around with Bradley in this Japanese car he had imported from Japan. What was the name of that car?

Bradley Sutton:

Nissan Skyline with a right-hand drive. Little tiny thing, little tiny thing, two big guys trying to get into this thing.

Kevin King:

He's sitting on the right-hand side. It's this tiny car, it's like six inches from the ground, and you can just imagine me and Bradley trying to get into something. You got to, like you know, maneuver your butt in a certain way to get into the seat. Then you're like ducking and getting in this thing, and you know we're driving around. We went to a Helium 10 party that PACVUE was doing not Helium 10 party, PACVUE deal that night, when I had all the people from all over the world for PACVUE in town, all the big executives and affiliate managers and everything, and then we so we reshot it, and so what we decided, though, is the last several modules have been pretty long, you know. There's 50, some odd modules, and then plus gas modules, and so I was like you know what a lot of people we noticed not everybody finishes it. They start it, and then the life gets busy or they skip around. Like what if we made this where you could actually do this in a weekend and so that was the goal If you sat down and said, okay, this weekend I'm clearing my schedule, I'm going to knock out Freedom Ticket. That's what we decided to do, so we changed it to where it's 18 core modules. So, some of this material is the same as before, but nothing is scripted. So, it's not like I'm looking at a teleprompter and I'm reading a script and someone's writing this in advance a teleprompter and I'm reading a script and someone's writing this in advance. That's what a lot of people do. It's strictly off the cuff. So everything is shot pretty much in one take, which is unusual. For most shooting I have some notes, like an outline, and I just start talking and we have a timer. This time we put up a timer so I knew where I was us and we had some other little shooting tricks that we did, but we condensed it into the core stuff. So instead of rambling about some things, we condensed in the core. So that's the 18 modules that are from me, everything from the basic setup to the fundamentals. But then there's experts that are know stuff way better than me. You know Rich Goldstein. He knows IP law. He can run circles around me and IP law or Gracie can run circles around me in influencer marketing. Or Ashlin knows everything about insurance. I have a pretty good grasp on all that stuff and know quite a bit and I could teach it. But why should I teach it when they're the experts and other people that really know this. So, we decided we'll supplement it with these people and let them come in and speak for 30 to 45 minutes and go deeper into the weeds. I might introduce it, but they'll go deeper into the weeds for people that want to know more about that specific thing. So we put together an all-star group of people that are in it. So you have me and then you have this all-star group. That's adding depth for those that want to go into more detail on certain things. So I think it's really good and I don't know if you talked about this yet, Bradley but one of the other things that we're doing is we're going to start doing monthly webinars totally for free for the Freedom Ticket. So every month, the Helium 10 announced a free webinar, even if you're not in the Helium 10 software, even if you're watching this and you don't have Helium 10 software. That's a mistake. You need to have Helium 10 so you can access Freedom Ticket. But there's gonna be a monthly webinar and on that monthly webinar we're going to bring on a guest and go deep into another topic, something that's trending right now. Maybe the hot new thing is something on TikTok shop and tying that to Amazon or whatever it is. We're going to. We're going to go in. It's going to be a totally free webinar and then that that's module will get in. We'll cut out me and we'll take the person that's on that webinar and we'll put them into additional content. So be constantly refreshed and Bradley can talk more than he knows all the details more specific than I do but that's the idea. We want to keep freedom ticket current, the best you know. It got voted in seller poll. You got voted the best course out there and especially for how much you pay for it, which is zero it's actually I think it's the most comprehensive and best course in the space. So you guys, hopefully this helps you. So if you've watched it before going through it again, you may have heard some of this. That's true, you will have heard some of it. There is some new stuff, but it's always good to have a refresher and if you're watching this, I would recommend you put your VAs. Everybody that hits Helium 10 that gets a job here within has to watch the Freedom Ticket, and I've heard people that are selling $3 million a year on Amazon $4 million. They say I just kind of fell into this. And they end up watching the Freedom Ticket and they're like holy cow, I was missing so much stuff and now I'm doing $5 million or $6 million. There's some things I didn't know and you'll notice that Freedom Ticket if you haven't done it, it's not, this is step one, it's two, three and 10 steps. Some people like that, but that's not what we try to do. We try to give you the information so you can think on your own, think for yourself, and you have a full picture with no detail omitted, and then you can decide what's best for you. Because if you do a 10 step process, that might be good for the person teaching it to you. They probably honestly didn't even do it themselves, they just read it and copied it from somewhere. But you got to carve your own path in your own way and modify it. But if you have the foundational, key information, then you can. It's kind of like learning a language. Once you know the vocabulary, you know the basics of the language, then you can write a beautiful novel and become the next William Shakespeare or whatever it may be. That's what we're trying to do with Freedom Ticket and so hopefully it helps a lot of you. Over 200,000 people have gone through it. The reach and the power of Helium 10 is undeniable, and you guys are lucky that you have access to all the tools that Helium 10 does and everything, and so I encourage you to take advantage of Freedom Ticket, take advantage of all the trainings that Bradley does, where he goes deep into how to actually use the tools, the meeting, the stuff that Carrie and Shivali and the rest of the team do. There's nothing else better out there.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, if you haven't gotten into the Freedom Ticket now, you know Kevin's not trying to say, oh yeah, you're going to have the same story as that other guy, but it just shows you what's possible. You know, this isn't just a course where like, hey, let me just learn how to set up seller central. There are high possibilities here. So, Kevin, thanks a lot for joining us and we'll see you hopefully soon on another episode. Let's go right into some of our guest speakers. So, what Kevin did he talked about it earlier. He brought on a lot of experts on certain subjects that maybe he wasn't as much of an expert on. So, just, we're going to do some rapid fire here with some of our guests. The first one we're going to bring up is Ashlin, and I want to share where she is at in the Freedom Ticket 4.0. She is in Module 2. I don't know where the numbers are here, but she's in Module 2, Business Setup and Branding, and her lesson is the second one in Module 2, called e-commerce insurance. So, first of all, you know we're talking about, you know, profitability and things like that, and somebody might think well, what in the world does insurance have to do with profitability? But Amazon made a change last year where, if you want to sell on Amazon, there's something you got to do. What is that, Ashlin?

Ashlin:

Yeah. So, Amazon has kind of always had it in the background where you're supposed to have insurance, but they really haven't been policing it until the last year or so. So there's been some big claims that came out and Amazon is saying, hey, I'm tired of taking responsibility for you guys putting crappy products on our platform, and now they're pushing back. So now they're saying if you sell $10,000 or more in a month, then you're going to have to provide them this certificate of insurance. And really all this certificate of insurance is a fancy way of proving that you have insurance. They're wanting everyone to have it, but they're only policing it at that $10,000 mark. And what they're wanting you to have is general liability and product liability. So that's going to be what you do or say as a business, or what your products do to harm someone else. So general liability is going to say like, hey, I sell this lipstick and I said that this lipstick is going to make my lips sexy and plump and it doesn't, and I sue you for false advertisement. That's general liability. Product liability is going to be I put this on my lips and I started to break false advertisement. That's general liability. Product liability is going to be I put this on my lips and I started to break up, break out and I have big old duck lips and I sue you for product liability. So that's what Amazon wants you to have now.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Now one question that some people have do I need to be an LLC? Or hey, I registered for Amazon under my personal name. Am I, or, as an individual, am I still able to get this insurance that Amazon needs?

Ashlin:

Yeah, great question. You can be a sole proprietor, meaning that you open this account under your own personal name, or you can be an LLC. I, of course, I highly recommend it at any time. But if you're a sole proprietor, using your EIN and your social security number, and you get sued, they can come after all of your personal assets. They can come after your house, your car, your 401ks, everything. So, I highly recommend always setting up an LLC and bridging that gap between your personal assets and your business assets. But if you are selling a dollar under your personal EIN, your personal social security number, then you need to get this policy, no matter what Amazon says, because your personal assets now are at risk.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Excellent. And one last question that is common and obviously there’s no one size fits all. The answer is going to be different if you’re some 9-figure big, humongous brand as opposed to a brand-new seller. But let's just say I'm under a million dollars a year of sales or maybe I'm a newer seller, you know, maybe I've only got a couple of products and I am. I did hit that $10,000 a month threshold, what is, like the most basic kind of policy going to cost me.

Ashlin:

Yeah, it depends. If you're a private label seller, you're just reselling. We have newbies coming in that are just reselling, that are about $600 a year, all the way up to people who are selling PPE in the $30,000 a year mark, but brand-new sellers who aren't selling super high-risk items. You know you're looking at the $600 to $800 range, just to start out with.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, perfect, perfect, all right.

Ashlin:

Sometimes you can pay it monthly. So, there's no reason not to get it.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I mean again it's if this is not one of those, oh yeah, like it's a nice to have. No, this is a need to have, guys, if you hit that $10,000 mark, you know you could get shut down by Amazon if you don't provide proof.

Ashlin:

And we've seen people get suspended already, so I mean, they're not messing around now.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, all right. So, Ashlin, go ahead and hang out if you will. But for anybody who has to drop and you want to reach out to Ashlin outside of this call, go to hub.helium10.com it's our Seller Solutions Hub and just start typing in Ashlin Hadden and you'll see her page in our hub and you can contact her right here. But, of course, make sure to check out her module in Freedom Ticket. Let's bring on another expert, Rich Goldstein. Are you in the house today? There's Rich, all right. So, guys, Rich is, he's been on the podcast before and if you guys want to know what module his is here in Freedom Ticket, he's also in module two under business setup and branding and he's the fourth module in there, or the fourth lesson, I should say intellectual property law or e-commerce, and that's where his module is at. But, in a nutshell, you know like this might not be one of those kind of like super sexy things of the Amazon world, like AI based image generation or something like that, but just like what we were talking about with Ashlin, like patent is an important thing when it comes to Amazon sellers. Why is that?

Rich:

Yeah, patents and trademarks. Really, it's for two major reasons. Number one is having IP, having patents, having trademarks, gives you tools against people that will try to rip you off. On Amazon when you list a product and it does, well, there will be other people that want to jump on the bandwagon. Your ability to slow them down through various means, including by having the rights to the product, having the rights to the design, having the rights to the branding, so that they can't confuse your customers into buying their product instead of yours that's effective at preventing such competition. So that's reason number one is that it's an effective tool, especially as your brand grows, to slow down the competition. But the other reason is you're growing your brand and maybe exit seems really far away. The notion of selling your brand to another company seems really far away. But it pays to start with the end in mind, and having your IP set will vastly increase the value that you get someday when someone buys your brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. So, one of the themes for today, and I think the whole year for Amazon sellers always, is profitability, right, and how do we stay profitable? Well, if you've got a patent on your product where now, all of a sudden, you're not having to compete with 15 exact replicas, you know, and it's your price war to the bottom, obviously that's going to affect your profitability. Now, something that's a little bit off the beat and tracking. Maybe this is a little bit of the sexy side of patents, but you've talked before about how patents, doing patent searches, can actually be a form of product research and finding a product to sell on Amazon. How in the world is that possible?

Rich:

Yeah, absolutely it's true, because the way that the patent system works, once a patent expires, it's fair game for anyone to use it. So, a utility patent lasts for 20 years, and a design patent lasts for 15. But once that patent expires, anyone can make that product and, at the same time, keep in mind that a lot of people have an idea for a product, they get it patented, but they never do the research, they never learn about the process enough to actually get that product launched, and so there are a lot of great ideas that have been patented that are just in the patent archives and they've never actually been put on the market. There are some lousy ideas, but there are also some great ideas, and so if you know how and you search the patent record for expired patents, you can find ideas for really great potential products.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, absolutely. Now you talk about some of these things in your, in your Freedom Ticket module. What are some other topics that you cover that are important for Amazon sellers, new or experienced, that they need to know about?

Rich:

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things we're talking about is international protection and into to a large extent, I followed Kevin's lead in terms of what Kevin talked about and then I hit upon the areas that he talked about and went into further detail. So, one of those areas is international protection. Another area is how you deal with enforcement on Amazon. So, if you get accused of infringing IP or if you find other people infringing your IP, what do you do about that? Again, we talk about trademarks, and the trademarks are very important. Trademarks are for your branding and on Amazon, trademarks are a path toward brand registry, which has benefits to a seller. You need to have a registered trademark to get into the brand registry program. So, that's some of the things we talk about. We talk about timing, like things you need to be aware of. For example, there's a one-year rule after which you are prohibited from getting a patent if you haven't already applied. These are things that new sellers encounter. These are even things that advanced sellers encounter when they don't know about it, and so I just want to make sure that you all know the things that you ought to know about IP to help you on your seller journey. And just again, it pays to start with the end in mind. Again, it pays to start with the end in mind. And so, even though some of this might be advanced in the sense that you're not going to spend all your money on patents and trademarks in the beginning and I don't want you to but you should know the principles so that you do the right things in the beginning and then you allow it to expand as your seller journey continues and as your business expands.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, make sure to check out his module and Freedom Ticket. You can also contact him through hub.helium10.com and then you start typing in Goldstein Patent Law. All of his contact information will come up there. All right, our next guest instructor who came on is going to be Chris McCabe. Let me show you, guys, where you can see his module. He's actually at towards the end of module eight in Freedom Ticket, under the subheading Compliance and Risk Management, and his lesson is entitled Keeping Your Seller Account in Good Standing. So, make sure to bookmark that if you haven't watched that part yet in Freedom Ticket. So let's go ahead and bring Chris on. And again, we're talking. We're talking about, hey, what strategies Amazon sellers need to have to stay profitable. Well, obviously, one of the ways that you can be not profitable is if you get your account shut down because you're doing things that are against Amazon terms of service or you upset them. So that is one of the key aspects of staying profitable on Amazon. So what are a couple of things 2024, going back to 2023, that you see sellers doing? That is getting them into time out with Amazon getting them in trouble, Chris.

Chris:

Yeah, and it could be account level too, not just ASIN level. A lot of restricted products violations and warnings for even just one ASIN in 2024, those are turning into account-wide suspensions much more commonly than they were last year, or compliance suspensions for adding any unsubstantiated claims, any violation language, to a detail page, to back-end keywords. That's always been a thing. But instead of slapping your wrist or striking down an individual ASIN, they're tending to send a warning where they just mentioned one ASIN, but then if you appeal it not to their satisfaction, they come back with we gave you a chance to appeal it, we told you to dispute it if we were wrong in warning you or slapping your wrist and you did not appeal it to our satisfaction. And then they initiate a review of the whole account and sometimes suspend the entire account, even if it's just that one ASIN. So that's new, newish at least. The other thing is reviews. Abuse suspensions are back, and they weren't such a big thing most of 2023, I want to say maybe towards the end of the year, but in Q1, they came back in a big way. So, we're seeing that quite a bit. Inserts and packaging I know you and I have talked about that quite a bit, both recently and over the years. The inserts and packaging I'm still seeing some wild stuff. It's really easy for a competitor to buy from you Amazon won't punish a competitor for a valid abuse report about you and it's easy for them to just take a screenshot of the insert. And the inserts are still all over the map. I don't know who's making these or why they're still showing up in packaging. Maybe it's just the pressures of the inflationary economy. People are trying to grasp at straws, but those are not the straws to grasp at, because a lot of the reviews of these suspensions are difficult to remedy and unfortunately, we're hearing from a lot of brand owners that are re-offenders. They've suspended for that before, which makes it like 10 times worse than the appeals process. So, if you're re-offending and you've got those inserts sitting in your packaging, you should probably do some removal orders and pull that stuff out. As soon as I finish my sentence.

Bradley Sutton:

So, these are things that hey, guys, don't do, right. Don't be putting inserts in your in your packages and telling people to go here's a coupon to go buy this the next order off of Amazon. Or hey, I'll give you a gift certificate If you leave me a five-star review. I mean, you think that's a thing of past, the thing of the past, but there are still crazy Amazon sellers doing those things, and sure, some people get away with it. But, guys, it is not worth the risk to your account. Now, those are things we should avoid. What are some maybe proactive things to protect ourselves, as opposed to something just a negative thing that we need to avoid, right?

Chris:

I mean in your listing creation, listing review process, factor in a compliance review. And if it's not an in-house employee, if it's an agency you use, make sure they've got a compliance arm. If it's a company, third-party service, make sure they've got a compliance arm. But make sure whoever is optimizing listings and again, I understand some people might have sales down or fees are up. There are a lot of financial challenges going on out there and competition's always fierce. But whenever you're listing or amending a listing, before you go live with those changes, make sure somebody with expert eyes looks at that listing to make sure you're not reaching beyond policy or violating policies to try to get that listing or product to stand out. Because, like Bradley was saying a minute ago, if the entire listing comes down, then you're not making any money. When you're suspended, not only that, you're threatening the entire health of the account and it also risks that somebody's going to start poking around at other listings you have that they haven't flagged yet. I mean they're using automation. Some AI is factored into it, but it's still not an exact science inside Amazon. I mean down the road, they might have a really easy way of checking all your listings in one go and figuring out if a violation they found on one ASIN is present on other second listings, third listings. They might just look at one ASIN because your competitor reported you for that one. But imagine in the future, maybe six to nine months down the road, maybe 16 months down the road, they're going to have a way to figure out if you're 100% TS compliant on all listings very quickly. Ultimately, they review the account for suspension because they're thinking of suspending it if they find violations. And it's easier and quicker for them to just take a quick look, find violations, suspend the account, versus sending you messaging on each individual ASIN, sending you a policy warning each individual time. That's time consuming. They have to set reminders; they have to go back and look at you again. It's better for them to get it all in one investigation. Typically, that culminates with at least a threat of an account suspension where you have to submit an appeal.

Bradley Sutton:

Just one quick thing before we go to our last speaker today is if you want to get more information directly from Chris or meet me as well. We're going to be at an event in New York in a couple of weeks, so just make sure to, for more information, go to H10.me/velocity. You can ask Chris all the questions you want in person, and myself too, I'll be speaking at this event. If you want to reach out directly to Chris or maybe you're out of the country, you definitely can't go to New York for that event. You also can find reach out to Chris from our hub. Go to hub.helium10.com type in e-commerce Chris, e-commerce Chris, no spaces and you'll find out how to reach him. Let's go to our last guest of the day, and it is Josh, Josh Hadley, and let me show you, guys, where you can find his module. I've already heard from a lot of people that they really found this informative. This is one of the newer ones we have had in Freedom Ticket. We've had Chris in previous Freedom Tickets, we've had Rich. This is a brand-new topic in Freedom Ticket 4.0. And it's in the module nine, under continuous learning and adaptation. His lesson is entitled Finding and Hiring VAs and Managers for your Business. All right, so this is something that definitely has to do with what we're talking about, and being able to scale your business, being able to stay profitable. Amazon sellers get to a point, guys, where it's like I can't do everything myself. The beauty about Amazon is you can start an Amazon business by yourself. You can probably scale up to a few products and some decent sales by yourself, but whether you have a day job or not, you're going to reach that point where your growth is going to be stunted if you don't get help. Now, it's a very subjective question, but, josh, like what? How does somebody know if they've reached that point where, hey, I need to get help with my business?

Josh:

Well, I think it comes in much earlier than people assume. The nice part about Amazon, though, I would argue that most business owners can scale to a 7-figure business on their own, with maybe the help of an assistant or two. But here's the critical component, is that I believe most of us entrepreneurs have much bigger ambitions, and even scaling up to seven figures like how do you know what tasks you need to give to those assistants to help you out? And here's one of the most important things that I continue to reiterate time and time again when people ask me this question is this you, as the business owner, need to be focused on revenue generating activities period. Okay, so that means you need to look at everything else that's going on in the business and I share this in the course, but it's conducting a two-week time study. That's where all of this begins, and what you need to do is identify hey, how much time are you spending going back and forth with your manufacturer or coordinating the logistics of getting your product into Amazon? While all of those things are important and you wanna save costs on your fulfillment, that is all true, but what you really need to focus on is that really going to drive revenue in the business, you should already assume that you have a logistics plan that's getting you into Amazon. You need to be thinking of what's my next product idea that I'm going to be launching. What product am I running Cerebro on today and evaluating these keywords? Or I need to be focused on my PPC to drive more traffic to my listing so I can generate more sales. So sales beget sales and that's the only thing I would caution people is don't get caught in the thick of thin things, because running an Amazon business is no small feat, but too often people get caught up doing a lot of the minutia and administrative tasks and that's what stunts their growth.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, just on a side note, you know you have hired countless individuals to work for your Amazon business and I remember you telling me something unique is that you know a lot of people that they like to find somebody who has a lot of experience on Amazon or who knows about Amazon. But you particularly make a concerted effort to hire people who are completely new to Amazon because you want them to like not come with bad habits and things. And didn't you say you actually use like Freedom Ticket and some other education to like train, to train your new employees?

Josh:

Yes, it is. That's week one of onboarding is watching Freedom Tickets. So now they get to watch me this time.

Bradley Sutton:

That's what I was saying for the first time. Now this is your first time in Freedom Ticket. They're gonna be like wait a minute, there's boss right there. Now speaking of your, your module. Why do you think this is an important topic and what are some unique things that maybe people haven't thought about? When filtering candidates, for example, for hiring VA, you know, maybe somebody is like, oh yeah, let me just, you know, gather some resumes and look, see you know what looks best. But you go a lot deeper than just resume browsing as far as what people should be looking at when looking for VAs to hire for their Amazon business.

Josh:

Yeah, Bradley, this is a great question. So, this has been something that I have spent literally the last seven years trying to figure out, and let me just say this as a CEO of a business if one of your superpowers can be the fact that you know how to spot and identify a really good talent, then guess what? You are off to the races, because most successful CEOs will tell you this, I hire smart people and I let them run the business. Okay, I don't plead to say that I've got all of that firing on all cylinders right now, but I know that that is why I am adamantly focused. I am always refining this process and so, Bradley, this all started from me hearing from some other course back in 2017. And somebody was like you need to go to oDesk at the time it was called the old Upwork and go hire a cheap Filipino for like two or $3 an hour. It will save you so much time and money. So, sure enough, I go on there and I had hundreds of applicants and I'm like what do I do now? I jump on Zoom interviews with these people and that's what my thought process was, and oh my goodness, how much time I wasted. Half of them couldn't even speak English. Half of them had bad internet connections, so I just wasted my time, and so, from all of those mistakes or obstacles, challenges, I kind of refined it into a seven-step process where it's not just hiring a VA. Let me get that. Let's lay that out. First and foremost, I talk about how to hire management level staff in your business, and, yes, they could be doing administrative tasks, but every single one of my team members, they come with management level experience, and so they're able to make significant impacts in the business, not just doing exactly what I tell them to do and only that.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, all right, awesome, awesome. Let's go with our first question for our last speaker here, Josh. Tristan says how much should we be paying employees for basic accounting tasks, like maybe you bring somebody on to just handle the accounting side of your business? What kind of uh you know salary range we're talking about here?

Josh:

Yeah, so it. It depends on where you're hiring this person from, first and foremost. Right. But the nice part about this question is I honestly let my, the candidates, kind of self-select their own salary, so to speak, because to be honest with you, I'm not going to force feed a low salary to somebody that may be the right fit. Maybe I'm willing to pay a couple grand a month for the right person, but maybe they're only asking for $500. So my favorite way to do this is in your hiring application. You can do this on Upwork. My favorite way to do this is in your hiring application. You can do this on Upwork, onlinejobs.ph, etc. In there, one of the questions they have to answer is what is your desired hourly rate? And then that gives me a good perspective to be like. Sometimes I've had people from even the Philippines that have been like $50 an hour and I'm like interesting, I'll look at your resume, but man, you've got to be absolutely incredible. And I haven't seen that direct correlation with higher salaries, higher performance. I'm a big believer of find the right person first and then figure out the salary component later on.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. One for Ashlin. This is from Raul. Is Amazon insurance requirements specific to sellers making 10K a month overall, or is it applicable when sales for a particular product exceed 10K?

Ashlin:

No, so it's for your entire account. So if you have two accounts, so you set up, you got approved for two accounts and you've got two separate EINs, you have two separate entities, then you have to have insurance for each one of those entities. So it is for your total account, not per product.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Another question this one is going to be for Rich. Do I have to wait to trademark for the Amazon brand registry for six months, or do I submit my trademark application to Amazon for brand approval?

Rich:

First of all, you don't wait for brand registry to apply for the trademark. You apply for the trademark first. But I think what you're wondering is once you apply, do you need to be registered in order to get brand registry? Once you apply, you can go into your seller account and ask for brand registry and there's a process where they'll send a code to your attorney that you then put back in your seller account and will generally give you brand registry even before the trademark gets registered.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent. Thank you very much for that, Rich. This is from Ari to Chris. What about insert cards with? To write that essay, to register for a chance to win a gift card, to collect email addresses? But they're not specifically mentioned, leaving a review, how would we raise it? And we can't offer an extended warranty.

Chris:

Don't do raffles, don't do contests, don't do give cards, don't do giveaways. Anything that could potentially net a positive review, whether or not you ask for it, can result in a takedown, and if you've been caught before, you definitely don't want to try it. Somebody wrote in the questions should we not use inserts at all? I mean, really you can, as long as you follow the policies. The problem is people are still coloring outside the lines. As long as you follow the policies, the problem is people are still coloring outside the lines. So I mean very clean, very objective, you know, not too creative on the insert, and you can still. You can still ask for reviews. You can't give things away or create contests or create additional benefits that don't apply to other orders, other buyers of yours. That's the incentive, of course. Course right, if one person's getting something somebody else can't, that's what you can't do. So it's kind of like well, it doesn't matter how you do that, if there's any tipping of the scales you could be in trouble.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay back to Rich, this is from Laura. You mentioned we can look at expired trademarks for product ideas. Where can we look for that?

Rich:

Okay, so actually, what I refer to as expired patents, trademarks are for branding. You want to be very careful around using someone's trademark, because if someone continues using a trademark, they can keep that forever. Like it would be absurd if anyone could sell products called Coca-Cola simply because the trademark expired, right so? But with regard to expired patents, you can look on Google patents, which is patents P-A-T-E-N-T-S dot Google dot com, and you'll want to limit the date, and it's helpful to know a few things about it, to know a few things about it. But I would say, if you limit the date to granted 25 years ago, then, or documents that were more than 25 years old, then you'll probably be safe.

Bradley Sutton:

You'll be, you know, very low risk, awesome. Oh, one more for Ashlin. Here is the this is from Alexa Is every time I say that now my Alexa is going off here. Is the insurance required for US citizens only I'm in Germany. Should I get the insurance? So, I'm assuming she means selling, or? Well, first of all, do foreign sellers selling in us have to get insurance? And what about foreign marketplaces, like somebody selling amazon Germany? Do they have that requirement?

Ashlin

So Amazon.com right now is the only one that's requiring the insurance. Of course you should get it, no matter where you're at. But if you are a foreign seller selling on the dotcom platform and you hit that $10,000 mark, that's where you have to have the insurance. Most of the insurance carriers will not allow you to have a foreign entity, so you are having to set up a US EIN in order to get US insurance. So just know that there's a little step that we have to kind of go through in order to get you the US insurance.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right. One last thing Somebody mentioned I didn't give the contact information for Josh. So, Josh, how can people find you out there? Somebody mentioned I didn't give the contact information for Josh. So, Josh, how can people find you out there?

Josh:

Yep, so you can find me at josh@ecommbreakthrough.com. That's Ecomm with two M's, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, everybody, thank you guest for joining us. Make sure to check out their Freedom Ticket modules. Thank you everybody who joined us Chris, Josh, Kevin, Rich, Ashton thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for lending your knowledge to the Freedom Ticket and we'll see you guys later.

View Details

Let’s explore Walmart PPC advertising and its potential with the guidance of the incredible Destaney Wishon! In this riveting session, Carrie and Destaney take us on a comprehensive journey through the landscape of Walmart's pay-per-click platform. She contrasts Walmart's strategies with industry giants like Amazon and Google while emphasizing the unique advantages that come with Walmart's strong retail foundation. For those of you looking to break into or expand your understanding of Walmart's burgeoning online marketplace, Destaney's wisdom is an indispensable asset.

Throughout our discussion, we tackle the subtle art of crafting effective advertising strategies for Walmart. We begin by casting a wide net with auto campaigns, gathering the crucial data that sharpen our approach for more targeted ad groups later on. Destaney highlights the significance of fine-tuning product listings to meet Walmart's specific guidelines, and how this can dramatically improve your search algorithm outcomes. We also peek into the untapped potential of video and sponsored brand ads on Walmart, and share expert tips on leveraging tools like Helium 10 for keyword research. The knowledge shared here is a goldmine for sellers aiming to capitalize on the low advertising costs within certain categories on Walmart's platform.

As we round off this episode, we discuss the nuances of optimizing product placement and advertising strategies, drawing insights from the evolution of Walmart's auction system. Destaney provides us with actionable strategies for bid management and placement optimization that hinge on a deep understanding of data and market trends. We unpack the anticipated developments in Walmart's PPC landscape, including the possibility of introducing negative keywords in auto campaigns, and how tools like Adtomic can revolutionize sellers' PPC management. Join us for an episode packed with strategic insights that promise to elevate your advertising game on one of today's fastest-growing online retail platforms.

(Time Stamps) -

In episode 554 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Walmart PPC Campaign Setup and Management
04:39 - Comparing Amazon and Walmart Advertising
07:25 - Optimizing Walmart PPC Campaigns for Beginners
15:58 - Understanding Walmart Auction System for Advertising
19:56 - Digital Shelf Advantageous for Sales
24:27 - Common Mistakes in Advertising on Walmart
25:15 - Optimizing Keywords and Advertising on Walmart
29:41 - Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization
30:39 - Walmart Wednesday PPC Insights

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

How should you set up your Walmart PPC campaigns, should you run automatic campaigns on Walmart, and how Adtomic can help you to better manage your Walmart PPC. This and so much more on this week's episode of Walmart Wednesday.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. We know that getting to page one on keyword search results is one of the most important goals that an Amazon seller might have. So, track your progress on the way to page one and even get historical keyword ranking information and even see sponsored ad rank placement with Keyword Tracker by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/keywordtracker.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of this Serious Sellers podcast hosted by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and this is our Walmart Wednesday, where we talk about everything Walmart, and I'm very, very excited today because we have an amazing guest. I've actually been wanting her to come on for quite some time because I've had a lot of PPC questions and so I am so excited to have a PPC expert in here. So, we have Destaney Wishon, and so I'm going to bring her on. Hey, Destaney, how's it going?

Destaney:

Hello, hello, it's going well. How are you?

Carrie Miller:

Good. Thank you, I'm very, very excited, as I told you before, to have you on here. I know there's going to be a lot of questions that people are going to have, so I have a list of questions actually already that I know people have asked before and I'm going to start asking you those as well. But before we get started, just for anyone who isn't familiar with who you are, can you give a little kind of like intro background and who you are?

Destaney:

Yeah, of course. So, Destaney Wishon, CEO and founder of what was formerly Better AMS and is now Better Media. We really got started in this space managing Amazon advertising for the last seven years, I think back in the old days when it was Vendor Central, Seller Central and you had like AMS and different ad types and things are a lot more simple, which is going to be probably a really fun part of today's conversation. And now we've rebranded, we're Better Media and we manage kind of all the core large retailers in the space.

Carrie Miller:

The first thing is could you give us a little overview of what Walmart PPC advertising is and just how it differs from Amazon and Google, Because I know you're basically on all the platforms, so you're the best to answer this one.

Destaney:

I'd like to start honestly like a little bit more zoomed out and kind of philosophical on the platforms. I think a lot of us, and probably a lot of listeners, are accustomed to Amazon running the show. Right, when you think of e-commerce, when you think of selling and brand building, you do typically think of Amazon, but a lot of people forget, like Walmart wrote that playbook they were kind of the first ones to write that playbook their largest retailer. So, everything that you see Amazon being successful when it comes to e-commerce, Walmart's already done in stores and physical retail, and I think that's really important to note because one that means from a cashflow perspective, they're in a really great position. It's not a new company trying to compete directly with Amazon. Amazon does have AWS and everything externally driving a lot of revenue for them, but from an e-commerce platform perspective, Walmart has every brand connection when it comes to the largest brands in the world, right, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Nestle have been selling into Walmart for 40 years. So, that's really important to consider because it's framing how they shaped their Walmart platform and it's framing how they're hiring as well. They're hiring a bunch of ex-Amazon talent. They're not having to completely reinvent the wheel. They're basically taking everything Amazon did that was really successful, and applying it to Walmart, but with that consideration that their audience is a little bit different. Right, the audience that's typically going into Walmart is very used to the products that have always been in a Walmart shelf. Everything that you've historically bought your deodorant, your toothpaste, everything that you've grown up with is in Walmart, and that's really how we're also seeing their e-commerce platform being positioned. It's giving favoritism to historical brands that are in stores. So that's something to call it, because it's kind of what we're up against. Right, in order for Amazon to become Amazon, they need to differentiate themselves from Walmart, and they did it by opening up an amazing third party platform and allowing anyone to sell anything, because they didn't need to sell the same products as Walmart. That wouldn't have been as competitive. They needed to sell unique and new products and really grow this third party seller platform. Walmart's taking a slightly different approach. Right, they're making sure that they're starting an e-commerce platform that still gives value to their products that are in stores. So, I want to start with that, because it's shaped kind of how they ran ads Across the board. Advertising is actually really similar I would say. Walmart's taking the exact same playbook. I mean there's small differences. Amazon allows for better negating and better control, especially on the bid management level. From like a targeting perspective. Amazon's doing a lot more moving into kind of DSP and better creatives and things like that. That being said, Walmart's really where we are at five years ago with Amazon, with slight complexities, and that we have more control over placements and device type, which I think is pretty complex, and I'll pause there and see if you have any thoughts on that.

Carrie Miller:

No, yeah, I think it's. For me it's been easier to start advertising on Walmart because it is kind of it is like very basic, kind of from the ground up. So, if you really want to learn advertising from the ground up it's starting to just get your feet wet with Walmart advertising, I think it's a good idea because you're going to literally see it grow from the, from the ground up. You'll be able to see all the changes and how things, um, you know, work together. So, I think it's a really good thing to get in there if you haven't yet done PPC.

Destaney:

A hundred percent. When we started on Amazon I think I've been in this space for seven years now possibly it just goes by really fast it was pretty much an auto campaign that you would just let run and it would do really really well for you and you didn't have placement modifiers and you didn't really have sponsor brands or sponsor display ads. It was great, it was easy. And then you took those auto campaigns, and we were able to apply them into manual campaigns with match types and Walmart's taking that same approach. I will say I think Walmart can be. It looks a little bit more complex in my opinion. Like everyone says, advertising console user interface is terrible. But sometimes I walk into Walmart and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is too much information. I need these graphs to go somewhere else. I'm really overwhelmed logging into Walmart sometimes.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, they do give a good amount of information for sure. I guess that leads into the next question. So why do you think that someone would want to start advertising with Adtomic? Because we have Adtomic for Walmart now with Helium 10 to help you with your advertising, as opposed to just using the Walmart platform Walmart Connect.

Destaney:

Yeah, I think the biggest reason is bid management is, like 100%, one of the most important parts about Amazon or Walmart and you need a bid management solution for either platform. I actually think that it's more important when it comes to Walmart strictly because they do have the search in grid and the placement modifiers and that adds complexity from a bid model perspective. If you come in and try to arbitrarily adjust all of these placements without knowing or having data, it's going to be a big pain and then tracking the follow-up of that data is a pain. So fundamentally, from a bid management perspective, it needs to be done. You have to have a bid management solution if you're advertising on either. I think the secondary aspect and this is again can be applied to both is just having a better view of your business. Like I said, I log into Walmart Connect and that initial graph that is shown. It's not intuitive, but when you're able to look at something and take away an ad and build custom reporting based off your overall business needs and I think that's a big value add from an Adtomic perspective, it's way more beneficial.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, definitely I agree, because I've used both and I felt the same way that I just needed an easier way to view what was going on, and the Adtomic platform is much better for that. So, if you do want something that's easier to figure out where things are, what keywords are working or where to place things, then Adtomic is definitely the way to go for you. So, let's get into some beginner questions then. For some beginners, how would you recommend that someone set up their PPC when they first start out? Do you think that people should do their keyword research and do exact campaigns, auto campaigns? What do you think about with Walmart and how you should get started?

Destaney:

I think something that we've seen is the Walmart customer searches a little bit different than the Amazon customer. So, rather than roll over the exact strategy that you're running externally, we've actually we made this mistake as an agency, we came into our first few brands, and we tried to apply the exact strategy we did on Amazon. We copied and pasted over; we did our like. Everyone who knows us knows we do like a really granular campaign setup right One campaign, one ad group, one ASIN, five to 10 keywords. We tried that approach on Walmart, and it did not work. Like it was just it was. It was too little; everything was spread too thin. And then we heard the feedback of like hey, start with an auto campaign with all of your products in it, and we did that. And once we started collecting data, then we could start breaking things out into broader groups, and that helped us a ton Across the board. I think auto campaigns are a little bit more powerful on Walmart, which actually makes sense in my opinion. That's how Amazon started as well. Auto campaigns were a lot more powerful because it was really easy to link the products in your campaign with the products that are associated with your SEO, and then your CPCs are quite a bit lower, so it's a lot less risky. So, I think that's the biggest feedback is don't try to spread yourself too thin, group things into bigger groups and then collect data on what placements are doing best for you and segment past that.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, and just a call out with Helium 10, you can get Walmart search volume. So, with Cerebro you can find keywords. So, one of the things I did was I just did a bunch of keyword research, and I did notice that it's not necessarily the same keywords that I would use on Amazon, and so they're kind of more general, but there are some specific ones. Maybe they only have like 17 search volumes I have actually made sales on those, so if they're very, very relevant, I would still use them, even if you're like, oh, the search volume isn't very good because people are finding you in other ways too. There's Google ads and there's a bunch of other things that Walmart's doing to get people to your page. But yeah, so I would definitely advertise on those. But one of the things that was hard for me when I did an auto campaign was the fact that you can't do any negative targeting, and so I was having the most random, weird keywords popping up that I don't know how it happened, and so that is something to call out too is to keep an eye on your auto campaigns because of that situation. I don't know if you have any ideas or thoughts about that.

Destaney:

One thing we've seen, and this is something that is just from auditing, not as much from kind of full management on the Amazon advertising side is you're back in keywords and the keyword research you're doing on Walmart is also really different. Walmart has different brand guidelines per category that cause a lot of specificity and nuance changes, and that's important because auto campaigns work by scanning your listings, scanning all of your keyword research that you've done and associating with the keywords that are then in that auto campaign right. So, I don't know in your specific use case, but something we've seen across the board is they'll take their exact Amazon listing and again upload it to Walmart, not realizing that there's category nuances and it's a brand-new algorithm, it's a brand new platform. They're going to be tweaking things pretty consistently. So that's something to consider that you need to make sure you're understanding the algorithm on the platform you're playing in. You need to update your listing for a Walmart customer for the Walmart algorithm, and that's going to influence your campaigns and those auto campaigns as well.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, definitely Don't copy and paste. I always say that do not copy paste.

Destaney:

One thing I want to hit on, because you had a great call out there is you may see something with really low search volume, and I would 100% still bid on those terms because it's the same bidding model for the most part. It's a pay per click bidding model. So, if you bid 10 cents and no one clicks, like you're not hurting anything. So, it's not really going to hurt your advertising to put all those low volume listings on there. What's going to happen if someone does search? If only 10 people search a month? You're going to be the only one bidding and it's going to be really cheap and it's going to be a crazy profitable sell for you. So those can drive a lot of incremental volume long term.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, 100%. And you can actually on Magnet, on Helium 10, I'll take a list of all those kind of lower search volume keywords and that you can actually put them into magnet and there's an analyze keywords and it'll show you the total search volume. So, when you add it up it actually gives you a lot more exposure on Walmart. So that is one sale here, one sale here, and it adds up. So that's the way you get from, you know, one sale a day to 10 to 20 sales a day. You know something that comes up every time.

Destaney:

You know something that comes up every time. Like we have this conversation of like there's no volume on Walmart, or like I listed something and there's no volume and it is dependent on category, of course. But you got to think. You know, from a grocery perspective there's a ton of volume, like we've seen, very close to similar Amazon volume in certain categories, and that's also influenced by your advertising. If there's no volume, that also means your advertising costs are probably going to be pretty low. So sometimes it's worth it to play in those spaces because you're taking a long-term bet. Again, I keep comparing it to Amazon 7 years ago, but there were a lot of people who ran into the same thing then, but then they figured out the algorithm really well and they were able to scale that out long-term. So don't compare it to Amazon. That's not a fair comparison. They're very different platforms, especially category specific.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, definitely I. Yeah there's a lot of opportunity, even just like video ads and sponsored brand ads. I noticed on bigger keywords even there's no video ads there's. I mean, you wouldn't see that on Amazon at all and so there is some really good opportunity if you really think strategically like, hey, this whole keyword, you know maybe it's a little bit more competitive, but there's no one doing a video ad, I can just go in and dominate. So, you kind of have to like, really, you just think about, you know different ways you can beat the competition with each different keyword, and you can capitalize on those sales.

Destaney:

And those are huge opportunities. So, we didn't mention this in the beginning, but I'm based out of Bentonville, Arkansas, so most of my friends either work for Walmart or agency side, and Walmart for the Nestle and the Procter and Gamble's and the General Mills has always been a big player online. So, it's funny if you bid on mascara or cereal, it's going to be competitive. But to Carrie's point, if you can get into those creative opportunities, you're always going to have a competitive advantage, because for General Mills to go create a video for every single SKU is incredibly costly and then they also need to send that video through marketing and legal. So, the time it takes them to create an asset specifically for a new platform and a new ad type is 6 to 9months by the time it's briefed, created and approved. So that's where we have a huge competitive advantage. Every time a new ad types rolled out, go hop in that platform or win some traffic and market share against the big name players in the space?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, definitely, that's a really good yeah, and I forgot to mention the Bentonville. So, do you have any insight, other insight thoughts about you? Know the fact that you're in Bentonville.

Destaney:

It's funny, it's such a small community in Bentonville and when I started on Amazon, everyone would be like you can't tell people you work for Amazon around here, cause it's a competitive environment. But when Walmart started becoming a bigger player in the e-commerce space, I was like from day one, like this is going to be a huge opportunity, like Walmart is. I don't want to say they're too big to fail, but Walmart has the audience. Right, everyone knows Walmart. They're the largest retailer, which means they have to have a lot of customers. They have the money, they've been in business for an incredibly long time and they're attracting the talent from Amazon. Right, it reminds me of, like software world Everyone's going to go to the big fun players in the space. So, I don't think they have to reinvent the wheel and I think they're going to make a big difference.

Carrie Miller:

I agree. I agree. There's a lot of good opportunities there, so get on Walmart. If you're not, can you talk a little bit about how the auction works on Walmart and what factors determine the placement? And all that information for everyone in the audience?

Destaney:

Historically the auction was quite a bit different, and it was a major red flag. It used to be an auction model where just the highest bid won. Yeah, so if you bid $12 and the second bid was $1, you weren't paying a dollar and one cent, you were paying $12. So, that made things really difficult from a bid management perspective, from a brand perspective. Walmart finally transitioned that over. It acts pretty similar to Amazon and I love this question when it comes up into the groups of like suggested bids. Why are suggested bids so high? And one thing to consider is auction models and a PPC is just buying real estate. You want to win the top placements, the highest traffic placements, which is typically the top of the page. You have to bid the highest amount. Where Walmart gets a little bit more complex, and I like to the placements on Walmart. You know, searching Grid, Buy Box, mobile Desktop. I like to relate to kind of placement modifiers on Amazon. We always start with like a clean slate, a foundation of just a bid, like let's win this placement, and then, once we start collecting data, we can start breaking out an increase in a placement or a higher bid elsewhere, and I recommend everyone do the same, like it doesn't matter if you see a read an article that says you know mobile conversion rates are much higher than desktop. I wouldn't go and make that bet. Instead, like we prefer, if you're solely focused on profitability, start with low bids and a low auction and what's going to happen is you may not get impressions in traffic and that's fine, it's still, it's not hurting you, but increase incrementally until you collect data and you can figure out your breakeven ROAS. On the flip side, if you have money to spend, start high and collect data really quick and like. A big thing I'm a huge fan of is just to always make database decisions. They give you so much data you can see your placement performance and all of your keyword performance. So, wait till you collect data and then make bid decisions based off that.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's really good. It's really good that you called out how clunky it was before I took my ads before the relevancy model and before the second price auction. It was actually really hard because you actually couldn't even advertise higher than you were organically ranked, so I was just stuck in these far-out places. Yeah, then literally that next month when they changed the relevancy, I went from $200 to about $800 for this product. Then I started going up and up and up and went to about $12,000 a month for just the one product because they changed these small little things in the advertising and so that's a huge call out because people who were on back then were probably frustrated. So, I want to kind of let everyone know that it's changed and it's better.

Destaney:

It is changed, and I think that's also a really important call out, just like organic rank. So, algorithms, again, are driven off like two things, especially like a shopping algorithm. One they need data, right, so they need a ton of inputs in order to say, hey, yes, this product should be indexed for Chapstick. They need 300 data points saying that customers convert for Chapstick right, so volume clicks and conversions matter. I think the second big thing is every platform wants to drive sales, so we were talking about this before hopping on, but in order to improve your organic rank on any platform, you need to sell more units, and how do you sell more units? That's up to you to figure out. A lot of people say, oh, that's Walmart's job. I listed my product, now they need to sell it. It doesn't quite work that way. It's an algorithm, right, yeah? So, either you advertise on Walmart, and you start driving more units, which improves your organic rank, and as your organic rank improves, you get more visibility, which sells more units for you, or you figure out how to sell units off platform, one way or another. At the end of the day, though, like one of the biggest ranking juice factors is always going to be advertising on that platform because it's so much more precise. Like we've seen conversion rates for sponsored ads and they're incredible. So, yeah, highly recommend that.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, it's just so funny that people have a different mentality when they come on Walmart like almost, I don't know, I don't want to say entitled, but it's like they should do this for us, and they should do that. It's like amazon doesn't do that for you, amazon makes, makes you pay, yeah, so why not?

Destaney:

It's kind of funny I don't know if maybe it's similar of like they're thinking about a retail store like you get your PO and then Walmart puts your product on the shelf, but at the end, and then Walmart brings in that foot traffic, I guess. But at the end of the day, you're competing against so many other products on a digital shelf yeah, competing against so many other products on a digital shelf. Yeah, a retail shelf, you can only squeeze 10 products, 10 toothpaste brands, like in that section. But a digital shelf is so much different, and you do have the opportunity to influence where you're showing up on that shelf in a really simple way, and I think that's advantageous.

Carrie Miller:

Well, even going back to retail, even when you get into retail you are supposed to move it. So, I remember talking or not talking, but like listening to Sarah Blakely with Spanx and she got her stuff into Neiman Marcus, and she was having her friends go buy it. She went into the stores for Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and was selling these products herself.

Destaney:

It was like they thought she was like an in-store rep, because she was just sitting there like trying to sell her products. I remember that exactly.

Carrie Miller:

So. It's like you know that ownership of. I want to get these products out there. My product is amazing, I want it in front of people. And so, another person I talked to about retail, as they said, historically people were always using billboards. They were using commercial advertising if they got into Walmart. So, once they get into Walmart, they are actually, you know, responsible to get to move the product as well, but it's just a different way of doing it, and if they don't move it on the shelf in the physical stores, Walmart would take them off. So, it's, it's the same thing. So always have that mentality of how can I, what can I do to move my product on this platform. I think that's why I always think about Sarah Blakely, because you know she was not too, too good for going in there and literally working at the store all day, every day, so I love that.

Destaney:

And to that point, like one, she had that scrappy mentality, which was incredible. But this is a conversation that comes up. If you cannot afford to advertise on the platform, you know, become a connector, become an influencer, start hopping on lives, start doing TikTok's and gaining that traction for yourself and then sending that traffic to your said platform. But to that point, I also think that's where we're spoiled by sponsored ad performance. Right, you've been on a keyword, someone clicks on it, and you see the results. But back in the day, it's back in the day like what? 15 years ago, yeah, you were in a national media campaign, or you paid for a billboard, and you said here's $50,000 for this billboard and all you could do is see if you saw a lift in overall sales. It was a lift test. That's what marketing was judged by. Now we have the ability to pinpoint the age, income, geographic time of click and we're spoiled by it.

Carrie Miller:

It's pretty amazing. Yeah, I actually to your point about you know, if you get scrappy. I've actually seen some people you know that use Helium 10 and they're like I don't, I don't have that great of a budget, but they chose products kind of in their hobby niche. They'll go live and do demos or on YouTube. They have YouTube channels where they show how to use their product and they sell it with the links. You know they can link it to one more and amazon, and so they they're doing that and that's how they've gotten a ton of traction. So, definitely think outside the box if you're not able to, you know, invest in PPC.

Destaney:

Sean Reily from DUDE Wipes is a ton of incredible content on how they started, because he, he, they had to be so scrappy that they would just like buy these really crazy like billboard placements or bid on these certain placements that they knew would get tv attention. They were going to baseball games and holding up signs like with their products names and then when the baseball aired, they would be in the background holding their signs. And it's that exact same thing of just how you get in front of people.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, it's so amazing. Yeah, so that's a good call out there. Okay, so we do have some questions here from the audience and of course Bradley has asked the first one. He said let's see, does Walmart broad phrase and exact perform similar to Amazon or does it have weird things like Amazon where broad can go super wide and exact sometimes performs?

Destaney:

Performs like phrase even? I would say they're similar. I think Amazon sponsored brands broad match is a little bit of an outsider and just the overall conversation with sponsored brands broad match we've seen go really wide lately. I have pulled all of our agency data to see if we've seen a change in conversion rate on sponsored products broad match and we haven't. So, I'm kind of like I don't want to make a huge comparison there, but I would say they're very similar.

Carrie Miller:

What are some common mistakes that you see new beginners doing on, you know, with advertising or just getting on Walmart in general?

Destaney:

I would say poor keyword research. We dove into this one a little bit. But to go even deeper on that, I think some people overthink keyword research and at the end of the day, it's like what would you type in to find this product? Yep, start with that. Like make a commonsense list of the top 10 keywords that you would type in, not the ones that are algorithmically showing the highest revenue, not the ones that a tool is showing you. Start with common sense keywords I'm buying mascara or Chapstick or lunchbox, right and then use the tools to expand on those, because it's twofold here. Your commonsense keywords are almost always going to be the most expensive because if you're thinking about bidding on them, so is everyone else right. But where you have a lot of opportunities, you take all of the Helium 10, long tail terms that you didn't think about right. So, if you use something again like a Chapstick, everyone's going to bid on Chapstick. But if I find this long tail of, like peppermint Chapstick for chapped lips, children, non-toxic, it's going to be such low search volume. But you have to add up hundreds of those, 50 of those, like Carrie said, and that's where you're going to get your profitability. It's still, even though it's early days, from a platform. There's a lot of big-name players that are driving up ad costs. I would say where that's where it's a little bit different from amazon, right like all of your big-name players are in stores on Walmart, they're also advertising on dot com. So, you still have to be really strategic around that keyword research you. You have to figure out, you know what terms are going to drive the most sales for you but maybe not be profitable. What terms can you get a really long tail on? That's going to drive additional volume but take a little bit more work to invest in. Not having a bid management solution is 100% number two. A lot of people don't understand bid management. I don't expect people to. It took me 3 years and probably over $30 million of spin before it became intuitive. I had to touch so many accounts in order to start figuring out the correlation of bid management, and there's a lot of simple videos on just bid formulas. But if you're not that person, if you're not going to understand algorithmically and mathematically how to build a bid solution, not a lot of us are, you need to use a tool? Your bid is the number one indicator of what your ROAS or ACOS is going to be.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, so I guess that brings you back to Adtomic. Are there any other kind of parts of Adtomic you think that are helpful for sellers?

Destaney:

Custom reporting, I think, is a big one. To that point, when you're starting out and starting to build a midsize business, your focus almost changes. In the very beginning you're in everything because it's your baby. It has to be perfect. As you start scaling you realize you're spread too thin. So, you start picking up what you're best at and I think that's where a tool like Atomic really comes into play. It's 80-20. It's you know. Let's build out either custom reports so I can focus on what I need best, whether it's my tacos, whether it's my margin, whether it's my conversion rate, or even getting into, like some of your other tools, market tracker, things like that. That's where it gets really valuable. In my opinion, it's bringing back time for you as an entrepreneur. It's not going to be as perfect. Every business owner thinks they're perfect, right. You have to start letting go some of those resources because in order to have a successful brand nowadays, you have to be good at product development. You have to optimize per platform. You probably need a social presence. You need to handle forecasting and inventory. You need to handle finances in your P&L. It's insane how much goes into. It's amazing that we have the opportunity to do it from our iPhone, but it's also insane how complex it is. So, you have to start bringing in tools that maybe aren't as good, but they allow you to scale your own time.

Carrie Miller:

I know I get this question a lot. Maybe somebody's advertising already and they feel like they've done a lot of things to kind of optimize. What kinds of things do you recommend for people to take their sales to the next level like? Maybe they feel like they're stagnant. Are there any kind of go-to strategies you have for Walmart where people can kind of say, hey, if I implement this, I could probably see a lift, or what should I? Which they look at that maybe people are ignoring that they should be looking at.

Destaney:

I want to get into like all the fun small things of like ad type expansion and all of that, but I want to call out just conversion rate optimization first, because it's super easy to blame a lack of sales or bad performance on the thing that you least understand, which is typically advertising. It's typically PPC and just coming from the agency side, I mean we've heard it all in that regard and I think a really important call out is if someone clicked on your ad, if you look at your campaign and you see clicks, that ad did its job Because think about it as a customer, as I personally shop on Walmart, I don't go around just clicking on things that I'm not interested in buying. So, if the customer clicked, that means they were interested in it, but they landed on your listing and they decided not to buy, and your job is to decide why they didn't purchase. Is your listing not good enough? Is it not the color or the flavor that you're looking for? So, conversion rate optimization is always the thing that we say to start with. If you have a little bit of extra profit in your account and you need to invest in something, start with conversion rate optimization, because it's going to make your PPC 20 times better. And then beyond that, I would say another big thing to call out that can really influence top line sales growth is making sure you're managing your PPC not just for advertising but to grow your overall organic rank. So, creating campaigns specifically focused on improving your organic positioning on the page.

Carrie Miller:

Very good. All right, and we do have a good PPC question here. Ben Tiffany said any word on when Walmart will start allowing us to create negative search terms on our auto campaigns?

Destaney:

I would probably give it another quarter or end of year. Honestly, I think it's too blaring of a discrepancy to not roll out, so I'm assuming it's on the roadmap for pretty soon.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I have heard it's on the roadmap, so I thought it would already be out. So maybe they're just taking a little more time to make sure that it works well. So yes. Yeah, that's probably what's going on here, but I think we're pretty much out of time. But thank you so much for joining us today on this Walmart Wednesday and we really appreciate your insights for PPC. We haven't really done a whole lot on PPC, so hopefully we'll be able to get you back on here at some point and do some more Walmart PPC stuff. But thanks again for joining us and to everyone else, thank you for your questions and thank you for joining us live and we will see you all again next month on Walmart Wednesday. Bye, everyone.

Destaney:

Awesome. Thank you, Carrie. Bye guys.

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Listen in as Bradley plays detective to predict the dates for Amazon Prime Day 2024. We also unpack the latest buzzing innovations from Amazon advertising and Helium 10.

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon Live introduces an interactive and shoppable channel on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/amazon-live-free-channel-prime-video-freevee-shopping

Amazon says 'Project Curiosity' wasn't a secret operation to spy on rivals
https://qz.com/amazon-project-curiosity-spying-report-1851420549

Join us for to the Helium 10 Elite / AVASK Plus Madrid Seller Workshop!
https://h10.me/elitespain

9 unique ways Amazon packages are delivered around the world, from e-bikes to mules

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/unique-amazon-delivery-methods

Lastly, Bradley has the deets on Helium 10's latest updates, from deep-diving analytics on the Profits tool to the game-changing Review Analyzer Pro that digs into customer sentiments like a pro. Plus, we'll play around with the new AI Image Generator inside our Listing Builder tool – the virtual artist that's about to transform your product images from meh to mesmerizing. This new tool generates a variety of themed images to visually enhance your listing images, A+ Content, Amazon Posts, and more!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:44 - Prime Day 2024 Dates Announced?
02:54 - Amazon Live x Prime Video
05:15 - Sponsored Brands Update
06:10 - Amazon Spies?
08:42 - Battery Compliance
09:57 - Helium 10 Spain Event
10:42 - Prime Donkey Delivery
12:46 - Follow Helium 10 On TikTok
13:37 - Helium 10 New Features

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Ever felt like you were just one product away from striking it rich on Amazon? That's the tantalizing possibility we explore as we dive into the art of Amazon product research using Helium 10's Blackbox tool. This episode is your compass to navigate the e-commerce landscape, offering a masterclass on seizing those elusive product opportunities that could propel your financial success to new heights. We're not just talking theory here; Our host, Bradley Sutton is pulling back the curtain on Black Box's massive database, its different keyword and niche exploration tools, and the game-changing impact of Amazon’s Brand Analytics data mixed into it.

Picture yourself uncovering hidden gems among Amazon's top sellers, skillfully leveraging competitor data like a seasoned pro. That's exactly what we're tackling in this episode, where he breaks down how to analyze a rival's portfolio of products to inspire your own potential Amazon product innovations. We're diving into the deep end of keyword searches, emphasizing those potent long-tail phrases with great search volume. With Bradley’s guidance, you'll be equipped to expand your product line strategically, positioning yourself to tap into Amazon's competitive marketplace and watch those sales figures soar.

As the journey wraps up, we don't just leave you with a map—we hand you the spyglass to zoom in on niche markets calling out for exploration. Discover how title density can catapult you to the top of Amazon's search results or how a strategic Amazon PPC campaign can breathe new life into your selling strategies. Whether you're a newcomer to the Amazon selling scene or an old hand looking to sharpen your edge, this episode is packed with wisdom that could see your profits skyrocket thanks to Helium 10's arsenal of tools. So buckle up and get ready to transform your approach to Amazon product research!

In episode 553 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

01:25 - Amazon Product Research With Helium 10's BlackBox Tool
02:08 - Introduction and Overview To Black Box by Helium 10
05:06 - How To Find Potential Products with Opportunity To Sell
12:41 - How To Research a Brand’s or Seller’s Top Products
14:59 - How To Find Product Opportunity by Searching for Keywords
21:40 - How To Find Product Opportunity by Looking at the Top 10 Search Results
24:46 - How To Find Product Opportunity Using Amazon Brand Analytics
29:09 - How To Search And Filter Amazon Brand Analytics Keywords
31:48 - How To Find Competitors For Any Amazon Product
35:04 - How To Hyper-Filter Amazon Search Results Without Being on Amazon
37:44 - How To View the History of Items Frequently Bought Together With Other Amazon Products
41:55 - Helium 10 Seller Connect Forum

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

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Ever find yourself navigating Amazon PPC, only to feel like you're missing the secret map? Fear not, because PPC expert Vince Montero joins us to illuminate the path with the game-changing Adtomic tool. With Vince's adept guidance, we dissect the art of bid adjustments, underscore the value of setting realistic ACoS targets, and reveal how to concoct bid rules tailored to your campaign's aspirations. If you're entangled in the web of managing branded and ranking campaigns, Vince's insights on their unique dynamics are your lifeline to clarity and control.

Tackling the strategic battlefield of PPC bid adjustment, the episode lays bare the tightrope walk between automated precision and the essential human touch. We share pearls of wisdom on the necessity to periodically scrutinize bid changes with your own two eyes, guaranteeing that your decisions are fueled by solid spend thresholds and sales data. By integrating different expenditure tiers and impressions, we arm you with the tactics to sidestep the quicksand of inflating bids on lagging keywords. Plus, we shed light on how to ensure harmony within your bid rules, avoiding the snare of conflicting criteria.

Amazon search is blowing towards the era of voice search, let’s explore its burgeoning influence on Amazon PPC strategies. As shoppers cozy up to AI companions and Alexa for their purchasing needs, we discuss the strategic inclusion of conversational, long-tail keywords. Moreover, we tackle the high seas of ACoS rates during product launches, steering you through the initial tempest into calmer waters where optimization can begin. Whether you're charting the advanced realms of day-parting for bid adjustments or seeking to elevate your listing's visibility, this episode is the compass you've been seeking in the vast ocean of Amazon PPC.

In episode 552 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Vince discuss:

01:45 - Amazon PPC Optimization With Adtomic
07:16 - Optimizing ACoS Percentage Gradually
12:15 - Strategic Bid Adjustment for Amazon PPC
13:46 - Optimizing PPC Ad Spend Strategy
16:34 - Keyword Performance Optimization Rules
19:16 - Impact Of Voice Search In Amazon PPC
22:48 - Utilizing FAQs for Amazon Listings
28:19 - Amazon PPC Strategy and Optimization
29:58 - Amazon Sales Attribution for Advertised ASINs
33:09 - Voice Search Optimization Tools Discussion

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon updates its dietary supplements seller’s policy
https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2024/04/05/Amazon-updates-its-dietary-supplements-seller-s-policy#

eBay Uses AI to Deliver Personalized Recommendations to Fashion Shoppers
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/ebay-uses-ai-to-deliver-personalized-recommendations-to-fashion-shoppers/

Magento bug exploited to steal payment data from ecommerce websites
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/magento-bug-exploited-to-steal-payment-data-from-ecommerce-websites

Amazon invests $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-invests-25-million-in-a-10-year-research-collaboration-to-advance-ai

Amazon announces over €700 million investment in robotics and AI powered technologies across Europe
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/innovation/amazon-announces-over-700-million-investment-in-robotics-and-ai-powered-technologies-across-europe

Exclusive: The FTC is probing Amazon’s new controversial fees in its $140 billion seller business
https://fortune.com/2024/03/08/ftc-amazon-seller-fees-inbound-placement-low-inventory-antitrust/

We’re proud to announce the launch of the new and improved Freedom Ticket course! Our award-winning, best-in-class FBA course has been streamlined and updated, so it delivers even more value in less time—setting up Freedom Ticket students just like you for sustainable Amazon success in 2024 and beyond.
https://www.helium10.com/blog/freedom-ticket-fba-course/

And, for an added edge in the e-commerce arena, Carrie Miller shows us a savvy strategy for leveraging Helium 10's Cerebro for your Walmart listings, serving up another round of invaluable tips and tricks for selling on Walmart.com.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:46 - Supplement Policy Update
02:05 - Ebay Utilizes AI
02:57 - Magento Payment Vulnerability
03:36 - Amazon Invests in AI
06:35 - FTC Probing about New Fees
07:15 - New Freedom Ticket Course
09:35 - Pro Training Tip: Cerebro for Walmart

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Amazon updates its dietary supplement sellers policy. Amazon and eBay invest heavily in AI for their e-commerce platforms, and what does the FTC have to say about all of the new fees for storage that Amazon has imposed? This and so much more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think

Carrie Miller:

Welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast hosted by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and this is our weekly buzz episode, where we give you all of the latest Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce news. We also give you a serious strategy for serious sellers at any level. So let's go ahead and see what's buzzing. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into our first article, and this first article is about how Amazon is updating their dietary supplement sellers policy. Now, this is kind of a long time coming. This has been in the works for a few years, and so basically, what's happening is, instead of the seller being able to send in their third party testing and certificates and just submit them through Seller Central, now the analysis has to be done and sent straight from a lab to Amazon. So it's actually a more direct approach. They want to make sure they can really verify that these supplements have been third-party tested, and that goes for all the compliance that they have. So what it says is that if you want to ensure that your listings are compliant with the policy, that you just need to go to manage your compliance dashboard and initiate the test for each of these products. This actually came about because there was a private lab that was actually testing the quality. So the quality some of the dietary supplements on Amazon was requested question repeatedly over the past several years and they found that maybe some of the supplements didn't have exactly what they said in them. So this is probably a really good thing for consumers and, you know it'll help the sellers to really be able to verify that their products are really legit and what they say. They are so curious to know what you think. If you are a nutritional supplement seller, what do you think about this new qualification that you have to or compliance thing that you have to do?

Carrie Miller:

Okay, next article is about eBay, and eBay is actually using AI to deliver personalized recommendations to fashion shoppers. Now, this, I think, is really cool because a lot of stuff on eBay is used and so when somebody looks at some sort of a style, they actually are going to recommend similar style products. It's going to be based on the previous 10 clicks, so sometimes this could be good and sometimes not, because maybe somebody clicked on something they like. I don't like that, but it could get quite a few more sales and more exposure for sellers because it'll start recommending these similar styled clothing items to buyers. So I think this could be a really cool thing. They're starting with fashion and then they're going to move out to other categories, and this could be a really good thing for especially eBay sellers when you're selling used items, to help people to find your items much faster.

Carrie Miller:

And the next article is about Magento. Magento has had a bug that really exploited the payment area, so it basically left vulnerable to bad actors to be able to steal payment information data on your Magento site. There are 150,000 Magento sites. There are over 150,000 Magento sites out there site. There is a fix for this, and so you can basically download the fix or upload the fix. However, it works usually with a developer and you can make sure to secure your website so that you do not have somebody that can go in and steal your payment information.

Carrie Miller:

And next, this is a really interesting piece of news, and that is Amazon is investing $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI. So they're doing this with the University of Washington and the University of Tuscuba I don't know how to say it and NVIDIA, and they're all focused on AI. So I think this gives sellers a really good opportunity to really focus on AI in the next few years, because this is the direction that Amazon is going. So the more that we can stay on top of it, the better that we can sell our products and get what you know get the products that we want to get into the customer hands. Um, so it's going to be, I think, a lot of innovation over the next few years. In addition to that, they have invested $700 million in robotics and AI-powered technologies in Europe. Some of the things I think these are really cool to look at how the Amazon warehouse does things, but they're actually. They have this innovation lab that's in Italy, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and some of the technologies that have come out of here are really quite interesting and I want to scroll down and show you.

Carrie Miller:

So we've got the universal robotic labeler. So it's a high-speed auto-labeling technology so this is kind of how it looks and they can basically quickly label all those packages. And then there's a universal item sorter and they can basically quickly label all those packages and then there's a universal item sorter so they can use these machines to sort all the items and make sure they're sorted efficiently to deliver them to the locations every day, and they're usually sorted into where their similar locations or destinations are. There's an automated tote retrieval, which I think is really kind of an interesting thing. They basically have these totes where they put all the products in to be packaged so really interesting. They have a bag containerization all kinds of really cool stuff. An automated guided cart that goes through the Amazon fulfillment centers and a flat sorter robotic induct so if anything falls off or they basically can pick things up and put it back on where it needs to be. And a palletizer it's a robotic palletizer. Really interesting stuff here Automated packaging, so basically they wouldn't even need people, which is crazy.

Carrie Miller:

And then Amazon robotics floor so really interesting stuff that is coming out of Amazon and so I think the more they already are using robotics and a lot of these technologies in their Amazon warehouses. So the more time that goes on as they continue to research, I think there's gonna be more of this involved. Obviously, people are going to need to be there to operate in these types of machineries, but probably less people involved. But it's also going to be important, you know, just because there's also a lot of investment going into AI for the actual platform itself. So we really need to stay on top of AI, make sure that our listings are going to be something that the AI can read and deliver to customers, so definitely something to keep on your list to stay up to date on that information.

Carrie Miller:

The next article is from fortunecom, basically, and they have a whole article about the FTC and how it's basically probing and questioning Amazon's controversial fees, and this came after a lot of outrage from sellers over the fees. So they have been looking into this because of know just so much has been going on. There's been a lot of noise about this, so we'll have to wait and see what the FTC thinks about this, what they're going to do about it and if it's something that they can do something about. So we'll stay tuned on that, all right. So that is all for the news that we have this week.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the Helium 10 feature updates. Now, this is one of my favorite updates that we have, and that is we have Freedom Ticket 4.0. This is perfect for beginners as well as advanced. There's something for everyone here. Kevin King is leading this Freedom Ticket 4.0. And so you've got a lot of great information from Kevin King on how to get started with your business. We also have a bunch of expert guests that are really giving you some really great information. So if you are advanced, you're going to have that. If you're a beginner, we have stuff about product research, how to find your product, how to calculate profitability correctly, how to know when to pay yourself insurance all that great stuff so that you are fully prepared for your business. But for any of those who are more advanced, you've got also some great modules like, for example, the power of AI for Amazon sellers. That's done by Steve Simonson.

Carrie Miller:

There's some stuff about exiting your business. We have Scott Dietz from the Northbound Group, and he talks about beginning with the end in mind, because your exit is going to be where you make most of your money from your business. Then we also have some listing, content, optimization things, how to help your customers find your products, and, if you go down even further, we had Destaney Wishon, who talked about pay-per-click advertising, did a great job in explaining pay-per-click advertising and how to utilize PPC on Amazon. We have some great information about supply chain logistics how to source and ship your products and so we have some expert guests on that. And we also have some great information from eCommerce Chris on compliance, which is really, really important to make sure that you don't get banned from Amazon as a seller, that you stay in good compliance with their policies.

Carrie Miller:

And I think one of my favorite modules on here was finding and hiring VAs and managers for your business. Josh Hadley led that one and really did a very good job, step by step, of showing how to hire the best talent for your business. So if you're advanced or if you're a beginner, this is perfect for you, and if you have employees, you can have them take this course If you want them to be better versed in the Amazon world, help them to understand, get a really good education on how Amazon works. This is perfect. You can have them go through the course and they're going to learn so much, but it is for everyone. I learned so much even just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So definitely check it out, you are going to love it.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so now I'm going to go ahead and get into the training tip of the week, which is Cerebro for Walmart. A lot of people don't even know that we have Cerebro for Walmart, but it is an incredible tool to optimize your Walmart business by helping with your listing optimization and your pay-per-click advertising. So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen and show you how this works. So what you're going to do is you're going to go to Cerebro and you need to make sure to choose Walmart, which is way at the bottom. So usually it's at amazoncom, but you want to scroll all the way down here to walmartcom and you want to choose the walmartcom market. Okay, the next thing you want to do is you want to go to walmartcom. Now I have just chosen garlic presses here and we do.

Carrie Miller:

Just another note we do have x ray for Walmart here, but I like to pull x ray because I like to use this to find the product IDs, and this is basically where this is like an ASIN on Amazon, but they have product IDs. Another way you can find it is by just going to the actual listing, and you can you can scroll over to the very right, the very far end of it, and it's at the very end. It's this number, right here is the product ID number. So what you're going to do is you're going to basically copy that product ID, so I can just copy it right here and I'm going to put it into Cerebro. Now you can do more than one product ID at one time, but I'm just going to do this one, and this is going to pull up all the keywords for this particular product ID.

Carrie Miller:

That shows you all of the keywords that they are ranking for organically and sponsored, so you can see down here all of their keywords. You can see the search volume on Walmart and you can see it on Amazon. Now, I wouldn't be dismayed about the low search volume. You still are going to make sales Even if there's a low, low search volume. I've made some good sales on those keywords for my own business.

Carrie Miller:

But something that I love to do too is I like to sort by the sponsored rank. So I like to see exactly where my competitors are advertising. So this is going to show pretty much their exact strategy, because they don't have as many. A lot of people are using exact keywords, exact matches, so this is going to show you exactly where they are advertising. It's going to give you a huge list of really good keywords that you can utilize in your listing. And another thing you can do is you can just sort by organic rank. You can clear these filters. I had them on, I think, a little bit earlier, but see, there's actually even more keywords here that they're advertising on, and so we can see that there's a lot of really good keywords that are going to be very, very relevant. By just sorting the sponsored rank, you can see the organic rank. I sometimes like to filter by organic rank to see where they're ranked, maybe one to 10. You can also sort by volume.

Carrie Miller:

On Walmart or on Amazon, you can sort by phrases containing. So maybe you wanted to just see. You know, press all the phrases containing, press and, basically you know, pull up a bunch of very relevant key terms, and so this is an incredible tool to help you to find those keywords for Walmart, and it's definitely helped me. I've done a great job with these keywords on my pay-per-click advertising. The exact matches have done really well. So if you take the time to do this research, maybe take the top 10 to 20 keywords that you want to focus on on Walmart I think it's a really good strategy.

Carrie Miller:

Really write them into your listing. Make sure that you have these keywords in your title the main one that you want to focus on, at least in your title. Don't keyword stuff, because they will actually penalize you on Walmart for that. Have your main keyword phrase in there and then write these keyword phrases throughout your listing to optimize it and also start your pay-per-click advertising with these exact match terms and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results that you see. That is all that we have this week for the Weekly Buzz. Thank you so much for tuning in and we hope that you check out ou

View Details

Join us for a compelling conversation with Amazon expert Tomer Rabinovich as we uncover the secrets to increased profitability and mastery of the Amazon marketplace. Tomer brings invaluable insights on how to thrive amidst Amazon's ever-changing fees and storage strategies. Listen in as we discuss the benefits of remote business management and how sellers can adapt to maintain a resilient online presence.

Venture into the world of product development and discover strategies that are revolutionizing product launches. In this episode, we share the story of a product that's exceeding expectations with its innovative approach to packaging and marketing, highlighting the importance of giftable elements and catering to the mobile workforce. We also peel back the curtain on the evolution of launch tactics, from leveraging PPC to harnessing the power of Google ads and social media platforms. Hear firsthand from our community about what's currently making waves in the marketplace.

Wrapping up the conversation, we discuss the potency of various launch and Amazon advertising strategies, such as utilizing the Amazon Vine program and the importance of smart PPC campaign management. We navigate through the complexities of new coupon rules and their implications for product ranking, and share strategies for increasing profitability through supplier negotiations and the judicious use of funding. Additionally, we touch on the strategy of offering quantity discounts to incentivize multi-unit purchases. So, come along and gain valuable insights that could propel your Amazon business to new heights.

In episode 551 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Tomer discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Seller Strategies and Experiences
03:28 - Amazon Sellers Discuss Marketplace Changes
08:11 - Navigating Amazon Changes and Branding
11:01 - Product Development and Launch Strategies
14:37 - Amazon Listing Workarounds for Vine
17:20 - Importance of Social Media in Branding
20:43 - Amazon Advertising and Helium 10 Strategies
21:18 - Optimal Pricing Strategy for Vine Reviews
27:49 - Enhancing Amazon Product Research Tools
29:25 - Strategies for Increasing Profitability and Automation
32:10 - Negotiating Bulk Purchase Discounts
36:55 - Maturing Industry and Setting End Goals
39:29 - Quantity Discounts for Multiple Units

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Listen in as Bradley unpacks the latest twists for Amazon product launch strategies, which may have sent sellers back to the drawing board. Bradley’s tale with a bat bath mat launch illustrates the high stakes of this new game, and a PPC-centered approach has risen to the forefront. I'll guide you through the intricacies of setting introductory prices, navigating the minefield of buy box retention, and leveraging tools like Helium 10 to keep a finger on the pulse of your sales trajectory. This is an essential discussion for any seller aiming to crack the code of maintaining those coveted page one rankings in Amazon's ever-evolving marketplace.

As we continue, you'll discover the fine art of pricing strategy and the critical role it plays in the aftermath of a product launch. Sharing his personal experience, Bradley reveals how calculated PPC maneuvers, without the reliance on top of search modifiers, propelled this product to the top, only for an unforeseen buy box loss to threaten everything. We'll also discuss the Maldives honeymoon method, a savvy technique to capitalize on Amazon's honeymoon period, and offer advice on how to regain your Buy Box and rankings with swift pricing adjustments. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this conversation is packed with insights on optimizing your Amazon journey.

In episode 550 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Amazon Product Launch Strategy Changes
00:57 - Amazon Product Launch Strategy Insights
07:29 - Amazon Buy Box Pricing Strategy
09:27 - Amazon Honeymoon Method Success
21:00 - Optimizing Amazon Product Launch Strategies
27:42 - Safe Price for Buy Box Competition
29:54 - Tracking Amazon Variant Sales With Cerebro

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

There's something new that Amazon has been testing that could completely change how we do product launches, and I'm going to tell you exactly how I got to page one in my recent product launch but then lost it instantly because of this change. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask Me Anything, where we go and answer any and all of your Helium 10 questions, or even some general Amazon questions as well, and we usually go into a certain topic at first. Now, this time I didn't mention that I was going to go into a certain topic, but I want to show you guys something that could be happening when we're talking about Amazon product launches. That I think is very important.

Bradley Sutton:

I wanted to show you what happened with my recent product launch testing that I did, and this is going to be interesting because it could impact how we launch products, just as a kind of like a recap. What kind of launch strategy do I use and have I been showing other people? Well, it's mainly has to do with PPC. All right, so I'm like hey, you have a product that has no reviews at the beginning. Well, you need to convince people that they're going to buy your product if they see it at the top of search in PPC, and so my strategy has always been, you know, since Amazon turned off the search find, buy that people want, you know you should try and do or two-step URLs is I would create a listing and then I decide at what price point do people or are people going to buy my product even though it has no reviews, or only one or two reviews where they're just like you know what? I have never heard of this brand. I see other products on this page. I have a couple hundred reviews, but dang, at this price point, I've got to go ahead and buy this other product, even though I've never heard of it.

Bradley Sutton:

And so for some bath mats that I was selling for me, that price point was $9.99. All right, my list price is going to be $29 and my target price. I was like, hey, I want to start selling this around $24, if I can, right. And then so I was like you know what? At $9.95, I think, or $9.87, whatever I picked, I think that people are going to be like, well, this is a killer deal, I'm going to go ahead and buy it. And so what I've always taught is all right, well, you can either do a big coupon to get to that $9.95 price, like maybe a 50% off coupon if the price was like $19, right. Or the other thing is, do a sale price, because if I were to just change the regular price of the product and then try to raise it up, you guys know what would happen, right, the buy box would disappear after a certain point because Amazon would think that you're price gouging. So the way to get around that is using sale prices only, and the other thing that I was doing was trying to get the strike through pricing and in the past it would work like 80% of the time, where as long as I got one order at the regular price, the list price, then I did a sale price. I would usually like, again, 80% of the time I would get a, a strikethrough price on that list price.

Bradley Sutton:

So the first thing that I did for this launch, for this bat shaped bath mat say that five times fast was I created it at $9.97, like I said, and I did a sale price. All right, let me actually show you the listing. You guys can see this yourself. So if you type in bat bath mat, you'll probably see it. All right. So originally I put the price the first day I got some sales or I got one sale at the $29.97. You guys see right here, $29.97. You could see right down here. I actually had a sale on February 12th, all right, and then immediately I made a sale price of $9.97 and started getting sales. All right, let me let's actually look at the orders. By the way, maybe you guys didn't know you could do that. You could do it in Helium 10 here, where you look at your orders day by day and I also did the same thing for I tried some Tesla scenes for coffin shelves. So you see, February 22nd, I still have the price at $12.97. So I was like going up in price, but I want to find the first day that I actually had orders here. Here we go. You can see, February 19th. I was selling this for $9.97. Exactly like I said, but I know I got one at a higher price. Let's see if Helium 10 is going to show it for me. There's still $9.97 there. Hold on, what date are we on here? Let's see still 1697 for the coffin shelf. Now I'm at February 14th $9.97. Where was it? February? There it is. Look at that right there. Boom. Thank you, Helium 10 for showing me this right here. February. What is this date? This right here, February, what is this date? Uh, February 14th. I actually got sales at $29.97, but I did not get that strike through pricing. Now, immediately after I got that, look at that same day, I lowered the price as a sale price for $9.97. And, as you can see here, I was selling products left and right.

Bradley Sutton:

I did a PPC campaign. All right, I made a special launch campaign inside of Atomic. Where it was, it was specifically to rank for my main keywords and I was getting the orders. I'll show you the actual campaign that I made. Like I started from day one with this special launch campaign where I was targeting top of search, not using the bid algorithm, not using the top of search modifier, but I was just targeting in general the top of search, and let me show you what happened on the keyword. So, like, everything was a success. Like you know, I've launched hundreds of products and it's always I always have success, but it was always the same business as usual. Uh, let me show you the keyword rank so you guys could see how it was going. Let me show you like bat bath mat was one of the main ones, and let's look at my rank history here. I'm going to explain what happened here, but look at this, all right. So right there, remember I launched a product like February 12th, February 13th, I had those orders. See where I was ranking for bat bath mat right away because of my the Title Density on this keyword is low. Without even doing anything. Before I even got that first order, look, I was at position 126, 128, right. And then what I did was I started my PPC campaign on that day. Let me show you where that's at. What I did was I started my PPC campaign on that day.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So I started my PPC. Remember? I got that first order on February 4th. Well, look at that. Why did I get that order? Look at this. On February 14th, I should say look at that. My position was number one, all right. So I was first. I was and this is why I don't use top of search modifiers. I could see from Helium 10 that every single hour almost, I was at the top of search on February 14th and 15th, all right. So now let me go into my Adtomic and see if I can find my original campaign that I did. So here's the exact campaign that I made in Adtomic and I don't think I'm running almost any of these anymore. I had a $40 a day. I had a $40 a day budget. And then the keywords that I was targeting are right here Bat bath mat, gothic bathroom rug, bat rug, bat bathroom rug. You see I just had these are like my main keywords and I did a high bid because I was trying to be top of search. And I didn't have to guess if I was going to be at top of search because I could see that in keyword tracker and even here in Adtomic under the search terms, it's showing me my keyword ranks right here. See, it's showing me my organic rank and my sponsored rank right here in Adtomic. And so, again, everything was business as usual. I started getting sales. Let's go back to my sales here. These are all organic. Organic in the sense that you know, I wasn't paying people to order my product or anything. These were just people seeing it in sponsored results. Look at this February 15th, I got one order, two orders. Let's keep going here. February 16th, I had two, three more or four organic orders, still at $9.97 price point. The February 17th, another two, three orders. So my PPC campaigns were working. How fast was I able to rank because of these one, two, three, four orders? Well, look here Bat bath mat in Helium 10 keyword tracker. Remember I was at position 125. We'll take a look here Within just two days, within one day, the very first day I got orders, I already jumped up to page one.

Bradley Sutton:

That's the beauty about the Maldives Honeymoon method, guys, and the honeymoon period on Amazon. You can just do ridiculous things, especially with lower search volume keywords like this. Page one, position 23, from day one of my first sale and then towards the next day, February 15th, page one, position 11, I jumped up after a few more orders. Look at this. February 16th, two days after I got my first order, I'm at page one, position four. And then shortly thereafter I am at the very top of the search right here, page one, position two, three, four, consistently. All right. So everything was great. I'm like, boom, this is so good. And you look at my orders, they started picking up and so, because they were picking up, I started raising the price. Let me see if I can see what day I raised the price I still had on the 19th I was still at $10. Let's take a look here. You guys can see. Still on the 20th I was at $10. When did I raise the price here? And then I started raising, I think to $10.97, first of all and that was on February, let's see or $12.97. I jumped up at $12.97, all right, on February. When was this? February 22nd, and I was still selling really well, I still didn't have any reviews.

Bradley Sutton:

So I wanted to keep that price low. But I started bringing that price gradually up and you can see that I did that actually here on the BSR graph, here on Helium 10. You can see that on oh there, it is right there. February 22nd I raised the price to $12.97. On February 28th I raised it to $14.97 because I'm like, hey, sales are still piling in, I don't need to keep that really low price point because I already got to page one for my main keywords. Alright, almost all my main keywords okay. Um, $14.97. I went to $15.97, $17.97. Uh, I did on March. What is this March 1st? But now all of a sudden take a look here, what happened? Where my BSR goes way down, all right here. Uh, at this point my BSR and sales went to almost zero. And look what happened in Keyword Tracker guys, all right, bat bath map, my main keyword, all of my main keywords on March 5th I lost the buy box. That's basically what happened, guys. All right, I lost the buy box. Now it dropped me to position 32. Look at this. It went from position 1 to 32 consistently for almost two weeks. I was doing it. Do you see here, guys, every single one of my keywords dropped to position 32. This is what we call the page 32 or position 32 glitch. But it's not really a glitch. This is like something Amazon has programmed in, where I lost the buy box. Now, why did I lose the buy box? This never happened before.

Bradley Sutton:

Basically, it seems like I mean, at least it could be a test. But I literally did this on four different product launches all at the same time, and the same exact thing happened, where Amazon, even though I was using a sale price, is now kind of like considering the sale price, the regular price, and then so if you raise the price too much, you are not going to get the buy box back. All right, because Amazon thinks that you are price gouging. And I was like this is just flabbergasting me. What is going on? So I even went to azrank.com and I was like, hey, I need to have 10 orders, buy 10 orders at this $24.97 price, which is my regular price to send Amazon signals. I was just doing a test. I'm not trying to break Amazon terms of service or anything. It wasn't like search, find, buy or anything like that. But I said AZRank, please have 10 people buy it. And the cool thing about using AZRank is they give you a whole bunch of like customer information on your product. You know, like they say, hey, how's the packaging and how's the search experience and what are the other products on the page that they're clicking on? So it's not just a matter of trying to get quote, unquote, fake orders or anything like that. No, there's a reason. You get customer intelligence from AZRank. But for this particular reason or for this particular case, all I wanted to do was ask, or was try and see, what do I have to do to get the buy box back? And here's the thing 10 orders at 24, it wasn't enough.

Bradley Sutton:

So it seems like Amazon has this rolling history now of price where they're going to suppress your buy box if they feel that you're price gouging. It's not like there's another listing somewhere else on Amazon or on another website that was at a certain price. No, so what I've been doing, little by little, I had to find out what price point I could get the buy box back, and that price point was at first, $17.97. All right, so I had to get the. I got the buy box back right here at $17.97. And then I'm like, okay, let me get some orders at $17.97. I did, and then I was like, all right, things are going good, let's go to $18.27. All right, so now I've been raising the price little by little, kind of like if you had to raise your regular price, and now I'm all the way at $20.97. I don't know why Amazon price history is saying is saying $27.97, but $20 and 97 cents, what is it, or no, $20.07.? And I still have, as you can see here, buy box. Even Amazon is throwing a coupon on here. Now I'm still getting sales, but now this means that I've been losing money for a little bit more time because, remember, my target price is $24.97. So what is my next thing that I am going to test here? Well, basically, if this is going to be permanent, if Amazon no longer allows you to do a sale price for too much, and then you're going to get buy box problems, and also, remember, amazon says you cannot run coupons anymore unless you have sales history. So if that's the case, you no longer are going to be able to do these crazy huge, deep discounts for too long to get people to buy your product. So what would be the strategy if this is the new normal? You guys let me know in the comments on the side have anybody been using this strategy in the last month and seen the same thing? Or you were able to discount 60% on a sales price, raise the price all the way up three weeks later and you'd be okay.

Bradley Sutton:

But anyways, what my strategy is going to have to be now is I really have to know how many units I want to sell at that price. I send in let's just say it's 60 units. I send in 60 units to a certain SKU and then I make another. I said SKU, I meant ASIN. I need to make another variation of the product with different images, even though it's the same product, and then make it like somehow a variation and then send in maybe 200 or 300 products there and then those 60 units or 100 units at that low price. I do all I can do to get the ranking up and then I keep that other listing closed and then, once I run out of inventory and that's good. I've got my ranking. I've got some reviews from Vine which, by the way, when you do Vine, it's actually good to do Vine when you have the $9 price or the $10 price or $12 price, because then sellers or buyers from the Vine it doesn't count too much to their monthly quota or whatever plus, it just psychologically will tell them even though they're not paying a high or they're not paying anything. They'll be like oh wow, this is such an amazing product for this deal, so you want to do your vine during that time too. But anyways, you have to, you know, have 50 or a hundred units there and then when that unit, when that, turns off, you turn on your other product or your other ASIN, your other variation, which is basically the same product, but it's a separate ASIN and that ASIN you never had at the lower price. Theoretically speaking, again, I haven't tested this out because this is all stuff I've been doing the last two weeks here. Theoretically speaking, now you shouldn't have buy box issues and I can go ahead and have that product be at $24.97, which is what I would do here. I've got like six almost five-star reviews. This would be the time where I'd be like I want to try and sell this at $24.97. But right now, if I sell it at $24.97, it is going to take. You know what guys, let's do this together.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm actually going to go ahead and see if I can put, if I can go ahead and um, put the price at 20, even $23.97. And let's see if I'm still getting that uh, still getting that block. So we're doing this together live guys. I am not making this stuff up. It's a live Amazon account. Let's go ahead and edit this listing and let's see in 15 minutes if I lost the buy box or not. All right, so I got my price $20.07. Let's go to, let's just go to $21.97. Maybe it's enough. Maybe I'll still be able to keep buy box at $21.97. So we will go ahead and do save and finish. Remind me, guys in a few minutes to refresh the Amazon page and let's see if I was able to keep the uh, to keep the buy box. But anyways, that's the issue of what's going on with launches right now. Really interesting stuff, in my opinion, how Amazon is changing stuff. But now this is your time for the rest of the show. So go ahead and give me some questions.

Bradley Sutton:

Karina says how many days did it take to get the first reviews? Yeah, all those reviews are organic. Like that wasn't any of the Vine reviews I forgot I'm dumb. I forgot to do the Vine thing, like in my first couple of days. So like it took me a week to start the Vine. So those I got my first review like a week and a half in 100% organic from one of my first orders and I did not do follow-up emails for the very first ones. I didn't want to send follow-up email when I had such a big discount price. That's just me. Some people do it, but I'm just trying to be safe.

Bradley Sutton:

Jennifer says what do you think is the best way to get reviews for new products? Absolutely Vine. Vine is definitely a good way. And then, of course, just having a good product right, have a good product and make sure that you know you're kind of over-delivering with quality and have a good unboxing experience and that's just going to give you a good chance to do, to do uh, to get a good review. And then, of course, use Follow-up, use Helium 10 Follow-up to do the request review and that'll increase your rate of review, usually at least five to 10%. Karina says I just got a bunch of two and three star reviews lately from the Vine community. Yeah, you gotta be careful If people don't like your product. I mean, if you got two and three stars from the Vine community, you might get two and three stars from regular people too. So that's why it's good to have a low price when they claim the product from Vine, because then it's going to give you a better chance, I should say, to have a good review. If you have a low price at the beginning, let's see if Amazon has updated the price yet.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, that was fast. Look at that, guys. I guess. Look at that. See, look at that. Buy box is gone. That's crazy right. Buy box is gone. That's crazy right. Buy box is gone. Now. I think this one is too fast, but it takes like a day for the search results. I think let's go ahead and look at the search results. If it already put me to position 32, probably take like a few hours. Yeah, I'm still position 3 right there and I still have that first one. But that's the thing, guys, I forgot to tell you when you lose buy box, guess what? No more PPC. Look what happened to my PPC during this time. Look at this, guys. You see it. You see how there's no blue line. That's because I had no buy box. So it's a lot of badness that happens if you had no buy box. So it's a lot of badness that happens if you lose the buy box. All right, so let me go ahead and change that back, cause I want to get my buy box back. So let's go back to $20.07. Let's make it $20.09, $20.06. All right, let's see how long it takes to get my buy box. Uh, get my buy box back on that.

Bradley Sutton:

Karina says how do you set up the Follow-up emails for views? I just do the, the Amazon request or review template. All right, don't do the. I know helium 10 allows it and you can go ahead and try it, but to me, Amazon is so finicky these days with like language and saying it's against their terms of service for the Follow-up emails that it's not worth getting that 30-day ban from messaging your customers. I would just use the request to review one there. David says hey, Bradley, thanks for showing us how to keep track with your keywords.

However, when you run your campaigns, how do you compare them or make use of the tracking? So when I'm running a launch, my goal of course is on as many of my main keywords as possible. I want to get um top of search, you know, top five organic positions. So to get top of search, top five organic positions. So to get there I have to first be top of search in sponsored. I need to be in the first five, six sponsored locations. So the very first thing that I'm looking at, from the moment I create my PPC campaign and make it active, I turn boost on in Keyword Tracker, which is that red rocket ship, and then I'm looking at my sponsored rank. Am I showing up in the first five positions? If not, what does that mean? I've got to increase my bid on the keyword. Okay, and then I'm now. I'm at the top, I'm like good, all right. Now what's the next thing I'm looking at in keyword tracker after a couple of days I'm looking at all right, if I'm getting orders, which I can obviously see in Adtomic or Seller Central, if I'm getting orders for that keyword, is it having a positive effect on my organic placement and then, after my organic placement gets pretty strong, you know like I've been maybe top three, top four, top five, whatever I'm aiming for like five or six days. Now it's like, okay, now I don't have to be bidding so crazy. You know I do a down only, or no. I do a fixed bid when I do my launch campaigns in PPC and I do a crazy high amount. So then I start dialing back there. I still want to show up at the top of search and sponsored, but I don't do a fixed bid anymore and I start decreasing that until I know I can stay at the top in both situations.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, Janik says what would you consider? A low Title Density number below five? Or zero, yes, below five, anything below five is going to give you a really good chance. If you, if you've got that keyword in your title and less than five people have it on page one, then yeah, you're going to have a lot better or an easier path to page one. Let's do a quick test again, guys. Did I get my buy box back? Did I screw something there It is okay. That scared me. I got my buy box back at $20.06. There, it is right there, all right, thank goodness.

Bradley Sutton:

Ali says I see in Cerebro you are ranked for 677 organic keywords. Are you talking about my product? Are you running my product through Cerebro. Let's take a look here. What I just did is I went ahead and hit keywords right here on the page, maybe. Maybe Ali is looking at my product and let's see how many keywords we are ranked for. Yep, Ali is looking at my uh, my listing right here. You can do that with anybody's listing, all right. So it says 677 organic, 167 sponsored. How do we get ranked for so many keywords? Well, basically, yeah, it's through uh, either PPC is the sponsored ones. That's a hundred percent PPC. I've got some auto campaigns going. I don't have a manual campaign for 167 keywords. I can guarantee you that. But those 668 total keywords, that's just me ranking organically, like Amazon is gonna, if I get sales for bat bath mat, for example, right, I'm gonna start getting ranked, probably for bat bath mat for bathroom. I'm not saying that's an actual keyword, but longer tail versions of the keyword, even though I didn't get any sales for that one. It's like a kind of a flywheel effect there, all right, so the more, the more activity you get on your listing, the more keywords you are going to be ranked for.

Bradley Sutton:

Hassan says how much funds did you invest in launching this product? That's a great question. I forgot how much I paid. Let me look I think the product was $3.50, that I paid for it and then I bought 1,000. So that's $3,500. Maybe it was like $1,500 to ship to me, another $500 to ship to Amazon, or no, not that much like $200 to ship to Amazon. The little bit that I shipped and then my PPC spend has been about a thousand dollars maybe. So yeah, we're looking at about $6,000 only on this product.

Bradley Sutton:

Jennifer says what could be the safe price to increase percentage wise, to not lose the buy box. So it depends. So what I've been doing is just trying like five 10 cents at a time. Um, and you guys saw how fast it was. You'll know if you lose the buy box within like what, four, four minutes, five minutes of changing the price. So it's pretty easy to know what price is going to get you a buy box loss or not.

Bradley Sutton:

Andy says in your opinion, how many units need to be sold to finish with launch phase? That's where the CPR number comes in handy with Helium 10. All right, in Helium 10, we have if you go in Keyword Tracker, you'll see a column that says CPR and that's based on how many orders we think you would need over eight days for that keyword. So just add up all your keywords that you're trying to rank for and that's going to be a number that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's bring Sobi on to the stage here. All right, go ahead. What's your question? You're live.

Sobi:

Hi. I was just researching 3PL last night and just comparing with the Amazon warehousing. Do you have any suggestion on which to use just to start a product?

Bradley Sutton:

It depends so with the Amazon fees. Like one of the ways to get around those Amazon fees is by using Amazon logistics and Amazon warehousing. But there's also drawbacks too. I don't know the price structure. You know you've also got to trust Amazon about how, if you're fully using their AWD, trust that they're going to drip your inventory into Amazon in the best way that is good for you. So that is another reason why some people don't do it. But is it going to save you fees on a regular three part, a third, a third party warehouse? Uh, if you're only shipping to one, two locations, a hundred percent because there is no fees. Like you get around that Now. That being said, me, um, I have my own warehouse, so I'm like my own three PL. I'm not even thinking about using Amazon because I'm totally fine with using the partner carrier. So if you're, at the end of the day, you know there's different third party carriers out there or third party warehouses, get a quote from them, see what the storage is, see what the per order fee is, then go into Amazon and just see, get a quote from them to kind of see what it would be. And that's the only way that you go. You know what's going to work out better for you, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next question here Jennifer says if a product is has more than one variant on Amazon, is there a way to know how much each variant is selling through Cerebro? Not Cerebro, I like using the Chrome Extension for that, all right. So in the Chrome Extension, hit review insights and then look at the breakdown of reviews by variation and then look at the estimated sales and then kind of like use that formula. So, if I see a coffin shelf with a black, green and blue version of it and then I look at the review insights with the Helium 10 Chrome Extension on that listing and I see the black one has 90% of the reviews and the green and the blue one have 5% each. I know, then that the black one is selling the best. That's just a. It's not an exact science, but at least gives you a rough estimate.

Bradley Sutton:

Andy says what's a good unit session percentage from the sales and traffic report. That's actually in Helium 10 as well, and does it include PPC traffic? That's all the traffic there and um, and it says I had some days zero sessions and still had spent on PPC. Remember the clicks might not be showing up on that exact date per se, uh, but the report also might have had errors. If it says you had zero sessions it was probably a bug, like I would look back at it. Usually, Amazon fixes those bugs. So if you had zero sessions, I highly doubt that you have any day with zero sessions on your listing. So it's probably just a bug on Amazon. Go look back after a few days and it probably is fixed.

Bradley Sutton:

Trab says is there a link where we can see Helium 10 live calls like this one? What type of these live calls are there and how are they scheduled? So this particular one is every week inside of Helium 10 Elite and our Serious Sellers Club, but once a month, like today, we open it up to YouTube. So if you guys want to know when we go live on YouTube or Facebook groups, hit subscribe right now in YouTube and then hit the notification button and then if we schedule a live, you'll get notified, if we have a live. But we also send it in our weekly seller update email. We send out a weekly seller update email, uh, and then we give people the links to these events that we're doing.

Bradley Sutton:

Karina says do you use AI for product photos or are they done by a professional photographer? I use AMZ OneStep for all those pictures you saw of the bath mat and they did it all for me and a couple of images I did use the Helium 10 AI generated image maker. I see somebody just bought the bath mat. I wonder if it's somebody who was on this call. But I'm looking at my Helium 10 orders here and somebody just bought the bath mat at $20.07. So was that somebody on this call? Let me know. Somebody is helping out the cause here. Karina says how much is about seven photos done by a professional photographer. It can be anywhere between like 500 and a thousand dollars for the whole thing. But you're not just getting seven images. You might be getting images for your A plus content. You might be getting variations of your images that they could send you, um, but a whole photo shoot usually about a thousand bucks, I would say, depending on the photographer, depending if they're using 3D and things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us this week. Uh appreciate, uh appreciate you the attendance and a lot of great questions week. Don't forget that every week we do this in our Helium 10 Elite group and our Serious Sellers Club group and then we also do this once a month on YouTube and LinkedIn and Facebook, so make sure to set notifications on there. If you guys want to comment further on it, you can do that on my Instagram for the podcast, which is Serious Sellers Podcast on Instagram. But thank you, guys for joining today and have a great rest of your week. See you guys later. Bye-bye now.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Shop Is Raising Referral Fees After offering discounts that seemed too good to be true, the video app is reeling back its deals. Here's what businesses should expect.
https://www.inc.com/sydney-sladovnik/tiktok-shop-is-raising-referral-fees.html

The article above puts a spotlight on TikTok Shop's uptick in seller fees, and we’re lifting the veil on Amazon A+ content's new direct purchasing prowess. We share tactical advice to manage your inventory like a pro and harness these updates to amplify your sales. Plus, we're taking a behind-the-scenes look at the Helium 10 Project X account to give you a clear picture of dodging potential fees and making the most of Amazon's fee credits.

But wait, there's more! We're not just talking shop about Amazon; we're wading into the latest seller must-knows, including the sleek, cost-saving product showcase cards and the mandatory third-party supplement testing that could make or break your listings. Then, we're switching aisles to Walmart Connect's advertising innovations, spotlighting the fusion of in-store and online with TV wall ads. And for those hungry for a taste of real-world selling strategies, I'm personally inviting you to saddle up and join me at the Seller Velocity Conference in the Big Apple. Don’t miss out as we also tease the latest features from Helium 10 that are poised to take your selling game to the next level.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:05 - FBA Low Inventory Fee Postponed!
06:25 - Increased TikTok Shop Fees
07:12 - Shoppable A+ Content
09:45 - Dietary Supplements
10:51 - Walmart Advertising Updates
13:13 - Join Bradley at the Seller Velocity Conference
14:05 - New Feature Alerts

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon saving sellers by delaying the low inventory fee. TikTok shop is raising their seller fees. Your customers can now purchase directly from your Amazon A-plus content. These new stories and more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on and news stories out there in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We give you training tips as well as let you know what new features Helium 10 has. That gives you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We got some pretty cool news articles. Like there's not that many, but I would say per capita. We got some good bang for the buck this week on our news articles, including one that I think you guys will especially like. Let's go ahead and hop right into that very first news article. It was an announcement on LinkedIn. It was also in your seller central a few days ago and it was entitled credit for low FBA, low inventory fees, incurred during April 2024. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So for those who have just been sleeping somewhere and been in hibernation, don't know, amazon's been releasing new fees. They didn't just come out of the blue. This was announced way back in December of last year. Now this low inventory fee long story short, it's something where you're going to start getting charged on orders for items that Amazon considers you having a not sufficient inventory level. Now Amazon said hey, we've been getting a lot of information about, you know, sellers being unhappy with this. They're not understanding exactly what it goes into. You know, we here at Helium 10 have been in contact with Amazon trying to get to the bottom of some of these. You know use cases like some sellers are wondering what if it's a seasonal product? You know what if, you know I go completely out of stock for a couple of weeks? I mean, there's just a million different questions that sellers have.

Bradley Sutton:

So what Amazon is saying is they're still going to charge. You're going to see charges between April 1st and April 30th, but at the end of the month they're going to credit everything back. So if you do incur this low inventory fee, basically you're not going to have to pay anything. All right. So this gives you one month to kind of see all right, what's going on? Can I get some of these products out of the low inventory fee? All right? So, as it says right here, it says, hey, starting April 1st, which was obviously a few days ago, this transition period will begin and you're going to be charged the fee on eligible products with historical days of supply below 28 days. But then at the end of the month or in May actually, you're going to get credit for all of those units. Now, starting May 1st, the fee is going to be charged without the credit back. All right. So it says, hey, you can avoid that fee by ensuring that either the long-term historical days of supply, which means at least 90 days, or the short-term historical days of supply, which is the last 30 days, are above four weeks of inventory. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I highly suggest going to Seller Central, looking at this news article and then hitting this button here where it says low inventory level fee. It's going to bring you to some frequently asked questions so far about it, and then you're going to be able to at least see the charts. You know, like, hey, if you've got a small standard item and you actually have been having less than 14 historical days of inventory, you're going to get a whopping 89 cent charge per unit, all right. If it's between 14 and 21, it's going to be 63 cents a unit, or under 28 and over 21, it's going to be 32 cents. The largest charge is if you've got a large standard item and you have less than 14 days. You're going to get a whopping dollar and 11 cent charge per unit, all right. So check this page out. There's a lot of frequently asked questions.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, as Amazon said, you can actually go in and see if you're getting this charge. So, for example, here in the Helium 10 Project X account, you go to inventory and your FBA inventory and then look at this column where it says low inventory level fee. It's going to tell you if you are going to get a fee or not, and you can see most of my products here say, hey, no fees will be applied in the current week, and it'll tell you what your historical days of supply is, all right. Now it's interesting because it's basing it on the parent ASIN, all right. So I got to do some digging to see what does that mean? You know, like, is it a combination of everything or what it is? I haven't looked into this too much because, as you can see from my account, it's not really affecting me at all.

Bradley Sutton:

That being said, there is one item. It's kind of interesting. I'm discontinuing it. I'm purposely letting it run out because it was just a test. You know, in project X, amazon account, I do lots of testing, you know, to see what's going on with ranking, and so here is a coffin shelf that I had launched a few weeks ago. I'm lending it right out of stock. There's only like seven units left, and so obviously, amazon is like oh no, this is a low inventory, so if Amazon did not, wasn't crediting me. It's saying that, hey, fees will be applied to current week and it says applies to units shipped in current week.

Bradley Sutton:

How would I know how much I'm being charged? I scroll over here to the right and on the section where it says hey, where is your Amazon fee? 1195 includes $8 and 20 cents FBA fee. Hit that button and this calculator is going to come up and it's going to tell you what my low inventory level fee is. And, as you guys can see right here, my low inventory level fee is 87 cents. It's actually a little bit off screen. You can't really see it here. So for me, I would have had to pay 87 cents a unit, even though I was trying to discontinue that product, which kind of sucks. But thankfully Amazon made that call where they're like hey, we're not charging you this month. So as of now, it looks like I'm not paying a single cent of this low inventory fee throughout the whole account. All right, you guys, I want you to check yours. Let me know what you see in your account, how many of your products are going to get that fee and how much do you estimate it's going to be for the end of this month? If Amazon was charging, let me know in the in the comments below. It's going to be for the end of this month. If Amazon was charging, let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is from Inc.com and it's about TikTok shop. We're talking about Amazon doing away with some fees for this month. Well, TikTok shop is actually raising their fees, but it's not that bad because of what TikTok shop was out. So, starting a few days ago, referral fees for products sold in TikTok shop are increasing from 2% to 6%. Now you might think, oh, my goodness, that's like 300% increase, right, but just remember that's 6% overall. Still, what is Amazon? What's Walmart? It's about what? 15%, right? So it's still like a fraction of what other marketplaces are. So that's interesting. Are you selling on TikTok shop yet? Did you take advantage of when it was 0% and then 2%? You're probably still making money even at the 6% and 8%, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

The next news article is actually again from Amazon Seller Central and it's entitled shoppable basic A+ Content modules now available for brands. All right, so this was from about a week ago. Amazon announced this and it says shoppable content modules are now available for brands that use basic A+ Content, so your customers can add an item to cart directly from the standard comparison chart module. So this is especially great. If you've got multiple products in your brand. You want to cross promote on a pages. It's almost kind of like an addition to your virtual bundles, right? Virtual bundle takes up a lot of space on the page and doesn't cost anything for people to go ahead and buy from it, and I'm assuming you know this wouldn't either. So if you want to you know, see how it looks go into your A-plus content. All right, create a new A-plus content, hit add module and then take a look at where it says standard comparison chart. You can kind of see how it would look. This is available, you know, not for premium A+ Content, like maybe before you had to have premium. This is available even as just regular A+ Content, all right. So it's not too difficult to get a premium anyways. But still, if you just have maybe one or two or three products, you haven't qualified for A+ premium yet. You still have access to this. People can see a number of reviews, uh, etc.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, Michael from one of the slack groups uh, I'm in Michael V. He actually talked about another link that's coming to some sellers and you can actually you can't really, I don't think you can really do anything yet with this link, but it's available for many sellers and you'll see something new that's coming. Uh, product showcase cards. Uh, Michael brought out this URL that you might see on my, my screen here, where you could actually have, uh, instead of just a comparison, you can just kind of like have this really cool graphical interface where you're showcasing different products or even have a single image and then put products in this kind of like mini carousel here and then, where it's almost like a virtual bundle where you can just add like all three of them, all three products your shopping cart. So again, new and exciting things coming to A+ Content. And the beauty about it is not pay-per-click, all right. So these are free modules that you can do and don't expect your sales to skyrocket. But hey, if you can get an extra sale every day per product or an extra sale every other day across your product line just because of this 1% conversion increase, who wouldn't want that? So cool things that Amazon is announcing.

Bradley Sutton:

On the flip side, if you're selling dietary supplements, you might be a little bit more restricted than before. So a couple of days ago, amazon announced on their dashboard that there's going to be changes to dietary supplements. All right, I used to sell, I used to work for company. I sold dietary supplements before I worked at Helium Town, and now I'm assuming that that company is having to deal with this. But it says, hey, we've updated the policy on dietary supplements to meet safety standards in our store, Effective in April. Dietary supplement products need to be verified through a third party testing, inspection and certification organization. Third-party testing, inspection and certification organization All right. So you need to go If you sell a dietary supplement. Guys, go to manage your compliance dashboard and make sure that you've got all your ducks in a row as far as your third-party testing goes. And if you don't have it there, it's very possible that Amazon might suppress your listing. All right, so there's going to be a webinar that Amazon might suppress your listing. All right, so there's going to be a webinar that Amazon's going to have in April where they're going to talk about it. If you want to see more information on this, just go to your seller central news dashboard and click on that link.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Walmart and it says how Walmart Connect is putting Walmart's purpose in motion. So Walmart Connect is one of the things that they do is that's like their advertising. All right, so Walmart's advertising kind of like portal there, right, and some interesting things are right that they have launched or are launching. First of all, an interesting stat in their advertisers marketplace sellers. You know, third-party sellers like you and me are the fastest-growing advertisers the sponsored search advertising that we have done. It grew by 63% in one year, doubling on their self-service platform. Now, interesting things that they are doing. There's going to be non-endemic brands now advertising on Walmart, so maybe you've got a product that's not. I highly doubt. They're going to allow you to advertise Amazon products on Walmart but outside of Amazon maybe you're not on Walmart but you'll be able to advertise on Walmart there's going to be increased international support. Now here's.

Bradley Sutton:

I always like looking at things that is very unique to Walmart that Amazon can't really compete on. You know things that have to do with Walmart store network. Amazon can't compete with that. You know, like picking up your Walmart order at a Walmart store that's down the street from Amazon can't really compete with that, right. Another thing you know how there's lots of like TVs in Walmart's. You know, like a whole TV section. Well, now, this is this is called an in-store experience or self-serve capability, where you can have in-store campaign management to the Walmart ad center, starting with TV wall ads. So I know you guys listening to this in the podcast maybe can't see my screen here, but you know, imagine your ad of your product showing across all of the flat screen TVs in the Walmart. You know like TV section, right, kind of like a unique idea, your ad potentially coming up in thousands of Walmart stores at the same time, you know, and then maybe it would drive them to go to Walmart and order your product, or, uh, I'm not sure how that would work, or if you have to have your product in store. But again, something unique that Amazon can't really compete on, a type of advertising.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news today. Like I said, not that many articles, but pretty, pretty impactful ones. Uh, I would have to say so speaking of impactful, if you guys want to have an impact on your business and you live on the East coast or actually you can be living anywhere Join me at the seller velocity conference in New York the first week of May. All right, so I'm going to be speaking there. A lot of great speakers, I'm going to be talking about a lot of my launches, that I've been doing and what worked and what didn't work. You guys saw I was getting hit with a low inventory fee on another product because I was launching it. All right, I learned a lot of stuff. There's a reason why I'm letting that product run out. Something is changing in launching in my experience, and I'm going to show you what that is at this conference. So, if you guys want to hang out with me and a bunch of other cool speakers in New York for a couple of days. Go to h10.me/velocity for more information.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and now switch over to our Helium 10 New Feature Alerts, and we've got a couple of really cool updates, you know, for everybody, all right. So this very first one is called product launchpad completely new tool from scratch here at Helium 10. Guys, like it's amazing how every week we have New Feature Alerts. You know, I don't know anybody in this game who is innovating with new tools and new features at even one-tenth of the velocity of Helium 10. So this is thanks to you guys. You guys are letting us know what you want. So this first tool is called Product Launchpad, all right. So this has been available to Elite members for a while and diamond, but now it's available to platinum, diamond and elite and it's still in beta. The way you can get to it is hit your tools bar and then go to product launchpad.

Bradley Sutton:

Now this is kind of like, for if you want to just kind of organize your thoughts as far as your product research projects, a lot of times when we're looking for products, we might come up with 10, 15 different ideas. Maybe one comes from Blackbox that we found, maybe one comes from Etsy, maybe one comes from just we were shopping in the market or we just had some idea, and then we all have our own little ways of how we kind of like validate that product idea, you know, checking out the demand and things like that. Well, now this is an AI powered tool that can help us organize our thoughts and then kind of like summarize it for us. So how you use it is by going into product launchpad. I'm going to show you one that I that I actually made here for a coffin makeup shelf. But you first enter keywords like hey, what are the main keywords in this listing or in this niche that are driving sales for existing products? All right, so once you enter those keywords, you'll have down here a lot of cool information like Amazon search volume in the history, the Walmart search volume, the estimated keyword sales, you know, the brand analytics, click share, a lot of data that you would get in multiple Helium 10 tools. It's now going to be in one place.

Bradley Sutton:

As I am researching this niche, I'm putting notes in this notepad where I'm saying, hey, there's a lot of irrelevant products on page one and I've got this opportunity to differentiate and a lot of bad reviews about this or that. You just start putting your notes in there instead of trying to remember all these things. This or that. You just start putting your notes in there instead of trying to remember all these things. The next thing you do is you click on competitors and then you throw in all right, who would I be competing with if I get into this niche? Right? And so you know, here I did a coffin makeup shelf, which, who knows, maybe I will, you know, launch a coffin makeup shelf down the road.

Bradley Sutton:

But now, right here I can. I have all the competitors and there's a lot of historical information here. You know the average price, the sales, the historical sales, average number of ratings and reviews that these sellers have. You know where the sellers countries again, stuff that normally you might have to pull from the Chrome extension, maybe from black box, maybe some listing analyzer it's now kind of like in one place here. And then, after you enter in the competitors, now you go to what we call the idea scorecard, where it asks you to put in some other information, like maybe you were able to find some suppliers, how many suppliers did you find what?

Bradley Sutton:

But Helium 10 is using AI in order to give you like an assessment of what is going on in this niche. Like it starts looking at stuff like the search volume trends, the sales trends, and say you know what? This is trending down, this is trending up. You know, now, this is not meant to be like some go or no go thing here on. Hey, I see that AI told me to launch this, or AI said not to launch it, so I'm not going to do it. I lost $15,000. It's just meant to summarize and in the future you're going to be able to go in there and adjust how we score this. It's kind of just based on some common principles that a focused group of sellers had wanted. You've got to, obviously, at the end of the day, make your own decision, but the number one use of this tool is now you can finally organize how you do your product research and how you validate it all the way up until your decision-making, and then also, for the first time ever in Helium 10, using AI to kind of like look deeper than maybe the naked eye could, by looking at trends across multiple products, multiple keywords, to give you some recommendations based on those trends and then based on your own notes that you might have entered. So pretty cool feature. Let us know what you like and don't like. Like I said, this is in beta, so the future of this tool, how it's going to go, is going to be based on your feedback. So make sure to let customer service know what you like and don't like about that tool. The next feature alert is in Listing Builder. Now this one is available for Diamond members.

Bradley Sutton:

We've talked in recent weeks about how we had a scoring system here in Listing Builder. This is one of the top things that people have been asking us for a while, and we went ahead and made a scoring system. But some customers were like, hey, we want to see what goes into the score. I want to see on a more granular level what is affecting the score and how my competitors are doing. So what we have added here is the competitor comparison. So what's new here is we've got two buttons at the top of your keyword bank and listing builder. The first one is open keyword performance.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what you're going to see here is that same list of keywords that are like the individual keywords from your keyword phrases that you entered. Now you can see you like. You can click on one of these, like coffin. And now I can see, all right, all here on the right side, all of the keywords in my listing that had coffin in it that I had targeted as important keyword. I can now see, all right, how is, are these coffin keywords optimized in my listing? Oh, in my title I've got an exact phrase. In my description I've got an exact phrase. All right, so you can see what exactly goes into your score for your listing, right? The second button here is open competitor comparison.

Bradley Sutton:

Now for those keyword phrases that I have in my keyword bank. I can see everywhere where I uh, myself or a competitor has that keyword and in what phrase it has it like. For example, you can see everybody has coffin shelf in exact phrase in their title, all right. But then some of these keywords here you could see that there might be opportunity, like curio shelf All right, curio shelf.

Bradley Sutton:

Down here is here's a keyword in my list, like you can see it's blank. Like I don't even have that keyword in my listing but a couple other competitors out there have it and they're ranking for it. So that might be something I'm like. Hey, I might need to optimize my listing a little bit more for this word curio shelf All right. So again, a lot of uh visibility into what's going in in your score, what's going into your competitors a score and then where there might be gaps that you could potentially take advantage of. So thank you guys for giving us this um suggestions and we hope you like this. We hope this is what you were looking for. Keep, keep those suggestions coming in. What else do you guys want to see in listing builder? We will get it done as long as there's enough people asking for it. Well, guys, that's it for our helium 10 weekly buzz this week. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Carrie will be back next week and she's going to let you know what's buzzing.

View Details

Elevate your Amazon selling game and witness your profits soar as we unpack Kevin King's strategic genius for e-commerce success. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster of advanced tactics, with Kevin dropping a bombshell technique that astonishingly generated a million dollars in just five days. It's all about agility in this game. Kevin's insights into cash flow management are pure gold: learn to spin inventory faster than ever, and keep your business lean to dodge the dangers of overstocking.

Navigating the ever-tightening maze of Amazon's rising fees and e-commerce complexities is no small feat, but Kevin's expertise shines a beacon of hope. He meticulously dissects the anatomy of a winning Amazon presence, from optimizing your supply chain to perfecting that crucial main product image – it's your ticket to making a splash in a sea of competitors. And let's not overlook his emphasis on the three cash flow commandments: gross profit rate, growth rate, and inventory cycle mastery – these are non-negotiables if you're serious about your bottom line.

Finally, we're serving up the inside scoop on Helium 10 Elite’s treasure chest of tools, training, and opportunities that could catapult your business into the stratosphere. Picture this: monthly trainings, exclusive software, and networking with the crème de la crème – it's a game-changer. Plus, we're letting you in on Kevin's sneaky, yet effective, title optimization loophole that's a total game-changer during those high-stakes shopping seasons. So buckle up, sellers, Kevin King is about to take you on a journey to the peak of your Amazon selling potential!

In episode 549 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

01:51 - Maximize Amazon Profit With Efficient Cashflow
08:09 - Maximizing Amazon Profit Margins
14:14 - Optimizing Product Launch With Helium 10
17:38 - Learning About Helium 10 Elite Features
21:12 - Helium 10 Elite Program Benefits
21:32 - Outrank Competitors, Increase Profit
27:26 - Kevin Teaches Advanced Strategies
28:05 - Amazon Title Optimization Loophole
31:20 - Amazon Title Optimization Techniques
35:04 - Intellectual Property Rights in AI
36:28 - Helium 10 Elite Sign-Up Process

View Details

Listen in as we team up with e-commerce maestro Kevin King to uncover some of his most closely guarded Amazon strategies and hacks, designed to both save you money and significantly boost your profits. In this first installment of a two-part series, Kevin generously shares insights from our new and latest version of the Freedom Ticket course, revealing the fundamentals of branding, product selection, and customer service—essential knowledge for any serious Amazon seller. Not only do we cover these basics, but we also tease some of Kevin's 'ninja' strategies, giving you a taste of the powerful tactics he discusses in the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program.

Our conversation with Kevin continues as we tackle the world of Amazon PPC, emphasizing the crucial role of conversion rates in successful campaigns. We delve into the importance of understanding and optimizing your brand entity score and the innovative ways you can leverage tools like Amazon Comprehend within your Q&A sections to boost product rankings. The dialogue shifts to the evolving landscape of AI, examining its transformative effects on e-commerce. Kevin and I discuss how savvy sellers are utilizing AI tools to generate everything from compelling images to high-quality video content, and even crafting targeted ads with platforms like AdGen AI.

Wrapping up this content-rich session, we focus on strategies to maximize conversions and enhance the overall customer experience on Amazon. Kevin shares practical tips on pricing strategies for attracting product reviews, the psychological impact of using an 'index image' to display product benefits, and the importance of establishing a unique guarantee that resonates with your audience. Moreover, Kevin illuminates the potential goldmine of including optional insurance charges in direct-to-consumer sales and the art of presentation in online retail. Tune in to hear how these tactics, along with high-quality visuals, can revolutionize your approach to online sales in the era of AI-driven e-commerce. Stay tuned for part 2!

In episode 548 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Secret Amazon Hacks With Kevin King
04:41 - Helium 10 Elite Training Webinar Hacks
06:06 - Improving Amazon PPC and Brand Entity
09:41 - Maximizing Q&A for Keyword Ranking
13:53 - Answering Questions on Amazon for Ranking
17:03 - Maximizing Rewards With Business Credit Cards
21:38 - AI Tools for Amazon Sellers
26:05 - Maximizing Conversions With Product Indexing
26:49 - Maximizing Reviews With Dummy Listings
31:15 - Testing Guarantee Names With Helium 10
31:25 - Direct to Consumer $4 Insurance Strategy

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is part one in a two-part series with Kevin King, who's gonna open up some of his top Amazon hacks and strategies with you guys for the first time in a while. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you looking to learn how to sell on Amazon? The Freedom Ticket course made by Kevin King is one of the most popular courses ever created for Amazon sellers. It's got over 90 modules and 40 hours of detailed, step-by-step training to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Now this course costs $997 but Helium 10 actually covers that cost of the course for any Helium 10 member. Find out why tens of thousands of students love this program by going to h10.me/freedom ticket. Don't forget that if you do sign up for a Helium 10 account, don't pay full price. Use our podcast discount code SSP10 to save 10% off for life.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And every year, every two years, Kevin King comes on and opens up with our audience some of our best hacks. And now, for the first time ever, we're actually opening that up right here on the podcast. So we are going to go ahead and have a recap of some of Kevin's top strategies that he opened up with a live audience and let's see what you guys think. There are some killer ones here. This was supposed to only be an hour, so I thought I could fit into one episode, but hey, Kevin had too much fire, so we're actually splitting this up into two different episodes. Here's part one. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Bradley Sutton:

We're going to be revealing some things that a lot of Amazon sellers maybe have never even heard of, and these are things that are designed to help you save money and make money. Two of the things that maybe is the reason why you're even in this Amazon game in the first place right. Now, something that's important, though we're going to be talking about hacks, if you want to call them that, or kind of ninja strategies you see that little ninja logo on the bottom right there but selling on Amazon is not just about knowing the latest hacks and tricks. These definitely can help but remember, we are not trying to take away from the very valid point that you have to know about branding, how to pick products, how to do keyword research, how to do your accounting, advertising, customer service. The fundamentals are still very important and so we've got the Freedom Ticket Program if you guys are interested in that. So some of you might, after watching this, be like, wow, you know what? I am not of this level yet. And don't worry, you're still going to be able to get value out of this regardless of the level you are. But if you're like man, a lot of this stuff is over my head. He's using terminology I haven't heard of. Freedom Ticket Program might be for you. That is something that beginners all the way to advanced sellers can take as a refresher course on the fundamentals of Amazon and we have a brand new one - brand new version first time in over two years. The fourth version of Freedom Ticket is coming out imminently, just in a couple of weeks. So make sure to stay tuned for that. Anybody who is already a Helium 10 member, you guys will be able to get access to that.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, I mentioned that Kevin is one of the main trainers of our Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program-that's the one that I've been a part of since, way before I even worked at Helium 10 and probably the most popular thing that's part of this mastermind is every month, Kevin gives his ninja hacks. He gives like usually seven ninja hacks, and these are quick, actionable nuggets of knowledge that can help you immensely in your Amazon business. I think a lot of these hacks that he gives every month are valuable to the majority of Amazon sellers, and with those hacks, two guest speakers join him on these trainings and they share the latest strategies that's working right now. And so that is the basis of what Kevin is going to be talking about today. Today, instead of this being behind the closed doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed, he's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed. He's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past couple of months with you, so you're going to get a sneak peek, without actually being Helium 10 Elite members, on the kind of level of knowledge that being part of this mastermind can help you.

Kevin King:

Welcome everybody to this webinar. Like Bradley said, we do this every single month, usually on a Thursday. It varies on the exact Thursday, sometimes around the middle of the month, but we do a Helium 10 Elite training and what I want to do today is basically, like Bradley says, open up the doors and share some of this with you. So I've gone through from the last few months, some of my favorite stuff. Then I'm going to share that with you today, absolutely free. So some of it will be the ninja hacks, the first six or so things that I have seven ninja hacks. That's what I do every single month. So I have seven of them here for you today as well. I'm going to share six of them with you, and then the seventh one, which is the one Bradley just talked about, where someone made a million dollars selling over a five-day weekend. I'm going to show you that hack. You've got Easter coming up, Mother's Day coming up. It could make a huge difference for some of you. So that'll be at the very end, so make sure you stay to that. If you leave earlier, you're going to miss the number one hack that could make you a lot of money and I've taken a few slides from some of the presenters that have been in the Helium 10, the guests and a couple. Just a little section of some of what they presented, and you know, when they presented it, they presented it their way and in their voice. I'm just going to give you a quick little summary of those, just so you can get a taste of the kind of stuff that you find in Helium 10 Elite and share that with you. And you're going to find some actionable, good stuff today.

Kevin:

Number one this is something that you're going to fail at. You know, everybody's always like PPC. I hate PPC. It just drives me crazy. You know, and you're going to actually fail at PPC unless you fix this metric. This is something that nobody really talks about. Aaron Cordova is actually the one that shared this, and I think Destaney Wishon has talked about it and a few other people have talked about it. But if you don't actually take a look at this metric, your PPC is just going to drive you crazy and cost you through the nose.

Kevin:

What you want to do is you want to check the benchmark conversion rate for your brand. Now you're going to need brand registry. So if you don't have a trademark filed and you're not brand registered, you won't be able. What you want to be checking for is, if you're not at the bare minimum median conversion rate for your category, you're most likely going to be spinning through the nose on your PPC and it's just not going to work like you want it to be. Your ACOS is going to go and your TACOS are going to go through the roof. This video here is about a minute video. I'm going to play it. I'm going to have to hold up a little speaker next to my microphone because for some reason the Zoom is not letting the sound, but Aaron is going to explain this to you on this video. Here we go.

Aaron:

Basically, you find your conversion rate compared to everybody else. You go to campaign manager okay, campaigns. If you know how to get the campaign manager that you have other problems, campaign manager, you go here. Then you go to the side it's called insights and reporting. You're going to get a brand metrics okay, the brand metrics are awesome. Okay, in here you're going to pick your brand. You're going to get brand metrics, okay, the brand metrics are awesome.

Aaron:

In here, you're going to pick your brand. You're going to pick a category. In this case, I'm going to pick sports water bottles. Okay, select that guy and continue. Okay, then you're going to go in here and you're going to press this little view detailed metrics for your brand in this category. This is going to be horrible. I apologize, this is something we haven't really worked on very well. Check out this. Customer conversion rates your brand 4.9%, category median 10 and sometimes a lot of them, they show the category top okay. This is an embarrassment. This listing is an embarrassment. Okay, it is half as less than half as good as the median, which, when you're just at the medium, your product probably will not even be profitable because you're literally average, essentially horrible. But this is how you open the door to see if you're going to have a best seller at the very, very, very, very minimum. You got to be at the category median.

Kevin:

If you're not, at that category median then you need to adjust your listing. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your listing so that you can convert higher. Otherwise you're going to be fighting an uphill battle on everything. All right, that's number one. Number two this is how you can boost your brand entity score. How many of you ever heard of a brand entity score? I bet there's hardly any of you out there. There might be a couple of you have heard of a brand entity score. Does anybody know what the brand entity score is? Everybody has one on Amazon.

Kevin:

If you're a seller on Amazon and this affects your rank, it's a score that Amazon does. There's a lot of factors in the A9 that affect your rank. There's a ton of factors but the brand entity score plays a major role in how do you rank and you can affect this with your Q&A section. Amazon doesn't just look at your keywords. They don't just look at your title and your bullet points and your back-end keywords. They're reading everything. They're reading the Q&A section. They're now using AI to analyze your images. They're taking a lot of stuff into account when they're going to rank you and the Q&A section plays a major role. So if your Q&A section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You need to get that full. That's one of the ways that some people, when they first start out and they have no reviews, they fill their Q&A section and you watch what you can do. You can rank a lot quicker. But this brand entity score is something you want to pay attention to.

Kevin:

How do you find it? There's something called Amazon Comprehend. Now this was shared by Matt over at ClearAds, originally on LinkedIn, and then he presented it in detail at my recent Billion Dollar Seller Summit and then we've shared it here as a hack. He's allowed me to share part of it, so I can't show the whole thing, but he allowed me to share part of it in my newsletter and here.

Kevin:

But it's called Amazon Comprehend and what you want to do, you can access this. There's a link there at the bottom. It's on AWS, on Amazon AWS, and it's an API. So it takes a little bit of programming know-how or how to get into this thing. It's not too bad but it's not like straightforward.

Kevin:

But with this Amazon Comprehend, once you get access to the API, what you can do is you can maximize your Q&As for keyword ranking. So the Q&A section on Amazon on your product. You want to maximize that for keyword ranking. So what you want to do is you want to remove the bias from search. So your description and all the content on your listing, they have a bias towards the seller of the product. So Amazon knows that you're optimizing your listing like you're making this the best and you're like saying that my product is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But Amazon's like how do we know that Kevin can say his product's the best, but maybe it's actually not so good despite what he says or whatever claims he's making? So we want to know from the customer what do they actually think? And let's take what they actually think and factor that into how we're going to rank this product. So they use the Q&A section and reviews both of those to do this. So if you don't have reviews and Q&A, you have a bias.

Kevin:

So what you want to do is you want to come in and gather questions that people might be asking about your product. So how do you do that? If you don't know, if you don't have legitimate questions and people haven't asked real questions yet, you can go out to tools like Ahrefs or Semrush. Those are big SEO tools so they have a free aspect and there's a paid aspect. Or you can go to answerthepublic.com. That's Neil Patel's company. Neil spoke at the Sell and Scale Summit Helium 10 did about a year and a half ago. But answer the public and you can just type in a keyword. You can type in you know, if you're selling dog bowls, slow-feed dog bowls, you can type slow-feed dog bowl into answerthepublic.com and it'll spit back. It goes out and reads Reddit and all these different forums and says these are the questions people are asking about slow-feed dog bowls. So you can take those as a seed and you can then use those and have someone ask those on your Amazon listing and then you, as the seller, answer them just to get some in there. But you're going to answer them in such a way that you want to make sure that you answer yes or no. Amazon is looking for yes or no answers. Big answers are great, but if you can start, if someone says, does this slow feed dog bowl keep my dog from having diarrhea, you want to try to phrase your answer in the form that you say yes or no and then you can say other stuff and put additional keywords in there for ranking and all this.

Kevin:

But they're looking for yes and no answers to questions and that's how they can guide. Like, if someone types in slow-feed dog bowl stomach problems or something they're going to know, yes, this one actually helps it. So you want to get multiple questions in there and then what you're going to do is you're going to use Amazon Comprehend. Before you put these questions in, you're going to actually and the answers, you're going to use it to actually get a score. So it's going to return the sentiment. So you're going to ask the question, show that, upload that into Comprehend, put the answer and then make sure you're getting a high percentage of confidence. Amazon Comprehend will give you a score back. It's on like a zero to one scale and it will give you a score back and you want a high level of confidence towards Amazon interpreting your response as positive or negative.

Kevin:

Now you can also do this and go look at your competition's reviews. You can gather it from there. You don't have to go to answer the public. You can get what people are asking on other people's products and use those and once you find the ones that have the high confidence. Then what you want to do, uh, which one? Like I said, is zero to one, but one is the highest. Those are the ones that you want to get onto your listing and those are the ones you want to put onto your listing.

Kevin:

So what you're going to do is you're going to these newly found questions that score high on the confidence, using Amazon Comprehend. You're going to go and actually, either maybe you have a buyer account that you buy stuff from Amazon you can ask the question or you can get your friends or family or someone to ask a question. Remember, this is not review, so it's okay. You can get someone to ask a question. Or, if you're on a Facebook group, say, can you ask this question? And then you go in there as the seller this is important, it gives you a little bit more weight and answer the questions. Whenever someone asks a question, Amazon pings. I don't know what the number is now three to five, ten people says, hey, do you know the answer to this question? But one of them is always the seller. You want to be the first to try to get in there and answer before someone else does and messes it up. They may answer too but you want to get yours in there as quick as you can, so you go in and answer it with that yes or no or whatever. When you ran it through Amazon Comprehend whatever it gave you as the highest score and this is going to help you rank on Amazon. It's a pretty cool little technique.

Kevin:

Here's another way. Everybody's always got cash flow problems. Money, money, money, money, money. How do I pay for this? How do I pay for that? Not everybody has a rich uncle or deep pockets. If you have decent credit, this is a way that you can actually extend your supplier payments for 60 days with zero interest. It's pretty cool. It's called the Amazon Plum Card, so if you have decent credit I don't know if this is available to people in other countries. I'm not sure what their exact rules are on what countries you have to live in to get this. Obviously, US citizens can get it, but Amazon has a whole bunch of, I mean sorry, American Express has a whole bunch of different cards. The Plum Card actually gives you discounts for paying early. So if you charge all your PPC or you charge whatever you want to charge suppliers. Whatever you want to charge, if you pay it early they'll give you a 1.5% discount. Or they have an option where you can extend it for 60 days and don't have to pay any interest as long as you pay the minimum due. You got to make a minimum payment. As long as you pay the minimum due, they'll give you 60 days to pay that. So this can be a great way. If you're trying to juggle some cash is to use this card.

Kevin:

A lot of you are saying, Kevin, that's all great, but my supplier doesn't take credit cards. How am I supposed to pay my supplier with credit cards? I always have to wire money or use Alibaba Escrow or something or whatever. Actually, there's a service called Melio. This one right here, Melio Payments that allows you to actually pay by credit card anybody, so you can pay suppliers. They do charge a fee, so it costs you about 2.5% to 3% roughly. So they do charge a fee because they get hit with processing fees but that fee is often less than what you would pay in interest or to get a loan, or origination fees or something else, and so that is an option, especially if you combine this.

Kevin:

If you're really cash flowing, you can go to bankrate.com and you can do a search for 0% interest credit cards and there's a lot of credit cards that have 12, 15, 18 months of 0% interest. So if you go there and actually apply for one of those credit cards, you have decent credit. You can get a 0% interest credit card that you can ride out for a while, while you're growing your business and use Melio payments to pay it. You're basically paying a 3% fee, which is basically a 3% interest, which is dirt-cheap in today's world. Now another credit card you might want to consider, if you're already selling and you're running a lot of PPC especially, is the Amex Business Gold Card. This is not the regular gold card, not the consumer gold card. It has to be the business gold card but it gives you 4x points on all your PPC spend up to $150,000 per card. So you can get 600,000 points on one single card in a year.

Kevin:

And I know one of the guys that comes to one of my events, the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. He actually, and I'm not sure if he's in Helium 10 Elite or not, but he has like 10 of these cards. He lives in Brazil and he cycles through them, so as soon as one hits that $150,000 on his PPC spin, he just swaps out the card. He says he's flown first class everywhere in the world and hasn't paid for a plane ticket in years and flying first class with him, his wife, his family, that this card is an amazing card for that. So there's different credit cards for different purposes but those are two that you might want to consider and you can transfer these to different airlines. You can transfer them to hotels.

Kevin:

You know Bradley is always going out to the, he's always doing the Maldives honeymoon strategy. He's been out to the Maldives three or four times. A lot of you may not realize that's not Helium 10 sending him out there. They're not saying man Bradley, good job, dude, here's a free trip to the Maldives. No, he's using his miles and his points to go out there on his own and do this stuff for you. But this is one of the ways he knows how to do this. There's another site called points.me where you can see what's the best place to transfer stuff.

Kevin:

There's a ton of stuff around this but I just want to show you this. Really cool. We could talk about this for hours of all kinds of cool stuff you can do, but I just want to show you these really quick. Now here's some AI. AI is the hot thing right now. Everybody's AI, this AI, that. There's some stuff that everybody's just sticking AI on the end of everything, even if it's not really AI. But I want to show you 11 really cool tools. There's a lot more but these are just 11 tools that you may find useful in selling e-commerce, that may come in useful in helping you with your images or helping you with research, or helping you with a few different things. Before I do that, if you have not seen this, this is from Sora, S-O-R-A, and this is video. It's not publicly available yet, but karavideo.ai has a wait list right now and they're gonna be the first to offer this.

Kevin:

This is studio level quality imagery on by video by prompting. So you type in a text prompt, you type in a paragraph, say I want a video like this and it will make the video up to I think it's 30 or 45 seconds right now, maybe up to. It's going to get to where it can do much longer videos and entire movies, but it's amazing. I'm going to play this for you. There's no sound on this, so I'm going to play this for you.

Kevin:

But this video here of these mammoths walking and these people walking through a Tokyo with the cherry blossoms, this little animation here. This was all done in minutes by typing in a prompt. So, like those mammoths, this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths approached, treading through a snowy meadow, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what made that video.

Kevin:

In fact, there's movie producers now that are saying this is going to change everything. We're going to be able to do entire movies without movie studios. It's crazy. You're going to be able to do product videos and lifestyle stuff and all kinds of crazy stuff with it. So keep your eyes on this, and I would recommend you get on the list at karavideo.ai so when this opens up, you get some of the first access to it. They're a little bit worried about how authentic this is right now, so they're putting in some safeguards, but it's really cool technology.

Kevin:

Now, notice there was no sound on this one, because this doesn't make the sound, it just makes the video. So you need sound. So what has happened is ElevenLabs has a tool that will take a quiet video for example, that mammoth and it will analyze what's in the video and it will make the sound of, like the mammoths crunching the snow or making their horns their sound, you know. Whatever. This is an example of a video I'm about to play here. It may be a little bit hard to hear I'm going to hold the speaker up to it of a video I'm about to play here. It's maybe a little bit hard to hear, I'm going to hold the speaker up to it, but this video was made with a prompt, silent. And then this ElevenLabs went in, analyzed the video, what's in the video, and added all the sound effects using AI in a matter of minutes. So let me.

AI audio:

In a place beyond imagination, where the horizon kisses the heavens. One man dares to journey where few have ventured. Armed with nothing but his wit and an unyielding spirit, he seeks the answers to mysteries that lie beyond the stars.

Kevin:

This is pretty cool stuff. You're going to be able to do some amazing stuff with your products, with your advertising, with everything. This is coming and it's important to stay on the cutting edge of this, because if you're first mover in a lot of this stuff, you're going to have major, major advantages over your competition. Now there's more to this, though. It even gets cooler. You can actually now do ads with AI. These ads will go out and this adgen.ai will actually go to your Shopify site. It will go to your Amazon listing. You can put in the URL of your Amazon listing and it will create ads formatted perfectly for Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, everywhere, automatically based on that. Then you can do some modifications, but it's really cool. So you can give it a brand name, you can give it a URL, you can give it a subject and it will automatically create the ads for you. This is another one Pika Art which will take a still photo and add animation to it, and then you can automatically change it. You can just type in the background and it automatically changes. It's called pika.art. You can change your top. Here you have a monkey. Let's put some sunglasses on him. You can do this. You can just drop in a still image that doesn't move and you can add movement to it. It's really cool where this stuff is going. This is a prompt. You can take a screenshot of this. I'm not going to go through the whole thing or you'll get this in the replay. They'll show you actually how to use peak art to add movement, which can actually dramatically increase your engagement rate on social media or any kind of advertising you do. It's amazing stuff. There's crazy stuff that's out there.

Kevin:

Now some additional tools, Chad Rubin went through a bunch of AI tools and he said these are some of the ones that he considers to be the god mode of AI frameworks. I'm just going to buzz through them really quick. You can take notes and go check them out later. One is called booth.ai. It generates studio-quality product photos in minutes, so you don't even need a photographer anymore. Another one called CopyMonkey. This optimizes your Amazon listing. There's others like Shoelix, and there's quite a few out there that will do this, but CopyMonkey is one you might want to check out. There's ReviewScout, which, if you're a reseller or a wholesaler, it'll give you deep insights into the competition and buyer box trends for wholesalers or resellers. There's one called MContent, which also helps you do all kinds of great imagery change out backgrounds, put your product in special scenes. They just introduced some new cool tools just this week, so MContent is really good. He's presented on the Helium 10 Elite as well.

Kevin:

DoMyShoot’s another one that will help you do all your visual content. So basically it's AI as your photographer. Instead of spending $5,000 to take everybody to the beach, you can upload your product and put it in any kind of scene that you want. frequently.ai is another one that's really, really good. Another that has all kinds of answers to all kinds of questions. Another one is the valky.ai, or some people know it as Shoelix. That one's another one that's really popular. So these are all some cool Amazon or AI tools for Amazon sellers. Another one is iphoto.ai will help you create your listing images where you can upload your product and drop it into all kinds of scenes, modify it, do testing on different images and different backgrounds. It's really really cool. So those are some of the AI tools that are out there.

Kevin:

The number five here. This is from Ayana at YLT Translations. She presented on the Helium 10 Elite and she said you know, this is a cool little trick on how you can get more reviews. So you have to be selling in additional marketplaces. If you're just selling in the US marketplace, this won't work. But if you're set up to sell in other marketplaces, you know Amazon combines the listings. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry when you don't have a lot of listings from other marketplaces. So what she's saying is you can create dummy ASINs and of your target products and then list them in all the different marketplaces. Now someone buys it, that's okay, but you can also create dummy ASINs and then what you do is you and each one of those make sure they're in all the same browse mode. She has the steps here make sure that the localized listing is live, at least the tile and some bullet points, so you put a legitimate you know it's localized and it's in the right language and it's written right and put a really low price so that viners don't get hit, because most people don't realize that sometimes, when your price is high, vine reviewers don't take your product even though they might want it, because once they hit $600, they have to pay taxes on it.

Kevin:

So a lot of people don't realize that in the United States that anything over $600 in gifts, they get a 1099 from Amazon at the end of the year. So if they got $10,000 worth of products at retail price and they then have to pay, Amazon says this is what we gave you in gifts. It's just like winning. If you went to the Price is Right or a game show or Jeopardy or something, you have to pay taxes on those winnings. Or if you went in Vegas over $10,000, you got to pay taxes. So this is a lot of times, they won't take your product if it's a $49 product because they're like ah, that's just going to add to my taxes. But if it's temporarily $9.95 while you're getting the vine reviews and then you put it back at $49.95 later, they might take it. So you want local low pricing and then you go out and you get.

Kevin:

You do vine reviews everywhere and then they'll all combine together. If you do them in multiple marketplaces and if you really get do this right, you can get up to 2,400 different ones. And some of the ways you can do these. You know these quote-unquote dummy listings that she's got on the right-hand side there. You just do different colors of a product. That's kind of like a dummy listing. It's like, okay, I have azure, I have a cobalt, I have a navy, a sapphire sky teal, and then you could have your supplier make just a couple of each of these colors and then you send those out. This is a really cool way to actually get your reviews up and then, once you get enough reviews in a marketplace, it wants to keep sharing these. It'll just share that marketplace usually, but this is a way that you can get a running start. It's a pretty cool little technique.

Kevin:

This is from Matt Koston. He presented a couple months ago on Helium 10 Elite and this is one of his tricks. That he showed is this is how you can convert like crazy with what he called an index image. This he calls it the. It's the image in your listing that will be the top reasons why your product is the best. This is not your main photo. This is not your photo number one. This is what he calls this photo number two, and it's an index of your products. Is why I think it's why he calls it the index damage, and what he says is you need to number the benefits. A lot of people are using call-outs, they use infographics but they don't number them. He runs a company that does testing and split testing and all kinds of stuff and he says that they've tested this to the end of the earth and back and this is what works. So you want to actually have numbers like this. So something like this should be your second image the five reasons you love, or the seven reasons, or the three reasons.

Kevin:

Odd numbers are always better than even numbers. Three, five or seven or nine always work the best. Why do I do seven ninja hacks every month for Helium 10 Elite? Seven is a magic number when it comes to psychology. But here he's got the five and look, there's numbers. That's important. He just doesn't list them. People like order and when they see numbers, their mind can sort it and they can read it quickly and it makes sense to them. So the numbering system here is critical, not just the fact that he put the main point, the main benefit and capital, and then explained it in bold and a little bit larger and then explained everything else below it in light blue. But he's got these numbers. That's the critical thing is numbering it.

Kevin:

And then you notice here. On the third one, there's a US flag. US flags for Americans can up your conversion rate dramatically. You don't have to have a product that was made in the USA. You can say you're a USA company. Now, if you're going to say it's made in the USA and put a flag, it needs to be made in the USA, don't lie. You can say we're a small US company and you can have a flag.

Kevin:

Now, I see people sometimes make mistakes where they put a flag and they put it inside their graphics or their photos and they don't put it in red, white and blue. They put it in green or they put it in some other color. Never, ever, do that. The flag always needs to be in red, white and blue and look like an American flag. Don't change the colors on it to make it fit the graphic it needs to look because that instantly says a message. But these little things can convert really really well for you.

Kevin:

It also says add a golden guarantee. Amazon automatically guarantees if they don't like the product they can return it. But you want a golden guarantee. You almost want to name it. Give it some sort of crazy name the PX22G guarantee or something. Don't just say it's money back guarantee or 100% money back or satisfaction guarantee. That's all just common. Give it some sort of crazy name - the dog barker, the tail wagging guarantee or something like that. The outlandish almost ridiculous in your guarantee name. So here's some examples 100%, no mosquito bites guarantee. Bottom of the bottle guarantee, lifetime never lost guarantee. Give it some sort of name like that, not just money back or your satisfaction guarantee or some general thing. Give it a name. It resonates with people and will help your conversions. Like I said here, the generic like 30 money-back guarantee gets just lost in the noise. Test your guarantee names too. You can use Helium 10 to do that. There's other tools out there, but Helium 10 has it built in. Where you can, actually they have a relationship with PickFu but you can do it through Helium 10 and test the guarantee names as well. The number of sales you make is far higher than the people who will take advantage of the guarantee. So don't worry about a guarantee.

Kevin:

I have something in one of my things I do direct to consumer and I have a $4 insurance charge. It's optional but it's automatically on the order form. They have to cross it out. If they don't want it, it fills it in, but then they cross it out and about 30% or 40% of the people pay that $4. And every year, if I send out 5,000 orders, I might have three people take me up on it. And so, out of 5,000 orders, if 40% take it, that's 2,000 people that pay me $4. That's eight grand and I had to replace three orders. There's big money in this. So don't worry about a lot of people taking advantage of it. Some will.

Kevin:

There's also something called the squeezed benefit test. You take a look on the left. This is the original graphic that someone had. Has all the bullet points. This is what you normally see and what most of you're probably doing. But look at the one on the right same type of stuff but much easier to read, numbered, organized with icons. This converts people on Amazon buy photos, they don't buy products. I think Perry Belcher originally said that they buy photos, they don't buy products. So your photos are crucial to your conversion and they're going to become even more crucial with AI. This is the test. And look at the difference, even of people, it's 76%. That's 100% certainty that this is a much better option. So this is a cool little tactic that you can do.

View Details

Could Amazon's reign be waning as headlines buzz about a shrinking user base? We're slicing through the noise to bring you the real score on Amazon versus Temu. This and more on today’s episode!

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

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We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Down By 2.6 Million Users, Amazon Could Keep Losing Customers To Temu
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2024/03/21/down-by-26-million-users-amazon-could-keep-losing-customers-to-temu/

Sellers who use FBA Donations now have access to donation certificates
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/fba-donation-certificate

Walmart's Beauty Aisle Blooms With New Products, Bigger Savings
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/03/27/walmarts-beauty-aisle-blooms-with-new-products-bigger-savings

Amazon’s latest Brand Protection Report: How we’re cracking down on counterfeit products
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazon-brand-protection-report-2023-counterfeit-products

Amazon will have to publish an ads library in EU after all
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/27/amazon-dsa-ads-library-cjeu/

If you're wondering about details on the Amazon Remote Fulfillment with FBA program, I should say formally the program formerly known as NARF. Let’s dive into the details on how you can be selling in the Amazon US marketplace and then, with a click of a button, start selling in Canada, Mexico and now even Brazil. Make sure to check this episode out.

For savvy Amazon sellers looking to stay ahead of the curve, this episode is packed with insights on the latest features from Helium 10. Discover how 'most clicked' labels and the X-Ray Chrome extension can enhance your competitive analysis and advertising strategy. Plus, Carrie shares the good news for Helium 10 Platinum members who now have access to the ABA top search terms tool. Whether you're a new listener or a seasoned veteran seller, this episode promises to arm you with the knowledge and tools to refine your product strategies and make informed decisions in the bustling marketplace of Amazon and Walmart.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:52 - Temu Up Amazon Down?
03:06 - FBA Donations
05:25 - Walmart Beauty
07:07 - Amazon Brand Protection
08:51 - Amazon Ads Library
09:48 - SSP #547 - Amazon Remote Fulfillment with FBA Program
10:50 - New Feature Alerts
15:24 - Pro Training Tip: ABA Top Search Terms For Platinum

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.
SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

View Details

Ever dreamt of expanding your Amazon empire internationally with just a few clicks? That's exactly what we're unpacking with Jaisal Jivanji from Amazon Canada and Irais Garcia Enriquez from Amazon Mexico in our latest chat. We're tackling the Remote Fulfillment with FBA program head-on, discussing the seamless process of selling across borders using your US FBA inventory. You'll find out how this can lead to a significant boost in product visibility and sales in foreign markets, which now includes the vibrant landscape of Brazil.

Struggling with keyword research for an international audience? No sweat, because we also dissect how Helium 10's Magnet tool comes to the rescue, enhancing your targeting prowess. We spill the beans on Bradley’s journey leveraging the program, the automatic translations of listings for local markets, and the nuances of handling images and A+ content across different Amazon platforms. It's a great episode to watch for logistical insights, from managing shipping times to utilizing Amazon's metrics, complemented by third-party tools that could be the game-changer you've been looking for.

Now, let's talk money. Navigating the currency exchange and pricing strategies can be daunting, but we're breaking it down to make it practical and straightforward. With Amazon's handy Build International Listings (BIL) tool and Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers (ACCS), we explain how to keep your pricing strategies smart and your international profits in check, even with fluctuating exchange rates. Say goodbye to pricing headaches and hello to transparent, surprise-free customer experiences in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Big thanks to Jaisal and Irais for their expert insights—it's just what you need to consider taking the plunge into these exciting markets.

In episode 547 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Irais, and Jaisal discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Remote Fulfillment Program Discussion
03:45 - Expanding Your Amazon Selling Internationally
09:21 - Cross-Border Fulfillment Eligibility and Shipping
12:32 - International FBA Shipping and Localization
16:56 - Amazon Metrics and Marketplace Expansion
22:12 - International Sales and Tax Considerations
24:59 - Currency Exchange and International Pricing
27:20 - International Price Synchronization Options
32:09 - Amazon Fulfillment in International Markets
36:34 - International Sales Success in Project X
37:15 - Expanding Sales With Remote Fulfillment

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got representatives from Amazon Canada and Mexico who are going to talk all about the remote fulfilling with FBA program, where just in three clicks you can instantly be selling your products in Canada, Mexico and now Brazil. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. I want to enter in an Amazon keyword and then within seconds get up to thousands of potentially related keywords that you could research. Then you need magnet by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/magnet. Magnet works in most Amazon marketplaces, including USA, Mexico, Australia, Germany, UK, India and much more. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is a special episode because for the very first time, we have got somebody who is from Amazon Canada, also Amazon Mexico on the show. I've had people from Amazon USA, I think, Amazon Singapore and different places, but I'm just expanding out the marketplaces here. We've got Jaisal and Irais here. Welcome to the show, guys.

Irais:

Hello everyone. Thank you for inviting us.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, right before the show, I was like now the way you pronounce your name is Irais and that's how I would say it, but like that just sounds like so awkward. So I'm just going to go with Irais and she says she's not going to be offended there and Jaisal I couldn't even begin to exactly pronounce it, but so I'm going to start with Jaisal. What is the origin of your name?

Jaisal:

So my name is actually originated from a town in India called Rajasthan, and there was a princess back in the day whose name was Jaisal, and there's also a city called Jaisalmer, so that's kind of where my name came from.

Bradley Sutton:

See, I like knew there was a good story behind it. You know, Bradley, there's no, there's nothing going on there. You know, like Irais is or at least the English spelling is like a flower, you know kind of thing. So, all right, we've got. So I was already pronouncing it wrong, so it was Jaisal instead of Jaisal. I don't know why I was saying it the right. Okay, I got it now. Now, Jaisal, you we're in Canada, are you at right now?

Jaisal:

So I actually live in Dallas, Texas.

Bradley Sutton:

Dallas Texas, okay.

Jaisal:

Yeah, our team sits in Seattle and in Arlington, and then we also have a team out in Canada.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right now. How long have you worked for Amazon?

Jaisal:

For a little over two years, so it's been a really fun ride so far.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, have you always worked on the? You like Amazon Canada in different marketplaces, or did you do something else like for Amazon USA, or what's going on there?

Jaisal:

Yeah, so the whole time I've been on Amazon Canada, I've been on the Remote Fulfillment expansion team for the entire time, so it's been I've definitely gotten really used to this team and I've learned a lot from the team as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now we're gonna be talking, we're gonna go in depth here, but just something I've wanted to know. I always you just said Remote Fulfillment. Now I have always referred to this as NARF right North, because I swear it used to be called like North American Remote Fulfillment. But now I don't see that those initials anywhere on Amazon did it? Was that an official term or is that something I made up, or did you guys have that and then you just erased the NARF and now it's called something else.

Irais:

Yes, you're right, it was called North America Remote Fulfillment, but the thing is that the moment we are now expanding to other countries, it doesn't make sense to call it North America. That's why we only, we're only staying with Remote Fulfillment with it.

Bradley Sutton:

That's all. We're almost giving a spoiler alert right there about later on in the show. We're gonna be okay now. Okay now, I guess. So like I gotta start calling it something, but that's. That was such a cool name though, NARF, you know, it's so easy to remember that. All right, let's. Let's switch to Irais. Now, where are you located?

Irais:

So I am in Mexico City and I worked at the office that we have in Mexico City.

Bradley Sutton:

Is that where you're born and raised?

Irais:

Yes, yes, I haven't been living all my life here. I went to give my tour of the world for 10 years and came back to Mexico City, and I've been working at Amazon since four years now four years, and I hope.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's just start in an degree. You know the reason why I brought you on kind of like representing Amazon Canada. By the way, that's a really cool sweater you have on there. I haven't seen that one special edition, but is you know? I want to talk about Remote Fulfillment now in general. You know, I'm an Amazon seller in the USA now me personally, I don't remember when I enrolled, but I'm already enrolled in it. But there's probably a lot of people listening to this show maybe who haven't. This might be the first time they're even hearing about Remote Fulfillment. So you know what? Let me take a step back. What is Remote Fulfillment? Either of you can answer this.

Irais:

So Remote Fulfillment, it's a program that allows sellers to use their US FBA inventory to expand to other countries like Mexico, Canada and now Brazil. What we do is like the inventory that you are sending to the Remote Fulfillment Center, to the sorry, to the fulfillment centers in in US. Amazon uses to fulfill the orders internationally once there is a sale in another country.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool now. So that's just basically in a nutshell what it is. Now I'm a seller who's maybe hearing about this for the first time. How do I know if it's something that I should probably look into? Or maybe there's a kind of seller where it's like nah, this is probably not for you yet.

Irais:

Well, really, for I think, for any seller that is already selling in in US BISBA I think it's something really great to try, because you're already selling with FBA in US, you already have your products there. The only thing you need to do is enroll. Actually, we are I'll explain further down but we are doing automatically enrollment for some eligible sellers and once you're enrolled, you're basically instantly selling in other like internationally, because it's Amazon who takes care of the rest. We are basically, once we enroll you, we are going to duplicate your ASINs or your offers that's how we call it in Amazon ASINs and you're we're going to duplicate your offers and products to the other countries and then you will be offering those products to new clients and you will have more opportunities to sell right. So I think it's very easy. You don't really need to worry about sending inventory to other places, you don't need to invest on that and everything is taken care of by Amazon. So I think it's very easy. You don't really need to say, oh, am I ready?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not ready, because Amazon takes care of everything now, Jaisal, you know, for me when I first enrolled in it, when it was called NARF like the very first one that I made sure to get into was Canada, would it be safe to say that probably most people are, you know, who are selling in the US probably make that one their first enrollment. And then how does somebody enroll in it these days?

Jaisal:

yeah, of course. So from the way to enroll standpoint, we do have that auto enrollment that I used to talking about earlier. But also if you want to double check to see if you are enrolled, you would go into your US Seller Central side and check the inventory tab and go to Remote Fulfillment and there will be. We have like a new UI as well and there you should be able to see like which countries you have launched in, and it's literally just like a click of a button all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I'm here for those watching on YouTube. I'm going in one of my accounts right, I'm pretty sure it's enrolled inventory and then Remote Fulfillment with FBA, all right. And then here it is right here. So I would hit then marketplace enrollment, right, and then there it is All right. So then you would be able to see the three marketplaces and it says I'm enrolled. And if it wasn't enrolled I would have just selected it here and then hit update. So everybody who's listening if you guys are, you know, if you guys are running on a jog right now or you're in your car, you know, please Pull over to the side of the road or just wait till you get home, but go into your Seller Central, hit the Menu button on the left hand side, go to inventory, mouse over that and then select Remote Fulfillment by FBA and literally right after there It'll be just maybe a couple of clicks to enroll. If you are not now, let's say somebody wasn't like me and it said not enrolled, enrolled, just like. If I. From the moment right now they click on this, is it instantaneous that they're now in the program? Does it take 24 hours about? How long would it take them to get up and running?

Irais:

If you do it manually, you will go through a small flow like after this page. You have another flow when it will just let you know that we are duplicating your ASINs with building international listings tool and once you are enrolled it can be Instantly. It may take up to for you 24 hours, but most of the times it's on the same day.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Now, for me, there were some of my products that, even though, as everybody just saw who saw my screen I am fully enrolled, but some of my products that weren't activated. So you know, that leads me to assume that, hey, some products maybe are not eligible. Um, I know, way back in the day, like six years ago, when I was working for seven years and when I was working for a different company, like they were doing Uh, a diet pills and like nothing was available for Canada because there was like regulations about that. But just, I don't sell any diet pills and this is where I sell coffin shelves and egg trays and stuff like that. But what are the kind of products that might not be just Able to qualify for this program with this click of the button?

Jaisal:

Yeah, so for each country they all have different importation roles. Um, products that are not eligible due to exportation rules Will not be copied to other stores by the build international listings tool, also known as the bill tool, and you'll generally see like an ineligibility message through that same UI that you were showing earlier. However, there are some cases where a product is eligible for cross-border fulfillment under a different fulfillment method, such as local FBA fulfillment or seller fulfilled, but it's not eligible for the Remote Fulfillment with FBA, and that could generally be because there are additional documentation requirements for customs or specific shipping or packaging requirements. Um, a good example is Remote Fulfillment does not export consumer goods, as those products often do need labeling in local languages. And if your product is not eligible for Remote Fulfillment and is not restricted for sale in the target store, you can still send it directly to the country for sale through FBA in each country, or you could list it as a seller fulfilled offer. Um, a good rule of thumb is like if you want to see a full list of restricted products per country, you can visit our Remote Fulfillment page and review what you can sell in the manager listing section now I think, oh, one of the most common or I have.

Bradley Sutton:

I have a list of common questions that, I gathered from people in our community, when you know, asking about this program, but I think that probably the number one thing that people want to understand is the, the shipping. So, first of all, if I turn this on and it's tied to my FBA US inventory which, by the way, I'm not, um, not sure if I want to make sure everybody understands that it's what we're talking about here, I am not sending inventory, physical inventory, to Canada warehouses or to Mexico warehouses or to Brazil warehouses, it's taking from my us inventory. So Somebody sees, though, a prime batch. If they're shopping on Amazon Mexico, like they, they search for a coffin shelf, how would you say something? The atahood right here and it says Amazon Prime right there.

Irais:

Yes, yeah, I think that's one of the main benefits of the program is that your ASINs have a prime batch when they are Distributed by Remote Fulfillment. So, although they might take longer, a little bit longer than the ones that are currently already in Mexico, but they are considered prime.

Bradley Sutton:

That was my next question there. So they see the Prime Badge. Now what is the average shipping time that they might see, assuming obviously even in America you could have a Prime Badge and it might say 10 days because the inventory is being checked in. But let's just assume that the inventory is completely checked in. You know I have got tons of inventory. What's the average shipping time somebody in Mexico or Canada might see on my listing?

Irais:

Yeah, uh. So On average to Mexico and Canada it takes Less than seven days. That's the time that the around you will see is that the target?

Bradley Sutton:

I know it's completely brand new this month of, but is that the target also for Brazil or might take a little bit longer for there?

Irais:

Yeah, so for Brazil, given the distance and obviously the size of the country, we are targeting now around 30 days, and which is also an average for products that are coming from other countries, locally Brazil.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Now, obviously for Spain or for Mexico, it's automatically translating my listing into Spanish. For Canada, is it changing it at all to like Canadian English? Not that it's that different, but you know, like, like, for example, British English. You know a diaper is called a nappy or something like that. It's still English, but it's, it's different. Like is there any translation happening? Or like. Does it translate to French? For, like the people in in Quebec who view Amazon and French?

Jaisal:

Yes, it'll translate to French whenever you're looking in that for the French.

Bradley Sutton:

But not changing it to like a Canadian vernacular or anything like that, right, yeah, okay now. So that's my second part of my question. Is all right, so Amazon is automatically translating my listing to either French or Spanish or Portuguese, I'm assuming for Brazil. Now what if I, being a Helium 10 user, and I like might know the keyword that people are searching in Spanish and Portuguese and the keyword that Amazon translated might not be what I like? Am I able to go in and override that translation?

Jaisal:

Yeah, so it depends on the listing. If it already exists in the target country, just as it works in the US, you can propose changes and seller support will make the adjustment when they believe it's pertinent for the listing. However, if the listing is new in the target store and you're the first one to list it and you own the information, you'll be able to make changes as needed after localizing with the build international listings tool.

Bradley Sutton:

So then it wouldn't be editing the listing per se and, like manage inventory, I would need to go to the build international listings to change the. You know, like I want to change a couple words in the title, that that would be the tool I go into. Yeah okay, perfect, perfect. What about A+ Content? How does that translation work? I'm not. I don't think I've ever looked at my A+ Content. In my North American remote fulfill, or see, I keeps using the old term Remote Fulfillment by FBA Listings. I don't think I've ever even looked at how what's going on with my A+ Content.

Jaisal:

Yeah, so honestly, similar to how you do it in the US side for Canada or for the store that you're selling in, you can go exactly to where your A+ Content listings would be and upload it there. It doesn't automatically translate over, you may have to tweak some things, but it'll be in the Seller Central for that respective country speaking about localization, one thing, another thing I have not done is my change my images.

Bradley Sutton:

So, for example, I have some infographic images right where I might have some text on there. Obviously, Amazon is not changing. You know, editing my images for me, changing that to English, it is it possible? If I'm using the same as in and smart, it's my product, you know. I've got Brand Registry, you know and everything. Can I change the like a certain image in the Mexican marketplace to put Spanish? You know, if I have like the features you know listed in one of my images and I want to change the Spanish, am I able to change that image or it's now going to overwrite that to my US listing?

Jaisal:

It won't overwrite. So whatever you do on like, for example, if you do it on your Canada Seller Central, your Mexico Seller Central, it's not going to override or impact anything that you do on the US Seller Central side. It'll just stay for that target country.

Bradley Sutton:

Give me good stuff here, like I was worried about. I was worried I think a lot of sellers might have been worried about that one. You're telling us what we want to hear. Now one thing I noticed to you know, like I don't ship inventory directly to Canada, but something that's cool is I can. I can still see them. We have some high and cool metrics here. Let me just show my screen to the listeners who can see this. But, like search, career performance and things like that, I can actually go to Canada and Go to Mexico and see that, even though, like again, I never registered to just for FBA in Canada or Mexico, but since I am part of this Remote Fulfillment, I can actually see the really cool metrics that Amazon has been giving for these different Marketplaces. And then, obviously, you know, if anybody's using Helium 10, you guys all have access to the same functionality for Amazon, for Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Amazon Mexico, Amazon Brazil, our tools like Cerebro work and magnet where you can do your keyword research and things like that. So in the past, a lot of stuff that Amazon USA sellers had, you know, like they didn't have it right away for Mexico and Canada and the other marketplaces about at least all of the main things, definitely has access here now, where you know I talked about this a little bit before. But for again, for the, for those just joining us, where, at what point Should I be like, hey, this is something that I need to go all in on, and then maybe I've been doing it for a while and then I'm like you know what I don't want to have 30 days for shipping to Brazil. I don't want to have those eight days to Mexico or something. Maybe I should consider actually doing the whole process of taking my inventory, some for a certain product and shipping it to FBA in those countries.

Irais:

I think that's a great point. It's really good considering at some point, migrating to local FBA Just because FBA has better seller experience, like you say, is like it has shorter shipping times, for example, and which can benefit the sellers. Conversion now. And but to the question one. I think it depends on multiple things. I think the minimum seller should consider is first, having a stable demand of the products they want to sell. You know to make sure the products you're going to send they are actually going to have a Sales. The second one is that sellers need to have figure out the export logistics. You need to have a Look for the information like what products can you send? You know that sometimes our Exportations about the materials that you can export and like maybe having the support of a broker sometimes. And finally, also making sure that you comply with the local laws of the country you're targeting right. Some countries and ask you to have, for example, a local tax ID, which is a process you need to do in in that country. Or some other countries, for example, they ask a specificity, a specificity story about labeling Products, know, and so all of those things we need to think about before, just like sending the inventory to the countries.

Irais:

But, like I said, it's a good Option to think about it because it will. It will help yourselves and also one another point that I want to mention is that you don't need to decide of Removal filming or FBA. You can always choose both. Actually, it's something that we recommend because, for example, you can use FBA for the ASINs that they have a high turnover rate or they have a stable demand, but if you want to try new ASINs, you can enroll them first in removal filming and so that you can try you know the demand, see how it hits, how they work, and you can use be using both Programs at the same time. Also, FBA is a good option and for the products, like Jason said, for the products that are not Eligible in removal filming, you know, like, for example, if you also sell consumables, you can try to sell consumables via FBA and the rest of your products in removal filming.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting now. Now, Jaisal, you know, one question I had was you know she just mentioned about like tax implications and things like that, for when you're actually sending inventory there. I think that's a very top of mind Topic for sellers is like, wait a minute, like anything has to do with another country, like, alright, my product is crossing the border, am I gonna get tax? Like do I? I'm doing Remote Fulfillment? Am I gonna get a separate tax bill? Or do I have to clear customs for each order? Like all these, all these questions they might have, like which might be holding them back? Um, but correct me if I'm wrong, but in removal filming, is it true that I really don't have to worry about those things?

Jaisal:

This is probably, like our, one of our top five questions that we always get. So when customers buy products through Remote Fulfillment with FBA, the buyer is actually the importer of record and must pay any import duties, taxes and fees. Amazon kind of simplifies the import duties process by estimating the amount that will be due and adding it to the amount the customer pays at checkout. You also do not have to present income taxes in other countries, since your sale is occurring in the United States, so sellers may continue with their tax-specific obligations in the US in the same way as before joining Remote Fulfillment.

Bradley Sutton:

If I'm looking in Helium temp profits or in Seller Central, when I'm downloading my financial reports and everything, the order might show that it went to Canada or something. But is everything pretty much the same as far as the numbers go? My shipping, my fulfillment cost is the same and there's no extra fees. That's affecting my profitability. Is it almost 100% the same?

Irais:

We can talk about also the fees. I can already explain how it works. So in Remote Fulfillment the products have two fees, just the same as any product in USFBA. So the first fee is Remote Fulfillment fee, which replaces the USFBA fee it's the same one. And we have the second fee, which is the category referral fee, which depends on the kind of product that you're selling and that will be. It varies depending on the country where the sale is occurring. So, besides these two fees although they can be higher because, for example, in Remote Fulfillment, fees varies depending on the size of the product, the weight and also the country to which you are sending the product Although these fees may be higher we have the tool bill that we have mentioned. But the tool does is it adjusts the prices in the targeted countries with those fees, including those fees in the price and any other extra costs that you might have, so that the price already includes all these additional costs and sellers will get a similar profit as they get in US. So to the question what we are doing with PIL is protecting the margin of the sellers so that they have a similar profit as they get in US, and that's how we can comfortable say that you will be having almost the same profits as you have in US.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So let's say for whatever reason, the currency exchange rate is fluctuating greatly, day by day or week by week. Is once a week or once a day? Is the price maybe showing up as something like is BIL changing my price to reflect the currency fluctuations?

Irais:

Yeah, so maybe it's easier if I give an example. But for example, so what BIL is going to do is have your US price as a base. It will stay connected to the other listings or to your products in Canada, Mexico and Brazil and the moment that you do, for example, a manual adjust price in the US, it will adjust all other countries, considering the fees difference in each of those countries and it will also consider, like you say, exchange rates for each of the countries. One point that I want to make sure is clear and that sellers know is that if sellers do a change manually to the price in the target country for example, they go and they make a change manually in the price in Mexico that will break the connection with the US price. So BIL will not be connected anymore, and that's something that selling partners need to be careful with. Sellers can totally go and manually change prices in the targeted countries, but that will be breaking the connection. So there is a way to connect the sellers, the listings, again through the BIL international listing tool, which is in global selling. You can reconnect all your listings, but it's just to have this in mind. You know, like not making manual adjustments if you want to maintain the connection with your US prices.

Bradley Sutton:

That's super interesting. So if I never have touched it, it's going to go ahead and edit that for me, but if I mess with the price once, just like in Seller Central or something, then that breaks the connection. I literally have not seen this page in probably years, but I'm looking right now on my BIL international listings page and, for example I guess at one point I selected these things as default, but it's interesting. Like it says here for Canada, it tells me what the exchange rate is right now. And then it says, for price synchronization, I can choose the list price and the sale price, or list price only. So that's good to know. If I'm doing a sale in the US, that means, if I have this selected, it'll go ahead and reflect as well in Canada. And then it says here I can for Remote Fulfillment with FBA. The choices I have are same as the source marketplace adjust for fees, which is what I have. The other options, though, are same as just same as the source marketplace percentage above the source marketplace, or percentage below the source marketplace, or fixed amount above. So very interesting. And then I also have self-fulfilled options here. Like me, I have a lot of skews that I actually self-fulfilled myself, and I don't know why I put $25. I guess I didn't want anybody ordering from Canada or something. I put a markup of $25 here. But, interesting, I had not been on this page at all. I had no idea about these things. So, as a matter of fact, you just told me I'm working on something with our product team where we can do prices, and I didn't realize. So if I'm manually editing a price, it is no longer gonna go by these rules.

Irais:

then yeah, just to be clear, it's manually adjusting the price in the target country. So if you change to the store of Mexico and then you change the price in pesos, no, if you change it in US, obviously it will stay connected, and exactly that's how the tool helps to change accordingly the prices in the other countries.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, interesting, interesting. Now here we're talking about all these foreign currencies and things like that. Jesso, If I'm trying to open this up, do I need a Canadian bank to get my disbursements from? If I'm just an American seller, do I need a Mexican bank to be able to receive the payments, or how does that work?

Jaisal:

Yeah, so now actually, Amazon will manage this for you through a tool called Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers, or otherwise known as ACCS, that you can set up in Seller Central as a deposit method. That way, your funds from other countries are transferred to your assigned bank account to receive deposits in the US.

Bradley Sutton:

So literally at that moment that we talked about earlier in the show, when I'm enrolling, that's it, like there's not a bunch of other steps I'm going to have to jump through. All right, we talked about the cost. We talked about taxes and fees and banks and disbursements. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things, but just in my just thinking about this program, a couple other questions a seller might have is maybe on the customer side. You said that they're the importer of records. So just out of curiosity, you're no tax code expert or anything, but on average, is it a lot of fees that they're having to pay? Like if they're buying my coffin shelf back there for 25 bucks that's the base price with shipping. The typical Canadian customer, though, what's their bill going to be like? Is it going to be double that? Is it just a certain percentage of that?

Jaisal:

Yeah, I mean, I think it's an important aspect. But what we really want to highlight is that with the Remote Fulfillment program, buyer will be charged for the taxes.

Bradley Sutton:

The price that the customer sees, though, is it just the listed price, you know, after the currency conversion, or is Amazon automatically building those you know taxes and things like that, into that retail price?

Jaisal:

Yeah, so whenever the seller is going on to Amazon.ca and they want to buy your product, they will see actually what the price point is plus the tax and the shipping fee. Ah, so that's good.

Bradley Sutton:

So it's not like you know like, see, that that's, that's a worry, like when I used to export to Canada and other countries, you know, off of Amazon. You know, maybe 15 years ago or 20 years ago, I would get some customers that would sometimes reject the shipments because they're like, I got this crazy tax bill that I had no idea you know this is how much, but kind of like, there's no surprises because Amazon is telling them how much, how much it's going to cost. Oh, that's a comfort to hear.

Irais:

I was just going to compliment that. For example, for Mexico, the price of the AC versus US is very similar. It will only get adjusted by the, by the shipping fee which is going to be added to the price if there is no taxes, Amazon is not going to add any, any extra fees and, like you say, it's really convenient, for example, for me when I'm like I want to buy a brand that is not available in my country and that I want to bring it, and it's really nice to have you know like a exact date when I'm going to get it and that I don't have surprises of when the package arrives. Like you say like, oh, I am due another 50 bucks for what I am ordering.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, good to know. Good to know. What about returns? So you know, Amazon obviously has a generous return policy. Is it kind of like the same for people who buy through mobile film? I don't even know what it is like. You know 30, let's just say 30 days. They have 30 days, is it the same? And then what's the process? You know, like for like, I had to return something from Amazon the other day and it's just like all right here, go drop it off at UPS or we'll send you a label to return. How does it work if it's a Remote Fulfillment product?

Irais:

Yeah, it's exactly the same from a buyer's perspective. You also have the Amazon promise that you can return items within a certain time First, I think Mexico is 30 days and you'll get a label, a shipping label, that you can paste on your package and you'll deliver it to the same place, where, or even you can also call for someone to pick it up at home, and it works exactly the same way. Amazon will take care of bringing back the product to the US. So that's I think it's important for sellers to know. We don't bring the product to the FCS and locally, we take it back to your inventory in US. So once it gets to the US, it will be re added to your inventory.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what are some educational resources that people can search for, maybe in Seller Central If they want to find out more about this? How would you suggest people can learn more?

Irais:

inside Seller Central. I think there is two main resources sellers can use. One is the help page of Remote Fulfillment with FBA that you can search by using the search bar. You can place Remote Fulfillment. You will find the help page. We also have a revenue calculator that sellers can use. Also, by typing revenue calculator, you will find it in the search menu. The only thing you need to make sure is that once you are in the revenue calculator, you need to choose the store where you are targeting and the store where your inventory is in, and you will see the option of calculating fees with Remote Fulfillment so that you are able to compare what is the best channel for you or what will be your net profits using one channel or the other one. And finally, you always have seller support, which is a really good resource for a lot of sellers.

Jaisal:

Just like sending your question or requesting a call, and they will be able to help you, yeah, and also just to add on to that as a seller, if you do have any country specific questions, one piece of advice that I like to give is search for those questions in your Seller Central that is accounted for that country. So if you have a question, for example, on Canada right and you're looking on how do I expand into FBA in Canada, you would literally go into your Seller Central side for your Canada account and type in selling in Canada from the US with FBA and you'll get information on how to expand that way.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, excellent. Now just to give people an idea of what this could mean for you and everybody's accounts is different, but I have literally done no optimization. I haven't even edited my keywords or anything to make it right. All I did last year in one of my accounts is just turn on the Remote Fulfillment. Let me just show you, guys, my Helium 10 profits window here. But in one time period in Project X, my Project X account, I did $132,000 in USA and by never even looking at it, not even touching it at all, never having to ship something myself to Canada, I did $10,000 in Canada. So is that going to make me a millionaire by selling in Canada? Mexico only did a couple of hundred dollars, but still that's almost getting to 10% of my revenue by not even lifting a finger, just clicking a couple of buttons to enroll, and I was able to increase my sales in this one time period by $10,000. So, guys, if you haven't enrolled into this program, definitely do it. Not only are you going to be able to sell in Canada, but also Mexico. And now the newest member of the team is Amazon Brazil to really tap into that marketplace. So, Jaisal and Irais, thank you so much for joining us today and giving us all this knowledge about this program. I hope that all of our listeners are going to be enrolled by the end of this episode and maybe we'll bring you back next year and see what's new with the Remote Fulfillment program. So thank you so much for joining us.

View Details

Ever wonder what it takes to turn your Walmart product listings from lackluster to lucrative? Ryan King, the savvy CEO of BlueRyse, joins us on the airwaves to share his expert strategies for maximizing your presence on Walmart's digital shelves. Together, we navigate the intricacies of PPC, the subtleties of listing optimization, and the crucial metrics that could make or break your profits. Ryan's advice, drawn from the cutting-edge tools of Helium 10, affords a masterclass in finessing your financials and leveraging Walmart's ever-growing online platform for unparalleled brand growth and diversification.

In the vast sea of selling at Walmart, standing out is an art form, and we've got the brushes and palette to help you paint a masterpiece with your product listings. Our journey reveals how to ensure your offerings are not just indexed, but also scoring high on Walmart's listing quality score. We cover all bases from the precision of backend attributes to the finesse required in product type optimization. We also dissect the importance of competitive pricing and swift delivery, how to ace the A/B testing game, and even how Walmart's fulfillment services can provide a much-needed boost in ranking.

As the curtain falls on this episode, we've left no stone unturned in the realm of Walmart PPC and the emerging tactics of brand conquesting. Imagine targeting competitor brand terms, a concept newly possible on Walmart, and the advantage it hands you in the grand chessboard of ecommerce. Wrapping up with a flourish, we dabble in the complexities of SEM strategies and the nuances of bidding wars, closing with a heartfelt word of thanks to Ryan for his insights. So, tune in and equip yourself with the secrets to selling success on one of the world's most formidable marketplaces.

In episode 546 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Ryan discuss:

00:00 - Walmart Listing Optimization for Increased Sales
01:47 - Expert Insights on Walmart Brand Performance
04:54 - Leveraging Social Proof in E-Commerce
08:58 - Optimizing Search Terms on E-Commerce Platforms
12:48 - Maximizing eCommerce Channel Expansion
18:07 - PPC Strategies & Updates for Walmart
24:19 - Untapped Brand Defense Opportunities
29:42 - Expanding Opportunities in Walmart Marketplace
32:36 - Optimizing Walmart PPC Bidding Strategies
36:26 - Tips for Completing Applications Successfully
40:00 - Secret Strategies Ryan Uses

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Walmart PPC and Listing Optimization Strategies to increase sales on the Walmart marketplace. This and so much more on today's episode.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits For more information, go to H10.me/profits.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast brought to you by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and I will be your host, and this is our Winning with Walmart Wednesday, where we go over all things Walmart, we tell you the latest and greatest news about Walmart, we answer your questions and we have an amazing Walmart expert guest. I'm going to just tell you a little bit about some Helium 10 tools, because I haven't really mentioned these a lot lately. I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that Helium 10 does have a lot of amazing tools that support Walmart. So we have X-Ray. It's going to help you with sales estimates and so much more. We have our Cerebro and Magnet tools that help you find amazing keywords for your listings. We also have our Profits tool and our Keyword Tracking tool. In addition to that, we have Adtomic, which is our paper click advertising management software, so that is extremely helpful. We've added day parting and a lot of other amazing things to Adtomic, so it's definitely the best it's ever been and highly recommend checking that out if you haven't checked it out. All right. So today I want to bring on our guest, and I'm really, really excited to have him on today and his name is Ryan King, and so thanks so much for being on. Ryan is a CEO and co-founder of BlueRyse, which is a Walmart agency, and I've actually known Ryan for a few years now. We met at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and we definitely connected on Walmart stuff, so he's definitely an expert in the field and I'm really excited for him to share all of his knowledge with everyone today. I know he was on last year, but for anyone, Ryan, that doesn't know you, can you go ahead and tell a little bit about yourself to the audience?

Ryan:

Certainly. Yeah, thanks for having me on here, Carrie. Glad to be on this episode here of the Serious Sellers Podcast, specifically talking about Walmart. So yeah, BlueRyse is a full managed service agency focused specifically on Walmart. We've been operating with third party and first party brands since early 2020. And our focus is on everything from content optimization, ad management, catalog management, interfacing with Walmart personnel, all these other elements with regard to, ultimately, the focus of maximizing Walmart brand's performance on Walmart.com.

Carrie Miller:

I want to first start out and just ask you, because you've been in this Walmart game for quite some time, what do you think the main advantages are for third party sellers to start selling on Walmart and do you think it's a really good opportunity?

Ryan:

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great opportunity. I think the advantages have continued to grow over the years. They haven't diminished. One of the reasons we saw the opportunity on Walmart was as brand owners ourselves. We began and launched and grew brands on Amazon back in the day, starting in early 2013. And we were looking for ways to, as brand owners, de-risk a bit, diversify revenues back during the aggregator boom. Part of the factor was how do we increase multiples, all those kind of elements? I think all the principles remain the same as to why those would be advantages. If you're truly building a brand, then you're looking to identify what are the channels that make sense to increase sales, increase profits overall and to de-risk. So that's one advantage of finding other marketplaces, other channels to sell through. Beyond that, there's just the fact that Walmart is pushing heavy and has been pushing heavy into the online marketplace space. They understand that for them as a business, as a retailer, while they're the number one retailer in the world, e-commerce certainly has been a major growth factor for others competitors like Amazon and everybody else, and so Walmart understands that they need to compete in the digital shelf. That means they want more sellers, they want a broader assortment, they want great products so that more shoppers come and have a great experience. So that has led to Walmart heavily focusing on building out their third-party marketplace over the last several years. I would say a couple other that come to mind social proof and reviews and ratings have been always on the forefront of e-commerce sellers' minds, especially in the Amazon space, such large motes. I haven't looked at this example in a while, but earbuds, Bluetooth earbuds. When I looked at it, probably two years ago, the average review count for Bluetooth earbuds on page one for Amazon was somewhere around 40,000. At the time, the average review count for that keyword, which was a high volume keyword, on Walmart was around 800. And so just the opportunity to enter the market. You know, if you had wished you had. You know the buzz for a long time was Walmart is Amazon of 2012 or whatever it may be. Walmart is in its own right of maturing marketplace these days, but the opportunity still exists. In that way, I think, the other ones. There is a bit of a different shopper base, and so if you have a broader assortment, your heroes on Amazon or other marketplaces may also translate to be your heroes on Walmart and you can just get a continued growth of that assortment. However, we also do see because it is a different shopper, a different marketplace, sometimes some other products that may not be performing as well in your catalog on Amazon might be your top performers on Walmart for various reasons, and so it breeds new life into your catalog, potentially. And then, finally, if you really want to identify ways of growing the brand, and maybe brick and mortar retail is a desire of yours at some point, then there is a credible pathway to getting products into brick and mortar. We work with brands all the time. Who that is part of their play, whether they've begun with conversations with merchants first, and it's a let's test and see and let's get it in, or if they're native e-commerce or D to C first, and they're, they're engaging with us in order to optimize and maximize performance planning on that conversation in the future. We see those dots connect quite consistently to at least get a conversation. So all the above and then, for those who have FOMO you know, to kind of trigger the FOMO, that it's, it's a bit of this is the opportunity to get in now, even if it's maybe a mid to longer term play for some brands. Get in now while you, while the opportunity is there, while there's more access to account managers and others who are aligned incentives with you, to get your assortment online on their marketplace.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, amazing, yeah, those are all really amazing reasons. The next question I have for you is you know, people are always wanting to know how can I, you know, increase my sales on Walmart. So what are some strategies you have for listing, optimization and just increasing sales on Walmart?

Ryan:

Yeah, you know, I know a lot of these have probably been covered repeated ways, but it bears repeating again would be step number 1 is making sure you're not just If you're gonna, if it is a secondary or tertiary marketplace in your mindset and strategy and you're not paying attention to the unique ways you need to optimize for Walmart, then unless you're kind of the you hit the trend at the right time in the in the search volume at the right time, Walmart with an optimized listing, you're not gonna see great sales lift. And so Step one would be, know the Walmart marketplace. Understand how the algorithm works, understand what product listing optimization means, understand that it needs to be original for Walmart's marketplace and how that impacts sales. And so if I was looking and we can talk about I know we've talked about this several times in the past to some key things to look at, let's just jump forward and assume you're on the marketplace, you're trying to grow sales in your troubleshooting, first step I go to is on the listing itself. Or actually the first step would be double check search term volumes, and this is easy. Segue into talking more about Helium 10 tools, because that's what we use is look at your category. One simple way to do it you can either start with your own listing or you start with competitive listings. But one way we like to do it is as well as you go to Walmart.com, go to the category and sort by bestseller, you'll probably get a lot of 1P brands, meaning in store brands, those they're popping up at the top list. But go ahead and pull up X-ray if you have Helium 10 X-ray and scrape the Top 10 out of there and then plug those in, analyze them through Cerebral and get that, that search term volume list, and identify where are the search volumes? Are you optimized for those? One thing to call out if you're in a consumable space or anything that might be more related to grocery, for example, Amazon search volumes, you might have found success with different types of search terms. But there might be high volume search terms on Walmart you haven't even optimized for Because Amazon wasn't a grocery first type marketplace or that type of place. So there's, there can be high volume keywords that would not even exist really On the Amazon marketplace that are going to be high drivers on Walmart. So identify, get, make sure you're looking at the right search terms. Secondly is just make sure you're indexing and ranking before you even think about ranking. Are you indexing? And one of the fundamental areas that you've got to look at to make sure you're indexing properly is your category. Are you on the right shelf path? But if you go into growth opportunities and you click on your listing in your kind of table of products that show up there product type widget will show up and look at that product type and I didn't try and identify. Is this the right? Does this fit? Product type determines what the back end attributes are on your listing that you need to fill out and, just as a quick aside, you need to fill those out as exhaustively as possible. It's only getting more and more important to do so. While your listing quality score is not as heavily Impacted by attributes as it used to be, your visibility and relevance are, and they only increase increasingly. Be so. So fill those all out. If, even if it's a not applicable, you know, even if it's saying sports team and you're a toothpaste brand, you know, make sure you just say none are not applicable, whatever is there, and then test the product type. We've talked about this in the past and we can talk about it again if you like. But testing that makes sure your listings are optimized. So the algorithm on Walmart's giving you quantitative feedback Between your content, which is your back end attributes, your title, images of long and short descriptions, and are you at? You get mostly ranking benefits around 80%. But if your long term play is really to be best in class and to open up other doors with potential features and other things, 95% or higher is your goal offer. So price parity with other marketplaces is key, and speed of delivery. So, whether it's using something like a deliver, we heavily recommend just using Walmart fulfillment services. They continue to get broader distribution. You're instantly credited in the score with utilizing theirs and getting 2 day delivery. So use the levers that Walmart’s given you on the marketplace, and we can talk further about other ways. If someone's listening saying I've done all that, I'm at 95%. I don't know what else to optimize. We're using WFS. There are other things to continue to do. We could talk about whether that's how do you look at imagery in a way to convert? How do you utilize advertising? How do you drive external traffic to listings? What's its impact? We go a variety of ways. Maybe the last thing I'll say, though, is the first question. The last thing I'll say is maybe the first question you should ask yourself is what's your overall business case? So sometimes we have sellers come to us and they're saying I don't want to do anything, Amazon's my main channel. I would like to sell in Walmart. What can I do? And there's going to be certain limitations. If you're saying I don't, price is going to be determined by my other marketplace, not by Walmart, or something like that, you've got to be aware of those and what you're long, how the impacts, the levers you can pull on Wal-Mart. Now there's some interesting features coming out, like couponing and different things that can maybe allow for greater flexibility there.

Carrie Miller:

Can you talk a little bit about how to product AB test your product type, because I know you mentioned that In there. Just how to optimize, because I know you know certain product types reach more keywords. So how do you just keep track of the keywords that you? Maybe you Get impressions for an ad or like how do you really determine which one has better keyword reach?

Ryan:

You can do. There's various methods. It's whether you're doing advertising. You're just saying we're not. We're not getting on to your goal when you're running advertising for any keyword. Really, if you're using search and grid, which is a sponsored product, that's what most people are thinking about when they're leveraging advertising on Walmart, you're competing for Page 1. It makes sense that from a conversion standpoint, most people aren't going to Page 2, Page 3, but literally you're competing for Page 1 because the Top 4 positions are awarded potentially for the keywords in the categories for sponsored product and the next 2 out of every 10. But you've got, on average, around 40 products on Page 1 of the listing of the search results. Those same positions are being repeated across every page. There is no, I didn't get position 1 Page 1. Maybe I'll get position 1, Page 2. Position 1, Page 1 is repeated across every page. You've got to compete for those top positions. In order to do that, keyword relevancy matters. You'll get the signals If I'm showing up and position 200 from my ad reports or whatever. Or if you're using Helium 10 again and Keyword Ranking Tracking and maybe turn on boost for those keywords where it may be and track on a real-time basis best you can, how you're performing on those keywords. Obviously, make sure it's in your title. Title has the highest ranking, has historically had the highest ranking influence on keywords. You can only get about 1 or 2 in there because you don't want keyword stuff. Then in your description both points, all those things as well. Make sure it's in your listing. If it's in description and key features, repeated just a couple of times, make sure it's readable and flows naturally. Once you've made sure it's in there, then track, get your baseline. It's not truly an experiment if you didn't really record ahead of time. Am I running an experiment? Otherwise, we use the word experiment like when we just tried something and failed but we don't know what we learned. Get your baseline, see what your rankings were. Before you try something, use Helium 10's Keyword Tracker. Then go into growth opportunities, go into pick that listing, get to that middle widget that says product type. Make sure you record which one you are right now. I've used this example in the past with you, Carrie, I believe. But one case study we did was involving a client who was in herbal supplements. Their product type it was an herbal supplement and their product type was actually an herbal supplement. The product type was a one-to-one exact match. You would assume this is the best product type to be in, but we weren't indexing for them, no matter what we did for probably 10 to 15 major keywords that we knew they should get. We went to that widget. You pick. I think it's a reporting issue. It doesn't say switch product type or anything. You have to click the link that says reporting issue. It'll give you usually 4 to 5 choices of other product type. You think it is. Basically what it's doing is creating a support ticket for you and you can submit that request of change. It's not a guarantee that it'll happen, but persistence pays off. We recommend making requests of that change once you've been informed that changes happen. Then watch for us. What we saw was in that product, all the keywords we needed were instantly indexing for and began ranking within the first couple of pages of results. That was the beginning of the journey. That's a general standard practice for us in making sure we're in the right product type as well.

Carrie Miller:

All right, that's really good. Yeah, that's a really good strategy. I've used your example many times because people ask me about that a lot. Usually, when they get in the right product type, they start to see a lot more traction. Thanks for sharing that. I want to get into advertising because we haven't talked a lot about PPC on Walmart, on our podcast here for Walmart. I think a lot of people have questions about it. I wanted to just get your. I know you have some basic strategies or just thoughts about PPC and then also some new things that are coming that you think people should take advantage of. Then, once we're done with that, we'll get into some questions from the audience.

Ryan:

By way of really brief recap for those that have been around the Walmart space, I've heard of it over the past couple of years. A lot of people were shy about getting into Walmart PPC in the earlier days because it used to be a first bid auction, which meant fundamentally different than how you would be used to utilizing Amazon. Whatever you bid is what you paid. People were just blowing through their entire budget because they were trying to figure out if they could get a keyword to rank and they thought if I just spend more, I'll get placement. In those cases they were bidding $4 a click and they were winning position 40. They were getting the click and they were spending $4 for a click on position 40. The good news is shift to second bid auction. That's been around for quite a bit now. Really, what you're talking about when we're talking about PPC is fundamentally you've got a sponsored product, which is broken down into two types of campaigns: auto and manual. You've got search and grid placement. You've got item carousels that you can get in search results. You can get item carousels on product detail pages as well as next to the buy box placement. You've got on the manual campaigns, you've got exact match, phrase match and broad match, then auto campaign is what it sounds like. You're letting the algorithm do its thing. You've got some placement modifiers. You can do modifiers for app, desktop and mobile. In some other ways you can tweak things. The big thing to know still with Walmart PPC is it's heavily influenced by algorithms. Determination of are you relevant for those keywords, and so that has a. I mean that's common practice and most ad retail media platforms. But it's a heavy influencer on Walmart. So you do need to approach it from an organic signal, cell signals as well as PPC. When you're trying to rank through PPC you just can't spend your way to the top. You need to be in striking distance. The top 256 organic ranking results qualify for placement and searching grid, but you're ultimately trying to outperform whoever's in position at least 40, or at least position 30. And so it's usually a hand and glove kind of operation of how you're going to drive signals to the platform for purchase intent, showing that relevancy, and then continue increase your PPC so that you're stair stepping your way up to, ideally, somewhere in those first four positions or somewhere on that page 1.

Carrie Miller:

How do you get to those 200 and it's 256?, like if you're at spot 300, how do you get down to that spot?

Ryan:

Yeah, it depends. It's really specific on the categories. You know, the one other element when we're talking about keywords and search volumes on Walmart is there's not as many long tail keywords. The keywords just don't go as long. So you're probably going to see a significant drop off on volumes after some of the major keywords in a lot of categories. Maybe long tails, around two to three keywords long, are going to start dropping off significantly. As kind of a frame of reference, we would say, if you can find keywords up over, if you're finding 10 keywords in your category that are relevant to you, up over 7000 in search volume, that's pretty good. There's. There are ones way bigger, but identifying those to go for to get in the top 256, you may pretty quickly already appear there. I would say pick your, maybe not the biggest keyword to put in your title right away, but maybe that second tier keyword to put it in your title and some other places, and then plan on changing it over time as you grow. But some ways to drive traffic you know whether a lot of sellers already have, whether it's influencer traffic, whether it's Google ads traffic, whatever else, if you already have a traffic funnel that's leaning to DTC or anywhere else. Consider splitting a little bit of that traffic over for a period of time to Walmart at least, and you'll be rewarded. A lot of the signals of external traffic are rewarded heavily on Walmart behaviors like certainly purchase, but even behaviors like we've, you know, add to cart purchase. Any of those elements are signals that register with the algorithm and help sending signals of relevancy to get you in that top 256. The biggest one being someone searches, finds your products and purchases. So anything you can do to do that is a big help to get that going.

Carrie Miller:

All right, that's very interesting. And then also, you've mentioned conquesting as something everyone should be doing. Could you just explain what that is on Walmart and you know how people can start utilizing this?

Ryan:

Historically you could not do brand cron questing on Walmart. You can't. You obviously can't put trademark terms in your listings. That's just a copyright issue but an advertising. Until just very recently you haven't even been able to brand conquest. Really, there's kind of some ways around that. But now you can kind of the headline. So what we'd recommend is for those brands that are starting to show some relevancy or do things and you know there are heavily branded search terms on Walmart. We've noticed Walmart is leans typically more in a lot of categories towards branded search terms with high volume. So this has been untapped opportunity for a lot of brands. Unless you're running an auto campaign to get you, you get buy box placement, you know, just under their buy box on their PDP. So now you can actually set up a manual search, a manual campaign, and you have to have, you have to use exact match keywords and you can use. Just put in every variation of that brand name in there and you can win. You can't win position 1 or 2 with that brand, but you can get beyond position 2. In most cases you're eligible to actually show up in grid for their terms and so that's one that most brands that have not been playing defense as much may still be asleep on right now. So it's a good opportunity, at least for now, until some of those brands start allocating defensive budget in that way, those brands will be again because of relevancy and how it impacts how much you have to pay to win versus someone else that's more relevant. Brands are going to effectively get a discount for defending themselves because they're the most relevant one, so they're going to have to pay less than you to defend. But if they're not really bidding on it at all, this is a great opportunity.

Carrie Miller:

I think that's really exciting because I haven't actually done that strategy at all yet. So I'm going to definitely get on that today and see what I can find, because I have found so many branded search terms that I think would be really great to target in the past, but I wasn't able to. So that's really good, okay, so let's go ahead and get into questions from the audience. So I'm going to start with this question here. It says I have two questions. So what type of keywords are better for sponsored and manual campaigns? And I guess that's one.

Ryan:

I would kind of say what I said earlier probably is it depends on what stage of the lifecycle you're in at Walmart. So if you're trying to build relevancy and it's a new product without much sales history yet, I would probably recommend starting with exact and maybe phrase in a manual campaign of those kind of second tier keywords. Go after the long, the longer tail, build the relevancy there. Every conversion is going to help with relevancy of other keywords in your listings. So begin and stair step up. Another great strategy is at the same time you might want to often will will wait a little bit to do auto campaigns or maybe do it also at the at the same time that we're starting some manuals, but with a low spin threshold, so it doesn't go crazy and pick unirrelevant keywords, irrelevant keywords, but using ultimately gold. Also be using automatic keyword campaigns or automatic campaigns to harvest the performing keywords into your manual and put those into exact match. And then the last tip I would give is using the bid modifiers in manual campaigns to really kind of take over. If you have auto campaigns as well, manual campaigns are going to perform really well in search grid and so you want your manual campaigns really doing the work for those high, high volume keywords in your grid versus maybe your auto. So that'd be a few of the tips I'd give you.

Carrie Miller:

Let's go to the next one. It says I heard you say that more 1P sellers for more might be moving to 3P. Is that good or bad for other sellers?

Ryan:

I certainly thought I didn't. I don't recall saying it, but I made up. Yeah, so the Walmart basically is leveraging the third party marketplace for a lot of reasons. One of those is historically with 1P Brands, meaning brands that Walmart has entered into a contract relationship with, where they're owning inventory and setting the retail price, those things. One of the ways that Walmart wanted to test out more of the assortment with a brand, develop a meaningful relationship, would be they would select a small subset of the products, get them in-store and distribute or online and Walmart would manage everything. Then they used to tell brands that they would do. Another program called DSV. I won't go into all of it, but it was still in an owned relationship. What we've seen is a shift more towards merchants, buyers, telling brands to put the remainder of their catalog on the third party marketplace now that it's become more mature. Is it good or bad for sellers? On one hand, good in that as you have more recognizable established brands continue to increase their assortment on the marketplace. That's bringing more shoppers, more eyeballs to the marketplace. That's good for everybody. Bad, meaning more competitive. Advertising on keywords, certainly retail media ad spend we've seen increase year over year as Walmart grows the program. That's the natural life cycle of any platform. It will certainly get more competitive. Margin's may decrease over time. If you maybe have had your business model has been dropshipping and just trying to find those places where 1P brands are there's gaps, where 1P brands aren't really owning the marketplace. I still think there's a lot of opportunity there on the third party marketplace, but they're starting to catch wind of it on Walmart as well. There's challenges there bit of both. I think there's plenty of opportunity as Walmart's marketplace continues to grow. I don't think we need to be worried right now about, are you getting squeezed out of any opportunity? This is still early stages on Walmart's marketplace.

Carrie Miller:

I agree there's still tons of opportunity. The next thing is is there a way to get your products from WFS or Walmart probably into in-store? Do you have to apply or be invited to have your products in Walmart stores? I think this is a good question because it seems like with open call, it's just US products, but is there a way for products that are made in other countries? If you can expand on just that whole process, I think a lot of people are curious about this.

Ryan:

Yeah, you mentioned open call, which is for US manufacturers. There's been different times where I think two years ago, two to three years ago, they gave FirstBot at the Apple to Walmart marketplace sellers. They got to apply first and got an opportunity. Outside of that opportunity there is if you're growing an account, if you're seeing sales and showing volume, showing growth. Some of the stepping stones would be identifying if you could get an account manager or a strategic account manager to work with on your account, identifying category manager, somebody else to begin discussions with. That starts with usually getting opportunities turned on and growth opportunities, whether that's seasonal promotions, whether that's flash picks, other elements as you continue to invest and show performance there. Walmart's team they are brick and mortar team and they're a marketplace team or basically one team. A lot of buyers and merchants will look across their whole category, even on the third party marketplace, as they're evaluating opportunity. These conversations could happen and you could ask for an introduction. We've had clients that have just a category manager. Somebody else has reached out and said would you be interested in talking with a merchant about potential opportunity for in-store? There's a lot of pathways. I don't think there's a defined Walmart's probably not going to lay out for you. Here's how every marketplace seller can contact a merchant but continue to invest in sales and growth on Walmart marketplace and those conversations certainly can happen.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's exactly what I always hear from Walmart directly. They say to prove it on the marketplace, basically All right. Next, this is a good question: Any insights on the new SEM feature? Will that feature help ranking or index on keywords used as a GG search, maybe Google search?

Ryan:

We've had a few that we've worked, we've tested out. Sem. Vertic is still out right now in the early stages. Any kind of early testing. As far as depending on the goal, if the goal was measured by, do we see direct conversion at a higher row, as than you would for sponsored products, which is lower in the ads funnel, more towards conversion anyway than earlier consideration steps in the funnel. It's a lower conversion at this point but there are potential advantages. I'm still waiting to clarify this element. I believe it's true, but again because we haven't worked with a lot of resellers or people that are competing with others for their own buy box. I did hear in a recent webinar and I haven't been able to go back and fact check again by one of the product developers for SEM that one of the impacts of SEM is that you could run SEM even when you're not presently in the buy box and you could drive traffic to your instance to get the sale. For those who are struggling to win buy box, that may be a pathway to getting more sales and conversions by ads aren't going to serve on marketplace when you don't have buy box but if you're running SEM. It sounded like and again I need to. I try and fact check everything before I say it and I heard it said once and I want to make sure I heard it specifically, but that definitely perked me up and I need to go back and verify. I believe what was communicated was you can run SEM through Walmart when you're not in the buy box and direct to your instance of you owning the buy box when traffic gets there. That's one opportunity.

Carrie Miller:

Let's see. I've only been selling on Amazon since October. I have 9 reviews and 1 seller feedback. Is this enough to apply to sell on Walmart?

Ryan:

The exact criteria aren't shared publicly as to what is in that decision factor. There's a lot of factors. I'll see you all next video. What ultimate? I think that the safest thing to say is what Walmart's looking for is that you have established yourself as a company that shows that you're making good products, strong history of seller satisfaction, so customer support, and that you're a legitimate company looking to do business. The other factors they're looking for are your products, a meaningful addition to the marketplace? So are you adding products to the marketplace that makes sense to them? That's a really broad filter and subjective maybe. So I can't tell you what that looks like. If you have 9 reviews, maybe on one product and it hasn't been as long I'd probably have a lot more questions as to why you want to jump to Walmart at the moment. Maybe you see the opportunity and that might be the primary marketplace that you want to pivot to. Those are my initial thoughts. It'd be hard to answer further without knowing more context. Carrie, I don't know if you have any things.

Carrie Miller:

Well, they said something, too, about that. They have one product with multiple variations, and I actually have seen other sellers that have one product with multiple variations get on there as well because it's a new, interesting product or really something that would work well on Walmart. So it is really dependent on that, and I've seen some people get on very easily, having not sold for very long, and then others have a harder time. So it is kind of interesting how it's a little bit subjective on there.

Ryan:

And what?

Carrie Miller:

Definitely want to be established. Make sure all of your stuff is matching. That's the biggest thing. Your address needs to match and everything needs to be tight on your application. But yeah, anything else that you want to add.

Ryan:

Yeah, no, sorry for stepping on you there. Yeah, no, that was basically what I was going to say too. If you get an initial reject, don't assume that is because a human looked at your application and determined you were not a fit. A lot of the rejections can happen because the bot has looked at, maybe your information, has did not match between what you submitted and what maybe is included in your business documentation. To illustrate the point is we talked about 1P brands coming over to a three P marketplace at the request of merchants. We still get 1P brands that get rejected when they've applied on their own to 3P marketplace after they've been through even more rigorous vetting because they're in a 1P relationship already. So the bots may trip on it and it's worth reaching back out to try and appeal if you need. Even if you get the message of there is no appeal, there are usually ways to find out.

Carrie Miller:

And I'm going to just take one last question. We've had a lot of amazing questions. We're kind of running out of time here, so this one is what bidding strategies have you found most effective for optimizing Walmart PPC campaigns, and why?

Ryan:

Big question yeah.

Carrie Miller:

That's all I'd like to just answer.

Ryan:

We could do a whole another episode on this one Bidding strategy found most effective optimizing PPC campaigns. So depends again what your goal. What do you mean by optimizing? Do you mean optimizing for growth, which is going to be a lower TACos, ACoS, low RoAS, potentially because you're looking to increase market share and it's a longer play? In that case, that sponsored brand, sponsored video. I didn't talk about sponsored video. If you're looking for what's the quick wins with a higher ROAS, things like look in your category, look at the search terms Our other brands are already using sponsored video. There'll be one placement on mobile or on desktop for that search term on any page, and if you're not seeing those, that's low hanging fruit. I would go for a sponsored brand. You've got to be brand registered first, but once you're brand registered, you can create sponsored video ads. So that's one way out. Optimize I would just make sure that to optimize a PPC campaign, I think that the basics of making sure your listing is relevant and make sure your listing is optimized first, and so that'd be one major factor that we see just a lot of brands miss. They think they've got the bid strategy right and that they've got the campaign architecture correct. But if you don't have high relevancy already for those keywords, you're not going to take a lot of ground. So in general I would say you want to, in any given campaign, not oversaturate your ad groups and not oversaturate with keywords in each ad group. So maybe up to five keywords in an ad group and maybe three to five ad groups in a campaign so that you can be tracking where that spend is really going and tweaking from there. But then I'd also say the biggest level ups we've seen is when you combine really the PPC optimization with organic. So blend consider offsite traffic advertising as well in some way to blend and improve the performance of PPC. So PPC will get cheaper for you when your relevancy grows and you'll be able to maintain it more. So that's often an efficient way to optimize a bit more. No otherwise to that. But I'll end there for now.

Carrie Miller:

Thank you again so much for joining us. I think this has been a really fantastic episode full of a lot of information for everyone. I'm sure everyone that's listening will want to go back and listen to this again. But thanks again for all of your expertise in sharing the secretive strategies and we really appreciate you and we'll probably hope to have you on again another time soon.

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Join us as we unpack the latest buzz in the Amazon and Walmart world, from their exciting announcement of their conferences to TikTok Shop's strategic enhancements amidst shutdown rumors.

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We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Mark your calendar—Amazon Accelerate, our fifth annual selling partner conference, is returning to Seattle from September 17 to 19, 2024!
https://sell.amazon.com/blog/announcements/amazon-accelerate-2024-save-the-date

With a Ban Looming, TikTok Pushes Forward with New Commerce Features
https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/digital-commerce/with-a-ban-looming-tiktok-pushes-forward-with-new-commerce-features

Walmart replaces plastic e-commerce envelopes with recyclable paper
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/walmart-replaces-plastic-e-commerce-envelopes-recyclable-paper

Walmart Seller Summit 2024 Announcement
https://www.walmartmarketplacesellersummit.com/

Switching gears, we talk about how you can get discounts on your Helium 10 membership with the refer a friend feature. We also share a handy tip on leveraging historical search data to capitalize on seasonal trends, proving that strategic advertising on low-volume keywords can give sellers an edge before peak season hits. So, join us for a riveting exploration of these developments and take away actionable strategies to enhance your Amazon and Walmart selling journey.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:41 - Amazon Accelerate Dates
01:45 - TikTok Shop New Features
03:58 - Walmart Replaces Plastic with Paper
05:02 - Walmart Seller Summit
06:23 - Helium 10 Refer a Friend
07:25 - Pro Training Tip: Historical Ranks And Search Volume

Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation.

SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.

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Unlock the full potential of your Amazon advertising efforts with the expertise of PPC maestro Destaney Wishon of BTR Media, who brings a wealth of knowledge to our illuminating discussion on Amazon PPC strategies. Listen as we dissect the limitations of relying solely on ACoS metrics, advocate for sales volume and profitability harmony, and delve into her firsthand experiences with Helium 10’s powerhouse Amazon PPC tool, Adtomic. The conversation takes a turn into the synergy of PPC and organic ranking approaches, providing you with actionable insights to enhance your ad campaigns and achieve success in the Amazon marketplace.

Get ready to navigate the tricky waters of Amazon PPC campaigns for non-repeat purchase products, where we tackle the tactical acceptance of losses to build organic rank and the criticality of budget allocation for long-term gains. The episode is packed with rich strategies, including leveraging Amazon's Search Query Performance reports and optimizing bids with precision. Discover the art of juggling multiple product variants in PPC and the effectiveness of single keyword campaigns, all while managing to maintain a robust presence in a competitive niche market, like supplements.

Our TACoS Tuesday program culminates in a robust discussion on keyword match types, revealing how exact and phrase matches can coexist without cannibalizing each other's potential. Destaney shares her valuable insights on sponsored brand video ads, the finesse of managing bids outside of Amazon's console, and the tactics for handling unprofitable long-tail search terms. From the strategic considerations for small-budget brands to the nuances of keyword research and Amazon PPC tips for new sellers, this podcast episode is a great resource for anyone looking to elevate their Amazon advertising game and carve out their brand's success.

In episode 545 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Destaney discuss:

00:00 - Amazon PPC Strategy Q&A With Destaney
02:44 - Understanding PPC Strategy and Metrics
06:06 - Custom Bidding Rules in Adtomic
10:00 - Amazon's Impact on Organic Ranking
13:08 - Establishing Product With Profitable Keywords
16:11 - Maximizing Amazon Product Visibility
19:24 - Controlling Bids for Amazon Search Results
21:05 - Amazon Advertising Strategy and Optimization
23:39 - Day Parting Strategies on Amazon
25:22 - Amazon PPC Strategy and Keyword Research
26:47 - Amazon Seller Strategy and Consumer Behavior
30:25 - Improving Product Visibility on Amazon
35:56 - More Amazon PPC Strategy and Tips
42:18 - Understanding Amazon Suggested Bids

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got one of the top minds in all the Amazon PPC world, Destaney, back on the show and she answered all of your live questions on Amazon advertising that, actually, this was no doubt the best set of questions we've ever had on the show. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10.me/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our live monthly TACoS Tuesday program, where you go over anything and everything Amazon PPC related, and we throw in a little bit of Walmart here and there, as well. And so, for those who this is your first time to the show. What we do is we bring on an outside expert once a month to answer live on all of our platforms, your top PPC questions. There's no question that's too basic or no question, hopefully, that's too advanced. We'll answer them all. So let's go ahead and invite our very special guest. For the first time since last year from BTR media, we've got Destaney in the house. Destaney, how's it going?

Destaney:

Whoa. Well, now you have me a little nervous. You said you know, hopefully we don't have any questions too advanced. We'll see what happens.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, for you, like, I might not say that for all of our guests, but you know, since Destaney's on here, it's like, nah, like you can ask anything.

Destaney:

We'll see what happens.

Bradley Sutton:

Give us a quick bio of yourself for those who might not have heard your previous episodes and previous years here and this is the first time I'm listening to you.

Destaney:

Yeah, of course. So I've been in this space for seven years, worked everything from some of the largest brands on the platform to also the small sellers. I feel like we've worked with a lot of people that have gotten up and gotten ready and launched, and I've done nothing but Amazon advertising for seven years straight. So I think personally, I've managed over $500 million worth of spend, every category, every scenario I think I've dealt with this point. Used to be founder of better AMS, we've now rebranded to BTR media.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that we've established, you know, what you're talking about, we're just going to hop right into it. Before I get to the user's questions, I had some things I wanted to ask. I'm going to ask some questions about Adtomic. I have got some general questions, but actually, first let me get to the general question. So I know there's been a, I don't want to call it a movement lately, but maybe there's more awareness of in the industry about, hey, it's not always just about ACoS when you are trying to, you know, determine or strategize with your PPC. But my question first of all is there a certain level that that statement applies to? Like, if I'm a brand new seller and you know I don't have, you know, this big budget to and I'm not trying to build this humongous brand and try to get awareness out there, should I still be maybe using that as my primary metric? Or if so, is there a certain level where all of a sudden, I need to be shifting my metrics I'm looking at?

Destaney:

I think, in simplest answers, you should always be shifting your metrics. In the beginning, cash flow is king. That's what matters the most, right, especially as a individual seller. You are financing every next round of inventory and if you can't afford that inventory, you're not going to have a brand. And how do you make sure you can afford that inventory while making sure that, marginally, you're in a good spot, which is where ACoS comes into play, right, you can't just hemorrhage money.

Destaney:

That being said, when you're launching, you also need to make sure you're driving volume and improving your organic rank and getting more review. So I think, in the very beginning, ACoS may be less important as you're driving that velocity. It's more about margin. So, all that to say, I think there's a million different variables. We have brands that come to us and like hey, our only goal is a $3 row. As this is a marketing budget, it doesn't influence anything else. We have brands that come to us that are solely focused on profit margin at scale. So we need to make considerations for what that looks like.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it. Love it. All right, excellent. Now let's go hop in Adtomic because, you know, for the first time you and your agency are getting into, you know, using Adtomic and using it for some of your clients. You've only been doing it for a couple of months now. What are some of your initial kind of reactions, like how, what are the strengths that you guys have been noticing about it?

Destaney:

Well, I think there's a few things I want to hit on here is one, our agency has always used Helium 10 from like a keyword research, organic rank, BSR tracking perspective, which is why I was like, hey, let's see if there's better integrations we can do.

Destaney:

Everyone who's been following me knows I preach the relationship between PPC and your organic rank. So that was what was really insightful for us is like okay, let's see what it looks like. Managing it all within one tool and being able to track that overall relationship. At its simplest, I think Adtomic drives a lot of value. And giving you one view of all of that, I mean, you can go immediately into your search terms tabs and pull up search volume, and that you know. As anyone who's managed a brand, I get millions of questions of why are my sales down week over week, and being able to overlay things like search volume is super important, I mean beyond that. Day parting hourly parting is always a hot topic within the industry and being able to stay in tune with all of those new rollouts or generative AI. Those are things that most of the industry is behind on right and you've always relied on native ad console to make those adjustments. But now having in a tool that allows the simplicity of scale has been a major value add.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Awesome. Now, one of the things that Adtomic has released in the last few months or so is the ability to make your own custom rules. You know, we always allowed you to make a certain level of custom rules but now even for your bid management. And so you know, as we just mentioned, you know, obviously you know some people might still be doing ACoS, people might be doing RoAS impressions. There's so many different things and we pretty much allow anybody to choose like, hey, whatever you do, this is what you should.

Bradley Sutton:

This is, you know, you can go ahead and implement it in Adtomic. Now, you know, having, you know, spent some time in there, what would be your suggestion First of all for, like you know, maybe a newer seller or, you know, medium sized seller, if I'm looking to, like, create my own rules for bidding. There's literally a million possibilities so I might be overwhelmed. I know there's no one size fit all answer here, but maybe can you give a couple ideas about what you would suggest somebody to do to put in Atomic so that it manages their bids effectively.

Destaney:

Yeah. I'm going to start philosophically here, in that I always say that anytime a software opens up the Black Box and allows for rule creation, they're putting themselves in a risky position because, in my opinion, most sellers don't actually understand bid management appropriately, right. It's only like the advanced sellers that can really hop in and truly understand bid management. So the fact that you all have opened it up for everything and taken that risk is huge in my opinion because that is the biggest flaw of some of the softwares in the space is they don't give you that customization. All of that to say everyone who's like hey, I have all of the power to, you know, give myself a 5% ACoS. Be careful, because a tool is only as good as your ability to use it. Like, truly. I've audited and vetted almost every single platform.

Destaney:

I feel like we've gone through building our own rules customizations. Most people don't actually know bid management well enough to build their own rules, but if you do, I think the biggest things that we look at is we create rules for the different outcomes we want. If we're launching a brand new product, then we're creating rules that are based off sales. So we're going to be taking a deep dive into hey, what is the conversion rate and what is the sales? And we're going to build rules for maximizing that increased bid when I have a certain conversion rate.

Destaney:

On the flip side, if our goal is profitability, we're going to work backwards from our ACoS or our RoAS goal. We're going to say, hey, let's build rules that are based on lowering bids when our ACoS is too high and maybe layering in our conversion rates also low, let's go even lower, right. So those are the two simplest ones that we look at, but it really needs to be strategic. You can create rules that are based off the phase your product's in, whether it's launch, consistency, profitability, organic rank. You can create rules based off your overall business outcomes, which is always an important one is what is that key RoAS that you're going to optimize for all of your campaigns, but just making sure not to over complicate it in the beginning. And once you start to understand the correlation between CPC and RoAS, then you can start building in a little bit more customization around lifecycle and things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

One more of my questions. I get to be selfish and stop in the host here and decide when to bring in the user's questions. But just going back to that topic of ACoS versus other metrics, I think there's so many people who have for years, just that's all they've thought about and they're like well, doesn't it make sense? Like hey, if I'm losing profitability because I'm spending more for my advertising and this is how much it's costing me per sale, like should I always just automatically lower my bids because I need to be profitable? But can you explain why? No, that's not always the case. That might actually be hurting you in the long run.

Destaney:

So the reason it's become so much more important to not always focus on a low ACoS is because Amazon's search results have become more saturated with ads. I think everyone amen right from the pews here. The reason being is obviously Amazon's making a lot of revenue off their advertising but also they've done a great job of their relevancy and still having a clean customer experience. The problem with that is if you start slipping an organic rank and you fall to page two or page three. There's a joke of, you know, the best place to bury a dead body is page two of Google. Well, Amazon's very similar right. A lot of people don't go to page two and page three. So if your organic rank starts slipping, you're going to be in a tough spot. Now, why does your organic rank slip? Well, you either have a decrease in conversion rate or you're not driving the amount of sales or units as your competitors, right?

Destaney:

Anyone who's watched Bradley's honeymoon period philosophy knows that a lot of these factors influence your organic rank. So there's a level of Amazon advertising that just drives sales, and we know sales improve your organic rank. So your PPC directly correlates with your total sales, right. The more sales you drive, the better your organic rank is the more reviews that are going to be left, which is going to improve your conversion rate, which is going to drive more sales, which is going to thus spin the flywheel. So that is why it's really important to understand the PPC relationship between your total sales. You know some people we've had quite a few clients say I'm going to stop PPC completely, which is fine for 30 days. Your profit's amazing. And then 60 days or 90 days or 45 days later, their rank starts dropping and now their total sales are decreasing even more. And, as we know, with profit there's economies of scale. You may want to drive a lot more units at a lower profit margin, but still end up with a higher overall profit if you improve your organic rank.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and hop into the live questions we've got from YouTube. RH says we're optimizing a mature campaign. How frequent should I do it and what is the look back window you prefer?

Destaney:

I'm going to start with look back window. That one's easier to answer. We typically look at last 30 days. The reason being is you don't want to really look longer than that because there's a lot of variables that are going to affect your look back window. If you start going to 60 and 90 days, you're going to be getting into seasonality. You could have major conversion rate changes over that time frame. So we like to look at last 30. Last seven's almost too small because of your attribution window. That being said, if you lower your price or you have something crazy going on that changes your conversion rate, you probably need to look at a smaller look back window.

Destaney:

When it comes to how frequently do you optimize, there's a lot of different opinions in this space and I don't think it matters too much. If we're being honest, we optimize when we have enough data to optimize. So once I get a certain threshold of clicks, I typically start making bid optimization decisions based off that click threshold, which is something that you can build out again within Adtomic. So if you have $100 price point product, you're going to need more clicks to have enough data right, because customers like to think and click and take a longer time to purchase, so really depends.

Bradley Sutton:

Next question here. This is from Steven from YouTube. How long do you think you should run PPC at a loss to establish a product? It's not a repeatable purchase product.

Destaney:

That second part of that question is super valuable. If it's not a repeat purchase product, we typically run on a loss during the organic rank period, right. When we're trying to get up to closer to the top of the page. So that way, as we go higher up on the page, that means we don't have to rely on PPC as much to drive all of our views. So that is what we use as our lever of success. If we get into the top 40 for some of our top keywords, then maybe we're going to start focusing more on profitability. Again, it also depends on what your general margins are. If you have $50,000 set aside where you can focus on organic rank, then maybe it makes sense to start from the beginning at a loss. But if you don't have that money set aside cash flow is important then maybe you need to focus on layering in more profitability-focused keywords and bid optimization.

Bradley Sutton:

And Amazon Girl says do you have a strategy to increase brand share in Amazon using PPC and what do you recommend?

Destaney:

100%. So Pacvue actually released a study, I think, two years ago, that 70% of click share goes to the top placements on the page, which, as we know, are typically sponsored ads. So we've ran this for a lot of our original CPG brands. We'll create campaigns specifically focused on top of search for two to three of our top keywords that we want to increase brand share for. So we're creating campaigns that are solely focused on brand share. That's what the name is in the campaign title. We only focus on the exact match.

Destaney:

So we have really good control and we just bid really high. We bid high enough that we're winning as much impression share as possible. Now we may not be able to afford to win that impression share 100% of the time. It can be really expensive at top of search. But we have those campaigns set aside so we can increase and decrease our budget as needed. Then you can go into your search query performance report and say, hey, for this keyword that I'm focusing on brand share. What is my search query performance and am I actually increasing brand share in that scenario?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I think search query performance is amazing, that Amazon has released that data first of all, and so powerful, I think, for sellers. But I think one popular strategy let me just get your viewpoint on this is like hey, let me see where my conversion rate for a keyword is better than the average since Amazon shows that. And then hey, if I'm not doubling down on or if I'm not showing up at the top of search, I need to go ahead and double down on that, increase my bid, whereas on the flip side, would your strategy be like? Maybe my overall conversion rate is not as good as my competitors, maybe I should even consider pulling back a spend. I know that's a kind of over-generalization, but is that kind of like your general strategy there?

Destaney:

100%, especially on the advertising side, like that's where a lot of people waste spend. They're saying you know, I'm selling a purple pin, this is a maroon pin, right, and maybe they bid on purple pin and their conversion rate is terrible and they're like let me keep spending on that turn, let me drive more people to there, because maybe they're going to start converting. They're not right, unless you adjust your listing to say, hey, this is purple and not maroon, and it'll hurt your organic rank if you drive a ton of traffic to terms that are converting really poorly because Amazon's saying, hey, customers are landing on this page but they're not buying. They don't need to be at the top of the page. I want to put products at the top of the page that are going to drive sales.

Bradley Sutton:

A YouTube question from Silver Arrow says how, on sponsored products, can we promote all variants to take up real estate to dominate the niche? Amazon only allows one variant to display. This might be promoting all colors on PPC, so yeah, in most categories.

Destaney:

Most, I was going to call that out.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, like you can only show up organically for one. You know, I've seen like energy drinks.

Destaney:

Yep.

Bradley Sutton:

You know like I've seen other categories too, or every single variant, but on PPC it's usually the same. For sponsored product, yep, but would I mean, I'm not saying I suggest this strategy, but theoretically, if somebody's really just concerned about real estate on page one and they are in a category where only one sponsored product or one organic can show up, would it be all right? Here's my organic rank and then maybe my sponsored product for that keyword is another variation, maybe my three. I put three sponsored brand headline, you know, ads for three different products, maybe a sponsored video for another one or something like that. I mean like other than that. Is there a way that you can force Amazon to get multiple things when it's not natural?

Destaney:

There's no way to really force it. Like you said, there's also a lot of inconsistency in Amazon testing how they're breaking out variations, so we've never found a great way to do it. Sponsored brand headline search ads the best way to show all of your variants. We do have a few brands that have actually split up, especially if it's like flavor variations chocolate protein versus vanilla protein. They've seen a lot of success splitting those up. That's not for everyone because now you're having to put PPC costs behind two different variations, right. It gets a lot more costly even though you are making up more market share. The only other small thing I would say is like from a cannibalization perspective, like you said, make sure you're running different ads at the top than what you're organically ranked for and make sure you're running brand defense ads on your product detail page.

Bradley Sutton:

Jalil says when using a single keyword campaign, do you use a top of search modifier, and what percentage do you find the best results with? I usually do 10% to 20% when using a top of search.

Destaney:

This one's a difficult, right, if you're coming from some of the other software companies in the space whose placement modifiers to optimize all of their bids. We don't recommend that strategy at BTR media because it gets really complex. If my only goal is to win top of search, I just bid really high and then also put a modifier on.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you. Thank you. If somebody else says I like that, I always felt like it's not so popular to say that and I'm like man. Am I in the minority here? Like, why am I the only one still old school?

Destaney:

I will go a tiny bit deeper. The problem with modifiers and a lot of people haven't probably dove into the documentation on this is there's a little asterisk that says Amazon will only apply the modifier based off the likelihood of a sell. So a lot of people are assuming that every single time the click happens that modifier was applied, and that's not true. So it just, in my opinion, causes a lot of inconsistency. You want to win top of search? Go bid $50. Within five minutes you'll see you're at it, top of search, and then you'll see the CPC. It took you to get there.

Bradley Sutton:

What I tell people is, you know, maybe without Helium 10, I might do that. But the reason why I always stayed old school and just was controlling my bid was I don't need a top of search modifier. I'm not going to give Amazon the wheel in cases where I don't have to. You know like and just trust that Amazon's going to do exactly the right thing. I'm going to fully control the bid because I just put that keyword in Keyword Tracker, or actually in Adtomic, you can actually see the keyword ranks too, and within three hours I'm going to see three consecutive ranks where I can see oh, I obviously need to increase my bid, or, man, I'm already at the very top of search, you know, naturally, on sponsors, so maybe I can pull back and just see where it is. So it's like you don't have to guess where you're showing up because you just put in Keyword Tracker, put boost on, you'll know right away. It's refreshing to hear somebody else say the same thing here.

Bradley Sutton:

Another question from YouTube, Rebecca says is it still recommended to put the same keyword in all three match types? And also, does it hurt your organic rank to pause keywords that aren't relevant to your product but are not performing?

Destaney:

This is a great question. We run in all three match types for our brands because there's different purposes. Our exact match we know exactly where they're showing up on the page. We have a lot of control. Our phrase match opens up a little bit more opportunity for keyword research. So if I'm bidding on Chapstick, I'm going to start finding oh, people are typing in I don't know peppermint Chapstick or vanilla Chapstick, so it helps me expand that. Broad match does the same. It's a good keyword research methodology for us and if you have good bid management, it's going to allow you to harvest a lot of new keywords.

Destaney:

If I'm a really small brand and I don't have a big budget, I would probably only focus on exact match and phrase match internally. They do not compete. That's a misconception and I pulled our agency data yesterday on this. Exact match has driven $9 million in sales for us at a 15% conversion rate. Phrase match is also driven $8.9 million in sales at a 13.5% conversion rate and broad match was a little bit under that because we lower our bids on broad match conversion rate I think was the lowest at maybe 12%, but because we had good bid management. Our RoAS and ACoS was the same on almost all of them so they act in a different manner.

Destaney:

Right, it's still expanding. And then the other quick question is does it hurt your organic rank? Not necessarily, but you got to think it's slowing your sales volume down so it could in the long term hurt your organic rank. The better answer is just lower your bids. Right, if it's a great keyword with a great conversion rate you can't afford, maybe top of search, lower your bid to make that term profitable, even if sales slow down.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of great questions say this is pretty cool.

Destaney:

Good questions.

Bradley Sutton:

Gregori says my ad sales are driven by 60 to 70% by a sponsor brand video. Because of that, I'm not well ranked on my main keywords our sponsor brand ads. I'm assuming he's talking about both sponsor brand and sponsor brand video. Are these helping with ranking at all? So I think what he's talking about is like maybe he's got a video and it's showing up on the Coffin Shelf page or a Coffin Shelf search results. Somebody typed in Coffin Shelf now if it was just regular sponsored product ad, that's definitely going to help the algorithm. But if somebody clicks the sponsored brand video ad from that same search. Me personally, when I tested this maybe one year, two years ago, it didn't have as much impact, if anything at all. What are you seeing lately?

Destaney:

Pretty much the same. So sponsor brands video has almost no impact from what we've seen, other than the fact that again, you're still driving sales. So there's a small factor there. But let's talk about why, really fast, sponsored products make up 70% of your sales, when ran appropriately, because they have more real estate on the page than anything else. Sponsored brands video have two placements on the search results and one on the product detail page so their real estate is so much less that they don't really drive enough overall volume to make a difference. And then when they do drive sales, it's being distributed across multiple ASINs typically. So if you just look at like the math, they drive a lot less sales to specific keywords and that's why and then sponsor brands video again is considering all of your brand halo, not necessarily correlating a keyword to a product from an organic rank perspective.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Rebecca said hey, do you think there will be a chance to create bid rules where we can lower the bids on certain days and times? You can do that in Adtomic, so make sure to do that. We call that schedules. A lot of people just call that day parting. But Amazon, I mean, do you think Amazon will allow or will have that in seller central?

Destaney:

I do. I think it's on the roadmap. Actually, one thing I'll throw out there is I don't recommend using Advertising Console for this. So put this in the shortest way possible. Amazon has an API called Amazon Marketing Stream that actually shows you hourly insights on spend and sales. Adtomic uses that all the software providers use it. From an API perspective, Advertising Console does not give you that access into the insights. So within ad console, you cannot see when someone clicked on an ad at 3pm on Tuesday but purchased on Wednesday at 9am. Adtomic’s giving you that so you can actually day part appropriately. Advertising Consoles not. That being said, what you can do in this scenario lower your bids to the level that you need 100% of the time and then increase your bid when you're performing best right. So just inverse what a typical day parting is. Lower the hours that you think you're performing poorly, increase when you do incredibly well and just run the inverse of day parting.

Bradley Sutton:

My buddy DotadaSilva says he's got a two part question here. So what's your suggestion on a bunch of my unprofitable long tail search term reports? If he combines it all he sees $9,000 in spend with zero sales, but they have less than 15 clicks. So maybe he's got some rule that says, hey, if I find a search term that has 25 clicks, let's go ahead and negative, but this doesn't qualify as that. He says all are very relevant keywords impression is good. So what should I do? Should I lower the bid or should I negate them, or should I put them in a separate campaign?

Destaney:

If your brand is only focused on profitability, I would just pause them. I would not negate. I don't think so. And this is again. This is a difficult situation to pin on the brand. My personal opinion is 10 to 15 clicks is not enough clicks to actually make a decision. What I would do is I would lower your bid on all of those data collection long tail keywords so that way, even if you have 200 of them each getting 10 clicks each, you're not spending enough money to really make a big enough difference. You're slowly collecting data until you figure out whether or not that keyword converts at a $1 bid. It's going to be really costly to collect that data across 200 keywords and 15 clicks, right? I don't really know if it'd be valuable putting them in a separate campaign. I would just lower bid.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you skip the last two days of the look back window?

Destaney:

Yeah. That's traditionally recommended 100%. If something crazy happens then no, it's not necessary. You could still look. But fun fact, I believe the window Amazon last presented between the time that someone searches for a product and makes a purchase is over five days, right, which is crazy. So if you run an ad and you see your spending driving law spend on Monday, there's a good chance that person's not checking out until Friday, which is my whole day parting soapbox. But we don't need to get into that.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. It's kind of, you know, like it's funny, because this is why, as Amazon sellers and this is a completely generalized statement, but we as Amazon sellers should not be looking at our strategy based on what we do as consumers, because me personally, if I click on something, I'm buying it. And then what opened up a whole world to me was when search crew performance ran. I was like, why are these numbers so low? And then, yeah, I talked to Amazon about they're like no, this is only looking at those who take action in a 24-hour window after a click. I'm like and like who doesn't buy something when they add it to the cart? And then I, all of a sudden, I started asking people and I was the weird one. You know, people are like.

Destaney:

Yeah, yeah, like.

Bradley Sutton:

I had a whole bunch of stuff to my cart and I think about it for a couple days and then I'm like what? So? So like again. This is not necessarily just PPC, but if you guys are running your businesses based on your own consumer behavior, guys, that's not the majority out there. You got it. You got to have strategy that applies to more people.

Destaney:

Yep.

Bradley Sutton:

Get the next question we got or do our first one from LinkedIn, from Tobias. What is your approach about auto campaigns? Do you just use them for keyword harvesting, or is there something more about it?

Destaney:

Auto campaigns do win unique inventory, like in stop, so they actually influence the frequently bought together section. Occasionally, you'll see a sponsored ad there. Sometimes you'll see a sponsored ads and like the lightning deal section. So that's a good reason to continue to run auto campaign. So we do continue to run them for almost all of our products. We also aggressively keyword harvest. Like all of our systems are built out for quick keyword harvesting, so we run them in segmented close match, loose match, compliments, substitutes in order to go ahead and make sure we're consistently getting great keyword research. We don't really recommend running your auto campaigns with more than 10% of your spend historically because you don't have a lot of control. But we do continue to run them because of the unique inventory.

Bradley Sutton:

Any circumstances for which you would recreate a new exact match campaign, or why a key phrase would do well under broad match but not exact. So I'm not sure this is what she's asking. But, like you know, sometimes I've heard people say, hey, I've got a good keyword. It's in my, my exact manual campaign. It just gets like very low Impressions. But then I put it in a new one and all of a sudden it gets impressions which doesn't, you know, make sense. But is that just what we should do? If we don't see it have good impressions, just try it again in a new one.

Destaney:

Yeah. It's definitely worth testing. I think you know let's talk about Chevalier's. Second point here is sometimes when you harvest a keyword from your auto campaigns or broad match and you put it into exact match, it doesn't perform as well, or the reverse. The reason being is your campaigns and your keywords attract or collect relevancy, right, Amazon's an algorithm, so they like to make database decisions. So maybe you have the keyword Chapstick in an auto campaign.

Destaney:

That's always done amazingly well for you, and the reason it did well is because it was a 17-cent bid on page 5. And then you go ahead and you pull it out and you decide to try to put it in a manual campaign at a $2 bid and all of a sudden it does terrible, and that's because it's showing up a different placement on the page. You put it into a new campaign and now you're showing up at the top of page one and all of your competitors have 50,000 reviews. So your conversion rate looks worse, right? So all of that to say test like we definitely move our keywords around and harvest a hundred percent. We also will create exact match campaigns for different purposes. We have ranking campaigns then we have profitability campaigns. They're both bidding on exact match. One of them is just focused on ranked ones, on profitability, so we do recommend that.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay then just one other tip out there for people who maybe it's on a brand new product and, no matter what you do, you can't get many impressions when you know that there's search volume for this. It could be a relevancy issue where Amazon just doesn't think that your product is what it is and the way you can kind of have visibility and not using Helium 10. Guys, put the product in Cerebro and then look at the column that I would say 99% of Cerebro users don't look at, but in my opinion it might be one of the top three things in the entirety of Helium 10 is look at the Amazon recommended rank for it. This is a live pool directly from this one thing that, for whatever reason, Helium 10 is the only one that's been showing this for like years, but it's what Amazon thinks the product is.

Bradley Sutton:

So if you see Amazon recommended rank one through 20 and it's a bunch of keywords that aren't really what your product is, it means Amazon is confused. And if that keyword is like at number 300 or maybe not even on the list, then yeah, you're not gonna get impressions for it because that's literally how Amazon decides what it's going to show you for. So that's just another way you can get some visibility at least into that. Steven says how do you, oh, it's a good one, how do you approach keywords that used to convert very well but they've fallen off for a month or more?

Destaney:

I want. I'd be very curious if conversion rate is the metric Steven's actually calling out here, or if he's looking at it for, or if he's saying ACoS used to be better and now it's not. If your conversion rate has changed, the biggest thing I'll take a look at is did your listing change? Did you have a drop in review count to review quality? Did you make a change to your images? Why? Like?

Destaney:

The real question you're asking, Steven, is why did customers stop buying my product after landing on my page, which isn't necessarily a PPC issue, right, that's a listing issue. Now there is a small portion of this which could be a PPC issue, and that's maybe. You used to show up at the top of the page and now you're showing up at the bottom of the page and your conversion has changed slightly because share of shelf is different. You're now being compared to different products depending on where your ads are, but more than likely, if it's a conversion issue, that is a listing issue. It's rarely a PPC issue. When you talk about conversion, if it was an ACoS or a RoAS issue, then more than likely your bid management changed or your conversion rate changed.

Bradley Sutton:

Jillil says, when dealing with supplements that are in a, that are a complex and not just a singular ingredient, how would you do your keyword research and PPC strategy? For example, a joint support supplement with five ingredients versus something like vitamin C, which is a singular ingredient? Destaney, what is up with these good questions?

Destaney:

I know it's a great. . .

Bradley Sutton:

I don't know like you just attract, I gotta have you on all the time you can track some of the best stuff.

Destaney:

This is a great question. I'm very familiar with this category and the core answer is Stop getting caught up in just the keyword research, right? This is one of those things where, to Bradley's point earlier, stop thinking as a seller and start thinking as a customer. No one is typically tight. Well, that's a lie. Most people are typing in joint supplements. Most people are typing in vitamin C supplement, right? So target those.

Destaney:

The problem is knowing that category. Your CPCs for both of those are typically around $20. I've worked in them very familiar. You can't afford those usually. So you do start layering in more ingredients because if a customer types in vitamin C, they don't know what they want. Right, they want some type of vitamin C. But if they type in vitamin C deficiency for so and so and so it's going to be a lot lower search volume, but they're going to convert much higher because they've done their research and they know your product is what they're looking for. So just create campaigns for both. Create campaigns for your top singular keywords that you probably can't afford but you're going to give a low budget to anyways, and then create campaigns based off the ingredients. Maybe it's one ingredient, maybe it's probiotics with fiber, I don't know I'm totally making that up and then create another campaign for probiotics with vitamins or collagen and then figure out what's performing best and scale what's best and pull back on what's not.

Bradley Sutton:

Toseef says I'm getting good sales of the good ACoS on a keyword. Should I always keep on increasing the bit of that keyword or not?

Destaney:

It depends, really. You know you're looking at this on a micro level. If your overall account is within your ACoS, then maybe just keep it. If you have a little bit room to grow, then raise your bid and drive more sales.

Bradley Sutton:

But looking at the keyword rank also is good too. If you're already at the top of the page, you know there's no sense to necessarily, you know, increase your rank because then maybe somebody else is just going to do the same thing and now you're everybody's just driving the cost up needlessly. Brent says I've got multiple products that I'm targeting the same search terms. If I have multiple campaigns for multiple products bidding on the same search terms, am I artificially driving up the bids?

Destaney:

No, the only time you have to worry about this is if you're running out of separate seller central accounts and then competing.

Bradley Sutton:

Were you surprised when the keyword report added for ASIN targeting? What's your approach about ASIN targeting and how much sales do you need for extra campaigns for specific ASINs to push them separately?

Destaney:

Not surprised. This has actually been a thing for quite some time and pretty much it's saying, hey, I'm targeting this product, but this product also indexes for these top five keywords, so let me show up there. In general, you got to consider, Amazon is moving into a more AI model. It's going to be a lot less paper click and a lot more shopper intent. That's included. I, theoretically, have seen sponsored products also run retargeting. So when things are out of my control, I try not to worry about it and what I do instead is be more concise with my campaign structure so that way I can break out my reporting.

Bradley Sutton:

Matt says I've got a variation listing. I got a 10 pack and a 20 pack. Should I drive people traffic to the cheaper option which tends to sell better?

Destaney:

Yeah, I would. So you got to think about it from a PPC goal. The only thing you want is to bring people into your listing. The lower price point is going to bring them into your listing. That doesn't mean they're not going to buy the 20 pack. We almost always recommend running on the lower price point even though your margins are going to look a little bit worse or your performance is going to look a little bit worse RoAS wise. You're going to bring them into the listing and then they're still going to buy the more expensive if they want it.

Bradley Sutton:

Tracy says how many keywords per campaign or ad group and what's a good way to structure.

Destaney:

So one thing I'm going to run through really quickly is we personally run one campaign, one ad group. We run multiple ad groups because your budget is on the campaign level. Amazon makes you set a hundred dollar budget, whatever that number is, and then, if you have multiple ad groups, you can't control if this ad group is getting $50 or $20 or $30. So I run one campaign, one ad group and then we typically put 10 to 15 keywords. There's no perfect answer. There's a lot of myths in the space. The end of the day, it's however much budget you have. I have brands that have millions of dollars of budget so I can set 200 keywords in a campaign because I know I have enough budget to collect data on all those keywords. For most people, we recommend anywhere from one keyword for your top driving to 20 keywords and not going over that.

Bradley Sutton:

Just a quick one before I forget. This is one of my questions. Obviously, one of the rules that we can do for keyword harvesting in Adtomic is like say hey, this is, if I find a keyword in an auto or broad or phrase campaign at this threshold, I want you, as an Adtomic to move this to my exact manual campaign. What is? Obviously there's different strokes for different folks, but is it two purchases? Is it three purchases? Is it two purchases or three purchases, or four purchases plus a certain ACoS? What is a decent rule of thumb?

Destaney:

When I originally started, so I'm going to throw that out there from simplicity's sake. I think I did two sales under like a 100% ACoS. The reason I kept my ACoS high is because I knew when I harvested that keyword I could just lower my bid at the end of the day. What really matters is that it's driving sales. Conversion rates another important one to layer in is like your average conversion rate. As long as it's higher than that, you're fine.

Bradley Sutton:

Sandy says we're thinking of lowering retail to. I'm assuming he means maybe the retail price to improve conversion rate. Have you seen a better conversion rate when using a lower everyday low price or a coupon?

Destaney:

It depends on your competitors. Of course, a lower price is probably going to improve your conversion rate. At the end of the day, would you be better off optimizing your listing better and maintaining a high price? Would you be better off adding more value to your product? Those are things you can consider, because the problem with lowering your price is you get into a race of chasing the bottom. All of your competitors can also lower their price. The real value add is improving your product.

Bradley Sutton:

What's been working for BTR media and your clients as far as custom images in sponsored brand campaigns and types of sponsored brand video campaigns because I feel like this changes year over year what performs best.

Destaney:

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is obviously CPCs have gotten a lot more competitive with video and creative, as people are doing it more and more.

Destaney:

So, yeah, I think that's it, thank you. I have gotten into arguments about the generative AI sponsor brands and a lot of people are like, yeah, and you know it's not working, it's terrible, but we've seen amazing performance. We've actually split test against commercial grade creatives that, like, professional brands have used, and generative AI is in line with it. Of course, it's up to your prompt, but don't over complicate it. When customers are on Amazon, they're not looking to click on commercials, they're looking to click on something that looks native to the platform, which is where I think AI does a decent job of simplicity. So, you know, for Christmas last year, we took a brand that has like 2000 ASINs and we used AI to make every single ASIN like Christmas. We just added a little Christmas tree and it did incredibly, incredibly well because people knew it was a seasonal item.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Last question of the day, it's from a brand new person to the Amazon. I'm sure there's a lot of brand new people out there. Maybe they were too shy to ask a question, but real simple. Hey, Ashlyn says I'm a first time seller. Just give me some tips about what I should be thinking about when starting with PPC.

Destaney:

I think the first and foremost is obviously going through all of the resources available for Helium 10. I don't know if people actually deep dive on everything that's available, even if it's as simple as going through like the Adtomic training. I know Travis. I watched a few videos where he was like training on concepts, not just the software itself. Amazon advertising also has an amazing accreditation program I have to shout out. We send, we've hired interns out of high school, sent them through the accreditation program and they've been managing accounts after like three months. Obviously, we also do a lot of training on top of that but Amazon's invested a ton in their accreditation program. So when you log into Amazon advertising, you can see their learning console. Highly recommended. Every brand owner, every team needs to get certified in Amazon advertising accreditation.

Bradley Sutton:

Last thing of the day is just a hey, what's your 30 or 60 second tip, PPC related that you can share with the audience. Could be about anything you want.

Destaney:

Everybody needs to better understand the correlation between your bid and CPC and your CPC and ACoS and RoAS. That is like one of the most important things as a brand owner to understand if my increase, my bid, what happens? Right, our bid is the number one we can control. To Bradley's point, you have accessibility with the Adtomic. Dive into those resources and start understanding bid management. If you don't learn anything else, learn bid management within your tools and your brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, Destaney, thank you so much for joining us again. We're definitely going to be seeing a lot of videos that have training that we've been filming, that you're going to help users out there, you know, expand their knowledge in PPC. And if I saw some questions in chat asking about Adtomic, so if again the website to get a free demo, h10.me/adtomic, and then how can people find you on the interwebs out there If they'd like to reach out directly to you?

Destaney:

Can I answer a bonus question, just because it came up. Okay, so I'm going to talk about suggested bids because I see it nonstop in the Helium 10 groups and it just came up here. When Amazon's giving you a suggested bid, they're taking the average of what every single competitor's bidding and the placements on the page top of search could be $30, bottom of search could be $2. So their suggested bids are an average of all of those placements. So, yes, you can bid a lot lower and still win impressions, because you're probably showing up on page two or page three or the PDP, and you may not. You may bid the suggested bid and still not show up on page one. You may have to bid 20 times higher because you have one person increasing the auction, which doesn't influence the average. So keep that in mind. If you want to learn more, find more, I post a ton of content in the groups, on Facebook, on LinkedIn. I think is where we post the majority of our content and you know, check us out btrmedia.com.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Thank you so much, Destaney, for joining us, and we'll see you in a little bit.

View Details

Listen in as we welcome Delaney Del Mundo, a veritable goldmine of e-commerce expertise with a rich background from Walmart to the pulsing beat of TikTok Shop and the competitive arena of Amazon. Our conversation traverses her journey from the sunny streets of Los Angeles to the pioneering days at Walmart.com post their Jet acquisition. Delaney is now the Director of the Amazon strategy team at Vendo, where she masterfully balances profit and loss management, SEO support, and listing optimization. As we explore her current role, you'll discover the ins and outs of her approach to fostering brand success across diverse marketplaces.

Tune in to hear Delaney shed light on the complexities of affiliate networks and content-creator partnerships that can make or break a brand's profitability. With the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce, we tackle TikTok Shop's growing influence on content strategies, emphasizing the critical shift from keywords to engagement. Delaney also provides valuable insights into Amazon's new inventory fees, offering strategic advice for navigating these changes without sacrificing the bottom line. The conversation pivots to a holistic view of business health, focusing on the vital lifetime value to customer acquisition cost ratio.

In our discussion, Delaney takes us through the intricate process of using Amazon’s Search Query Performance, revealing how strategic analysis can lead to improved visibility and sales. By leveraging tools like Helium 10’s Cerebro and Market Tracker 360 for competitor analysis tools, she unveils techniques to stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce landscape. Delaney's enthusiasm for these tools' potential to revolutionize market analysis and her anticipation for future enhancements are infectious. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting, this episode is packed with strategies to propel your brand forward in the dynamic world of selling on Amazon.

In episode 544 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Delaney discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for E-Commerce Success
04:14 - Strategic Amazon Management and Planning
10:32 - Walmart Marketplace vs. Walmart Stores
13:09 - E-Commerce Strategies and Amazon Inventory Fees
20:58 - Search Query Performance for Sellers
21:09 - Search Query Optimization and Market Analysis
26:16 - Market Analysis Tools and Travel Tales
28:04 - Utilizing Time Tracker for Competitive Advantage
32:00 - Maximizing Brand Visibility and Cross-Sales
36:05 - Upcoming Event in Manila

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got an industry expert with a lot of experience on Walmart, TikTok shop and Amazon who's gonna be giving us tons of cool strategies, including some that no one has ever talked about on this show before. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image or Amazon changed their shipping dimension so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me/alerts.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And now we are having for the first time in the show, Delaney. Welcome to the show.

Delaney:

Thanks, Bradley, happy to be here. I think it's long awaited on my side, so glad to be joining you today.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yes, Now we first met at least you know, I've known about you because we've worked with Vendo a lot in the past, and I think I met you first at the maybe in Puerto Rico, at the billion dollar seller summit, and I looked across the room. I was like she looks like a white flip like me, which, for those who don't know us, half Filipino and half American, and that's what I am. I don't look like it. She does, and so I was like are you just what Filipinos do? Like? There's that Jokoy’s joke where they're like oh yeah, my mom was Filipino when she sees somebody. But I did that exact same thing. I'm like Filipino, American. And she's like, yep, I'm like, oh, I could. Then me too. And anyways, we bonded there and I was like all right, a fellow Filipino American in the Amazon world, we got to have you on the podcast. So no, that's not the reason why I had you on the podcast. I heard from your boss that you are an A player and know your stuff and I'm like that's the kind of person we want on the show. But anyways, Delaney, enough about me and my rambling here. Let's just start with where I mean we met Puerto Rico, but where in the world are you right now? Where do you live?

Delaney:

Yes, Bradley, I'm out in Los Angeles, so actually not too far away from you today. But speaking of the Filipino American, yes, you're right, it seems like my mom's genes might be stronger than your Filipino side. I got the Sinigang and the Adobo in the fridge. Don't worry, I'm more than I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes. There we go.

Delaney:

But yes, I'm out in LA.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, is that where you were born and raised?

Delaney:

Yep, born and raised in LA, lived for a few years out in New York but made my way back here. So, plans, where do you live? In New York? I lived in the city for a few years and then also in the upstate New York area, so Nice.

Bradley Sutton:

I lived in Brooklyn myself for a couple years. Where'd you go to high school? In LA?

Delaney:

High school. I went to Burroughs High School out in Burbank.

Bradley Sutton:

In Burbank? Okay, nice. And then how about college?

Delaney:

College, Hamilton College in upstate New York.

Bradley Sutton:

So a really very rare that somebody gives me a college or university I have never, ever heard of.

Delaney:

Yeah, there were 1800 kids in the entire school. So super small community, but small and tight.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what do you study?

Delaney:

I studied economics.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting Now, when you graduated, did you work at all into there, or did you already find e-commerce by that time? Or what's your journey to e-commerce like?

Delaney:

Yeah, so I actually got my start over on the Walmart side of the business, so working for Walmart.com as soon as Walmart had acquired Jet. So I was part of that group of individuals and then found my way on the brand side for a few years working at Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

What did you do at Walmart?

Delaney:

So you might have told me that, but I forgot it. No, no, no, I managed the beauty category there. So on the dot-com side worked closely with the store merchants and grew the beauty channel.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, okay, and then how did you get to the Amazon side of things?

Delaney:

Yeah. So then from there, ended up shifting over to the brand side. For a few years worked for a beauty brand and at that beauty brand managed all their retailer.com channels, so Zulily, eBay, Walmart.com, Amazon.com, etc. So a bit more full circle. And now here at Vendo, leading, of course, the Amazon team as well as TikTok shop, which is one of our newer channels that we launched just a few months ago now. And then, of course, as you know, Bradley, you've had some of our Walmart.com teammates on the podcast as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and then what do you specifically do, like what's your specialties? I guess what's your daily? I know actually you actually do a podcast as well, but outside of the podcast, what are you doing for clients?

Delaney:

Yeah, so I'm the director of Amazon strategy, so I lead our team of account strategists here. But in terms of what Vendo does everything from P&L and forecast management towards direct management of the Amazon channel, managing advertising, marketing etc I'm more on the strategic side. So a lot of what you would look at from listing optimizations, SEO support, ranking, impact and really just understanding what strategies were implementing to hit brands top line and bottom line goals, both on the three-piece side and our one-piece side of the business through vendor central.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. All right, we're going to start broad here and then go narrow as we go on. But you know, since you have, you know, your company and you yourself have dabbled, I guess you could say, in a lot of different marketplaces. Be it, you know, amazon, Walmart, TikTok shop is kind of like the top three. What's just your state of the union in 2024 about the trajectory of each of these? Are all still going up. Is one skyrocketing over the other? Is one of them going down, one of them staying flat? What's your outlook for this year?

Delaney:

So I think, as far as trajectory, TikTok shop has the greatest potential Just being. Their affiliate network is so strong and the platform itself is extremely simplified, so it's not hard for a lot of sellers to join TikTok shop right now, and just in terms of their affiliate network. We obviously know that creator connections on the Amazon side has been in beta for quite some time, but I think TikTok shop has the upper hand when it comes specifically down to affiliate, just because of the ease of the platform and the fact that you can set these targeted collaborations per item, per creator that you reach out to. So Vendo has an in-house influencer and affiliate team which we're able to leverage, of course, but that allows us to glean great insights on the targeted collaborations and the open collaborations on TikTok shop.

Delaney:

Amazon specifically, I mean we'll see. I think they're always on an upward trajectory, given the amount of data that they have access to and just as far as shipping and logistics, they're always ahead of the curve there. But we have to look out for specific categories. If we look at platforms like Temu, which I know generated a ton of buzz after the Super Bowl with how much they're investing in different ads, Fashion categories, we know that Amazon referral fees are dropping in some of those categories. So we'll see. Right, I think Amazon's going to probably have to take some action across categories if Temu starts to undercut price and we'll see if Amazon also starts matching there.

Delaney:

And then Walmart.com is a silent killer. I mean, they have their stores that they're able to leverage. So with their store specifically, that opens up a ton of opportunity. I think that oftentimes a lot of Walmart.com sellers don't realize that if they are, or if they have the potential to sell on the one-piece side of the business, that opens up a whole new avenue with online pickup and delivery. And many times Walmart.com sales are grossly underreported because unless you're investing in to illuminate, you don't see those OPD sales naturally. So you might think the channel is smaller than it is, but it's really larger than what it appears to be on paper, just given the level of data that Walmart actually has versus what it discloses.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, I know you're a little bit out of the Walmart game, but I'm going to ask you a Walmart-specific question because I just want to see how relevant this is. This is something that I've been telling people, but my experience is about six, seven years old now. So I used to work for this company that does supplements and they're kind of like a famous company. They would do infomercials and things like that and I was their sales manager and people don't understand the size of Walmart brick and mortar because it was like, you know, like I was so proud of myself, I grew their Amazon sales from like $500,000 a year to like $3 million. I would have Walmart PO. That was for 20 SKUs, by the way. I would have Walmart POs for their one SKU that were like in the one to $2 million, just because of how many stores you know Walmart has, etc. So it was like it dwarfs Amazon, you know, unless you're like a huge whale on Amazon. Now, that being said, like what I, a couple of things I did was I started a couple brands or not a couple of brands a couple of products on the brand on Amazon, and then I moved it to Walmart. First of all, we already had a somewhat of a relationship with Walmart and then Walmart.com buyer, you know saw that I was dominating one of the subcategories and they're like all right, let's bring this I don't remember what it was called, but it's kind of like what Amazon calls vendors, a vendor central or something, where it's like, hey, we'll buy this from you, so that's shipped and fulfilled by Walmart because it's doing well. And they're like cool.

Bradley Sutton:

And then they're like hey, it started doing well there. And they're like, hey, let's take this and let's add this to brick and mortar. And that's when, obviously, you know, sales blow up. Now For me that's what I tell people of that story about like, how, why? Even though maybe if you just start something on Amazon or Walmart, you know sales could be 10 to 150 to one Amazon or Walmart. But the reason to start on Walmart is if you start, you know, making some waves, you can start selling to Walmart and then potentially, you can just get in front of a buyer because you can't, you know, just come in off the street and say, hey, I've got this cool new product, you know, would you just put it in Walmart brick and mortar? You know, unless you've got connections, is that still valid in 2024? Like is that kind of like the process that could potentially not guaranteed, obviously, but that could potentially happen.

Delaney:

Absolutely 100%. And I think that is sometimes what a lot of brands make a mistake with on Walmart.com or just in Walmart stores in general, is they go to Walmart stores too early. And if you go to Walmart stores too early then that really does a number to your brand from a profitability standpoint. So that's why Walmart marketplace is a great avenue for you to start, because you can even get Sam support, which is a strategic account manager on the Walmart three P side of the business who can help you and make sure that you're pulling those levers and in growing your brand on Walmart.com to go to stores. So yes, Bradley, 100% a great avenue to start. And looking at again just Amazon versus Walmart strategy, it isn't just let's go bring all of our Amazon's use over to Walmart, because both algorithms are getting a lot better from a pricing standpoint at identifying different prices. So we've seen pricing down to the price per ounce standpoint. So it doesn't even matter sometimes if you're launching completely different UPCs, they're still matching. So it's really important that before you launch on Walmart.com even if you've been selling on Amazon for quite some time you think about maybe differentiating different pack sizes or just different flavors of your product. That way there is a difference there that you can grow a completely new set of products.

Bradley Sutton:

Before we get to your specialty, which is Amazon, let's talk a little bit about TikTok shop. It's a different marketplace in that I've never sold in TikTok shop, so please feel free to correct me if any of what I'm saying is wrong, but to me it's different because it's not like something that you could do traditional keyword research. I know there's some tools and helium tents working on some things now that can analyze hashtags and things like that, but you don't really have control over what's necessarily indexed or getting to page one. It's like so just dependent on just the virality of something or a famous influencer showing it. Is that kind of what you see? It's kind of like completely hit or miss, where you have the least amount of control over your success. As far as on just regular TikTok shop, obviously you have control over how you advertise and how many impressions you get, but as far as just a post going viral and getting a lot of sales from it, do you feel like you have not as much control as on other platforms, or is that changed?

Delaney:

No, 100%. You're correct in that as well. I think that's why the affiliate network is so powerful, but is also. You need a defined strategy there. You need to know your exact demographic. You need to know which subset of creators you're looking to target, based on their engagement rate, their follower count, et cetera and you really need to do a deep dive into their content to make sure that they fit the brand, because you can reach out to as many creators as you want to through there, but at the end of the day, if they're not gonna generate sales from your brand, you're now giving away free samples and that could impact your bottom line. So I think yes as a whole. Definitely from a ranking standpoint, I think TikTok shop's going to evolve in that sense. When you're setting up items, there's specific keywords that they want you to be focusing on, but those are all of the benefit driven keywords or the main claims and the listings, so it doesn't appear that, from a ranking standpoint, those hold as much weight. It's literally how many pieces of content are you pushing out and how is the engagement of that content? So it is incredibly important that you have a solidified content strategy, and TikTok shop allows you to. There's like a get inspired section and you can see a bunch of content that's currently working on the platform that you could pull from in different categories and get ideas on how you can be capitalizing on that for your brand too.

Bradley Sutton:

Moving to Amazon. I'm not sure if you have experience in this much at all or if you've looked into it, but last night I for the first time, kind of like, took a deep dive into the new inventory placement fees that are coming. I was just seeing here and there, like some I don't know, I don't want to say horror stories but people are getting really scared, like, oh my goodness, my shipping is going to be 2x, mine's going to be 3x. I'm like what, for reals? So I went and what I did was I looked in my own account and by the time this episode is airing it's going to be in full effect. So I'm sure we'll know more. But I was like, yeah, there was a shipment that I had sent to one location only. I didn't choose to just, amazon had me do it. I guess it was like a hundred units of some coffin shelves, right, and it was like 77 bucks or something, because it was like shipping from San Diego to LA and so you know like it's obviously 77 cents per unit. And then I was looking all right in under the new world if I shipped to one location in California, which is obviously my preference, because it took probably a day to get there right. And it was cheaper. It was like a 68 cents per unit charge. So I was like, wait a minute, it is like double. You know what it is Like. Have you looked into this at all and started like thinking about for your clients, like what you're going to have to suggest to them to do or if they're going to have to change the way that they send replenishment?

Delaney:

Yeah, I mean most of them right now don't send to a single location, but it is very category dependent and so that's what we've seen. So for some categories specifically, there's actually a savings attached to it, but others, like yours, of course, Bradley, you're seeing a steeper charge there. So I think it does 100% matter and that's something in which we keep PNLs on an item level and are updating those PNLs whenever a new FBA fee is introduced, whenever a new inventory placement fee is introduced, just so we can understand the impact of some of these newer fees. But majority across the board, we are seeing increases due to the inventory placement fee. So it's just something that now a lot of our brands that do ship to a single location they're really going to have to evaluate whether that is worth it for their business or not 2024, what is different than a couple years ago or even then, then last year?

Bradley Sutton:

like what are your? You and your clients having to do a lot differently. There's a lot that's the same. Hey, keyword research is keyword research. Sure, I you know there's some people who might are predicting changes that might happen when Amazon rolls out new AI stuff. My personal opinion is that might, may or may not happen, and even it does happen. I still think traditional, like you know, keyword research and stuff is still going to be important, because you still have to let Amazon know what the product is. But, aside from speculation and stuff, just what are you having to do differently nowadays, whether it's advertising, whether it's listing optimization, whether it's a plus content, whatever that you weren't doing last year, maybe a year ago or two years ago?

Delaney:

The biggest change, I think, has just been the continued focus on profitability. I think that into last year as well, profitability was at the forefront of the business, where maybe a couple years ago it was more so focused on top line growth. But now really, as brands diversify their channel strategy, their understanding that, you know, with some rising Amazon fees, their bottom line maybe doesn't look as good as it did a couple years ago. And that's where, on the vendor side of the business, we're really looking at LTV to cat ratios, because a lot of our brands might be more hesitant to discount.

Bradley Sutton:

I know what that means, but explain it to everybody else out there.

Delaney:

Yeah. So LTV lifetime value, cat customer acquisition costs. So you want the LTV versus cat ratio to be healthy. A lot of agencies will probably tell you a three to one ratio is more so on the healthy side, which basically just means that what you're paying to acquire for a new customer, they're generating at least three times that rate in their overall lifetime value. In other words, they're coming back to repeat purchase from your brand. And I think that as we run promotions and we participate in some of these tent pull events, we're getting more and more pushback from brands who don't want to engage in, let's say, a Prime Day or a Black Friday, cyber Monday or any other tent pull moment that exists for their brand. But we're able to pull reports in which we analyze okay, how many new customers are we generating during these periods? And then for that cohort of new customers, what is their lifetime value in the next six, nine, 12 months? And in many cases that metric is healthy. And if you look at Helium 10 Market Tracker 360, Search Query Performance, keyword tracker, you'll see that in keyword tracker, your non branded keywords are experiencing an increase in overall organic rank during that time. Because of that increase in organic rank Search Query Performance, your purchase share is growing on that particular subset of keywords. And then you pull back a larger time horizon and for many of our brands looking at Market Tracker 360, they're doubling overall market share, while brands that aren't participating are decreasing in market share, and for extended periods of time. So thanks, Bradley, for all the innovation on that side, because that has helped tremendously. But it's really understanding what are the dynamics in the market and when we're not participating in these events, how does our market share change?

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, let's definitely talk in a little bit about some Helium 10 tools like Market Tracker 360, but Before then you mentioned, like Search Query Performance, how what's your best use cases for Search Query Performance? And or, if you're using it, product opportunity explorer in Amazon, because I think it's so cool that Amazon has is releasing so much more data than back in the old days. Some people say, what at Helium 10, aren't you scared of like? No, it's great. Like every time Amazon releases something, it helps us make even our tools better and actually validate some of the things that we've always shown. So we love it when Amazon opens up new data points. So, how are you using like what's the? You know you could probably have a whole episode about Search Query Performance or OX, but maybe the top, like one or two things that that you think sellers can be getting value out of.

Delaney:

Yeah. So on the Search Query Performance side, it's really identifying. First and foremost we look at where is your click share greater than your impression share? This is going to be your probably subset of keywords in which there's a ton of opportunity. There just might be a visibility standpoint You're not showing up. Let's see what we can do in terms of optimizing our listings for these keywords. Looking again into Cerebro and doing a reverse look up there to see what are my opportunity keywords in which I can improve my ranking on page one four and then tying that into okay, once I do that, how is Search Query Performance cleaning insights into changes in my overall click share, impression share, add to cart share, purchase share and what does that look like over a prolonged period of time? So a lot of people might look at okay, I want to look at a larger subset of keywords to go after, but really you should narrow this down to probably your top five to 15 at the onset subset of keywords that you're tracking regularly in keyword tracker and also in Search Query Performance to see how that changes. So in Search Query Performance again, just understanding, is my purchase share growing on these terms as I prioritize them more and then putting that back into our ads. And where am I ranked in terms of my top of search impression share for these particular terms? Is my top of search impression share now growing as I want to invest more and two and more relevant for these terms? And then three, let's look back at Search Query Performance and see how my purchase share is growing.

Delaney:

And then, on the opportunity explorer side, I think that's a great tool. Just understanding, okay, how saturated is my niche? Looking at the top 90% of clicks, is there opportunity in this niche? If my brand is looking to launch a new item, that's where we see the most value in it is okay. How many products have been launched more recently within this niche? What does the opportunity look like for pricing? What does the opportunity look like for reviews? Where do we need to be at within that particular niche to be at the category average so that our conversion rate is benchmarked within the category average? And then I really love the review aspect of things, so being able to really update your content to see positive review sentiments, negative review sentiments, and how are we tackling some of these things that are going wrong within the category as it exists? So, as you said, brad, that we could talk about it for probably three episodes, but that's the basis.

Bradley Sutton:

Good stuff there. I'm just waiting in anticipation for it to be available, like in the API. Then that's going to allow Helium 10 to do a lot more, even fun things, and combining it even more with Helium 10 data points I love looking at. For example, what is your impressions compared to the search volume? Because theoretically, the impression should be a little bit higher than the search volume, because if you're showing up at the top of the page, maybe an organic and in sponsored, you would have that more. But then it's like all right, let me bring in the exact two graphs of sponsored and organic over the last week or month and like oh okay, this is why it's not where I need it to be. I need to improve. You know there's just like so much fun stuff that that could definitely happen.

Now, another tool you mentioned Market Tracker 360, a lot of you know, or some of Helium 10 users out there, might not be familiar with that tool, because it's actually one of the first tools that I think Helium 10 has. That's kind of like really for large sellers or agencies. You know, like you guys like almost everything Helium 10 has. You know we've got billion dollar companies like Lego or something using it, and it's just as applicable to a brand new seller. But this is one of the probably the first tools where I was like wow, I'm not sure I need this. Personally, I'm not that huge of a seller anymore, like maybe only I think I might have only done like half a million or 750,000 last year. I'm like I'm not sure this is for me, but some people just like yourself, you really get a lot of use. So for most people they've never even seen what it does. Can you just briefly talk about how you guys use Market Tracker 360 and how it helps you guys?

Delaney:

Yeah, absolutely so. In Market Tracker 360, you can either choose a subset of products so oftentimes you're going to choose your competitors or you choose some top keywords within the space. Those are the two most heavily used use cases that we use here. So we'll choose a bunch of the non-branded keywords within the space and we'll put those into Market Tracker 360. And then what it will do is it will pull a bunch of competitors and also your product that are relevant for those specific keywords and literally build a market for you. So, using this market, you can see what is the percentage of overall sales that each competitor is generating, as well as what is this track back to a dollar value. And, yes, we have spot checked that multiple times and it is a pretty accurate there in terms of the sales that it's pulling. So what we do is we'll include that in our product launch phase.

When we receive a new brand into the Vendo pipeline, we look at okay, how are they situated within the market right now compared to these top competitors? And of course, we know who the top competitors are. The brand has shared that with us, and then you can dive deeper into different filters that you can set so you can say, okay, I only want to filter this to a title that includes this keyword, like, let's say, the title includes protein powder or it is situated in this specific category or subcategory. That way you can really define that market even more so, and now you don't have as broader of a set of different competitors in that market. It is a lot more specific to your overall market. Or, if you only want to benchmark it towards like five competitors versus the entire market, you can do that too and exclude specific competitors from showing up there. So that's the basis of Market Tracker 360 and how we use it. But then it goes even further deeper into there's different keyword insights that you can see through Market Tracker 360. And where are those competitors now winning? How has the ranking of those competitors on the organic and the sponsored standpoint changed with time? So that's probably my favorite tool in Helium 10, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice, nice. What about the regular side of Helium 10, which I know you have a lot of experience with? What's your favorite tool? And then my secondary and it's use case. And my secondary question would be if you had a wish list of your top thing that Helium 10 doesn't have currently, doesn't have to be Amazon, could be about Walmart, could be something about TikTok shop. What would be the number one thing? If you were like, hey, I can be the Helium 10 director of product for a day, what would you make our team get started on working for you?

Delaney:

Yes. So I'll start with your first question related to my favorite tool. It has to be Cerebro. Just going back to the roots, looking at the time tracker function that you guys have more recently added, it's probably been probably not even a year yet, right, Bradley? But that tool is extremely powerful because, again, if you have a brand that experiences a ton of seasonality, you can go back to those specific periods in time to see how you were ranked on specific terms, as well as how your competition is and also what are seasonal terms that you need to be taking advantage of. And I think that is often something that a lot of brands miss is hey, there might be 500 searches per month for this particular keyword now, but three months from now there's going to be 5,000. So what are you doing with that information? How are you getting ahead of it from a creative standpoint? How are you optimizing your listings to make sure that those specific keywords are being highlighted? And then, on the advertising side, your competitors probably aren't going to know to be winning on those specific keywords either. So you could get the upper hand by understanding I need to be ranked on page one at this exact moment of time, on the top half of page one, ideally in the top three to five slots. And once I can get there, then I know that when this search volume hits its peak I'll be the competitor that's getting a majority of the conversion share there. So that's got to be my by far my favorite aspect there.

Delaney:

And then apologies, Bradley, I'm on the second question, related to what I would like to see from an agency side. My vendor central experience probably speaks to including a few more vendor central aspects in there, just because from a purchase order standpoint that is a huge area that we would leverage. But honestly, I think from an FBA standpoint I would have to say forecasting, because I think that inventory management is a huge challenge for a lot of brands and forecasting allows us to better understand what our projections and what our inventory demand is going to look like throughout the year. And then my second one, if we're throwing things in here, would just be variations. So I know with inventory protector you can update maximum order values and things like that. If we could directly change variations in Helium 10 or really be able to decipher, maybe even submit cases for variations that are wrong some more technical things there, but all things that I feel like would be extremely powerful, because that's where a lot of time is spent trying to update things that maybe Amazon is using. It's not updating, even after multiple cases.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool, cool. Now, before we get into some of your final strategies of the day, if people want to reach out to Vendo Commerce guys, one of the easiest ways is just go to hubhelium10.com and type in Vendo, which is Spanish for I sell. So whoever made that company name is a genius and you can reach out to them there. But if people want to follow you or reach out to you, how can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Delaney:

Yes, you could find me at delaney@vendocommerce.com and, as Bradley said, also have a podcast that I know Bradley will be joining me on in a couple weeks Vendo Commerce Velocity as well as on LinkedIn. I'm on there, delaney@vendocommerce.com.

Bradley Sutton:

A couple, maybe quick hitting SST, what I call my 60-second strategies. By the way, that's also something that comes from my Filipino side, because I think that's how our mothers or grandparents would call us when they're trying to. You know, come over here. But anyways, for everybody else, that just stands for a 60-second tip. So what is a couple of 60-second tips or strategies that you can talk about that our sellers can influence?

Delaney:

Yeah. So, from a more data-centric standpoint, make sure you're leveraging both Helium 10, Search Query Performance and product opportunity. Explorer tons of insights and the way in which you're telling a cohesive story for your brand. If you combine those tools, they're not meant to be used in silo, they're meant to be used together, but also from a competitive aspect, using the video placement aspect and sending videos. Putting videos on your competitive ASINs is something that's really fundamental, but at the basis of it is just more organic visibility for your listings. So, again, you can add your own branded videos onto competitors listings within the video manager. A lot of brands don't do this, but they will show up if the full video stack is not filled by your competitors. So something to look out for.

Delaney:

Also, from a cross-sale standpoint, a lot of brands aren't currently leveraging things like targeted cross promotions in which you buy one product and you get 5% to 10% off another product, or the add an accessory widget. A lot of brands think that, yes, that's probably only a SaaS core function if you are investing in that program, but we've seen through filing of multiple cases, you can have that add an accessory widget pop up there and then, just in terms of prime, exclusive discounts. I know that sometimes, and more often, you're seeing that when you add SKUs and prime exclusive discounts they might be getting rejected. So for that I would suggest creating a new SKU, and what we've seen that is that if a SKU is being flagged specifically for FBM or for internal policies, then you can create a new SKU. Add that new SKU instead to your prime exclusive discount and it will still run because that history won't be tied to that new SKU. So those are a few things, but on a larger basis. For a 60-second hack let's say a very not even hack, but tip is to know your PNL, and Amazon has a lot of different tools. Helium 10 has a profits tool to help you understand that. But you do need to understand how much margin you have to work with and evaluate your PNL on a weekly and even a monthly basis.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, this has definitely been a strategy field episode. Now, on the personal side, you got married last year, so congratulations. Where was your honeymoon? I was living vicariously through your Instagram honeymoon, but where was it Wasn't Maldives. It wasn't the Maldives honeymoon.

Delaney:

I know, but where'd you guys go? You're going to need to change the name of your honeymoon launch strategy, Bradley, but we went to Italy and then we ended up in Santorini. So a bunch of different spots in Italy and then Santorini in Greece was my favorite.

Bradley Sutton:

What's some of, overall, your favorite travel spots. Is that something you do, or was that you know? Do you travel with any kind of frequency, or are you more of a homebody?

Delaney:

Trying to travel more usually, stay stateside, go to Hawaii a decent amount. I can't really get tired of Hawaii, but in terms of some of my favorite places I've been, probably Spain is at the top of the list. So many great places in Europe. But I would say if you haven't been to Santorini, I don't think I'd ever be able to go back, but it is definitely worth a visit.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of Spain, you got to get Darren to send you in May, probably our next Helium 10 Elite workshop. You know we do a quarterly workshop is probably going to be in Madrid in May. So business, business trips/second honeymoon bring your hubby along and, you know, soak up the nightlife in Madrid and the museum. I like, I like how it's both. You know like I can hit those like really cool museums and architecture, and you know they've got good restaurants and nightlife over there. So tell Darren, I'll put in the good word for you. Let's, let's hang out in Madrid next year.

Delaney:

Yeah, we'll put in the good. I will definitely be bringing that one up to him. So thanks for that, Radley. And then we'll have to make a trip to the Philippines.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, well, I'm actually going soon. The Amazon is doing their first event, or not? For the I missed their first event, actually in March, but or in February, I should say. But they're actually doing another event in a couple of months, so, offline, I'll give you some details that they haven't finalized a date on that. But yeah, there's second every event in Manila, and so there we go. You can go and visit some family too and support the community out there.

Delaney:

There we go. That sounds great. I definitely need to go back.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right, well, thank you so much for joining us and it was great to see my sister from another mister right here on this show, and I look forward to being on your show in a couple of weeks.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon’s new Big Spring Sale is coming March 20-25—here’s everything you need to know to shop deals on spring essentials
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-big-spring-sale-faq

Amazon now lets sellers create listings through a URL by using AI
https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/13/amazon-now-lets-sellers-create-listings-through-a-url-by-using-ai/

Exclusive: The FTC is probing Amazon’s new controversial fees in its $140 billion seller business
https://fortune.com/2024/03/08/ftc-amazon-seller-fees-inbound-placement-low-inventory-antitrust/

Everything you need to know about Amazon Business, one of Amazon’s fastest-growing ventures
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/what-is-amazon-business

NEW Store Spotlight format - Custom Image links to store subpages!!

Also on the docket is Kevin King's upcoming free live strategy webinar which promises to be an invaluable resource for Amazon sellers of all levels. Discover new earning avenues with Helium 10, and get the scoop on the expanded day-parting schedules for ads that could change how you place your ads based on time-of-day performance data. Plus our training tips of the week talk about how to use the Helium 10 Profits tool’s Expenses tab and the Inventory Heat Maps tool. Don't miss out on these insights that could make all the difference to your e-commerce success.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:56 - Amazon Big Spring Sale
02:20 - Amazon AI Listing Tool
03:24 - FTC Investigating Fees
04:44 - 2 Factor Sign On
05:35 - Amazon Business
06:53 - New AD Type
07:34 - Meltable Inventory
08:31 - Live Webinar with Kevin King
09:32 - New Feature Alerts
13:15 - Pro Training Tip: Profits Expenses Tab & Inventory Heat Maps

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

A non-Prime Day event was announced by Amazon. You can use Amazon AI to create your listings. If you've got a website. Soon, you have to use two-factor sign-in for signing into Seller Central. These stories and more on today's episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories and going on in the Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce world. We let you know what new tools and features Helium 10 has come out with and we give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing Couple news articles that might be of note, and something that just kind of came out of left field that I didn't even know about was that Amazon has this sale event that's coming up out of nowhere next week.

Bradley Sutton:

It's not really a prime day, but it's kind of like a prime day. It's called the Big Spring Sale. It's going from March 20th to 25th. Now, I haven't been paying much attention to announcements. As far as deals and my deals dashboard, was there something announced about this? Could be, but maybe I missed it, my bad. But basically this is not a Prime Day because it's not only for prime members. Now, some prime people get exclusive discounts on some things, but this is the very first ever event of its kind and there's going to be all kinds of different discounts. Amazon says here People are going to be able to shop these deals at Amazon.com forward slash big spring sale starting on March 20th. Now again, I don't know too many details about this, but Amazon is really pushing this out. It was all over the news. So even if you didn't jump in and run a deal during this time, well, first of all, you might be able, you might want to do some kind of deal during the 20th to 25th or, at the very least, be on the lookout for increased traffic during this time, all right, so it might be a time to do a coupon if you were so inclined, or might want to check your PPC budgets a little closer, just in case there's a lot of extra traffic that might be happening due to Amazon promoting this event.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from TechCrunch and it's entitled Amazon now let sellers create listings through a URL by using AI. All right, so in the list your products basically let's say you haven't sold on Amazon before, or at least you haven't sold a certain product Instead of just putting the name of the product in the search bar. You know, like normal, let's say you've got a Shopify website or your own.com website where that product is listed, you can paste the URL of your product into the Amazon Create Listing page and it's going to use generative AI to kind of like extract the details of the listing and create like a description for you. So it's interesting, you know, if you're somebody who trusts AI a lot for this kind of thing, this is a completely free service. From what I understand, it might be worth a try. So I know Amazon really wants to promote off Amazon brands, to get on Amazon. I think that this is one of those things that could definitely help them.

Bradley Sutton:

On the flip side of Amazon news, fortune.com is reporting that the FTC is probing Amazon's new controversial fees in its $140 billion seller business. All right, so this is the fees we've been talking about on this show for the last few weeks, and so many sellers are in an uproar. First of all, don't forget, guys, check back on our weekly buzz. The last couple of weeks, we show how it's not as bad for many sellers as it seems to be due to the reduced FBA fees. But, yeah, like there's some serious stuff going on, especially for those people who are doing pallets and truckloads and containers and things like that. I'm seeing people having to pay thousands of dollars more for shipping. Now the funny thing is, what have I been saying for like a year about this FTC case? The FTC case is like full of nonsense that not one Amazon seller could care less about. They think that they were pulling a gotcha on Amazon for this, that and this, and literally they have no clue how Amazon sellers feel, because there are so many other things that Amazon sellers are concerned about, the things that the FTC was trying to like focus in on. However, that being said, for the first time, hey, this is something that is concerning to Amazon sellers, and so it's going to be interesting how this plays out. For the first time, the FTC might actually have something that Amazon sellers are worried about, and so let's see how this investigation pans out.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from your Seller Central dashboard and it's entitled to factor authentication will be required for Seller Central sign in. Some of you guys have that already, but this is going to go in on March 28th and you're going to have to use a mobile number or authenticator app to do it. All right, so this, guys, is is, in my opinion, highly recommended even before March 28th. There's so much like hacking going on out there and password hacking and things like that. I think on most critical websites, especially your Seller Central account, you should have two factor authentication. On matter of fact, you should have two factor authentication on a helium 10. All right, guys, you know the helium 10 always has that available. So if you don't have that on Seller Central or helium 10, go in there, turn on two factor authentication to keep your accounts secure.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Amazon. Now, this was interesting to me because it says everything you need to know about Amazon business, one of Amazon's fastest growing ventures. All right, so I think most of us have known about the Amazon business program, where you can kind of, or businesses who are registered with Amazon, when they shop, they have a little bit different experience. They can get like quantity discounts and just business discounts and they see different things. It actually reached $35 billion of sales in 2023. All right, so this is quite interesting. This article goes on and say more than 6 million customers are now buying on Amazon business. This includes small and medium sized companies, and also Fortune 100 companies use Amazon business, such as Intel and City and John Hopkins University, et cetera. Now if you want to get more information to see, are your listings, are you enrolled in Amazon business? You know what's going on there. Just just going to Seller Central guys and type in Amazon business and you'll go to this dashboard where it talks about the Amazon business Seller program, all right, and has a whole bunch of frequently asked questions, tons of details about the ins and outs of this program. But it's kind of a surprise. It was kind of surprising to me to find out that that is actually one of the fastest growing programs that Amazon has.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is not really an article, just a post from Destaney’s LinkedIn, where she discovered, or her team discovered, a new ad format. All right. So this is something that she says combines the traditional sponsored brand format of showcASINg three ASINS with a custom image, but also layering them in the value out of a store, spotlight add and the sub page navigation and she put here a sample of that where you can see like the different links here in that custom image. So that is going to be interesting if this is going to be rolled out to everybody. Has anybody actually had access to this and been able to test it out? Let me know. In the comments below Last article, something that we have now reported on, I think four years in a row that's how long we've been doing the weekly buzz. Always around this time of year the same little article comes out, just as a reminder. So I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there again.

Bradley Sutton:

By April 15th, guys, you have to remove multiple inventory from Amazon. Now, a funny thing is is when I was typing out, the little ticker that you see here on the side, meltable, doesn't seem to be a word that my spell checker understands, like I always thought meltables are. Anyways, I digress, meltable is a word to Amazon and you should know what your multiple inventory is Heat-sensitive products, you know, chocolate, gummies, jelly and wax based products. You have to get those out from April 15th to October 15th or else Amazon's going to toss it All right. So just make sure to go ahead and take care of that. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

One thing I wanted to give you guys a heads up on is that Kevin King is doing a live strategy session. He hasn't done this in probably over a year from helium 10. It's going to be a live webinar and you guys can actually tune in. H 10.me forward slash Kevin King live. All right, so you can register there. H 10.me forward slash Kevin King live 100% free webinar that he's giving on March 21st, Thursday at 9am. All right, this is so important. I'm going to be doing it at midnight from the Philippines. I'm going to be on the webinar with him and he's going to give such strategies as two proven techniques to make a million dollar main image, seven AI tools Every Amazon seller should be familiar with and a lot more high level strategy. So, regardless what level Amazon seller you are, make sure to register for that workshop. h10.me/kevinkinglive.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and hop into the Helium 10 New Feature Alerts of the week. The first one is a way to make money now with helium 10. Just as a regular user. There's two different ways, all right. The first way is you guys can actually go to your dashboard and on the on the very right hand side where it has your name. Might be hard to see it here on my window, but if you click on your name on the right hand side of helium 10, you're going to see a button that says become an affiliate, all right. So that's, if you have, like a community or you know, YouTube channel and you think you've got people who are, who are following you out there, well, becoming an affiliate, you could get 25% commission for life, all right. So somebody clicks on your ad for helium 10 or a video or a link that you put out for helium 10. They sign up for helium 10. You don't even know who they are. You've never talked to them and you never talked to them again for the rest of your life, four years from now. If they're paying helium 10, a hundred bucks a month, guess what? You're getting a check for $25 every single month for life, all right. So that's a pretty cool thing. There's also, for some reason it's not in my account, but I think most everybody else if you click on that your name you also have something that says refer a friend or something like that, or refer a customer, where it's not an affiliate whole plan. But if you just have, you know, like a buddy who wants to start learning Amazon, you want to get him started. In the freedom ticket program you can get discounts on your own membership by signing people up. So there's two new ways to make money with helium 10 becoming an affiliate or doing the customer referral. So again, check that out on the right hand side of your dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Next update is in our tool inventory management. All right, so something that people have wanted for a long time is the ability to have multiple warehouses, multiple 3PLs A lot of people they have, they don't have or they're not like me, and they have all of their inventory in one warehouse. They might have a East Coast warehouse, a Texas warehouse, a West Coast warehouse. Well, now, if you go to your inventory, you're going to have the ability to add multiple warehouses. So it's right here on your warehouses page, you can add as many as you want and then put the specify the inventory that is in each of those warehouses and then, basically, when you send inventory to Amazon, you choose which warehouse is coming from. The inventory is going to be drawn out from there. So remember, last week we announced that we now have inventory management for all of the European marketplaces. Well, now we have multi warehouse management for this tool. Anything else that you guys would want for inventory management, please let us know.

Bradley Sutton:

Last Helium 10 New Feature Alert is in atomic and it's our day parting schedules now released for all ad types. And then it's also across all of North America, all of Europe and all of Asia. All right, so you can look at your sponsored product, sponsored brand and even sponsored display, heat day parting, like heat maps if you were. So that's like. Here I can see, hey, for my whole account. Oh, my goodness, my a-cost at 3 am Is absolutely abysmal. You know, maybe I want to turn off my ads or lower my bids at that time, but hey, my a-cost at this other time might be pretty good. Maybe I want to increase my bids, maybe I want to pause my bids, maybe I want to increase my budgets. All these things that you want to do, you need to do it based on information, and so what helium 10 is showing you is the performance of your PPC by Time, hour of the day and by day of the week, and even by your Campaign. So make sure to check that out. If you have atomic day parting across all marketplaces, all ad types. All right, let's get into our training tip of the week. There's actually two things you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Thinking about the Amazon fees, I think that a lot of sellers are very conscious about, hey, I need to save pennies wherever I can. I need to know where my money is going. So there's a couple things that I want to show you that every single helium 10 member has, whether you have platinum or diamond, or even if you have the starter plan. All right, so these tools are in profits. Now the first thing I'm going to show you is your expenses, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So did you know that with it, just a couple of clicks, you can find out how much you are paying Amazon per month, like, for example, my FBA fee charge for storage in February last month? I can see right here is a hundred and eleven dollars. That was actually up by forty dollars over the previous month. If I'm wondering which are my products that are getting those storage fees, I just hit that button for the February month and I can see at the ASIN level everything that I am paying storage on. I can see Wow, I got fifty dollars worth of storage for these bat bath mats that I just launched. All right, kind of sucks I shouldn't have, maybe. I'm like why do they have to pay fifty dollars? When I just launched it? You know How's that, but whatever, if I think it's right or wrong, at least I have visibility and I'm not just throwing money at Amazon Without knowing where it's going. All right. So make sure to check that out and then, as you guys might have seen from my workshop last week that, or a few days ago that we did you have a way to automate this where, if you're getting more storage fees or more refunds, things like that, you can actually Automate this alert and have helium 10 let you know that your storage fees are going up. All right, so that's on your insights dashboard. One more thing that is going to help, like when you're launching and help me when I was launching is Are the heat maps inside of helium 10? All right?

Bradley Sutton:

So, for any of your products, if you are just about to launch, you might want to make sure that your inventory is Distributed across the country. So the way you can do that is go down to one of your product tables like I'll go ahead and pull it up here for the bat bath Matt and then you want to hit inventory maps. Okay, and then now you're going to see the map of everywhere where your inventory is, and I can see here. I don't even have any in Texas, maybe they. That seems weird to me. You know Austin has some of the most bats in the world. Why don't they send any inventory to Austin? You know, for for my bat shaped coffin mat, but tons of inventory here in New Jersey, more inventory in Maryland, over here, Utah and Florida, and then I could also see my sales distribution based on certain times of the of the month, or I can look at it at the state level, or in the past week, in the past month, whatever, and I can see wow, okay, I've got a lot of sales in Florida during this couple day time period, so maybe that's why there's they sent so much of my inventory to Florida. So make sure to check out those heat maps.

Bradley Sutton:

Sometimes, when you're launching a product, you want to wait until Amazon distributes that inventory a little bit more evenly across the country, so you might have your maybe listing closed for a couple days until they distribute it more. And then that's when you turn on your PPC. Well, instead of being blind about where Amazon has distributed your inventory or trying to find some hard to find report inside of seller central. Just go into profits. Go into inventory heat maps and see every single warehouse when your inventory is across the country. All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in this week. That's all for the news and feature alerts. Make sure to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Join us on this episode, as we sit down with Jerome de Guigne, a seasoned expert in international business and Amazon marketplace strategies. We take a trip across Jerome's impressive business career, which stretches from France to Luxembourg, and uncover the crucial steps he took to carve a niche in the world of Amazon. Listen in as Jerome lays out the intricate process of aiding brands in scaling their operations and mastering the art of value creation on this global platform.

This conversation also welcomes Jacob McQuoid from Avask and throws light on the hurdles U.S. companies face when stretching their commercial footprint to European shores, such as VAT intricacies, regulatory hoops, and the ever-present language barriers. But it's not a one-way street; European entities eyeing the U.S. market have their fair share of VAT tax complexity to navigate. We bring in perspectives from professionals at firms like Avask and explore tools like Pacvue and Helium 10, providing a lot of insights for Amazon brands planning to cross these transatlantic bridges.

Finally, we touch upon the wisdom of starting small and testing the waters when it comes to international expansion. This approach allows businesses to minimize risks and optimize for market receptivity, a strategy underscored by the shared knowledge from this episode. So whether you're an experienced Amazon seller or new to this realm, this episode is packed with invaluable advice and strategies for taking your Amazon business to new international heights.

In episode 543 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Jerome, and Jacob discuss:

00:01 - Expanding Amazon Sales With European Experts
02:49 - Value Creation Through Amazon Specialization
06:45 - International Expansion Strategies for Amazon Sellers
09:25 - IRS and European Tax Authority Comparison
16:51 - Navigating International Business and Online Presence
20:10 - Navigating VAT and E-Commerce Expansion
22:38 - Understanding VAT for American Sellers
29:39 - US Sellers' VAT Number in Europe
31:08 - Comparing Import Tariffs
35:24 - Starting Small for Market Testing

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Are you a North American seller interested to expand to Amazon Europe, or maybe vice versa? Are you interested in advanced Amazon advertising strategies? Well, today, I went to Germany to interview in person two experts on these topics. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Want to keep up to date with trending topics in the e-commerce world? Make sure to subscribe to our blog. We regularly release articles that talk about things such as shipping and logistics, e-commerce in other countries, the latest changes to Amazon Seller Central, how to get set up on new platforms like New Egg, how to write and publish a book on Amazon KDP and much, much more. Check these articles out at h10.me/blog.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm Bradley Sutton and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Another episode here coming from the opposite side of the world. I'm in Frankfurt, Germany and was able to interview a lot of different people. For the first time on the show, we've got Jerome here. Jerome, welcome.

Jerome:

Thank you very much. I'm super happy to be here and it's nice to see you on this part of the world.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. So you know, like I do with first time guests, we need to find out about you. And this is important too, because, like I don't know much about your back stories. What country in Europe are you from? Germany, France, so I have.

Jerome:

I'm all about going international, so my background is international also. I was born and raised in France but my mom is British. My dad is French. I lived in France but I also lived in Turkey. I lived a bit in Germany, in the UK and now I'm office design Luxembourg. So a lot of different experiences all over the world.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. Now, what did you? Where did you go to university? In what country?

Jerome:

So I went to university mainly in France, so first in the nice city of Grenoble, which is not too far from Lyon. It's in the Alps Mountains, really nice to do like business and management. And then afterwards I did an MBA in a school in Basin Paris but had campuses in Germany and in the UK and also in the States. I did a week in Texas, for example. It was really interesting. So like multinational is really my thing.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent. Now, upon graduation, did you enter right into the business world and what you had studied, or what did you do?

Jerome:

So I went to work two years into the chemical business at that time it was called Atofina Archema. Now, it's like I was helping the head of the subsidiary there. So doing a lot of things, helping on IT topics, on business topics for two years. And then I came back and I worked for 10 years for a Chinese group and that's where I started to work in Luxembourg. And then afterwards, I was looking for a job and couldn't find one. So I said I'll start my own company.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and what was that company?

Jerome:

So at the beginning my idea was say, okay, I want to bring value, because when I did my MBA it was all about okay, how do you create value for your ecosystem? Because value has a price and you know, and then you can sell. So my first idea was to help people expand and grow in terms of sales. But I had been doing a lot of Amazon business in my previous company and like, step by step, I found out that a big pain point for people in Europe at that time so 10 years ago was not understanding Amazon and I said, oh people, it's simple, let me explain to you. So I went into step by step into the Amazon business and that's where we become specialized in Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon is not a typical segue from somebody just coming from the business world. How did you first, just you know, think about that as a good aspect, you know, like Google or friends?

Jerome:

So my background was really distribution, since I was head of Europe and EMEA for this Chinese brand and we were expanding into countries having subsidiaries, having distributors, and so it's about selling right and then I started to work with companies and helping them expand and actually even 10 years ago, the or even more 10 years ago, the fastest way to expand was Amazon and it actually really started when a German brand I knew from before told me okay, take care of the international distribution of our brand, which was binoculars, and I said, okay, well, you know, the best way is really Amazon and that's where we really started to go there. So we mostly started from vendor background because bigger brands were working on vendor and now we have probably 70% seller, 30% vendor in terms of people we help.

Bradley Sutton:

So what about you? During this time, were you selling on Amazon yourself as well?

Jerome:

So I never sold on Amazon myself. I was always selling in the name of a company and, like I said, I started as a vendor, so selling to Amazon rather than selling on Amazon, and I've been helping a lot of sellers but never sold myself. Help friends. But, yeah, never went into it. It's a bit of a dream at some point to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

For your agency for the last few years, are you focused on any particular aspect of Amazon or like PPC, for example, or it's A to Z? What is your focus on? What you help sellers with?

Jerome:

It's very much A to Z we focus. We've got three main topics we focus on. One is global expansion, so it's helping anyone to go from Europe to the US, from US to Europe to US to Japan, to anywhere in the world, and it's really whatever they need. That's the first thing we focus on. The second thing is retail media. It's one of the big topics we do is like how do we help them expand better thanks to retail media. So advertising, PPC, DSP, AMC, whatever there is. And the last thing is technology.

Jerome:

So we're not a SaaS company but we use a lot of tools. So Helium 10 is one, Pacvue is another one. We also partner with SalSify, for example, on the PIM side, and we have built our own dashboard. So those three topics Global Expansion, Retail Media, technology are three topics we're very focused on and we try to help people through those different things. So it's really, for me, it's A to Z especially in those aspects. So anybody, for example, we've started to sell on our own accounts for brands who can't sell. So for me, it's like an additional. We're not really a distributor, but if a brand can't sell themselves, it's okay. We'll set up a seller account and we have one in the US. We have a seller account in Europe and we have one in India also, for example. So anyone who wants to expand in any way, we are here to help them.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's talk about the first thing you mentioned about the international expansion. I mean, there's probably 35 different combinations you can have. You know, Japanese person selling on America, European person selling in Japan, a person from Dubai selling in Mexico, you know, etc. etc. Let's talk about some of the more common ones. Probably the most common for our listeners would be I'm a US-based company doing pretty well. Now I want to get started in Europe because that's the second and third biggest marketplaces, UK and Germany. The thing the elephant in the room for a lot of people is like oh my goodness, VAT and things like that. So what are some of the main obstacles and maybe difficult things to navigate for an American company who wants to get started in Europe?

Jerome:

Great question. For me, the three things. The first thing is regulations and taxes. Regulations. So the thing is like am I allowed to sell those products in Europe? We're talking with a supplements brand, for example, in the States, and it's like okay, the way you talk probiotics, for example, or can you have that keyword on your listing all of that? So that's a first hurdle. We today were speaking with AVASK and AVASK is a great partner. We partner with to deliver, like VAT services and also help on regulation.

Jerome:

The second thing is languages. Obviously, you need to have a great service and you need to have great content for the local people and that's something we are partnering also with a company, YLT Yanak Krekic, who's delivering great service, for example. So typically, we create a hub of people we work with. And the third part is logistics, supply chain. It's like, okay, how do we? Will you get your products to Europe? Like, will you have a warehouse in Holland? Will you go directly to FBA? Who will be your importer of record? That also we work with AVASK and some logistics company. So, even before going into advertising, content and everything, you've got those three things as regulation, translations, in a sense and supply chain.

Bradley Sutton:

What are some of the steps that somebody needs to take as far as the basics that everybody needs to do? Like you know, there are some things that are kind of like nice to have. There's some things that are need to have. For example, let's talk, you know, let's talk about the need to have for getting started in Europe. I don't need to form a company in Europe. I can use my US company, but I need to. What something that everybody has to do? Is it the VAT register for VAT?

Jerome:

Yeah. So one thing you can't. Well, same way as in the US you can't play around with IRS, right, and in Europe you can't play around with the tax authority. So VAT is a must and my recommendation is that, typically, Amazon tends to underplay and when they sell the service of expansion, they tend sometimes to be a bit optimistic about the simplicity of VAT. It's not that simple, it's not over complicated, but you need to speak with people who know this stuff. AVASK is a great example of people who really know this stuff. So that's the one thing you need to be set up in at least one country. I don't know, we want to go in all the details, but you need at least one country. Best is to be listed in or having VAT in every countries in Europe but you need at least one to be legal and compliant.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's do the opposite. I'm a European based company. I want to sell in the biggest marketplace in the world Amazon, USA. You know, I know like way in the old days and now on Walmart, you know, actually still for in some situations you do have to have like a US corporation, but nowadays I can. You know, I'm registered in Germany. I can go ahead and register as an individual or as a person. What are some things that I, absolutely, have to do that are in obstacle to some Europeans for selling in USA?

Jerome:

So our assumption as Europeans that everything is simple in the US and generally doing business in the US is much easier than in Europe. Like you have much less regulations, there's less hurdles. Now on the tax side, it's still quite complicated and as a European, I had to learn okay to navigate that. Because you can have a company in the States, in one state who's like, its addresses one state but if most of your sales is in another state, the other state where you're doing the sales might say no, no, I want you to pay your taxes where you're doing your turnover. Or if you have employees, it will start say no, then there's a fight between the different states.

Jerome:

For us in within one country, that doesn't happen. Like if I'm living France, you won't have the south of France trying to fight for you to pay your taxes and south of France doesn't make sense. Yes, so this you have to learn. So here again, you need to speak to the professionals, because taxes, you can't play around with and it's once you've understood, you've understood it or you have someone doing it for you it really goes smoothly. It's also that in some states in the US the tax accuration is automated between Amazon and the states, but in other states it's not. So it's like navigating that and understanding that is a bit complicated and if you're not an accountant, you'd rather work with someone who's a specialist and we work a lot with, like AVASK, for example, or specialists who will help you navigate that. So for me, it's focus on what you're good at and try to outsource what you're less good at to make sure you don't make mistakes.

Bradley Sutton:

What are you using Pacvue for? For your clients and maybe you know, some people out there might be wondering what kind of amazon seller or large corporate or large company might have use for Pacvue as opposed to Helium 10. So what are you using now Pacvue for?

Jerome:

So I think, we probably started to work with Pacvue and Helium 10 both the same time, a long time ago. So I think we started in 2019. I think, the first agency in Europe using Pacvue. Basically, we were looking for a tool and what I did is I asked the teams. I said I don't want to take the decision. I wanted the really the users to audit the different tools and decide which one they wanted to work with. And they decided to work with, at that time, to with Pacvue.

Jerome:

What we did is there's a lot of rules on a lot of features sorry on Pacvue, for example, rules to like improve your campaigns and as an agency, you've got you know 50, 70, 100 brands you work with. So you have a lot of campaigns and you have to have rules which help you optimize. You can't be checking every campaigns all the time. So you have rules really helping you optimize things. So we've been using Helium 10 from day one also to understand the market, make research, and we've used Pacvue really to optimize campaigns and do a better job in terms of advertising for our customers.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you using Pacvue for non-Amazon platforms at all?

Jerome:

Yeah, so we've started to go on Walmart, for example, in the US. So we are using Pacvue on Walmart on the platforms in Europe. Not all of them are linked on Pacvue because some of them are smaller. So it really depends. But on the major, we try to use Pacvue, as much as possible, because it's our sort of system of record today in the company.

Bradley Sutton:

And Helium 10, what is your team using Helium 10 like? What particular tools or what kind of strategies are you guys using?

Jerome:

So they are using it every day, I would say. So they are checking on the consulting side. Our consultants are checking, like the Market Tracker, for example, or the keyword researchers, like, example, when you were saying, okay, should we go into a new market? Okay, let's see what. You know how many researchers are done on the brand or on the type of product. Then the teams are also working when they're doing their SEO, like checking, you know, keywords and backing keywords and also campaign keywords. They checking all of the tools.

Jerome:

For me, Helium 10 is amazing because each time I go, it's like, wow, there's so many tools and I feel like there's a new one each time. So I have a hard time keeping track of all of them but I know they're using it daily to really on one or the other bit to improve things altogether. And because we have a content team, we have an advertising team, we have a consulting team, an analytics team, they check different things, each of them for different purposes and Helium 10 has always been amazing to me, like the amount of wealth and value they provide on so many things and that's as a day, as I said, a day to day tool we use.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent. Now what kind of, you know, strategy help that can you give to our users? We usually ask our guests like, hey, give us a tip or a strategy. You know it could be about international expansion, could be about PPC, could be about health, could be about which French football team to follow. Anything that you want to talk about. What some strategies you can give our listeners?

Jerome:

So, yeah, I'm not a big soccer man so I won't go there because I might embarrass myself. No, the thing I typically say when you talk about global expansion is there's a lot of potential but there's a lot of hurdles. So probably you want to start small or start focused. So if you're in the US and you want to go into Europe, maybe you start in Germany and or in the UK because language is easier. Just make a proof of concept, go there, be successful and then start to expand. Because if you start to go in six, five, six, seven countries, then you have five, six, seven campaigns to build, translations to do. There's a lot of work.

Jerome:

So probably do one, show that you can be successful in one of the European countries and then expand. Same in the US, you probably don't want to maybe take all of your catalog and take a smaller part of the catalog, make sure you're successful and then expand. So for me it's like start small and grow from there. Learn, try to learn. Because international we're talking about earlier with other people today is like, you know, we say they're saying culture eats strategy at breakfast is like cultural things are very strange, like what happens how customer behaviors are different. So get used to it and to start with something and build on it.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it, alright. Now, one way I know people can find and reach out to your company is if you go to hub.helium10.com type in E-C-O-M-A-S. Is that right? What are other ways that people can find you, your company, on the interwebs out there?

Jerome:

So we're very vocal on LinkedIn and the team produces a lot of content on retail media on the street topics like retail media, technology and global expansion, so we do try to share as much as possible with everyone. I was honored to be named one of the Amazon Retail Media Advertising Ambassadors, so one of our job is really to share as much content as possible on advertising specifically and one of the advice I gave it was about globalization. If I talk about retail media is like AMC. Amazon marketing cloud is one thing which today is open. Really, if you're doing DSP and PPC, hopefully tomorrow it will open to PPC also only. I would really recommend people to look into it. This is giving you advice, like learnings, which will get you to the next level in terms of advertising.

Bradley Sutton:

What is the first thing that somebody just getting into DSP or AMC? What is the first thing they should maybe if they're just getting their feet wet?

Jerome:

So one feature, for example, which is already in Pacvue, which is day parting with AMC you will get even more granular information, a bit like with Facebook. You will know we've run some studies for some of our brands where you get information on the persona, like who is buying your products, like is it you know male, what age, what location, and then you can tailor your messaging, your content, everything you're doing, to really focus on that target customer you have. So that's one example and there's many others you can bring on AMC. We're just starting and people are just starting to get like insights from it. So for me, it's like get first, get into it, and it's not super easy so there's a bit of a barrier to entry. So, once again, either you can, you have got enough knowledge to go in yourself or ask for people for support, and there's a lot of great people. We can help. But there's a lot of great people on AMC which can really help you. Pacvue, for example, has got embedded some AMC features already. So I really look into it because that will be a game changer and for me, like they will probably be a change of like a crossroads people getting into it and who will win? And the others lagging behind.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Well, thank you so much for coming on and hopefully, see you on my side of the pond next time.

Jerome:

Indeed, thank you very much.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So our next guest is one of the hosts for today from AVASK. We're in AVASK, Frankfurt office. This is not your main office. I believe the main office is in London.

Jacob:

Southampton, so it's about an hour south of London.

Bradley Sutton:

We're here in Frankfurt, Germany. And this is Jacob, who I met originally in Korea, spoke at an event that I did over there. And what is your title here?

Jacob:

So I'm the head of business development and commercial services, so responsible for client acquisition. You know have a team based here in Germany, in UK, in Spain and in Italy. So we're supporting, consulting clients, helping them expand.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, how did you get into the e-commerce world? Like, what's your backstory? What did you? Where did you go to university? What did you study? And then your entry into the job world.

Jacob:

Okay. So in terms of studying, I actually did Creative Media in college and then just directly went into working straight from there. So I started as an Account Manager for a finance company and then transitioned to AVASK. I've been here for five years. So that's the kind of a short background but yeah, been at the company for a good amount of time now.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, last time we had somebody from AVASK was Melanie, was on maybe, probably almost three years now ago. There's some people who might not know about you guys. So you know elevator pitch with an amazon seller and elevator. How do you tell them what you guys do?

Jacob:

Yeah, so we help people expand cross-border, so getting to different markets and try and make it as frictionless as possible. Kind of the biggest area for us and kind of the one we've been working in the longest is Europe. So supporting US sellers, you know, Chinese sellers, European sellers, sell all around Europe but that's not it. But like kind of in a nutshell, that's our main service, but essentially we help people get into different markets and make it as frictionless as possible.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so now you know, we just had Jerome on a couple minutes before you. He talked about some of the you know things that people need to be concerned about going from US to Europe, vice versa, maybe going to another marketplace. And he mentioned you guys too. So let's talk a little bit more in the weeds. About some of the you know, like this is what I call the unsexy side of e-commerce. You know the sexy side is PPC and Keyword Research and finding new products and developing your brand. The unsexy side is stuff that actually is arguably even more important, you know, getting your taxes in order and your business entity. So we touched a little bit with Jerome about the VAT and things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

But let's, let's dig into it because, like me, it just I've never sold. I've never done VAT here myself in Europe, and it's for a lot of, you know, US base sellers, like it's kind of like this monster of a thing that we have to worry about. Like, do I need to get it in every country? Do I have to report to every single country? Is it only if I am at a certain level of sale? So you are very familiar with what American sellers probably need to be educated on as far as this goes. So just take it away and let us know what we need to know about VAT in Europe to start, I would say, there's a bit of a, especially in the us.

Jacob:

I've been at the company for five years. Especially now over the last few years, has been a lot more regulation introduced in Europe. So when I first started at the company, there was a lot more US sellers who were interested in expanding because there was less regulation and people weren't as advised. But governments have caught up a little bit. There was a lot of that fraud so people weren't actually paying VAT. And that's not just you know American sellers, that, sellers from all over the world. But now marketplaces are Amazon a lot more regular, regulated, so they have to enforce it. So it stops people from wanting to expand. You know a lot of Americans they say, okay, VAT, how do I do of that? Okay, they don't worry about it, and I think that's quite a lot of the story in America.

Jacob:

For a lot of clients that I've spoken to, essentially VAT, like the system that we have in Europe, and in lots of other places as well, is completely different to the US system. Obviously, the US system, you have tax added on at checkout so you only have to worry about pricing your product and then in the majority of places, i.e. Amazon, and they're going to add the tax on, whereas here in Europe, you are responsible for adding the tax. So when you're listing your product, so you know, if you create a new listing and you need to make sure you include VAT. So I've had lots of customers who want to expand into Europe. They've gone for it. They didn't consider that the VAT would be part of the price that they actually put on the listing. And then you know, a month later, two months later, they've got the VAT bill and they have to pay that and they hadn't actually priced it into the product.

Bradley Sutton:

So like you're saying, like the buy box price should indicate it or it needs to be, it's separate?

Jacob:

No, it's just inclusive. So like, if you list your product for 24 pounds, for example in the UK, that 24 pounds is inclusive of the VAT. That's not going to add any VAT at the end.

Bradley Sutton:

What is the approximate VAT?

Jacob:

So for the UK, it’s 20%.

Bradley Sutton:

So that means if I've got a product that I'm selling for the equivalent of 25 dollars, let's just say, I need to make that at least like 30, 31, 32 dollars, to include that VAT, because that's what I'm going to end up paying the government.

Jacob:

Yeah, exactly. So you have to look at the net price. So 25 dollars add to the 20 percent, so add another five dollars to get it to 30. And then out of that 30 dollar sale, once it's converted, the portion which was the five dollars would be paid to the government and the rates are there or there about. So like we're here in Germany right now, the rate here in Germany is 19% so slightly different, but there are there abouts.

Bradley Sutton:

Now in America, you know, after three years ago or so, we have the Marketplace Facilitator Rax. You know, like that was a huge headache before, where people didn't know in America. Like, all right, I live in California, I know I got to pay California Sales Tax, but you know, do I have a Nexus or whatever we call it in all the different states. And then Amazon's like or actually all online marketplaces were like there's some law passed or something where it's like, all right, you guys are the ones who have to collect it. Now we as Amazon sellers, hopefully we don't have to. That's what I've been doing. We don't have to worry anything about it. We don't add it to our price or anything. The customer is paying for it but Amazon collects it. They remit it. Now in Europe, what it sounds like number one, we do have to add it to the price, as you just said. And also, Amazon is not remitting that. I've got to hold on to that money.

Jacob:

And then so previously that would have been correct. But as of a couple of years ago, Amazon and now and marketplaces are responsible for collecting and remitting VAT for non-European and non-EU sellers in the EU. You still need to price it so, like in that example we had, that was $30. That $5 would actually be deducted from you and be paid to the government on your behalf. However, you still need to report all of those sales via VAT returns in different countries where you've got different liability, like similar to Nexus. Nexus means you've got a liability, basically. You'll have to get a VAT number when you have a liability and you can create different liabilities and free different kinds of means, but the actual money will be deducted and paid by Amazon but you still have to report it.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's at least one burden off. And then now is Amazon withholding that from your disbursement? Then each two weeks?

Jacob:

Yeah. So that would get completely withheld. So Amazon should be withholding it and then paying it on your behalf.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Scenario A, I plan to open in all European marketplaces plus UK. So UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, et cetera, et cetera. How many VATs am I needing to register for?

Jacob:

Depends. So you've got options. So with Amazon, you've got options for how you can actually use the FBA system. So, like obviously, in US, you send to a single FBA center. You have no control over where they're good to go. Amazon can transfer them to different warehouses. It's one country. It's lots of different states, lots of different tax laws, but it is one country, whereas with Europe you've got many different countries. So UK, we separated from the European Union the free flow of moving goods essentially. So whenever good to travel from UK to EU, they need to go through official borders. So customs checks, there needs to be paperwork, there needs to be declarations, et cetera. A lot of sellers now treat the UK separately and they just have their own separate supply chain directly into the UK. You need a VAT number there as a US seller so you can store your products there and sell your products, whereas in Europe, for FBA purposes, you've got options.

Jacob:

Amazon have their main fulfillment centers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. You can select which ones you want to have your goods in. Whichever country you decide, you allow Amazon to store. You've got an Enable Infantry Replacement on a Seller Central so you can disable and enable. If it's enabled, you have to have a VAT number because Amazon store your products there and that's creating a Nexus. Essentially, you create a liability. You've got to have a VAT number there.

Jacob:

So you could just start with one for the EU and you can list your products. So you could say right, I'm going to store my products in Germany, I'm going to list them in Italy, I'm going to list them in France, I'm going to list them in Spain, but they will all be fulfilled from Germany. Now the pitfall to doing that is Amazon charges you a significantly larger fee for fulfillment. So whenever I speak to sellers as long as they understand that because I've got people who you know they only want to get the one VAT number, because getting six or seven or however many you need to get is complicated and it means a lot of paperwork et cetera to get set up but at the same time, they don't quite realize the Amazon fees that you get charged. And I've come across cases where, yeah, it was an extra three or 4,000 pounds to get the VAT numbers but they ended up spending extra 40,000 pounds in fulfillment fees. So, like understanding, that's quite clear, but you can start off with not too many, which makes it easier for sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of American sellers are very familiar with rough costs of like tariffs and importing custom duties from China to the United States. Some have more. That's why you know maybe some people are moving their factory to India or other places. How does it compare, though, because most I would say 90% of Amazon sellers are probably manufacturing their products in China or India? How does the custom duties and tariffs compare on a percentage wise importing to the US as opposed to importing to Europe? Are there differences between like UK and EU?

Jacob:

Yeah. Depending on the products, the UK and EU used to have the same tariffs because of the UK separation. We've got the UK Global Trade Tariff and EU's got what's called the TARIC system. The rates for those two systems I would say probably 99% of the same and that will change over the course of time, but it wasn't going to all change immediately. There is some differences but you might find certain products have much higher rates in Europe. So you also get anti-dumping duty.

Jacob:

I'm not too sure if there is anti-dumping duty in the US, but this can be products that might be damaging to the environment or harmful to the environment so they put the rates up really high. But understanding it before you actually start shipping the products is easy to do. As long as you've got the right people to do it. You can understand the rates, understand if there's a difference between the rate. One thing you do need to be careful of, especially as a US-based business, not just US as a non-EU-based business, the particular country we're in right now, Germany the way that they look at imports for non-EU-based companies is sometimes different to an EU-based company. So I've had a lot of clients who they've imported stock directly from their supplier in China or in India into Germany, and the German customs office have revalued that stock. So instead of using the transactional value, so the cost of your products, the insurance and the freight, say €10,000, they've looked at it and they've taken the retail price and then minus Amazon fees, minus VAT, so to say 60% of retail, which then that 10,000 does end up getting to 50,000, and then they've been charged 5% on the 50,000 instead of 10,000, so suddenly you've got five extra costs. So that's something to look out for and be aware of, because I've seen it happen quite a few times.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, before we get into your last strategy of the day, just as a reminder, if this is all overwhelming to you, it's not something that you just can't ignore and pretend that it's not there. It's stuff that you have to take care of if you're doing cross-border or getting into new marketplaces. If you guys want to reach out to AVASK, the easiest way to remember to contact them just go to hub.helium10.com and then just type in AVASK, A-V-A-S-K right there inside there you can have the portal. There might be some specials depending on your level of Helium 10 membership that you might have available to you. Other ways that people can find you guys on the interwebs out there.

Jacob:

Yeah, so all the general means like LinkedIn, Instagram or just avaskgroup.com, so A-V-A-S-K group.com, and yeah, you can contact us directly for those means.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Now what's your last, you know, something I like to ask some guests is like a 30 or 60 second tip or strategy, that it could be about any topic you've talked about today.

Jacob:

Yeah, okay. So I would say, first of all, do consider Europe, but maybe take it slow, because there's a lot of red tape and there's a lot of history with American sellers in Europe and people getting stung by governments because of certain situations that happened in the past. Things are different now, so there's a lot more regulation that makes it easier for sellers to make sure they're doing the right thing, but it also puts more barriers to entry. You can start small. Like I said, you don't have to go for all of the countries. Start small with one.

Start looking at the other countries, so like if you wanted to start in Germany, what are the biggest markets? Open your listings in the other markets and see if you start getting sales trickle in and then kind of make targeted decisions based on where you start to see growth. And that's what I think is good because we get a lot of people that are like right, I need to go for everything, I need to go for it straight away. Some cases really good, some cases they don't get the sales they expect and then they have to attract. So, depending on your position, obviously, would depend on what you decided to do, but if you're just considering it, you're not sure. Try that way because you're limiting your exposure in terms of compliance. You can start off small, your costs are lower and you can just see how the market goes.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright. Well, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and thank you for hosting us here for our first onsite podcast here in Germany and our AVASK and Helium 10 Elite event, and maybe we'll be seeing you at a future conference again.

Jacob:

Thanks, Bradley.

View Details

They say the best businesses are built on the foundations of friendship, and that's exactly what Samuel Loo and Singchuen Chiam, childhood pals, prove with their journey from elementary school to dominating the matcha scene on Amazon. Their tale is not just about the green goodness of matcha but a story of two friends who took divergent paths—law and business—only to converge into a powerhouse duo. With Sam's sharp legal acumen and Sing's Alibaba experience finesse, they've brewed up Naoki Matcha, a brand that resonates with quality and customer delight, nurturing it from a side hustle to a multi-million dollar success.

Our conversation steers through the meticulous craft of standing out in a saturated market, with Sam and Sing revealing their three-year grind to perfecting their matcha blend. They share the trials of juggling full-time jobs while planting the seeds for Naoki Matcha, a testament to their enduring patience and entrepreneurial spirit. Their business acumen shines as they discuss the potency of Amazon PPC in propelling their revenue growth, and the strategic decision to maintain a premium on their product—ensuring Naoki Matcha is not just another tea on the shelf, but a premium experience for the discerning consumer.

As we wrap up, the future of Naoki Matcha gleams with potential, from its lean operational approach to its plans for product diversification and international expansion. Their story isn't just an inspiration for Amazon FBA sellers and matcha aficionados but to anyone with entrepreneurial dreams, demonstrating that with the right blend of passion and strategy, even the smallest idea can grow into a thriving E-commerce empire. Join us as we toast to the success of Sam and Sing, and keep an eye on your social media feeds—you might just catch the upcoming viral sensation of Bradley Sutton’s matcha flan!

In episode 542 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Samuel, and Singchuen discuss:

00:00 - Childhood Friends Start Successful Matcha Business
08:35 - Exploring Opportunities With Macha Tea
11:33 - Journey to Success
14:50 - Product Growth From Gradual to Significant
20:46 - Brand Growth Through Market Analysis
21:26 - Strategic Growth of Naoki Matcha Brand
24:37 - Matcha Market Segmentation and Competition
28:56 - Success in their Amazon Business
30:15 - Amazon PPC Advertising Strategy Effectiveness
33:37 - Matcha Success Story and Plans For Future Growth

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today, we've got two childhood best friends from elementary school who linked up as adults and started a matcha Amazon business that now does millions of dollars a year. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Black Box by Helium 10 houses the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself, we have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me/blackbox. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we are going to the opposite side of the world today, to I believe they're in Singapore, and it's funny because the way they were introduced to me by Crystal and somebody else from Amazon she was like oh yeah, I want you to meet the Macha Bros, but I don't think that's their official name, so I'll let you guys go ahead and introduce yourselves to our audience. This is the first time we'll be on the show

Sam:

Sure. So my name is Sam and this is my business partner, Singchuen. We're not actually brothers, but we work together quite closely on a business that we started together. Our business is called Naoki matcha and, as the name suggests, we sell matcha green tea powder in the United States, in the United Kingdom and in Singapore.

Bradley Sutton:

You know what I've known you, of you or about you? I literally thought you guys were blood brothers entire time, not just because of that name, and so I've already learned something new. I literally thought, you guys were.

Sam:

No, no. We get that a lot. We get that a lot.

Bradley Sutton:

Brothers from other mothers.

Sam:

Yes, I think we can go with that, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, hold on now. Let's you know like I already learned something new, so let's just take it. Take it way back, both of you born and raised in Singapore.

Sam and Singchuen:

Yep.

Bradley Sutton:

How did you guys meet? Did you meet like some story, like you met in university, or how did you guys meet each other?

Singchuen:

Sam and I met oh, this is Singchuen, by the way, so I'm the business partner. Sam and I met in primary school, so we have known each other for quite a long time.

Bradley Sutton:

So that is a good story, all right. And then you just went to that. You went to the same one, or? Or you just met in the neighborhood, or what?

Sam:

We went to the same one and we actually were in the same school so like 10 years, and then our paths kind of diverged for a little while. But we reconnected in university because we were both interested in like business and entrepreneurship and I think that's how it kind of like reconnected and we started exploring different things and that's how we started working together again.

Bradley Sutton:

What did both of you major in in university?

Singchuen:

I studied business and Sam, he was actually a lawyer.

Sam:

Yeah, I studied law at university.

Bradley Sutton:

Upon graduation, did both of you guys go into that field that you had studied law and business?

Singchuen:

I guess in a sense that because we started a business, business would be quite relevant. But in that in another, in another complete sense, it wasn't really that relevant because the things that you studied in school were geared to get you a role in a company, so it wasn't very practical. But the concepts, they were useful.

Sam:

Yeah, so after graduation I did practice law for like a couple of years and then, while doing this business, and then at the end of the two years, I realized that, like you know there was I had two opportunities and like this one kind of showed itself to be a bit more, have more potential, so I left the law and I went into e-commerce.

Bradley Sutton:

Who discovered e-commerce first? Was it you, Sam?

Sam:

Yeah. So I think I really found out about this opportunity on Amazon and FBA the ability to like sell in another country that is not yours. I think back in like 2015-2016 this is like early days, right but at that point in time I was still like a university student at Seoul 6th year, so we really didn't have like the kind of resources that we needed to really tackle this, this, this opportunity, right. So we spent some time like learning about how to approach it and we only really launched it like late 2016 and from then we went on our careers. We kind of like grew it slowly along the way and then after a few years, we realized that okay, the time is right, this is a good time to go all in.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So in 2016 you guys had reconnecting, like, hey, let's do something together while still having day jobs at that time.

Singchuen:

Yeah, exactly, Sam was a lawyer. I actually worked in e-commerce as well. I worked in Alibaba for quite a number of years, so it helped that I could bring a certain kind of context to how the Amazon platform worked, and so we decided to start this sort of like to see where this would be going, because it was exciting, it was an opportunity and we always wanted to have our own business. So that was sort of like the paradigm in which we started off on.

Bradley Sutton:

And so at the time in 2016, when you first just started dabbling in e-commerce, it sounds like you weren't all in. Was it matcha that you got into? Was that your first thing, or was it other things?

Sam:

Yeah, so when we first started, we started, as most people do, with like a search query on Alibaba.com. The first products we actually sold were like these glass teapots, so we realized that they were not too bad to sell. Actually, we reached like five figures in multi-revenue by like within a year, but we met the same problems that I think a lot of people encounter, which is that after a while, people see that you're somewhat successful and then they'll try to launch a complicated product and therefore, when we found that happened to us and we found it very difficult to grow, so we really were like scratching our heads to think about like what other types of products or categories that we could do, and that's why we landed on matcha.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so when you landed on matcha, were you still working your day jobs, or by that time you were all in on Amazon already?

Sam:

No, we were still working out day jobs because for matcha category and the grocery category we found that, like you know, it's not so much of like a quick win kind of situation. You need to invest the time and energy and you need to have quite a lot of patience before your results actually bear fruit, and for us that took actually a number of years because you need to kind of like build your credibility and gain experience in what you're selling as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Are we still talking 2016? Are we already now in 2017 in the timeline, or where are we at when you guys decided matcha?

Sam:

Right. So in 2016, we dabbled in matcha and then we spent the next two years essentially trying to improve the product and better understand the category and the product market fit as it is in the US, and we took like a couple of years to do that properly, and I think it was only about 2020, you know, right after COVID hit, when we realized that, okay, the product is good, we have a good product that can stand up against the other competitors in the space, and you're going to go all in and grow this thing.

Singchuen:

On the side of this, because our matcha green tea is from Japan and there was a requirement I want to say it's a hard requirement, but there is an understanding that in order to get the good product in Japan, especially from suppliers, you kind of need to cultivate the relationship a little bit and take some time for them to trust you. And so it's not as though, as we didn't want the best product right in 2016. Number one it's not. It's a learning process, right, especially when what the market is telling you of a certain kind of taste that they prefer. But it's also bringing back those requirements to the suppliers and the factories to let them know this is the taste that we want and, barring communication barriers, there's still that they need to feel, feel each other out to exactly ascertain what we're looking for. And that took quite a bit more time than what you would be doing on Alibaba.

Bradley Sutton:

That's what has been curious. This is not something you would just like find on Alibaba. So where did the like, how did you guys land on matcha? Was it something you guys just liked? Was it because you were doing tea cups and you just like it was a side thing? Like how in the world? Or did you find it in Helium 10? Or how in the world did you say you know what? I think there's opportunity in matcha. Let's go ahead and examine this further.

Singchuen:

In Singapore, generally we are exposed to Japanese culture quite a little bit already, but more closely, I guess it's also because I liked green tea. So at the point of time I didn't drink a lot of matcha, but I knew about it. So we explored that as a potential item to try to sell and in a sense it checked all the other boxes as well right. Whether it is for the economics, the logistics, the business, fit, branding, pricing. And that's how we started off on like taking the first step.

Sam:

I think also at that point in time this is like 2015, 2016, right, I think matcha was just beginning to get popular in the US. So, yeah, that's when I think the craze started, right. So I think we were also at like the right time in the right place and we realized that, you know, we could marry like our interests and the market opportunity in front of us, and that's how we really landed on matcha.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't have any matcha shirts or anything, but you mentioned like Japanese culture. So I got my Astro Boy jacket here. I got my old school Japanese Tokyo Giants hat here. You know, I used to live in Japan when I was younger and and that was why you know, like matcha is not exactly a natural thing for an American person to like, but I kind of liked it. Before it was cool and now, now, like you said, it's just like booming. Everybody's like, hey, matcha, you know you can go to Starbucks and get matcha, this and you can get matcha, and you know non Asian markets, which before it was different. So that was, you know, a little bit of foresight. Now, when you first started with the matcha, you know you had said, until then you were doing dabbling in other things, were you profitable on the Amazon side? Or, up to that point, you still hadn't made profit in the first year or so of your Amazon business.

Singchuen:

We tended to search for products that were more profitable on the first sale. So in that sense, the first products that we went to more like glass cups, g-ports, things like that they were already profitable. So it's not as though, as we were dabbling in things that were really difficult to do, low priced or otherwise.

Bradley Sutton:

Your first matcha product that you launched? Was that the one that was successful, or did it take a couple of tries before things really started taking off?

Sam:

Well, I think it is still the first product that we launched, but what we had to do was tweak the formulation over the years several times and each time we're trying to improve it and fine tune it to better suit, like the feedback that we were getting. So it is the same product, it looks the same, but they're always like tweaks over the years and this kind of like helps build that, I guess, average review score. That goes up because, like you know, you're getting closer to what people like with each iteration.

Bradley Sutton:

To find that like perfect blend and everything. You kind of mentioned it and I know this about your history. So can you talk a little bit about, like we just said, this wasn't something. Oh, let me find something in Alibaba, let me just put my sticker on it. How did you look for I don't even want to call it factories, but producers of matcha in Japan like we said, it's not on Alibaba and then talk about the long process of? Actually, I believe you would fly to Japan and meet different places and try things. Talk about that long process how long did it take and what were the steps involved in that.

Singchuen:

At the start, we asked for samples from willing factories and once we tasted them and we realized that this was something that could be in a ball pack of what's considered as good tasting to the market, we would ask the supplier whether they are willing to sell us a certain volume of matcha. So there are several factories in Japan that do just green tea, and their idea was sort of branch out to selling matcha as well, because there was where the growing market was, and these were the factories that were more suitable for us to go into, and once we spoke to them their experience with matcha may not be the best at the point of time, mind you, but they were willing to work with us and over a period of time, once we let them know exactly what we're looking for and they were willing to tweak to our preferences, that's when we got a good fit and from then, as our volume started going up, more and more, various factories started.

Bradley Sutton:

Until that part, though. How long was that? Were we talking a month? Were we talking multiple months?

Singchuen:

No, that actually took quite a long time. I think about three years at least so around 2016 to 2019,. On the marketing side, Sam was trying to define a market fit, but on the supply side, we were just trying to make sure that factories produce what we needed and the trust and formulation. That takes a while.

Bradley Sutton:

How can somebody have that kind of patience? That's very rare, not just in matcha industry, but just Amazon or business industry to have that kind of patience to you know to like, hey, I'm spending two or three years to get this right. Like, is that just in your nature or what's going on there?

Singchuen:

To be fair, I think we were not so much in a hurry, just to share a little bit. Personally, it's a little bit more of we always wanted to get a business eventually, but the timeline wasn't so important. We weren’t in a rush. Sam, as Sam has mentioned just now, both of us had decent careers, so we were optimizing on that front as well and we're happy to wait.

Bradley Sutton:

Like you said, you still had your day jobs, you know, for a time. So it wasn't like you know, like you were about to go out of business and I think that's important. You know, like people sometimes just like, all right, I'm going to quit my job before they even have like a viable business and that's what you know. That's not going to allow somebody to have the patience. That's interesting. Now, at what point in this three years did you finally have like a product just start taking off? And was it just random, like it was just one day that it started going viral and never looked back? Or was this something where it was like, all right, you know, over a few months you were selling 10 units a day, then 15 units, then 20, was it a gradual thing? Or when did what? Was that moment where it's like, oh shoot, we got this right and this is going to take off.

Sam:

Yeah, I think it was really like a gradual process. But that point for us, I think, when the old shoot moment, I think, was when we realized that, like the monthly sales for this Macha product alone was quite significant and this was enough to basically sustain ourselves, number one and number two provide a good base and recurring cash flow to kind of grow the business from there. Yeah, and this was really about, like you know, as I said, 2020, mid 2020, early to mid 2020, after COVID started, where we realized that, hey, this thing has snowballed into something quite significant. So it was really a gradual process.

Bradley Sutton:

If you can recall either of you, what was your sales the year before, in 2019, when you were still just dabbling in Macha and maybe still had some of the other products?

Sam:

I would say that it was like maybe like six figures a year, low six figures a year, and then, okay, yeah, we was at that point in time. We were, we were often optimistic about, about close to doubling each year. So that was, that was where we were at.

Bradley Sutton:

And then. So at that point, obviously still working full time jobs. And then it was at 2020, when it took off, and then you quit in 2020, your jobs or you still, even though it started taking off, you still were working your full time.

Sam:

I wouldn't say it took off right. It was just at that point in time with, like, the good momentum that like we know that there's some something to stand on. So that was when we decided, okay, time to go all in. And then we know that the product was ready. And then we started doubling down on marketing in order to kind of know that, you know, this optimized product is available to everyone. And then that's how we kind of grew from there.

Bradley Sutton:

What kind of marketing? I mean, obviously Amazon PPC is part of it. Was that it or other things as well?

Sam:

So we did try a bunch of things at first, but by the late by late 2020, we realized that Amazon advertising PPC mainly is that engine that's going to give us the growth for the next few years, because we realized that, like on a cost acquisition basis, like you just can't beat it.

Bradley Sutton:

You said 2019, low six figures. What about 2020, that your first really good year. What did you end approximately with?

Sam:

I think we were just under seven.

Bradley Sutton:

And then how about 2021?

Sam:

Yes, somewhere, seven.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So now it's like you guys knew you had something. It wasn't just a fluke, you know. You had some consistency. Do you mind if I show your product on screen right now? For those watching this on YouTube?

Sam:

Oh yeah, go ahead.

Bradley Sutton:

So let me pull it up here. Was this variation family here of the superior ceremonial blend it says here, was this like your first product that you got into?

Sam:

Yes, it was.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now I'm looking. Now it's like you know, according to Amazon, according to Helium 10, you are selling throughout this variation family here, thousands of units, multiple six figures per month, just with this, with this fam variation family. So this is the one that is your, your big seller. So I mean, if I'm looking at these numbers correctly, unless this is just a very nice month here, you're like what in the you know mid seven figures now, or higher?

Sam:

I think that's fantastic yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay and explain this product. You know there's a lot I like matcha. I understand it, but there's a lot of people who might like think like what? Like? Do you just like dump this in tea or do you actually use it to cook something? Like what? Like? How in the world are you selling almost 10,000 units of this a month? Like, what are the people buying this to use?

Sam:

Right, I think the way to look at this product is that it's a form of tea and in Japan it's enjoyed as a form of tea. Now in America it's usually enjoyed in a, in a form of a latte. So imagine you have a tea and then I think in some parts of the US, like milk tea is popular, right. So in the same way you can add milk to matcha and then you get a Matcha Latte. So because people find that coffee is not working for them for various reasons whether like they feel, like you know, nervous or anxiety after that they try to find something else, right. So matcha kind of ticks all the boxes because it's got a little bit of caffeine, so you don't feel that like that anxiety that you get with coffee sometimes, and also there are like amino acids inside that help you stay alert for a longer time. So that was kind of like the health food appeal of matcha. But that's, I think, why it got popular and that's why people drink it. So we also wanted to kind of share a bit of that Japanese heritage of matcha in our product, which is why it looks the way it does, because in Japan actually the traditional way of preparing it is to take like a teaspoon of the powder, add some water and then whisk it up with this bamboo whisk until it becomes like nice and froth.

Bradley Sutton:

I see that here in your A plus, your premium A plus content, so I can see a little bit of that here. You're telling that story. Really great branding here, I like that.

Sam:

So they whip it up into like this frothy little mixture and I guess if you could kind of relate it back to coffee culture, I would say like it's like a Matcha Americano. That's the way that they would drink it and that's the main way it's consumed in Japan.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now you've got just a beautiful listing here. You know, looks like premium A plus content. You're educating people here. You have a frequently asked questions, and then obviously you've got some great pictures here where you've got infographics. You've got, you know, like kind of like a history lesson of matcha. You have pictures of it. I mean what else? Like you even show the origin. I think I saw somewhere there's like different cities where this comes from. Where is that here, here? It is here Like you're like oh hey, this one is from Kyoto, this one's from Fukuoka. You have the city. So like I'm assuming that I mean, did you start this from like day one such in depth like information here, or is this just gradually how you were able to kind of hone your branding?

Sam:

I think we didn't know that it would take this form at the very start. We knew that, like you know, instinctively this is the branding angle that we want to work with. But as we grew with time we know we were reacting to what's happening in the market right and how we need to kind of distinguish our brand and our product from other people and to make sure that, even though, like, they like the product but they need to have like some visual reference to kind of like make that association, to know that like, oh okay, this is now Kimatcha and I like now Kimatcha.

Bradley Sutton:

You know what I'm going to check something. Hold on, let me see, I'm actually gonna run Cerebro on one of your products. I'm curious, you know you mentioned, hey, people are actually searching for Naoki Matcha. I'm just curious, like, what kind of brand recognition you have. So I'm just running Cerebro on here on our YouTube and podcast version. We'll speed this up. Let's see here, because I have a feeling, you know you've been selling for a while now and you're doing so well that there are literally people who just search for your brand name. So let's take a look at how many people are searching for your brand name here. Hold on, all right, here in Cerebro I'm gonna put phrases containing Naoki and let's apply that filter and wow, there's 45 different keywords that have Naoki in it and with thousands of search volume a month. So people like know your brand. You know just Naoki Matcha by itself has 1200 search volume and there's 45 other versions that people are actually searching for. So I mean that's kind of like what the goal is. When you're selling on Amazon, hey, sure you want people to buy you on the generic searches, like you know, Matcha Tea or Matcha Powder or something. But you know you've kind of made it when there's actually search volume for your brand.

Bradley Sutton:

You guys are getting, you know, using expensive you know matcha directly from the source in Japan. You know I'm sure there maybe are some competitors going like a cheaper route. Or maybe you know, like I'm just looking here in the search for Matcha Tea and I even see you know listings that are like $9, you know $9.95. And you guys are at like $40, $39. I see some that are, well, that's a different product, but like $7, you know $15. How can you guys stay at around the top? Like I'm looking at the BSR, you're like one of the top three in the whole Matcha category. Like some people think, oh, I have to. You know, like if cheaper sources come on, I'm just going to have to try and price match and then you know race to the bottom and I like to tell people no, no, no, there's ways to still succeed even at a higher price point. What's your guys secret where you can stay at this $40 price point and still make a lot of sales despite these cheaper alternatives coming into the market?

Sam:

Well, I think it's all about getting people to try it once. And once the person tries it once, right, and then they compare it to like the cheaper one that they bought before they realize, like you know, the difference is like night and day, right. So what we want to do is to make sure that they realize that they're getting like a good price for this level of quality, and once that kind of barrier is unlocked and then they realize that, hey, actually, if I pay $25 for one ounce, right, I'm getting a lot more value if I'm paying $40 for like 3.5 ounces, so the $40 one actually becomes like a good idea, even though, like it's like four times whatever is available on. You know the results when you search for matcha.

Singchuen:

Just to add on to that, the cheaper matcha products are by nature of how it's grown and how it's produced. It tastes incredibly different from how matcha products of a certain price level are like because of how much more expensive it is to produce. So matcha is actually in quite a bit of a supply crunch and so there is actually not that much matcha supply to go around at the higher quality price range. In that sense, because it's so expensive, it's not possible to match the quality level if you're to go below the price. So the market kind of like segmented itself in a way. So we, as Sam has just mentioned just now, as long as we are sort of value for the price that we are offering, it's good enough for us and that's how we managed to stay above the competition. If you notice that there are other competitors that are also doing well with high BSR and they are similarly high priced. But once you do the math you realize that in addition to our better tasting product our price per gram, if you want to put it that way it's still much better than our competitors.

Sam:

It's pretty competitive still.

Bradley Sutton:

What's the future hold? Now you actually have Naoki Matcha in the brand name. So if you just stay with this brand, you're kind of I don't want to say limited, but it's not like you can start selling something completely off the wall under this brand, like do you have are there still enough new kinds of variations and blends that you can come up with to keep this brand going? Or have you considered, like maybe we should start something completely different, like I start a new brand? Or what's your goal for growing the business?

Sam:

Right. I think for this brand there's still some room for growth, because actually so far we haven't touched the whole products that deal with, like matcha accessories. We're just starting that this year and also there are different grades of matcha right. So honestly, we are really at like that middle to high kind of grade, but we haven't really touched the other grade so far. So those are kind of like the growth opportunities that are available to us, yeah, but of course, once we hit there's a ceiling for category, once we hit that, yeah, I think you do have to choose another brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Obviously, Amazon USA is your main market. Are you selling on other Amazon marketplaces? If so, which? And then also other marketplaces at all, like Walmart, Shopify or other websites?

Singchuen:

We are in the UK. We're selling the exact same brand in the UK as well. It's sort of like an offshoot. We started it because some fans who have tasted it in America have gone back to the UK and so they are wondering why aren't you in the UK? So we decided to launch it over there as well, and so far the growth is okay, but not as high as in America, obviously, and in Singapore. We are on e-commerce platforms as well, and I'm not too sure we can confidently say this, but we are in the top few brands on those platforms selling decently well too.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, talk about some specific strategies that you guys think have helped you get to where you are, because it's not just like I mean somebody could spend 10 years and develop like the most perfect, pure form of matcha known to mankind in history and it's meaningless, you know, without the strategy that is going to get it in front of people. So what are some of the things that set you apart from maybe the 10 other matcha people who maybe have started and gone out of business, you know, because they didn't have your strategy? What do you think set you apart from others?

Sam:

Well, I think a handful of things. The first one is okay, so I think you can use. You can rely on Amazon PPC. You can look at your search term impression share reports. You can look at your keyword ranking and all that kind of stuff and that will help you in the short run. But honestly, the thing that really helped us the most was patience and making sure that your product is on a sensory level it's actually good and people like it. Once you have those two things covered, then you know you just need to get people to try to get them to tell their friends, and then, like people, their friends who are interested in matcha will buy, and then they are buying again and then this whole thing kind of grows by itself. Your PPC and all of these other tools that you have are really just like fuel that you add to this engine

Singchuen:

And on the other side of things is obviously you kind of need to make sure that you treat your supplier well as well. Make sure that they understand what you're going through and make sure that you try to understand what they're going through. If language is a barrier, hire an interpreter, right, it's not too difficult. Decency goes both ways. So you may be pressed, but you got to recognize that the factories themselves, they, are pressed as well. So working together for compromise, understanding each other and not drawing too much, just to be a little bit more understanding towards each other, goes a long way. I think what tends to happen is that if you're not patient, as Sam has mentioned, you may cut off communications with factories that may help you in the future, and you don't want to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I'm looking, speaking of PPC, I'm looking at just what I see on Amazon and I see everything. I see sponsored product ASIN targeting campaigns right here on this one page I see you're targeting your own ASIN and sponsored display ad. I see sponsored brand ads in the search for Matcha tea. I saw sponsored brand video, regular sponsored products. So you guys are just like going all out with all the different kinds of PPC that Amazon provides. Any one of those, like you think, has performed better for you or gives you the best ROI, or is it kind of just kind of even across the board?

Sam:

Well, I think at the start sponsored products perform very well, but as you get more and more ad types and different you know SV, SD, SP you mix that in. You have some DSP thrown in. The attribution for which ad actually did the sale for you gets a bit more tricky.

Bradley Sutton:

That's true. That's true, yeah, because you know. But the good thing about that is you're just your top of mind because you're advertising everywhere you can. You know, like sure, maybe you don't know exactly what got the attribution, but the point is you have such a big share of voice you know, potentially, maybe compared to your competitors, that you're your top of mind for your, for your customers. Okay, so PPC is important for what's on Amazon. I'm sure you use Amazon data points as well. What about Helium 10? What's your favorite tool in Helium 10 and how has it helped you?

Sam:

I think, honestly, the keyword coverage and Cerebro is still like my favorite tool. I've been using it since like 2017, when it first launched.

Singchuen:

As you use, you search on Amazon and you search on other platforms take a look at how Helium 10’s are like compared to others. You always use that. There's a certain sense that Helium 10’s information is letting you after it. It's more of a sense. I can't really explain it, and then that really goes a long way, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Now for either of you. If there was something on your wish list for Helium 10, like, like something, maybe we don't do right now, you're like, wow, it would be so cool if Helium 10 could do this. Here's your chance to tell me what is on the matcha bros top wish list, for what Helium 10 can help now give matcha with?

Sam:

Right. So I think my number one wish list would be cohort analytics. So if, for example, I can see in January how many new customers are acquired and how much, and how much of that repeat over the next 12, 24, 36 months, that would be awesome. I don't think there's none of the big analytics platforms do this. There are some specialized ones that do it that we subscribe to, but they're expensive and I'm pretty sure that you guys can do a better job.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now my last question is just, you know, you guys have reached this level of success, selling millions of dollars. Obviously you two are working together. How many people total does it take to run the Naoki Matcha machine? You know like, are you guys doing 100% of the work? Do you have virtual assistants? Do you have, you know, in Singapore staff? How many people does it take to run your business?

Singchuen:

Right now we are actually quite an entity, Sam, as I'm sure you can tell from this conversation. Sam does most of the marketing and I do more of the supply side operations kind of activities. So in total we have about five people running the entire business.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, this has been very enlightening. I've you know, despite knowing about you guys, almost 95% of this I think was completely new information to me and obviously new to our audience. It's great to see this success story. I love matcha, so I'm going to have to purchase your, your product, and make some. I'll be your influencer. Make some matcha, some kind of matcha. Let's see I'm going to. I wanted to make a matcha flan flan like a. I don't know if you guys know what that is. That's like a Mexican dish. So that's, I'm going to make something and then it's going to go viral on TikTok and make you guys another few million dollars just for me.

Singchuen:

Thank you for your support.

Bradley Sutton:

You could take me out to dinner

Sam:

Yeah. Thank you and looking forward to that.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you so much for coming on, and let's have you guys back on the podcast in 2025 and let's see how you guys have grown at that time.

View Details

Get ready to navigate the buzzing twists and turns of e-commerce from some curious buzz around the COSMO document to the significant Amazon FBA fee hikes, we break down what sellers need to know to stay ahead.

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

COSMO: A large-scale e-commerce common sense knowledge generation and serving system at Amazon
https://www.amazon.science/publications/cosmo-a-large-scale-e-commerce-common-sense-knowledge-generation-and-serving-system-at-amazon

Target will launch unlimited rush shipping subscription to rival Amazon Prime
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/6/24092880/target-circle-360-free-delivery-shipping-annual-plan

Walmart and Amazon Race to Provide Best Virtual Try-On Experiences
https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2024/walmart-and-amazon-race-to-provide-best-virtual-try-on-experiences/

We tested Amazon’s new shopping chatbot. It’s not good.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/05/amazon-ai-chatbot-rufus-review/

Exclusive: Walmart opens new front in same-day delivery war
https://www.axios.com/2024/03/07/walmart-hours-delivery-early-morning-online-orders

Use persona builder to create and get insights on your personas
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/use-persona-builder-to-create-and-get-insights-on-personas/

Amazon will no longer underwrite loans for sellers in its $140 billion Marketplace business
https://fortune.com/2024/03/07/amazon-lending-loans-sellers-marketplace-discontinuing/

My name is Alexa and I loved it until Amazon's smart assistant came along and ruined it
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ruined-name-alexa-2024-3

Cap the episode off with an inside look at how Amazon's FBA fee changes are reshaping the game for sellers. Discover how you could turn the tide on FBA fees with savvy shipping strategies. We also dive into Helium 10's latest feature alerts that promise to bestow an edge to Platinum Plan users and European sellers. Join the conversation, test out these new tools, and let's tackle these changes together.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

01:27 - Amazon Cosmo - Sellers Panic?
07:39 - Target Prime+
08:36 - Amazon / Walmart Augmented Reality
09:35 - Amazon AI Chatbot
10:44 - Walmart 1 Hour Delivery
11:58 - Persona Builder
13:05 - No More MYCE
14:29 - Voice of Customer
15:34 - Amazon Lending
16:08 - Coupon Requirements
17:42 - Amazon Alexa
19:35 - FBA Inventory Fees...SAVE Money?
30:20 - New Feature Alerts

View Details

Ever feel like you're playing a game of chess with the Amazon algorithm, constantly striving for that checkmate which is a perfectly optimized Amazon listing? We're peeling back the curtain on the new secret weapon that the Listing Builder by Helium 10 has that could give you that winning edge on the Amazon battlefield. Prepare to be armed with knowledge as we take you through a live optimization of the Project X "coffin shelf" listing, dissecting the art of keyword research to uncover those high-traffic phrases that could propel your product to page one of the marketplace.

Marinate your brain in the sauce of Amazon seller strategies as we stir in the nuances of listing optimization and the significance of performance scores to outsmart your competition. The Helium 10 score may not be part of Amazon's official playbook, but it's a valuable benchmark we explain in detail, showing you how to leverage different types of keyword matches to boost that all-important performance score. And it doesn't stop there; we dive deeper, sharing actionable tips on how to strategically position those keywords for maximum impact, ensuring your listing is as tantalizing to Amazon's search algorithm as it is to potential buyers inside the online shopping platform.

In episode 541 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With Helium 10
07:11 - Keyword Analysis for Listing Optimization
14:17 - Amazon Listing Optimization Ranking Score
22:43 - Optimizing Keywords and Phrases on Amazon
25:26 - Analyzing Title Density for Ranking

View Details

Join us as we explore the intricate art of keyword research with Jason Mclellan, the mastermind behind Vitacup's impressive $20 million e-commerce achievement. This episode is a great resource for anyone looking to enhance their Amazon selling skills, where we unravel sophisticated strategies to optimize your Amazon product’s online presence. With tools like Helium 10, Amazon’s Brand Analytics, and Product Opportunity Explorer at our disposal, we dissect the methodologies that lead to keyword research excellence, pinpoint niche markets, and boost your brand's visibility.

This is not just another chat about keywords—it's an immersive experience of how big sellers operate their Amazon business. We navigate through the ever-changing landscape of consumer trends, driven by the influence of social media platforms like TikTok, to keep your listings fresh and relevant. Together with Jason, we dissect the strategies that make products rank for the keyword "extra shot coffee" stand out in a crowded space. It's about refining, optimizing, and capturing the essence of what your customer is looking for, turning clicks into conversions, and conversions into Subscribe and Save loyal customers.

Wrapping up the conversation, we dive into actionable insights for harnessing the full potential of keyword strategies on Amazon and Walmart. It's about more than just being seen—it’s about resonating with your audience. We share how to weave the benefits of your products into descriptions that speak directly to your niche and discuss the significant impact of organic search success on platforms like Amazon. So pour yourself a cup of Rapid Fire Protein Coffee, pull up a chair, and let's unlock the secrets to catapulting your products to the top of the search results.

In episode 540 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jason discuss:

00:00 - Deep Dive Into Advanced Keyword Research
00:50 - Keyword Research Strategies for E-Commerce Sellers
04:44 - Learning From Successful Amazon Sellers
06:45 - Product Research and Optimization Methodology
07:20 - Product Refinement for Increased Sales
14:38 - Identifying Top Search Terms for Niche
20:37 - Understanding Product Placement Strategies
22:57 - Amazon Keyword Strategy for Coffee Products
24:26 - Amazon Seller Keyword Strategies Training
28:56 - Advanced Keyword Research Strategies for Amazon
34:52 - Top Keywords for Platinum Account Success
40:33 - Keyword Research Strategy Discussion
43:02 - Importance of High Search Volume Keywords
44:27 - Optimizing Amazon Listing for Spanish Keywords

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Today, we're going to have an advanced deep dive into some of the top keyword research strategies for 2024, including some strategies from a seller who does over $20 million on e-commerce per year. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10's Index Checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton and this is the show. It’s a completely BS free, unscripted, and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We're going to be talking today about Keyword Research. And just like last time, I'm not going to have a bunch of slides that I'm going to be showing. Basically, what we want to do is show you real life examples of how we have done keyword research for some of our products, how we would do keyword research in 2024, and not just in Helium 10, but also we're going to be showing you some things for those who have brand registry and are able to access search query performance. Okay, we're going to be showing you some things that even if you don't have brand registry, a way you can find good keywords for your listing using something called product opportunity explore. Now, a couple of things just really quick. I want you guys to bookmark this one page. I want you guys to go to forum.helium10.com. And that is our new Seller Connect Forum where you're going to be able to interact with different helium 10 members in addition to our Facebook groups that we've already had, we're going to have one where it's right inside of Helium 10. Okay. And so we've got some information already there. I posted some blogs, but make sure to bookmark that guys. And I want you to regularly connect. So before we get started into, I want to go ahead and introduce a special guest that we had teased on today, a real live person who is going to show us his products and his keywords and his keyword research too. You know, how many of you Amazon sellers out there, if I ask you in the chat, what is your product? That's how it is. People usually don't want, the majority don't wanna sell their product. Show their product. Today, we don't have that. So Jason, go ahead and come on and let's introduce Jason. He has been on the podcast before, but for those who haven't met you Jason or haven't seen your podcast episode, go ahead and introduce yourself, please, and brief history on Amazon and what company you work for.

Jason:

Hi, my name is Jason McCallum. I've been with the last five years of the company called VitaCup. We are a vitamin and superfood -infused coffee and tea. We're probably the number one functional coffee on Amazon right now, a wide variety of modalities. So, there's just always keeping us busy between the K -Cup format, instant copy and ground. So I've been in this market space since the early 2000, starting off in eBay. So I've kind of seen the evolution of the place from eBay to Amazon and where we're kind of going in the future with some other things that are developing on other marketplaces. And just... love online marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:
All right, so I take his products too. Here's his VitaCup Extra Shot. This is very important for the morning. So I am running a little bit on empty. So we are gonna test this now because I've stayed up most of last night and then this morning, like I said, did back to back webinars. So I am actually taking this product and we are going to go ahead and I'm going to be drinking it live right here. First of all, stir it. Hold on. This is one of my tests for if products are good or not, like how easy it is to open this. How am I supposed to open this there? Oh, look at that. Easy, easy, open, easy, open.

Jason:

Much better than the other one you try..

Bradley Sutton:

Last year, I didn't like how to open it. It was like impossible. And it's sprayed all over my face. We won't mention it.

Jason:

And we're changing it just for you. No one asked for. Just for you. Yeah, Just for you.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So now I'm making my instant coffee and stirring it up. So again, like I said, the reason why I'm just going overboard here in this product is like I said, hey, Jason is somebody who has opened up his product and listings to us before. And although most Amazon sellers don't want to do that, he is doing that. So we thank him. And now Jason, just as you know, you're kind of a humble guy. So people won't, you know it just by the way you talk. But what kind of gross revenue is your, is VitaCup doing on Amazon and Walmart, if you were to combine both of those marketplaces per year about?

Jason:

Around 20 million.

Bradley Sutton:
About 20 million dollars, all right? So, you know, there might be a couple of people here on the call or on this call who do a little bit more, but I would say most of us, including myself, don't, aren't at that level. And that means we can probably learn a thing or two from Jason. Now, Jason does a lot of the same strategies, maybe that are common practice as far as finding new keywords for listings. But he also has got some unique things that he does as well on and off of Helium 10 on and off of Amazon. So I would like to I would like to go ahead and turn the stage a little bit over to you. What is the first keyword research strategy that you are going to help us? Give us the background first. Like, is this something that helps you find a product? Is it something that you already had the product and now you are like, all right, I got to find this, some keywords that are going to convert for me. Set up the stage here for this first one.

Jason:

So great question. The first thing I'm going to start off with is product opportunity, explore something that's been released for around the last four years. It's been evolving. I really call it at this point, the Swiss army knife of Seller Central. There's a wide variety of uses you can use for it. We look at it and research it for when we're developing new functional blends and flavors. I try and keep my process simple. A lot of people you know the more complex you get, the harder it is. Starting with product opportunity explore, we're researching and launching a new product. It's great to see what the market potential is, what customers like, what they don't like, sort of those keywords that are driving sales can start doing some research on what's the average CPC projected for those. Is it going to be something that we think we can do some conquesting on keywords and how much is it going to cost and is it even worth it? We started hitting over X amount of dollars for keywords. It really is not that viable. So, and then we also use for refinement, and the example I'm going to show right now is we start off in product opportunity explore and we're continually doing improvements and testing new things on our products and just how we go through and find those keywords and then the competing products on it we're going to be using. We'll use the extra shot coffee as example and then

Bradley Sutton:
What do you mean by refinement?

Jason:

Because we're continually refining your content and your images and we utilize the data to improve our images, which improves your conversion and increases your sales dramatically at this point, you got to consider 70, 80% of all Amazon shopping today is done via mobile experience. Your hero and your secondary images are actually more important than your product description, your bullet points and your A plus content at this point because of how everything's delivered. I mean, if everyone has their phone there, you can pull it out and at some point you can get ready by the cup, extra shot K Cups and we can take a look at that as we're going through and why. And so we're utilizing the keywords. We're pulling a product opportunity explorer and the keywords we're pulling in refinement. We're pulling out of Cerebro and we're directly addressing the data that we learned from that into our images, not just our bullet points, not just our titles, and because of that we're seeing a great conversion like extra shot. We just ran this through where we've seen it wasn't one of our stronger performing products, but we've seen in the last 30 days we've seen basically doubling the sales on that my lead, my number one product. In my rolling 30 day sales average over the last two weeks I'm up 16% on sales because we applied the same methodology. You continually have to be updating content. New words enter the ecosystem, Amazon new consumer trends are going on. TikTok drives a lot of different trends depending on the categories you're in, and that introduces a lot of search relevancy. People see things on TikTok or other social media forums. and they come to Amazon looking for it and necessarily you're not just trying to compete for your own space, but when these new trends come on board, sometimes that product isn't there and Amazon will see for those terms that your product is really relevant. And if you've been running for a while and you have some relevancy, you'll start getting delivery. And if you have sharp titles, bullet points and images, your conversion will be great and you'll continue to grow and accumulate on these new trends that are just kind of ancillary to what you're doing. So we see a lot of growth in that. So we're always just in a constant rotation of just testing out all content, all aspects, and then kind of refining and judging, through catalog performance, what your different points in the chain through click through to purchase, conversion, our improvements being made.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, a lot of your sales comes from subscribing, save and maybe certain things like sponsor display ads and a lot of other ways. Now, have you ever looked at search career performance for a week and looked at your brand's overall search career performance attributed sales, which is very limited? As far as hey, it has to be from a search, it can't be sponsored brand or sponsor display ad. They have to have clicked it, they have to have purchased it within 24 hours. Have you ever compared the amount of sales for a week that came through search career performance with your overall unit sales to see, like, hey, how much of your keywords or how much of your sales are coming from the normalized searches, which for some people it's 15%, some people it's 50%, some people more.

Jason:

You know I haven't broken it down that more when I generally start, because where I generally start to look at what branded searches and everything is what we're running off Amazon. Amazon, there's no like. Amazon actually is great, but if you use it for a while you understand that it's not capturing the full thing. Or if you're just doing, especially doing stuff on TikTok, it's not capturing hardly any of it. So I track by week, by month on branded searches to see if there's any spikes in overall, like wide a cup searched terms, and then we can start to correlate. And if there's a spike in sales we can start correlating. It is what we're running off traffic to educate the consumer about a particular blend or a particular product. Is that having a positive impact in customers coming back and searching for it? Because, as you're saying, like you know, we're running a lot of DSP, we're on search display and so we have all these lovers we're pulling. So we want consumers to touch our page, because we want to get them in the flow, because we want to acquire a new customer and move them to subscribe and save, and that's the way you kind of take the approach on it. So first one is is you're finding the niche in which your product exists, and so mine is looking at extra shot. I know it's already strong coffee. You can search by ASIN and the ASIN will generally allow you to select it. So you pin your product ASIN and sometimes there's enough affiliation. Where it can drive up.

So two niches under strong coffee is for the K-Cups and the high caffeine coffee. I've already been through both these. The keywords are kind of similar. We're selling in a K-Cup format so I wanted to focus on that one Initially. You kind of can see the total search volume over the last three, 60 days, kind of how the product niche has been growing, the estimated unit sales on an annualized basis. What we're starting to see more and more is really kind of interesting.

Is this return rate percentage. So for other, this is a consumable item and you're not technically supposed to be even be able to return it, so it's always going to be pretty low. But if you're looking at researching products that you're going to potentially get into, you can say, hey, does this statistically have a very high return rate, or does it have very low return rate? Because you're going to want to build that into your business model for the product. It gives the price range and then the kind of that sweet spot, the average price. So you know, from a pricing point of view, when you're thinking about pricing it, where do you fall in line? So we're going to select strong coffee K-Cups and then just there's such. They keep adding a wealth of information to this. What you're going to see on the first tab for products is all the ASINs that make up 90% of the volume that are associated with this strong coffee K-Cups. The second portion is the search term. These are going to be your top search terms for the niche. So this is where you can come up with a search term. So you can come up with a search term, your top search terms for the niche. So this is where you can kind of start getting an understanding of 90% of the volume that has been driven by the volume that's being driven by 90% of the search terms. So I tend to look at, what are the search terms that are non branded? so definitely, which I'd kind of ignore. But you know high caffeine, coffee, K-Cups. So everyone remember that term high caffeine, coffee, K-Cups, strong coffee K-Cups, extra caffeine coffee K-Cups, double caffeine coffee K-Cups, and then you start seeing some variations. So we've got strong coffee pods search less than strong coffee K-Cups, but still has relevancy. So you know that when people are coming to search they're not always necessarily searching for K-Cups, but they're also searching for coffee pods in some form or another High caffeine K-Cups, double caffeine K-Cups and etc. Also, it's really interesting as you can use this as a tool to monitor how you're performing within a product niche. So for this instance, if you're interested in going after high caffeine coffee K-Cups, this need. All the niches are updated once a week, so over time you can start seeing am I making headway into being one of the number one top click product on it, which is Deathwish, the number two, which is a variety pack of high caffeine coffee pods, or the number three clicked on is Wake the Hell Up, dark Roast. Keep that in mind. Like these are your top keywords. This is where I start with. I get my top keywords and then I'll eventually be going over Cerebro to find out what are those medium to low end keywords, and you're also gonna see these. The beauty of Cerebro is when we run the top three, our product with the top two products in it, we're gonna see a lot of the same keywords. It's gonna give a lot of validity. This real data that we're getting out of Amazon live, from the source, is being mirrored what's coming out of Cerebro, and so it's giving validity to Helium 10's authenticity, to those lower and mid keywords. You can then trust the data that, hey, for long tail keywords, I'm gonna grab these and build them into the text. For just some organic ranking. I wanna run some long tail keyword strategies on my Amazon PPC. I wanna build some of this content into my images. The next thing I go through and I look for keywords customer sentiment is on Customer Review Insights. This is amazing. So what it does, it takes all these products and starts aggregating that. We're on the product page. It starts aggregating the reviews together and looks for themes and looks for what consumers want. So the first one is aggregated haste. We can start seeing what customers are saying, and I love when I see things like just delicious, or the coffee is delicious. That tells me when we're communicating to the end consumer, we have to be communicating in the text, in the imagery, in the bullet points, in the A plus content that it's gonna be a delicious cup of coffee, so talks about flavor quality and we start smooth, so we start stripping this information out and that's what we're gonna use to help build. So in Cerebro what I do is I take my product extra shot plus two or three of the leading ASINs and I run it in Cerebro to get my top keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

And for those who aren't familiar with Cerebro, what this is doing is it's pulling up all the keywords where, in the last 30 days, any of these three products have shown up in the organic search results. They have shown up in sponsored search results or that, according to the Amazon algorithm, it suggests is relevant for the keywords, regardless if it's in organic or ranking. And so you know there's what? Oh my goodness, 24,000. 24,000.

Jason:

So we don't want yeah, that's pretty Two of the keywords. So, honestly, one of my favorite like filters is just the quick top keywords filter that's built into Cerebro, this, you know it at down to 83 filtered keywords. I do a little bit more refinement. I wanna exclude phrases like death, death wish, black rifle, pistachio and wake. For what I'm trying to do, regardless. This bumps it down to 59. So, and we'll search by search volume, things that are gonna be important we have a shot of espresso in our, so the espresso K cups, that's a great one. Blackout coffee I'm still trying to figure out how do you work out blackout within the text, cause blackout is a branded term, so utilizing it within blackout coffee Same as danger coffee. You're picking up a lot of these things, but then you start seeing like hey, strong coffee, k cups, high caffeine coffee, dark magic I know dark roast is really important to this, so that dark magic is a blend and so on. So you know, I'll go through and I'll delete out the ones that I don't like from this. I'll pull these out and I'll start using both these sets of data, to start building out what this should look like in as far as new content for both imagery and bullet points, and I-.

Bradley Sutton:

Now one cool thing. You know you might not have been looking at it, but just in this sense, guys, they're the column on. You guys see on the very right hand side, a match type. This also kind of shows you where if we have seen one of these products doing other placements. You know I said that Cerebro's showing keywords where you have shown up in organic results and sponsor results, but it's not just those two. If they're coming up in one of those widgets that says Amazon recommended, if you see something that says SBV, that means a Sponsored Brand video. So now you can know where your competitors are advertising in the video sections. Maybe the Sponsored Brand ad at the top, maybe if it comes up in highly recommended. So these are other ways where you can kind of look for holes in the market on the keyword side.

So right now Jason just showed us two ways. Hey, look at Product Opportunity Explorer. Look at which products are dominating the niche. Remember, like he said, Product Opportunity Explorer isn't the products that make up 90% of the clicks and also the keywords that make up 90% of the clicks of that market. Here he can round out his strategy, using Cerebro to find other keywords that maybe aren't part of that Product Opportunity Explorer niche, but the competitors are probably getting some sales here or there. Do you have anything else for us today, Jason?

Jason:

Yeah, I could run through how we're using manager experiments, where we popped it in that we're running experiment now on this board.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh yeah, why don't you show that to close things out, and then I'm gonna show some more strategies and then maybe we'll bring it back here for some Q&A.

Jason:

Right now we do take that details and we're running on through manager experiments and anyone who is brand registry has the ability to access and manage experiments and you can run A-B testing on titles, bullet points, A plus content and images. So right now we're running one for title and bullet points. As you can see, I totally just deconstructed my listing for this so you'll notice I've started to put in high caffeine coffee pods. Espresso shot. Through some other research I saw not just espresso but espresso shot was very important. Dark roast, strong coffee, espresso powder once again because powder it's a little bit different. People could have used espresso shot and espresso powder, but I saw, just because we had that included in it, there was actually some relevant high volume search relevancy on it. And then you start lacing some of these key words into your introduction double caffeine, strong, smooth and robust. We picked up on strong, smooth and robust dark roast all in like flavor profiles through product opportunity explorer. Customers were specifically using these keywords, so why not use them? They identify with them. It has meaning for them. Then we always have like a functional benefit to our. So we talk about our vitamin B12, there's a sub niche called healthy coffee that we dominate. So I always like layering in healthy coffee, and then we talk about our pods. All this is going to be baked in. It's going to start as we start driving advertising more and more focused on it, on these keywords. We're doubling down to try and gain organic relevancy. Amazon will pick on it, our AI will pick up on it, and this is kind of the process we use.

Bradley Sutton:

Love it. All right, Jason, thank you so much for sharing that. I want it. Instead of just being like, oh, this is going to be a Helium 10 training where just Helium 10 employees are showing stuff, I want to show, hey, Jason is a real live Amazon seller with a real live product, and these are the strategies that he's using to get ahead. You don't just randomly achieve the success of making 20 million a year on Amazon and Walmart without some solid keyword strategies, and those are some of the things that he has. Now I want to show you guys some common and some also maybe off the wall keyword research strategies in the next 10 minutes and then we'll open it up for Q&A. One of the things I want to show you and this I mentioned before some things you have to have a brand registry for the first thing that Jason was talking about Product Opportunity Explore. You don't need brand registry for the thing that he showed about how to use the experiments with his manager experiments and showing the alternate kinds of titles and bullet points that had different keywords in it. You need brand registry for that. This next one I'm going to show you also requires brand registry and it's because it's utilizing brand analytics. Now I could do this inside of Amazon, but it's much easier to do it inside of Helium 10, because I can search multiple weeks a lot faster. So let me go ahead and share my screen and while he was talking I just loaded up that search for one of the keywords yeah, strong coffee K cups. So I'm just going to take and look at VitaCup. Right here at the very top is advertising. Let's say I'm not VitaCup and I'm just going to copy him and copy his ASIN, and I want to go ahead and see where he is, has been ranking or one of the top three clicked. All right, now. What I want everybody to do is, right now, go into Black Box inside of Helium 10. And then, if you have a Diamond account, all right. I don't think it is available for Platinum just yet, hit this new tool called ABA top search terms. ABA stands for Amazon Brand Analytics and I'm going to be pasting in a few ASIN. So let's go ahead and put that ASIN in here. Did I copy it? I must not have copied it. Oh, there, it is. Okay, I pasted it and let's go ahead and take in the red alert coffee. This guy is selling about a thousand units a month and maybe a couple more ASIN’S here. Death wish, he was mentioning death wish, or there we got three ASIN’s from the top ones. All right, so now what I can do is I'm going to look, let's just say, going to February 4 to February 10. I'm going to hit apply filters and now what is going to come up is where any one of these products was one of the top three clicked products for that keyword. Now, not that many keywords came up, only 17, because I only put in three. But imagine I could have put here maybe 20 or 30 products and then for any week or any month I can say hey, show me where these are these products. At least one of them was one of the top three clicked and I could say I want to see the ones where at least maybe one ASIN had more than 1% of the conversions, meaning that there's got to be some conversions on there and theoretically, all keywords said have that, but there might be some like lower level keywords that have no conversion. Sure enough, there was one, because now there's only 16 keywords left here. But look at this I am now looking at any keyword where at least one of these products is one of the top three clicked, and I could start going in deep here and seeing all right, what is the history of how this product, who are the top three clicked? Like, for example, look at this one protein coffee K cups. All right, protein coffee k cups is not a branded term, and so I'm looking at the Search Volume All right, 735. This is not that much search volume. Is this something that's newer or is it trending? I personally have not seen this keyword before and I'm looking at the last year on Amazon and I could see that, hey, it's actually gone up from like in the 200s and 300s and slowly it's on the rise. So, right off the bat, you know this is not some crazy amazing keyword 735 searches but it's on the upper trending. You know I'm probably one of the ones who's trying to search for out because I'm looking for like hey, is it? Is there a chance to get some protein when I'm drinking coffee, you know? So I would keep looking at this keyword. Now I'm like all right, well, who has been some of the ones who are converting for this keyword? So I click the total click share chart in Helium 10 for the keyword. And now, if I'm looking on a month to month basis, I just put my mouse over and I could see who are the top three clicked products and are they similar to my product? Right, like, for example, look at here in the month of December, VitaCup Keto Coffee Pods was the top the sick, the third most clicked product. Now who is dominating, though? The rapid fire protein coffee. Right, they've got protein in their title of their product, so it's no doubt that somebody searching this is actually a great example. I completely just by chance, found this is a perfect example of keyword research and how it's important and how it actually kind of like will give you an idea about who's going to be one of the best products here. Think of somebody who is actually typing in protein coffee, k cups. All right, I look at the search results and I see all three of these products this Corelatte one, the VitaCup Keto one and the Rapid Fire Protein one. But just the fact that in their title and the name it just so happens to be the name of the product is protein coffee, it's going to get them a lot more clicks. And then, look at that. I don't have to guess if it did or not. Look, amazon is telling me this product got 28% of the clicks right and total makes total sense. The VitaCup one is just a keto. One might give some protein but it only got 6% of the click. It's still top three. But you can understand now all of a sudden why this product is dominating. So that means if I really wanted to dominate this product I might have to think I can just make up protein and say, oh yeah, my product is. You know, this extra shot. VitaCup is a protein coffee. If it's not a protein coffee, that's false advertising, right. But if I'm developing a product I really got to take that in consideration. Now this is how Keyword Research ties in even to your product development. Right, I've got to think about putting that keyword in my title if I want a chance at kind of like busting into this rapid fire proteins market share here. I can also see the history here on the right hand side about how organic and sponsored rank ties in to being one of the top three clicked. For example, this protein coffee in December, in January, in November, they, for this keyword, were not running any sponsored ads. Nowadays, you know, somebody might think you know you got to be running, you got to be having a high bid on this, on any keyword that you want to have a big sales, but for whatever reason, this protein coffee comes like nah, I'm good, I don't need to do sponsored after this keyword because I'm dominating without it right Now. What about VitaCup? VitaCup here in December. This is pretty cool, guys. All right, this is exactly why combining Helium 10 data with Amazon data is so cool. VitaCup was one of the top three clicked ASIN’s, right. The number one clicked ASIN was this protein coffee. Rapid Fire All these brands are really great, right,Rapid Fire. And then you're looking oh, no wonder they're the top click ASIN. They were Organic Rank one. Now, if you were just looking on Cerebro, right, and you saw our Keyword Tracker and you saw that VitaCup Genius Coffee was ranked 12th, you might think, oh, there's no way it's one of the top three clicked because it's kind of like towards the middle of page one. But this is one of the top three clicked and you don't have to wonder why or how. Look at the sponsored rank average. So in December of this month, this variation family was showing up on average right there on the top. So you see how, in some situations, organic rank is all is all that's needed, but if VitaCup was relying on their organic rank only to get clicks for this keyword, would they be one of the top three clicked? Absolutely not, because their organic rank is all the way down here, but they were able to be one of the top three clicked because of their high sponsored rank.

So this is, guys, this is like not your grandfather's keyword research strategy we're talking about today. This is like next, next, next level, where you're going into seeing who are the top click to try and like, understand, buy your intent, and then now you're reverse engineering the strategy with how these different companies were able to dominate this keyword. For this company, it's a matter of hey, they named this product after this keyword. It's in their title, right there at the beginning. They're able to dominate this. For VitaCup, it's completely opposite. Their path to being one of the top three clicked was through sponsored ads. So for every product there's always going to be different strategies, but this is the once you guys are experienced sellers, this is kind of the level of keyword research you need to do. It's not just hey, let me throw in an ASIN and a group of ASINs in a Cerebro. You obviously have to do that, exactly what Jason showed and find those 24,000 keywords and then whittle that down into what are the most important ones. But you also need to take a step farther and start using Product Opportunity Explorer and the Brand Analytics Data to kind of understand, well, what are companies doing after they find that keyword and how are they getting their sales. So that's Brand Analytics. For anybody that has the Diamond plan, I highly recommend it. Now let's say you're on the newer side and you just have a Platinum account, which is totally fine. What is the easiest way to get the top keywords? Let me just show that. Let's go back to that page that's Coffin shelves. Where are we at More Coffin shelves? Where's my coffee one? Here we go, all right. So I'm going to choose the top products on this page that I just want to go ahead and measure my success and my keywords versus them. Or maybe I'm just I don't have my own coffee product yet and I want to know what are the top products here. And, by the way, you can still see there's VitaCup still right there with their Genius Cup right there as one of the top three sponsored ranks, and this is kind of cool. I bet that Jason is actually spending slightly less than Deathwish Coffee and what is his wake the hell up Dark Roast, but he's probably getting a very similar click-through rate. You don't have to be position one or two on sponsored to be one of the top clicked or sponsored Dial back that spend, be the number three or number four and you'll still get almost the same kind of click-through rate and clicks. Let's go ahead and hit Red Alert. I got the Deathwish and I don't want to do Pete's. Let's do community coffee, right. And then what I'm going to do is I'm going to hit run Cerebro. Now this is going to open up in Cerebro, kind of like just what he showed. Now I wasn't paying attention to. If these products are all pods and if they're definitely competitors I'm assuming they are. But you guys need to really take a closer look at who you are putting into Cerebro and make sure that you're doing very similar competitors or that, like Jason was talking about, you're pulling it from Product Opportunity Explorer and you know by definition they're in the same niche. But I just picked four random ones just from the search results, but within seconds here, or a minute or so, I'm going to be able to get where all of these keywords or all of these products, the keywords that they are ranking for and that they're doing sponsored ads. The very first thing that I'm going to do once this shows up is I'm going to hit the button top keyword right here, top keywords so everybody can do this anytime they run Cerebro, and basically what it's doing is it's like hey, where are most of these keywords are ranking for, or most of these products ranking for on these keywords very highly? And look at that. I came up with 24 keywords and a lot of these are branded. But, just like Jason showed, there's a lot of non-branded keywords here as well, like, for example, high caffeine coffee cake. I'm almost positive. He literally found that in Product Opportunity Explorer and I guess randomly guys, this is the first time I've ever searched these things in my life. It just shows how Helium 10 is validated by the Amazon data. That exact keyword that he found is showing up right here Strong coffee. There's the other keyword that he found that came up right here Protein coffee K cups. That's the keyword that I had found just on my own that I put up here. So these are the top keywords. Another thing, though I like to do, this obviously, is going to just show tons and tons of branded ones. I like hitting this button Opportunity Keywords, because, instead of looking at the products or the keywords that everybody is ranking highly for, this button allows me to see, in seconds, products where only one or two of these competitors are ranking high and, by definition, of course, the majority of those are going to be branded. But every now and then I'm going to be able to see unique keywords that other competitors might not be able to see, they might not be paying attention to. Like here, instead of k cups, here's a keyword that I didn't realize. Some people are typing in kpods. Now why did this kpods keyword come up here? Let's take a look at the Relative Rank here. All right, perfect, look at this. I don't know who is who, but look at this Of these top competitors. Let's say these guys are all kind of equal, competing with each other. Do you see where everybody is ranked here on this page? One of them is 78, one is 107, 241, 245. There is only one of these competitors getting sales from this keyword cake pods with no spaces, and they're ranked on page one, position 12. What does that mean? That means that if I were to kind of like, do a campaign on this keyword. It potentially could be easier for me to rank for this because I'm not having to go up against all of my main competitors. So that's why this button, guys, is a sleeping giant of a button right here.

Opportunity keywords let's see if we can find any of the hidden gems in here that aren't branded keywords. Let's take a look here: Coffee pod, bulk k cups. Maybe some of these products think, well, we're not really bulk so we don't think we should put that in our listing. But there are some people, for one of these products at least, where they are heavily ranked for bulk k cups, even though they're not really a bulk and they're actually getting sales from it. So this is just another way to get some keywords that can help you. I want to give you guys some deep dive strategy sessions on keyword research. To kind of round out your on Amazon and off Amazon, your on Helium 10 and off Helium 10 strategy. So let me go pull up those episodes right now. We did a three-part keyword research series on Helium 10 a few months ago. That really is going to help you, in about three hours of time, get all of the keyword research tips that you need. So you guys got a pen handy, write this down. And the way you can find this is everybody, go ahead and pull out your phone. If you have an iPhone, type in podcast and open up the podcast app. Or Spotify if you have a Spotify and type in Serious Sellers Podcast, all right, type in serious sellers podcast, and then go ahead and hit subscribe. And then the ones I want you guys to look at are these three episodes here keyword research masterclass 100% free, doesn't it? And you don't have to be a Helium 10 member to listen to these. All right. Episode 506, 507, and 508. All right, so again, go to the podcast, Serious Sellers Podcast. Type in episode 506, 507, and 508. If you guys are more visual, it's h10.me/506 , h10.me/507, and h10.me/508 . If you go to those links you'll go to a page where you can actually even see the video too of it. But either way, subscribe to the podcast and go to those episodes and maybe next time you're on your treadmill or you're taking a drive or a run, listen to those and then go back later to the video to kind of like have the overview. But what Jason gave and what I gave are maybe only like six or seven different research strategies. We have over 33 in those videos that will help round out your knowledge, and not everything is Helium 10. Half of them just have to do with Seller Central. Liz says I'm a newbie to Helium 10. I want to know where to start. All right, the podcast is a great way to start. If you don't have your first product yet, product research is what you want to get into. I would go and go into Blackbox and look at hit the Learn button, Liz, and watch all the videos there. And definitely, if you're brand new to Amazon altogether, don't even go there first. Go into the Freedom Ticket, go into the Learning Hub. At the very top of your Helium 10 dashboard you'll see a button called Learning Hub or Freedom Ticket. Hit that and start going through the training there. That'll give you a good way to start. So, Jason, are you looking at what's more important that, a high search volume or not a high search volume, a trending up search volume, kind of like that protein K Cup, or a keyword that already has like 3000 searches? Compared to that one only had 700 and thus has a lot more sales. Which one is more important for you?

Jason:

It depends. So let's if we take protein. We actually released a protein coffee slim protein coffee back in December. That's because of the AI and the way Amazon runs broad and other campaigns, it started picking up on that search term. So it started delivering on Genius. Genius gets delivered on every new search term that gets in. It's trying to find relevancy just beyond what other one product you're carrying. So we developed slim protein coffee because we saw a high search increase on protein coffee in general, which was a trend off Amazon as well. So but I also have baked into our slim protein coffee high search terms such as instant coffee and some other ones. So it's kind of a mixture of both. I always like high search term keywords built into titles and bullet points because it's going to bake in some organic relevancy that it's gonna be cheaper for me to try and build long-term. That it is versus advertising on.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent. Does Amazon auto translate keywords from different languages? One of my organic ranked keywords is Spanish, but I never added to my listening Great question, and the answer is yes. So in America and different countries, it's different languages. In America, Spanish is the main second language that Amazon is on, and if you turn your Amazon browser into Spanish, it automatically translate your listening and then those keywords a lot of them you are already indexed for, and so sometimes, if it doesn't, I highly recommend looking for organic keywords that you're ranking for, and then what you might have to do is adjust your listing optimization, because the Amazon auto translator sometimes doesn't use the exact phrases, and so you might not be that relevant to the Amazon algorithm, even though you're indexed for it. So definitely look at what are the top Spanish keywords and then, if your translation is not good, talk to Amazon and see if you can get your translation updated with better keywords. Jason, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the extra shot I had today, and thanks to everybody for joining us today. Hope you guys enjoyed this session. We'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye now. I'll see you guys next time.

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We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Shop listings are surfacing on Google Shopping
https://www.modernretail.co/technology/tiktok-shop-listings-are-surfacing-on-google-shopping/

New Feature: Now advertisers can convert high-performing Posts into Sponsored Brand Ads.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7166461642057142272/

Chinese TikTok experts are teaching Americans how to sell
https://restofworld.org/2024/china-livestream-studios-train-tiktok-influencers-in-us/

Top Amazon aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/28/top-amazon-aggregator-thrasio-files-for-bankruptcy.html

Monthly Fees May Be Coming to Etsy
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2024/02/25/monthly-fees-may-be-coming-to-etsy/

The episode continues to buzz with discussions around the benefits of the Helium 10 Elite program, including expert training and exclusive networking events. Plus, don't miss out on the insider scoop about Helium 10's new feature enabling price adjustments directly from the Insights Dashboard. We also encourage our community of Spanish and German speakers to connect through upcoming networking calls, ensuring a global touch to our Amazon selling conversation. Tune in for these fascinating updates and more, as we provide sellers with the tools and knowledge to thrive in the ever-evolving world of online commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:10 - TikTok Shop On Google
02:47 - Amazon Posts > SB Ads
03:50 - TikTok Live Streaming
07:46 - Thrasio Bankrupt
09:23 - New Etsy Seller Fee?
10:10 - Join Helium 10 Elite
11:06 - Spanish Networking Calls
11:47 - German Networking Calls
12:00 - New Feature Alerts
15:04 - Pro Training Tip: Reverse-Engineer Your Competitor's PPC Strategy

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

TikTok shop listings showing up in Google results. Amazon posts can be now made into sponsor brand ads. The most famous Amazon aggregator has filed for bankruptcy. These stories and more on this week's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown on all the news stories and goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world and we also let you know what new tools that Helium 10 has released. And we also give you a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing For two weeks in a row now. Not too many articles, couple of big ones out there, a couple of interesting ones for sure. We're gonna hop right into it, but make sure to stay to the end. We got a really cool training tip from Shivali and we also have a pretty cool new feature update from Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's go ahead and go into the first article here, and this is from Modern Retail and it's entitled TikTok Shop Listings are surfacing on Google Shopping, right? Have you seen that in Google? This article talks about how listings from TikTok Shop have begun to pop up in Google Shopping, especially results for beauty and skincare products. So, through Google searches for trendy beauty products like Nail Art or Dior Lip Oil, dup results now feature links that go directly to smaller sellers on TikTok Shop, and the actual TikTok team did confirm that this is something that TikTok is dabbling in. Now this, to me, was a little bit interesting because you know, like traditional keyword research tools, you know, like Helium 10 for Amazon, don't necessarily like, don't have as much oomph. Right For TikTok Shop because it relies on so much virality, right, TikTok? You know kind of like influencers are the ones who have like these viral posts and that's what sends tons of traffic to videos. You know it's not like oh, let me get to page one for a certain hashtag on TikTok, right For TikTok Shop. But this could be interesting Depending on how Google is indexing some of these products and how TikTok Shop is integrating. Now, all of a sudden, it could open up a new thing for keyword research on TikTok Shop so you can get some maybe outside traffic that don't come from another TikTok videos directly to your TikTok Shop. So pretty interesting stuff. It'll be definitely worth taking a look at in the future.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually not an article, but it was a post from our buddy, Jeff Cohen, from Amazon, and this was from his LinkedIn last week. Just in case you guys missed, it was from a few days ago, but I missed it the first couple of days that it came out. But you can now have high-performing Amazon Post which are free, as you guys know. You can now convert them into sponsored brand ads. All right. So right in the ads console in Post Manager, you can just take an Amazon post that's doing really well and make it a sponsored brand ad. Now, this hasn't been rolled out to everybody yet, so go ahead and check. Go into the Post Manager in your Seller Central ad console, click on the boost button if you see it, and then you're gonna be directed to the sponsored brand campaign builder to review the creative setting. So in his LinkedIn post that we'll link to below, you'll be able to see kind of like some graphics of how it might look. But that is gonna be interesting If you can turn your Amazon post into sponsored brand ads.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from restofworld.org I should say. Again about TikTok, and seems like I've been beating a dead horse for almost two years now about how US consumers haven't really adopted live shopping. Well, this article says Chinese TikTok experts are teaching Americans how to sell and it says, convinced, a live stream shopping boom in the West is inevitable. Entrepreneurs are sharing Chinese playbooks with aspiring US influencers. And there is just one kind of like tidbit here, guys, that blew me away. Listen to this quote right here In China, 25% of online sales in 2023 took place through live streams. Let that sink in, guys. 25% I mean, if you think about all of online sales in America, like the minor ones, you know, like Walmart and others is not even 25%, a lot, lot less. But out of every single thing that was sold online in China in 2023, again, let it sink in 25% were from live streams. Now, I don't think America will ever, ever get to that number absolutely not right. But I mean it would be kind of crazy if it even got up to like 5%. 10% might be asking for too much. If it gets up to 5%, that's gonna be, you know something, that's going to be pretty, I think, big, and that's what these people are making on.

Bradley Sutton:

So this article talks about how they've got these agencies that are training influencers on how to do like TikTok shop lives, perhaps some Amazon lives, et cetera. Here's one agency that has more than 10 streamers in the US. So these are kind of like streamer factories that they're pumping out and they're giving them the literal Chinese playbook. Like the documents they get is in Chinese and then it has English translation. Now one of these agencies said hey, on a regular day there's about 100 people watching simultaneous sales. This is even the agency. Just shows you how much it hasn't really taken off in America. The professionals can only get like 100 people watching a live stream live, but it says that some days the streams can attract over a thousand viewers at the same time.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, thinking about the cultural differences, of how different things work, you know one influencer said hey, I saw many Chinese live stream sellers screaming at the top of their lungs, counting down until a product is live to encourage rush buying. And this person said I don't think that's gonna work in the US. You know American customers don't like to be told what to do or just because somebody's yelling at them, right, but this influencer who has been doing lives here in America on TikTok shop. She says that she closed over 200 orders on her third day on the job, worth more than a hour with $11,000 worth of products in one afternoon. So again, it's not like completely, completely dead. It's just nothing compared to what's going on in China. But everybody keeps saying, hey, we expect this thing to take off in America sometime. So it's something that I think you know Amazon sellers, e-commerce sellers should be kind of paying attention to what's going on. You know, if we're selling on Amazon, amazon already has Amazon live. Walmart probably will come out with something if it kind of takes off, and then obviously it's a big part of TikTok shop. So do you have a plan ready to go for if live shopping starts taking off? I think it would be great because it's kind of something that's going to be net new. I think it's going to have a lot of impulse buying if it starts taking off and it's not like it's just going to take away from your sales that you already get during search. It's going to be like net new sales for Amazon sellers if this ever takes off.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of Amazon, you know some more sad news Going to. CNBC says top Amazon Aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy. Now, there wasn't too much information in this article. I don't understand the whole, you know bankruptcy thing. I know it's not good, but basically what it says here is that the company agreed with lenders to shave off about 495 million off of its debt loan. Doesn't take a bankruptcy specialist to understand. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money, and some creditors committed to provide it with up to 90 million dollars in fresh capital, which it said will go towards ongoing operations and enable to keep running brands as portfolio, so all the brands that it bought. You know it's not like, oh my goodness, they're all going to just run out of stock and go out of business. It still looks like it's going to keep going. But this is, like you know, for those of us who have been in the Amazon game for a few years. You know might be kind of. You know, for some of us maybe not a shock because we could see some things coming. But if somebody were to tell us three years ago or whenever Thrasio was at their peak, you know, hey, they're going to be bankrupt in a couple of years, like we, probably like no way. It seems like they've growing money on trees over there, right, but just the state of the world that we're in ice. There's still a lot of people who are buying and selling Amazon businesses. All right, the that model of buying and selling Amazon business is absolutely not dead. Make sure to check out a recent Kevin King podcast, amp and podcast, which talked about this this model still going strong.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article of the day is coming from e-commerce bites and for those of you, if you're like me and sell on Etsy Something real small it says monthly fees may be coming for Etsy sellers. I didn't realize there was no monthly fees, you know like. So I don't really think this is big. I mean, we're all used to it. You know we pay Walmart, right, we pay Amazon a monthly fee. I don't even know how much I pay Amazon right now. It's like what 30 bucks, 40 bucks, 50 bucks don't really care, because it Etsy sellers are kind of like scared that this is a fee might come. But if you're scared about $20 a month fee or $10 a month fee, you know you probably Shouldn't be selling on the platform, but still, hey, money is money. We got to count all our money. So this is something to watch out for. If you are an Etsy seller.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, a couple of things before we get into a really cool feature update I wanted to remind you of is. You know, a couple weeks ago, for the first time in over a year, helium 10 elite is open. So remember, with helium 10 elite, you can have one-on-one calls with me, one-on-one calls with Carrie and Shivali. Hop on private trains with Kevin King twice a month. You know one where he gives you the seven ninja hacks and brings on expert guests, and another would just him where you can literally Face-to-face, ask Kevin King anything. You want. A lot more perks, you know private networking, big events that we we do around the world. We just did one in Germany, we're gonna do one in Madrid, Spain, in a couple of months. So all of this for only $99 extra a month.

Bradley Sutton:

So if you're interested in more information about the helium 10 elite program, go to h10.me forward slash elite, h10.me forward slash elite, and Once you sign up for elite, make sure the first thing you do is go ahead and book a one-on-one call with me. I'd love to help you out with what you need. Now, if you speak other languages, we have some other networking calls coming up that are completely free, open to anybody. If you speak Spanish, we have our monthly networking zoom call coming up with Adriana, so make sure to sign up at h10.me/llamadaconadriana, and that's the link to go to that call, which is just gonna be in a couple of days. And if you speak in Deutsch, if you speak German, the one that you want to sign up for our monthly call happening this weekend is h10.me/elite-de.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, next up we have a new feature alert from Helium 10, pretty cool feature that a lot of people have been asking for. So you're in your Helium 10 account. You might see some insights from Insights Dashboard about your competitor has lowered their price, they've raised their price, competitors out of stock, competitors running a coupon. Your sales are going up, your inventory is going up, your inventory is going up. All these different things you can see inside of Helium 10's dashboard right, well, on some of these things, the action that you might want to take is you might wanna raise your price or lower your price that is appearing on Amazon, and sometimes you might want to go ahead and do that to a big group of products, like maybe you're selling leggings, like my buddy Yizhak in Israel. I mean, he's got hundreds and hundreds of SKUs. You know, some product lines have 100 SKUs with all the different colors and all the different sizes. When he wants to go change his price. It's like a very tedious task to do inside of Seller Central. Well, that's why I'm happy to introduce that on your Insights dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you can go ahead and change the price directly from your dashboard. So what you do is you go down to your product table, make sure that you're on the SKU view and then you can go to like listing and you will see this column that says price. So first of all, you click this button and you'll be able to see the history of the price. But right directly here in Helium 10, you can go ahead and, one by one, enter a price. So if you watch Carrie's training last week, maybe you saw how to do tags in your dashboard, where maybe you give all of your coffin shelves a tag. That's what I did here. So I can click on coffin shelf. All of my coffin shelves appear automatically here. I can select everything and then I can hit this button edit price and then go ahead and put the price that I want, to put all of them at once and it's going to go ahead and update in Seller Central.

Bradley Sutton:

There's a lot of use cases for this. I would think that the bulk one is especially appealing, because that really is not easy to do inside of Seller Central and especially for those of you who've got a lot of variations. You just wanna say, hey, all 60 of these variations. I want the new price to be $12.97 or whatever. Instead of going one by one, do it with just a couple clicks of the button. Let us know what you think of this product. Would you like to see some other feature? Me personally, when I saw it, I was like, hey, I wanna be able to see, or be able to maybe make a sale price. I don't wanna lower my price too much, but I would like to be able to make a sale price with a beginning and end date. Other people have asked for coupons. I'm not sure if that's even available for helium tend to do, but if that's something that you want us to try and investigate, make sure to reach out to customer support and let them know what you think of this new tool, but give it a try.

Bradley Sutton:

Next time you wanna change your price for one product or multi-products, go ahead and do it directly inside of helium tend without even having to go to Seller Central. So pretty cool update there, all right. Last up, we have got a really quick hitting tip from Shivali. So maybe you're examining some of your competitors and you wanna know what is their PPC strategy. How are they allocating their spend? Now, you might not be able to just hack into their account and see their seller central advertising console, right, but using Helium 10, there's a cool way that within seconds, you can pretty much see all of their strategy. Check it out in this video.

Shivali Patel:

Hi there, let's talk about how you can analyze your competitor's PPC strategy so you can figure out which keywords and phrases you want to go after. Theoretically, let's say, you found a good seller in your niche that's generating decent volume. What you could do is run a single search on Cerebro, as we've done here with this product, which is the Goer gift Woodcuff and Tray and then you could slide over to check out the keyword distribution. The keyword distribution tells us we have 646 paid terms for this ascent, of which, by hovering over the eye icon, we can see that 287 are for sponsored product placements, 41 are in highly rated spots and 318 are sponsored brand video. What's cool is we can filter for those match types. Let's say I wanted to check out which keywords or phrases is this ascent running sponsored brand videos on. I could go ahead and select that, tap out, click apply filters and you'll see that we have 318 filtered keywords right here. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Or let's say that instead of sponsored brand video, you are interested in just the regular PPC keywords and phrases. I could change out my match type to sponsored product, click apply and all of a sudden, the 287 placements for sponsored product are now visible. You could always further refine this search by inputting in something like a minimum of 200 for search volume and a sponsored filter of one to five. This is going to show us which keywords they seem to be concentrating their PPC spend on Applying just a couple more filters takes us from 287 filtered keywords down to a more feasible 22.

Shivali Patel:

Of course, as sellers, we wouldn't be bidding top of search unless those keywords are actually profitable. So now you can use this information to your own advantage. This contrasts to this other ascent we have here, where you can instantly see they're not running any paid ads. We have zero for all of these placements across the board. Now compare that to this last ascent, where we have 22 for paid search and, guys, anytime you see such few keywords underneath paid, then you're probably looking at an ascent that's not running any auto phrase or broad match campaigns and you can leverage this information. Especially if that ascent is in similar standing to your product, you can figure out whether that's something you want to duplicate or completely stay away from all this to say there is so much you can do with Cerebro. We have so many filters and I just showed you match type. Make sure that you go in and do this for your own products to figure out maybe how you want to change up your strategy or what are some new keywords and phrases you want to add. I'll see you next time.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Thank you, Shivali, for that. That's actually pretty cool. Did you guys know that you can pretty much reverse engineer some of your Competitors Exact Strategy, especially those who aren't doing broad or phrase or auto campaigns? So make sure you guys are utilizing that. A lot of those features are available to any level of Helium 10. Well, that's it for this week's Weekly Buzz guys. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

As the landscape of Japanese e-commerce undergoes a seismic shift, we're fortunate to have e-commerce experts Nick Katz and Gary Huang join us again to unpack the transformation. It's a world where Amazon goes toe-to-toe over local stalwart Rakuten, a surprising twist given the resilience of Japan's physical storefronts during a pandemic that skipped a full lockdown. Their insights shed light on Rakuten's gamble to step away from their cornerstone points program, a move that has sellers keenly watching the horizon for its ripple effects.

Steering through the complexities of international logistics, this episode covers the strategic use of freight forwarding when entering the Japanese market, a journey our expert guests navigated firsthand. We dive into the benefits of Japan's proximity to China, the advantages of trade agreements with other Asian nations, and reminisce about the global hiccup caused by the Suez Canal crisis. These discussions are not just theoretical musings; they're actionable insights for bolstering your bottom line and carving out a niche in one of the world's most dynamic Amazon marketplaces.

Finally, we celebrate the cultural tapestry that is Japanese business ethos, examining the surprising competitive edge that international sellers can unleash with astute analytics and Amazon product reviews. These narratives of success and support—from local sellers to global players—culminate in an invitation to an upcoming event in Okinawa, promising to be an epicenter for networking amongst the entrepreneurial elite. It's here where the theoretical becomes tangible, and where the future of selling in Amazon Japan takes shape before our very eyes.

In episode 539 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Gary, and Nick discuss:

00:00 - Sell on Amazon Japan Expert Tips
07:47 - E-Commerce Changes in Amazon Japan
12:04 - Import Taxes and Duties Abroad
14:25 - Freight Forwarding and Japan Business Opportunities
22:16 - Success Stories of Selling in Japan
29:37 - Selling in Niche Markets - Japan
33:49 - Leveraging Global Reviews for Success

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:
Today we've got two of the world's foremost experts on selling on the one Amazon marketplace that you probably aren't selling in, but you need to be Amazon Japan, where sellers are making more profit than all their other Amazon marketplaces. How cool is that? Pretty cool I think. We know that getting to page one on keyword search results is one of the most important goals that an Amazon seller might have. So track your progress on the way to page one and even get historical keyword ranking information and even see sponsored ad rank placement with keyword tracker by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/keywordtracker. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And it's the middle of the night almost middle of the night here, so I'm in my normal attire of what I wear every night here in my house, but the only people that I can go ahead and keep this on and not have to change back to work clothes when I do something at this hour of the day is the two guests here because they are actually in Japan right now. So we are, makes me feel right at home here with what I'm wearing. We have a back on the show, Nick and Gary. Welcome back, guys.

Nick:
Thank you.

Gary:
It's great to be back and for those of you guys that are listening, I can see Bradley. He has like a black and white sumo themed what they call you could tell or like a robe, but he wears it very well. I love the Japanese motif you got going on. It's great to see you.

Bradley Sutton:
Yes, thank you for that. Likewise I haven't seen Nick in a year. But, Gary, you know we saw each other. We had some nice Tonkatsu right there in Ginza a while back a few months ago with my favorite place to eat over there. So it was nice to see you there. But you know, for those who want to get the full backstory, go back guys to episode 426 was the first time Gary was on. Nick's been on before then as well. But 426 was from last year and we had a lot of updates on what's going on in Amazon Japan and since then there's been new things. So I wanted to, you know, invite you guys back. But I'm not saying this is the reason. But we were talking earlier about how my LA Dodgers was able to sign Ohtani and Yamamoto, my two favorite baseball players, both Japanese, but I'm looking on the 7 Figure Seller Japan Mastermind website at last year's event. Let me just show everybody this. All right, I'm not saying that the Dodgers have me to thank, but last year at this event I wore my Helium 10 Dodgers themed jersey and you can see me here in this picture. I'm explaining something. I'm like think about it, man Ohtani is going to come to the Dodgers. He's like oh, I'm not exactly sure, but I was telling him that the Dodgers are coming. Well, we're going to talk about your new event this year for sure. I just wanted to call that out, though. You know, dodgers, you know. Let me give you my address. My check should be in the mail. You have me to think I set the ground, I set the standard there last year early. Anyways, let's start with Nick. How many years, now total, have you been Japan? I know Gary's newer, but how many years do you have under your belt?

Nick:
I can't even count how many years now, but I came in 1995. So whatever it is from then?

Bradley Sutton:
1995. Yes, that's quite a while. Right after a few years, just after I moved out. Now You've been there so long. Just like you just said, the years kind of just bleed together. But if we were just to start off with one of the biggest changes in the e-commerce landscape in Japan in the last year, what would it be? This is maybe like the first kind of full year after COVID and dust is kind of settled. In America at least, there's a lot of the boom that was happening in e-commerce, I wouldn't say one crashing down. It's a steep decline to pre-COVID time. Something similar in Japan, or how do you view the landscape over there?

Nick:
Yeah, well, I mean, e-commerce is very, very strong here. It still is very, very strong. Japan, unlike a lot of other countries, has always traditionally had very strong brick and mortar retail. People do like going to stores, but I mean, Japan never had a full-on lockdown, so most of the stores were open for most of the time. There were small periods where they weren't open, but because we also do retail, we actually do distribution to stores. We've seen that they are really starting to cut back. So there has been a real shift to online and I've noticed, certainly in the last year. I hope no one from Rakuten is hearing this, but I think they're starting to feel a little bit of pain. They've made a few adjustments and I think there is definitely more of a swing towards Amazon over Rakuten. They are pretty much half and half for the section of the market, no, of the section of the market, so they've both got about 20%.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, no, I mean, I thought Rakuten was still way ahead.

Nick:
No, I think Amazon has now overtaken Rakuten. It's kind of hard to compare apples to apples, but it does look like Amazon has overtaken Rakuten and Rakuten have started to do some strange things cut back on their points program, which has always been their main strategy. That it was their strongest point the fact that you can collect points. Japanese people get Rakuten points in their lives, doing everything, and even my company has a Rakuten bank account. People have Rakuten. They have Rakuten for everything for travel, for insurance, for everything and it's to get points. But Rakuten started to cut back on those points. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think that is going to encourage more people to move over. So that's kind of something that I'm seeing personally, all the Rakuten is still a very, very good marketplace here.

Bradley Sutton:
All right, interesting. Now, going back to Gary, let's take a step back from e-commerce. This is only what is it? Second, third year in Japan for you?

Gary:
Third year in Japan, one year in Tokyo.

Bradley Sutton:
Third year in Japan.

Gary:
Yeah, two and a half or two years in Okinawa.

Bradley Sutton:
How has your family settled in now? Japanese speaking, culture, food. Is it home now or still feels a little bit foreign?

Gary:
Well, I wish my Japanese was better. I mean, my son is 5, he's in pre-kindergarten. I'm pretty sure his Japanese is going to surpass mine very soon. But yeah, we're acclimating very well and we actually just got back from a trip from Hokkaido, which is in the north, really nice skiing. My wife had, they have this drift ice area in the northern part of Hokkaido like literally the ocean is like frozen, and my wife had that on her bucket list for many years and we were able to do that. So, yeah, very fortunate to be here and, yeah, very happy.

Bradley Sutton:
That's awesome. Yeah, I used to live right south of there, in Aomori, for about a year and a half. Not quite as cold as Hokkaido, the oceans didn't get frozen over there but it was cold, I didn't mind that. I went back last year. Yeah, I went back to Aomori for the first time in like 20 years no, 25 years and so it was nice to go out there. My son actually went to Hokkaido. My son took his very first trip without his parents. He was friends and he actually went to Hokkaido before me. Now, what about e-commerce for you? Like, what have you noticed on your side that has changed? Maybe specifically more to Amazon Japan for your network of sellers there in the community?

Gary:
Selling on Amazon. Amazon is still very strong. We can get deliveries very quickly. But, for example, when we went up to Hokkaido, rather than buying like a sled and like lugging it from Tokyo to Hokkaido, we just ordered off Amazon and shipped it to the hotel and you know my son was thrilled. He was ready to go, and so Amazon has that coverage. But one of the biggest changes for e-commerce sellers foreign sellers especially importing into Japan is there was a new import law change October of 2023. So previously you could use what they call a importer of record or IOR. I mean, you're not in Japan. If, let's say, you're a US seller with the LLC, previously you could use an IOR, a company that's importer of record to represent you to import the products. But now they changed the law because it seems the government is getting smarter when it comes to all of these e-commerce sellers. So now you have to go through ACP. I think that stands for Attorney of Customs Process. I might be getting the verbiage mixed up, but basically it's a different scheme and you may have to pay more in the taxes because you will be billed on the total selling cost. So that's the Amazon cost. So that's one of the big changes that we're seeing so far.

Bradley Sutton:
So if somebody was already selling Japan, they don't need to convert to that. They can keep going with their importer of record. Or do they need now? They needed, you know, even if they already have tenure there, they got to switch to this new thing.

Nick:
Yeah, so it's actually import base, so it's the time that you import. So if you're importing after October 1st, in theory you can't use IOR. I should probably stress the fact that this is all in theory. I can tell you that there are sellers who are still importing using Chinese freight forwarders, who are getting the goods into totally fine, but in theory there is no more IOR and so you have to use this. As Gary was mentioning ACP, which, although it's not so, the tax and duty is based on the selling price, which doesn't mean it's not exactly on the selling price. You're allowed to remove the cost, like Amazon fees and certain things, but the whole concept is that who is the purchaser of the goods. So if you're, if you're not a domestic company, if you're an international seller that don't have a registered business in Japan, then the goods being sent to Japan, going to Amazon, going to the customer the customer is the person purchasing the goods, so for tax and duty should be based on what they're paying, as opposed to, for example, for my company. We're based in Japan, so we actually do purchase the goods. We can show a paper trail back to the supplier. We are the purchaser, so we only pay tax and duty and what we buy it for and then we set it on Amazon. So it's just the way that the import office is just customs office is kind of interpreting. It's all a bit gray, to be honest, but that's kind of how they're interpreting it. The actual final buyer online is the kind of original purchaser of the goods. Therefore, tax and duty should be based off whatever they are paying.

Bradley Sutton:
And then what? So is the customer paying for that then?

Nick:
No, so the customer isn't paying it. So, but that is what they are using. So it's actually the ACP, or so you have to pay. So your company pays, so the customer isn't paying that, but that's what they're basing off and that's their reasoning for it. They are essentially, they're being almost regarded as the importer, which is obviously just ridiculous.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, but it's not something like in Europe, where VAT is applied to what the customer's paying at the time of purchase and then the. I believe that I don't even sell in Europe, so I believe the seller has to remit that or Amazon keeps it, but it's like that price has to include that and so it's kind of like a surcharge. But how much are we talking about, like for somebody like me? I'm selling, let's say I sell in Japan and I'm importing. Like are my duties and all these taxes? Is it comparable to you know what I'm doing by importing from China to US and what I have to pay for customs? Or is it more? Is it less?

Nick:
Well, it kind of depends on a few different things. Obviously depends on the categories and exactly what the products are, you have to remember. So in Japan the consumption tax is a lot lower than, for example, Europe. You mentioned Europe. So the tax is 10% in Japan, or it's 8% if it's, for example, food or drink. So, but because they base it on the price that you're selling as opposed to the price that you are actually purchasing the goods, for at that point it will be a bit higher. But there are. I say there are lots of ways actually around this and I don't know if Gary is going to mention it. There are a lot of countries that have agreements where you don't actually have to pay duty at all, for example. But it does kind of make things smoother and easier if it's a Japanese business doing the import as opposed to an international business. And one of the main ways around it is that you get a company in Japan to do the import for you and that kind of covers all of the problems. So all the large kind of import companies. That's what they're doing now. They're essentially importing themselves, paying the supplier, and then you only pay the tax and duty on basically the cost of goods, so it will become a lot cheaper. So you kind of have like a bit of a middleman in there.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, makes sense. Now this question is for either of you. So at what point am I having to have my ducks in a row for this like am I? Do I need that already when I apply to sell in Japan? You know, I just go into my US, or if I'm a European seller, I go into my European seller central and apply to sell in Japan. Are they already asking me for this? You know ACP preview, the artist formerly known as IOR, or is that just something I need to take care of by the time?

Nick:
It's something you need to take care of yourself. Amazon is not involved in this whatsoever. This is completely

Bradley Sutton:
No. But are they asking me? for it, for like proof that I have that. Just to apply the account?

Nick:
No. So basically, when you want to send goods to Japan, you just speak to your freight forwarder, whoever you use, and the freight forwarder will give you all the information and sort it out for you. It's not something that you really need to do yourself. The freight forwarder will do that. So the freight forwarder is traditionally done IOR. A lot of the Chinese freight forwarders, as I said, are still doing it and they seem to be getting the goods in quite fine. But there's something that you will do through your freight forwarder so whoever you use and to ship the goods, that. So it's not something you specifically need to kind of go out and do yourself in most circumstances.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, all right, makes sense. That's good, like I thought it was something I had to, like, you know, find and or maybe you know, hire a company to handle it. But that's good to know that. You're like me. For example, when I import from from China to US, I actually don't worry about anything. Yes, there are obviously customs, yes, there's some kind of certification, but actually my sourcing agent, who's also my freight forwarder, she handles all that for me. I'm like, all right, you know apply, you know tell me what you need from me, but you take care of everything. That's nice to know that there's something like that, where you know I don't have to go searching in the Japanese yellow pages for people on my own, so that's good to know.

Nick:
Yeah, I mean, if it's all set up, you don't? There isn't any extra work that needs to be done by you.

Bradley Sutton:
Now, Gary, you know like speaking, you know we're talking about freight forwarding. You had mentioned something interesting. You know, in recent months, obviously many Sellers in Europe were affected and actually worldwide about. You know what was going on with the pirates of the Caribbean, there in the Suez Canal, like you know, the Red Sea, you know like that, that affected shipping prices worldwide because you know like ships couldn't go there. You know they didn't want to get shot down and things, and then obviously you know there are shipping delays and that increases prices. You know people felt it here in the States, people felt it in Europe, but you were saying kind of in Japan it was whatever, right, because it's so, so close.

Gary:
Yeah, I mean the Suez Canal Crisis. It's really impacting ocean freight all over the world, like going from like 2000 something dollars or containers, who you know, over 5,000 and even more right, even if you're not, by passing through Suez canal, because it has a ripple effect, because it's taking longer for the ships to go around, like South of Africa, so it adds like two additional weeks and most people don't realize. You have to factor in for the containers as well, because the containers are used, so you have to have more empty containers to accommodate that. But if you look at the map, you know Japan is China's neighbor, right? So I mean a container from China to Japan can arrive in, you know, like a week, so it's really fast, I mean compared to China, USA, you know 30 to 45 days or even more right, so you can definitely save a lot of time shipping if you're selling in Amazon, Japan shipping from China. And also you can save a lot of money as well because distance wise is very close, I mean literally, I mean their neighbors, right, so you will save a lot of money as well. And then in terms of sellers, you know we were talking to with, you know, Brandon Young Last year and that was kind of like a light bulb moment for him, because if you can reduce the lead time you know from when the factory ships out the good until you land it, you know from you don't have to keep so much inventory, right? So rather than buying up like three, four months of the inventory just staying stock, you could cut that to, let's say, a month or two months inventory so that for the seller, that frees up your cash flow as well. If you were to sell in Japan, from China, Japan, given the shorter lead times. That's why we feel like there's, at least you know, this one big X factor for sellers. You know it would be an advantage to sell into Japan. If you're sourcing from China and actually not only China, because you know, as they could quickly touch upon just a few minutes ago. If you're sourcing from other countries in Asia, there's actually three trade agreements between India and Japan, Vietnam in Japan and Thailand in Japan. So it depends on your exact product, but your product could come in if it's made in India. If you're exporting Japan, if you land duty free right, I mean, it could be zero. So there's and obviously there's no trade war going on between you know, China, Japan. So there's no Trump tariffs and you could significantly reduce your landing cost and obviously that would help every seller, you know profit margins right if you're able to do that. So you know there's a lot of these type of logistical advantages that Japan has. Then not a lot of sellers are aware of, and you know that would it could. I mean you could land your product a lot cheaper, a lot faster. You know if your cash flow selling in Japan compared to other countries. So we feel like that's one big advantage.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, I really need to get off my butt and do it. You know, like I've been saying I would, but I just been so busy at Helium 10 that I haven't been able to expand any of my Amazon business almost like this week. I'm finally launching like three products for the first time in probably a year and a half. But um, but yeah, I need to get.

Gary:
Can we do a Project X Japan?

Bradley Sutton:
We should do that, yeah

Gary:
We should do a project here first.

Bradley Sutton:
Yeah, Project X will be doing. All right, I like it, we'll do it. Anime with Japanese animation. We'll get Wit studios to do it for us yeah. Speaking of Japan and Japan. So we'll get back to the Amazon strategy. But let's talk a little bit about the 7 Figure Seller Japan Mastermind. I attended last year. I'm probably going to attend this year. I'm not going like it in the official capacity. I think I like it so much I think I'm going to pay my own way, you know, because we have a certain budget for events at Helium 10 and then, you know, usually they rotate things, or one year we'll do, you know, like last year we did Prague European one, this year we're not doing that one, in the next year we might do it again or something, but this one wasn't on the list for our travel budget. But you know I'm a points hacker, so, like I'm sure I could, you know, probably pay for a flight myself or make it not so much. And it's going to be in a place that I have been in Japan 40 times, lived in Japan, have never, ever been, and that's Okinawa. So, Gary, was it your decision to do it in Okinawa, since you had lived there before, or how did you decide that you're going to do this event in Okinawa?

Gary:
Yeah, well, Okinawa I mean, for those that don't know, it's known as the Hawaii of Japan. So there's beautiful beaches, it's, you know, subtropical climate, and we were able to secure a fantastic resort hotel, that Hilton in Okinawa. So literally it's on the beach. I wanted to do it in Okinawa, and I was talking with Nick as well, because it's Japan, but it's a nice change of pace as well. So it's kind of like the Hawaii of Japan and then logistically, there's, you know, the airport. You can arrive there pretty conveniently at Naha Airport and basically everyone's going to be there at the same place. You know we have 8 figure sellers, 7 figure Japan sellers. We have, like, all these different experts. You know, every step of the way, right from compliance to shipping, localization etc. But yeah, and I kind of wanted to to give back to Okinawa as well, because during COVID I mean, some of you guys know my family story. We weren't able to because we were living in Shanghai before. You know, I'm American and I couldn't go back to Shanghai, even though my wife is Chinese. I lived there 11 years, I paid all my taxes. I couldn't go back because they closed the border and my visa had expired. But Okinawa, you know they allowed us to stay on a temporary tourist visa for two and a half years. So Okinawa also is like the poorest prefecture in Japan and they really suffered a lot during COVID. So I'm just happy that you know people can come visit and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do in Okinawa, to kind of get back as well.

Bradley Sutton:
Alright, yeah, I'm a history buff, I'm a travel buff, so, alright, guys, you heard it here first. Like I'm committing that I'm going to go, you know so, April 8th to 10th. If you guys want to join, like, I have a forwarding website here that make it easier. Remember, just go to h10.me/japan and that'll bring you to sign up and there will be, you know, a lot of great speakers talking about local. You know selling in Japan, strategies and, while I was there last year, you know there was a couple interesting success stories. I saw one I forgot his name, but one influencer who was doing 7 figures in Japan. I forgot his name, but, Nick, maybe you can give us some other success stories, maybe of either local Japanese sellers or maybe somebody from a foreign marketplace foreign to Japan. You know Europe or USA getting started in Japan and being successful? Any stories you can relate.

Nick:
So one of our clients is an international brand, they're an American registered company and last year they cleared 7 figures and we're definitely looking to do a lot more this year and that's in two years. The sales currently are, so they're actually doing very, very well.

Bradley Sutton:
Seven figures in US dollars, we're talking. Seven figures in Japanese Yen is not too much, but you're saying, you're saying US dollars, right.

Nick:
No, we're doing 7 figures in Yen a month now. So, no, yeah, they're doing very, very well in America. They sell in Europe and they sell in Canada, but the Japanese sales are now almost comparable to the US sales, but the profit margins are a lot higher.

Bradley Sutton:
That was about to be my second question.

Nick:
Yeah, because you know things like the PPC is a hell of a lot cheaper. The ACoS for the account is about, I think it's about 8, 9 percent now. The TACoS is about 3 or 4 percent and it's the kind of figures you can't really get in the US. So, actually in theory you could sell a lot less in Japan and still end up with the same kind of profit as you could in the US. But obviously, if you, if you're getting sales close to the US, you're probably going to have much, much higher margins. Japan really is cheaper. It's a cheaper tax as well. If you are off the threshold to pay tax. But if you're under 10 million Yen, which is probably about 60-70,000 US, if you're under that in sales, you don't have to pay consumption tax. There is no tax. So anybody like me selling in Europe who gets absolutely lost by the tax authorities there you know paying 19, 20, 21, 23 percent in some of the some of the regions in Europe, you could be selling, you know, 50-60,000 US in Japan and not have to pay any consumption tax whatsoever. So there are definite advantages to selling in Japan.

Bradley Sutton:
Another advantage that I've seen is the kind of Amazon seller culture is a little bit different. So, for example, the Chinese sellers and the foreign sellers there they're used to. You know they're using a lot of Chinese tools. They're using Helium 10, you know to be able to do their keyword research. But one thing I noticed, you know at least last year or the year before, was a lot of the Japanese-based sellers, even some of the bigger ones, it's like not in their business culture to really use like tools, like they're not using Helium 10. They're not using the Chinese tools and so sometimes you can go in there and like you might have these insights about keywords. You know running Cerebro, you know they wouldn't have any idea what reverse ASIN means and you've got keywords that you can put in your listing that they might not even know because they're just maybe relying on PPC to find their keywords. Is that still kind of like the case where you know tool usage is not widespread amongst the local Japanese selling community?

Nick:
Yeah, definitely. I think it comes from the fact that most of the sellers, most of the largest sellers, were originally on Rakuten and Rakuten there aren't really as many kind of tools available, so they just haven't really kind of built up the systems and kind of the processes to handle that kind of data. So no, I don't think they are using it. Obviously the Chinese sellers are, but the local sellers don't think are anywhere near as much.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's definitely what I've noticed. Now, Gary, back to you. You know you've probably heard a lot of excuses. You know I just gave you an excuse of I don't have any time, you know, to do it, but what are some of the myths or excuses that you hear about what people think? Maybe it's just a conception of how selling in Japan is, or obstacles that really aren't there. What are some things that maybe you can debunk for those who might be timid to dip their feet into the Japanese waters over there?

Gary:
Yeah, I think one of the biggest ones is language, because obviously Japanese language is very different and you know I don't really speak Japanese and you know I figured out how to sell in Japan because you really you don't need to actually know Japanese to sell in Japan. I mean, obviously it helps, but the fact that the number 1 Amazon Seller Central Japan is all in English, so literally, if you know how to sell in the US or Europe, you instantly can sell in Japan. And number 2, in terms of the keyword research obviously we have tools like Helium 10 so sellers can get smart. They're already familiar with how to do reverse ASIN searches and you know all that good stuff. You can do the same thing in Japan. And number three now we have tools like AI, ChatGPT and the translation feature. I mean, it's like miles ahead of Google translate, like you know what we're using just two years ago. So I'm able to use ChatGPT to really get smart and even dissect some of the Japanese competitors listings to extract keywords to better understand that. So I feel like you know that's one big myth about Japan and I feel at the same time, you know like all of these obstacles. You know, talking about culture, talking about language. You know, I kind of. You know I like that book, The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday. Like I don't know if you guys read that book, it's kind of like a stoicism book. But like these obstacles actually, if you look at it from the flip side, right, a lot of people are intimidated by Japan. But if the fact that you learn how to do this I mean, if you want to come to our conference, we'll literally guide you through it. You can leave no stone unturned; these obstacles actually become your moat, right, they're like a barrier against your competition, that they're intimidated by it. So I feel you know, for the certain seller that is motivated to do this especially, I mean this selling in Japan is really good, for sellers who are already selling in the US or already selling in EU. They have skews, let's say, with like 700 reviews, 1000 reviews. Why? Because you can actually carry over those reviews from Amazon US to Amazon Japan. So that way when you launch on day one, you don't launch with zero reviews, you launch with 700 reviews and like the review moat, I mean the review, like the average review is a lot lower, like review score is a lot lower in Japan as well. So I mean,Japan is the fourth biggest market, but it still seems like a lot of people are either too intimidated or, you know, they don't know about it. So I'm really trying to help sellers, and you know, Nick as well, right, we're trying to help sellers better, you know, take advantage of this opportunity, even though it's 2024, you know, like, what Nick said before, you know Japan is the niche, right? I mean, we're all talking about the riches are in the niches, I mean in Japan, like the best selling thick yoga mats, like I actually did. Like a comparison, in the US, the best selling thick yoga mat has 4.6 stars and has 75,000 reviews, so it's way too saturated, right? But in Japan, the best selling thick yoga mat only had 3.9 stars and only 370 reviews, right? So you think about it. I mean, which one would you rather compete against, right? The yoga mat with 4.6 stars, 75,000 reviews, or Japan, right? And if you're already selling the US, if you have a thousand reviews, you can actually carry them over to Japan and then you can be like, you know, the king right from day one. So there's all of these advantages that sellers can have if they know how to do this. Just sounds in Japan.

Bradley Sutton:
What else that we haven't talked about yet are people going to be able to learn about at the conference in April?

Gary:
I think something that's new that we talked about is Rakuten, because everyone knows Amazon, right, but Rakuten, like what Nick said, they're literally neck and neck with Amazon. So we're going to bring in a speaker to talk about how to sell on Rakuten and this way we can give the sellers, you know, a balanced perspective, right, Amazon and Rakuten. We didn't have this last year, so this way we want to give sellers more information, because certain products may sell better on Amazon or on Rakuten, so this way you can have more perspective there. And then we're also talking about how to get into offline retail in Japan as well, so we're going to have some content there as well. So I mean, if you're a seller, if you're going to make the investment to import your products into Japan, it kind of makes sense to maximize the different options that you have, right? So, beyond Amazon, Rakuten, getting into physical retail stores, and then we're also going to talk about external marketing strategies. There's social media, and you know Nick is really good at this, like using Japan social media platforms. eI think this is information You're not going to get anywhere else and you know we share, like real examples from real sellers. You know what they're doing, that you can take away, you can imitate. So, yeah, I think these are all great opportunities, and also AI as well. I mean AI is like super prevalent now you know Japan is trying to like push AI a lot as well because you know, with like the labor costs and you know Japan has kind of like fallen behind compared to the rest of the world. Right, but they're looking to amplify AI. So we're trying to help sellers use AI to scale your business in Japan, even if you don't speak the language.

Bradley Sutton:
All right. So again, guys, if you didn't write down that address, how can you get more information on this conference, h10.me/japan. Nick, maybe any last words about selling Japan that you think foreign sellers need to know about the market, good or bad?

Nick:
So I think one of the main things that people should really understand is that about half of the market in Amazon, Amazon Japan is made up of Chinese sellers. So, although you know we have these kind of podcasts and Gary is explaining to people about the fact that Amazon Japan is a very good marketplace, a lot of people who sell in Europe or the US, they might think about it, they might consider it. The Chinese they know. They know just how good it is because they know there is very little competition, there's very little branding, so they can ship products out to Japan and sell. They don't need to have very many reviews. If you are a brand that already has. Sorry. If you are a seller who already has a brand and you've already got reviews on your products, all you need to do is list them in Japan. Global review thinking has been a thing for probably about three years now. You can start in Japan with more reviews than all the other sellers combined. You don't even need to have very many, even if you've got 500, that might be more than all the people in the top 50. And so it's so much easier to launch in a marketplace where your main competition are Chinese, non-face brands. They aren't even brands, they aren't even brand registered, whereas you are a brand, you look good, you've got the assets, you've got the images, you've got the videos are more importantly, the most important thing you have the reviews. You are starting with more reviews than anybody else. I mean there isn't any other way, any other better way to sell. You'll have cheaper conversions, you'll have cheaper PPC than everybody else and I think that's probably the main thing.

Bradley Sutton:
Awesome, all right guys. Well, if you're convinced already, well, hurry up and sign up for selling in Japan, and you could reach out to Nick and Gary for help from their network or attend in person the event and meet a lot of these people who can help you in person while enjoying the Hawaii of Japan. So I look forward to seeing you guys in Okinawa and month or so now, and it'll be great to see you there and hope to see some listeners there as well, so look forward to it.

View Details

Listen in as Alvaro Lopez from Solo Stove shares this brand’s incredible entrepreneurial journey that began with two brothers with a vision and has since flourished into a significant role in the Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce landscape. Our conversation paints a picture of how his academic pursuits in international studies set the stage for a career that expertly intersects with the Amazon-selling industry. We also unravel the story behind Solo Stove's creation by two brothers who dared to dream beyond the confines of their day jobs, skillfully navigating the supply chain from China to North America to deliver a product beloved by outdoor enthusiasts.

Join us as we dissect the intricate details of brand strategy and e-commerce optimization for Amazon and Walmart. From the leap of establishing a direct-to-consumer channel to strategic maneuvers post-IPO, our discussion with a global director of marketplaces offers many insights. We dive into the crucial role of consumer obsession and mastery over logistics, and we share invaluable tactics for brand defense on platforms like Amazon. The importance of rich content and keyword optimization to cut through the noise of a saturated marketplace is laid bare, providing a roadmap for e-commerce success.

Wrapping up, our chat transitions from the tantalizing secrets of Peruvian chicken to strategic e-commerce maneuvers. We highlight the essential role of high-quality ingredients and cultural heritage in culinary success before shifting to the nuances of effective copywriting and the power of tools like Helium 10's Cerebro tool. Alvaro emphasizes the significance of localization in global branding and imparts wisdom on the 'action over perfection' philosophy that has fueled the growth of many successful brands. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to navigate the complex yet rewarding waters of e-commerce with agility and foresight.

In episode 538 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Franco discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Solo Stove's E-commerce Success
07:58 - Solo Stove's Brand Defense Strategy In Amazon
09:50 - E-Commerce Brand Strategy and Optimization
12:05 - Strategies for Brand Protection
15:01 - Emotional Branding in Marketplace Selling
18:56 - Marketplace Performance Analysis and Expansion
20:21 - Expanding Sales Channels and Branding Strategies
25:57 - Peruvian Chicken's Secret & Other E-Commerce Strategies

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

You've probably heard of Solo Stove, a company that does almost half a billion dollars annually and does ads with people like Snoop Dogg and more. Now, today we're going to talk to one of the heads of their Amazon business to see what strategies that any Helium 10 user has access to that help them increase to this level. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Kevin King:

Hey, what's up everybody? Kevin King here. You know, one of the number one questions I get is how can you connect to me? How can I, Kevin, get some advice or speak with you or learn more from you? The best way is with Helium 10 Elite. If you go to h10.me/elite, you can get all the information and sign up for Helium 10 Elite. Every month, I lead advanced training where I do Seven Ninja Hacks. We also have live masterminds and every single week, one of those weeks I jump on for a couple hours and we talk shop, we talk business, do in-person events. Helium 10 Elite is where you want to be. It's only $99 extra on your Helium 10 membership. It's h10.me/elite. Go check it out and I hope to see you there.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And again I am here on the other side of the world, here in Frankfurt, Germany, and got to link up with somebody I've known virtually for a while but now got to meet in person Alvaro: from Solo Stove. Alvaro, how's it going?

Alvaro:

Good, Brad, thanks for having me. Good to be here.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, your accent is not a typical Swiss accent. I know you live in Switzerland. Where, so where were you born and raised? Let's talk about you, the person first of all.

Alvaro:

So I'm originally from Lima, Peru, my parents, but I grew up in Washington DC, which is why you hear the accent. So just outside of DC, you know, finished secondary school, started my undergrad in Utah and took a two-year break. During that undergrad, moved around Mexico, different parts of the states for an LDS mission at the time, and then, right after I got back and got into my undergrad, moved to Spain. That's where I met my wife, who's Swiss, German, and that's what really brought us to Southern Germany. This is why you're hearing American accent.

Bradley Sutton:

There you go. So how long have you been in Europe then?

Alvaro:

That was in 2014. So it's been. It's crazy to think it's been a decade. Yeah, but it's been a decade, a decade exactly this month.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, where did you go to University?

Alvaro:

Utah State.

Bradley Sutton:

Utah State. Yeah, aggies, oh, I got it. Oh, yes, man I always try to like test myself.

Alvaro:

Right, it's like randomly in a very cold part of Utah the coldest part of Utah right on the border with Idaho but it's a pretty big undergrad campus, about 25,000 students, so don't keep me honest, but the international programs are amazing.

Bradley Sutton:

What do you study when you're there?

Alvaro:

I study International Studies. I'm really an honor trajectory to work for the State Department at the time, and I had already met my wife prior to finishing my undergrad, and so when I finished a foreign service exam right after my undergrad, she had got a gig in Basel. She works in the biotech pharmacy industry and Basel is mostly known for the pharma industry, and I took a job at the time in e-com through some friends in my network, and the rest is history, dude.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, what was? So when did you get into e-com?

Alvaro:

2016.

Bradley Sutton:

2016? So what? What part of e-com was that? Was that Amazon, or was that?

Alvaro:

Specifically, I was working through an agency at the time that was helping North American brands expand on Amazon generally, and I was a first European hire at the time to bring brands into Europe, and that's really we were able to successfully scale certain clients and from there moved around through other European companies, brought me into Luxembourg. I've worked back in between Germany and Switzerland for a few years and it's so now for almost four years. Great as a thing, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, so that's Alvaro's background. Let's talk about Solo stuff. A lot of this is that household name. I've had all kinds of cool companies like. I just interviewed somebody from Lego here now. We got Solo, so yeah for those who don't know about Solo. So what's the background of Solo? So the company?

Alvaro:

Yeah, so you know, Solo stuff is a business. Of course we're in the consumer product goods industry but, like our whole goal as a brand and as a business is to help our customers connect with their loved ones and connect with the outdoors. So I'll kind of get back to that later if we go in detail. But the organization itself, two brothers founded the brand in 2010, as you see my t-shirt here I'm like repping well the company and really what they were looking. They were both entrepreneurs. They're both Chinese, Canadian origin, so both very familiar with the supply chain aspects in China, but, of course, going up in Canada, so many opportunities in terms of producing things in China and bringing it over with healthy profits in the Western market. So these two brothers were just looking for ways to find freedom from their day-to-day jobs. We're both were working at the time some pretty strenuous jobs. So they found a space and so I'm giving a lot of context. I think it's important to understand.

Alvaro:

As they were iterating different product lines, they created this ingenious. What was this mini, now known as the light? But it was the original, just only Solo Stove and it was really a camp stove designed to be able to light a little camp stove within 90 seconds from twigs to a burning fire that you could cook with, with just the stainless steel concept, and so that same design and engineering is ultimately what ended up being optimized into grow I almost spoke German there close into bigger camp stoves from the light. And then, back in 2018, we ran a kick starter that introduced the bonfire range, and that's really what helped accelerate our growth and our momentum as a brand. But originally started from two brothers wanting to just have freedom in their lives, to create products that create good moments that leads to lasting memories. And now here we are as a publicly traded business.

Bradley Sutton:

Public company having Snoop Dogg. Maybe some of you guys saw the ad campaign like I'm going smokeless.

Alvaro:

You did go smokeless. Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's, that's pretty cool. Now, you're a publicly traded company. I know like I think you guys had published like in 2022. You've done over like 400 million across all platforms. Were you up last year, down last year, 2023?

Alvaro:

Yeah, so from a marketplace perspective, we were up, which you felt really grateful. Obviously, last year, 2023 was really interesting year. We’re kind of pretty much all brands in our sector are reconciling like post pandemic trends. So as a business, overall we were pretty flat, healthy, cash wise and profit wise, very strong marketplace and international saw tremendous growth, which we can talk about this in detail. But I view our partnership with Helium 10 as a core variable to that consistent performance. I'm really helping us understand where the market at scale really is and how we can continue to take part of that market share that we have and grow it. So, from a marketplace perspective, amazon specifically USA was up in Amazon global was up significantly year-over-year.

Bradley Sutton:

What percentage? You know what once you get to a certain level. This is similar to what I talked about, Silas, who formerly from Lego is, is like what percentage is from brand search? And then what percentage would you say is just coming from people typing in you know, smokeless Barbecue pit or something? Random keywords.

Alvaro:

It's a great question and actually you know it ties directly into what we can do within Helium 10 and tech stack. You guys simplify, but from what we've seen, both within the search query performance on brand analytics and seller central, and from the believe it's Frank and center said, able to remind me where we can find a search volume that I don't yep, yep, we see that the Solo Stove branded searches is almost three times bigger than smokeless fire pit. Wow, which is wow, which is unique, because there's not a lot of brands that can pretty much be synonymous to an entire market. I mean, yeah, of course. Yeah, Lego is.

Bradley Sutton:

One of the only examples where it's like I don't know what you would skate toy bricks right.

Alvaro:

Kleenex, I guess. So we've been really grateful that we can drive that. Obviously, in the US, Germany, Canada, UK, Amazon is definitely if not the biggest, one of the biggest search engine platforms for consumers looking for a product or looking into a product. So, naturally, the way we have our omni channel sales channels, I should say set up, we leverage Amazon as both, of course, a place where we can drive tremendous growth and profit, but also a place where we need to defend the brand. So I think from a percentage perspective, all over half of our sales come from branded search, which is really a strong attribution to our entire brand and marketing team and, of course, product development team. We can go into detail in this podcast, however you wish, but for us, a marketplace that's really critical is how are we defending the brand, how are we displaying the brand, how's our content, what's that consumer experience like and how are we defending the traffic that's looking for us so we're not losing them in the funnel? It's a critical component of our strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. I definitely want to get into some specific strategies, but one just general question I'm curious about is from what I understand, Solo Stove in the States has been kind of like a household name for a while. You're a little bit newer here in Europe. What was your expansion strategy? Like, did Amazon play a big role in trying to get your brand out here, or was it a lot of just traditional marketing?

Alvaro:

Yes, so we officially. So. I was actually the first European hire fun fact for Solo Stove back in very end of 2020, going into 2021. Originally brought on as a director of marketplaces globally. First for Solo, this was pre acquisition of other brands, pre IPO, so then took that role as we acquire new brands right shout out to Oro, Kayak, Iel, Chubby Shorts. So it was really really interesting experience. And then that fall 2021 is when we launched direct to consumer.

Alvaro:

Now, we had a little bit of a head start. We had some great distribution partners, some that we still work with very closely with today, that we had some organic search and so really, from the circumstance in the car that we were playing, that really helped us define, specifically in Europe, the way we're going to market is like where to put our focus in terms of marketing spend and our focus in terms of channels, like where we're actually going to sell. So we immediately noticed that in Europe specifically Northern Europe to be most specific, right between the UK, Nordics, Benelux, the Dach region, right Germany, Austria, Switzerland we knew that would be our focus. So that definitely helped us define where our headquarter would be, which is today in Rotterdam. That was extremely critical. Make sure we staff that effectively.

Alvaro:

For us, consumer obsession is our fundamental. We want to make sure customers have a great experience and that logistically which we own our distribution out of Rotterdam we own all of our logistics. That's an extremely critical component. So, in terms of, like, the actual launch right, the setup is critical. Understanding which market we're going to play in.

Alvaro:

I mean, these were things that were important to set up, but once actually going live to market, we're a digitally native brand. So when we went live to market, it was an omnichannel mix digitally, meaning that we focused, hyper focused on our website and across Amazon Pan Europe, and we did more our first full year being live direct to consumer than it took solo, so 10 years to do it domestically. So it was, I would say, obviously and this is with the same profit constraints that we have in the US obviously, as public and traded business, we have a responsibility to shareholders, not only to drive top line but also to drive bottom line. So we're really, really proud of that story and we've just seen year over year growth, sustaining those same top and bottom line figures that I'm alluding to.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. All right, let's get back into some specific strategies. You alluded to like kind of like brand defense and putting a moat around your brand. And yes, of course, when you're that size of a company, like you guys are, it's important. But even smaller sellers, once they're building up their brand, there's going to be brand search and it might not be at the scale of a Solo Stove or Lego, but they would have to follow the same principles as kind of like you have. So what has been your strategy? I know, like Helium 10, maybe Adtomic and some others tools talk about that a little bit, but what's your strategy at protecting your brand?

Alvaro:

One of the most profound conversations I remember the last three years working with Solo Stove and solo brands is a conversation I had with our Chief Digital Officer at the time, who's also one of the founders of Chubbies, Tom Montgomery, who, like what an incredible experience working under his wing for over a year. We were talking one day about like specific tactics for operating on Amazon, and one of those things actually was brand registry, and I was going into detail and he, for lack of better terms or articulating this, he just kind of stopped me and said hey, Alvaro, this is a fundamental, we don't need to go into detail here. So, when it comes to like your defense on Amazon, like make sure that the resources Amazon provides you to defend your brand, be it like the most fundamental basics being like hey, get brand registered. Make sure it's basically like an Amazon trademark right. Or maybe it's a transparency program right If you're dealing with counterfeits or unauthorized resellers.

Alvaro:

Maybe it's project zero, which is a more robust element of transparency I'd say, make those fundamentals in your business. I would say that's an extremely critical component. Like, make the resources that Amazon has to give to you now, what Walmart's providing right through their seller platform, make those brand resources to defend your brand of fundamental and exhaust them right. If you're a bigger business and you need to make that cross I'd say cross department focus initiative, like with your legal team or your finance team or your CTO, do so, but just make it a fundamental like don't postpone any resource you have through brand registry. Okay, hope that kind of answers your question.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, absolutely, so definitely important. And again, you don't need to be a humongous seller. I would say brand new seller. Why not start with brand registry? You know, if you're just an arbitrage seller or something, of course, yeah, you don't even have to worry about that, but everybody should be protecting their brand. What about on the kind of like listing optimization, keyword strategy, advertising strategy? As far as protecting your brand in that sense, though.

Alvaro:

Yeah, I mean indexing is critical. You know, as I alluded to earlier, we have a lot more search for Solo Stove than someone who's probably looking for a product that we sell right, similar to our core product, I'd say. But as far as like what we do to defend a brand through the listing, going again back to the principle, fundamentals, we have hundreds and thousands of assets. So this to any brand that's serious about selling on marketplace, where I mean, look, cost of acquisition is more expensive, there's more sellers, there's more listings, you need to make sure that your content is rich, right? So for us, where you know anyone can buy like a random fire pit from Walmart or from Target for 50 bucks, 100 bucks, you know why are you gonna spend three, four, five times more on a solo, so fire pit? And it's because we want to evoke that emotion of creating good moments. And so, for us, part of the defense strategy is hey, is the content, the copy, your A plus for Amazon specifically, is it evoking that emotion that you want to be associated to your brand? Right for us, it's, of course we're selling fire pits, but the end to all these means is can we evoke the emotion on that session that a customer or potential customers having with our Brand, showing that they can create good moments with the brand. I think it's a really critical component of our brand and that defense strategy from a listing perspective.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. Yeah, I think that is something that smaller sellers sometimes think they don't have to worry about. But you know, people look at that stuff, you know, and in a cookie cutter world where maybe there's 15 people doing the same thing, similar prices, that's the kind of stuff that sets you apart and makes you memorable. What kind of advertising do you guys, you know, focus on? Do you just do pretty much everything that Amazon provides, whether it's sponsored, band, display, DSP, etc?

Alvaro:

It's a great question. You know, we actually just had some pretty high-level folks at Amazon in our offices last week in Great Vine. It's really grateful for that experience because we actually had some key members from the Amazon ads team coming to the office and really give us insights into some of the new products that Amazon ads is developing. And so for us, definitely it's part of a strategy broadly is to maximize the way we utilize resources that Amazon has to offer. But as far as like the going back to like the ad console and what we're executing highly and yeah, it's across the board right we obviously see best efficiency across sponsored product, right. And then the way we define that strategy top to bottom, the funnel is critical right, defensive to offensive, and we carry similar strategies across sponsored brand, sponsored display.

Alvaro:

And now we're getting to a point as a business where I mean you'll hear high-level team members from Solo, so speak about this over this coming year. But we're really trying to blur our performance digitally, right. Amazon is developing some products that is going to affect more positively performance outside of Amazon and we want to take part of that right through AMC or DSP. So that's gonna be a really critical component is leveraging the experience we have from the ad console right through the three core campaign types that we could have run into new products that they're developing and really blur both performance and our operations behind it with Amazing talent that we have in-house that historically been focused on, like paid social and Google, and trying to blur that operation, if that kind of makes sense.

Bradley Sutton:

On Amazon Advertising, how does your team leverage a Helium 10 Adtomic?

Alvaro:

You know the biggest, biggest benefit that we've seen with that Adtomic specifically is helping streamline extremely time-consuming things. I mean we're highly tactical, highly experienced and very, very detailed in terms of the, the campaigns and the way we're optimizing. I mean, you're probably looking at our account we have thousands of campaigns just in the US alone and then you can do the multiples of that because we put similar efforts across all of our channels on Amazon and we're in 15 Amazon stores a little bit under once you start to consider international. So what Adtomic has done really I can speak transparently with you here in person is helping a streamline, extremely time-consuming task like bulk changes, bulk edits, in a way that's not just to get it done to save time, but in a way that's it's insightful and data-driven. Yeah, to keep it simple.

Bradley Sutton:

Taking a step back, you just mentioned all the different marketplaces you sell in. If you were to say, you know, just gross revenue, top five, you know, I'm safe to say US number one, what would be? Germany, number two, UK.

Alvaro:

It's really interesting on Amazon. It's similar performance that we see between UK and Germany. It's funny because off Amazon our British business is more material. So it speaks a little bit to the power of, I think, of Amazon Germany, or maybe even the preference of consumer behavior. Maybe German is just again, we need to take a deeper dive in this but maybe our German customers just prefer to shop on Amazon Germany, for whatever their reason is I'll come back to your answer but an important fundamental as a brand is we want to meet our customer where they want to be met.

Alvaro:

That’s why omnichannel is so critical. But as far as Amazon, definitely the top four is Germany, UK after the US. Canada is up there and then in the rest of Europe between France, Italy, Spain and Holland. I think you have a pretty much flat performance competing for that fifth spot. We most definitely can scale our performance in Japan and Australia just from the data we can see in terms of search volume for our brand. But obviously Japan and Australia aren't necessarily right next to Europe, so it requires a bit more effort logistically. Yeah, that runs up the top five. I hope that helps.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, what about any non-Amazon marketplaces that you guys are doing well in, like you know, be it Walmart or TikTok shop?

Alvaro:

It’s a great question. You know, domestically, 100%, Walmart's been a really great partner of ours. Obviously, they as a business have been hyper focused on developing this marketplace that can, over time, become a pure competitor to Amazon. At the moment, from my understanding, at a macro level, it's still, you know, years away from really competing with Amazon, but they've been great partners in terms of giving us the human element and time and attention and placements that I think a brand like ours deserves, considering how much branded search goes into their marketplace. So that partnership with Walmart has been really important for us. Again, going back to the notion of meeting customers where they want to be met, we've found that there's a lot of customers that want to be met there, and so we're excited and eager to double down on the performance on Walmart marketplace.

Alvaro:

And yeah, man, look, I'm based in Basel, one of my favorite things about living in Basel is it's on the border with Germany, France and Switzerland, and so I have firsthand, daily I can see how fragmented consumer behavior is across those three countries and so in Europe, way more nuanced in terms of our marketplace approach. It's obviously Amazon Paniu is critical, but I mean we've got other really important sales channels to us, such as Bowl, right out of Netherlands and Belgium, Allegro, which we've heard a little bit about today in Poland, Manor in Switzerland, Galaxies something in our radar, so a few other marketplaces just because it's so much, so much more fragmented that are critical for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Do anything in Korea?

Alvaro:

At the moment? No, but we do have a great partner in Korea and we do have some pretty strong performance, not necessarily through marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

It's got to be some Korean barbecue, a product you have. I mean, Korean barbecue is so popular worldwide. Yeah, you know, there's got to be something you can do there.

Alvaro:

Yeah, I know that for sure there. I mean, if you guys ever want to see like amazing engineering around a Solo, so I mean I hope I don't know of some of your audience if they're looking at Solo stuff. The aesthetics of the product is so simple. It's a beautiful product, but some of the things we see engineered around the Solo sale out of Japan and Korea and China not by our team is incredible. So owe them a lot of props in terms of like giving us definitely some inspiration.

Bradley Sutton:

If you make an in-house Korean barbecue table or device, I would be your first customer. You know, because, like you know, like what I do in my house, you know, none of us are Korean but like I've been eating Korean food my whole life and I just only watch Korean TV and everything. But you know, I just got like this burner with a little tank of whatever it is and it's not efficient. Smoke, like you know, everywhere. I got to open up all the windows and I got to, you know, replay. It's like there's got to be a better way and I think you guys would be the ones to do it. So let me, let me beta test.

Alvaro:

Don't challenge us. We're one of the key polar of ours is getting indoors, you know, with some of our core lines.

Bradley Sutton:

We mentioned earlier how you, you know, did something with Snoop Dogg. You know that now that's something that, no, not you know brand new sellers or even million dollar sellers, you know should be considering somebody of that stature. But at what point should an Amazon seller start reaching out to maybe micro influencers or just you know people, people to promote their product?

Alvaro:

Yeah, look, it's a much different answer today than it was even two years ago. Like, if you're coming on Amazon or you're like a newer brand on Amazon and you don't have a strategy to develop your brand off Amazon, you're going to lose. You're going to lose and it's going to make me. Maybe right now you're on a wave and trying to feel as good, but I promise you, the more you can flatten your reach as a brand holistically, the better you're going to be. In this case, like, the best example is we've been able to grow successfully on Amazon with further investments off Amazon by driving more organic search, because Amazon is a beast right, it's a massive search platform. So the more you can drive awareness off Amazon, you're still going to be technically driving awareness into Amazon. So I would say today, when you consider the basics of you, know, increased competition, increased cost, you know.

Alvaro:

Then you have some macroeconomic factors to implement in terms of how consumers feel about spending, you know, their own hard earned funds into brands that maybe they've never heard of. It's a lot more nuanced today and a lot more difficult, so you want to make sure you're definitely focused on developing a brand where consumers can not only connect but have awareness about what your brand is, so they can make a more. You know, feed the funnel earlier and get to that bottom much earlier than anticipated, because Amazon, of course, is the bottom of the funnel when it comes to sales channel. Like, people are ready to shop if they're on Amazon. So, yeah, I would just strongly recommend, like, make sure you invest as much time when it comes to branding off Amazon as you do on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, before we get into your final strategy of the day, just a couple somewhat off related topics. But first of all, if you guys want to find out more or find you know about their products, you know, just type in Solo Stove literally to any search engine or on Amazon or Walmart or anywhere. If people just want to find you on the interwebs out there is LinkedIn a good place to follow what you do.

Alvaro:

Yeah, LinkedIn is great. I'm pretty private on social media unless your part of our online community. My German wife has taught me well in terms of privacy, but LinkedIn is a great platform. If you just look up, there's only one Alvaro. Alvaro, it’s a very Spanish name, very difficult to Germanize or Anglicize. So if you just look up, Alvaro Lopez. All opus, you'll find me for Solo stuff. I think it's the best way.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay cool. Random question why in Peruvian restaurants is the chicken so good?

Alvaro:

Man, it's a great question. It's definitely a combination of the..

Bradley Sutton:

You got some secret spice that you all are using or what's going on?

Alvaro:

Well, actually it's funny because I was like in Utah recently and I know the owner of one of the biggest Peruvian chicken chain in Utah called a Red Fuego. If anyone's ever in Salt Lake City, I've got a couple of chains around Provo, Salt Lake City and he invested like his core investment was the kitchen and he imported it from Lima. So I think that's a core component. And then, of course, you get into the quality of the chicken.

Alvaro:

I'm pretty pro animal rights here, so make sure that chicken's well taken care of. It's gotta be a healthy chicken that you're going to be putting into your diet. And then just the seasoning. I mean Peru is like I'm very biased here, but it's definitely top five culinary countries, I think, in the planet because of our mix man. It's a great balance between the indigenous ingredients and culture from the yin and beyond that the Spanish, Italian immigrants, Japanese, Chinese immigrants that came through the 19th century and just made a perfect blend of spices and herbs and that's what goes into the marinade of the chicken man. So those three things man.

Bradley Sutton:

It's such good stuff, man. When I was living in LA I would always go. I forgot it was something, Inka was the name of the restaurant. Oh my goodness, so good. Yeah, um, favorite Helium 10 tool?

Alvaro:

That's very difficult. Yeah, I mean to be transparent, it's a very difficult answer. I want to say the one I'm just going to complete a correlate a tool to success, and I think the way we write our copy has been critical, right cause we do index very specific things that we know have high search volume on Amazon that don't necessarily appear on our website. I say Frankenstein has been very critical in terms of, not only providing a good copy for a customer, but also getting keywords that have attacked. You know, I've added new, uh, new customers that would have never found us anyway.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. And then if you were to have a wish list, like maybe something that Helium 10 doesn't do, or a feature or a filter or anything, what would you tell me? Because that's my goal this year is trying to get all the features we don't have yet.

Alvaro:

Yeah, that's a great question. I knew you were talking earlier. You're going to spend more time in Europe, I think I think for serious brands that have I mean, you've seen now like the proliferation of great brands that are focused on Amazon. Well, a lot of these brands are going to have global reach. So I think the more resources you can offer to better localize and translate within Helium 10, I think, there's a massive market for that the more you can automate maybe it's something with ChatGPT, but something to translate and effectively localized would be critical.

Bradley Sutton:

Got it, got it. All right. Something I asked the guest is like give a 30 or 60 second tip, strategy could be about anything in e-commerce or non e-commerce. Could be about anything.

Alvaro:

Go ahead, yeah, I mean let me put my consulting hat on, which have been a brand operator for the last few years. So just focus on action and I think one of the most again going back to lessons I've had from the executive leads at, one of the most important things I took away from, our former CEO, John Maris. He said he'd rather have me focus on doing twice the amount of things half as good than half the amount of things really good and that, really, to be transparent, that philosophy of just iterating different initiatives, obviously targeted initiatives that can drive business, drive top and bottom line, has been really critical. In terms of finding out what sticks, doubling down on those and then the ones that don't work, quickly offloading them, have been really good. So I think just purposefully actioning items that's going to grow your business is extremely critical. You need to be. If you're not waking up every Monday, if your business is good and you're not waking up the beginning of the week, if you're not obsessed about how to double down on that growth, you're on a track to lose. And if you're losing and you're not obsessed about how to offset those losses, then you're going to lose even more.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, well, Alvaro, thank you so much for coming on here. It's been great to meet you in person and thank you for taking the time out and wish you and the solo so best of success. Maybe we'll have you back on the show next year and see what you guys are doing.

Alvaro:

Yeah. Thanks Brad!

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Walmart grows online sales in Q4, agrees to acquire Vizio
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/walmart-online-sales/

Advertise Audible titles with Sponsored Brands
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/advertise-audible-titles-with-sponsored-brands/

Rev up your digital sales engine with the latest tools and techniques featured in this episode. We're talking about Helium 10's releasing a lot of new features in one week! Get the lowdown on enhancing your product visibility with Keyword Tracker's new packs, and learn how to optimize your listings with the newly improved Listing Builder. And for those with an eye for analytics, we'll guide you on customizing your product insights dashboard using tags for a laser-focused approach to product performance. Lastly, our training tip of the week features Carrie as she shows us how you can use groups inside the Helium 10 Insights Dashboard. It's a powerhouse episode packed with insider tips and actionable strategies, so tune in and transform the way you navigate selling on Amazon and Walmart!

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:02 - Amazon Virtual Bundle Update
04:34 - Walmart Sales Up
06:22 - Audible Sponsored Brand
07:23 - Follow Helium 10 On TikTok
08:24 - New Feature Alerts
08:44 - Keyword Tracker
10:35 - Listing Builder
12:03 - Custom Dashboard
12:57 - All Marketplaces Button
14:00 - Black Box for Amazon Brazil
15:37 - Pro Training Tip: Insights Dashboard Groups Feature

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon makes virtual bundles extremely more valuable. Walmart releases latest sales report, the most released features from Helium 10 in a week for the whole year. This and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. We give you a rundown on all the goings on in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We let you know what new features Helium 10 has released and we give you a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

We actually have a pretty light week as far as news Like this is one of the lightest weeks I've seen in a long time. Like crazy, crazy. I'm not complaining, though. Hey, sometimes no news is good news, right, and actually let's start off with some good news. There's no like doom and gloom reports this week, but the first article I wanna talk about is actually not an article at all and what it is kind of a beta test that one of our Helium 10 elite members noticed is running, so you guys know about virtual bundles, right? You know historically this is how virtual bundles look Like. Here's an algae cow product and then I'm just scrolling down a little bit and then right under the image you know, above where the sponsored ads go and even above where frequently brought together is, you'll see this virtual bundle section where it shows other products on this brand. You know I've been saying for, oh my goodness, almost two years now about how I think anybody that has two products or more in a brand should be using Virtual Bundles. It's completely free to use as far as there's no pay per click and it takes up, as you can see here, historically, pretty big real estate but, however, it's not something that a lot of people actually use to buy, like, you know, those who do virtual bundles. It's not like, oh my goodness, it's gonna increase your sales by 30% or anything like that, but it's great to push your sponsored ads down and also, you know, take up some nice real estate and cross promote your products now in our Helium 10 Elite and Serious Sellers Facebook group.

Bradley Sutton:

One of our users, Elizabeth, who has been on this podcast before she noted how hey woke up this morning and Amazon has an update for the Virtual Bundles widget, right above the bullet points, showing it as a variation even of the main product. All right, so this is interesting. Take a look at how it looks on her screen the same exact product that I just showed you. You can see right here that it kind of shows as a bundle right here, right under where the variations are, right to the left of the buy box, and then if you mouse over it it actually shows what products this bundle has. Now that image I was just showing you guys a minute ago on my screen for the first one for the product that's live on my computer. So obviously it's not across the board yet, like where it's universal, where Amazon is showing us, but I really hope that this is going to be something that's permanent. All right, you know, sometimes Amazon does tests and we're like yo, what in the world are you doing? You know I'll go back to how it was, but this is one of those ones I'm hoping they push through On my cell phone, my mobile app of Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Take a look at how it looks. It's actually kind of cool here. Let me go ahead and play this. I did a video here of how it looks on my cell phone, but you can see, here's the image and there's the variations, and then again, right under the variations and right before the Buy Box, you can totally see that there is the virtual bundles that are advertised right there Now on mobile, which is how most people buy these days. Right, this is even going to be more valuable. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw on that screenshot there though, the very top of the listing, it had one of her Sponsored Brand Ads for one of her other products and it showed the main image of her product. It showed the variations and then the virtual bundles and then the Buy Box, like there was not a competitor listing anywhere in sight. So, man, again, here is to hoping that this is going to be something that happens across the board with virtual bundles. I think that will be very that'll be pretty cool for sellers and, again, all the more reason that you guys need to be creating your Virtual Bundles.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Digital Commerce 360. It's entitled Walmart Grows Online Sales in Q4 Agrees to Acquire Visio. Walmart put out their report. They talk a lot about their regular sales, which only increased just a very slight bit, but Walmart US online sales grew 17% in Q4. And said global e-commerce sales actually grew 23%. Now another interesting part of this article they said, hey, e-commerce sales were led by continued strong growth and store fulfilled pickup and delivery. Over the last two years, store fulfilled delivery sales have nearly tripled and now we're doing over $1 billion a month. All right, so again, that's one of the kind of ways that Walmart is catching up with Amazon without having an extensive warehouse network like Amazon has and delivery drivers and things like that. They've got over 4,000 stores and a lot of these stores are the ones that are doing that final delivery. Now the article goes on to say that Walmart didn't share specific information about the Walmart+ program as far as how many members it has, but it says it finished Q4 with a record Walmart+ membership penetration. The article also talks about how there's over 400 million SKUs on Walmart's marketplace now and a significant portion of sellers are using WFS Walmart fulfillment services. So again, we've been talking about this for years. Now, guys, if you're not selling on Walmart yet, probably something to think about. It keeps increasing the marketplace there and as Walmart expands it's Walmart+ offerings I think you're gonna see more customers shopping on that platform.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article today is just something from Amazon and it's about something we've never talked about in the show, probably doesn't affect a lot of you, but just goes to show that you can pretty much advertise anything these days. So we've talked about having your own Kindle, direct, publishing books on Amazon, maybe merch by Amazon, things like that. Well, how many of you have Audible books? All right, so books that are for the Audible app that Amazon has, where you can listen to books, right? Well, guess what? If you make Amazon Audible books, you can now run sponsored brand ads to there in North America, Europe and Asia. So maybe it might be something I have to do and episode on in the future, or some training about how can you get on the Amazon Audible platform with a book, because now you can go ahead and advertise to it as well, whereas in the past only KDP and traditional books could have sponsored brand advertising. All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

So one quick thing I want. I'm gonna do a little quick contest here. All right, guys? All right. As you guys know, we've talked about on this show, Helium 10 has a new TikTok channel. I wanna give you guys an opportunity to win a one-on-one call with me. Here's your homework if you wanna qualify to at least be eligible to do it. All right, so go to our TikTok New page, right. It's called helium10_software. There's some fake accounts out there. Don't click on helium underscore or helium10_software, all right. And then scroll down all the way towards the bottom of our feed. Once you get there and find my video when it says best Amazon ranking hack. I talk about something inside of helium 10. I want you to go ahead and watch that video and comment on it and say you've heard about this from the Weekly Buzz and Make sure to follow helium 10 as well and those who follow the helium 10 channel on there and who go ahead and comment on that video, or we're gonna pick a random person to have a one-on-one call with me, all right, let's hop into our new feature alerts of the week.

Bradley Sutton:

And there was not that much news on the Amazon side this week, but oh my goodness, we have released tons of things this week. A lot of them you guys ask for the first thing want to talk about real simple. A lot of you Definitely use Keyword Tracker, but then those of you who have tons and tons of of skews, you always ask a hey, I don't have enough keywords to track. Well, if you don't have enough keywords to track, don't worry, you can now go ahead and go into your Keyword Tracker. At the very top of the page there's this button that says need more keywords and you can now buy like packs of keywords that so that you can have more than whatever your plan has for Keyword Tracker. So that's the first tool that we have. The next announcement that we have is actually I'm gonna go ahead and let Kevin King Do it himself. Kevin, take it away.

Kevin King:

Hey, what's up everybody? Kevin King here, you know one of the number one questions I get is how can you connect to me? How can I, Kevin, get some advice or speak with you or learn more from you? The best way is with Helium 10 Elite. If you go to h10.me/elite, you can get all the information. Sign up for Helium 10 Elite. Every month I lead train advanced training where I do 7 Ninja Hacks. We also have live masterminds and Every single week, one of those weeks, I jump on for a couple hours and we talk shop, we talk business, do in-person events. Helium 10 elite is where you want to be. It's only $99 extra on your helium 10 membership. It's h10.me/elite. Go check it out and I hope to see you there.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys. So don't forget, Helium 10 Elite has tons of perks, you know. Kevin just mentioned some of them, so I highly recommend checking out the program h10.me/elite as soon as you get into Elite, book a one-on-one call with me. If you don't win that TikTok contest, you can book a one-on-one call with me or with Carrie or Shivali If you're a Helium 10 Elite member. And that's just one of the many, many different Perks there are of being a Helium 10 Elite member. Last week, we announced a new tool and Listing Builder for being able to see the score of how your listing kind of like stacks up compared to your competitors, to the Amazon algorithm for SEO, right? Um, a quick update to the tool once you get into Listing Builder. This is something that people Requested right away once we launched. This is we. We brought back the root keywords when it was, like in the old scribbles, we would tell you what individual keywords were in the phrases that you put in. Well, now we have the One word roots. So you click on one word roots. It'll say what are all the individual keywords that make up the phrases down below and, in addition, how many times you have in your listing. But now for the first time, we also have two words or three plus phrases, like, for example, if I hit two word roots on this page, coffin shelf comes up, coffin makeup, gothic wall, and that's because those are all in multiple phrases below. So maybe there was coffin Shelf for men, coffin shelf for women. Well, that means coffin shelf is in those phrases twice, and so I can see how many times I've used that root for two or three word phrases. And then down here at the bottom We've got the competitor performance score right here on the right hand side and the search volume that's listed and which keywords I have used and not used. So a pretty cool update there for our Listing Builder. Next week there's even gonna be more updates to that tool that we'll be Announcing shortly now.

Bradley Sutton:

If you guys are on the Supercharge plan right, not Diamond, not Platinum, not Elite, but Supercharge there's one update I want to let you guys know about. You guys have the ability to now make custom dashboards. So you would go into your just regular dashboard here and hit new dashboard and Now you can create just tons of different things, like whether it's a chart or a graph about anything in your Amazon, in your account in Helium 10. For example, I can select your graph and then now I can graph, maybe, hey, what's my PPC click-through rate and graph that compared to my unit sold. Let me graph my RoAS and my ACoS. Let me check my ad spend, compare it to my refunds over time. I mean, you can pretty much chart anything here in your dashboard. So those of you who are supercharged members, make sure to go ahead and check that out and play around with your first graphs that you can now make.

Bradley Sutton:

One quick update in our Chrome extension and this is what I suggest doing any of you guys doing if you're selling in one marketplace is you might not know that there's potentially people in other marketplaces that are hijacking your listings, like maybe they're selling on it. So what you should do is go to your listing page any of your listing pages and the Helium 10 Chrome extension that comes up at the top. What you do that you're gonna see this All Marketplaces button. Hit that, see more data there. And now, instantly, I can see all of the different marketplaces that my product is being sold in. So, like, maybe I'm selling this garlic press only in the US and I'm like, wait a minute, I don't sell in Germany? How is somebody selling it for 35 bucks in Germany? How is somebody selling it in Great Britain? Right here, that's not me. So now you can go and click this and go check. All right, who's the seller that is selling my product in these other marketplaces? Sometimes you'll be shocked to know that other sellers are selling your products and you might wanna take action on that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the last update of the day comes from Black Box. I told you guys there was a lot of updates today and all of the black box tools now are available for Amazon Brazil. All right, so you would just select it right here in the drop down menu of all of the different marketplaces that we service and and just enter in a search, just like you would in your marketplace. So right here I'm in Black Box Keywords and I said hey, here in Brazil, show me a keyword with a search volume of a thousand. So, for example, right here I see hardy met BC, that category, I think that's garden and pool category. Right, I'm saying, hey, show me this keyword with a thousand search volume and it has at least three words and a title density of less than five and I have a whole bunch of Portuguese keywords from Brazil. Here's a Basel de planta, a racket electric, a mosquito electric mosquito racket. I guess a lot of interesting products here. I don't speak Portuguese so I don't even know what these mean. Here's one I think that means a garden hose 20 meter garden hose. But here's some just keywords that came up in the Amazon Brazil marketplace.

Bradley Sutton:

That's our latest marketplace, that we have tons of tools. Already Amazon Brazil was working for profits and Keyword Tracker, Magnets, or Cerebro, or more, and we're adding more tools as the time goes by. Don't forget that soon everybody who sells in Amazon United States is going to be able to sell an Amazon Brazil with this a click of a button. Some of you already are able to do that, but by March everybody's going to be able to do that. We'll have a podcast all about that program coming up soon. All right, next up we have our training tip of the week and it's actually a newish filter that a lot not a lot of people are doing, where you can group some of your products together on your Helium 10 Dashboard. Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, today I'm going to show you a new feature that is available in Insights Dashboard. Now, if you're not using insights dashboard, you are missing out. It helps you to see so much that's going on with your products. Like you know, it'll basically it's a dashboard where it's kind of like a hub, where everything that's going on with your products is very visible. So, if you need to add keywords, if you need you know, if, if your listing got suppressed or if there's an alert, you know, maybe your dimensions changed, there's something that's going on with your products. It's all shown in the dashboard. And you can also monitor your competitors to see, you know, have they added a coupon, have they changed their price? They changed their listing? There's so much more than that, but it really saves you tons and tons of time monitoring your own products as well as your competitors products, and now we have the ability to tag an insights dashboard, so I'm going to go ahead and show you what that looks like. So this is insights dashboard. You're going to want to go over to where it says my products. Okay, so click on my products and this is going to be a list of all of your products here, and so, basically the way that this populates is if you connect your Helium 10 account to Seller Central so that it automatically pulls this information in.

Carrie Miller:

But sometimes you have tons and tons of products and a lot of different types of products, so maybe you're wanting to look at a specific type of product. You can actually group these with these different tags. So, for example, we have a bunch of different coffin shelves. We also have egg trays, so I made two different tags. One is coffin shelf, and so if I click on coffin shelf, I'm going to be able to see all of the coffin shelves that we sell that I tagged, and then, if you want to untag it, you want to see everything. You just click back on the tag. So to create your tag, it's super easy. All you have to do is, you know, go in here and click on the settings wheel that I just clicked on, and you're going to click on add tag.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so on this, you can actually tag your competitors and your own products, okay, so, um, that is one really great thing about this is that you can. You can, you know, find and group them all together if you want to, so you can do competitors or you can do your own products. In this instance I, you know I actually just tagged my own products, so all of these are my own products but say I wanted to go in and I wanted to kind of edit this tag and I wanted to add some competitors. And take a look at the competitors, I can click on the competitors tab and I can search those competitors and add them on there to have them grouped kind of in a similar way. So there's a lot of different ways you can do this. You can also even go over to the competitors tab. So I'll close out of this and I'll go over to the competitors tab. And in the competitors tab you can also just create you know the same place here.

Carrie Miller:

So you can just add a tag here and you can say you know you can name it like increasing revenue or something like that, maybe you want to track those people, that you can do whatever you want in these tags and you can group your competitors in your own products in any way that you want to. Um, or maybe there's groups of products of your own that maybe you, you know, have started to see fall. You want to keep an eye on them. There's a lot of different ways you can do this, um. So all you have to do is unclick the tags so you can see all of your products. And one cool thing is you can actually even go through and say, oh, I want to add a tag here or here. Oh, I didn't add this one to my egg tray one, so I'm going to click and add it to my egg tray tabs tags so that I can see it there. So you can do this. You know in so many different ways.

Carrie Miller:

Um, you can you know, maybe also tag something that's on promotion, or if you're launching different products, you can say you know in launch phase. Or you know ranking. If you're working on ranking, you can tag those and say you know ranking. Um, because you're doing a lot of outside traffic, maybe an influencers, and you want to keep an eye on those and you want to sort them out. You can do literally anything with these tags. It's the sky is the limit. So what's great about this tool is that you can customize it to whatever you want to do and it helps you to just sort through the products very quickly based on what you're looking at or what you want to look at. So go ahead and check it out. If you haven't checked it out, I think this is a really great um feature to be able to categorize your own products and your competitors products and to be able to find them and sort through them very quickly and easy. So check it out and we'll see you later.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you very much, Carrie, for that. So you know you might be wondering how do I use that. You know, like, for example, me, I've got four products right now that I'm launching all at the same time, and so maybe I just want a quick way to see those four products, about what's going on with my keywords, my sales and everything, instead of having to like filter through them. Well, now I can just give those products a launch tag and this with a click of a button. Now I can see everything that's going on for those four products on my Helium 10 Dashboard. So play around with that guys. Make your own custom tags. Let me know which ones you put in the comments below. That's it for the news and features and training of the week. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Have you heard the latest buzz about Walmart's marketplace? It's time to tune in as we chat with Michael Lebhar of SellCord, the brain behind the surge in sales for countless Walmart sellers. Our discussion is packed with strategies and insights, from exploring the alluring incentives for new sellers to the secrets of wielding the latest metrics to skyrocket your sales.

Imagine mastering the art of ad automation or creating a brand shop that takes your visibility to new heights; that's exactly what we're unpacking in this episode. Michael and Carrie dissect Helium 10's Adtomic and its advanced features, designed to empower Walmart sellers with precision ad management. We're also sizing up the impact of Walmart Brand Shops on your sales figures. The conversation then shifts gears to the nitty-gritty of search engine marketing (SEM) and how Walmart's beta coupon program is shaking up the game – a potential goldmine for engaging customers.

But wait, there's more! Are your listings primed to pull in buyers, or could they use a tactical tweak? We're laying out a blueprint to boost your presence and sales on Walmart's marketplace, emphasizing the vital role of high-converting keywords and how Walmart's Fulfillment Services (WFS) and flash deals can be your ace in the hole. We wrap up by dishing out pro tips on navigating Walmart's evolving landscape, from optimizing product categories for approval to the influence of title density on your Walmart listing’s performance. Walmart sellers, buckle up – this episode is your roadmap to conquering Walmart's bustling bazaar.

In episode 537 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Michael discuss:

00:00 - Selling on Walmart With Helium 10
00:56 - Winning with Walmart Wednesday: Incentives for New Sellers
03:15 - New Features for Walmart Sellers
04:47 - Walmart Seller Center Updates and Strategies
07:05 - Walmart Brand Shops and Marketing Strategies
08:17 - Success of Search Engine Marketing Strategy
11:28 - Strategies for Boosting Walmart Sales
13:35 - Boosting Sales Strategies on Walmart
14:49 - Optimizing Walmart Marketplace Sales Strategies
19:30 - Effective Keyword Campaign Strategies
21:43 - Walmart Strategies and Tips for Sellers
23:48 - Amazon Seller Approval Guidelines Update
28:53 - Optimizing Walmart Listings for Success

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

In today's episode, we are going to be talking with Michael Lebhar about strategies that sellers can utilize to help grow their sales on Walmart, and we're also going to be talking about some new metrics that Walmart has made available to sellers and how you can use them to your advantage. This and so much more on today's episode.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you guys would like to network with other Walmart sellers, make sure to join our brand new Facebook group called Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can actually just search for that on Facebook or you can actually go to h10.me/walmartgroup and you can go directly to that page. So make sure to join. You can tag me and Carrie with questions and ask questions of other Walmart sellers or even share your own experiences in that Facebook group.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the serious sellers podcast brought to you by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and I'm going to be your host today, and this is our Walmart Wednesday, where we go over all of the things Walmart and we answer your questions live and we give you any updates that have to do with Walmart. So we'll go ahead and get into it. So today I do have a special guest that I'll announce in just a minute and he is going to be great for answering questions and I will answer some as well. But before I get into that, I wanted to talk about some incentives that Walmart is having for new sellers. So if you have been considering selling on the Walmart platform and you haven't pulled the trigger yet and you want to get into selling on Walmart, there is a really cool incentive right now. I'm going to put the link to this special deal because it's not for everyone. You have to apply through our Helium 10 link. Basically, what it is is, if you apply through this Helium 10 special link, then you can get up to 100% of the referral fees taken off, basically for 90 days. So you won't have to pay referral fees for literally up to 90 days, so actually up to 100% for 90 days. So the way that it works is basically everything that you do kind of unlocks something. So the first 50% off that you get off is you get 50% of the referral fees for just signing up and getting your products up and running, and then the 90 days start. Once you're up and running, then you get another 20% off your referral fees if you start utilizing Walmart Fulfillment Services. So that's WFS and you can enroll in that pretty easily. The next thing is you'll get another 20% off for using Walmart Connect, which is the ads platform, so you can start advertising on Walmart. And then, finally, if you want to start automating with the repricer, you can. You get another 10% if you start using the repress repricer. So that adds up to 100% off of your referral fees. Now, not everybody's going to use the repricer, so at least up to 90% off referral fees, which is absolutely incredible, such a good deal. So I will add that link in. So if you haven't started selling on Walmart and you really want to get started selling on Walmart, definitely click that link and take advantage of that. And this goes for US sellers and international sellers. So they're they're allowing anyone who clicks that link, that is a seller on, or wants to sell on Walmart and gets accepted, you can have that great deal. So that's great.

Carrie Miller:

And then the next thing helium 10. As you all know, we have Adtomic for Walmart, which is our ads program where we help you to manage your ads. It makes it a lot easier to manage your ads, and so we've added some rules and automations. You can now do day partying so you can advertise at certain parts of the day that are more profitable for you. You can add in bid rules. You can add a target, a cost max, impressions max, or you can create custom bid rules. So the new Add Tomic is absolutely incredible. If you want to book a demo, we'll also put that link below as well, because you can book a demo with one of our Helium 10 Adtomic experts that can help you. Not only you know, show you how it works, but then get you up and running on that. With ads. It's super easy. There's so many automations that will help you to manage your Walmart ads. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and get into our special guest, because I think a lot of you are very excited to have him on and his name is Michael Lebhar, so I'm going to go ahead and bring him on. Hello, Michael. Hey, so Michael Lebhar is from SellCord and many of you have seen him on Walmart Wednesday and a lot of other podcasts. He's been speaking, I pretty much all over the world, haven't you? He's been talking about selling on Walmart. He owns an agency called SellCord and he is doing really, really well on Walmart, has some products in stores, so we have a wealth of information available to us by just chatting with Michael. So thanks so much for joining us. What’s up Michael?

Michael:

Thanks for having me here. It's fun to be back.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, yeah, you were on here last. It's been, I think, a year since you've been on, so I'm very excited to have you back so I wanted to talk to you about a few things like new updates, and so we'll talk about some updates with Walmart, and then I'm gonna also ask you about some strategies that you can give to sellers. So the first thing I want to talk about, though, is sales rank, because this is something that's new. In the back of Walmart seller center, under search insights, you can actually see your sales rank for your product, and so I was wondering if you had any insights on how any Walmart sellers could utilize this information, or what you know, what you can do with that, or what you've been using it for for sure.

Michael:

Yeah, that's a pretty new data that Walmart started adding in and basically, if you go to your growth opportunities and you go into search insights, there's actually a lot of helpful data there conversion rates, click rates, and they rank it kind of high, medium and low select you could have a good idea of how you compare against competitors in your category. But what you're specific specifically regarding is Sales rank, and sales rank is a number that they basically rank how well you're doing Compared to the other. You know your competitors in the space, so it's pretty helpful number. I like seeing when we have also multiple items within certain categories, seeing how they rank against each other, how the search links against each other, and then you could see the difference in sales rank and obviously the difference in sales between those items. You could kind of gauge a little bit more on like the type of sales you should be expecting from other items. So I would definitely make sure to take a look at that. Look, go, look at the data and start getting more comfortable with it. As you know, time goes on, it'll start becoming, you know they'll start there again. It's gonna start being more and more data there. So I would definitely take a look at that data and try to utilize it another thing.

Carrie Miller:

I mentioned this on our last Walmart Wednesday and that is that brand stores are now available. So I was wondering if you have started utilizing those, because I know you manage a lot of brands. Have you started creating brand stores and how are you utilizing them? What kind of success have you been seeing so far?

Michael:

great question. Yeah, so brand stores been. You know We've been waiting for them for a while because there's been brand store functionality for years. But you used to have to pay seventy, five thousand dollars, if I'm not mistaken, to get a brand store. Now it's actually free. You just have to apply mom, not all brands get accepted to the most brands kind of that we've been applying. I've been getting accepted to the brand store. It's through Walmart connect. So it's through your Walmart connect account, you apply and you get access to there. There's a few great reasons. Number one like on Walmart, the brand shows pretty prominently on top of the title. A lot of people click on there. They look at your expanded assortment. So you're able to actually you know, you know, utilize it to bring all your items into that one link. A lot of times when you're it's just done by shelf and it's not by your brand store, like you'll see, random items that are you're not your brand show up when you click on your brand. So it's important to. That's one great way. Number two is for advertising. You're able to start sent. You're able to send ads to certain shelves. Now, sending it to a shelf that just has items on it because of a filter and doesn't. It's not like a. A set shelf Through brand shops is way less effective. Also, you can't have any banners and things like that, so we've been using a lot for advertising and that proves to be pretty effective. So, yeah, definitely exciting and there's definitely a lot of Opportunity there. A tap into creating ban shops We've been creating a lot of them for brands over the past. What would say mainly like month and a half, two months.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Yeah, I think a lot of people have started to work on those, so I think that's definitely a huge opportunity as well to not only get your sales for the one item but, you know, showcase all of your items and increase the court order court cart order value. The next thing I wanted to ask you about is the search engine marketing. It's called SEM on the growth opportunities tab. How has that been working for you? What? What kinds of things have you been seeing with with SEM, or I guess they might call it Sem on the back end there. And, yeah, just go ahead and get some insights on that this was an interesting one because you know it's.

Michael:

If you know in the Amazon space like people use different providers to help send Google traffic to their Amazon listing To build rank, that's essentially what this product is. It's you could run Google ads from within though your Walmart account. So number one, your attribution is gonna be, you know, much more legitimate, obviously because it's first-party data, so they know what converts. So like that's really helpful. You know, I'm trying. I was trying to kind of see if there's a difference in cost running gets through Walmart versus. So I'm trying to see a little bit about that. But yeah, so we long story short. In a lot of cases we haven't seen success that. There's been some cases where we've seen some good success with it. I wouldn't say like any crazy results, but if we're helping boost items that also have like lower ad relevancies and are having a little bit of hard time getting traction, like we've seen some decent success there. I would say, just because they're giving away a lot of promos with that, like check your email, you probably got either like spend a thousand, get a thousand, spend 500, get 500, or even now yesterday I think I saw some clients got like spend 500, get 250 or something along those lines. So there's a lot of you know I'm opportunities, or even you could see from there, like how you know how effective it is and then from there you could decide if you want further in it. I think it's definitely worth what. It depends on the category. So, like I would say, you know, search on Google for, let's say, you sell bikes, or turn Google for bikes and see, like what Google Shopping ads are coming up and if you feel like you're right, fit well there and convert well there, based on your pricing and Based on your product type, like then there's definitely opportunity there.

Carrie Miller:

What's kind of interesting is. I remember you pointed out to me like two years ago that Walmart was actually doing this for us for free, and so we actually got a lot of traffic to our listings through those kind of Google ads and I noticed my sales picked up with the Google ads that they were doing for me for free. So I do think it's definitely something that's worthwhile to do, because it says Walmart comm under the Google shopping little ad and so people trust Walmart comm and it's just a, I think, a higher conversion rate. For that reason I'm. Coupons can you tell me a little bit about coupons? I know they're in beta and I know you have had access to coupons. What kind of success have you seen with those? And can you tell us just a little bit about the coupons that Walmart is testing out right now?

Michael:

Yeah, so traditionally there's really been no coupons on Walmart.com. Besides, for some in-store items was through a third-party provider. There was a couponing program that was very expensive for in-store brands and you should spend tens and tens of thousands of dollars to be part of it. That was the only couponing available on Walmart. Walmart recently rolled out couponing through Marketplace beta and it's been in beta I think it's already been a couple months and we've been having a lot of testing with it. I've started to become a really big fan of it. We've started seeing some really strong success there. Now, in some ways, obviously when you have a price cross-off it works better, but obviously with coupons, not everybody redeems, so you save a little bit there. But more importantly, the reason why we've been leveraging coupons is Walmart has these deal shelves that do a lot of volume, and very significant volume, In order to be able to be eligible for those deal shops deal pages that a lot of times want really good pricing, sometimes even better than Amazon. So if you're going to provide pricing that's better than Amazon, or even if it's going to be good pricing but you just don't want to bring down your Amazon, you're okay, get bringing down your Walmart. You just don't want to bring down your Amazon because your Amazon is doing a lot of volume. Whatever the case might be, you don't want to lose your buy box on Amazon. One of the good ways to do that is through couponing, because it depends on who your account manager is and how well your relationship is with Walmart, but they do sometimes accept your items for that. So that's been a one really cool way to leverage coupons and we've been seeing some success there.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, another one that's in beta is subscribe, not subscribe and save. You said subscribe. So have you had some clients utilizing subscribe on Walmart? Has it been getting good traction? What do you think about subscribe?

Michael:

I think it's got ways to go. I think it's really cool that there's that functionality there now. I think in the beginning that we're testing out subscribe and save and now it's just unsubscribe. But there's really, if you're selling obviously consumables, anything consumables, but anything people repurchase often, it definitely makes a lot of sense. I think just the Walmart, it's pretty prominent now and a lot of times it's auto selected, so it's like pretty prominent and I'll talk to buy a lot of items. So we have been seeing some traction there. The issue is, I think the Walmart customer isn't used to subscribing yet. So on Amazon they're very used to subscribing. So I think it's going to take some time till the Walmart customer really picks up on that. It doesn't hurt to have it on there, obviously, but I think it's going to take some time till the Walmart customer really picks up on the habit of subscribing and the convenience of it. So I think we got a little bit of time to go there, but it's cool that it's already built out.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, sounds like coupons is giving better traction. Okay, so I have had a lot of questions from people recently about, you know, they're starting up on Walmart and they're kind of, you know, getting everything set up but they want to really, you know, be successful on the Walmart marketplace and they want to get sales going. So what are some strategies and what are some things that you would give advice to somebody who's you know maybe just starting out on Walmart, or maybe they're on Walmart and they haven't had enough traction yet? Like, what are some sales strategies that you would recommend to them to boost their visibility and sales on Walmart?

Michael:

Yeah, so I think there's a few things and obviously it depends a lot on the type of items you sell and a whole bunch of other things, but some things that generally keep in mind is Walmart recently started releasing some data, which is extremely helpful. If you have Pacvue, you could actually see it on search insights on Pacvue. But there's basically Walmart started releasing data through API on the Kinect side where it basically shows you every keyword on Walmart, from 1,000 to 300,000, what the keyword is, how high it ranks, right. So they're not giving you search volume data, they're giving you, if it's one, it's the most searched keyword, right, for example. And then what are the three top items converting getting the click share and the conversion share for those keywords and the way we you know, I think, when you're coming to the platform and you're in a new or seller coming to the platform, I think it's really important to understand the shelves that have volume and the key word is the shelf. But like the shelves that have volume, and then what's converting for those shelves and make sure like your product fits the characteristics of what's currently converting there, because if not, like you're right, you might be successful, but it's hard to know. But if your product has the right features, as at the similar price points and maybe even more competitive, then you know there's good opportunities there and I think you really have to tailor your approach a lot more to understand the shelves and their standards going on. That's number one. Number two is, like, lean into the Walmart programs as fast, as quickly as possible, whether it's WFS, whether it's Walmart Connect, whether it's work incentives working with Walmart, whether it's, you know, flash deals, promotions. Like, really lean into those programs. They drive so much significant volume and it's something that you know is. It's one of the advantages of being a marketplace seller versus selling DSV on you know one P to Walmart. So, like you have a lot of those advantages, you might as well use them to your leverage.

Michael:

And people always complain about and I hear this all the time the one P seller is in the store items. They're on the top, ranked on the top and they get preference. The reality is that marketplace sellers have a lot of advantages that the one P sellers don't. So if the marketplace sellers really tap into the advantages and I've seen the ones that do it but if they tap into Flash Deals, promotions, a lot more of those placements are marketplace right now. They're not. Flash Deals is basically all marketplace, I think if not I'm not mistaken, it's all marketplace. Mosaic's are, especially during key times and events. It's very heavily marketplace driven. A lot of the data and things you get is a lot more on the marketplace side than on the one-piece side. So there's really a lot of programs that you could really lean into, especially with WFS. There's so many things that if you do them, you put yourself at a better advantage. So yeah, I would just kind of strongly emphasize that.

Carrie Miller:

So you're saying Walmart Connect is advertising and the Flash Deals not everybody has access to those. Can you maybe give some strategies to get those or what is needed in order to get access to Flash Deals?

Michael:

So if you're doing volume any decent significant volume it's usually going to be added to your account. If it's not and you're doing a lot of volume, you can reach out to me and I can get it added to your account. But yeah, most cases if your account's doing volume it'll get added to your account. If not, you can open up a case and request that. I'm not sure if that works, but you can email me and I can try to get it added to your account.

Carrie Miller:

Is there a number of certain amount of volume, a year or a month, or what are they looking for?

Michael:

So I'm not sure they don't say it. I know there's a number for that specific item to be eligible for Flash Picks. To actually do that it's in the thousands. It's not that much that it has to be doing in sales. It's in the low thousands for it to be eligible for Flash Deals. But for the account itself, I'm not sure Because I have very small accounts that have it and I have sometimes bigger ones that don't have it, that just have to request it. So yeah, I'm not sure exactly what the criteria is.

Carrie Miller:

All right, yeah, those are some good suggestions. Anything maybe on the optimization side, or like do you think? That the pro seller badge is really needed, like what are some other things people can do and focus on that they can control to get more sales.

Michael:

Yeah. So I think items if you're already an existing seller or if you're coming on, like I think it's important to pay attention to item spec 5.0. There's been new updates in the Walmart guidelines for how items are listed. I was actually in the Walmart offices in Hoboken a few weeks ago and we were actually looking through listings that we managed and seeing how, like, once item spec 5.0 got implemented for listings that didn't implement the changes, how, like slow performance kind of dropped off in some areas. So definitely learn those, pay attention to some of those, adjust your listings. You know, in Venezuela there's no reason to wait until, like, you're not just starting to not rank to make those changes. So I would definitely suggest that is one thing that you could control. I really pay attention to.

Carrie Miller:

All right. So what about keywords? So you said you know they're basically ranked on there, but I know you know with Helium 10, we have kind of a search volume. You know, what kind of keywords do you recommend going after, like if something has you know 30,000 search volume or it's like a high ranked volume, do you think people should go after those? Or should they go over after low hanging fruit keywords in their advertising, in their listing? Like, what's your keyword strategy for marketplace sellers?

Michael:

It's a great question. So start off with getting as really figuring out your really high converting keywords and building campaigns around those. Because even though the volumes of those are so low, you really need to build ad relevancy on Walmart and you could try bidding on the main keywords. But it's just so. Even if your item in a situation where your item would convert really well for a high volume keyword, you eventually want to target those because that's where you'll make sales. It's too hard to make sales by the smaller keywords. If it's a situation where the really large keyword, your item, doesn't fit in well there, like then you know that shouldn't be an item you're focusing on. But in order to be able to bid effectively on those keywords, you need to start building some ad relevancy. So what you'd seen work best is like building some campaigns around a lot more targeted keywords and build some relevancy there and then from there, like when you start bidding on the main keywords, you'll start being able to win them much easier and much better.

Carrie Miller:

Do you mean like long tail keywords, like, for example, like bookshelf, like you would say large green bookshelf and you would target that instead of just bookshelf?

Michael:

Exactly, yeah, and with Walmart, like you don't have to go even that long tail, like sometimes it's even two words, right. So like a white bookshelf, a bookcase, a green bookcase, but things like that, and you'll already have, you know, some volume there. That already allowed you to start converting.

Carrie Miller:

Another question for you about ads. Then I noticed whenever I'm shopping on Walmart I haven't seen many people utilizing video ads. Do you know why that would be? You know? Do you think they're really good converting tool for you know? Because I think they're only a dollar and I think that's pretty cheap for a lot of people who are moving over from Amazon, or like just a dollar or something. They're not that expensive comparatively to Amazon. So I'm just curious why you think maybe there's not as many video ads and what you think? You know how well you think they're doing?

Michael:

Yeah, so we've been having good success with video ads. It's really great if you have good content about your product and there is good video, so to say, do about your product. You're getting so much brand visibility and just for low costs. Like you said, the reason why it's not in a lot of categories is, for the most part, it's usually people not bidding on it. Like you have to accept the video ads and most people are just not doing it. So a lot of times, like we'll see really good success there, then some competitors start the video ads because we're doing it and then it starts becoming not as economical. But in the beginning you could get some good boost out of it.

Carrie Miller:

Any other strategies or anything that maybe I haven't covered, that you wanted to talk about in this?

Michael:

I think that's good. I think just pay really close attention to the updates and things that are coming out from Walmart, like if you're pretty quick to jump on those, you know some of those programs could help move the needle. So and just plan a lot around promotions. Like there's a lot of leverage with promotions. Like try to plan properly around how to position your promotions. It's a longer conversation but there's a lot to unpack there. So definitely try to have a better eye for the promotional angle.

Carrie Miller:

I did see like Black Friday it came up pretty quickly. Is that kind of how Walmart works? Is like the deals come out pretty quickly, you have to move fast and say you want to do them, or is there a planning process for them?

Michael:

There's a planning process. If you have an account manager, like holiday deals get planned way in advance, but there's also like the prime equivalent event that they do around prime things. So like definitely want to plan ahead with your account manager and ask them if there's any opportunities for your items to fit into any of their promotions and see if there's any opportunities there.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, all right. So we've got a question from Lady and the Storm. How long is the process to get approved?

Michael:

To sell on Walmart. It could either happen right away, it could either take a few days, it could either be a denial. So you know it really depends on. But if you really, if you fill out your information properly and you double check it all and you fill out your information properly and all the paperwork and everything matches up and you're, you know it looks like you have a decent Amazon store, like you know, you shouldn't have a problem getting accepted unless you have, like another application before. And most people, by the way, that come to us with like a non accept, like denied accounts, it's usually like they have another, they have another, they have another account they tried opening. It's linked on the email, there's that to like all these bunch of things. But just, I think it's very important to make sure you really think through your application, make sure that you know you have everything filled out and if you already tried applying in the past, like reach out about it rather than opening up another application, it'll just get both your applications, yeah you can reach out to sell cord.

Carrie Miller:

Michael does has helped some people that have gotten rejected. That I've sent over to him. So reach out to them if you do have some issues with that. And also have they kind of loosened the guidelines on? You know, do you have to be an established seller still? Or I've seen some people who, like maybe started a new brand and then they applied and they got accepted. Is that the kind of the norm or is that just kind of like? They got kind of passed through and they got lucky.

Michael:

No, so they're starting to accept like newer, smaller sellers. It depends a lot on the products you sell and you know it goes there. It goes under different teams based on the main category that you're under. So you know there's definitely there is there. There changes a little bit but for the most part we started seeing new small applications get approved.

Carrie Miller:

So it is dependent on the category. So that's a good thing to note. Okay, next one from Lynn how to manage Amazon PPC. Okay, so we're not doing Amazon. See, for example, how to add negative keywords in Walmart. So okay, so I'm going to try to sit rephrase this, maybe in Walmart terms, because this we're not talking about Amazon in this one, but how to manage Amazon or Walmart PPC. The platform is different from Amazon. For example, how to add negative keyword in Walmart Seller Center.

Michael:

Yeah, so Walmart Seller Center doesn't have negative targeting yet they're adding it so that they're adding that there's new things that came like conquesting ads and stuff like that, so there is newer things for targeting. But, yeah, negative is gonna come soon.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah they said it was on the road map. So yeah. Alright. Next lady in a storm asks how long do you have to ship your items?

Michael:

So it depends on how you fill out your shipping template. So you just have to whatever you fill out in your shipping templates, like that's what you have to when you have to meet. So if you fill out two days, you're gonna have to make sure it's two days. It's a fill out one day. So it depends how you manage your shipping templates. I think there's a minimum. There's like a maximum, though I'm not exactly sure what that is.

Carrie Miller:

But I think it's seven days. This is the max. Can you analyze wholesale for sales data in competition with helium 10? You can with x-ray. So you can, you know, find the products that you want to sell and you can actually Utilize x-ray to look at sales. So that's a great way to do it, mostly. And then also, you know, you can also look at the sales rank as well in the back end of seller center. You can utilize that information and then any information that you get, like if you have Pacvue or using kind of a software To help you to run your ads. You can see some more data in there that way, but I would say mostly x-ray for helium 10, go ahead and go to the, the main page for the price that you're selling, and then pull, pull our Chrome extension and it'll show you the sales data there. Um, okay, is tied? Janak Ranchod said is title density as relevant to Walmart listings compared to Amazon listings?

Michael:

Yeah, so I'm not sure exactly what it's meant by that, but Title Density on Helium 10 is basically Keyword phrases on Amazon.

Carrie Miller:

So if you, for example, green bookshelf and you wanted to target green bookshelf but if, like 50 competitors on page one have green bookshelf in their title, it's gonna be really competitive. However, if that phrase you see that maybe only one or two have just that same exact phrase, then you can actually rank for it a lot easier on Amazon. So it's basically like the exact phrase form and how many competitors have that exact phrase in their title.

Michael:

Yeah. So I have a different approach when it comes to ranking on Walmart and you know everybody's got their own opinions. But my approach for ranking on Walmart is more about you have to find the keywords that have the most volume and then, based on the most volume, you have to then analyze who's taking the conversion share of those keywords and then understand their product, their price points and, if you're on the features around their product, if your product Matches up well enough to their product, meaning you're just as you have just as much features, your item is just as good, if not better, and your price points competitive enough. That's what you want to target because you know if you get there you'll convert and you're gonna have to check their PDP and make sure like your PDP is better and all that kind of stuff. But the problem is, if you're focusing on, if you do all that research, but you're focusing on key on items, on keywords, that the items that converting in the shelf, you're not gonna, you're not gonna match on, you're not gonna match one next to it, doesn't matter if you rank, you're just gonna start de-ranking because Walmart's so heavily based on conversion rates. So I that's kind of our approach to it, and also because the Significant keywords are the only ones that drive legitimate volume, like there is some volume done from other keywords but it's usually not significant enough loose is asking Do you recommend to start Walmart even when just started on Amazon? I would say it depends on their products, your storemen and a little bit of more about your company. But as a whole, usually not usually, I would say like build your brand, build a little bit of your capabilities off of Amazon. It's gonna be hard to tackle both at the same time and then start with that.

Carrie Miller:

So you think starting on Amazon first is a good idea, and then yeah. Okay, the next one. Jenak asked. I hope I'm saying your name right, Jenak. Jenak, can you simply copy your Amazon listings to create your Walmart listings?

Michael:

You shouldn't. That's a big no-no. You should Rewrite your listings like you can use the same core of information. You should rewrite your titles, descriptions, key features, to be optimized based on Walmart style guide. So number one, the keywords that you care about, are going to be different. Walmart wants shorter titles, they want different style, descriptions, key features. So for the most part, all that's different. So you really that's kind of the biggest Task is to just make sure you're optimized specifically for Walmart.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I think it actually kind of hinders you on your listing quality score when you do that. So yeah, Lynn asks are you going to host a Walmart PPC management session? We really need it. I think we can arrange that in the in the near future. So we'll definitely work on that and if you haven't joined our one winning with Walmart group, that's probably where we'll do it. So make sure you're in our helium 10 winning with Walmart group if you want to do that. Alright, it looks like we've come to an end of the questions. I think that we had a lot of great information. Oh, we got another question. I will put this one up here. Let's see here. Mr. Kamal says how much revenue Should you have on Amazon to consider yourself to move to Walmart?

Michael:

So I mean, the revenue number is a hard thing because it depends on your Category and the type of items you sell and how competitive is on Walmart versus how well you're doing on Amazon. A lot of times, if you really started tapping on your Amazon and then definitely make sense to spend one by once, you already have some traction and you have a good hold. You have good products, like you know, I would I mean, we're a big fan of Walmart's a lot of times will tell people to start pretty early on. So it's just, I think, less about revenue numbers because it's so dependable based on different brands. I think what what's important to understand is like do you have good enough products that are? You know? You feel like you know you could move properly on Walmart. Is enough volume for them on Walmart? And what is that? What is what type of a volume are you looking for it to be worthwhile for you to kind of take on the endeavor? And then you know, yeah, and, and based on that you could really analyze, okay, are you ready to move, and what that would look like and just expand not move, but expand.

Carrie Miller:

All right, it looks like we've come to an end of the questions. Thank you everyone for joining and for just, you know, interacting and asking all these great questions throughout. And thanks again, Michael, for joining us. I know it's been a while since you've been on and I'm really happy that you were able to answer a lot of these questions for us. So thanks again and we will see you all again next month. We'll have another guest for Winning with Walmart Wednesday, and we'll see you then. Bye, everyone.

View Details

Cara Sayer's entrepreneurial spirit shines brighter than ever as she recounts her nail-biting journey from the brink of closure to soaring profits. Her candid discussion with us offers a lot of wisdom on the critical importance of keeping a keen eye on business metrics. As an e-commerce maven, she underpins the conversation with her own blunders and breakthroughs, ensuring that our listeners can sidestep the pitfalls and replicate her success. And for those with a penchant for cultural quirks, our banter in British slang adds a hearty dash of charm to the mix.

Our talk takes an exciting turn when we unlock the secrets to mastering keyword research and making data-led decisions that skyrocket sales. Cara and Bradley dissect how tools like Helium 10 can revolutionize product listings and why a stale strategy could be your downfall. We also unravel the complex web of inventory management and the savvy approach to just-in-time shipping, a must-know for Amazon sellers looking to conquer international markets. Plus, don't miss our exploration of the monumental impact that solid branding has on weathering the competitive storm and securing consumer trust.

Wrapping things up, we navigate the art of standing out in Amazon's vast marketplace. Cara shares her playbook on crafting a unique narrative and engaging brand backstory that can mean the difference between blending in and breaking through. We spotlight the strategic edge of maintaining your website for direct consumer rapport and a sneak peek at new products. With a nod to the upcoming changes in EU regulations and the significance of a diversified sales approach, this episode is jam-packed with actionable insights. And as we close, Cara and Bradley reflected on the delicate dance of work-life balance, ensuring our listeners remember the heartbeat behind the hustle.

In episode 536 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Cara discuss:

00:00 - Reviving and Growing a Struggling Amazon Business
02:53 - Origins of Common UK English Phrases
07:59 - Amazon SKU Economics and Tracking Sales
11:05 - Keyword Optimization for Sales Growth
14:45 - The Importance of Branding in Business
16:29 - Brand Marketing on Amazon
20:17 - The Benefit of Having a Website
28:29 - Favorite Helium 10 Tool
28:43 - Selling Tips for Amazon
30:42 - Importance of Websites Beyond Amazon

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got listener favorite guest car back to tell us how she came close to having to shut down her business since she wasn't looking at the right metrics, but she's going to show us how she was not only able to save her company but grow it. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you a 6, 7, or 8 figure seller and want to network in a private mastermind group with other experienced sellers? Or maybe you want to take advantage of monthly advanced training sessions with Kevin King, an expert guest? Do you want to come to our quarterly in-person, all-day trainings at Helium 10 headquarters? Or do you want the widest access to the Helium 10 set of tools? For all of these things, the Elite program might be for you. For more information on Helium 10 Elite, go to h10.me/elite.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And to continue in my series of me being on the other side of the world here in Germany, the next guest that we recorded here in Frankfurt is none other than the amazing Cara. Welcome back to the show.

Cara:

Thank you, gorgeous one, thank you for having me.

Bradley Sutton:

This is actually the fourth time, believe it or not on the podcast.

Cara:

Am I approaching a world record for the most interviewed person?

Bradley Sutton:

You're in the select top 5% of people who have made it to four episodes.

Cara:

There you go I love it.

Bradley Sutton:

So we're not going to go too much into her backstory. Mhel here prepared some of the numbers where she's on, so if you want to find out her origin story, that's episode 117. She came back on episode 246 and we were talking pandemic stuff and then most recently back in 2022, she was on episode 378. And that was interesting, talking about some of her struggles that she started seeing with her business, and we're going to talk a little bit about that today. Hey, we keep it real on the podcast, but before we get into the stuff we. Every time Cara is on the episode, she teaches me a little bit more of British English, all right, and I'm sure it's going to come out like, like she, the way she talks. She always says stuff that I'm like what, what did you say? So we're all going to learn some more British slang here? My first question is wait, what is this one phrase? That was something.

Cara:

Yeah, so we were talking about something. I said oh, that's just piffling, and piffling is when something's really inconsequential, so it's just like so little, it's like a piffling thing, okay. And then the other one was put some Wellie into it.

Bradley Sutton:

Put some Wellie into it.

Cara:

So, which is, I suppose, a translation, would be put some oomph into it.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, put some oomph in it. All right, so I'm wearing my office the office t-shirt Dunder Mifflin here, because you know that's one of our exports that we got from, from Britain, is the office. You know, one of our most popular shows. I know how it's used, but when people say Bob's your uncle, like, like, where does that come from? Though that's the most ridiculous phrase I've ever heard Bob's your uncle, how does that?

Cara:

I actually have no clue. This is half the problem. So when I talk, a lot of the time I'll use these phrases and I have no clue. I haven't got a Scoobies where it came from. That was one, and I thought maybe that had something to do with Scooby-Doo, but apparently it doesn't, because I Googled it last night and it's got something to do with the Scottish word that's got to do with Scooby or something. So that's the thing is a lot of these things I have, and in fact, what's the other one? There's one oh, I'll have it, it'll come back to me. But there's one that I use quite a lot and I actually had to Google it because and it turned out was something to do an Australian runner or something. Oh, Gordon Bennett, that's right, Gordon Bennett, have you ever heard of that one?

Bradley Sutton:

I have not.

0:03:49 - Cara:

Okay. So you know, instead of being really rude and throwing out an F word, you go oh, Gordon Bennett. And I was like who is Gordon Bennett? Why do we say him? And I'm quite interested in these things and I think he's. Either he was either an Australian pilot or an Australian runner or something like that. I have no clue why we use it, but we do and I say it quite a lot.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the first. You know like you know how I roll here. I usually don't like trying to get our topics before I don't really think about it. But you know, we went out to dinner last night and you were talking a little bit about some of your struggles and how you were taking one aspect of your total business and we're kind of like not giving it the attention it needed. And then when you actually did, you were just like, wow, this is I'm in such bad shape, why have to close? You know, shut the business. So talk about what you were neglecting, how you put a stop to that neglect and then the steps that you took to rectify this situation.

Cara:

So I think a lot of it comes from the fact that when I started my business I had no clue what I was doing, and I suppose a lot of Amazon sellers are like that, in that you just sort of go yeah, this sounds like a good idea. So I'm going to start running a business and I used to work in a corporate environment and had budgets and all various other things, but in my own business I didn't. I just kind of ran a lot like the seat of my pants and I think maybe that's just because, also, my I'm more of an intuitive person versus a data driven person, because I know a lot of Amazon sellers are very data driven and maybe less, you know, intuitive. You know, as in like everyone has different skill sets. And I think what happened was the business grew and grew and grew and I basically broke my own golden rule, which is that at the end of the day, the whole thing about turnover is vanity and profit is sanity. So what I was doing is I was just looking at the big numbers and not really focusing on small numbers, and I sort of came to a point in July where I realized that basically what happened was I used to use the software Sage for my accounts and I knew Sage inside and out. And then I changed accountants and they started to use zero and I didn't know it as well. So, if I'm honest, I should have been more involved, but I just kind of let them like run it. And so when I went to look at my accounts I was like, oh God, I don't seem to have made very much money. I've got really quite a good turnover, but I haven't actually made much profit. I'm thinking like, what am I gonna do? So I started looking into it in much more depth.

Cara:

So, first of all, what I did and I would suggest every Amazon seller does this. But, to be honest, as you know, I don't really talk about Amazon sellers, I talk about businesses and brands. But every company that is selling products, you 100% need to really make sure that your profit and loss, your PnL, reflects what you're doing. So mine was literally sales, pretty much as a big picture. Well, I sell in four countries. I've got four websites, four marketplaces. I've also got retailers and distributors and various other things. So to have all of my sales information in one place was a bit stupid, frankly, because how am I gonna get any clarity on what's doing well, what's not doing so well, and pretty much all my costs, like all my Amazon costs, were all bunched in one place. And yes, I could have separated them out if I'd done it by area. But actually I then had an issue with my bookkeeping and so actually it turned out that hadn't been done properly, so I wouldn't have been able to do that, so I then separated my costs out. So again I had like eight different cost centers for well, not eight different cost centers, sorry, I did four different cost centers, but by country, so I could at least see what I was making in terms of turnover and then see what the costs were for those countries, looking at a lot of detail. And then I started looking like then I went into and this is a really really super useful and I don't think I certainly haven't used it before the SKU economics level of reporting, where I mean, obviously it's easy for me because I've got only 13 SKUs and I know I've spone people today and they'd like two and a half thousand. But you can actually see although it would be really good if Amazon could do or actually I don't think Helium 10 does it do they Like, an ability to export SKU economics reports?

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, I don't know what SKU economics means. I mean, we have-.

Cara:

Oh my God, right. Well, in which case, I'm giving you a whole new thing that Helium 10, a thousand-.

Bradley Sutton:

I mean, I probably do it but I just don't call it that. You know like it's called.

Cara:

SKU economics.

0:07:58 - Bradley Sutton:

There's no other right.

Cara:

So basically I saw it for the first time on the app because I'm quite a regular app checker. So I go in and I have a look and it's in the manage inventory. You go to the SKU and then on the top it's got like pricing and this and that and then it says SKU economics and you can actually You're talking about seller central.

Bradley Sutton:

This is Seller Central

Cara:

Yes, sorry, do translate. So I go to SKU economics and basically you can do it like the last seven days, last 30 days, last six months, last 12 months, and it's the only place I've ever seen where you can literally see what your total sales are, what your net sales are, what your Amazon costs are, and they break it down to a level of detail where it's literally like you spent this amount on a deal coupon code, this amount on a sponsored profit by SKU.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yes, helium 10 has that. We don't call it SKU economics, but it's just in profits. You go to your product performance and then you could look at it at the ASIN level or you could look at the SKU level. Okay, well, you need to show me how to do that then, okay, we'll do-.

Cara:

But I did this myself, just went in Sure, and then I started transporting all the information over and then I broke it down by country and I started looking and I realized that actually, like in Canada, when you actually put in the cost of my product, excluding shipping in or any other costs, I had running a business in Canada I was pretty much not even breaking even. And then I started looking at the US and I was like, oh same thing, not good UK, really healthy Australia, healthy so. But at the time I was before I did all the analysis and there was a lot of work to do on it I was literally like, oh my God, I think I'm gonna just have to shut up shop because I've got an issue with the Chinese sellers who I think were impacting before, but they're really kicking off now because obviously my product was launched over 10 years ago, so they know there's no patent on that product. Therefore, they can go for it. So at the moment they're selling the product that looks like mine it is not the same but it looks as similar enough to the consumer for $5. Well, it cost me $25 to manufacture the thing. They're selling them for $25 on Amazon and I can't compete. Now I don't want to compete, but the issue is what it's done.

Cara:

And again, this is where I wasn't paying attention and should have, like, pulled myself up sooner. I didn't see the huge drop in the sales and therefore my storage costs at 3PL level have gone up hugely and therefore I've got huge, big overheads on the fact that I've got all this stock and it's not selling. And if I sell it at too low a price then I'm almost not even, I'm not gonna break even at all. So anyway, I started doing a whole lot of analysis and I literally I've probably had my head in spreadsheets for close to four months, something like that. But I tell you what, once you've done that sort of work, the clarity you have and the decisions you can make. So, for example, I actually decided, normally I'm all about trying to give my customers the most range possible, the widest, and I'm like excuse, my French, fuck that.

Cara:

Literally I'm just gonna give them this product, this product, this product, this product. You don't need the variations, because the variations are costumey, extra. They often get returned because they may be by the wrong one thinking they didn't realize it at a pink trim and they bought that one. So I'm like actually that one I know they'll like they either have that one or nothing, and so that's now my more my approach. And then the other thing I was doing as well is looking more into the keywords and looking more into making sure that the listing was actually really reflecting the keywords that are out there. So I was doing a lot of helium 10 research into that and actually updating the listings. So they'd probably been around like one of them particularly had been around for about two or three years and I probably hadn't really ever done that much work on it and already I only updated it like middle of December. It's not my peak season and I can see the sales coming up. And that's from literally looking at what are the terms that we should be using. Because, it changes over time.

Bradley Sutton:

It can change the same product, but the how people find it are searching for it to change over time.

Cara:

Exactly, and also, I mean, I do have a tendency to kind of invent keywords as well.

Bradley Sutton:

So words, that I use in my speech and also in my listings.

Cara:

So I find that things like there are certain keywords that I use in my listings, that because people are copying my listings, they're copying my wording and therefore then that wording is then getting picked up in like brand analytics, et cetera. So it's quite fascinating, but the thing is is at the end of the day, I think it does. You know, I'm all about the marketing, I'm all about the intuition, but also you have to be about the data as well and the numbers, and you know there's a difference between taking some risk and investing in something that your business needs in order to grow, versus just sort of sitting there and maybe not paying attention to what you shouldn't really be spending, and that's what I was doing. So bad me, bad me.

Bradley Sutton:

So, you know, instead of having to shut down the whole business, you were able to, you know, maybe shut down some unprofitable skews. Well, I shut down Canada, shut down, you know, marketplaces, and that might be a scary thing. You know, some people, they go to extremes. They're like I got to, just I'm just going to quit everything, and that's not good. Or they're like no, like I have to succeed in Canada, like I know it can work despite all the numbers. Screw the numbers. You know I'm going to make this work. You know you got to be able to not easily give up by the same time, understand that you'd have battles, or if you want to win the war, you might need to like. So it doesn't always have to be permanent. That's the other thing, right?

Cara:

So just because I've shut Canada down for now doesn't mean I can't come back to Canada. But right now the numbers don't work in terms of getting the product over there, the various other things that are there, the pricing structures, etc. The percentage of the particular products that will sell and the ones that won't it. I literally just was like no, okay, that doesn't make sense. And, like you say, there is a bit of ego in there in terms of like oh well, I sell on, you know, for marketplaces. Well, who cares? If you're not making money, don't sell on any, you know. So I did. And then I actually had a chat, the reason I was gonna shut the US down. So I had another a chat with another friend of mine who she'd exited a business, an eight-figure business, and she was saying the US is really tough and particularly because, like Amazon, are doing all this now Penalizing you for not having enough in as well as penalizing you for having too much, and it's like God, Gordon Bennett, like give us a break, right, seriously, give us a break.

Cara:

And I was like you know what the thing is that in my home country it's a lot easier to manage that sort of thing, which obviously, you know it, the US is not my home country, so I'm gonna have to pay more for storage and 3PLs and all the rest of it, managing that constant fluctuation. So I did the numbers and it is actually cheaper for me to fly it in on a sort of just in time basis, at least for the short term, because that's the other thing. Sometimes it's not about always doing things, for I'm never gonna. I'm gonna do that forever. It's more, let's just have a breather and Monitor the costs and then see whether you've got something going on that works.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, now, I didn't get to see your presentation right now because I was recording some podcast in here, but I know like one of the things you talk about a lot is is branding, and I imagine Actually that's one of the reasons why you don't have to shut your business down and why, you know, some people might have been listening right now and thoughts themselves wait a minute, if she has very close knockoffs who are selling for $25 and her price is $90, you know it's not a matter of oh, maybe us is just a little bit more profitable in Canada. You know, like that that's a huge gap, you know right there. But you're obviously not fighting on price and I would imagine one of the main reasons why you're able to Succeed is because of your strong brand 100% because we grew in the UK.

Cara:

30% Grew, even at that price..

Bradley Sutton:

You know it's not like the Chinese sellers are not selling in the UK.

Cara:

I've got loads of Chinese sellers chasing me in the UK, but the difference is that the brand is better known and is better trusted and therefore you know they, they and also I think there is an element, you know, there is an element of the fact that you know whichever country you're based in, you know People like to support a more local business, so there is an element of that. So, if you're a US seller in the US, I do think sometimes you know you need to make more of that because actually you know US citizens are gonna want to support a US business.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so talk, talk a little bit more about that. It's about you know the all of this can be considered part of your branding. You know where's it manufactured. You know, like, are you really targeting your, your target avatar? You know, what did you talk about in your presentation today that you can maybe share with the audience About some things that will help them to one of the one of the one of the biggest things was the fact that I do think a lot Of Amazon sellers don't really have a brand.

Cara:

They just have a name for a business or a name for something that they use and they don't really have a what I'd call a true brand, and they don't always. I think sometimes also, existing only on Amazon makes you lose perspective on you know how normal businesses work, like businesses that aren't based on Amazon, and so you know a lot of businesses. I mean, I think throughout life, people buy from people and I think that's so important to remember that, even on Amazon, one of the reasons why Amazon focus is so heavily on a plus listings and now they're bringing in the premium, a plus and all the rest of it, because Amazon knows right. I, you know, you've known me quite a few years now and I've always banged on about brand. I've always banged on about having a story.

Cara:

Tell your story. It doesn't have to be your story necessarily. It could be the product story, but you need to have something that differentiates you and and even then I was chatting to someone the conference earlier on and I was saying the thing is that sometimes it's not even the fact that you're you're selling different products. It's the way that you curate them, right. So it's the collection of products that you've chosen to sell it under your brand name Says something because, like, if you check, if I said right, bradley, like we're both gonna do kitchenware, I guarantee you that both of us would choose different products. If you said right, you've got to choose 10 products and you know, off you go, I would choose 10 different or we might have some crossover, but you know, we might both have a garlic crusher, for example. I used a garlic crusher as an example in my talk about how even a garlic crusher can have a story.

Bradley Sutton:

We call that garlic press.

Cara:

Thank you for enlightening, but you know. But the whole point is that you know, even the fact that individual people are actually running these businesses means that there will be something individual about that business. So it's finding that story effectively and finding the why. I'm always really quite fascinated by the whys of business. So, for example, you look at things like Airbnb and Uber and things like that, and the why was because people didn't want to pay the stupidly high taxi rates. The why was the two guys who did Airbnb was because, of fact, they didn't want to. They didn't have enough money to rent a hotel room and they needed somewhere to stay and they couldn't afford all the other options. So they came up with a concept of Airbnb.

Cara:

Even things like Ring, you know, like the doorbell company, you know that originally came that that wasn't the story there is. It's a reinvention of something traditional, but they've used technology that's available to revolutionize an existing product. It could also just be the way in which something is communicated with or handled like with the customers, so making the customers more engaged with the product. So, for example, one of the things I'm doing this year is I'm going to be doing an app which helps baby sleep through the provision of white noise, and you know that's an add-on product, but I won't be selling on Amazon, obviously. But the thing is, is it's kind of something where, again, it can become a marketing tool. It can become like something that you can, you know, give to people. You know there's other. I'm all about added value, like where can you give added value? And hopefully try and give added value where it doesn't cost you very much.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. One thing I think that helps you expand also to different market places. Be it, you know, like when you, you know you started in UK, then went to US I know we were talking about the potential of UAE and you were saying, oh yeah, I've got. You know, I've got some customers down there and stuff, so talk to you about that. Like how can you say something like that Is that because you know people from social media who have bought your product? Or you look at the addresses of where people buy your products. But how can you say, oh yeah, I've got customers there. When I'm ready to launch there, I can hit them up and they'll promote it. Like how can you do that?

Cara:

Okay, so yes, yes and almost yes. So, fundamentally, one of the other things I always bang on about and I banged on about it in my presentation is I do believe that any real brand or product business should have a website. There's two reasons for that, so I'm going to just go off on one tangent slightly, but the main reason for it is that, for example, I've been out of stock for two of my best selling products for the last couple of months because we've had issues getting stuff in from China, blah, blah, blah, and we had delays on the line, etc. Etc. So what I'm able to do with my websites, take pre-orders. You can't do that on Amazon, because if you don't have the stock, you can't sell. Literally, that's it, you're done. So I've generated, I've lost. My sales are down for the month in comparison to last year on Amazon and they're up not as much as they would be, but they're still significant enough money coming in on people who are prepared to hand over their money on the basis that the product will come. We tell them the dates and then we ship it.

Cara:

And so, therefore, the benefit of having a website, for example, is I know exactly how much traffic my website gets from the UAE. I can literally see it down to the almost like city level because, like the analytics now on things like Shopify is absolutely fascinating. So I did a breakdown of breakdown of, like, all the visitors that come from outside of the UK and you know there's some significant numbers Also. Yes, the other thing with the UAE is that you have a lot of expats. Now, the one thing that expats lack is family, because they're living outside of their home country. So when they have a baby, they're much more reliant on external sources. So they're much more reliant on things like baby sleep experts. They're much more reliant on gadgets and things that can help the baby sleep. And, yeah, we've got influencers. There's actually a few baby sleep experts starting up in the UAE and at the moment I can't, I can't. It's really frustrating.

Cara:

The most frustrating thing for me is when someone says they can't buy my product at a reasonable price, because I don't want to be like charging 25, 30 quid for a courier, which I do, and people will pay it, but I don't really want to be. I want them to get it at a price that works for them and in a time span that works for them. So the reason the UAE I've been sort of thinking about it for many, many, many years and in fact, I had way back in the day like 2010. I had a distributor in the UAE and I've had retailers in the UAE before, and I think the main issue is that they don't do any marketing, whereas I'm happy to do the marketing. So we're happy to make contact with the influencers, we're happy to, you know, and the good thing is we get people contacting us because it works both ways, and then we can say, oh, actually, yes, and we're selling on Amazon, so it gives us the opportunity to say, yeah, we can help you, sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Really interesting. And another thing that I found or I probably knew this, but you know my memory is so bad but that you are an unexpected expert in things that have to do with, like trademarks and stuff like that. So what is something that you think the average listener might not know or might wow them like well, I didn't know that.

Cara:

Well, one of the issues I think that people in fact I was chatting to someone at dinner last night about it is that quite often people worry about the fact that a particular brand name may have been registered already. Now, that's not necessarily a problem because, for example, McDonald’s farms now this is a slightly like random, not realistic example, but the principles are the same. So you've got McDonald's restaurants and then you've got McDonald's farm. Now we know, obviously McDonald's restaurants probably have got their own farm. But if they didn't, then there's absolutely no reason why you can't trademark McDonald's as a farm, because it's a different category and those categories are actually quite important. So, for example, if you've got a rubber duck company and you wanted to call it, you can't call it rubber ducks, it's too generic. But say, you wanted to call it sort of yellow ducky or something like that, right, and then somebody else was doing you know you're making toys and they're called yellow ducky, and then someone wanted to do a swimwear brand called yellow ducky. Well, actually you could have the two existing, like you wouldn't necessarily want to. This is the other thing. Sometimes it's not advantageous to actually have a similar brand name to somebody who's already established. But if they're in a completely different like industry. So if you had a yellow ducky, that was a truck company, right, and you're doing yellow ducky toys, no one's going to confuse the two, like you know. It's really not going to be like a case of someone's going to go to the yellow ducky truck company and think, oh, my goodness, where are my ducks, you know, or toys, or whatever. So there is that and there's also.

Cara:

The other thing is, I think, is that you know, people don't really know how to search for that sort of thing and it's not that hard. The USPTO, the US Patent Trademark Office, has actually got some really good search functionality. There's also the WEPO, which is World Internet, because I'm always suggesting the other thing you need to do is you need to make sure that your trademark isn't taken in another country. So we have it quite a lot. I tend to talk about it in reverse, which is you might have a brand in the UK and then actually someone may have already filed for that trademark in the US. So there's no point really building up a brand in the US, in the UK sorry if you're then hoping to go to the US, because it's going to be too difficult, especially if they're in a similar sort of environment.

Cara:

So it is really, and that works both ways. So I would say, even in the US, if you're thinking of expanding to Europe or to the UK or Australia or whatever, do a bit of due diligence, search online, because you will be able to find it, and make sure you use a VPN to go looking through on Google in local countries, because the other thing also you don't necessarily know is there was one brand that I know of in the baby industry and if you Google it, it actually means it's in Dutch, it actually means the bits of that hang off the back of a sheep's bottom.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay.

Cara:

Okay, so I'm not being funny, but I don't want that as a brand name they have and I don't seem to impact on them at all. But the thing is, you do want to see whether there's any weird colloquialisms or weird slang and things like that. Plus, the other thing is people get very like oh my goodness, what am I going to do? What am I going to do about like, trademarking internationally? And there is something called the Madrid Protocol and the Madrid Protocol. Once you've actually trademarked in a country that follows the Madrid Protocol which, by the way, includes America and China, EU, Australia, all the big players, all the most of the places you would want to trademark and once your trademark has been accepted and obviously this is why the due diligence is really important, to make sure that you haven't got like McDonald's restaurants anywhere else is you can use the Madrid Protocol to register in those other countries within a six month period of your trademark being approved in your home country. And it's a lot less and you don't need to use lawyers because otherwise you'd have to literally go out to each country and then trademark it. So I always say to people sort of think big in terms of and think safe. So, for example, it's super important to have a trademark in China, because trade in China. It is a first. I think it's a first to file. It is it's first to file, whereas in other countries it's first to use. I think the US is first to use.

Cara:

So the problem is that you could have been using a trademark in, for example, I think in the UK we're first to file, I think in the US it's first to use. So somebody would not be able to probably register my trademark unless you know, because I would probably know about it and therefore it would come up and I'd say well, hang on a minute, I've been trading in the US for this amount of time and I also think I had to also do the same in Canada. I had to actually show how long I've been trading for. But in the UK you don't have to have been trading at all. So if I wanted to, I could literally take Helium 10, and I could trademark that in the UK. If you haven't done, you know, because no one else is using it. There's no reason why it wouldn't be, and you know so by thinking with using the Madrid protocol, especially in the early days of like, when you're just doing your trademark. It's expensive, but the thing is, if you think you're going to go. Well, if you're producing in China, you should definitely do it, and if you think you're going to go into the US or into the UK or EU, it's actually quite a cost effective way of getting a trademark.

Bradley Sutton:

So Edumacated me about a lot of stuff there. Now, before we get into your last strategy, a couple of questions. I've been asking guests, so you've obviously been using Helium 10 for a while and I remember from the very first time I met you. There's just a lot of stuff that you don't know how to do. But about from the stuff that you do know how to do and that you do use, what is your favorite tool in Helium 10 that you feel gives you the most value, and why does it give you value?

Cara:

It's the one. It's a Cerebro where you go in and look at the keywords put the ace in it and get the keywords yes, yes. So I love that one.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you know what language Cerebro is?

Cara:

Oh, is it Greek.

Bradley Sutton:

No, it might be, I have some Greek in it, but it's. Oh, that's so the literal translation or the literal spelling is brain yeah, for Spanish yeah okay, cool, so yeah, so that's definitely one of my favorites.

Cara:

and then I also use I get the marketplace alerts and things like that, and I particularly like every time I

change my own or if a price changes. I love that coming in, because Amazon quite often starts selling my products in other places and it's useful to know what they're charging when they're doing it. And also it's a sanity check for me, like when I, for example, I messed up the other day big time. I'm launching a new product and I'm making a variation of another product and I accidentally put on the old product the new title. So I was accidentally selling the new product before it had launched because the old product was still live. So it was only when I got an email from Helium 10 saying my title had changed and I was like. So I ran into the back of, like Seller Central oh my god, I think it was only about 20 orders and then I'm like, trying to change the title, trying to change the title, trying to change the title, got it changed finally and that was yeah, that was a bit of a lifesaver as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So alerts is and Cerebro Wishlist for something that maybe we do it and you just don't realize it, or something that you think that we don't have. That would really make your life easier.

Cara:

Well, the SKU economics. I'm gonna be looking for that, okay, so I don't know. We have to have a chat afterwards and we'll have a look, because the problem is with the Amazon seller central version is that it's not exportable. So I literally had to sit there and I was doing screenshots and then moving and copying, like a picture, into an Excel spreadsheet.

Bradley Sutton:

For you with 13 SKUs. Maybe not so bad, but imagine somebody else.

Cara:

I'm thinking, feeling the pain, but also if I wanted to do regular updates like where am I now? I don't want to have to go through that every single time. So I will be very interested to see. Because SKU economics honestly, I'm a bit obsessed with it at the moment because it's so useful in being really granular, Like literally, like that SKU has spent X amount of money on sponsored ads, that bit has generated that amount of profit and it tells you all the returns, like everything, and so it really gave me some, like I was saying, some really good knowledge into what the business was actually doing versus what I thought it was doing.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, your last 30, 60, I know for you might be hard. So maybe 90 second tip of the day. It could be about trademarks, it could be about branding, it could be about the best pubs to go to in Britain. I mean any possible subject that you are an expert on.

Cara:

Okay, I'm not going to go down the pubs route.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, okay.

Cara:

But no, I think my top tip is have a website outside of Amazon. Have some way where you can sell, because we are all at the mercy of Amazon and all that needs to happen is we've got some new regulations going into the EU that's going to impact on all the US sellers, which is new labeling laws, and if your product is not compliant, amazon will shut your listing down on December the 13th 2024. Literally, so it's absolutely vital that you have another way to sell. That's obviously in the EU, but like this, that could happen in any market. We just don't know what's going to happen. And the thing is, you know, if you have all your eggs in Amazon's basket, then you're not really giving yourself an opportunity to do anything other than be at the mercy of Amazon. And you know, whilst I do love Amazon, obviously, at the same time I don't think it's healthy to be that involved with any one person at all. So it is really good to be able to sort of spread the risk a little bit and, as I say, then that gives you the opportunity to do more things off Amazon, which then actually tend to drive more traffic. So my website increased by 30% last year. Amazon increased by 30% because I do encourage my customers to go to Amazon if that's what they want to do.

Cara:

But and then there's also a customer who doesn't want to buy on Amazon because they don't like the concept, they don't believe in it. And there is, there is a there's a definite movement. A lot of people. Unfortunately, they don't understand how Amazon works and they think everything that's being sold on Amazon is being sold by Amazon. And I often have to explain to them like hang on a minute, I'm selling on Amazon. So by you not shopping on Amazon, you're actually not helping me.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah.

Cara:

You know, and they don't get it. So, anyway, have a website and make sure you've got a really good, strong, like about us like page which sort of tells people why you're doing this.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, Well, Cara, thank you so much. I have no doubt that you're gonna be make it to five episodes next year. You'll have some good stories and teach us some new vocabulary words as well. You know, one of the things I like about you is that you're not here to sell something and then not the people who Nothing bad about it, yeah nothing bad. You know, I have influencers and people who have service providers and they push their website Great. You know, that's why part of the reason why we're all here, but you know, you're just like helping people.

Cara:

I love it.

Bradley Sutton:

You speak and you have no agenda, so we're not gonna say, hey, go to carasayer.com but I have nothing on there. But I'm sure people like to hear from you. So like do you know where the next speaking? Are you speaking at a Billion Dollar Seller? Somebody are going there or anything.

Cara:

No, I'm not allowed to, because my daughter's doing her big exams this year.

Bradley Sutton:

So I've had it. This is the one year so no international travel until after July.

Cara:

But I'm going to the European Seller Conference in Prague Because I'm allowed to stay with it.

Bradley Sutton:

That's in March, I believe.

Cara:

Yeah, march 13th to the 16th, I think it is, and I'm not speaking, but I'm just gonna go along as a participant and I'm really looking forward to it, actually, because I've never been before.

Bradley Sutton:

So I love that conference. I spoke at it last year. Shivali is going this year. I won't be going this year, but make sure to go there If you guys want to go to Prague.

Cara:

It's in March, it's a beautiful city as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, oh, and there's really great, amazing pizza place called Johnny's Pizza. I'll let you know where it works at.

Cara:

I'll make sure I go out and make sure you're Really great, me and Shivali can go out and eat some pizza.

0:33:57 - Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, Cara. Thank you so much for joining us and coming out here from across the pond.

Cara:

Indeed, a bit of a bumpy landing. It was yesterday, but yes.

Bradley Sutton:

That was a little rough here in Frankfurt. I kept me a little awake there, but anyways, thank you so much for coming and I can't wait next year to see what you've been up to All right, take care.

Cara:

All right, take care. I'll see you next time. Bye, bye, bye.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

California man receives dozens of Amazon packages he never ordered
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/02/15/mysterious-Amazon-packages-Woodside-California/6441708019084/

The Amazing Ways Walmart Is Using Generative AI
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/02/15/the-amazing-ways-walmart-is-using-generative-ai/

Sponsored Brands video introduces vertical video creatives on the advertising console and Amazon Ads API
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-video-introduces-vertical-video-creatives/

The final leg of our journey takes us to the launch pad of Helium 10's latest tool, akin to Surfer SEO, but built for conquering the Amazon listing optimization battlefield. Bradley shares his journey from four months in the trenches, crafting over 150 listings to decode the Amazon algorithm for ranking. And for those hungry for knowledge, we spotlight an array of events and webinars, including a keyword research masterclass with Jason from Vitacup. Tune in for these insights and more, as we provide serious strategies for serious sellers looking to make their mark.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:21 - Amazon Brushing
03:26 - New Brand Metrics
04:30 - Walmart AI
06:40 - Amazon Vertical Video
07:40 - FBM Returns
08:30 - FBA Inbound Placement Service
17:39 - 3D Models
18:55 - Upcoming Online and In-Person Events
23:00 - Helium 10 Seller Connect Forum
23:23 - New Feature Alerts

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon's new FBA inbound placement service fees are going live in a couple of weeks. Walmart's integrating generative AI Vertical video PPC ads are now live. Helium 10 releases its most requested tool of 2023 for sellers. These and many more stories on today's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on and news articles in the e-commerce world and we let you know what new Helium 10 features there are and we give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Got a few articles today, but a little later on I'm going to give you guys a complete breakdown of that new FBA inbound inventory fee service that is coming out soon. Some sellers are saying they might have to pay double what they used to. Is that really true? I'm going to break down some things inside of Project X to show you what the fees are going to be, and make sure to stay to the end, because we also have exciting, exciting new tool announcement that's in beta for Helium 10 members.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's go ahead and hop into the news. The first article today is from upi.com and it's entitled California man Receives Dozens of Amazon Packages he Never Ordered. Does that sound familiar to you? This sounds like things that were happening years ago that maybe some of us thought you know went away. But basically, this guy in California yesterday he says he received dozens of mysterious Amazon packages at his home over the course of six months. Now, first he just started with a couple of envelopes, he said, but then a lot more products were coming. All right, the name on the label wasn't his name, it was somebody else's name, and he at first thought that, you know, just maybe there was a mistake that happened. But more and more packages sooner arriving, everything from, says, solar panel cables, video game consoles, digital picture frames, portable spas. And then he said he eventually just stopped opening them and just simply sent them back. All right, somehow his card actually started getting charged.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, that's separate than what I'm talking about or what this guy I think is talking about here, but basically this is the Black Hat method of brushing. Even this article talks about brushing. Like I said, this is like circa 2020, when this thing happened. And then this article says hey, brushing involves Amazon sellers sending packages to random addresses so they can artificially inflate their number of positive reviews. So the way that brushing works is kind of like these sellers they get somebody's real address and then they just use all these different Amazon accounts and send products to that address and then that allows them to do like a verified review. For me I wouldn't be sending it back. You know me as an Amazon seller. I'm gonna think like an Amazon seller. If one of those companies is gets my address and they're gonna use me for brushing, give me all those products, I'm gonna put it right back on Amazon and make some money off of it. But that's interesting. I wonder if this is just an isolated case or is brushing making a comeback. Hopefully Amazon cracks down on that, because you know shouldn't be doing any of these shady shady behaviors, in my opinion.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Amazon Seller Central, and it was a news article that came out and says increase sales with new metrics available on the build your brand page, all right. So this is something that a lot of us might not even know is in Seller Central. All right, you have to like if you're using a sub account, you actually can't see it off the bat. You have to go and to the admin account and give yourself the rights to this. But basically, this what Amazon announces hey, there's gonna be four new key metrics that allow you to measure your brand's performance branded search ratio, star rating, brand conversion rate and repeat customer ratio. All right, so there's gonna be actionable things that you can do. Go to the build your brand section of Seller Central, scroll down and then if, for the brands that you have brand registry, you are going to be able to see, for the different countries, these new metrics. Again, branded search ratio here's one about the star rating. It's gonna give you a whole bunch of insights on things that it wants you to do how to increase your conversion rate, et cetera.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is going to Forbes now and this one is entitled the amazing ways Walmart is using generative AI. Now, a lot of this didn't have to do with Walmart sellers, but if you scroll down in this article, there's an interesting tidbit here where it says here under the section, where it says under the section improving the shopping experience, it says there's also a new text to shop feature that lets customers ask for what they want by texting Walmart. All right, so there's a simple text chat powered by AI technology. Customers can search for items, add or remove products from their cart, reorder products and schedule delivery or pickup. Like, Walmart seems to be beating Amazon on this one at least, but if this is only in beta, well, you can't really say that it's beating Amazon if it's not widespread. But that's interesting, like, will that increase sales for third party sellers using the Walmart app If people can just start texting and ask questions? Will Amazon roll out their version of this, which has also been rumored?

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing that Walmart says they're launching is they're introducing a new online AI shopping assistant designed to help shoppers find the best product for their needs. So this AI is going to recommend relevant and related products based on, like, you're throwing a certain party or you have a certain age kid who has a need and you just, instead of like searching for keywords, you kind of like explain the situation and they'll give suggestions. Now, you know, part of me the skeptic is like I can't imagine how this is going to work because, like you know, like what I'm going to say hey, I've got a 19 year old kid who got his first new car, what products would he like, you know? Like, is it really going to know exactly what? But then again, guys think about it. How many times is this happening? You, where I don't know, you type in a search, or sometimes even you just are having a conversation with somebody. You go back to your phone and you're getting hit with ads, like about that very thing that you were just asking. You know it's got to be AI doing that. I don't know. But so, who knows, maybe AI is a lot more advanced than I give it credit for.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Amazon Advertising and it's entitled Sponsored Brand Video introduces vertical video creatives on the advertising console and Amazon API. So now when you're creating sponsored brand video ads, you are going to have an option to choose from creative assets. It says upload video, horizontal or vertical, alright. So a lot of people have had access to this for a few months now, I guess in beta, but now this is the official announcement. It looks like it's rolling out to everybody else. I've heard a lot of good feedback on how the vertical video looks, especially obviously in mobile browsers, which is what, or the mobile app, which is what it's designed for. So take a look at your advertising console. Do you have that available? It says it should be available united across North America, south America, Europe, middle East and Asia Pacific for sellers for that Next article, going back to Seller Central again, and it's entitled instant replacements are available for seller fulfilled returns.

Bradley Sutton:

Starting on this week, buyers will be able to request instant replacement for items sent using the prepaid return label program. You see me shaking my head. Those of you watching on YouTube. They were on this Seller Central article, 468 down votes and only 55 up votes. Up votes. So this is something that if you're doing fbm, you know, like myself, it's like might be a little scared. What now? Just a customer can just instantly get a replacement and I have to ship it to them and they have like 30 days to return it. They might not return. I got to start keeping track of if they return it, if they return the right product. But we know, you know that Amazon is very customer centric and so I guess you know this really shouldn't surprise us all. Right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's do a deep dive, guys, into the 2024 FBA inbound placement service fee. That's. This is just one of the couple things that amazon, or a lot of amazon sellers are very scared about this new in inbound placement service fee, and then the low inventory fee. That's going to come a little bit later, guys. This is coming now, march first. All right, so you look up, if you, if you want to get some detail on this, just go into your Seller Central and type in FBA inbound placement service and you you'll get this article. But let's do a deep dive into some of these things that that it says. Now, basically, what's going to happen is that you are going to start getting charged if you are only sending to one location, for example. All right, you're going to get a per unit charge based on the size of your product and based on where it's going uh, west coast, middle or, or uh, Midwest, I don't know, central area or east coast. Now, this is going to be interesting because, according to this article, this service fee is going to hit you 45 days after your shipment is received. So you've got a little leeway in there. So the first charges are not actually going to happen until mid-April, but it's going to be in effect starting in March.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the only way to completely skip this fee is if you accept Amazon's suggestion to ship to four different locations. I mean, that's only if Amazon tells you to ship to four different locations. You know, for me in the past a lot of times it's sometimes two locations, sometimes three, sometimes it tells me to only ship to one. So like I'm wondering how that's going to be. Is Amazon going to like force me to send it to one and I still have to pay, no matter what? But if you send to four or more locations, amazon is going to waive this fee. If you ship to two or three locations only, you are going to get a surcharge per unit that you were sending to Amazon and if you only send to one location, it is going to actually be the highest fee.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, how does this affect sellers? Well, everybody has different preferences. I'm here in Southern California. What do I want to do? I want to send to one location and I want it to be in Southern California. It's going to get there super fast, right, and the shipping is very like sometimes half what it is if I ship it, like all the way to an FBA DC in New York or Florida or something like that. But now I've got to start thinking what do I choose? Do I choose to send it to multiple locations? Is it going to be expensive? Am I going to get a surcharge? Or should I just send it to one location and I save on the shipping fee because it's so close, but I just pay this extra fee?

Bradley Sutton:

Let's start breaking down what some of these fees are. I'm not going to go into detail on this table here. You guys looking at YouTube, you can take a look at the screen here or just go into your Seller Central. But, for example, like if you have a small size box size 15 by 12, by 0.75, less than one pound you're trying to send everything to one location, you are going to get a 21 cent to 30 cent charge per unit. If you're sending to two or more that same package, you're going to get 12 cents to 21 cents per unit and, like I said, if you send to four locations or more, it is no fee. All right, so let's go ahead.

Bradley Sutton:

What I did was I actually went to my. This is what I suggest you guys do to go into your Seller Central and go into your shipments and look at your old shipments to see what's going on. For example, here is one of my shipments that I did late last year. This was for, I believe, the large coffin shelf, so this is an oversized box, and they had me send I only sent 20 units, for whatever reason I think it was right before I ran out and it had me sent to two locations. All right, so two locations, and one of these was in Washington. Okay, so, as you can see right here, for these 10 units, because this is a huge oversized box, I got charged $25. All right, so about $2.50 per unit, all right, the other 10, it had me send all the way to Delaware, all the way across the country, and it actually cost me $35 for those same amount, 10 units. All right, so you can see how much more it was by sending it to the opposite coast, and the one in Washington wasn't even that's not even close to me. Like I said, I'm in Southern California, so if I were to send it to California, it would have been cheaper, right, it might have been like what less than $20, right Now, what you do to calculate this out?

Bradley Sutton:

You go type into your search in Seller Central revenue calculator. All right, type in revenue calculator. We're going to have this in Helium 10 eventually too, but for now, go ahead and use a Seller Central. It's a little bit more difficult to use but it has the details you need for this new fees. Go into Seller Central, find your product this one that I just did and put how many units you're going to you're going to send. So I'm going to say, hey, I'm going to go ahead and inbound 20 units of this product.

Bradley Sutton:

And now if I were to ship it to one location only let's say it has me ship everything to Spokane, Washington I'm going to pay $2.70 per unit to ship this to Amazon. That's do you remember what it was? In Washington, it was $2.50. That's more than double just for shipping to one location. Now, in this shipment I shipped it to two locations, you remember. So if I ship it to two locations, I just hit this partial shipment splits and it brings down the price to $1.57. But still, that's now $31 more I'm paying for shipping. Do you remember total? On those two shipments I only paid $55. Well, now that $55 shipment just became $80 a shipment, all right, and that's only 20 units, that means I'm paying $4 just to get it from my warehouse to Amazon. So you can see that there's a decision you have to make. Like what if I could send everything to San Bernardino? Right, if I send everything to San Bernardino and I pay $2.70, but I save a whole bunch of money on my shipping, the shipping price would have to be $2.70 cheaper than what it would cost to send to multiple locations into the East Coast in order for it to be worth it. But again, it's not just the price. Now you got to think well, if I send it to Delaware, it might take like six days to get there, another few days to check in. If I send it to California, it'll get there the next day, maybe just a couple days to check in. So there's all these things you are going to have to start kind of like calculating out.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me show you another example. Another shipment I did this was actually from this year was the smaller coffin shelves and I sent like 80 units total. All right. Now take a look. I sent one shipment to California. 30 units cost $25. All right. So like what? 80 cents per unit? At the same time, it had me send some more to a different warehouse in California. It was only 10 units for $8.57. So 85 cents. And then, lastly, it still was in the West, but it had me send another 40 units to Henderson, Nevada, and it cost me 37 bucks, so a little over 90 cents. All right, so the average for this 80 units I was paying. What about? I paid about 80 cents per unit to ship and I didn't pay any fees. Right, if I do the same exact shipment after March 1st? Conversely, here is one more shipment I did separately and I sent 100 units all together and it went to Southern California and it only cost me $70. All right, so that's 70 cents, about 15 cents cheaper per unit than those other ones I sent all over the place. All right, so again, these were two separate shipments, very similar in scope. One had me send to three, one had me send to one.

Bradley Sutton:

What's going to happen if I have this same scenario in a couple of weeks, starting in March? Let's go back to that revenue calculator. I go ahead and put the coffin shelf in here and I say, hey, 100 units, the same exact shipment to California, to the West, 68 cents per unit. Do you remember what it cost me Originally? 70 cents. This is doubling the cost of what I have to send, or how much it cost me to send it in the old days, literally doubling my cost. Now, what about that other one where it had me send to three different locations? All right, it's still not four. It didn't have me send it to four, so I have to hit the partial shipment splits. I select three locations and now I see that it's going to cost 33 cents extra. It's not double, but now my price goes from 80 cents to $1.20, which is almost the same as the 70 cents plus 70 cents that I pay if I send it to one.

Bradley Sutton:

Is your mind kind of like spinning in circles with all these things you guys have to calculate? Now? I'm sure there's gonna be hopefully easier ways that Helium 10 can help you decide which one is going to be better to use. But again, you can't just blindly do your shipments anymore. You have got to really think about what's going on. All right, let me know in the comments below what are you seeing. Go ahead and put in some of your old shipments in there and let me know what you're seeing in your account. All right, last article of the day. It's actually just a post from LinkedIn.

Bradley Sutton:

I wanted to give a shout out to Jason from Vitacup and he talked about the release of Amazon's 3D photos. This was something that we talked about like about four or five months ago, when they announced that Amazon Accelerate, and now he is reporting that he's seeing it out there in the wild. Now we actually saw this a couple of days ago because when I was setting up that brand rights that I talked about earlier how I had to give rights to do that to my sub-accounts this was one of those new ones that you have to give rights to.

Bradley Sutton:

So if you guys are giving rights to see the brand, go ahead and click this 3D models thing. You have to have the seller app and then it's gonna allow you to take pictures from all sides using your mobile phone and then it's going to allow you to be enrolled in this 3D beta that Amazon has going right now. So take a look to see if you guys have access to that. Now, the reason why I wanted to give Jason a shout out here was he's actually gonna be a special guest next week in a keyword research webinar. He's an eight-figure seller and he's gonna give us his best keyword research strategy. So that's just one of the many online and offline events coming up for myself and the evangelist here at Helium 10 over the next few weeks. Shivali now is going to let you guys know of all the other events that's going on.

Shivali Patel:

Hi there. We have tons of online and in-person events over the next couple of months, so let's just quickly run through them so you're in the know and can potentially even plan ahead. First up, we have the virtual Billion Dollar Seller Summit from February 20th to the 22nd. Bradley is a speaker and if you plan to attend his session, you can take $150 off the price by using the coupon code BDSS2024. Again, that's just BDSS2024. At h10.me/bdss, you can also sit down with Bradley at the Sellers Edge training this upcoming week where he's gonna start a conversation with a guest eight figure seller and they're going to talk shop on keyword research strategies for Helium 10, amazon Product Opportunity Explorer, Search Query Performance and so much more. Get registered at h10.me/edge2. The two is just the number and it's not spelled out. On March 1st to 2nd, if you're interested in remotely anything Walmart and you're located on the other side of the world from me, perhaps you'll be able to make it out to Ecom Seller Summit and say hello to Carrie, who will be speaking. Visit h10.me/australia to grab a ticket. You can use the name, Carrie, as a code to save $50 and catch her session in person.

Shivali Patel:

The week right after Australia, we have the Prosper show in Las Vegas, where Bradley and Carrie are speaking, but all three of us will be there. Go to h10.me/prosper to reserve a spot and come swing by the Pack View and Helium 10 booth so we can get acquainted. Don't be shy, even if you see us just walking around. Now. If Vegas is too far for you, as is Australia, then I have the perfect in between event for you, and that is going to be held from March 13th to 16th in Prague, Czech Republic. I'm opening up the conversation for strategic innovation that leads to increased profits and so much more. The link for this event is h10.me/prague. You can use my code Shivali50 for a 50 euro discount. If you don't know how to spell my name, that's S-H-I-V-A-L-I 50 for a 50 euro discount.

Shivali Patel:

There will be an Amazon sponsored seller meetup in Manila, Philippines, so save or mark the date for March 21st. Bradley will be attending, but we don't have a sign up page yet. We'll keep you posted, though, and I will also be speaking at amazing day summit and attending the Amazing Days Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. That's going to take place on April 3rd, 4th and 5th. These two events are just days apart, so perhaps it's the perfect excuse. You need to come out and spend a week in Bulgaria. If you'd like a ticket, go to h10.me/bulgaria and use the code Helium10 for a 10% discount.

Shivali Patel:

The last couple of events you can anticipate some more in-person Bradley time are going to be the seven figure seller Japan mastermind in Okinawa. I might make it out to Japan, but it's still up in the air, so I guess you'll just have to come out to find out. The link to learn more about the Japan event is h10.me/japan. However, Bradley will definitely be speaking at Seller Velocity, as you can see here. So naturally I've got a code for you and that's going to be BRADLEYFIRST in all caps. You can put that into motion at h10.me/velocity. Look, guys, at the end of the day, each of these events are packed with incredible sessions, knowledgeable, expert speakers and the invaluable opportunity to network and honestly, I couldn't tell you just how many connections I've made by attending these events and the strategies I've learned to implement into my own business so I can take it to the level I'm hoping towards. So, really, if you can come, come, we'd love to meet you in real life and we'll see you there.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you, Shivali, for those events. I hope to see you guys at some of them. One quick thing, guys if you didn't get our notice we have a new message board or forum. That is on our website. So sign into your Helium 10 account and then go to forum.helium10.com and you'll be able to post messages there, interact with other Helium 10 users and see some announcements and strategies that myself and Carrie and Shivali are doing. So, again, forum.helium10.com. All right, let's get into our Helium 10 new feature alerts.

Bradley Sutton:

The new tool that Helium 10 is coming out with right now is probably the most asked for tool last year 2023, of what, when I was on the road, people asking about this and something even beforehand I had in mind. Now, before I get into how to use a tool, it's kind of important to understand the background of how we even came up with this. This wasn't like my idea or something, but it's something that's been on my mind for a while Now. As you guys may or may not know, I used to run the content team here at Helium 10. And now I still write blogs to help out the content team, and something we've always used is this software. The one that we're using right now is called Surfer SEO and it's really cool Like we have blogs for SEO, right, and it gives me all of my kind of like titles that I need to have and then all of the main keywords that I need to put in blogs and it tells me how many times I need to use it, where I have to put it and, as I'm writing my blog, it gives me the score of how I'm going to be ranking for Google SEO and it tells me also how I'm doing compared to other blogs about the same subject. And so I've always thought, well, you know, like that would be kind of cool thing to have for Amazon sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

And Amazon sellers thought the same way. One of the you know, as I was touring everyone said, hey, we like a tool that allows us to kind of like take, hey, the best keywords from Helium 10, but then helps us to understand where we need to put it in the listing and how it kind of stacks up for the Amazon algorithm and then how my competitors are doing it. All right. So I'm going to show you guys how to use this new tool. It's in listing builder, but let me just tell you right off the bat like. I actually spent, you know, like four months on a case study, making like more than 150 listings in different accounts and trying all these different things that kind of like the best they can decode the Amazon algorithm to see, hey, what forms of words work best for the Amazon algorithm, what helps the ranking, what kind of frequency, what does it matter where the keywords are, et cetera. So I did a lot of work on this, but let me just say there is no buddy out there myself included who can tell you exactly how the Amazon algorithm works. It doesn't work that way. All right, it's not like I can just give you an exact formula, but what we, what I've been able to do here is get it to a formula here that will give you the best chance at having good SEO for your Amazon listing. All right, so where you find this tool is now in listing builder, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you're gonna see a little bit of different things here. There's some things that, based on when you're seeing this video, it might be different Later on, like these colors might be gone. You're gonna have the number here of how many times the keywords came up. We'll update this video later, once this tool is fully finished. Like I said, it's in beta. But the first thing you do is just like you normally do with your keyword research. You're first gonna get all your best keywords from Cerebro, whatever other tools you have, stick them all now into listing builder. Before I didn't have you do that, remember, I said, hey, only get your 20 best keywords, right, and then the rest of the keywords just find the individual words. That's no longer.

Bradley Sutton:

With this new tool. You can go ahead and throw all of your keywords into listing builder at once. You don't have to separate the best and the worst. One of the reasons why is because now we have the Cerebro competitor performance score. Again, this is from Cerebro and it tells you what are the most important keywords for this niche, based on what the listings are all ranking for. Very highly, all right. So I put all 116 phrases right here. I also see the search volume and it breaks it down here on the top to all the one and two and three word parts of these phrases, so that I can see hey, what are all of the individual keywords that are showing up here, what are the two and three word phrases that show up in multiple phrases? Now, after you get your keywords in here. You scroll down, you're going to see your original listing quality score if I already made my listing here on the right-hand side, and that's just based on Amazon best practices, like you know how many characters in your title, things like that. But the new part here click on Keyword Performance Rank and what you're going to want to do is add your competitors. Okay, so this is something new. So this here is a bat-shaped bath mat that I was doing. So I went to Amazon and I wanted to put in all of the top bat mats here and I just pasted all of the ASINs or I could have just selected it right here in this Add Competitors section and now, instantly, based on these keywords that I already got from Cerebro, it is going to give me a score for every single one of these competitor listings that we see right up here, and actually the number one listing just happens to be the product that is selling the most, all right, so it kind of shows that, hey, this formula is a pretty decent indication on how you might be doing in the niche, potentially, all right. So that's what you're going to see right here when you click on Keyword Performance Rank, and then once I make my listing now it's going to give me a score. So right now I'm not first, all right, I might need to tweak my listing a little bit. This is only version one of my listing. It says I'm second out of 10 competitors. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if you want more detail on what is going into this Keyword Performance Score, well, it is based on a lot of these kind of like match types. There's five of them that I kind of pinpointed with all of my tests that I was doing, and it also has to do with where in the listing it is. You know title is the absolute most important. Search volume is something that is factored into the score as well. The points is the next, and then description right, and then you get different points based on the search volume and then based the highest points for a keyword is exact match, like if the word is coffin shelf, you put coffin shelf and then that's an exact match. The next one that you also get points is plural or singular match, so like it's coffin shelf or coffin shelves, right. Next is a phrase match, but a partial phrase match, all right. So it gets really down and dirty. Guys Like I did a lot of work trying to come up with this formula. So when you get into this tool, put your mouse over the little eye, the little information, and you will see, kind of like, what all of these different match types mean. And then, as you are making your listing, you will literally see this score change based on these factors, right here.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, remember, keyword stuffing is not suggested. You, I did see that some kind of like duplication of keywords is good in some circumstances, but you're not going to get points, extra points, by putting the same keyword five times in a listing. The first time you put it, and if it's in phrase form, that can get you the most points. If you have it again, that actually can kind of like let Amazon know you're especially relevant for it. So you are going to get some credit. But as you play around the score you'll see that it's not the full credit as if you like the same one that you put in the title.

Bradley Sutton:

Now again, I'm not going to sit here and say hey for a fact. If you get the top keyword performance rank out of your competitors, that's going to guarantee that you're going to get the most sales. Obviously, a lot more things have to be considered when you're talking about getting sales on Amazon. But this is what I came up with and our data scientists. I'm not smart enough to make like full formulas here. I had to get the data scientists help, but this is what we found will give you the best chance to really make sure that Amazon knows that you're relevant. I'm going to have a few workshops coming up on just general listing optimization techniques, but once you have all that down, this is what is going to help you really bring your keyword research and your listing optimization to get the best bang for your buck.

Bradley Sutton:

So I want you guys to try out this tool. Like I said, it's in beta right now. New things are being added to it every day. If you have a diamond counter hire. Elite members have been playing with this for weeks, but now it's to a point where, like, hey, if your diamond are higher, for now, we want to get your feedback too. So please give this a spin and then, if you have any questions or comments on it, reach out to customer support and let them know about it, and we'd love to hear from you to see what you think about this tool that everybody was asking so much for the last year or two. All right, guys, thank you very much for joining us on this edition of the weekly buzz. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Ever felt like you're just one PPC secret away from skyrocketing your Amazon or Walmart sales? Madalina from eComcy joins us on this month’s TACoS Tuesday program to lift the veil on advanced advertising tactics that could very well be your game-changer. From initiating precise exact-match campaigns to harnessing the untapped potential of broad match types, we cover the A-Z of creating a strategy that not only speaks to your product’s strengths but also steals the spotlight from your competitors. Using Helium 10 tools like Cerebro and Magnet, Madalina walks us through the art of strategic competitive analysis, ensuring your keyword lists are as refined as they are effective.

Bid management can often feel like walking a tightrope, but with insights from our guest expert and the aid of Adtomic, we transform this balancing act into a calculated dance of numbers and intuition. Discover how the blend of automated suggestions and manual adjustments can refine your campaigns to an unparalleled level of precision. Madalina doesn't stop there—she dissects the significance of match types, niche-specific benchmarks, and the pivotal role they play in the fluctuating realm of click-through and conversion rates.

Wrapping up, we look into the crystal ball of keyword volumes and campaign management, offering a blueprint for structuring your campaigns so that they work smarter, not harder. Whether you're dealing with keywords that command their own stage or those that perform better in an ensemble, Madalina's methodical approach to campaign structure ensures you'll stay in control while maximizing efficiency. As an added bonus, we touch on the experiences of Walmart sellers, inviting a broader discussion on the adaptability of these strategies across platforms. Tune in for a wealth of knowledge that's sure to give your Amazon PPC efforts that extra edge.

Episode 535 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Madalina discuss:

00:00 - PPC Strategies and Campaign Optimization
02:21 - eComcy's Approach to PPC Campaigns
08:21 - Strategies for Launching PPC Campaigns
12:29 - Relative Rank Filters and Adjusting Strategy
13:32 - Improve Amazon Rank and PPC Campaigns
20:38 - Advertising Strategies for Amazon Sellers
23:11 - Advertise With General Category Terms
26:31 - Considering State-Specific Strategies for Sales
31:29 - Using Free Retail Space and Placements

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TranscriptShivali Patel:

Today, on TACoS Tuesday, we sit down with Madalina from Ecomcy to talk about a variety of different things related to PPC, for example, how to do keyword research, how to set up your campaigns, recommendations for launching and what kind of key metrics to look out for.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. I want to check estimated sales for products you see on Amazon. Or maybe you want to instantly see how many listings on page one of a search term result have the actual searched keyword in the title. You can find all of these things out and more with the Helium 10 Chrome extension tool X -Ray. More than one million people have used this tool. Find out what it can do for you by downloading it for free at h10.me/xray.

Shivali Patel:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our monthly TACoS Tuesday episode, where we talk anything and everything PPC. Today, our guest is from Ecomcy, which is an Amazon and Walmart ads agency, and our guest is Madalina. Welcome in. How are you? I'm great, thank you, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm glad to have you on. I know that we're talking all things PPC. We're going to have some questions kind of filing in and it's going to be AMA style. But in the meantime, how about we talk a little bit about you, so what you do at Ecomcy, how you got started in this field and what have you?

Madalina:

First of all, thanks for having me. I'm super excited and I'm really nice to see everyone just joining from different parts of the world. So I'm Madelina. I've been in the industry for the past six years yeah, doing everything Amazon and then specializing in PPC, because I'm more like a data lover, you know.

Shivali Patel:

So I've started doing PPC at Ecomcy and now I'm the PPC lead and do you offer such an important service to F that PPC is so monumental for any business? So I'm excited to talk a little bit about how you guys kind of approach your PPC campaigns, how you audit, how you optimize, and so let's kind of just dig right, deep right. How does Ecomcy navigate its PPC campaigns? Like, when somebody comes to you with their campaigns, what is sort of the first way that you really look at it and audit?

Madalina:

First of all, we would be looking not only at the advertising campaigns but we would be looking at the products overall and kind of reverse engineer performance, this against to the client's target. So if we have issues with sales or if we have issues with profitability, we would be basically reverse engineer from there and kind of see like do we have a PPC order percentage that's too high? Is our organics doing okay? Obviously, we would be using Cerebro and all the 10 tools to kind of like reverse engineer performance, see how we're being compared to the markets and things like this when it comes to PPC. So of course, ppc plays like a very, very important role but like my point is that it's not only PPC that goes in here, because we kind of like look at performance overall. So at an advertising level, we would be basically assessing main metrics like collect rate. Is everything that we put in our ads kind of relevant to our audience? We would be looking at conversion rates, see, like if there's anything we can do at a very detailed level when it comes to like placements or things like this Are we doing migrations? Are we doing like all the different kind of placements? Are we doing all the match types? So kind of like going through a very detailed audit to see is if, basically, the client objectives are being reached or not. And if not, what else are we doing in order to reach the objectives?

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, I know, I kind of threw you into the deep end there, because there are so many different things that are part of the PPC campaigns. Right, you have your ad structure. Maybe it's something that's an underlying factor. I do see we have questions starting to roll in, so let's go ahead and start with how to start PPC. So I guess, for this question, if somebody is just starting I know we just talked very briefly about auditing what about if you're just getting started? Is there a specific campaign structure or, like match type, specific kind of ads that you recommend?

Madalina:

Yes, so we usually start with the bare minimum and that would be exact campaigns for your very relevant keywords, right? So we would be using the cerebral tool in order to find what are your competitors are ranking for and then, with kind of like, find your most relevant keyword and start exact campaigns from there. So I think that would be a good start. What I usually like from there to the from there as well is not to limit only on exact. Also do like a broad plus to, so a broad modifier to ensure, like you kind of find the long pills from your highly relevant keywords as well. So that would kind of like ensure you're using the, the budget, in the most efficient way. So that would be the like the match types I would use. Then, at the structure level, like there's a whole debate like how to organize your campaigns and things like this. It's up to you and the tools you'll be using to optimize campaigns. We would prefer to kind of like put all the highly searched keywords in one campaign because we can monitor them more closely and we can better understand performance. We can change the placements, do they partying, change budgets more easily, and things like this. And then for the maybe lower volume keywords, maybe like add maximum if they're super low volume. I would say maybe like 15 keywords max per campaign and then try to put them, to group them based on intent. So then when you look at the very high level in your advertising console, you understand exactly what performs well, what kind of targets you might want to dial down on and things like this. There's a lot, yeah, there's a lot to start with, but don't get overwhelmed. I bet that's also an advice. Don't get overwhelmed because, yeah, it's, even if you start with the exact and doing like a broad modifier, you should see some performance. If you don't see performance, then getting that through us, we can trouble you.

Shivali Patel:

Right, right, I think the most important thing is definitely what you said is just getting started and then modifying from there. Something that you did mention is budget. I've heard sort of a debate even on that aspect, right, because some people say you should start with a really large budget per day and then just bid a little bit lower. Some people say, just go based off of what you can really work with. So what is your take on that specifically?

Madalina:

So it really depends on your product price and your estimated conversion. Because let's say you have a product price that's $20 and your target A cost, let's say, might be 100% to start with, your budget could for that particular company let's say might be $20, right, so you can work it out this way If you have a higher price product, then of course you can work on your budget as well. But I would reverse engineer it from the price of your product and based on your estimated conversion rate.

Patel:

Good advice, good advice. I feel like my broad match campaign is always burn money, so it's always a tricky game getting the right sweet spot. I see we have some more questions, so let's go ahead and pop those onto the page. We have Yizak. He says I'm about to launch two new listings Congratulations. Any new strategies? Do you have any PPC recommendations for launching? Which keywords do long tail, low search or high search volume?

Madalina:

For the long tails. I would definitely add your long tails. It's all based on relevancy. So if your long tails are relevant, definitely add them in your campaign. If they are high in search volume, just make sure you start with low bids in order to make sure you can't control the spend. You can always go back and increase bids, but if you wake up with a very high spend that's you can't go back on that. So make sure you set up low bids initially. I would say start with the classic approach Go and research your competitors, see what they're ranking on, see if there's any sales you can sell from them With the highly relevant keywords you'll be targeting and, of course, add those keywords in exact campaigns. Then start with the broad modifier to do the long tails. You have a limited budget.

Shivali Patel:

All right, we have. What are the key metrics?

Madalina:

you are following we love conversion rate, we love orders, so that is a key metric we are looking at. Other than that, to define relevancy, we look at click through rate as well and down the profitability road we would look at clicks, impressions, spend a-cost, total advertising cost of sales tax cost and things like this. So basically a lot of metrics, but the key ones would be basically conversion. So it's like how your campaign is going and then how much traffic you're putting into or you're receiving from us on impressions and clicks, Amazing.

Shivali Patel:

We also have Ismall who said how to research keywords. Now, of course, as somebody from Helium 10 can also say, you can check out the Sears Sellers podcast. We have a few episodes that Bradley has done for keyword research, like master classes that you can go in and check out how to do keyword research using Serebro Magnet, some other ways. But, Maddalena, I also want to hear from you sort of how you guys approach keyword research.

Madalina:

Yeah, so we are actually in line with the Hewley Newton approach. So we would be, with this, very important to look at your market, study your competitors. So find your competitors first and you can do that by looking at your product features. So the price would be very important, the number of ratings, how many, how established they are in the market and things like this. So first find your competitors, then find your keyword based on the competitors and this is where the Cerebro will come in and you'd reverse engineer based on the keyword competitors would be ranking on and you'd try to go for those particular keywords. Now the Cerebro also have that relevancy column which you can look at. So basically, try to go for. You basically assess relevancy based on how many competitors would be ranking for your product. So try to look at the keywords that are the most relevant ones in order to prioritize those in your advertising campaigns and then be higher on them and try to base your launch strategy on them.

Shivali Patel:

Basically, I think what Madalina said is really important. You guys can go in check out relative rank filters inside of Cerebro or Magnet. But in doing so, in running a multi-ASIN search, you can then go in check out where you're positioned in accordance with your competitors and then adjust your strategy. So let's say you have a really great competitor who is killing it and you see that they're ranking higher than you want a specific keyword. You can use that keyword, adjust your strategy and incorporate into your listing or into your PPC campaigns and then vice versa, if you have some of these other filters, you have Amazon recommended rank, you have your sponsored type. You can go in reverse engineer somebody's PPC strategy If you're doing a single-ASIN search. There's so many cool things to do. So, again, make sure you guys go and check out the Ceresellers podcast I'm talking about with the masterclasses. If you type in masterclass, you should be able to find it. We also have Tassine from Germany Any Amazon report to check day parting performance and your rank on Amazon.

Madalina:

Yes, so there would be. So we have that in Adtomic and I love the Adtomic performance graph on it. But if you're using Amazon, there is a sponsored product report. You can download it. If you go in the sponsored product, then it's the campaign one and then you have the hourly. You just have to choose it hourly and then we'll go for the last 14 days. I don't like the fact that it's for 14 days Only. Helium 10 has for 60 days, so I do love that.

Shivali Patel:

All right. We also have Abe, who's responding to something I said about the Broad Match campaign. He said Nake Shivali negate frequently in broad. I do negate frequently and I use Adtomic. So Adtomic lets you set up rules and suggestions. I suppose I probably need to go in there even more frequently. However, speaking of Adtomic, I hear that Ecomcy uses Adtomic, so I would love to know a little bit about how you guys use the tool itself for all of your clients.

Madalina:

It depends on the client, on the brand, on the product, so we don't do an overall approach. So we would be basically going with some benchmarks and we would be setting up some rules in atomic based on them. So we would be looking at the main metrics we talked about, in fact, like the conversion rate, the clicks, the impressions, overall spend for that particular target, and we would go with those kind of metrics and set up rules and kind of like if performance is not good, based on the category or the product, decrease speed. If performance is good, increase speed and things like this. We do want a very, because we put a lot of time into knowing the product and understanding the category and things like this. And we would be manually going and approving the bid suggestions, Because if the audience doesn't know, basically what the atomic would do is to give you some suggestions, bid suggestions or budget suggestions or negative keyword suggestions and things like this. So then we would be manually applying those to make sure our knowledge is combined with the knowledge we put in atomic and make sure that we understand what kind of actions we took and then how the results were affected by those particular actions. So kind of like track and measure this way. Yes, and again, it would be like it would depend on the product market category and things like this, and then on your goals as well, If you want to be more profitable, even to increase sales, and things like this.

Shivali Patel:

We also have another question on the thresholds, since we were talking about the key metrics before. So what are the general thresholds for click-through rate and conversion?

Madalina:

Yeah, I love that question, but it's a yeah, it will really depend on your category and on your product. Because, yeah, if you can see very big variations from one product to another, I would really throw you off if I were to give you some benchmarks. I don't know, at some point it used to be like 0.3, let's say, in click-through rate. Now, let's say, we are seeing a little bit of an improvement when it comes to click-through rate and conversion rate. Again, it really depends on your product. So, yeah, now you can actually see that in the product. You can see some ideas of your category conversion rate in the product that Opportunity Explorer, as well. If you search for the niche, you can basically see the conversion rate for that particular niche.

Shivali Patel:

What is the best metric to use, in Surabro or Magnet, to find the most relevant keywords for the product that you are selling?

Madalina:

So what we usually do internally I know there's now the column that shows you how many computers are waiting for that product we are doing the report to make sure there's nothing we're seeing in the filter things down and things like this, and we would basically just apply a relevancy for a new lot to better understand, based on the keyword relevancy as well. So Sorry, let me take that from the beginning. Basically we would be taking like the, what sounds relevant. We would be clustering that and then apply a relevancy column from formula from there in with the data we downloaded from Cerebro.

Shivali Patel:

I think that answers that. We have explained what is the best match type for PPC broad phrase and exact.

Madalina:

I wouldn't say there's something like the best match type because, again, like, it will depend on your product and your target. Exact is the most controlled one. So from a profitability point of view that's your best, let's say, because you can really like the search terms you would have would be essentially like the search terms you wanted to put in that campaign. Then phrase is good, like for a mean between discovery and then broad is best for discovery. Broad now is super broad on some accounts actually and on some products. But yes, I would say if you're launching, exact is your best friend. If you're, like in a discovery phase and trying to find new keywords, then broad and phrase would also be good friends.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, now we have. Ysak has asked. I found around 80 keywords or phrases relevant to my product. How many exact campaigns would you do or should do, and do you use auto campaign for launch?

Madalina:

Yes, auto campaigns could be good for launch. Again, like, depends on your budget, depends on your product and how much you want to invest in discovery. You, it would be good to set up auto as well, but usually, like, if your budget is limited, go with a lower budget and lower bid on auto, just to ensure your budget is distributed nicely in those exact you put a lot of work discovering already. So about the 80 keyword phrases relevant to your product. So depends on your search volume, depends, like how popular those keywords would be on Amazon. You can I that does sound like a lot of keywords. I would say that will be like. If you imagine if you, if all your keywords would have one click you already have and you have like a dollar cost per click, you'd already have 80 in spend only from those particular keywords only with one click. Depending on your conversion rate, that will obviously be higher. So I would maybe try to filter down a little bit more. But again, depends on your, on your budget and your launch strategy, your product. I would do for the very, very low volume keywords I would do 10 keywords per campaign and then for the high volume keywords I or medium volume keywords, I would do five keywords per campaign. Then for the very high volume keywords and the ones that you're really trying to to go with for the launch, I would do only one keyword per campaign. You can control the placement that you can do. Sorry, you can play with the day parting and things like this, because, yeah, you might have if they are very high in volume, you might be surprised with how much they could be spending.

Shivali Patel:

So, if I sum that up, just for those of you that are listening, maybe four or five that are very high search volume, very highly relevant, that you do want to rank for just one each and exact match campaigns, and then the medium style ones, maybe five keywords per and then the low would be 10 to 15. I believe is what you said at the beginning, right? Yes, exactly Okay. On the note of exact, this person's asked the number of keywords in campaign structure. I can see that you avoid making too many single word campaigns. Is there a specific reason for that, like difficulty to manage it or something else?

Madalina:

Yes, so when you start especially, it is quite hard to manage it. If you don't have like a tool like atomic, I would say, yeah, it would be. It would be quite difficult to look manually in each campaign, you know, and kind of apply your bit. So that that is the main reason why you wouldn't do too many single word, too many single search term campaigns. Yeah, just to clarify. Actually, you don't mean single words, right, you mean single search terms.

Shivali Patel:

I think it's yeah, single search term inside of campaigns. But for any of you guys who don't use atomic at the moment and you want a free demo, you can go to h10.me forward slash atomic. So that's h10.me forward slash atomic. If you want to get a free demo of atomic to learn how to use it. Hey guys, been working with brand related terms, tried branching out to general category terms. Currently running campaigns with limited sales. What should be the strategy here?

Madalina:

So I guess that's where you're taking most of your traffic from. But you're also doing a general category search term, like a product I would imagine, a sponsor product category target. So I would do, I would ensure, like, apart from the branded search terms, you also have those kind of product descriptors in your exact and broad plus or phrase. So back to the, the garlic press example, like if it was Nike garlic press, let's say, yeah, you, you are everything on all the the branded search terms, but also make sure you're advertising on garlic press. So your product descriptor and then go, go from there again like, check your competitors, see where they're getting their sales from, do some some keywords, research and ensure, like you, you also like, do all the the exacts that are not related necessarily to your, your brand. And then, apart from, like the, if you're already running only sponsor products, I would also ensure you're doing like sponsor brands, sponsor brand videos for your branded search terms. Sponsor display you're targeting your own asians and then you're doing sponsor display targeting, free targeting, the kind of thing. So ensure, like all the different advertising types are also being ticked for your branded search terms, if that's where your, your, you have seen performance.

Shivali Patel:

We do also have whether or not you should run campaigns for competition brand names when you are just getting started, when you're just launching.

Madalina:

Yes, I would. Well, those would be relevant targets, I guess, again, it depends on your budget. It depends how closely related your competitors would be as well from a price perspective and from a reviews perspective. If they are very popular in Amazon as well, like how much visibility would they get out of it? What's your plan with the launch? Are you planning to seal sales from there, from them, or are you planning to rank on other keywords? So if you're planning to rank on other keywords organically and those are more like extras you might want to steal some sales from them, but that's not what your strategy is focused on. I would just run them with very low bid see how they're working, see how they could convert. If that's your strategy, if you're stealing sales from them, definitely run campaigns on them. But yes, again, it depends on the different factors regarding search volume and the metrics I've mentioned.

Shivali Patel:

We have a question here that says we all sell better in some states and worse than others. So is this something that you consider in your strategy and, if yes, how?

Madalina:

To prioritize the market. Sorry, I'm not sure I'm understanding the.

Shivali Patel:

Really, this is just more widespread. Let's say you're selling in the US marketplace and you know that your consumers are purchasing more in a given state, then is that something that you consider?

Madalina:

I guess, yes, you can definitely tailor your strategy based on the different states as well. You won't be able to advertise differently in different states, unfortunately. We hope that will be a feature that will be released soon. But, yes, you can definitely target keywords that are for the different states and you can potentially use day parting as well if there is quite different. I guess the states are super differently from a geographical point of view. It's super different from a geographical point of view and then you might see some performance differences. You could potentially use day parting to tailor that strategy.

Shivali Patel:

So time zones if you know that certain time zones are selling better than others, then definitely day parting. But outside of that, I think your best bet, if you were going to go that route, is really just external traffic. Right, it's going to be Facebook, I think, is where you can actually segment stuff like that out when you're going geographically speaking if you want to do certain states. But that's completely off Amazon. We have a defensive PPC question. What tactics do you recommend to cover more real estate from your own page? What is your advice to sellers when they have competitors that push very hard PPC on your listing or your product detail page?

Madalina:

We would make sure we are targeting ourselves. So basically target your own AC limit when it comes to a sponsor product, because you'd be basically following the customer throughout the journey, and then it's not only on your product page but also target those customers that were interested in your product and also target your product in your whole catalog. So make sure you have a defensive campaign for all the products in your catalog, and that covers sponsor products, sponsor brands, sponsor brand videos and sponsor display. It depends how popular your brand is as well, because sometimes you might want to, as you say, have a defensive strategy. Other times you might just want to ensure you're getting sales from it, because the page could be already super cluttered by other search results and also depends on your product performance. So, let's say you have some product that you're launching right now and you might not have a great visibility on them. There is a chance you might not even index on those products for your brand names. So definitely, I would definitely target the new products to ensure they are at the top of the search results. You also want to make sure the customers are not too distracted when they go on your page, so make sure that you keep them there and show them what other options they can have from you. Also, make use of the free retail space when it comes to stores sorry, the costs and publish a lot of costs, so those will appear on your product page. Yeah, basically, use all the different types of placements on your own ASIN.

Shivali Patel:

So I know we're kind of coming up on time here, but I just wanted to leave a little bit of room to give you some space to talk a little bit about how people can contact you if they want to reach out to you or talk to Ecomcy.

Madalina:

business@ecomcy.com and we also offer a free audit. We're happy to look at clients' performance, see how we can help increase their sales with PPC and also with product optimization. We also do Walmart, so in case I didn't mention it. So we are happy to help on that side as well. And actually for the audience here, we are happy to offer a 25% discount for the first three months as well. So just let us know if you need any help and you can get the freebie as well on your first three months Amazing.

Shivali Patel:

So I know you mentioned Walmart really briefly. I know we said we were closing out, but just really quickly, do we have any Walmart sellers here that are watching and do any of you actually sell on the platform? I'd love to know because I know a lot of our questions were kind of geared in general or like mostly Amazon based. Thank you so much, Madalina, by the way, for being here, and it seems like people got a lot of value out of it and I'm excited for this episode to go out. All right, take care.

View Details

Stepping away from the comfort of a well-established brand like Lego, Silas has steered his career ship through the tumultuous waters of entrepreneurship and surfaced with a lot of insights. From launching a private label brand on Amazon to the helm of his own agency, his narrative is rich with the lessons of building businesses from scratch, the significance of co-founder synergy, and the hard truths of partnership pitfalls. Silas' story is a testament to the resilience and adaptability required in today's e-commerce oceans, and he doesn't shy away from sharing the gritty details.

Tuning into the finer points of Amazon PPC, we navigate the complexities of keyword strategies with the precision of a Lego master builder. The conversation traverses from Lego's expansive strategies to the necessity of adaptability in the private label and agency landscapes, where budget constraints demand a more tactical approach. Silas introduces us to his innovative keyword categorization, a strategy that has revolutionized advertising efficiency for businesses big and small. He even lets us peek into his toolbox, showcasing how tools like Helium 10 are not just for the giants but are instrumental for anyone looking to make a mark on Amazon and Walmart.

But it's not all about keywords and conversion rates; there's a heartbeat to Silas’ story that underscores the importance of mental health and personal fulfillment. He shares a candid account of his own struggles and triumphs, reminding us that well-being is inextricably linked to professional success. The birth of Copenhagen Commerce and the value of connections made through podcasting and networking events narrate a journey of rediscovery. It's a compelling reminder of the power that lies in human connections and prioritizing what truly matters – a lesson that resonates with all of us, whether we're building block by block or keyword by keyword.

In episode 534 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Silas discuss:

00:00 - Silas On Lessons From Lego to Amazon Private Label
02:17 - Advertising and Retail Management Career
08:31 - Optimizing Keyword Strategies for Success
11:57 - Lego's ASIN Grabber and Enterprise
18:48 - Negative View on Mental Health
19:48 - Starting a New Agency, Finding Fulfillment
27:20 - Amazon Keyword Research Strategies and Tools
28:39 - Building a Consistent Ranking System
30:55 - Favorite Helium 10 Tool
32:25 - The Power of Networking at Events

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Brand Evangelist, Shivali Patel. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space and provide a training tip for the week.

Target considering paid membership program to compete with Amazon, Walmart: report
https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/business/target-considering-paid-membership-program-to-compete-with-amazon-walmart-report/

Sponsored Display | Geotargeting
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/destaney-wishon_sponsored-display-geotargeting-activity-7160694127251062785-gtD3/

Amazon announces Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping experience
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-rufus

The latest actions against fake review brokers: Amazon continues to see success in global efforts to stop fake reviews
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-latest-actions-against-fake-review-brokers

For sellers seeking to harness data with precision, Helium 10's latest features provide sellers with immediate sales data and a two-year historical view right from search results and product pages. And for sellers eyeing the Brazilian market, our Listing Builder AI now crafts listings in Portuguese, simplifying your international expansion efforts. Tune in for these insightful updates and more, tailor-made for serious sellers eager to stay ahead in the ever-evolving Amazon FBA landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:43 - Big Amazon Coupon Update
01:40 - Save on FBA Fees
05:21 - Target Prime Coming?
06:00 - Sponsored Display Locations
07:05 - Clickable Tabs in A+
07:52 - Amazon's Rufus
09:20 - Fake Review Broker Industry
10:44 - Follow Helium 10 On TikTok
11:01 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

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TranscriptShivali Patel:

An interesting Amazon coupon update lower fulfillment FBA fees with the Ship in Product Packaging program and geographically targeted sponsored display ads. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Shivali Patel:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you all the latest news in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce space, and we also provide you with a training tip of the week that will give you insight into serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. First up, we have a big Amazon coupon update this week. Bradley was setting up a new launch for a test coffin shelf and he saw this when setting up coupons. Basically, now you can create coupons for specific audiences, similar to what you see in brand tailored promotions, for example, having them show up only for customers who might have abandoned your product in their cart. Other alternatives, as you can see here, include things like people who have not purchased recently nor frequently, with varied spend, who are considered at risk, Brand followers who have clicked to follow the brand on Amazon, and so much more. If you just keep scrolling, note that you do need to be brand registered for this, and since they're in the process of rolling it out, you may or may not see it, but it's cool to play around with, especially since this lets you set it up at the ace in level compared to what you can do inside of brand tailored promotions, where promotions are for all the products in your brand.

Shivali Patel:

Next up, let's talk about the lower FBA fulfillment fees with Ships in Product Packaging. Amazon recently launched the Ships in Product Packaging program, otherwise known as SIPP, and this used to be known as SIPP in Own Container. The gist of it is it allows FBA sellers on Amazon to ship their products using their custom brand packaging without any additional materials added by Amazon. This initiative presents several advantages for FBA sellers, such as lower FBA fulfillment fees for products, an increased ability to connect with customers and the honorable contribution of environmental sustainability by reducing packaging, the latter being something that decreases the space needed on trucks and ultimately leads to a reduction in the number of trucks required, as well as carbon emissions. It's worth noting that products that are certified under SIPP prior to February 5th 2024, will automatically qualify for discounted FBA fulfillment fees starting from that date, and the program is currently available in seven stores the Canadian, American, Italian, Spanish, German, French and UK markets. There are no fees to enroll, but there may be costs associated with updating your packaging to be compliant with Ships in Product Packaging requirements, or if the product that you wish to enroll is fragile or contains sharp items, contains liquids, etc. Then it might have to be tested at a lab. The only time a product may be shipped with Amazon-added packaging is if a customer is shipping multiple items in the same order or if they've selected to have the Amazon-added packaging. Shipping requirements will remain the same and some products may have already actually began shipping without the Amazon-added packaging, because they're actually using machine learning to identify, test and then certify SIPP compliant products without needing you to take any action. Frustration fee packaging indicates that the package is compliant with SIPP guidelines and it has a series of other parameters, for example, 100% curbside, recyclable materials per applicable laws in the region of sale. It's easy to open and all content removable by the customer within 120 seconds with minimal use of scissors or box cutters, plus some other things.

Shivali Patel:

While there is no separate certification and it won't grant additional discounts, you can enroll those into the SIPP program. You can also enroll variations without having to enroll all of the variations. As for your first arrival date, that's going to be the date where all your units being shipped to the Amazon facilities are SIPP compliant. Meaning if your enrollment date is complete on March 1st but the SIPP compliant packaging is April 1st, then you should input April 1st. If after that date your packaging is not compliant, then you're going to risk decertification. However, your shipments don't need to be compliant when they're waiting for the enrollment approval. There are dimension regulations and discount rate depends on the size and weight of your product and you can always request to decertify later. If something changes. Customers are going to be notified. I think I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but they're going to have the option to add Amazon packaging at no additional cost. Now, I wouldn't want to do this for my own products. Putting a shipping label would take away from them as a gift item and just not protect the product that well. But let me know in the comments would you do this for your products and for more info? If you're interested in this, then you can visit the SIPP enrollment portal from your news page inside of Seller Central.

Shivali Patel:

In other news, have you guys heard about Project Trident? And no, I don't mean the gum brand. Target is actually coming out with a brand new paid membership program as soon as this year. Speaking at a personal level, there are barely any third party sellers that I know who sell on Target, as it's quite hard to sign up. But hey, maybe if this goes through that might change. Target might open up its platform and pave the way for more sellers. So what about you? Will you be keeping an eye out? I'm curious what do you think about the opportunity potential here, and will you get on it right away, or are you going to wait until it's a little bit more established? Switching gears? Sponsored display locations. We know that sponsored display ads give sellers the most customized ability for targeting and audiences in sponsored ads that regular sellers have access to outside of DSP. Amazon now has something new in beta that again brings DSP level functionality to any brand registered seller using sponsored display ads. Destiny from BTR Media started a conversation on this post of how some sellers who have access to the functionality in beta have the ability to target locations with their sponsored display ads. This should be cool because, say, you have a product specifically for the Alaskan market, you obviously wouldn't want that to show up in sunny Florida. You will now be able to geographically target those display ads Again. For now this is only sponsored display ads, so it's not something that's going to allow you to target certain keywords or regular sponsored product campaigns just yet, but it's still a pretty cool addition by Amazon. So do any of you guys see this inside of your account? Let me know when we have Amazon reporting.

Shivali Patel:

They've redesigned navigation carousel module so brands can access it within the A plus content manager and help you enhance your listings. Modules have been updated to include clickable tabs that are highlighted in a translucent overlay on the image. This is going to help you navigate elements in the carousel. Now, I'm not sure if this is it, but check out this listing from Uncar. There are actually a couple links in their content and, if I can just scroll down here and show it to you guys, this right here, check this out. When I click these three dots, it automatically changes over the tabs, so I go from business trips into Commute and back into outdoor cafe.

Shivali Patel:

Alright, just a couple more things. Here we have Amazon Rufus. Has anyone already heard about this? If you didn't know, rufus great name, by the way is a new expert shopping assistant powered by generative AI that is trained on Amazon's vast product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As and web information to assist customers which shopping needs, product comparisons and recommendations. Rufus is presently launched in beta to a limited number of US customers via Amazon's mobile app, with a gradual rollout planned in the coming weeks. It aims to enhance the shopping experience by providing tailored assistance, from general product research to more specific inquiries about products or comparisons between categories. The assistant will enable customers to shop by occasion, by purpose, by specific needs, offering personalized suggestions and insights seamlessly integrated into the Amazon shopping experience, customers can interact with it by typing or speaking queries into the Amazon search bar, and then feedback mechanisms are already in place to continuously improve that performance. As Amazon continues to invest in generative AI technology, rufus represents a significant step towards enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction within that Amazon ecosystem.

Shivali Patel:

I want to know do you guys already have access to this as well? I don't yet. Then, finally, we have Amazon emphasizing the significance of the Amazon shopping experience in its shopping experience, but acknowledging the rise of a fraudulent fake review broker industry that exploits the value of reviews. I think we all know fake reviews are against TOS and Amazon has been quite proactive about stopping them globally, investing resources in combating those fake reviews, utilizing really sophisticated tools and legal action as well In 2023, legal actions targeted bad actors in US, in China, in Europe for instance, this case against Tao Hau-Vai in the US. Despite progress, amazon recognizes the ongoing threat and vows to continue its efforts to maintain the integrity of customer reviews and hold fraudsters accountable in 2024.

Shivali Patel:

If you want to dig deeper, Chris of e-commerce. Chris touched on this more recently, I believe it was in the AM/PM Podcast episode 379. All to say, look, we know there's a lot more bad players out there, but it's good to see Amazon taking steps to police this kind of thing. Remember, it's never worth it to try to take those illegal shortcuts, as much as you want to do them. So with that, that is it for this week's Weekly Buzz. Let me take this opportunity to encourage you to follow our new TikTok page for some cool, fun, educational content regularly. It's helium10_software. So just go to TikTok, open up the app, go to helium10_software in that search bar and click follow. Now for our new feature alerts. Carrie is going to be sharing with us what new tools Helium 10 has launched this week.

Carrie Miller:

Today I'm going to be talking with you about some new Helium 10 features updates. So I'll go ahead and get into it and share my screen. The first thing that we have here is when you actually go to a search. So, for example, in this search we searched coffin shelf and we have all of these great results. What we can do now is we can actually look here and where it says load a 30 day sales data on all of these, we can just click on those buttons and we can see the 30 day revenue and the 30 day unit sales for all of our competitors. So this means we don't have to open up the extension and look for all this information. It's actually just a pull down right there. So if you wanted to just quickly look at the revenue while you're browsing a page, you can see quickly what it is. And I think this is kind of cool because then you know, for certain searches where there's a lot of different types of products that are kind of different designs, it's really helpful to just be able to look at which one is selling the best, how much they're selling. So that is one feature update. I think it's really great. And then the next thing is on the detail pages themselves. We have this new data up at the top of the page. Now you can expand this and you can show more details. And we've got not only we have the revenue for this listing, but we have the ratings and reviews. We also can go down here. We can see, you know, the fulfillment dimensions, the, the stamp you know sized here, and all this information, that BA fee on the side. Here you can also go back and look at sales on different days of the year and you can change the timeframe to all the way back to two years so you can see kind of, the growth of each product. You can see, you know, the price and the best seller rank. You can see ratings and reviews right here. So this is some golden information that you can just see right there, especially if you find you know a big competitor and you want to just see what's going on with their product and how long they've been in the game. This is a great tool to be able to see all of that.

Carrie Miller:

The next thing now I know Bradley mentioned that we have some great tools for the Brazil market. We've got, you know, Cerebro, Magnet, lots of great stuff that he talked about last week in regards to starting to sell on Brazil, the Brazil marketplace on Amazon, and so now we also have our listing builder AI that can help you to create listings in Portuguese, especially if you do not know how to speak Portuguese. So the first thing you need to do is you're going to go under tools and then you're going to click on listing builder AI, and then what you're going to do is you're going to go up to the top right and click on add listing. Now I'm going to just go ahead and say get started from scratch, and then the most important thing is you need to choose the market of Brazil, which is at the very bottom. So I'm clicking on Brazil here and then I'll click on start building, and then I've actually already created some keywords from Cerebro in Portuguese for our Brazil garlic press, and I chose. I found those by just going to Amazon Brazil and doing a reverse asin search, and so I'm just going to add those to my bank, so they're going to show up here in the bank, and then the next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to click next, and on this part, this is really cool because you can input information in English and it's going to create the listing in Portuguese.

Carrie Miller:

For the, for example, we're going to put garlic product characteristics garlic press stainless steel, durable, high quality, perfect for home cooks, okay. So then the next thing is the brand name, which is optional. Okay, so I'm actually going to just put create my own brand name here and make it up Manny's garlic press, and then I'm going to have that at the end of the title. The product name is garlic press and you can choose the tone, whatever tone you want. I'm just going to put casual here. Target audience home cooks, chefs, the home cook chefs, anyone who wants to easily mince garlic, okay. So I'm just going to kind of put it like that. The more input that you put in here, the better. You want to put all your sales, your sales points, in the in the product characteristics, but you can put them all in English, which is really cool. If there's anything that you want to avoid in the listing, you can put that there, so you can have it avoid certain things. And all you have to do here for the title is click, write it for me, and it's going to use the keywords that I have in here plus the input that I gave it here to create an optimized title, which is really cool because you don't even have to know Portuguese. Now, obviously, you can check this and go to Google translate, translate it, make sure it works right. Or, if you know, you want to pay somebody to just kind of review your listings after you've created them to make sure that they're they make sense. That's probably a good idea, but I think this is pretty amazing to get your listings started. So I'm going to click on use suggestion and so, because that looks pretty good, and, again, just go to Google translate and have them translated. You can check it that way.

Carrie Miller:

The next thing is bullet points. You can click write it for me. It's going to write all those bullet points in Portuguese and you'll have an optimized listing with those keywords that you put, as well as the input. So we'll let that pop up here. And then at the bottom here you can also do this for a description and click on write it for me. So this all can be written in Portuguese at the click of a button by just putting in these simple inputs in English and it's going to spit out a an optimized listing in Portuguese. All right, so we have these little suggestions. You can click on use suggestions. You can discard it and have it rewrite it, but I'll just go ahead and hit use suggestions and you can see that it's crossing out the keywords that they've used in the bullet points here, and that is pretty amazing that we've been able to use all these keywords with just the click of a button. It's still writing the description here, and once the description is done, I'm sure all of these keywords will be all crossed out. So most of them are, and so we've got an optimized description there.

Carrie Miller:

You can again click use suggestion or you can discard it, and so that is the simple and easy way that you can optimize your listings on the Brazil marketplace. I know a lot of people are excited about the opportunity to sell it in Brazil, so go ahead and try this out. I think it's a great tool to help you to get started on other marketplaces in other languages. Really really helpful to use AI to get these all written with a click of a button. It's absolutely incredible. So if you haven't checked this out, go ahead and check it out and we'll see you again next week. Bye.

Shivali Patel:

Thank you for sharing, Carrie. That's a wrap. Hope you enjoy this week's episode. We will see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Ever wonder how an Amazon seller jumps from zero to hero with a product that defies the odds? In our first-ever Seller’s Edge Series episode, let’s explore success stories, product journeys, and every tactic that will help you find your first or next E-commerce product. Special guest Shivali Patel, brand evangelist at Helium 10, joins us bringing the heat with a story of how a $45,000 revenue bomb was dropped in just two weeks after launching in Q4, proving that with the right strategies, such as leveraging BlackBox for product research and adding unique value, anyone can stand out in the crowded Amazon marketplace.

Finally, for those ready to expand their horizons, our brand, Manny’s Mysterious Oddities, is branching out into the bat niche, where opportunities lurk in the shadows. Using Amazon’s Product Opportunity Explorer and Helium 10’s BlackBox, we dissect how to scout and validate new product extensions for your Amazon brand. This episode isn’t just about telling you what worked; it's about showing you how to pivot and roll with the punches, finding those hidden gems in the market, such as bat-shaped bath mats, that could become your next big win. And for the cherry on top, resources and podcast episodes are flagged to help you turn these insights into action. Join us to learn about these actionable strategies, and let's raise the stakes in your Amazon selling game.

In episode 533 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Shivali discuss:

00:00 - Sellers Edge Monthly
00:31 - Strategies for Finding Profitable Amazon Products
04:50 - Discover New Business Opportunities at Trade Shows
15:55 - Profit Margin and Sales Success
19:16 - Discovering Product Opportunities on Amazon
24:16 - Bat Niche Product Opportunities Exploration
30:47 - Launch New Product At A Higher Price
31:29 - Advanced Keyword Research and Product Opportunities
37:27 - Combining Amazon Brand Analytics and Helium 10 BlackBox Data
42:36 - Brand Analytics and Launch Strategies
43:38 - Accessing and Listening to Podcast Episodes

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is our first ever Sellers Edge Monthly Training. In this episode we're going to go over how I found a brand new product that I can come in at a price point twice as much as the competition, and how Shivali was able to sell $45,000 on her brand new product in only two weeks. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. One, two, three, four. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And, as mentioned, this is the first in a new series that we're going to do monthly where we go over a different topic in our sellers edge training webinar. I actually recorded this in front of a live audience, so this episode might have a little bit different sound than normally and there's definitely some interactions there, but we have here cut up the highlights from that training and basically I'm going to show you how Shivali took some steps to have a product that nobody can compete with her in and it was over $100 and she was able to get 40% profit and sell $45,000, even though she launched right after Black Friday Kind of crazy. And then how I am launching a product like in the next couple of weeks and I'm going through all the steps on exactly how I found it and how I can have a higher price point as well, and we go over some other product research strategies that I think will definitely be able to help you guys. So this is a new series. Hope you enjoy it.

Bradley Sutton:

This is 100% based on value that can help you find your first or next product to sell on Amazon. Here we go, welcome to our new monthly workshop. We call it Sellers Edge Monthly Series, and this one is entitled how to Find your First or Next Product to Sell in 2024. So we are going to start off with a real life experience. I'm going to interview somebody right now who launched a product and had a lot of success on Amazon, especially in Q4, which is kind of like when people say, oh, you should never launch a product during that time. So we're going to ask Shivali to come on the show right now. Shivali, you there?

Shivali Patel:

Yes, I am Awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

I want to talk to you about your product launch. We had you on the podcast a few months ago and you were talking about this long journey of getting it ready, but then you actually launched in December. But for those who maybe didn't hear that podcast, let's start on this. You were selling on Amazon years ago and then you've always been selling for years, like books, but you really wanted to have a physical product to sell. A lot of people here they're looking for their first product, so they might have been kind of like in a it wasn't your first product but you were restarting it, so there might be a similar situation to you. So how do you tackle it? First, like, were you like hey, I want to try to find a product that just there's a lot of demand for it. Or you like hey, I want to find a lot of demand, but it's got to be something that maybe I'm passionate about. What was your thought process when you first started?

Shivali Patel:

I was quite open to whatever opportunity I was finding. I was using Blackbox, which I love because I come my first brand I launched years ago. I did manually. I was inside of Amazon, going through best sellers list, looking at BSRs, trying to understand the reviews, figure out what I could do better, and that's great, it works. But it takes a long time, and so that's where software like Blackbox is really, really helpful, because the process is over 2 billion data points daily right, Something that you can't actually do. So going in I was pretty open. I did many, many searches inside of Blackbox and then from there, started narrowing things down based off of different parameters. So whether that was profitability I mean all these things are important but profitability, what I can add? Value creation, the price point, checking out the market, the competition, what sort of reviews there are yeah, and I also did go to trade shows as well, so I went. I actually flew out. At the time I was considering a cocktail smoker kit.

Bradley Sutton:

What is a cocktail smoker kit.

Shivali Patel:

It's those for anybody who drinks. I mean you don't have to necessarily have it be a cocktail but a mocktail or even smoking. Your food comes with a little blow torch and then a different oak piece.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I see that.

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, it's really nice. But I was considering that and a supplier ended up saying, hey, I'm actually in the US, and so I flew out to meet that supplier in person, which is a really, really cool experience. There was many vendors there, people that have flown in from Indonesia, from China. I got to see actual products, field them, try to negotiate a price point, get a basic understanding. Cool Enough is I ended up meeting somebody who helped me design a brand new product which I'm hoping to launch eventually as well.

Bradley Sutton:

This was at the trade show that you went to.

Shivali Patel:

At the trade show. Yeah, so they designed in a completely new style of a product for me.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so that's the first thing that's probably interesting to. Maybe some of you guys haven't thought about that, but you know, maybe you think that, oh, the only place you can go to trade shows which is 100% accurate, like it's a great place to go, is like in China. But what she's always talking about, I believe, was in Chicago or somewhere in the United States. So sometimes you know a lot of Chinese factories, indian factories and other factories. They'll come to US based trade shows and it's also a place where you can go and meet a supplier. Maybe you've been talking to online, like she was doing, but also you might meet somebody else. That is completely not even why you went there. So in her situation, she met somebody who's helping her design another product. So then that original product, the Smoker Kit you went to that trade show. You kind of like I'm probably not going to do this. How did you land on this makeup bag that you ended up going with?

Shivali Patel:

I found it inside a black box and I saw many different keywords. Actually, I was using the keywords tab. I went through and I did a few other things. I did the regular products tab, I did the keywords tab, I went into product opportunity explorer inside of Amazon. I was looking at Etsy and Pinterest trends as well. Anytime I was scrolling on social media. I mean the list was massive. And then eventually I found, I think, five to six different keywords inside of the keywords tab that were all related to the bag, so obviously there was a growing demand for it. And then from there went into the product validation and I felt like I could actually contribute something to that space, because I grew up in fashion and in the beauty personal care sector. I guess is something that I've taken time to educate myself on and spent many hours with, and so when I started having conversations after that with you, I think we also had a very unique pitching point that I felt I could go onto the market with a premium price point, because anytime I'm selling something, the value of creation is important, but you also want to make it worth the person's while. So if I'm going in with a premium price, I want to over, deliver on it, and I think this bag really hit all those spots.

Bradley Sutton:

And this was a high. The current the market was kind of high, aren't most products there like 80, 100 bucks or so?

Shivali Patel:

Now. So when I was looking at this product, everything was 30 bucks and I wanted to sell it for 120. And I knew I wanted to sell it for somewhere between 120 and like 140. But by the time that I actually launched, there was a couple bags on the market that were selling for 160 with a lot less value. In my opinion, they're nice, but also, if you think about anything else in the world you have your cars, you have your coach bags there's always a market for something. So I suppose at that point it's just what you're planning to or who you're really getting.

Bradley Sutton:

So then you know a lot of people here in this room. You know they might not be able to afford a product that requires an investment, you know pretty high, because you know if you're having a 100, $120 product, you know your costs might be like 30 bucks or 40 bucks a unit. And then, if you're, what was your MOQ, by the way?

Shivali Patel:

My MOQ was 500.

Bradley Sutton:

500, all right. So, like, you guys can do the math, if you're buying a product that costs $30 and you have to order 500 or 1000, you know you're already talking about 15, $20, $30,000 before you even consider shipping. However, on the flip side is if you can afford that. This is just by itself a way that you can differentiate yourself from from these saturated niches, because not that many people can afford to go into a niche like that. So you're immediately kind of like disqualifying a lot of the potential people that you might that you might, you know, be going up again. So let's fast forward. You know, you took a few months. You started designing the product. You're looking at different, different needs and you actually built in like your own program. Since you're kind of like your own influencer, you're like, hey, I'm going to sell this product with also like this course, and so just, you know, briefly, like in a minute or so, can you talk about how that idea came? And then what's the deliverable? Like, like, are people getting this, this card inside the thing that says, hey, sign up for my beauty course, or how did that work?

Shivali Patel:

I have always sold physical and digital products separately, and I thought it would be interesting to combine the two, especially because a lot of the competitors inside of the makeup bag market were selling, essentially as the add-on, a 10x magnifier. It was like a bonus piece that people throw in for bundling options. And I know for me, while a magnifying mirror is helpful, I don't actually use one on a day-to-day basis, so it has no real value for me as a consumer, not to say that it doesn't for somebody else, but for me. Outside of that, they also had these little travel jewelry compartments, which is great, but again, what's something that would be more of an experience, right, that would justify $120 price point. And so I started looking at the intersection of a digital course or a live coaching element, which one increases your touch points with the customer you get to hopefully get with, of course, in like, I'm not saying anything, black hat, I'm just saying that you can get to know, maybe, your customer a little bit better and then you'll know their order number so you can ask them to request a review a little bit later on. But yeah, the delivery aspect of it for the actual course is the product insert, which I created a QR code using Helium 10s portals and then just put that in so they get access to exclusive course that pretty much no other competitors can replicate, right? Because it takes a significant amount of time to go through and film a bunch of videos and then also end up taking time to do live coaching as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, hold on. I want to pause you right there because this is important. I want to make sure people understood the main point here. We hear so much and maybe you who haven't started on Amazon yet you've probably heard oh my goodness, it's too late to sell on Amazon, or there's just too much competition, or no matter what I sell, everybody's going to copy me. And then everybody's going to do it and have a low price. And, guys, let me tell you that's, first of all, that's not true. Like in some, you know, like categories, maybe, okay, maybe that's true. Like, if you just have a generic product, could everybody copy you? There's not much room for differentiation? Sure, but there are so many opportunities out there where you as, like you know, if you're selling in Europe, you're Europe based. You're selling in America, you're US based. There's things that you can do, there's skills that you have, or maybe, utilizing the network you have, that you can kind of like competition proof what you're trying to make. So, Shivali, she was like what can I do that? You know, probably the bakeries that are trying to sell direct on Amazon can't do All right. And one of them was like, hey, she's like let me make an actual course that nobody you know no Chinese factory or Indian factory or any other country that makes this are going to take the time to find an American based influencer and film this whole course and have that be a threat.

Bradley Sutton:

Like literally nobody is going to do that. So this is something that she has like a 100% exclusivity on that she never has to worry about competing with other people and it's going to allow her to keep a higher price point as well, because there's this added bonus. So don't let people tell you, oh it's, it's impossible to compete on Amazon because of the competition. No, you, absolutely, you know, can do that. Now let's just fast forward. Now you launched on what doesn't have to be the exact date, but when did you actually launch your product? November 30th or right, wait, November 30th. Was that during Black Friday weekend or?

Shivali Patel:

Okay, I was trying to get ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the issue was it's an electronics item and I had some sort of request that they asked for like an MSDS safety sheet, and then it got classified as a dangerous good. So all my inventory was at the facilities but it was in reserve. I couldn't access it, I couldn't sell it. And then eventually, when it finally happened, I pretty much didn't know when it like went live. I was checking but I couldn't tell because it was like some of the products looked okay and then I made the stupid blunder of trying to check if it was available by buying, but then it wouldn't let me buy because I'm a seller. I didn't process that. But finally, November 30th, I had my first sale. It went live and I had my first sale and then I actually discounted that product for I think it was like 20 bucks or not 20 bucks, 20%, and then I had like that nice strike through price so I dropped from 120 to $90 and then went back up because my end of the November.

Bradley Sutton:

You're doing all this which, by the way, guys, she's talking about like what we call the Maldives honeymoon strategy. I'll give you, guys, links to how to launch your product. You know, based on the Maldives honeymoon strategy. It has to do with PPC and putting a heavy discount on your product. Now some people in the chat are asking about if they can see the product. I can throw it up here. Is it out of stock right now? Like, did you sell out or is it actually live still?

Shivali Patel:

No, it's still live.

radley Sutton:

Fast forward guys. She kind of like was doing stuff that some people say, oh, you should never do, like never launch a product in Q4., don't launch a product during Black Friday weekend. But she did that and then, right away, what did you get your kind of like daily sales up to? 70 units a day 70 units a day at $100 price point. But, guys, this is the product that we're talking about. It's a live, real live product that was just launched on Amazon a couple months ago. Here we go, brand new. She doesn't even have the video on here yet, like she even didn't even do the brand registry at first, I remember, because she just like got this, got this up, but where does it? Man, these are some nice images. So here's the image that talked about her makeup lessons. Okay, there she is. She's her own influencer. Totally fine, you're not going to see me put my picture on a coffin shelf, which is the product.

Shivali Patel:

I sell. I don't know. I think a lot of people right now that are watching would buy things if you were the influencer.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't know, I don't know. That's not the way I roll, but you can see, like if you go back in her BSR like when she launched the product and look at these crazy BSRs that she was having. Now obviously the sales have gone down after Christmas. This was a heavy, heavy item in Christmas. But long story short, like how much money did you sell in December of this product? What was your gross sales at?

Shivali Patel:

$46,000.

Bradley Sutton:

$46,000.

Shivali Patel:

And what kind of profit margins?

Bradley Sutton:

did you have?

Shivali Patel:

So after all the time, I originally thought I had like a 57% profit margin, but after all the calculations I think it was closer to 45% profit margin 45.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, guys, we're not going to be here and say that, oh, everybody who sells on Amazon using her strategies and using Helium 10, it's going to be able to sell $45,000 in three weeks and 40% profit margins. She obviously worked really hard to do this, but it shows that what is possible. Because she didn't use any special hack because she's a Helium 10 employee or some backdoor into Amazon. She just used the same exact strategies that you could have it. And somebody asked hey, after ad spend, what was the margin? No, that is after everything, after her cost, after PPC, after everything, 40%. Yeah, Ron says she doesn't even have A plus content. Yeah, she didn't have brand registry. She got this out so fast. She didn't even have brand registry yet and she just sold out almost completely. All right, well, that's a cool story. I'm going to give one of mine. So let me give you guys one more story about something that hasn't even launched yet. But let me walk you through the process, and this has a. She talked about how she found her opportunity in helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me show you something where I found an opportunity, and originally it came not from black box, but another tool that's not even designed for product research? All right. So does anybody in here use the regular market tracker? All right, this is not market tracker. You know 360 regular market tracker. Let me show you guys, let me retrace, what I did a few months ago. This is the regular market tracker and, as you guys may or may not know, so if you're new to, if you're new to helium 10, you probably haven't seen Project X, but we launched this product called a, a coffin shelf. All right, and so I've been. I've sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of these coffin related items, and so I have this coffin shelf market and basically what it does is I'm tracking my market share, I'm tracking like where my market compared to the others, and actually I did so well in Q4. I sold out, until just like a week ago, of of coffin shelves.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now let me show you here what I was looking at, what the purpose of this tool is. It allows me to track what is going on with my direct coffin shelf competitors, right, but then it also suggests to me like, hey, there's a new coffin shelf or a new potential player that might be like coming into your niche, right, and so you can see here those of you watching this and if you're listening to this later, you might not see this visual here, but there's a button that says track or ignore. So it's saying like hey, here's a new player in this niche. Do you want to start tracking him to, to, to track how, how your market share is going, all right. And so I was scrolling on here and then look, do you guys see what this is? Let me know in the chat, do you guys? If you can see it, it's kind of hard. These two things that are not coffin shelves, what does it look like to you guys? Bats yes, exactly, these are bat shelves.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so now, all of a sudden, let me just explain how my thought process went. I'm like, wait a minute, this is kind of interesting. All right, like these people are not my direct competitors, but they must be ranking for similar keywords, and I'm like that makes sense. Like in in, coffin decor is like a bat shelf might be kind of like a kind of spooky thing, right? So I went into a, an Amazon tool. All right, that is the product opportunity explorer. Okay, this is another thing that anybody on this call should have access to. Whether or not you, whether or not you guys, have brand registry you should have product opportunity explorer. So I typed in the keyword coffin shelf because, again, that's what I was selling and I'm like all right, let's take a look at what are the top clicked products after coffin shelf. So after people search coffin shelf and the related search terms, what are people clicking on? Okay, now, this is. This is not helium 10. This is directly from Amazon. All right, I like to kind of validate to see a little bit deeper what's going on.

Bradley Sutton:

Once I saw that, initially inside of helium 10, and then, sure enough, look here in the top 10 products after my products. A lot of these are my products that I'm selling. I saw I start seeing these bat related products and so I'm like, okay, that's interesting, but I want to. I want to take it a step further, like I could launch a bat shelf and I still might do a bat shelf, but are there any other bat related items? Maybe I could start a line of bat related items.

Bradley Sutton:

So here's what I did, all right. So Shivali situation was kind of like hey, she was looking for her first product on a new brand. A lot of you guys haven't found your first product yet. You follow that technique, right? I'm talking about what, if you're ready, are selling a brand, how can you expand it out? And this is the kind of process for you guys.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so I went back into helium 10 black box. Okay, let's go ahead and go into that tool. So now this is what I want you guys to do. We're literally retracing my steps. I'm going to try and remember what I did. I'm selling, you know, there's probably a lot of bat related products that maybe you might be in the pet niche, like people making bat houses and stuff like that. There's probably a lot of Batman stuff in the memorabilia, right. But I wanted to do stuff in my niche. So hit the category and subcategory, drop down in black box and select home and kitchen All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I wanted to find products in the home and kitchen niche, all right, okay. The next thing I wanted to do was I wanted to make sure that you know we weren't going to have some like $5 products or, at the same time, products that cost, like you know, $60 or more. So I put in the sales price field minimum 10, maximum 60. I wanted to find products that we're selling already, like is there a product in this bat niche that is selling pretty decently already. So under monthly sales okay, under monthly sales I put minimum 100 per month. All right, that means, hey, here's a bat related product that is in the home and kitchen that's priced between 10 and $60. And it is 100, selling at least 100 units per month. I didn't want to have a bunch of variations, like a product that had a whole bunch of sizes. So what I put, I think again, I'm trying to retrace this, I'm doing this live here, guys, I think I put a maximum one under variation count.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now what else do I do? Okay, you might be wondering well, how in the world am I looking for bat related products? All right, well, what I did was, like, I figured if it's a bat related product, it's probably got bat in the title. Okay, and Nicole says variation yes, max should be in the max right here under one. This is the minimum. I don't put anything, max, I put one. Okay, that's why, that's why the, the, the min is blank, all right. So under title keywords I put bat. So like, that means that I'm trying to find a product that had the word bat in it. Because I like again, couple steps back, I saw in market tracker, there's bat related products showing up in my market. I looked and validated that in Amazon opportunity explore. There's bat related products and I'm just wondering is the only bat related products shelves, or are there other bat related products? Okay, I'm not sure if I, if I entered more things, I'll know by the number. Go ahead and hit search now, guys, and let's see how many, how many things come up. Let's see 14 items. Okay, this is probably it.

Bradley Sutton:

And then I started seeing some super interesting things. Now, of course, some things were completely unrelated, because obviously a baseball bat, you know, might, might show up. But take a look at this, guys, a bat, I don't know what. This is like a remote control holder or a decor box. Look at this one a bat shaped wine and beer opener. Now, all of a sudden, my like creative juices were flowing. Here is a bat shelf. And then, as I was scrolling down, boom, I was like, wow, look at this, a bat Bath mat or bath rug. I was like that is such a novel idea. And so I started looking at this. I'm like, hey, there is some opportunity here to make a bat bath mat. But here's the problem. When I looked on Amazon, I was like the price is a little bit low, all right, compared to my cost. So I was like, is there any way I can differentiate this? So let me just show you what I was looking at. Um, let's just go here to Amazon and let's type in bat bath mat.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, at the time the prices were actually higher. But let me just walk you through, kind of like my thought process here. Okay, so take a look here. I started seeing this and, by the way, when I was looking at this, I think it was kind of like around the Halloween time and there were like hundreds and hundreds of these being sold, like now there's only a couple, that there's like a hundred or so being sold, but I'm like this is a super cool product. What I like to see is like the number one product, like the one who, who is selling the most.

Bradley Sutton:

What can somebody in the chat tell me about? What is wrong with this? Like, what are they doing wrong that could get them literally suspended they're listening, suspended at any time. Yes, alexander says no white background. Everybody, a lot of you professional stuff. I was like I love to see this. We're the number one seller in the niche Probably doesn't even know how to sell on Amazon because they've got this ugly image of a tile floor and it. This literally could get suspended by Amazon at any time because it's not white background.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, as I scroll down here, this is what I love to see. I'm already like, not even halfway down the page. All right, these, these are organic results. What do you guys notice here about these organic results? Is this one a bath, a bat bath mat? No, it's unrelated results. Who said that? Jonathan says that unreal. I'm not even halfway down page one and I have completely different results, like, like, here is somebody who's advertising here with a stone bath mat has nothing to do with this. Here's some spider web bath mats. This is what I love to see. Now, guys, this is now four months later.

Bradley Sutton:

It was even more drastic when I was looking at this, where I like nobody had bath bath mats but at that time that all of these were like around 20 bucks and I'm like, ah, man, this is like this is. You know, I want to have some higher Profit margins. I'm like, look at, some of these guys are just blowing stuff out because, because you know, they probably had overstock. But I'm like, how am I gonna have a product that's gonna go for like 20 to 30 dollars when people have, at the time, like 16 17 dollars? So this is what I what I looked at. I was like, let me just look at regular bath mats. All right, bath mat. Okay, this is has nothing to do with bat shaped or coffin shaped or anything. And then this is what I saw, like a lot of people had it for cheap prices. I'm like, okay, fine, but you know, since I have a bat one, I I don't have that much competition.

Bradley Sutton:

But look at this, I didn't know much of Beth Matz at the time, but look at this. Do you guys anybody see the difference between these and those ones that were the bat, the bat ones? Anybody know about bath mats and like could see instantly I know I'm zooming in here the difference. So what the difference is is the material. Do you guys see how thick this is? This is what's called and I don't know if I'm pronouncing this right this is what's called chenille, if I, if I'm mispronouncing that, I apologize. I literally know nothing about this. This niche Chenille. This is a lot more expensive material than I thought it would be. This, this niche Chenille. This is a lot more expensive material and it is like it's kind of cool, like your foot sinks into it and your foot almost disappears into this material and it's much more absorbent and I'm like, okay, all right. So here's the thing I want to make some bat bath mats and that could launch some other products, like maybe some coffin bath mats and everything, but everybody's selling for this cheap price. So what I want to do is sell a bat shaped bath mat, and I'm going to be the only one that's going to make it Chenille. So let me show you.

Bradley Sutton:

I went to, I got the product made and then I went to AMZ One Step and paid them to go ahead and have a photo shoot done at their factory, and my product is not yet launched. Guys. I just got this. I'm gonna open up a Google Drive, guys. This is like real stuff. This is just a Google Drive that was sent to me two days ago. I got the images ready and take a look at the products that I was able to develop based on all of these steps that I went. Here's a same thing Chenille bat shaped Bath mat. Let me show some more images here. I did some research and I'm like all right, some of these are not machine washable. I'm going to make sure to have an image where people can clearly see that this is machine washable. That's another way that I can differentiate my myself with the other competitors.

Bradley Sutton:

What else did I put here? I made some detail about how the non-slip you know backing right. What else did I have in the images? I did like a really expensive photo shoot, guys. I really wanted to go out. Look at this, this is not 3D, this is like a real. This is a real Airbnb, not Airbnb. I don't know if it was Airbnb, but it might have been Airbnb. But they literally rented a house to have this that had like these kind of like minimalistic, gothic vibes and we did a photo shoot to really kind of like differentiate. Now take a look at some of these images and compare it to the images that we saw on the bath you know, bath mat over there. All right, completely different. Right, very high quality. So basically, guys, this is a product that I am going to launch either maybe this week or next week, and I'm going to launch at over $20, when everybody else was selling it for um for a lot cheaper. All right, so there's two different cases. Shivali will open up a brand new brand.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's me. I was selling coffin shelves and I wanted to open up a kind of new line of products that aren't coffin related but are from the same kind of like um customer profile. I guess you could say you know somebody who's weird enough to buy a coffin shaped thing, probably weird enough to buy a bat shaped thing. So those are a couple of techniques. Let me give you guys a couple more techniques that those are real life examples. Let's go back into black box, guys. All right, let's go back into black I can't even say that right back into black box. And then everybody, let me know in the chat if you're with me. We're going to do something together. We're going to pick a imaginary product research situation right now and somebody said will the US consumer buy this all year long? Absolutely, believe it or not, people buy coffin shelves all year round. They would absolutely buy this. The people who are into Gothic decor, they just love this kind of stuff. All right, everybody's ready.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I want you guys to click into keywords. This is the keywords tab. All right, now, everybody, give me some sample ideas of categories to choose. I'm going to give you kind of like an advanced technique and I'm going to do one more advanced technique and then we're going to open up to Q&A for about five minutes here. Somebody says kitchen, somebody says pet, a bunch of people saying pets. Okay, let's go with those. So everybody. Go ahead in your black box keywords select kitchen, kitchen and dining, home and kitchen just for kicks and giggles. And then what was the other thing that people started? Yeah, pet supplies. All right, select pet supplies. Now I'm on a tool that looks at keywords. So who can tell me in the chat what signifies demand for a keyword? Is it sales? What is the metric that signifies demand for keywords? All right, it is search volume, exactly. So I'm going to say, hey, let me see a keyword that has at least 2000 search volume, maybe a maximum of 10,000. And I might have to like, lessen these because I might be doing something a little bit too narrow here. All right, and let's go into a price range where the average product on the search results, on average of the top products, are between, let's say, 20 and 50 dollars. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here's what I like to do. I'd like to go to the very bottom of black box keywords and, under competitor revenue, I'm going to do something that's opposite from logic. All right, this is opposite from the way that you might have learned how to do this tool. I'm going to say competitor revenue more than $5,000, a maximum of four and a minimum of one. Traditionally you might. And, by the way, guys, there's not a right way and a wrong way here. I'm just trying to show you that you can have an opposite technique and you could still get a good result. The traditional teaching here is you want to find a keyword where most of the products are selling at least $5,000. I'm trying to do something different, where maybe only a couple products are really doing well and the rest are just kind of like throwaways. Why do you think, guys, why do you think this could give me something that might be opportunity? Let me know what you think in the chat. Why would I want to see when a keyword where not that many products in the top 10 are making good sales?

Bradley Sutton:

Ritu says improvement opportunity. Max says bad listings yes. Kl says try to be in the top yes, very good. Louis says low PPC. Guess what, guys? Everybody's correct. These are all reasons on why I'm doing this. Now, it doesn't mean that the opposite way is not going to get me good results too, but this is what I'm doing for this one. Now, competitor reviews out of the top 10, what I'm going to say is hey, I want to see a minimum of, let's just say, six products have less than 150 reviews. So that's what I'm doing in black box keywords Again competitor reviews at less than 150, minimum six. Now there might be either a whole bunch or not enough.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not sure what's going to come up here. Yeah, I have too much hair. Oh, my goodness gracious, I found a pretty cool product right away, guys. I've never looked at, I've never seen this keyword in my life Goat blankets for winter Search for 3,000 times a month. Like there are 3,000 people out there trying to find blankets for their goats. Or is it blankets made from goat fur? I don't know. We can take a look at that. What else do we see here? Oyster shells, cat collar, camera, wedding table numbers, tree wall art guys, these are all Good opportunity stuff. Pottery apron like I guess a pottery apron would be different than a regular apron. Like it maybe needs to be more thick. Alright, to Taylor Swift Betty, I'm not gonna do that one, because that's probably Branded there, trademarked, I should say. Bulldog storage decoration what the heck like storage that? Is that a brand name or is that, like people want storage with pictures of bulldogs on it? Table numbers for wedding reception here's a Vietnamese keyword that I don't know. A Heart-shaped charcuterie board.

Bradley Sutton:

Guys, I literally just came up with one search. I came up with about 15 product opportunity ideas that all of these are pretty good. Jonathan says these are blankets for goats. I used to have goats myself, believe it or not, like here in San Diego County. I have one acre here property. I used to raise goats. I I never bought them blankets. You know, I'm sorry, sorry to say, but I guess I was, you know. But but I'm in Southern California so it doesn't get too cold so I think my goats were doing fine. But anyways, guys, that was just one search I just did with you guys right here and we found 10 Opportunities that could be worth looking at.

Bradley Sutton:

One last quick one I wanted to do before we get five minutes of of Q&A. Another new tool here in black box. Now, those of you who have the diamond plan, you'll be able to see this. It's a BA top search terms. All right, this is combining Helium 10 data with what's we're called Amazon brand analytics. Okay, amazon brand analytics is something directly from Amazon and we could see in here what are the top three clicked items by any keyword. This is directly from Amazon. This is not a helium 10 metric. I mean you're looking at it in helium, but that's what this is. So, right here, guys.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, this is Gold because, like, for example, I could say, hey, show me something, let's say a keyword that has the word bat in it. Going back to my original example, but where? If I take a look at the top three clicked ASINs, okay, I want to see their total click share, maybe at least 50%, meaning that let's just let's just see if anything comes up. That might be nothing, might come up here, let's just take a look. But what that means is, if I take the three products that have the most clicks after this keyword, it makes up more than 50% of the clicks overall. Okay, so that's what I would want to do phrases containing bats and look at that. I might do the top three conversion share. That's another thing that I could look at as as well, but these are unique data points that somebody could use, where you combine Amazon data with helium 10 data to find something completely new and different.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, I've got five minutes now, maybe less, for question and answer. Let me take a look in the Documents here in the chat, what you guys have sent in. Alright, here we go. This is from Frank what is better to use a coupon or discounted price? Great question, frank. So he's talking about when you launch a product, like she volley did, either. Or yeah, I personally use discounted price. I try and get a strike through and have a big discount and then sometimes it's like it'll put a little red symbol that says, like you know, 50% off. But then other times, if that doesn't happen, using a coupon might be better because it gives you that green bar in the search results.

Bradley Sutton:

Alexandra says what was the product photography company? Oh, the one that did the batch of that was AMZ One Step. So you can see them at. Go to hub.helium10.com, Alexandra. hub.helium10.com and you can contact them right inside helium 10. Just type in AMZ and then one step. And then Make sure that. Make sure that you say that helium. You know you learned or heard from a helium 10 or from Bradley on this workshop. Shivali, who can you let us know? Who made your images? Alright, so I think you. One step, Shivali. So James is wondering who? Who did you use? I?

Shivali Patel:

Used myself.

Bradley Sutton:

You actually took yourself for like your phone.

Shivali Patel:

I did my own images. I also made my own infographics. Wow, I did the only. I did the course on my own.

Bradley Sutton:

I you had to have outsourced something, though, like anything. I've outsourced nothing wait, you know how to do Photoshop and stuff like that. Yeah.

Shivali Patel:

I didn't even Know. I make all my own videos for TikTok, for Instagram. Anything I post, I do. I did my own product photography with a camera I have at home. Although I For social, I typically just I phone it and then use Canva for Infographics. So that's free, which contributes to the very high profit margins.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah Well, yeah, that definitely helps. Like me, me, I have no Photoshop skills. Maybe a lot of you don't have Photoshop skills, so you've got an outsource.

Shivali Patel:

I Didn't use that much Photoshop, all I did like. If you wanted to do this yourself, they actually the same thing that you pay $1,000 for you can do on your own. All I did is take a white sheet, put it up on Like a wall at home, got a phone I ordered like a 20 or $30 circular thing, but that was for video, it wasn't even for just photography and then I put it on to like a white table and then threw it into a free app free iPhone app for background remover and then put everything into Canva. Okay, so canva Able to do a pretty, pretty impressive if you guys want to do this on your own, you can also. I believe we have a module in Freedom Ticket For making your own product images, so you guys can watch that too. I filmed that one.

Bradley Sutton:

If you are at all artistically inclined, it doesn't even take Photoshop to do this. But you could be like me and be completely Illiterate from artistic sense, and that's why I outsource my stuff to different companies who are the Professional. So there's not a right or a wrong way to go about it. Hosam asked how does brand analytics help you? Could you please explain with an example? So, brand analytics that the number one benefit of brand analytics is that Amazon is telling you, after the search of a keyword, which three products are click the most and of those three products, what kind of sales share do they have of the people who end up buying a product after that, after searching that keyword. Super, super valuable information that you can see inside of helium 10. That comes directly from brand analytics. Um Frank says I would like to some launch help, for example, vying coupons, giveaways what would you recommend these days? So if you're talking about, like the old school Giveaways, you know that that's against terms of service. Now, on Amazon, what Shivali did, what I'm gonna do is Fully within terms of service is mainly just using PPC, all right. So if you guys want to know the three episodes, you guys have some homework. You guys want to know how to launch a product in the same exact way that Shivali and I launch our product. This is what I'm gonna leave you guys with.

Bradley Sutton:

Right this time, everybody have a pen and paper ready. All right, right down these three episodes h10.me/466, all right. Or it's Serious Sellers Podcast, episode 466. You can look it up on your. I want everybody actually typing it in right now go into your Apple iPhone and go to Apple podcast and go into Serious sellers podcast and hit subscribe the three episodes you want to look at for how to launch your product, to get ready for it is 466 and 467, so you can go on your podcast. Or you can just type in h10.me forward, slash 466 or 467. The one to actually launch, it is 500, all right. So there's three episodes that you want you guys to listen to 466, 467 and 500. Thank you guys for joining and we'll see you later. Bye, now you.

View Details

Join us in this episode as we unfold the remarkable e-commerce tale of Josh and Jenna Coleman, a powerhouse couple who turned their online sales venture into a resounding success. They take us on a journey from their beginnings in marketing and finance to dominating Amazon and TikTok Shop, sharing the strategic decisions and personal pivots that propelled them into the limelight. Their story is a masterclass in leveraging life's twists – from raising kids to career transitions – to build a thriving business that resonates with the potential of passive income.

Listen in as the conversation turns to the nitty-gritty of starting with side gigs and progressing to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Josh and Jenna provide valuable insights into using platforms like Helium 10 for market research and how they used their design acumen to create products that captivate both digital and physical markets. Discover how they utilized KDP as a testing ground for market interest, leading to a booming workbook series that soared in popularity, thanks to smart social media strategies.

Finally, our chat takes a deeper look at the couple's viral breakthroughs and how they utilized TikTok Shop and Shopify to amplify their business. They share the behind-the-scenes of managing a small business through the highs of viral sales spikes and the challenges of inventory and listing protection. The duo also reflects on the profound impact that Amazon and TikTok Shop have had on their lives and the lives of influencers who have joined them on this journey. Tune in for a dose of inspiration and practical advice that could set you on your own path to e-commerce success.

In episode 532 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Josh, and Jenna discuss:

00:00 - Married Couple's E-Commerce Success Story
05:05 - Transitioning to E-Commerce
09:17 - Side Jobs to KDP and Amazon FBA
08:24 - Hooking With Software and Numbers
12:48 - Comparing Opportunities in FBA and KDP
17:40 - Transitioning to Full-Time E-commerce
20:53 - Viral Success on TikTok and Amazon
27:31 - Start Small Business With TikTok
31:50 - Learning in the Space
34:39 - Promoting Business With TikTok and Shopify
37:30 - Strategies for Promoting Products on TikTok
44:21 - The Importance of Branding in Strategy
45:19 - Amazon and TikTok's Impact on Lives

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a married couple with an incredible story. In not even their first full year on Amazon, they've grossed over half a million dollars. And in not even their first full month on TikTok Shop, they've grossed over a quarter of a million dollars. And they're going to share how it's possible to set up a TikTok Shop account in only 10 minutes. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you browsing a Shopify, Walmart, Esty, Alibaba or Pinterest page and maybe you see a cool product that you want to get some more data on? Well, while you're on those pages, you can actually use the Helium 10 Chrome extension Demand Analyzer to get instant data about what's happening on Amazon for those keywords on these other websites. Or maybe you want to then follow up and get an actual supplier quote from a company on Alibaba.com in order to see if you can get this product produced. You can do that also with the Helium 10 Demand Analyzer. Both of these are part of the Helium 10 Chrome extension, which you can download for free at h10.me/extension.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. It's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We've got a husband and wife dynamic, serious seller duo here for the first time on the show the double J crew, josh and Jenna. How's it going, guys?

Josh:

Good.

Jenna:

Pretty well Thanks for having us.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Awesome. Now where are you guys located?

Jenna:

We are right outside Philly.

0:01:45 - Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you're on the East Coast, all right. So you guys were born and raised, or are you transplants from somewhere else?

Jenna:

So well, I'm a transplant. He is born and raised out here. I'm originally from the Midwest, the suburbs of Chicago.

Bradley Sutton:

In West Philadelphia born and raised. Oh sorry, probably back.

Josh:

Yes, yeah, oh she could sing it with you the whole thing.

Jenna:

Oh, yes, I could, yeah. We met in college out here and I kind of fell in love with the East Coast so we knew we wanted to raise our kids out here. So yeah, then we ended up out here.

Bradley Sutton:

You're supposed to say you fell in love with him and then you fell in love with the East Coast.

Jenna:

Right, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, in that order there. Exactly what college did you guys meet?

Jenna:

We went to Nova Villanova.

Bradley Sutton:

Villanova Okay, yes, I knew one of my favorite Clippers was Kerry Kittles way back in the 90s.

Jenna:

Yeah, 85 here they won yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so the reason I know him is funny. Here's just a really crazy story. You guys may or may not know. I used to be a Zumba fitness influencer and in my channel that I created on Zumba that had 30 million views. It was called CrazySockTV and I created that. It's kind of like a branding kind of thing. I wanted to be memorable so that people in memory is my brand, and just not to be some random person dancing Zumba, which was a million people. So what I would do is I would have a crazy like one sock on one leg and then one sock on an arm, and that was what I came up with. It was always a crazy sock, but where I originally got that idea was Kerry Kittles. He would just have one sock when he played with the Clippers, which is which is my team, and I'm like that is the most weirdest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to roll with that idea. And that went to tens of millions of Zumba video views and so, yeah, that's my Villanova tie right there. Anyways, all right. So you guys, what did each of you major in there?

Jenna:

My bachelor's was in marketing and he was finance. Math and finance yeah, I mean he took everything for fun math, he loves math. So like that, my fine classes were like astronomy and his were, I don't know, derivatives and anything he could with math.

Bradley Sutton:

What did you guys do after graduation then? Did you, either of you, enter into that world that you guys were studying?

Jenna:

We did. We did a little bit. So I did marketing for my dad's financial planning firm and then I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I got my master's of education, went down that route and then we were actually living in Chicago for the beginning of our first quarters. And then we had our twins and moved back out to the East coast and I definitely took a good break there for like the better part of a decade and didn't really jump back into anything until like until this. I mean not really fully into anything, until this.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, Josh, what were you doing all this, all this time? I'm assuming you were the income, then if she was taking a break, so what were you doing?

Josh:

Yep. All sorts of things in finance Consulting.

Jenna:

Yeah, so working too many hours a week

Josh:

Flying a hundred thousand miles a year, like domestically only, which you. You probably fly that in four trips, but around the world domestically, that's a harder target to hit.

Bradley Sutton:

So, yeah, this doesn't sound like an exciting job. So what? What was the thought process on, like how you guys ended up with e-commerce? Was it just like all right, I don't want to do this always? Or were you looking for a side hustle? Or how do you go from the finance and marketing world to and the stay at home you know world, to switch to e-commerce?

Jenna:

So I mean that was definitely part of it. The time constraints and I think the idea that there could be some passive component to e-commerce was interesting. But I really was. I mean, josh knows I would. I was admiring e-commerce for like the better part of a decade. I was that person that everything I looked at I was like, oh, I could create this, I can make it better, even with educational stuff and tools and resources. I was making my own and kind of like just admiring it from afar and saying, you know, when it's the right time, then then I'll go into it, cause we are not like the dip your toe in type of people. We are like the 50 foot cannonball jump ball in. It's not like we're just going to try, you know, like a product and see how it goes. When we I knew when we were going to go in it was going to be all in. So I was waiting for life to slow down and it was really like actually the craziest, the easiest time of our life and I kind of just had this like epiphany that life doesn't really slow down, no matter how old your kids get. So if I don't do it now, it's probably now or never.

Jenna:

I can remember I think it was like a month after we got out of the hospital with my son. So our oldest son has epilepsy and he had about a year of failed anti seizure meds and treatments and it was just in and out of the hospital and they eventually came up. So they have this all over the country but it's the medical ketogenic diet for epilepsy. So they put him on that and we had to go to the hospital and we had to learn all about it and I kind of had this moment of I was like this is more intense and exhausting than twins. This has been my dream forever. I'm like if I don't jump in now, I'm never going to do it.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, was there something that made you that's still not a natural thing to just like jump into, like, like? Did you get hit with an ad somewhere, or where you're searching how to make money at home? Or how did you land on Ecom?

Jenna:

So I definitely found a couple ads there, because there were. I did take a couple courses that were teaching you how you can sell on Amazon and I had already had ideas and I kind of thought selling an Amazon? I didn't understand the process of it. So I was like, all right, so I think I can figure this out. There's courses to do it. So I took the courses, I downloaded like a ton of podcasts and he knew I kind of like dug into this whole of like just learning and education and I didn't want to bring it to him until I was like I can do great. Yeah, you're like you're doing great, you're doing your own thing. Like I said, we're not like a dip your toe in type of person. I didn't want to bring it to him until I thought this is something he would like to. So I really just kind of like dug in on the courses and I already knew the things I wanted to create, but I didn't understand like the science, the research behind it and it's funny we were talking about this. I was like, okay, so I listened to your Serious Sellers Podcast before I could understand 10% of what you said and I remember like listening to one of your podcasts and a few others like it and I was like this is amazing, this part I don't understand creating design innovation. I understand the numbers.

Bradley Sutton:

We're here talking, by the way, about more or less 2019, 2020, 2021. Last year, fall of 2022.

Jenna:

Yeah, yeah. So I listened to one of your episodes and a couple others and I was like, oh, my goodness, josh would love this. There's software, there's research, there's numbers that can go into this. So basically I hooked him by showing him that kind of stuff. I was like, look, if you can do the product research and you can tell me the numbers and you can do this, I will design and create their products. And look, they have software like Helium 10, he was like lit up. He's like this is fantastic, I can play. I mean, he was playing around in it before we even had our first product like that. Yeah, like before we even really knew if we were going to do a product yet.

Josh:

And now I'm like now we're here. What happened yeah?

Jenna:

So I hooked him with that kind of stuff. We're very different, very different in terms of like, our interest and what we like, and I think it actually helps in this industry. So yeah, that's it. I knew I wanted to for a long time. I don't think he knew we wanted to until he saw that aspect of the business that I could kind of hook him in.

Bradley Sutton:

So at this time you still weren't working yourself. Only Josh was.

Jenna:

I've done a lot of things on the side, like I would just say side jobs and stuff. Like you know, I've done network marketing and coaching and stuff like that.

Josh:

Coaching sports yes.

Jenna:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

What sport did you coach?

Jenna:

I coached volleyball. I played volleyball in college, so I just here whenever. I could camps and helped at schools and stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

But you had, you had the kind of bandwidth, but. But, but, josh, you know, you know traveling everything. If it was up to him it probably might not have gotten done because he was pretty busy then. So that's an important thing to know. Like, hey, maybe it's the husband, maybe it's a wife, but but you know you got to have somebody who's able to dedicate some time to this, or else you might never get started. So then you guys, you know, started dipping yourselves into Two courses and now the very first product that you launched, uh, are you still selling that product now?

Jenna:

Yeah, but well, I mean it's of our FBA product we have, yeah, we have. We launched our first ones for KDP books and then our first product we launched last summer.

Bradley Sutton:

Talk about that for a second. What made you go that route?

Jenna:

So KDP, I mean, well, it's inexpensive. And I already was creating designs and things like that and I knew that was something that we could do while we're learning, because we wanted to. When we wanted to launch products, we knew that we wanted to launch more than one at a time and we wanted to make sure we had the research into it and we knew they were going to take a while, especially, coming up to you know, the timing of the year that we were looking at sourcing products was a little tricky.

Josh:

It was January, right, yeah, it was a year ago, yeah a year ago was when we launched our first KDP book in February of last year and it was Really based on. She knew the audience that she wanted to serve, but we had to test the content and we felt like KDP was a good place to test the content of like a meal planner and fitness type Trackers and budget planner, and then on the education side, cursive workbooks and you know things of that nature. Because when you look at the you know audience that she wanted to serve, my Research coming out of it was trying to find you know products that interested or that, um, that Audience wanted at the time. And so that's why we used KDP is we got to kind of test content and then we also got to test PPC, play with it and learn it and in a in a real experimental way, instead of With an FBA product that was going to require a you know a large Upfront investment and inventory and all that kind of stuff and we had started that process. But it takes a while.

Bradley Sutton:

So, but basically you use a lot of the similar strategies, like using Helium 10 to see demand and, and that's how you like landed on what KDP thing you were going to uh, launch and how to optimize your listing things like that. at what point then Were you like hey, not a lot, I want to do physical products.

Jenna:

So some of our designs that went into the KDP books are actually used in our physical products. Um, we edited them, made them a little bit better. We were able to use some reviews. So, for example, we have a meal planner, fitness tracker, or I think we call that the advanced meal planner and fitness tracker in KDP, um, and then we were able to make some improvements on that to make it into one of our vegan leather planners, um, but yeah, so, like we, those designs took me A lot of time to focus on and creating those. So we just had to make some adjustments to make those doable and we were able to get samples and stuff as we put out that KDP book. We were getting samples because we knew we wanted to eventually make it in FBA. We knew that there was more money obviously in FBA than KDP.

Bradley Sutton:

Were you able to do things by going, you know, directly to somebody who actually physically produced this? That was not an option with KDP, like a certain kind of Cover or something like that that you just literally could not even do KDP Uh, what are some of those things?

Jenna:

the KDP books. You can only do paperback or hardcover. You can have limited size Um and, as you know, with FBA you can do anything you want, really. I mean, you can create any material, cover, um things in our meal planner, fitness tracker. One of the things that I wanted was that they could tear off their grocery list and take it with them. You can't have perforated pages in a KDP book, um, and that's also, I think, where you can get seen on KDP versus you're. You're shown everywhere on amazon right and isn't KDP, I believe it's just the books that you're shown in yeah, you, you're shown in.

Josh:

You're shown in search To an extent, but it's an ISPN Then identified a product, not an ASIN, not a traditional like ASIN Uh product. So, yeah, you're definitely Limited as to where you show up.

0:13:50 - Bradley Sutton:

Do you use it kind of like as a like an incubator almost for some of your FBA, like if it really takes off with KDP, then that's what you maybe double down on and make a physical uh copy.

Josh:

I will. I will say yes, and our most successful product, which we launched in December, that that most recently, um, fortunately exploded on like TikTok and such, is really a culmination of like a case study in that it's a handwriting set of handwriting workbooks that have disappearing ink and such and Most of that content you know. She built over time and we released in A variety of different like KDP workbooks while she was. You know, we kind of in always in mind had man, it would be great to do this one thing. The keyword always looked great, there were so many things about it that we felt like we could improve and we were so excited about it. But we knew it would take a lot of time and KDP's content kind of feeling and seeing how things worked was really a huge part of the design over like a nine month period before we released those in December.

Jenna:

And we're still using our KDP designs into new things. We have our newest product coming out, the bible verse mapping that. We're working on getting those out by spring and they were in KDP and now we're able to get those and a linen cover. A different thing for spring, for FBA products.

Bradley Sutton:

What's your, what's your average Retail price on the KDP side? And then, of those, how much do you take home?

Josh:

well, our average, every one of our products on KDP is 999, except for the homeschool planner, which is 1499, and on the, the Products that are nine, that call it ten dollars. On the products that are ten dollars, we take home about $2 and 60 cents A sale, and then on the homeschool planner, we take home about $3 and 80 cents, 90 cents give or take.

Bradley Sutton:

And then are you doing PBC for this at all, or it's just all organic?

Josh:

Yeah, we do. I think our total PBC spend on KDP is about $15 a day maybe. So it's small. Obviously it's all relative, but um, but that 1500 a month is net of you know PBC charges specifically. So it's a pretty low a cost Process. As long as you don't get sucked into chasing physical products, you stay in your lane, recognize that you're a KDP product and not try to go after FBA products not that I ever tried that then you can. You can do fine.

Bradley Sutton:

It's separate log on for KDP and you're a seller central, because that that's kind of like a different. It's not seller central, I know, but how different is the interface for advertising? I know Shavali you know probably knows this but I've never done Advertising for KDP Is it very similar, like you know, you can do, you know, phrase match and Sponsored and campaigns.

Josh:

Almost an hour,

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Okay, cool. Were you selling the entirety of 2023, or did you start later, not January?

Josh:

KDP. Our first one was February, and then our second one was like April, and then our first FBA product was July 1.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so not a full year of KDP, not a full year, obviously, of FBA. What would you say if you were to combine the gross sales of both on Amazon, only For your planners and things? What? What would you say? It was total at the end of the end of the year in the past year, Since well we haven't been out of here, but yeah okay, yeah, so total 2023?

Josh:

About 400,000.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you still doing your day job or did you at some point last year that go all in on the Ecom?

Josh:

It took about like eight days to realize that there's no chance I was gonna not be able to To like go all in into this.

Jenna:

it was too much fun. Yeah, you and, and the hours you worked, and the time you worked, I mean, I mean not to say that you don't right now, where it has, we're starting everything up, but uh, yeah, I mean we're trying to launch a good amount of stuff.

Josh:

It's a lot different being on a plane a hundred thousand Miles a year than it is being, you know, up late at night talking with manufacturers or something, but still in your own house. It's a little different.

Bradley Sutton:

Was this your first year? In a few years that you're, you didn't make your high status on your travel?

Josh:

I absolutely it was a second year, but it was the first year I haven't been on an airplane in like my entire life.

Jenna:

Really amazing yeah, when was. I mean I guess, so yeah, no, we've really.

Josh:

Because after COVID we actually started driving Everyone like if we went somewhere, love it to the kids, like it and and frankly it's fun for the two of us.

Jenna:

And the things we like to do. I mean we love to go to the mountains and snowboard. They're all close enough here the ocean, the beach, all that stuff is driving distance from here, which, growing up in the Midwest, that's not possible. So I love that we can just get to anything within a couple hours by the way, it was great, great story.

Josh:

We're in the Midwest and after school and she's like, oh, we, you can snowboard here. And I was like, awesome, where? And we she's like I'll take you this place. And we're driving and the nav you know those old Tom Tom. Things right is like this is when we live in Chicago over after we got married two miles you're at your destination and I'm like Jen, I can see about 15 miles in any direction right now there is nowhere to. Actually I don't believe. I like kind of I want to believe you. Yeah, I was like this is like a sled.

Jenna:

We found a hill somewhere that we turn into is yeah, so yeah, we like the mountains out here.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, well, don't got much of that here exactly in my town when I live, few miles from the beach here in California. But all right now, at what point did you guys discover TikTok shop?

Josh:

one of your serious seller podcasts in the. In the fall you had on a create some, a creator who did a video, a viral video that went viral for, I think, one of Lizzie's products, but I forget exactly which one it was might have been the body suit One of them, but you had someone on that was explaining, kind of somehow some of the worked and it was super intriguing. And then we went to the meeting in New York where Lizzie spoke and Jenna drove home and you set it up in New York City and I set up the. I set up our TikTok shop in the car on the hot spot.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, what they're talking about, guys, by the way, is we have their helium-10 elite members and we have a quarterly in-person workshop for Helium 10 members and we did one in New York and we brought somebody Elizabeth, who's been on the podcast before talking about TikTok shop, and she kind of broke down exactly what she did, and I remember you guys at that it was like light bulbs were going off in your head as you guys were watching. We're like wait, wait a minute, we've got a perfect Kind of product that would do well on TikTok shop. So then you got home or he said on the way home, not even you weren't even home yet, you're already setting it up on the way home in the car, yeah, I feel like in the car, because the kids are with my great, with their, my parents.

Jenna:

They're great kids for a couple days, but you draw like literally on the drive. I mean, what is it? That's less than three hours from New York, oh yeah it's a couple hours. He was done by the time we got back. He's like we're set up, let's go. I was like are you kidding me?

Bradley Sutton:

Now, at what point there were you like oh man, we're on to something like what was your first kind of like viral day, or?

Josh:

Frankly, Christmas was our first viral day. On Christmas Day, you know, I had Alerts on, like sale alerts on TikTok, because we didn't get too many before that. So we had sales, but not compared to Amazon. And so our phone. I'm like it's Christmas, leave me alone, who is bothering me? And I was like not that many family and friends are trying to say Merry Christmas. And so it was sales. And we had no idea what was going on. And it was a you know video that was about 10 seconds long, that someone had posted, that had picked up and had, you know, half a million views that day and a million by the next, and the following day, sold us out of our meal planners. I was about 500 on TikTok and about 800 on Amazon so at that point.

Bradley Sutton:

Sold out in like two days.

Josh:

Yeah, it generated more Amazon Sales than TikTok shop, even though it was from TikTok shop for that first product.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, as well as our website, so you didn't have like a link. It was just like it got sold out and then people were just trying to search for it on Amazon, you know, to try and get it, and they found your product through there.

Josh:

Yep and our website, yeah, and we found where they found it was be banner ads, like sponsored display ads, because they recognized the Products or if they would search for something meal planner or fitness or whatever. Our banner ads had like a you know 6% a cost. I remember we're looking at them and I was like, oh, that's what. Like they didn't necessarily know what to search because I didn't really think about it at the time. We just had the title as Grace will buy design meal planner or fitness tracker or something, whereas all the conversions, PPC were happening from there. And that's when we kind of realized you know, there's something to this, to your point about your question about when did we realize like this was a thing, when we realized how well these markets could play off each other and help each other. That was when that day, Christmas in the day after, is when I was like oh yeah, oh wow, like this is, this is a thing.

Jenna:

I think you were pretty excited about it pretty early though, yeah.

Josh:

I was excited.

Jenna:

I'm the pessimist, I was the one that was like I don't know. I mean, we're still. We just had our second product go viral, even more so, and I'm still like I don't know if we should we get the inventory. Is it gonna repeat?

Josh:

Yeah, it probably won't work. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So now the planners on Amazon. This is not, this wasn't your KDP, this is a physical one. So what's the retail price on these? On Amazon?

Josh:

$19.99

Bradley Sutton:

$It was 19.99, and then so what? What kind of profit margin on Amazon?

Josh:

Actually before PPC about 50%. So they're 240 landed plus small stand. We we made sure that packaged their point seven, four inches thick so that we can fit in Small standard. So basically about a 50% or shade above 50% margin and then with PPC, with. PPC, like if you take launch and everything in the consideration. The first, you know Three, four months which was the end of last year, where you know we 20% net margins on, including launch.

Bradley Sutton:

So about 20%, probably more. You know if we're not considering launch in there now. I yeah. Now if, what kind of retail price did you have it on TikTok shop? Did you still keep it at 1999 or did you take advantage of how you can just add shipping and TikTok pays for it? Or at least they were before?

Josh:

So we did not do that where we lower the price, because so TikTok shop for Sellers who use seller shipping which is what we were doing, because we are fulfilling some of it from our Amazon inventory, for example, all of it from our Amazon inventory that if you spent $20 as a customer, they would pay for shipping, TikTok shop meaning so the the customer would get it for free for shipping and then TikTok shop would reimburse us and Basically, the $7.99 it's like for one item Quantity of one is what they would do. So we would make the product $20 and shipping $7.99 and as long as we do that, the customer doesn't pay shipping and we get the $20 and reimbursed for shipping at $7.99. So 27.

Bradley Sutton:

So on Amazon, let's say that you were taking home, you know, after PPC and stuff you know like, let's say, six bucks or something like that. You know maybe five, six dollars or so, which is which is pretty decent on Amazon. Not many people can say that. But then, for that same order, on TikTok shop, how much money were you taking due to TikTok, like subsidizing your, your fees and all this other stuff?

Josh:

Yep. So basically, to break it down, so we would get the $20 Minus the 20% commission that went to that creator, right, so we would get $16 for the product Plus the $7.99 for the shipping reimbursement, so $23.99 that we would receive, and TikTok pays the influencer directly. We don't have to do all that accounting, thank goodness. So 2399 that we would receive, it's 240 landed and our MCF fee to like ship and deliver an item to a customer is $8 and change but eight, call it $8. So $23.99 in and Around $11 and 50 cents out, so double plus.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, double or more the profit margin for the exact same product on TikTok shop. Now what's this, Jenna? Are you doing some kind of Like? Are you the influencer for your own product to like? Are you doing like lives or videos or some? Or am I getting you guys Confused with somebody?

Jenna:

I mean I do it, I do it, um, it's you know, I really More so. I mean they had different promotions that they were running that you could get ad credits for doing lives. That's why I don't think I get a lot of traffic and that's really not, in my opinion, where we get a large amount of sales, the sales I mean especially with our group books. That's well, that was all because of videos and influencers. So it gave us ad credits, which was great, um, but personally I'm not. I do it for the business, but I'm not a fan of being in front of the camera any more than I need to. But I was all for, you know, starting up a small business. When they were like I think it was like $1500 in ad credits, I was like I'll do it, let's do it, you know that's what it was.

Josh:

No, you're right. During December, if you went live, you know a certain amount of time and Spent 1500, they would give you 1500 an ad credit. And so we basically did that, and the day the promotion ended, they deposited 15 like they were exactly as they Said it would be, and she was tortured every minute that she was live.

Jenna:

So I would never classify myself as an influencer. I that's what I love about take talk shop that you can use the professionals that that do that as your influencers.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So now you guys I mean technically, if you know Christmas was, was around. You know was around where you really started taking off. You know, by the time that we're recording this podcast, you know, maybe you, like you, can talk about your first full month of TikTok shop. What were the gross sales on that platform?

Josh:

Since, if you include Christmas in that time, there 250,000 dollars.

Bradley Sutton:

In one week in one, in one month, in one month in one month in one thirty 70-72 hour period.

Josh:

They were 180,000 dollars.

Jenna:

That was that group books viral video, which was crazy yeah and it's amazing to me still, because we had a few large influencers that were, like you know, half a million followers. That I'm like I was the optimist for those. I'm like this is gonna be the one, and they did great videos and the video that took off. That's what I like 9 million views, knowing I don't know, I mean she had, I think, just under 40,000 and which is still big, but it's not like the half million or, you know, near a million followers, that we had other people. So you just don't know and I mean the video was good.

Bradley Sutton:

So the fact that you guys did a 250 or quarter of a million, does that mean that your influencers took home like 50 grand themselves for doing videos, so that that influencers specifically.

Josh:

Generated, yeah, single mom she's like the nicest person and we were so happy because she sent a message. You know that the commission was like life-changing, she was ready to get to be done with this and it was 30,000 and change in commission income that she generated based on her post and that, just like that's again when further, it has furthered this point of like you don't have to be the influencer because you know Jenna can be Jenna and Talk to the influencers, which again we try to do like on it, like we write Cards to them when they make content, like all of those types of things, and then it's so much more natural and the creators love doing posts on Jenna's products because she can relate to them and she cares, like she genuinely cares, and it was so cool to see that from a couple of the moms that I've had really successful posts on our products, that you just sit there and you're like this is a great, great business model, that even though they're increasing TikTok shop, increasing their referral fees, no problem, worth every penny.

Bradley Sutton:

You know you guys have some hijackers on some. You must have be out of stock or something. You guys know about that. I'm just looking at your day, your story now.

Josh:

Yep all right, you guys need to take care of that.

Bradley Sutton:

do some tests we already those guys offers that, do you mind if I show people your product page here.?

Josh:

Yeah, all right, let me um they're the worst because the shipping is like weeks and weeks and weeks that we ordered it right. Yeah, it's killing.

Bradley Sutton:

I mean the fact you know that that's when you that, by the way, that that's when it's like you know, until you get it fixed, you know where you might want to like suppress your listing, where you take out the images and then nobody can sell on it. You know, so that you know your Every day that somebody has it active. You're like losing your, your keyword ranking, your conversion rate and stuff like that. So if you don't think you're gonna fix that right away, you know, try and get your listing suppressed somehow, you know taking out the image is doing something.

Josh:

I said that this is where you're always learning in this space because, yeah, these are problems that you didn't know would be problems. Inventory management didn't know that was a problem till all of a sudden it was a Problem. So it's been great to have resources and help from people like you know, Helium 10 folks and other folks in the space, which is Such a help because you're going through for the first time.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, going back to your main product, which is in stock here, this is the main one that you sell on TikTok as well, right, and the ones that that went viral before.

Josh:

It was the first one that went viral. It's not the largest selling of our products anymore, but it's the second, and it was the one that was here first. This product released in August yeah, august.

Bradley Sutton:

Did this originally start as KDP or this was a from scratch?

Josh:

Oh yeah, you may yep, no, we did a version of this via KDP, which, if yeah, Jenna’s author page is like amazon.com/author/jennacoleman, and that's where KDP stuff is and there's a there's a 11. It's called like the advanced meal, the advanced weekly meal planner Yep, but yeah, we reached a PSR of like two and then it all went out of stock.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So then this you know, and then this is, this is what you also have on your TikTok page, and so doing some cool numbers, all right. So so you, you showed me the other day like there is a for anybody who has a, an Amazon account and a Shopify account. They can literally start TikTok shop. I Within like what? 20 minutes, would you say, or less, or?

Josh:

Yeah, I mean we've had some people that have taken Time to like if they have a sole prop, like where they don't have a business in some ways, like where they don't have an EIN or some things. There's been some people. That has taken some time. But TikTok's due diligence on you as a company, the Shopify system, seems to Serve as enough validation for TikTok shop that they're good to go and you get set up pretty quick with a shop and Then an ad account on the business side. Then it pulls from their Amazon inventory.

Bradley Sutton:

Then it pulls from their Amazon inventory. So I, you know, I, you guys, don't have a way to share your screen, but maybe you can just verbally Walk through those steps. So somebody has their Amazon account and then do they need to have the Shopify account already tied to their Amazon through, like by with Prime?

Josh:

Yeah, so okay. So good question, but not by with Prime. For fulfilling on TikTok shop by with Prime can be used on your actual Shopify website, like if you have your website on Shopify but you don't actually need a website to do the TikTok Shopify Amazon integration as long as you have the program Shopify. There's two sides to it. There's the TikTok side and there is a native app. In other words, TikTok shop has built an app that sits on Shopify's Interface so you can download on Shopify the TikTok app that allows you to create your shop and Create your business center and ads manager. Right. So all from Shopify to TikTok shop so it can push To TikTok and then, if you have like a personal TikTok account, it Can link that to your store and convert it to a business account basically.

Bradley Sutton:

In Shopify. What? Where do they go and Shopify if they have their Shopify account? They got their Amazon account. What's the? If they're not tied together, how do you do? They need to get it from the Amazon app store, the Shopify app from the Amazon app store, to tie it to the Shopify account?

Josh:

In the Shopify app store, there is a TikTok app and an Amazon MCF app. They need both.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you do it through Shopify instead of Amazon. We do it in the middle.

Josh:

Yeah, and then the Amazon MCF app is what pulls from Amazon and all they do really there is they have to sync up to skew right to make sure that the skew and Shopify matches the one in Amazon, which the app will say you're good, and then that your shipping map. So if you say standard shipping defaults to MCF standard, if you've ever done an MCF, the person has done an MCF order. Then it will say okay, when an order comes in and you fulfill it, it's gonna fulfill via Whichever MCF option, standard option. So that way TikTok shop syncs immediately to Shopify. Shopify pulls the inventory and ships it and then Shopify gives the tracking number back to TikTok shop

Bradley Sutton:

And then when you, when you, you know, set up your TikTok shop From your Shopify and if your Shopify is already pulling in your Amazon, you know Images and things like that, the Shopify Site, it publishes all your images and description and stuff to TikTok shop, right?

Josh:

Yep.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow. So, guys, this is not rocket science where you have to know coding and a bunch of crazy things in order to get up and running, but, at the same time, it's not something that, hey, you just turn it on and you make a quarter of a million dollars, you know, in a month. It requires you know it's heavily on influencers. So what's your guys' best suggestions of somebody's just setting up? They do everything you just said until now. They've got their Amazon store. Now they've got their Shopify set up. Now they set up their TikTok shop. It's pulling. It's all tied to Shopify and tied to Amazon. How do I get eyeballs in front of my product?

Josh:

The two biggest recommendations we would say is that. So I'll let her say on our account what we should have, because there are some things that you should have on your account when an influencer looks you up, it's kind of like having a website if they go to your shop and you don't have any posts or anything. So I'll let her cover that. But on the flip side, on the affiliate side, you know, you can go into the affiliate dashboard right inside TikTok shop and you have immediate, direct access to creators and that is really where you can do 50 at a time where you can reach out to. You can create a message, select a product that you want to offer them a commission to promote, and they'll receive your DM right in their affiliate dashboard that invites them to promote that product. And so being able to get in there and send 50 of those a day to reach out to folks that are relevant to at least your audience and be careful not just going after huge creators. You're able to see how each creator does. You're able to see their sales, their engagement, all that kind of stuff, and you can go and directly reach out and just use the hard work method instead of the blast or spend money just throwing money to be there, money to build your awareness. You can do manual reach outs, but then on our page.

Jenna:

So I would say I think in the beginning, no matter what, it's hard to get influencers to talk to you because you haven't had any product sales right. They can see how much they can see, so I think it's really important to focus on connecting with them and I think a lot of influencers, when they're sharing a product, they don't just want to know what it is and how much it is, they want to know the story behind it. So a lot of the ones that we connected with especially some of the bigger influencers where they have plenty of options of what to share they kind of want to know the story behind your product and a lot of people love to know when there is a small business owner behind it. Why did you create it? Who are you? What went into this? And that helps in connecting in the story. So a lot of them use that I've connected with the fact that I'm a homeschool parent and a lot of them are homeschool parents in terms of some of the educational stuff or other ones I've connected with. I'm a former public school teacher too and they connected the fact that we you know that we were both educators. Some of it is mom life and connecting with you know busy meal planning and just connecting in different ways. So if you're just honest about your story, sometimes it's the things that surprised me that we had connections on that. They were like, wow, that's really cool, I also have a kid, you know one with allergies on a specific diet that you know. I saw you, you know you created a meal planner or something and so different ways to connect the making of your products and sharing in those Like.

Jenna:

I try to do reels a little bit on that and sometimes that will help because I think when they're considering they go through and see some of your reels that you've created not just your products they don't just go to your storefront. I will notice they'll sometimes like my reels and my reels don't have many views. A lot of them have, like you know, like a hundred, a couple hundred, but the influencers were go and check to see, you know like, and sometimes I'll talk about why I made the product the way I did or the features of it. So I really tried to push on that in the beginning because I think that helped connect with influencers. But then once you do have a product that goes viral and they see that you, you know you have a business that could help them as well then they come to you but it doesn't start that way, then they come to you, right. So now it's different, which is nice, but I would say in the beginning, the pessimist in me, I was like, oh my goodness, how are we ever going to like get them to come to us? Or like we're a small business that haven't proven that we can, but it really does, yeah. It does change.

Bradley Sutton:

When you go into that portal you know there's probably a hundred thousand influencers, a million influencers, whatever, in there. How are you picking and choosing those 50 that you want to reach out to first?

Jenna:

Really the same way that I think they're choosing us Like. I try to find people that connect with our brand. So when they're talking about educational stuff or their kids or I see that they have an interest in in recipes and cooking and things like that we try to find ways that are natural connections. So that's part of it.

Josh:

Because you can search by interest. Yes, so in the affiliate dashboard you can search by interest.

Jenna:

Right and then and then you know that's the really cool part about it To have that background view into people that that are going to be sharing your products. You can like go see what they're all about on their page. So it doesn't take long. But you know we usually spend time checking out their page before we even message someone.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Now, before we get into you know some, some just quick hitting strategies from you guys. If people want to reach out to you, I mean, they can obviously see your, your brand, and I just showed it. You know, graceful by design. But if people want to reach out to you guys for more questions or help with either TikTok or KDP or any of your specialties, how can they find you guys on the interwebs out there?

Josh:

The interwebs. I would say the best place is, you know, jenna. jenna@gracefulbydesigncom.

Jenna:

I do check on graceful by design for TikTok or Instagram. It's at graceful by design LLC, but either one of those. I do check the messaging in there, but yeah, it is.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and get into your, SST 60 second tip or 60 second strategy. You know, maybe, maybe one each gives us any strategy that you think will be beneficial to our listeners.

0:42:51 - Josh:

I'm going to do a quick strategy on folks who are newer or who are getting into, maybe wanting to get into the space, in case someone like that is watching. Um, cause, this has been, you know, a real thing for us over the past year from, you know, building this together, and I would say that the biggest thing in the e-com is that you have to remember is that cash flow timing and the business right, the real business aspects of any business, hold true in the Ecom right. So, cash flow timing, when you're thinking about getting into a business and you see, you know again some of the courses out there that just say you know, things are easy and things are this and you can make money quickly, and all those types of things, I just would say that, uh, from a cautionary perspective, that you know, remember, this is a business that costs money and when you sell more on something like Amazon or TikTok shop, you need more reserves that they hold and you have to spend more on inventory and so and so those. That's just like a fundamental business practice. That I wanted to make sure you know we said is that it's not a, you know, fairytale industry. It's a hard work. You know business, real business, and I feel like that gets blushed over a little bit with a lot of the things that are out there. So that that's just in general, a principle and uh, and then my less way, less than 60 second tip is that you know your. Your biggest strength still is your brand, and to build a strategy today without a brand, I think is just challenging, because then you can just be you. So when you're reaching out to influencers or you're designing product, you can really actually relate to it, in addition to it being good research and all that kind of stuff, because people know whether you care about what it is that you're selling or making.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, it's been really great to see your journey, you know, from just learning about TikTok shop at that conference. And then you know selling out and then, and then guys, they can hire me just out there. So I don't have any website or anything, but they're now my customers for my family running 3PLs Cause I have a warehouse here and I found out that they were, they were struggling with shipping. So I'm like, hey, let me take your planners here and let me have my family help you guys ship. So they're shipping. You know 20-30 of these planners all the time. So, like it's really cool to first hand see, see your growth and uh, and now you know you're putting a food on the table of that one influencer. Well, not, not now you're. You're employing my family as well. So, but yeah, you're changing lives here left and right. I'm sure you're changing lives with people who have listened to this episode learning about the potential uh on KDP um with uh TikTok shop as well. So we'll definitely want to, you know, reach back out to you guys next, uh, next year, and see how. You know, we just got with you on your first full month of TikTok shop. Let let's see what happens after a full year of Amazon and TikTok shop. You guys will be probably have some cool stories to share. So thank you so much for joining us.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from, and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Shop links could soon become a lot more common across the social media app.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/30/24055388/tiktok-shoppable-videos-automatic-product-discovery

Amazon continues to increase the speed with which it can get deliveries to customers.
https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-delivery-gets-faster-with-65-jump-in-number-of-same-day-and-overnight-items-in-u-s/

Walmart plans to build or convert more than 150 large-format stores over the next five years.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/31/walmart-plans-to-add-150-more-stores-across-us.html

Etsy’s new Gift Mode is an interactive hub, powered by AI and human curation
https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/news-briefs/etsy-debuts-personalized-ai-powered-gift-mode

China’s Temu in US online ads blitz in challenge to Amazon
https://www.ft.com/content/7717fa78-a102-405f-83d5-b8750dc5b6c0

Consult-a-Friend is the latest feature to make shopping on Amazon more social and collaborative.
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-introduces-consult-a-friend-mobile-shopping-experience

Walmart suppliers and Marketplace sellers can launch, manage and review performance across their Brand Shop and Shelf pages through the Walmart Ad Center using Shop Builder.
https://advertisinghelp.walmart.com/s/guides?channel=ShopBuilder&article=000011167

TikTok is reportedly planning to open studios
https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/01/30/tiktok-livestream-shopping-studios/

Beware of misleading discounts on Amazon products promoted in news articles with affiliate links
https://people.com/fykee-cordless-stick-vacuum-deal-january-2024-8553406

Lastly, Bradley shares how you can start with Amazon Brazil with just the click of a button and not having to send any inventory there. Also, Bradley shows you how can you use some of the Helium 10 tools in the said marketplace.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:00 - Easier to Hijack Listings?
03:47 - TikTok Expanding Shopping
06:04 - Faster Amazon Shipping
07:24 - New Walmart Stores
10:26 - Etsy Gift Mode
11:22 - Temu Ad Blitz
12:33 - Amazon Phone A Friend
13:59 - Walmart Shop & Shelf
14:27 - TikTok Studios
15:29 - Fake Deals
17:13 - Follow us on TikTok
17:52 - New Feature Alerts

View Details

Listen in as Bradley shares the latest on Project X and how we're shaking up the game with our coffin shelf product. He tackles the challenge of fierce competition and relentless price wars not by slashing our prices, but by creatively enhancing our product's value. With the inclusion of quirky accessories like mini skulls and pumpkins, we've managed to not only raise our price by $10 but also to give our product a unique edge that customers love. Bradley also opens up about our strategy for listing optimization using Helium 10's tools, which could revolutionize the way you manage your Amazon listings.

This episode also takes you behind the scenes of our coffin shelf launch, revealing the thought process behind our unique packaging solution that has both charmed and intrigued our customers. Drawing inspiration from the concept of heart-shaped gift boxes, we introduced coffin-shaped gift boxes that serve a dual purpose, adding an innovative flair to the traditional storage functionality. As we unpack the hurdles of custom packaging and marketing tactics, you'll gain insights into how these elements contribute to our premium pricing model. Plus, don't miss out on the invaluable product validation and research techniques that could be the difference between success and failure in your Amazon ventures. Join us for a blend of practical advice, personal experiences, and strategic approaches to Amazon product differentiation and market success.

In episode 531 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Revitalizing Project X With Product Differentiation
03:16 - Selling Out and Replacing Products
09:51 - Coffin Shelf Launch With Unique Packaging
10:54 - Two-in-One Coffin Product and Packaging Idea
17:47 - Watch Out For Future Episodes
20:43 - Recommendations for Beginners on Helium 10
21:42 - Product Validation and Research Techniques

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got an update to our Project X series where we show you step by step how, with our coffin shelf product, I'm trying to tackle the problem of having price wars and increased competition, and I found a way where, instead of lowering the price, I could actually raise my price by over $10. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Do you want to see how your listing or maybe competitors listing rates as to best practices for listing optimization? Or maybe you want to compare a group of ASINs or Amazon products to see how they compare to each other? Maybe you want to see within seconds the top keywords for a single listing or a group of listings? You can do that and more with the Helium 10 tool listing analyzer. For more information, go to h10.me/listinganalyzer.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly ask me anything training. This is something that we do every week for our series sellers club and elite members, and then, once a month, we open it up to everybody out there. Go ahead and have an opportunity to come on and ask questions, and I'm also going to give some cool training tips that will help you this time, especially with your product research, and I'm actually going to be going deep into Project X. That's why I'm wearing my Project X hat here. I'm going to show you some updates on what is going on with Project X and, like my thought process, on how I am revitalizing the original product. How many people don't know what Project X is Basically? Project X is a series that we did on YouTube a few years ago, where we found some products and then we basically took it from zero to here. As a matter of fact, it's here in my background.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me go pull this product. So this was one of the products that we had. It's a shelf shape like a coffin. So this was a product that we found using helium 10 techniques. We launched it and now we've sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of this product. And now I was like, hey, I need to let me explain what happened. My sales had gone way down on this coffin shelf and there's a couple of things I noticed. Has that ever happened to you guys, where maybe your keyword rank starts going down on your main keyword and now you're unable to make the sales that you used to be making before. Well, that was what was happening with our product. One of the reasons was that everybody started lowering their price. We used to sell this coffin shelf for over $30. Over $30, and people started coming at $26, $25, $23, even, like now, $20. They were selling a similar coffin shelf and so we were like all right, this something has got to go. Now, if we maintained our keyword rank, we still would have been doing okay, but our keyword rank just wouldn't go up above like 10 or 15 anymore.

Bradley Sutton:

So what I've been doing is I've been trying to sell out. We actually had run out of stock, but then Amazon miraculously found 25 units of our coffin shelf somewhere, and so the listing went live again. But I've been trying to sell out of this product over the last couple of weeks, and then a few months ago, I started development on something that would kind of replace this product. But let me explain my thought process here, and this is something that maybe one of you guys could do to one of your products. All right, so let me show you my thought process. All right, so you guys should be able to see our coffin shelf. This is our real product. It was out of stock for like a month and again, like I said, amazon just found it again, and so that's why you see a little bit of sales here.

Bradley Sutton:

But the first thing I thought about, like, regardless, if I relaunch this product or start a new one, I wanted to like do something to differentiate my product. Okay, and one of the things was I was like, can I add some accessories into this product? Like, is there something that won't add too much cost for me? But if I add it, it's going to differentiate my product. Okay, let's take a look here. Let me show you what I did. I went and I clicked on our reviews and I was like what are people using in this coffin shelf? Okay, so I hit the reviews and then I went to the reviews with images, all right. And then I hit see all photos. And then I started looking at what are people who are taking pictures of this product putting into the images that they're leaving with the reviews, right, and look how many a lot of people are using these pumpkins and looks like there's some light up pumpkins. And then I saw a bunch of people putting crystals and then I see tons of people putting these like miniature skulls. I don't know if you guys can see that here in the images more pumpkins, more skulls and so I'm like, okay, this is, this is something that, like, people are buying extra and then they're putting it in into this coffin shelf Right, what? If so that I thought you know, here's another one that's pumpkins and other things. I was like, what, what could I possibly do in order to maybe take advantage of this knowledge? I was like, okay, that's my product. What about some of my competitor products? All right, so here is a competitor product. All right, let's take a look at their images. All right, this is one of the guys who's just been been selling a lot of, you know, trying to sell super cheap, and I looked at what. What are his customers doing? And again, people with coffin shelves. I see, look at this, tons of miniature skulls everywhere. There's a miniature candle that shaped like a pumpkin. All right, so I'm like, okay, this is definitely what people are doing with these coffin shelves.

Bradley Sutton:

So the first thing that I started thinking about was I was like is there something I can buy that I could put in here that cost me maybe pennies, like less than 25 cents, and I could include it in my package without adding any size. So let me just show you guys. I'm going to open up a new window here and let's go to Alibaba, and I forgot what I typed in. I might have said mini, let's see mini LED pumpkin candle. I'm not sure if this is what I searched, but it's just going to give you guys a vibe of what I search for. And this is not it, because I don't see mini pumpkin. Did I type in mini pumpkin? All right, let me try mini LED pumpkin, let's see what happens there. Here we go. Okay, perfect, this is what I started seeing. All right, I was like, nah, $1 for a lot of these, no, that's too expensive $2. But basically I kept looking and then I found this kind of thing here. I was like, look at this, here are some little mini miniature pumpkins I can get for like 10 cents. So basically what I did was like all right, let me see if I can find a miniature pumpkin for about 10, 15 cents. And that's exactly what I did.

Bradley Sutton:

The other thing was I wanted to get like a mini skull, mini decorative skull, all right, and I was like can I get another skull for like 10 cents, or something like that. And sure enough there was a bunch of these that were super expensive, like $4. I'm like I'm not going to pay $4 for this miniature skull. So what I ended up doing was I actually found a miniature skull that was a candle, it had a wick right and it was only like 20 cents. But then I was like wait a minute, I am not going to have this candle like a real candle with a wick, and people put that in their coffin shelf and they're dumb enough to light it and then it burns their house down with the coffin shelf. Like that's not the kind of publicity I need. So I went to that factory and I was like all right, I want to buy this miniature skull that you have for like 15 cents, but I want to make it not a candle. So can you produce this to me, for me, for like 20 cents and have it? Not have a wick, candle, wick right. And they're like sure, no problem. So I'm like there's two things. But like, is this enough to really set me apart from the competition? And I was like no, it's not.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, all of a sudden, I just started doing some just general product research, and now this was around the time of you know, October, November, so giftable things started getting popular. So I'm like, all right, how can I take advantage of this maybe giftable theme and what I saw, some of the top selling products? They had these really kind of expensive looking gift boxes. Okay, let me see if I can actually find one that I was. That I'm talking about. That really inspired me. Hold on, let me show you. It was a heart shaped one, perfect, all right, this is. This is similar to what I found, all right. So I searched and I found these heart shaped gift boxes. I'm like these gift boxes don't even have anything in it, all right, they're just shaped like a heart, whatever. These are literally empty gift boxes and people are paying $20, $15, $25 for these things. And then I started looking at some of them and I noticed that they were advertising this as something that people could not only use as a gift box but then also kind of like for some, like trinket storage, like take a look at some of these images, like look at this, people were putting like roses in these gift boxes. So it's kind of like an evergreen product. This wasn't this gift box, wasn't just a product that you know is meant to put the real gift inside. But the gift box is almost the gift product in itself, because the person you're giving it to can use it for storage, for things like chocolates. They could use it for macaroons, like we see.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, now, all of a sudden, that got my creative juices working and I'm like all right, what if I launch this same exact coffin shelf? And not only did I now have this LED light, pumpkin light and a miniature skull figurine, but I also made a gift box with it. But then I thought what of what good use is like a shoebox shaped gift, you know, like that really doesn't go with the vibe. So then I started looking at packaging factories. I'm like, hey, who can make me a gift box that is kind of like with the vibe of those heart shaped gift boxes that I saw back in October. But check this, I want to make it in the shape of a. What do you guys think I did? In the shape of a coffin. So that means the coffin itself, which is again this product that you see right behind me here, is going to be inside of a coffin gift box that people could then use later for storing their socks or storing their chocolates or whatever. So it's kind of like people are buying two in one.

Bradley Sutton:

Now my cost it's expensive to make a custom box, guys. Let me just tell you, all right, this is not for the, the, the, the weary here. All right, this is not something that is easy to do. This box ended up costing me like two bucks, like almost as much as the coffin shelf itself, which costs like about three, four dollars or so. But I'm like, hey, this is worth it. So I've got my coffin shelf. That's normally like four bucks. I'm going to go ahead and pay $2 for this coffin bookshelf. I'm going to pay 40, 50 cents for these two miniature figurines and instead of having to sell my coffin shelf at $23, I'm going to go back in the market at like 33 or more dollars. So I'm adding $10 to my retail price. But I'm only adding like $2 and 50 cents. And in zero I'm adding to shipping because, remember, if anything, this box is smaller than the box I was having it in, okay, and since there's a hollow area of my coffin shelf that allows me to go ahead and put those little trinkets in there, so I'm adding zero to my shipping, zero to my transportation costs, very, very little to my taxes, you know, because it's these. This stuff only costs like $2, right. And now, all of a sudden, instead of playing this price war, I am going to go ahead and sell this product at a premium because nobody else who's selling coffin shelves is going to have this, and I'm not ready to launch it yet. I have it all here in my warehouse. It already delivered to me a couple of weeks ago.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me show you the images that AMZ one step did for me. Take a look at this. This is just from Google Drive. Right here, here is going to be the new listing product. All right, there's a. This is the exact little mini miniature skull that I put a LED pumpkin like light little candle here. All right, that's one of my infographics. Let's see what else we got here. Here's some new images I got that show the products that are coming with it. There's another one that shows the size of the product. Here's one example of a main image I could use, but hold on, you guys haven't seen the cool part. And then look at this box. This box is epic, guys. It's shaped exactly like my coffin shelf. And look, people are going to see this and be like oh wow, I can use this box as like another coffin shaped storage. It's literally like having two products in one Now where they can put like dead roses and things they can put a ribbon on it. Let me show you some other images I have here. There's my infographic of the size here. This is super cool, guys. Here is my new coffin shaped box, and then the coffin fits right in there. These are the images I'm going to be using for my new listing.

Bradley Sutton:

And again, now, all of a sudden, somebody types in coffin shelf into Amazon and sure, they're going to see a bunch of $23, $22 coffin shelves, but don't you think mine is going to stick out with a main image? You know, maybe that looks like this, where it shows I've got a coffin shelf, I've got a coffin storage box, I've got a miniature skull, I've got a miniature pumpkin LED light. It's going to be no competition. I'm going to be priced $10 or more than the other coffin shelves, but my click through rate is going to be pretty darn good, I think. All right. So this is something that I think is beneficial for anybody out there who are selling products in niches that get a little bit saturated. Okay, they get a little bit saturated and you're like I don't want to play the price war. And, guys, let me tell you I don't think you should play the price war. So this is again.

Bradley Sutton:

This is Project X, this is our product that you guys know and love from Project X, and it's been selling for like almost four years now. And on Amazon, you can't just keep things status quo. Sure, we were successful with this product a couple of years ago and it's still been successful, but it's fallen off because of the competition. That's what happens on Amazon. Does it mean I need to give up right away? No, if this doesn't work, should I close this product? If I'm not profitable, yeah, I probably should close it, but don't just give up just because there's a lot of competition or there's price wars. There's different steps you guys can take in order to try and get your market share back and where you don't have to play these price games. All right, do not do a race to the bottom, because that's where all your profit is going to go. So this will be. You know, this is going to be live on Amazon, like probably in a couple of weeks or so.

Bradley Sutton:

The other test I'm going to do on here, guys, is I'm going to test this as a separate product with a honeymoon period, or launching as a new variation on this existing listing, taking advantage of those 1800 reviews I have, and doing a test on what works better getting that new honeymoon period and launching on a brand new ASIN or launch or taking advantage of all the reviews. But there could be something weird going on on the Amazon algorithm. That kind of like shadow blocks me from getting past position 10. So that's. I just wanted to give you guys a little mini tutorial on a real life experience that I'm doing here for Project X and what I'm doing to relaunch this coffin shelf product. Another thing I'm going to be doing I'm going to talk about in a future episode is the egg trace. That was the other product that I was selling for Project X. It's so funny. We got a brand new shipment in and the factory confused my product with another customer, so they gave me egg trays. That's the wrong shape and the wrong finish. It's like a shiny finish and I'm going to get some money back from the factory, but I'm like I don't want to throw these products away. I don't want to go without selling coffin or without selling egg trays for months, while I have to get the right product in. When I launched this product as like a new variation, a new product for me, I'm going to show you guys how I'm going to do that. You know, next month, in next month's episode. And that was the other Project X product.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now, guys, this is now your show, 100% of the rest of the time I want you guys to put in your questions. Violet says how do you find the supplier for the coffin box? So for me, I actually have a sourcing agent. Okay, so I think this is super important. My sourcing agent is boots on the ground in China. I just give her the parameters of what I'm looking for and she goes out and finds it herself for me. Rhonda says does the manufacturer design the new coffin shape box for you? No, I designed it. So I, I guess I just told my my sourcing agent. I was like hey, I want something that fits the exact shape of my coffin so that it doesn't add to my shipping dimensions, and make it happen. So she did. Oh, great question by Jonathan.

Bradley Sutton:

Once you find items to create differentiation, do you ship these to the main supplier who boxes it all together. Yes, so this is another way to kind of like foolproof yourself against. You know, like manufacturers doing shady things. So you can have, you can just send the products directly there, or you could send it to a third party. Like maybe you have a separate place that packages everything for you. Like maybe I can send everything to the where I get the package. Actually, I think that's what I did. Instead of having the coffin shelves packaged at the coffin shelf factory, I think I send it to the packaging company that has the coffin shaped box and that's where they put in the coffin shelf and they put in those little trinkets that come from. Now, three different factories, making it that much less likely that you know, somebody's just going to copy exactly what I'm doing, because I'm making it too difficult for them to copy me.

Bradley Sutton:

And David says do you have any reference for an agency that does a plus content? I've used a few myself. So the two I've used are both in hubhelium10.com. All right, go to hubhelium10.com. One of them is AMZ one step is has done it. And then the other one I've used is, uh, marketing by Emma. All right, marketing by Emma. So go into hubhealym10.com, look for both of those companies and you'll see how to contact them. Brenda says what videos do you recommend for beginners on HealyM10? If you're brand new on HealyM10, I recommend going through our Freedom Ticket Program. It's in the Learning Hub right there on your HealyM10 dashboard. That would be probably the best thing to do and then you know you could find the Project X videos in there as well, and the Project X videos are also on YouTube. Sergio says just launch what would you say is a good amount of sales per day to aim for. All depends on your keyword. All right, basically, if you want to get to page one of a keyword, you got to be selling probably through PPC for that keyword X number of products over 8 to 10 days in order to be able to get a good chance to get to page one. And if you're wondering how to find that number, that's inside of HealyM10. Just look at the CPR. So add your product to keyword tracker, your exact ASIN, and then look at the CPR number for your main keywords and that's kind of like how many units you need to sell over 8 days to give you the best chance to get to page one.

Bradley Sutton:

Ollie says let's go, bradley, these two sessions really lifted my spirits up in the process of launching my product was in doubts. How do you deal with the thought of whether the product will work or not? Well, I validate, validate, validate, all right, super important. We've been talking in the last. You know, you might have been in our Sellers Edge webinar where we're talking about how to find the product opportunity. But that's only half the journey. The next step is how to validate it. All right, you see something that looks good, but you just you don't just blindly say, all right, let's go with this, all right and let's make a million dollars. No, you've got to validate it All right. Now there's different steps that you have to do. So I take a look at you know, how strong are they on keywords? How strong are their listings? Is there enough demand for this product? Is there a must sales? Is there enough search for this? What's the seasonality? There are so many things that I look at to validate it. And then in Project X we talk about before, you might want to do a test listing. If there's not enough data, maybe you came up with some new idea that there's that doesn't have enough validation points on Amazon for you to make a rational decision. You might need to make a test listing to try and get those data points All right. So who knows, maybe that'll be the next Sellers Edge workshop that we do next month to talk about that.

Bradley Sutton:

Jacob says I've been using Opportunity Explorer on Sellers Central. Is there a good minimum for number of top clicks products? Excellent question. So for me this is how it can go either way. So for those who don't know in Product Opportunity Explorer the number of clicked products, it's the number of products that it takes in a niche to equal 90% of the clicks. So if there's only 10 products, that means that those 10 products have 90% of the clicks of that whole niche. If it's 1000 products, that means it takes 1000 products just to get to 90% of the clicks. Whether one is good and one is bad, you can go both ways on that, but that's how you look at that information. There's different circumstances where you might want to see different things. You might want to go into a niche where it's wide open, where there's no 10 products that are dominating, or on the flip side, you're like no, the 10 products that are dominating, they kind of suck. So I don't want to compete with 1000 products, I want to compete with only 10 products who suck. So that's another way you can look at it too.

Bradley Sutton:

Constance says what role does the first ASIN that I select play? When I select ASINs on X-ray to run them on Cerebro, you always say the first ASIN should be a random ASIN, not the top seller. Yes, so that sets the baseline product, the way that Cerebro is set up it's supposed to be. You have your product as the first one and then five or 10 other products that you're comparing it against. So then when you look at the competitor rank average, it's excluding that first one because that's the one that you're comparing to. But if you're just doing general product research, like on X-ray, you maybe don't have your product on there. So you don't want to select all the just top 10 good ones because, remember, it's going to exclude that first product. So you need to click on the first one something from the bottom of the page that's maybe irrelevant to your product, and that's the one that it isolates. And then the competitor rank average and the sponsored rank average of the competitors. It's going to be all of those subsequent nine 10 products you choose.

Bradley Sutton:

Good question, Constance Jonathan says when validating, do you order a smaller quantity than build up, or do you validate mostly with online data points? I validate mostly with online data points, but if I don't have enough, that's when I do a Tesla scene and I'll have like five or 10 units only for that. All right, guys, that's about it for all the time that we have today. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode where we went over some Project X updates that you guys will actually see live on the website on Amazon, probably in two weeks, if you guys are watching this on YouTube or another place. This is what we do once a month, but every week anybody who is in our Serious Sellers Club or Helium 10 Elite actually gets this call. All right, every single week I'm on here answering every single question, but once a month we open it up to everybody. So make sure you sign up next month to take advantage of this episode, or sign up for Helium 10 Elite. Get on the waitlist h 10.me/elite and you can take advantage of getting asking me questions every single week. Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see you guys later. Have a great day, bye, bye now.

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Ever wondered what it takes to get your product to the top of Walmart's search results? We've cracked the code and our host, Carrie Miller, is here to share every inside tip and strategy you need to make your Walmart listings shine. In this episode, we discuss everything from the importance of choosing the right product type to mastering the listing quality score without resorting to the pitfalls of title stuffing. Compliance with Walmart's guidelines is key, and we talk about the balance between PPC campaigns and organic search enhancements that could transform your rankings. Plus, we can't forget the tactical use of Walmart's SEM tool to harness the power of Google ads—a game-changer for driving traffic to your listings.

As we dive deeper into the ecosystem of Walmart's online presence, one thing is clear: the influence of digital word-of-mouth is not to be underestimated. We explore the emerging role of the Walmart Creator program and how influencers can catapult your products into the social media spotlight. Agencies like SellCord, Blue Ryse, and Ecom Creative Crew get a nod for their expertise in navigating listing challenges, and we remind sellers of the resources available through our Walmart.com tools inside Helium 10. Wrapping up, we send out an invitation to join the Winning with Walmart group—your go-to hub for community support and answers to all your Walmart-related queries. Remember, success at Walmart may be a podcast away, so tune in, get inspired, and let's make those sales numbers soar!

In episode 530 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about:

00:00 - Ranking Strategies For Walmart Listings
04:22 - Walmart's SEM Offers Growth Opportunities
12:37 - Walmart Listing Optimization Guide
13:40 - Walmart Traffic, Influencers, Branding, and Agencies
16:54 - Walmart Application and Brand Registry
22:43 - Ranking Strategies For Walmart Products
24:16 - Join The Winning With Walmart Group

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

In today's episode we're going to be talking about how to rank on Walmart, some new tools that Walmart is offering to help you with your sales and ranking, and also just how Helium 10 tools can help you with your PPC and also your listing optimization.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of this Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. My name is Keri and I'm going to be your host. This is our winning with Walmart episode, where we go live and give you some Walmart information and answer all of your Walmart questions live, alright. Somebody asked this is a great question how do you rank organically in Walmart? Is it the same algorithm as Amazon? There's actually a few different components to ranking on Walmart. The first one is product type. Your product type is really important because the product type is connected to the keywords for your actual product. If you're in the wrong product type, it's going to make it hard for you to actually rank. The first thing you want to do is go to your growth opportunities tab and check your product type. You can click on the details for each product listing and it'll tell you a product type up at the top. If the product type is definitely wrong, then you're going to want to make sure to fix that. Sometimes, what you can do is you can A B test the product types, because some product types include a lot more keywords. That means you're going to be able to rank and show up and basically index for any of those keywords. If you aren't in the right product type though with the most keywords, then it's going to be hard to rank for this. For example, I know someone did for supplements. It was nutritional supplements and herbal supplements or something like that. They changed their product type to nutritional supplements and that encompassed a lot more keywords than herbal supplements. You want to really take a look at those product types. Make sure that you have the right product type. That's first for ranking. The second thing is you want to make sure that you have a high listing score. You want to make sure you're in the 90s at least for your listing quality score. Look on that dashboard and make sure you're doing that.

Carrie Miller:

Things like stuffing your title. If you use the same titles that you do on Amazon a lot of times they'll suppress you a bit, because Walmart does not like stuffing titles. You want to make sure to follow the guidelines for the titles and just the entire listing. Make sure that you write the keywords that you want to rank for into your listing. If there's a specific phrase, if there's some targeted phrases, you're going to want to write those phrases in the exact form. Maybe there's 15 to 20. You want to write those throughout. Obviously, your most important phrase should be in the title. Those are the first things that you're going to want to do. The next thing is you're going to want to get sales. It is important to get some clicks ads to carts and conversions. I know some people do some search find by. There's some people who do different coupons. Sometimes people send traffic from TikTok and people will search on Walmart. They'll just search for the actual product through the keyword. There's a few different ways to do it, but really you're going to want to click add to cart and conversion.

Carrie Miller:

That's how you're going to help to rank. PPC is really, really helpful. If you're doing PPC along with that, that is a great way to rank. You really get some good ranking juice with PPC. Definitely try all of those things. Those are all the best combination of things to rank because it all goes together. Make sure that you're also putting in as many attributes in the backend as possible so you can rank for those as well. Those are the basics for ranking, but it's not really the same as Amazon, because Amazon's really giving you a lot of ranking juice for outside traffic. Walmart does have some outside traffic things that they have going on, but it's not necessarily helping with rank. There is something that I wanted to talk about. It's called SEM and it's on your growth opportunities tab. It's the very last one and it's basically Google ads. They used to do this for free and now it's. Unfortunately, you have to pay for it. What they're doing is they're giving you the ability to drive Google ads directly to your Walmart listings. That is a great way to get some outside traffic. That could potentially also help your rank because of the conversions and things like that. Check out the SEM at the very end. Very easy to set up those Google shopping ads and you can start showing it for Google shopping and get more conversions that way.

Carrie Miller:

I think we have another question Does Walmart take care of the shipping to the client? Can I ship products from China directly to the Walmart warehouse? I've actually never shipped directly from the China warehouse. The thing about it is I don't believe they're going to be receiving large shipments for you as your first starting out. So the best thing would probably be to ship your products to a 3PL and then ship them into the Walmart warehouses. That's what I would recommend in general, and then, if you don't sell out on Walmart, you can use it for Amazon, you can use it for TikTok shop, so that way you have better control over your inventory. So I think someone else said, no, you can't. So yeah, I know you can with Amazon and or used to be able to. You know we were shipping containers directly to Amazon and it's this little harder now. But you know, it sounds like somebody else said you can't ship directly from China, so ship to a 3PL, then ship into WFS, and that is the best way to go.

Carrie Miller:

I think something else that I wanted to kind of point out to everyone is that we actually do have some tools with Helium 10. And I did have some. I've had some meetings recently with some sellers and they are. You know, I think we're all kind of forgetting some of these tools that Helium 10 has and I wanted to kind of bring it back to your attention. So I'm going to just show you some keyword research tools and like, for example, garlic press. Okay, so we always use the garlic press kind of example. But what we want to do is what we can do here is we can actually pull our x-ray extension. We have x-ray for Walmart here and what we can do is we can copy the product IDs and do a reverse search on Cerebro for keywords. Now I like to look for kind of the main. You know things. Actually, I was looking at decorative pillow. I want to look at decorative pillows, decorative pillows. So I'm going to search for that and we'll see if we can find some. A lot of times these are kind of interesting and diverse. So let's go ahead and pull the Helium 10 extension. So, for anyone who's listening, I'm just pulling our Chrome extension for Helium 10. This is going to show revenue for each product. It's going to show the product IDs, it's going to show reviews. It's going to show a lot of great information to help you kind of better make good decisions, for not only you know what products to start selling on here, but also how to kind of position your own products.

Carrie Miller:

So what I usually like to do is kind of look for things that are selling pretty well. So it looks like this snow leopard pillow is selling pretty well. So what we can do is we can just paste that into Walmart for Cerebro. Now you have to choose. You have to scroll all the way down to Walmart Marketplace in Cerebro to choose the Walmart Marketplace to do this, and it's basically this product ID. Now, if you don't have, you know, the X-ray pulled up, you can actually find it on the listing page itself in the URL. It's the last digits on the URL, so you can do that as well. So I'll go ahead and actually just do this one search. Let's look at the keywords for this decorative pillow. So we're going to hit, get keywords, and what it's doing is it's basically showing all of the keywords that that particular product is ranking for, sponsored in Organic. So if we take a look, we can see a lot of different, you know, keyword phrases. We've got snow leopard decorative pillows, their organic rank number five, if you wanted. So if there's a competitor that's doing some advertising, what you can also do is you can do this single search product ID and you can sort by sponsored rank. It doesn't look like this one is doing any advertising, but if they were, then you would be able to see all of the keywords that they're advertising for. And with Walmart, a lot of times there's, you know, kind of like a 15 to 20 keyword phrase focus, and so you might be able to see the exact keyword strategy that your competitors have. So that's something that's really cool about doing a single search ascent, but you can see all of the different kind of keywords in here. You can see the search volume and it's going to be compared to the search volume on Amazon. It's a little bit different on Amazon.

Carrie Miller:

Now, on Walmart, there are a lot of filters that customers do use, so they kind of filter down to find the products that they want. But this is an incredible tool for your, for your listing optimization. So you want to make sure to write all of your most important keywords into your listing. Then you also want to, you know, use this for your pay per click advertising, because I have noticed that there's a little bit different keywords and keyword phrases Then on Amazon. So I always do keyword research separately for Walmart so that I can make sure that my pay per click advertising and my actual listing is optimized for Walmart. So that is one way to do this. We can also search magnet. You can search phrases. So if I put decorative pillow in here, it'll search on Walmart. Actually, you know what? I think? I didn't change the marketplace. Let's go all the way down to the Walmart marketplace here. This is the Walmart marketplace. We're going to hit, get keywords under the Walmart marketplace on magnet and what this will do is it's going to show you similar keywords to you know decorative pillow that you could use and give you. It'll give you more ideas of you know what kinds of keywords to target so you can sort by.

Carrie Miller:

You know search volume amounts. You can search by search search volume there. You can see it compared to Amazon there, and there's a lot of great keywords that you can focus on. Now, even the lower search volume keywords I've still made sales on those, especially if they're very relevant. So I don't ignore those really low search volume keywords either. So if you are ignoring some of those, I would highly recommend, you know, creating some campaigns for those lower search volume keywords as well. All right, so we've got Cerebro when we've got magnet. We also have a profits tool and I know there are a lot of people who are using profits to maintain just their whole profits view of Walmart and it's been been very, very helpful for a lot of people. So if you haven't started using profits, you want to connect your Walmart token to helium 10, so it'll automatically pull in that data. You can add in your costs of goods, you can add in any other expenses that you have in there and you can get a pretty good overview of your profits on Walmart. So that is something else to think about. Now.

Carrie Miller:

I did notice that there was kind of an announcement recently about video ads. They're doing some different testing, maybe just on the look of video ads and sponsored brand ads on Walmart. So if you are doing those, you might see that a little bit. But something I did notice is that a lot of brands are not even doing video ads or any kind of sponsored brand ads. So if you, you know, are in a kind of competitive category, you should check on those keywords and see if you can start doing some advertising on those. You know you have to be a registered brand in order to do that, but video ads and sponsored sponsored brand ads are going to be a great way for you to, you know, really get going with some sales, especially because you'll be right at the top and it's not as expensive as it is on on Amazon at this point. So it's really good thing to do. Coupons are still in beta, so I have talked to some people who are using the beta program for coupons and they've had a really good conversion rates for coupons. So I'm really, really hoping to see those come out soon for everyone. Maybe some of you have them, so you might want to check your dashboards, your growth opportunities wherever, to see if something appears about coupons, but I have heard very good things about them. Also, subscribe and save has been in some beta programs, so that those are some things to kind of look forward to. Brand stores are available, so if you are a brand registered seller, go ahead and check it, check that out, get your brand store all registered and ready to go.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, it looks like we have another question in here. Are there any guides for SEO, titles, description. Is it good to have keyword stuffing in the title? No, so I did mention this at the beginning. There are guides for very, very good guides, actually on Walmart. So if you go to the help center, you can find and search different for different things, and optimization is one of them. You can look for how you should set up your title, how you should set up your description and your bullets, and it's all in there. Now keyword stuffing is going to get your listing suppressed a bit. You want to follow the guidelines that Walmart sets and then, when you actually create your title and your whole listing on your growth opportunities tab. It's going to give you a listing quality score and if your title isn't the way they want it, it'll show you what you need to do to fix it. So that's very, very helpful. So any mistakes that you make on your actual listing, you can go back and fix them on the growth opportunities tab, which is a really, really great thing to utilize. So that's a great question. So thank you for that question.

Carrie Miller:

Another thing is I just wanted to talk a little bit about traffic to Walmart. So where is the traffic coming from? There are some things again I wanted to reiterate. If you haven't started using the SEM tab on the very end of your growth opportunities tab where you can do those Google ads, that's going to be a great place for traffic. I think a lot of traffic can come from Google. So if you can just get that that advertising going, that would really help help you there. Another thing is I have seen a very large uptick in influencers. Now I follow a lot of kind of female, kind of clothing influencers and I know there's a lot of home decor influencers. There are a lot of influencers that are now promoting Walmart products because there's a Walmart Creator program. They get commissions. Some of them are Walmart partners, so they're finding products on Walmart and promoting them through their Instagram, through their TikToks. So what you can do is, if you wanted to kind of reach out to some of these, you can search you know, walmart partner, walmart sponsored ad, or just search hashtags to see what creators within your space are, you know, basically promoting your types of products, and a lot of times you'll find those. Or if you're just following, you know people in your space and a lot of times they are already promoting Walmart stuff. So I think that's a really good opportunity to help them to not to be successful by, you know, giving them your product and then seeing if they'll promote it on Instagram, tiktok, you know, everywhere on social media. So I highly recommend looking into that. I think it's a great way of getting more traffic there. I also have noticed that you know Walmart is still really pushing for Walmart plus memberships. A lot of credit cards you get it for free, like American Express, platinum, for sure you get. You get it for free for the year. So there's a lot of great credit card perks that you can get Walmart plus memberships for free, which you know will incentivize people to you know shop at Walmart, especially if they see something that's the same thing on Walmart, they're like, oh, I might as well just go to Walmart because I get free shipping anyway. So those are some things about Walmart traffic, all right. So another question Do you know any I think, maybe trustworthy agencies to fix my listing problem for me? Yes, I do know some agencies. There is Michael LaBar at SellCord.co. They do a great job at fixing listing issues. I think they're probably the best for kind of like solving issues. There's also Ryan King from Blue Rise and there's also McCall Chapnick from Ecom Creative Crew. So Ecom Crew so sorry, Ecom Creative Crew team and so you can reach out to all of them. I know McCall has a great Walmart group, so if you haven't joined her group, it's a Walmart Marketplace Sellers group. She's pretty active in there too, so you can you can, you know connect with her there. So there's a lot of great agencies that you could reach out to. Somebody has a very long one here, let's see here, let's see. It's a very long question here. Thank you, my G, michael Thomas, says sorry, I had to step off for a minute so I may have missed this.

Carrie Miller:

Concerning the application process. What is your experience or anyone that you know who has submitted an application? I've actually been talking to a new seller of business development and Matt Turner said the fiscal year starts at the end of this month, so I think Walmart will start approving applications at that time. Also, how do you get a brand page on Walmart? Okay, so you should be able to apply to Walmart anytime. So if you're, you know, ready to sell on Walmart, I would recommend that you just go ahead and apply. Make sure that you have, you know, make sure that there's a list of countries that are approved. Now, if you don't live in the US and maybe your country is not approved, usually an LLC works and I know Michael from Cell Court can help get around those kinds of issues. But you do just need to have kind of an established business. Make sure that you have all your ducks in a row, you know of all the qualifications that they have listed out for your application and you should be good to go for the application. It takes usually 48 hours. Sometimes it can take a little bit longer, but you should be able to get that application going. The next thing is going to be brand registry. So there is a brand registry portal, so it's brand portal, portalonemarkcom, and you just click on register. You need to have a you know a red, a trademark. It says it right here on this screen here you need to have registered trademark and so make sure that you have that. You know all that in a, all those ducks in a row, basically, before you apply for that, so that you have access, that'll give you access to video ads, sponsor brand ads, the brand stores. A lot of the perks that are coming are going to be basically related to to the brand portal. So hopefully that answers your question. Let's see.

Carrie Miller:

Another question is it seems like Walmart is looking more for brands. Do you agree? I actually don't agree. What they are looking for and I've actually talked to a lot of these kind of the managers on Walmart they're looking for products that really complement what's already on Walmartcom, so things like accessories to products that are already on Walmart, so things that are complimentary that maybe aren't already on Walmart. They're looking for a well-rounded catalog. So it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have a big brand, they just want complimentary products. There is an assortment growth tab on the back end of your Walmart seller center and sometimes you get some good suggestions on how to kind of grow things that might not be available on Walmart, that they want you to sell. But that is a great way to just look for things that are not necessarily available on Walmart but would be good complimentary accessory products to things that they have, and that might be a great way to go. But, yeah, they are accepting third-party sellers. They're really investing a lot of money to get third-party sellers to start selling on Walmart, so they are definitely wanting third-party sellers to come.

Carrie Miller:

Another thing that I wanted to bring up is that there is some rich media that's available for free and that's kind of like A-plus content If you go to the help and then go to get support when you're logged in to seller center. So go help get support, then click on items and inventory, click on rich media and then you'll see instructions on how you can upload a video or a 365 image and that'll be basically for free. Otherwise you have to pay for each thing to get hosted through an agency. But those are some free modules. If you don't have a video up, that's a great thing to put up there and I highly recommend you do that if you haven't done that yet. So another thing somebody asked is where can we create a brand store? This is going to be when you are registered, a brand registered, you go to your brand portal and that should. That is the place where you're going to be able to see all of that to create your brand store. Another thing I wanted to bring up is the review accelerator program is still going on. You can go do up to 10 reviews and basically how this works is it's not like Vine on Amazon, it's basically your actual customers. So whatever sales you get within a certain amount of time, they will actually send a request to that customer for a review and they'll pay them $3. You pay $10 for the whole review, but it's a great way to get some verified reviews of customers who are actually looking for your product already, not just somebody who's reviewing products. So review accelerator program if you don't have any reviews, you can go up to 10. So once you pass 10, you're no longer eligible for the review accelerator program, but that is a great way to get some reviews going if you don't have them going as well.

Carrie Miller:

And let's see. Here we have another question. Bradley's asking me what was my December sales? I actually don't know the actual number. I think it was around the 12,000 to 15,000 for my one main product. And I have to go look, I have a few different brands on there, so the one that I've been really focusing on I did about 15,000 for that one product. So not bad, especially since it's only one product. You kind of multiply that by 10, you've got a million dollars a year on Walmart. So that's something to consider. That's the one that I use mostly to kind of test things out and I try to see what's going on with Walmart with that particular product. And I've had the Proseller badge. I've had that for quite a while now and they've actually been giving me refunds on my referral fees and so that's pretty cool. So a lot of great things coming with Walmart. I think the coupons are going to be a really big deal, that we're going to be able to sell a lot more on with those coupons, because people do like deals, and I think that's going to be great. So let's see here Bradley is asking how have you been getting to page one for your Walmart launches?

Carrie Miller:

Now, I did talk about this a little bit earlier, right at the beginning, because somebody was asking how to rank, and that is basically the first thing obviously is your product type. You have to be in the right product type. First of all, you have to make sure you're listing it has about a 90% or above, and sometimes you'll rank to the top just with that listing quality score. A lot of times we'll just help optimize listings and it goes straight to the top with just the listing quality score. Don't stuff your title, but it's really clicks, adds to carts, conversions. Those are going to help to really get your ranking up, and that includes PPC. So if you're combining doing a search, find by type strategy along with pay-per-click advertising, you're going to get some really good results from that. So I know we talked with Kostin from AZ Rank last I think it was last month that we did and they actually have a whole way to help you rank. So if you do want to use their services, they're doing a good job of helping people to rank to the top. So check them out as well, because they've got some great strategies for ranking on Walmart too.

Carrie Miller:

All right, another thing that I wanted to point out is WFS. Make sure you have your products in WFS. That's another thing that's going to help you with your listing quality score and your rank. So Walmart fulfillment services are even if you want to just send in like 20 to 30 products at a time just to see how much it's going to how much is going to go, and I would suggest at least trying out WFS, and it's going to help you quite a bit. So if you haven't enrolled in WFS, you should do that. But other than that, I think that is all that I have for today, unless there's any more questions. But thank you all for these questions and if you haven't joined our winning with Walmart group, make sure that you go and join our winning with Walmart group. We have a lot of great sellers in there and people answering questions, and so you can also tag me in any questions that you have. On Facebook. Some people have sent me messages and so I would love to help you with any Walmart issues. So I will see you all on the next episode Next month, we'll have a special guest, so I'm excited for that one, and so stay tuned. Every month, usually on Wednesday. We had to reschedule this week, but usually on Wednesdays we do Winning with Walmart Wednesday and I hope to see you all there again and have a great rest of the day. Bye everyone.

View Details

Listen in as we explore the latest buzzing news shifting the landscape of e-commerce, where we talk about TikTok’s slowing usage, Amazon’s AI integrations, and more!

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Senior Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Shop buyers will have to pay higher order minimums to get free shipping as the company cuts back
https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-shop-cutting-back-free-shipping-trims-costs-2024-1

Amazon aids seller listings with new generative AI partnership
https://chainstoreage.com/amazon-aids-seller-listings-new-generative-ai-partnership

Etsy targets gift shoppers with AI-based tool
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/19/tiktok-usage-is-starting-to-slow-is-tiktok-shop-to-blame/

TikTok usage is starting to slow — is TikTok Shop to blame?
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/19/tiktok-usage-is-starting-to-slow-is-tiktok-shop-to-blame/

Learn how to stay ahead of the curve as Carrie shows you the power of Helium 10’s BlackBox tool together with Amazon’s Brand Analytics data. Your perspective is the missing piece so make sure to share them in the comments below or in the Helium 10 Users Facebook group as we dissect Amazon, Etsy, and TikTok shop’s evolving marketplaces and the power dynamics at play for sellers.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:43 - TikTok Shipping
01:25 - Amazon Listing AI
03:32 - Etsy Gift Finder
04:23 - TikTok Usage Slowing
05:32 - Amazon Search Terms
07:14 - New BlackBox Tool

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Ever wondered how the savviest of e-commerce entrepreneurs keep their profit margins healthy amidst rising industry costs? Buckle up as Benjamin Webber, a true maverick in the Amazon FBA realm, rides through the podcast to share his unique tactics. He's not just playing the game; he's changing it by using his own truck as an Amazon carrier, slashing his shipping expenses, and keeping his company's financials robust. With a 10% hike in gross sales and an ever-expanding team, Ben breaks down the logistics of becoming an Amazon carrier, the operational efficiencies that keep his business ahead, and why sometimes the best move is to quite literally take the wheel of your product distribution.

The chessboard of global e-commerce is complex, but Ben is a grandmaster at maneuvering his pieces. He unveils his strategies for managing inventory across continents, discusses the art of optimizing check-in speeds, and serves wisdom on tackling geographic conversion issues. His narrative takes us through the meticulous dance of manufacturing diversification—from Asia to the Americas—and the savvy logistics of East Coast shipping. As Ben's company eyes a leap into Amazon's global marketplaces, he lays out his blueprint for facing the squeeze of shrinking margins, fortifying supplier relationships, and negotiating like a pro.

In a world increasingly driven by AI, Ben has mastered fusing technology with human creativity. This episode isn't just about listing optimization and tweaking ad strategies—it's a glimpse into an advertising revolution dictated by sponsored rank and AI's role in it. And when it comes to product development, Ben and his team are tapping into AI to conjure up innovative solutions to everyday problems. It's a thrilling ride through the intersection of data, technology, and human insight, where Ben exemplifies the adventurous spirit of online selling. Join us, and let your e-commerce curiosity be captured by his exceptional vision and trailblazing tactics.

In episode 529 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ben discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Carrier Strategies and Profit Margins
06:45 - Optimizing Amazon Stock Check-in and Distribution
09:08 - Inventory, Manufacturing, and Global Expansion
10:52 - Product Warehouse Benefits
15:43 - Amazon Advertising and Listing Optimization
16:52 - Analyzing Conversion Rates and Product Quality
24:31 - Factors for Retiring Products
25:33 - Warehouse Efficiency and Competitor Analysis
31:50 - Using AI for Product Development
33:52 - 2024 Tips and Unique Strategies

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a popular guest back on the show, Ben, who's got very unique strategies, such as he made himself an Amazon carrier so that he can deliver with his own truck his FBA replenishment orders 15 minutes away from him for free. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image, or Amazon changed their shipping dimensions so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me/alerts. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. You've got a serious seller back for, I believe, the second time here on the show, Ben. How's it going, man?

Ben:

Good, how about yourself?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm doing just delightful. So I take your North Carolina, which is why I switched hats here at the last second rock in this Charlotte hat. Here Is Charlotte where you're at, or what part North Carolina are you on?

Ben:

Yeah, I'm in Charlotte.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, been out there long yeah.

Ben:

I came here in 2002 and never left.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So if you guys want to get more of his backstory, guys write this down episode 379. We went a little bit more into his background there, so we're not going to go too much. You know more into. You know how his superhero origin story, want to catch up and see what cool stuff he's been he's been working on. That was a great episode, by the way. In there he talked about how he had a three million dollars in retail arbitrage sales and he has his cult following now in the Amazon world on the speaker circuit. A lot of cool stuff we talked about in that episode, including you know how to hire for your Amazon businesses and whatnot. But let's just catch up. You know now we're in 2024. You know I think the last time you're on the show was like end of 2022 around there, so it's been, you know, full year. How was your 2023?

Ben:

It was good. Our big priority was expanding obviously expanding product lines, and then just figuring out the best ways to manage what we have so that we can grow and scale as efficiently as possible.

Bradley Sutton:

How many employees are you guys up to now?

Ben:

So we have the warehouse and then we have an international team. So collectively we're between 60 and 70.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent. Now what was you know, just from a gross sales overall, all channels, if you were to compare 2023 with 2022, how did you guys do?

Ben:

We're up maybe 10%, so it didn't really push too hard this year.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, something that I think a lot of sellers might have said compared in 2023 to 2022, is profit margins were down due to increased cost, whether that be inflation or cost of goods, Amazon fees, PPC how was your profit margin?

Ben:

Yeah, it definitely went down a little bit, not as bad as I guess a lot of people have. That I've talked to have run into. But one of the big things that helps us and I think we talked about this before is just that because we are in Charlotte and there's a CL2, the CL22 warehouse is in Charlotte we're able to deliver a lot of our own inventory. So we're a last mile delivery driver or delivery provider for Amazon. So we don't have to pay to ship in to Amazon. We pay somebody $15 an hour to drive a truck with 12 pallets and they're 20 minutes from our warehouse. So as far as the inbound shipping costs and those expenses, those don't really hurt us too badly.

Bradley Sutton:

So that whole, so you ship everything then from your manufacturing to your warehouse and then so that that quote unquote landed cost that ends up being your cost to Amazon as well. Essentially, yeah, how did you even know that that was possible to do?

Ben:

Several years ago we were about to stock out of. As you know, we sell a lot of fourth quarter products and kind of joke toy products, and we're about to stock out of one that we sold between 800 to 1000 units a day, which is a fairly substantial issue. So we actually loaded up a cargo van and drove the cargo van to Amazon, talked to us our way through the front gates to deliver it and they took it and so we did that once. Then we did it again and we got through again the third time. They're like no, you can't do this and so like, okay, but somehow we have to be able to do this. So we looked into Carrier Central and figure out how we could become a last mile carotter, which is incredibly easy. It takes about 15 minutes to fill out a form and then you have to show that you can back in and out of a parking spot Incredibly easy. So in that January we bought a truck and the rest is history from there. But it was. It came about because we were about to stock out and panic and we're like well, what's the worst that can happen?

Bradley Sutton:

So then theoretically you can also do this service for other people, that you would be the carrier and then other people can just store their product here at warehouse and then you would deliver. But for now you just pretty much do it for yourself. Is there like was there any kind of minimums? Like, hey, you have to have a dock high truck, you have to, it has to be this size, it has to be order, you know, like it has to be at least X number of pallets, or what kind of requirements was it.

Ben:

So basically it had to be palletized and it required a dock high truck, and I forget there was. There's a code you have to send them that you get for just having a truck, so it doesn't really matter, you're going to have it anyway. But dock high and palletized products. And what we did was we looked up what the largest truck that we could buy without having to have a CDL was, which in North Carolina, is a 26 foot box truck, and so that holds 12 pallets.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you have to have, like a company that's a registered trucking company or something?

Ben:

Nope, I actually had a friend who was trying to do this for some of their products because they were just the same issue where they're about to stock out and Amazon wasn't checking them in fast enough. And one of the benefits of what we do is and this is I don't know how long this will stay that way, so I'm probably going to jinx myself by saying it, but our stuff gets checked in faster than anybody else's. So, like this year, we had stuff that we delivered in December that was checked in three days late.

Bradley Sutton:

We were able to pick that exact DC to get the stuff into when you're creating your transfer shipments.

Ben:

There are a number of softwares that you can use that let you pick and direct where you want it to go to.

Bradley Sutton:

But what is that? So that's not something that you can do on your own, just in seller central.

Ben:

It. Well, yes and no, it's not something that you can directly do, but typically if you're sending case packs in, they're going to try to send that to the largest distributor center nearest you or distribution center nearest to you. At least that's what we've seen Even before, like when we weren't using a software for it. We're sending about 65 to 70% of our case packs all went to Charlotte, so they're still trying to keep stuff. As far as the case packs that, they're just sending them to the nearest large distribution center. At least that's how it worked out for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, have you looked into, or do you know yet, how this change to their shipping program is going to affect you, if any at all, with this whole thing where people now have to pay if they're only sending it to one location? I mean, even if that's the case, it's still got to be better. I'm assuming that you'd still choose that.

Ben:

Yeah, it'll cost us more now, but it's still better to deliver to ourselves. The bigger issue, honestly, was the minimum stock levels. Because we're able to deliver so quickly and because we know that Amazon is checking in so quickly, we've been able to run very, very, very lean, and that's going to get.

Bradley Sutton:

They're going to punish you now, right?

Ben:

So now we're going to have to put. Over the last month we've been having to send way more inventory than we ever had before in because we have to meet the minimum stock requirements to not get charged, though I had the fees there, so that's honestly the bigger issue for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Have you ever taken a look at in Helium 10, at our inventory heat maps to see what they do with your inventory day by day and then how long it takes them to distribute? Because sure, you can get it checked in, but if everything just sits there in Charlotte for a week and then all of a sudden somebody's in Portland and their buy box says yeah, two weeks delivery date, then that might be conversion issue for certain geographic areas. Are they getting your inventory out to the country pretty fast?

Ben:

Usually within two weeks, but it is something where there's definitely some gaps, where we have been not fulfilling the West Coast, for example, is efficiently, as we probably could be.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what about the fact that you're I mean I'm assuming you manufacture your stuff in China, India or where you?

Ben:

manufacture it. So we have manufacturing in China, Mexico, India, Canada, the US and I want to say Vietnam as well.

Bradley Sutton:

So what about the stuff coming from Asia, the fact that you're not, that you're sending it to you in the middle, not completely in the middle, but is it coming to the East Coast port first, or is it coming to California?

Ben:

We send a lot of it through Savannah Georgia.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, okay, and so, even if it wasn't going to your warehouse, is that where you're routing it? In the old days, if you were going directly to Amazon, it would still go to the East Coast first.

Ben:

We always sent directly to our warehouse just for having the flexibility. For a lot of our products there are varying pack sizes and we'll repackage as needed in the warehouse to make sure that we're filling the ones that we need to. So we've always sent it to ourselves first For that reason. Then also just from a flexibility standpoint as far as inventory management, where if you send it from China you're basically going to have to send in 90 to 120 days to make sure that you're covered or just have constant orders going. If we send it to our warehouse first, we can keep the Amazon fees lower for storage by storing it. For what amounts to about? I think last time we calculated it we're paying like $6.50 a pallet or $7 a pallet, something like that, to store it at our warehouse. So the amount of money that we're saving off of the Amazon fees by storing it to ourselves and then sending in smaller shipments versus sending in the bulk ones that a lot of people do.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, makes sense. Yeah, I was worried a little bit at least. Like, wait a minute, you know like some of your savings might be gone if you're still having a bring things into the port and like California. And then you got to ship it all the way Right, stick it on trains or trucks to go all the way to North Carolina. But the fact that it's coming into already on the East Coast, that doesn't make it too bad. Okay, so that's pretty cool.

Ben:

Honestly, that's one of the things that we're looking into for 2024 is seeing if we want to find a 3PL out on the West Coast so we can send some inventory there for the heat map issues that you were bringing up, where we can send stuff to the West Coast DCs from there and then keep doing everything else from Charlotte so that we can make sure that we're covering the country. And also, if there's a way to bring stuff in and have it on the West Coast already, then it just makes things easier.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what other you know? We've been talking about Amazon USA. What other Amazon marketplaces are you selling on worldwide? And what about other domestic here in the USA marketplaces like Walmart, tik Tok, etc.

Ben:

Honestly, we haven't pushed that hard on the non-domestic Amazon sites just because our logic has kind of been well, the US is the largest market. If we're able to successfully sell something here, we're going to be more successful than selling something in another market. So we would rather come up with a new product to sell in the US versus taking the time and energy to push externally. But that is something that started to change over the last year. We are in Canada, we're in the UK and we're going to expand through Europe over the next year as far as Amazon, and then we have our own Shopify sites for all of our brands, and then we do a good bit through Walmart as well.

Bradley Sutton:

What's your strategy, like you know, going into 2024, now that margins are decreasing, I mean, are you raising? Are you planning to raise prices? Have you raised prices? Trying to cut costs in unique ways? Pull back on advertising? How does somebody you know, because it's not like you know, this is just something that you're facing, like we talked about earlier. A lot of people are facing it, and some worse. Why do you think, other than the shipping thing, you haven't been hit as hard as others. And what's the plan to you know? It's not like costs are going to go down anytime soon. So how are you going to? You know, stay above water.

Ben:

Yeah Well, I mean, one of the things is, before we started the podcast, you and I were discussing how you were just in China and like going and meeting with your manufacturers and actually having those conversations, you can get better rates, you can get better terms, you can get a lot of benefits. You can also see what they can and can't do and find a lot of products that you can make with the same manufacturer. And the more things you buy from one manufacturer, the better rates you're going to get on each of those orders. So going directly to your manufacturers and talking to them is a way that you can massively improve your, your costs and also the terms you have. Like, with some of our, some of our manufacturers, we don't pay until 90 days after the products has come to our warehouse.

Bradley Sutton:

How long have you been with those manufacturers?

Ben:

I like to ask for some Wow yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

And have you visited them there in where they're at and got out to meet and stuff like it?

Ben:

And met their family, took their kids presents like or we're very close with them. But it's something that you can like you, that's something that you can build. And again, even if it's somebody that you aren't close with, the more that you can, more you buy from them, the more likely they are to give you better rates, better terms etc. So that's one thing. As far as the advertising goes, one of the things we started really pushing over the last probably six months is just kind of figuring out what are where our product deserves to be ranked based off of price, quality, everything else compared to our competition on specific keywords, and adjusting our advertising based off of that. So if we look and we say like, okay, we're really the fourth best product on this keyword, we're not going to push heavily for our with our advertising to try and get to the number one spot, because eventually we're just going to drop back down to the number four or we're going to have to keep spending a ton of money. So we've adjusted our ad spend to match where we feel like we should be on that keyword and if we drop below that then we'll raise it. But if we're there we'll leave it basically where it is, and that's actually significantly improved our profitability, because we're not spending as much to rank up on something that we won't stick. Because you're not going to stick at the top, then why are you trying to get there? It's not going to, you're just wasting money.

Bradley Sutton:

So are you like you know? Obviously, like you said, you know, price is an easy, easy one to know. If you quote unquote deserve to be there. You're looking at, like conversion rates by keyword and search, career performance or things like that, or what are some other factors other than just strictly price?

Ben:

Yeah. So we'll buy every single product and bring it to our warehouse and do comparison tests so we'll look and see like okay, this one, like, let's say, we're selling a paper plate we can see like, okay, if we put sauce on this for an hour, it leaks through Ours doesn't. So for the sauce we rank better than them, or the size that it takes or the amount of weight they can hold. It can hold as far as food, things like that, where you're just testing to see the quality of your product versus theirs. So it's not just the quality of the listing and conversion, it's also the quality of what you're actually offering to the customer.

Bradley Sutton:

That's interesting. I've never heard of somebody doing that. Where it's like at the keyword level, how do we stack up so that we deserve you know to. You know like, like a product could do really well, like in that situation, for like a keyword like heavy duty plates, or you know big meals or some, or for you know watery foods or something like that, whereas maybe another one would be, you know, floral looking plates, where it's more aesthetic and you could rank or you could rate, I should say, differently for each keyword.

Ben:

Exactly and it also helps you figure out which way you want to direct your, the copy and photos and everything that you're putting out for the listing, as you see like, because I mean, everybody is doing competitor research before to figure out, okay, how can I say that I'm better than this one? But if you don't keep doing that throughout it, you're going to get passed off. But also, if you look at it on a keyword level, like we're doing, you're able to save a lot of money on advertising by not bidding on things you shouldn't.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, speaking of listing optimization, you know that was one thing that we focused on the last episode I remember. You know you talked about. You've got some listings that are 100% puns and a different, you know, and that helps with your conversion and stickiness of customers. What are you like? Are you guys using AI? That's something that's just kind of blown up, probably since the last time we talked. What other listing optimization strategies you're doing in the last year?

Ben:

Yeah, and, like you said, ai is massive. I mean the ability to identify a customer avatar immediately, to put the reviews in and pull whatever, extract whatever data you need to from it with like quickly, efficiently, and to have essentially a professional copywriter write your listings for you. One of the things that I enjoy doing, which has led to some good results and some terrible results is to pick like a few famous copywriters or famous advertisers that I find interesting and then have them have a conversation about the product. So if you say, like these four people discuss paper plates and why someone would buy them, and then they go through and the AI talks like those people and has a conversation, and you can see people who are way smarter than me discussing how they would sell it, why they would sell or what they think people would be directly interested in and how they would position it, and so I like doing that. Also for coming up with brand names If you have like the top branders in the world, you can just say have these people discuss what my brand should be if I'm selling X product. So kind of expanding outside of just saying write me a bullet point with the including these keywords with 250 characters or less and yada, yada, yada. Trying to like, think outside the box a bit more, to be more unique, because at this point anybody can use AI. It's trying to figure out ways to use it in ways that other people aren't yet and especially trying to get add to what the AI is doing, add emotional language to it, because AI is okay at emotional, but not great. So if you can put something in that appeals directly to the customer while still using the the pitches from the AI, we've had really good success with that.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what, if anything is, would you say, is the biggest difference when you're taking one product from Amazon and making a listing on Walmart, Like, have you seen something that definitely works and something that you always have to change because it's completely different on Walmart, or is the general structure always pretty much the same and you're just doing the little things that you know, the little requirements that Walmart has, in order to differentiate it?

0:21:40 -

Yeah, I mean we are trying to obviously match what Walmart says, but it just seems like on Walmart you want to be way more direct. Like, keyword stuffing doesn't work as well there. It seems like there, at least for us. It hasn't May for other people. But just being more readable and fluent with the way that we create the listings has led to better results versus just trying to stuff too many keywords into it as we possibly can.

Bradley Sutton:

What else are you doing differently Something we haven't talked about in this episode or the last one, I mean, you know to manufacturing in USA and keeping respectable profit margins. Having 70 employees, this is not something that, you know, like any Amazon seller can achieve. There's got to be some more other unique things that have helped you reach this level. What do you think those are?

Ben:

Now you're putting me on the spot. I think the you know that I have three main partners that I've worked with from the start and I think one of the things that we've done really well is division of labor and creating the SOPs and the backbone for everything that we need in order to run the business, so that we don't have to be involved in the day to day as much as we used to and had to at the start. So we are able to look into things like Amazon fee changes. Look into things like okay, how can we get to China and improve our costs and fees there. Like having the flexibility by building a powerful team to and like our team is. I mean, I would say our VA's are probably smarter than me, so they're better at the job that I am at this point. So like being able to get to that point where you're able to have the flexibility to scale mentally going forward has been massive and we actually like, from the start, the way that we kind of divided it was, we had one of my partners was focused on incoming products. The other was focused on running the warehouse. My role was mostly building the products on the marketing side, and then we had one person whose role was essentially figuring out how we're going forward. His job has always been to push things forward, to figure out what we need to do and then having him he is very, very good at systems so he'll be able to come in and look at what we've done and see the systems we built and say, no, you all are idiots, change these three things. That's going to be much better.

Ben:

So, like, being willing to constantly, always, constantly be improving on what you're doing Is one aspect of it, but also always looking forward. So figuring out, like, how do we dodge whatever the next big thing is and I mean, if you look at the and I know you know Steve Simonson, but like whenever he's talking, he's always talking about, okay, what's happening in China now and how is that going to impact things? A year for now, it's two years, or now five years or now.

Bradley Sutton:

So even just looking ahead at stuff like that, where You're able to make decisions that mean that you're not going to be Sure changing yourself in the long run for a bigger game, now, I think something that successful sellers also have to know how to do is when to pull the plug on on products and everybody and this is one of those things that there's not one size fits all, everybody has their own criteria. How do you guys decide what to what to retire as far as the product goes? Is it strictly just you know a profit margin? Is there a certain sales velocity that you need to to maintain? Is it you know? If the reviews dip below a certain you know point, what's your decision-making factors on it?

Ben:

Honestly, one of the the biggest things we care about is how annoying it is to deal with. So just just being perfectly honest, because we do have, we do have a very wide catalog at this point Counting our kind of variations. We have over a thousand skews. So when we're looking at things and figuring out what we want to do, if the way, if we're sending it to the warehouse and the warehouse has to touch it four times, even if it's making more money, we may want to cut that faster than something the warehouse doesn't have to touch. So we look into not just the profitability of the product but also the profitability of the product compared to the labor, how labor intensive it is. And Also, if the warehouse people don't like dealing with it, then and we're not making much money on it and why keep dealing? Why keep doing it? So that that is one of the big things. But beyond that it is Almost exclusively profit, profitability. Like I don't really care if I'm selling something a hundred, a hundred units a day, if I'm making $12 a day on it. I would rather sell one thing for $12 and a hundred things on the flip side, what is?

Bradley Sutton:

are the triggers where it's like, hey, we need to Launch this product, or we need to launch this you know new thing for this brand, or hey, we need to launch a new variation? Are you guys just? Do you have a department that's just constantly looking at new opportunities per brand, or or you're looking for certain signals in a market? How's that work?

Ben:

Yeah. So I mean we do look at every single review that we get and and. So if we see a lot of reviews come against saying I wish this were larger, I wish this were a different color, like the obvious things like that Are things that we that play into it, or we're getting negative feedback saying there are all these issues, then solving the issues is a very easy way to improve on that. But the the other aspects of it are Just. If we look and we see a competitor come in and they're doing something different and it looks better, it's doing better, it's taking sales away from us, then we figure out, okay, how do we beat that? What can we do differently? So a lot of it is competitor and customer driven, as opposed to Keyword or sales velocity driven you know you talked about.

Bradley Sutton:

You know you've Use helium 10 for years and your team has what. What is the number one thing you're using helium 10 now for? And if you were to Join our product team for a few days let's say you were to you were to be in charge of our product team what would be on your wish list on, like, how you would add something to helium-10 that we don't have right now. That would make your lives as on the Amazon side, yeah, easier the conversion rate trends for that keyword For each individual product.

Ben:

So if you're looking at it, you can see like, okay, this one is selling this number this month a day, but being able to go in and figure out if their conversion rate is moving up and down month over month, as opposed to just sales moving up and down month over month, because I think that the Conversion rate is just getting more and more important and at the keyword level, not just the overall conversion rate, but even at the keyword level.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, I'm dead. That's definitely the top of my list as well. You know, once Amazon, you know, make search query performance available in the API, then then that's like yeah, to me that's like a must-have for sure. All right, so now I knew you. You know you were like a nationally ranked tennis player back in a. You still get on the courts every now and then. What were your main hobbies last year of? You know like, hey, you need to get away from the Amazon world and just, you know, enjoy yourself. Yeah, what were you doing?

Ben:

So the US National Whitewater Training Center is in Charlotte so I learned how to whitewater kayak so I got a membership there. It's a closed course that they controlled the the flow of the water, so it could be anywhere from a class 1 to a class 5, depending on the day that you're out there with the rappers they're going to be. So that was my kind of fun. It was a 10-minute drive from our warehouse. So go Do some kayaking and then they have Like. On Thursdays they had concerts and stuff so you can go Hang out and be around people.

Bradley Sutton:

Now Is that just a local hobby for you, but or or? Now that you know I knew you travel sometimes too, or have you know when you travel? Have you ever gone real like a whitewater kayaking?

Ben:

I have once and it's way more terrifying. That's what I was about to say.

Bradley Sutton:

That would be a little bit scary if you're just doing a controlled environment one thing, but then to Be out there Okay.

Ben:

Yeah, when it's big stuff of a controlled water flow, if you flip over it's like, okay, I can handle this. If it's not controlled, we're the rocks. I don't know what's happening. I'm about to die, so that's not quite as good. But one of the things I've tried to do Well traveling is trying to try and go fishing Everywhere I go.

Bradley Sutton:

What were some of your cool places you've been to in 2023?

Ben:

Yeah, so I went to Fiji for the first time, Wow did you stay in over water like a over? Sadly, no, that was. I was not on an island that was conducive to that, so I'll have to. They'll have to be added to my next trip.

Bradley Sutton:

That's on my bucket list, fiji I've never been there.

Ben:

Yeah, it's, it's a beautiful place. I went to Estonia To the ambition event there, which I'd never, never been to Really Eastern Europe before, so that was a lot of fun to get to go and meet a lot of the sellers there and get to explore An area in a culture that I'd never gotten to experience. So I always enjoy getting to do stuff like that. Try to think of one more. I started in Greece in college and I got to go back there this year, so I'm going to go back and see what I saw in college and appreciated a bit more as an adult, from a historical perspective. Yeah, as opposed to the 21 year old kid who's just like if alcohol here, I need all of it.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, your priorities are a little bit different at that age, I think it's like getting to go on an adult trip there was.

Ben:

It was a nice change.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, before we get into your final strategy of the day, if people wanted to reach you or find you on the interwebs, how can they find you out there?

Ben:

Facebook is probably the easiest. It's just Benjamin Weber and I think I don't have a picture of myself there. I think it's a picture of the Frank Lloyd Wright falling waters house. So if you, if you see a Benjamin Weber with a house, that's probably me.

Bradley Sutton:

Now we're at the stage where we asked for your 30 or 60 second tip. You already gave us a doozy, you know, with that, looking at the how you rank at the keyword level as far as how you deserve to rank. So do you have another one for us?

Ben:

I mean, obviously everybody's talking about AI now, but using that within your product development to expand on what you're doing. So one of the things that we used to do with our Entire staff was, every day, as a kind of learning, mental strength, mental training exercise Say what are 10 things that you would pay $50 to never have to deal with again. Then we look to see if we can make products out of those, and so we had this massive list of Thousands of these. Now we do that with AI. So we're going into AI and saying what are problems like, let's say you're in the kitchen category. You would say what are 1020, however many things you want to say things that people would pay 30 dollar, 10, what are 10 problems that people would pay $30 to solve In the kitchen, so they don't have to deal with that every time they're doing it and then see what results come back from that and look at the products that come from it. So it's a way to get essentially consumer research via questions with AI, versus having to go in and look things up. So just using the, the AI as a creativity exercise can be Incredibly huge for coming up with new product ideas, and that's where the last, like seven products that we've made have come from us Just typing questions like that into AI, and there are things that no one is selling on the market right now.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, ben, thank you so much for joining us Again. You've definitely given us some insightful tips and you've got some very unique things that nobody else is doing, you know, like being your own Amazon last mile carrier, and everything is less, less great, and so I'll love to see what you do in 2024, and then we'll bring you back in 2025 and see how things are going.

Ben:

It sounds good. Thanks for having me.

View Details

Navigating the unpredictable rapids of Amazon and Walmart marketplace selling, we had the pleasure of being joined by Lesley, a maestro with a flair for reviving online seller accounts from the depths of suspension. In our conversation, we uncover the labyrinth of issues that can snag unsuspecting sellers, from the snares set by underhanded competitors to the resurgence of 'inauthentic' item flags. Lesley, drawing on her rich tapestry of experience that spans from journalism to digital marketplaces, guides us through the complexities of maintaining a pristine account on platforms like Amazon and Walmart, while also sharing her own transition from traditional business consulting to the fast-paced e-commerce arena.

The episode takes a turn into the shadowy alleys of the online marketplace, exposing the black hat tactics of less scrupulous sellers who resort to fraudulent reviews and other deceptive maneuvers to gain an edge. Stories of sabotage and extortion unfold, revealing the lengths to which some will go to undermine their competition and the sophisticated strategies Amazon employs to counter these threats. Lesley's insights prove invaluable for those looking to safeguard their ventures in this cutthroat environment, ensuring your business not only survives but thrives among the giants of the digital retail world.

In episode 528 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Lesley discuss:

00:00 - Strategies for Amazon Account Reinstatement & Protection
05:00 - Common Suspensions and Appeals on Walmart
07:59 - Amazon KDP Issues and IP Theft
11:10 - Amazon Account Suspensions and Prevention Tips
17:18 - More On Account Suspensions on Amazon
23:25 - Amazon TOS Compliance, Fraud, Extortion, and Black Hat Tactics
23:45 - Fake Orders and Amazon Locker Strategy
34:20 - Lesley's New Book And The Importance of SOPs in Business

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon launches generative AI tool to answer shoppers’ questions
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/16/amazon-launches-generative-ai-tool-to-answer-shoppers-questions.html

FedEx announces its own commerce platform for merchants
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/15/fedex-announces-its-own-commerce-platform-for-merchants/

Amazon May Start Charging Users for Certain Alexa Services
https://www.mensjournal.com/news/amazon-alexa-plus-subscription-service

Helium 10 Elite / AVASK Plus Workshop: A Day of E-Commerce Mastery in Frankfurt, Germany
h10.me/avaskgermany

The discussion concludes with a dive into using Amazon’s brand analytics data together with Helium 10’s Black Box to unearth niche keywords and product opportunities, offering you three different sets of strategies for identifying market gaps and leveraging data to enhance your Amazon-selling game. Join us for an episode that's not just about the news, but about giving you the insights and strategies to level up your Amazon journey.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:48 - Amazon App AI Tool
03:21 - FedEx Marketplace?
05:02 - Alexa Plus
06:17 - Walmart Video Ads
07:08 - FBA Shipment Window
08:42 - Reduce Returns
10:32 - Europe Conference
11:33 - Pro Training Tip: Amazon Product Research Tools

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon has started rolling out its consumer side generative AI shopping assistant. FedEx making an e-commerce marketplace. Walmart, sponsored brand ads and video ads, have a beta launch. A first-ever Helium 10 workshop in Germany next week. This and more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

We give you a rundown of all the news stories and articles that's going on in the e-commerce world and we give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies For serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We've got a lot of articles today, so let's go ahead and hop right into it now. The first one here is actually from CNBC and it was an article Entitled Amazon launches generative AI tool to answer shoppers questions. Now, this is pretty interesting because you know we've been talking about this for over a year, about how amazon has been testing Different tools and they're going to be coming out with things that allow the consumers you know, like shoppers of amazon to perhaps have generative AI like Conversations when they are shopping. Now it hasn't gotten to that point yet. However, something new that has been spotted in the wild I haven't seen it in my app yet is that there's a prompt that asks customers questions about a specific item and then it returns an answer within a few seconds by summarizing information collected from product reviews and the listing itself. Now something to note again. Like I said, this is not some conversation like you can. You can do with ChatGPT. It says, unlike open-art ai's ChatGPT, amazon's new feature isn't equipped to carry out a conversation, but it can respond to creative prompts. It says on a listing for a woman's vest, it could write a haiku about the product.

Bradley Sutton:

How that Is going to help us sell products, I'm not sure. So take a look here. It says it was also able to describe the item in the style of Yoda from star wars. All right, and it actually had a screenshot of this. So I guess somebody who has this app they typed in Can you describe the product as if you are Yoda from star wars? And then the answer that this amazon app says Yoda why is jedi master would describe this product thusly. And it says crop puffer vest. Women wear zipper closure. Yes, okay, I'm sorry that was a bad Yoda impression, but literally I wasn't making that up. This is a screenshot from this article and it it answered about this product in this style of Yoda. Again, I am not sure how that is going to help us sell products. There's probably a lot of other things. I wish amazon might Maybe put a little effort into more than Allowing its ai app to respond in the or not in the voice, thank goodness, but in the tense of or the form of Yoda. But hey, it is what it is. Um, technology is getting kind of scary. Could this, you know, a future iteration of this actually help sales for us? Maybe it's too early to see so generative ai it. It's not coming anymore. It has come All right, so look out for this in your amazon app.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually from tech crunch and it's entitled FedEx announces its own commerce platform for merchants. Now, right off the bat, let me just go ahead and say you know, I did a little clickbait. I said, oh, this might be a marketplace, no, FedEx says it's not a marketplace. it's this new commerce platform they're calling fdx, all right, and it's in private preview, with a wider launch schedule for fall of 2024. Now it's not really known what in the world it's going to be. You know, like they said, it's not going to be a marketplace. However, they did purchase this service called shop Uh runner a couple years ago, or a few years ago now, and it allows people to see estimated delivery time on websites, handle shopping carts, track packages, record carbon emissions for those who are interested in that managed returns, etc. You know, but they specifically says we are not in the business of the marketplace, we're trying to help businesses build the best possible experience From demand to post purchase.

Bradley Sutton:

So, like I'm just confused, like I have no idea what the heck this is. You know, since, since FedEx is not, you know, really being open with it, but you know, shots were fired Earlier this year or last year. Now when, when Amazon's like, hey, we're gonna be a shipping company. Now you know, like you don't have to be selling products on FBA, you can use Amazon as a shipping company, like that's like direct competition for FedEx and UPS. So FedEx is like I'm gonna clap back at you right and say, alright, well, let's get into the commerce game. How they're gonna do that? I'm not sure are they gonna be successful, who knows? But be interesting to watch out if there's a new player on the block.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to the articles, men's journal comm had something Says Amazon may start charging users for certain Alexa services. They're gonna launch this thing called Alexa plus later this year and they're gonna be able to have exclusive Features and it's gonna be the revitalized, subscription based version of its voice assistant June 30th. Now this is another one I'm very skeptical about. I mean, alexa has not really improved in years, you know, and it's been struggling. I, if I were Amazon, I would not be trying to put a price tag on it Until it was proven to really really be better, because I'm just not sure that Alexa is worth any kind of money. Well, I know Alexa is not worth any money. You know nobody's gonna pay extra money for it now. Now Could they make something super cool again using generative AI? That would make it worth couple bucks a month potentially. But let's see. You know, the thing that affects Amazon sellers is Are more people gonna be shopping on Alexa because of some new features it might have? That's to be determined. Now that's gonna affect us, like not many people I know ever buy anything on Alexa, but if that changes, that would be very helpful to Amazon sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article was actually an email I got from Walmart, so guys, check this out. If you got the email, you might be on this beta program where they say, hey, Walmart connect is it excited to inform me that we are testing sponsored brands and sponsored video inventory on browse and topic pages on Walmart site, starting last week actually, and it's gonna run a minimum of four weeks. All right, we have generated next Recommended next step, so check if you got this email and you can click on it. It says, hey, all self-serve sponsored search advertisers With scheduled live or net, new sponsored brand and sponsored video campaigns will automatically be updated and part of the test and they gave a couple of screenshots of how sponsored brand ads might look looks very similar to what we all know and love in Amazon Advertising. So check your email, whatever your Walmart email is, if you have that Next article is actually not article, but it's from the seller central dashboard and this is an update of something previously announced and it's Entitled automatic closure policy for shipments will be updated on February 1st.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so this was announced before, but they clarified it a little bit. So let's say this is again Effective February 1st. Let's say you create a shipment, all right, using the send to Amazon workflow. So so you're trying to send inventory into Amazon from your let's just say, your own 3pl here in the United States or in Europe. Domestic shipment, in other words, from US addresses, if it has not arrived within 45 days After the shipment creation date, the Shipment will automatically be closed, all right. Or I mean, if it doesn't arrive within this, this time of the policy now for International shipments, that means you create a shipment that's going to be coming from your Chinese or Indian or Pakistani Factory. Well, you're gonna have 75 days from the shipment creation date. For most of you this doesn't have. You know this might not affect you, but but what if they're shipping delays? Or maybe you accidentally, you know, create your shipment too early and then you know Chinese New Year's came, you know, like what's happening right now, and then it delayed your shipment a month. You know, could you be pushing this time limit? It's, it's a possible. So just take a look at this in your dashboard if you have any questions. They clarified a couple of things, but you can't just create open-ended shipments anymore and, you know, expect five years later, or five years or five months later for Amazon to accept your package.

Bradley Sutton:

One last news article from the seller central dashboard this was from last week and it's something new on Amazon where it says reduce customer returns recommendation. This is in the growth opportunities tool and it's supposed to gonna tell you, like the financial impact of Money you could have gained over 90 days if you've done the recommended actions. This I can pretty much take with the tiniest grain of salt I have ever eaten, because I have never found value in these Estimations that that Amazon gives and I'm not trying to throw Amazon to the bus, I'm just keeping it real, guys but I haven't seen anything that gives me faith that this algorithm is gonna work. That being said, the reason why I'm bringing this up is because there's gonna be some recommendations that's gonna have. Now, this could be potentially, you know, beneficial. You know, forget the what's the potential impact. Just being able to see what the Amazon algorithm Thinks you should do will be interesting because it's supposedly, as this article says, it's gonna be based on Customers, customer issue trends and reviews and it's gonna compare your listing to other top-selling brands. Now that is something I could see that could be helpful where, hey, here's a brand that has a similar product and it's a really selling well and they've got, like this field filled out that you don't have filled out now. That could be Beneficial. The other thing that seemed interesting, but again I'm skeptical on, is it said hey, find out whether placing content in the title bullets or product description of your detail pages, we'll have the greatest impression on customers if they're just making this up, you know, like I'm pretty sure that us experience Amazon sellers probably no better than Amazon as far as how the algorithm works, as far as things like this. But again, if they've got some advanced new information that that is coming out, this could be a potential way to have insight into the Amazon algorithm. All right, so so look out for that on your, your dashboard as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Last thing, again, next week, a chevalier myself will be in Germany, Frankfurt, Germany. We are gonna be at our very first ever all-day event that Helium 10 is doing together with the VASC. So if you'd like to attend, go to h10.me/avaskgermany. It's only 75 euros to attend all day. We've got tons of speakers coming from multiple countries All over Europe. I'll be there myself. We're gonna have a networking social. We're providing food. It's gonna be in the Frankfurt airport, all right. So, like I don't care where you are in Europe, you're, you're like a Ryan air 30 dollar Ryan air flight away from Frankfurt. You don't even need to get an Uber. You just walk out of the terminal and you're right there. All right, guys. So again, h10.me forward slash a VASC Germany. Please come out. It would be great to see you all and meet you guys in person next week, on the 25th of January. All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, let's get into our training tip of the week, and actually it's multiple ones. I want to spend just a couple of times just showing you the power of the new Helium 10 tool that came out a few weeks ago in black box, called ABA, top search terms, which is for Amazon brand analytics. The possibilities are endless with the kind of research you can do, so I just picked a couple of scenarios here to show you. Let's pretend that you have a product or a factory that makes products made of bamboo. I actually have a brand that makes bamboo products and you're like hey, what are some trending bamboo Keywords, right, so. So then you go in and you go into black box, you go into the new tool, aba, top search terms, and then what you can do is you enter bamboo, just like you would in Amazon brand analytics inside of seller central. But then now I can enter in other things, like, for example, I'm gonna enter in the helium minimum, Helium 10 search volume of 500. I'm going to say, hey, I want to see where the top three clicked ASINs, okay, per brand analytics have a total of less than 200 reviews. Meaning, hey, these the top products in this keyword, they're not even, they don't even have that many reviews Overall. There might be some. You know room for me.

Bradley Sutton:

And take a look at the keywords that came up here. You know we've got like bamboo cool underwear here, bamboo boxer briefs. I'm already seeing like a you know some, some trends here. And then, as I scroll down here, this one jumped out to me bamboo lampshade. And right here in this brand analytics tool I can see, wow, okay, this has a thousand search volume. It's increased 35% this search volume over the previous week. And then I'm looking at these top three clicked and, yeah, these are products are fairly new. Look at this, the number one clicked item for this keyword only has five reviews. All right, so let's just go ahead and take a look at this on Amazon and I can see this Amazon page, like you know, the number one, page one, position one, only has 14 reviews. Position two, six reviews. Position three has a hundred reviews and it's sold a hundred units. So this is pretty interesting. You know, like I found a new niche, potentially for myself, if I'm selling bamboo products, just by using the brand analytics data together with Amazon or Helium 10 data allowed me to find this new niche. So guys, play around with that.

Bradley Sutton:

Option number two let's just say, hey, I'm doing some, some new research and I'm like, hey, I want to see a keyword that, per brand analytics, the total click share of the top three items are 70%, meaning that the top three click products. If you add up how much percent of the clicks they get, it's over 70%. But if you add up their conversion share, meaning what share of the sales of this keyword do these top three click products have, it's less than 35%. What does that mean? Think about that for a second. Theoretically speaking, if, if all products and listings were created equal, if there is a listing that or some listings that get 70% of the clicks, well, it should have 70% of the sales, right. But most, most keywords, most products are not created equal.

Bradley Sutton:

Sometimes people click into a product and they're like, wow, this is amazing, so it's conversion rates going to be super high. Other times, everybody's clicking into products and it's like, nah, we don't like this, this listing sucks, this product sucks, whatever right, and the conversion rates going to be lower. So that's what I'm looking for. Show me where there's a lot of buyer intent for three products. That means whatever they see in the search results, it looks good. So if they click it, it like 70, 70% of all the clicks for a keyword. That's a lot right, but everybody's clicking out of it and buying another product that wasn't even one of the top three click. So that's literally what I'm looking for here, using brand analytics. You know you can't do this in seller central unless you download stuff and make some pivot tables.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm also using some other Helium 10 data points like hey, I want these keywords to have 2000 search volume at least and at least three word count. I want these keywords. It not only has to match everything I just said, but I wanted to have a search volume trend that's going up. I want to see this going up 50% week over week. Search forms, like it's a trending keyword. And then take a look there's a hundred and 78 keywords that that had this like look at this one human dogbed that that's a crazy keyword. Human dog bed has a 500% increase in search volume. recently. All right, that that's kind of insane. there's other you know products here mini chainsaw, cordless. You know there's some, just random, one wagons cart, foldable. The heck is that cigar ass trays for men has a 1000% increase in search volume. And then take a look here the top three clicked products for this cigar ass trays. Look at this the number one click product for this keyword has 94% of the clicks but 0% of the conversion. So there's something fishy going on there. Everybody seems to love it in the search results but nobody likes it on the page. However, another product there had 0.6% of the clicks yet 11% of the purchases. So again, there's just so much valuable information in brand analytics that you guys can do for your product research. But now you have a completely new way to search for it using helium tens brand analytics tool.

Bradley Sutton:

One last scenario here. Let's say you're doing keyword research. Hey, you look up all the coffin shelves, let's just say, and you put all of the ASINs of the top selling coffin shelves into this tool and basically what you want to see is hey, where did any of these products show up as one of the top three clicked for any keyword? Well, boom goes the dynamite. You just put in the ASINs and within seconds you are going to get every single keyword where it was one of the top three clicked and you'll be able to see if it was one of the top three purchase. You can see it's click share Like here's a keyword I didn't even, you know, think about, for I might not even be focused on in for our project X coffin shelf, alternative decor. All right, that's a new keyword for me. I discovered it right here in brand analytics.

Bradley Sutton:

So, guys, if you haven't used this tool, make sure to use it. I believe for now it's open to diamond and up members. You know we always try and you know, give our tools first to elite, then to diamond and then it'll get down on platinum. But you know there's tons of you diamond users out there. So make sure you guys are getting the value out of this tool. Open up, play around with it. Let me know what you think. What other kind of filters would you like to see? All right, guys. That's it for our Weekly Buzz this week. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Listen in as Gefen from Vendocommerce joins us in this month’s TACoS Tuesday episode to share expert insights on the evolving landscape of Amazon PPC advertising. We're unwrapping the tactics that have driven success in 2023 and looking ahead to what 2024 holds, with a keen eye on the emerging trend of vertical video ads. Discover how an integrated approach to advertising, factoring in the halo effect on overall sales and product rankings, can amplify your brand's presence during crucial retail events. We also delve into how to use Helium 10 to easily optimize and track these strategies for superior performance in the year to come.

In our conversation, we compare the accessibility of Sponsored TV with the robust control offered by Amazon DSP, especially for smaller brands looking to maximize their advertising efforts. Learn why testing and patience are critical when navigating these platforms, and understand the strategic organization of sponsored product campaigns to optimize ad groupings. Plus, Gefen imparts valuable advice on marketing products with different attributes and the potential pitfalls of violating terms of service when it comes to product hang tags on Amazon and Walmart. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that could reshape your approach to Amazon advertising.

In episode 527 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Gefen discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Advertising in 2023 and 2024
03:10 - Vertical Video Ads Trend
09:29 - E-Commerce Behavior on TikTok Shop and Amazon
13:13 - Amazon's Sponsored TV and Publisher Ads
14:25 - Comparing Sponsored TV and Self-Serve DSP
16:51 - TikTok and Amazon Trust and Fulfillment
19:19 - Amazon Advertising and Product Attributes
20:46 - Optimizing Advertising Creatives on Amazon
30:10 - Helium 10 Tool Cerebro

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Sponsored TV ads. What worked for ads in 2023 on Amazon and what to look forward to in 2024 with Amazon ads. This and so much more on today's episode of the Serious Sellers podcast.

Bradley Sutton:

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. My name is Carrie Miller and I will be your host, and this is our TACoS Tuesday, where we talk about all things Amazon advertising, and we have an expert guest today. So this is Geffen from Vendo. So welcome, Geffen.

Gefen:

Hey, Carrie, it's a pleasure to be here.

Carrie Miller:

Thanks so much for joining us today. I'm very excited to have you on. I know you've been on here before and a lot of people really liked your episode, so we have some more good content for everyone today. And so for those of you, for those of the people in the audience that don't know you or know about Vendo, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience, and then also about Vendo?

Gefen:

Yeah, 100%. So I'm the VP of advertising here at Vendo. So just a background on what Vendo, who and what Vendo is. So we are a full service e-commerce agency specializing in Amazon and Walmart, full service management From an advertising perspective. We have kind of brought in those services across Amazon and Walmart also to bring in things like programmatic, various retail media networks, as well as other marketplaces too, and so those have been incredibly, incredibly growth focused. I mean, 2023 was a very crazy year. The team did an incredible job from a strategic standpoint, from a number standpoint, to grow across the board and when it comes to PPC, as most of the people I hope know, on this call, a lot of those different strategies rhyme. So we've been able to replicate the immense success that we've had on Amazon. We brought it over to Walmart and then we brought that over towards the various retail media networks, as well as things like Page Search and Social with Google, facebook, tiktok, etc. Amazing.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, so you guys are into everything. That's awesome. So I guess, since you were talking about 2023, what are some things that you think worked really really well Specifically in 2023 that you might carry into 2024? And then maybe some new things on the horizon because of just the changing landscape and things that Amazon is introducing right now.

Gefen:

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll start with the second half of that question, because I think that vertical video is going to be a really big push for Amazon this year. I know that everybody's talking about that in the space. I'm very curious to see how it's going to be rolled out. I mean, if you think about it from a practical standpoint, it's going to take up more page real estate than the, than the former video format. Now they might have both horizontal and vertical in play. We also don't know where on the search engine results page it's going to show up. Is it going to show up on row four, which would be row four, five, six on mobile, potentially even row seven, depending on how, you know, zoomed in your screen is, or is it going to be at the bottom of the page? And I think those are big questions because that's going to place a big emphasis on where you're ranking. And so I think that that leads into the first part of your question, which is something that worked really well for us, because we don't look at ads in a vacuum, right?

Gefen:

So you know, ACoS is great, but obviously this is TACoS Tuesday and taco of your sales, yes, and so when we're looking at total sales, something that we brought in and I know it's a little vague, but we really looked at the halo impact of ad strategies and how they impacted ranking, ranking and total sales, right. And so when we focused our ad strategy maybe on a cost per customer acquisition model, maybe on a taco's model, and we look to really prioritize, hey, where are we showing up, right? So if, if we're driving all this traffic and we have a 20% conversion rate, let's say, on this keyword, are we tracking, using a Helium 10? Of course, are we tracking that ranking properly? To say, hey, we started running these ads aggressively on August 1st and if we've been tracking ranking on that keyword for the last two months since going aggressive on that term, where are we ranking now and how has it changed?

Gefen:

And are there broader KPIs that we're measuring outside of just direct ad revenue? And that worked really well for us because we centered that around 10 poll events and this is a really big strategy of ours. That is incredibly complex, it takes a whole village to actually execute. But when we, when we focus our customer acquisition and ranking models around major times in the year so think Prime Day, think fall Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Holiday, and then, of course, if you're a one off brand, if you I don't know are ski related, then obviously your season is January to March. You know like there are differences, but really peak seasons. If you're able to focus your growth model around the times that are going to give you the most reward, then that worked really well for us last year and we expect to see a lot more of that this year, especially as we all expect people are going to be more deal oriented, the constant battle for margins. So the better ranks you are, the more organic sales you drive, the better your TACoS is.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, so are you. Are you also maybe sending a lot of outside traffic for that ranking as well, or just utilizing? Can you tell us a little bit about that and what your strategy is there? That kind of goes in with what you were just talking about?

Gefen:

Yeah, absolutely so. One of the verticals that I oversee is paid search and social, and so that's going to be met in Google primarily. There's Pinterest, there's Reddit, there's now TikTok. That can drive back to Amazon as well. I think there's two buckets. I think you have the always on external strategy right, which is the constant drip of, say, a Facebook campaign that's driving, whatever the budget is $200 a day, $150 a day, whatever it is back to Amazon. We all know that Amazon is going to reward external conversion a little bit more. Also, the Amazon attribution program gives you a bit of a boost with getting up to 10% back usually around 5% to 7%, but up to 10% back on each sale, which is nice. And then you also get a boost in your actual ranking. The influencer programs that we've run specifically for 10 poll events again, to go back to that first point, those are the ones that have really kind of set themselves apart or set those brands apart, the ones that are willing to have very strategic and targeted strategies towards high return on investment periods. And so you have the always on, which is great, that is a constant, and we run that for many brands. And then we have a few brands, usually on the larger side, that are willing to invest some serious cash into some of the of Amazon programs that are just going to drive as much traffic as possible. Those are the ones that see big gains, and it's not necessarily that you have to hit a home run with one TikTok influencer. You can have 10, you can have 20, you can have 30 micro. That actually get you the same result potentially for cheaper. But you have less risk with putting all of your eggs into one basket, and so that external traffic has been really helpful.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I actually know some people in our elite group said that their ranking just organically just shot up just from their TikTok stuff that they were doing. They were focusing on certain keywords in their title and they just all the traffic from TikTok was really bad, yeah, and now there's actually a TikTok shop, so that's actually going to compete with Amazon.

Gefen:

We've actually launched multiple brands on TikTok shop. We're seeing phenomenal success with those. It doesn't necessarily directly translate to Amazon sales, but what we always say at Vendo and it's the approach we've taken that has been very successful for all of our brands is you can't separate your customers anymore, right, you can say that an Amazon customer is in its own bucket and they're never going to be a DTC customer, and vice versa. Yeah, every customer everywhere you're exposed is a form of advertising and you can't force a customer to buy in a certain place. So if you're available on TikTok shop and that's where they find you, maybe next time they're going to buy an Amazon, right? Or maybe they're going to buy your DTC. As long as you're looking at the business holistically and Amazon is a piece of that pie, or TikTok is a piece of that pie, then, and your business is growing, then you know that your efforts are pushing the whole business up.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I was saying that I think that a lot of people aren't necessarily comfortable yet purchasing on TikTok, so I think that's why a lot of people are just going to Amazon. They might be like, oh, I saw this on TikTok, but maybe it'll change eventually, because I think we're still seeing quite a bit of traffic on Amazon, even though TikTok is like not wanting anyone to do that. Have you seen that same thing?

Gefen:

Yeah, I can't remember what the exact term was. It was like I saw this on TikTok, or I found this on TikTok, or seen on TikTok, or something like that.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, TikTok.

Gefen:

whatever the thing is, TikTok is game here, yeah it was one of the largest search terms a few months ago. And so, to your point, 100% right, yeah. And that is actually, I think, more proof to my previous point, which is, wherever they're seeing things, they're coming to other places, to their comfortable place to buy. And so if they're coming there and from an advertising perspective, we're showing up where we need to show up, then we're in a good place, right yeah, because then we're going to get that conversion and that you just you spent elsewhere. Maybe your customer acquisition was slightly higher, but you drove that conversion.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah.

Gefen:

And, at the end of the day, if you have a good product and your customers are loyal, then it's going to pay off in not even the long term.

Carrie Miller:

Do you see that a lot, because I know you do a lot of DSP too. Do you see that a lot with DSP, where you're kind of putting a lot into Amazon and maybe you don't necessarily see the exact conversion on Amazon, but then all of a sudden their website goes way up or kind of other platforms.

Gefen:

So a couple of points to that. So, when it comes to programmatic, there is there is native programmatic on Amazon, right so. And then there's also non-native programmatic, right, so we can use something like the trade desk that can kind of target any programmatic targeting across the entire internet. Basically, the latter, yes, right, so the latter we do see that kind of um, that kind of halo impact across either website, and you can, you can also measure that right. You can put in a pixel and you can actually, so you can also put in a pixel on the, on the um, on the Amazon DSP as well. So you can put a pixel on your website for Amazon DSP and even though traffic isn't necessarily driving to your website, it will still pick up if there are sales on your website or, at the very least, visits from that same campaign. And so the interconnectedness of this world is growing, where the advertising synergies are becoming a lot more um, a lot more intentional, and so you have to have the pixels on your DTC site, right. You have to be launching on TikTok, you have to be on Amazon, on Walmart, because if you're not measuring that, then you won't know if, if your sales are lifting across the board. And if they are lifting, then you don't know where you can take spend. Maybe you're bloated in one area and two lean in another and you can put those and so, uh, to your question, 100%. Um, we do see the halo impact from DSP with Amazon DSP specifically. I will say the biggest halo impact is actually in the performance of the PPC ads. Um, we usually tend to see, especially on our mid, mid to large size brands, um, when we launched DSP for them, their PPC ads tend to pick up in specifically in performance. So their, their ACOS tends to go down. Um, and that's probably because Amazon, as we all know, is a, uh, is a pay to pay platform, so they're just rewarding you with being further entrenched in their ecosystem.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I did have actually another question, um, kind of about just some newer things that are going on with Amazon. Have you started the using the, the TV ads and then also just the sponsored um ads that go to uh like things like Buzzfeed and um, I forgot what the it's called, I think it's uh Sponsored Product Ads but they go to publishers. Have you started using those?

Gefen:

So yeah, Sponsored TV.

Carrie Miller:

And then also they're sponsored ads that go to like Buzzfeed or yeah, yeah.

Gefen:

So two points. So, first off, Bradley’s point. We actually don't use Paki for Amazon. We uh use them for Walmart. Uh, we actually use software for Amazon, besides Helium 10, of course. But as far as management software goes, uh, it's, it's all manual, um, um, but, and we can talk, we can have a whole 10 podcasts just on that. Yes, there's a ton there, but as it pertains to sponsor TV, so that's something that Amazon launched at uh, unboxed this past year, um, and the goal is to create similar to how sponsored display is like DSP light, sponsored TV is like STV or CTV light, right, so they want to bring the, the, the TV portion of programmatic, into a self-serve area. There's pros and cons. The pro is that there's no minimum, there's no barrier to entry. You can throw up a video and it gets blasted out towards a bunch of different publishers at a um at a uh, fairly, fairly decent rate. It's a little bit more expensive, obviously, because you're not able to put your max CPMs or anything like that. At the same time, you have no control. So, similar to sponsor display, um, you know, if you work with and uh with an um, with an agency like Vendo, uh, we don't have any minimums on our uh, on our uh, on our DSP self-serve seat, so we're able to uh to say, hey, you know, if you want to spend a thousand or 2000 or 3000, you can, you don't have to spend 20.

Gefen:

Um, and so my recommendation is, if you're a very small brand, you're starting out, definitely test out sponsored TV. Don't expect because they're usually non-engageable, or or, if they are engageable, um, the really the primary KPI and what they're optimized for internally is views. Um then, don't expect a strong row as treat that as a top of funnel approach. Yeah, at the same time, if you do have a little bit more budget and you want some more control, go into self-serve DSP. You're just going to get more. You can choose what your destinations are, what your publishers are, you can choose your audiences, you can choose your retargeting. You can't in sponsored TV too, but there's just a lot more control and so, similar to sponsored display, it's a great launching pad. But I wouldn't say, hey, if you're going to take 10 grand and throw it into there, take 10 grand and throw it in the DSP, you're going to see better results.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's very good advice for everyone, as far as the DSP, Very good advice for everyone, especially for smaller brands, Cause usually it's all you know, it's harder because a lot of people are focused on big brands with kind of strategies and smaller brands is like I don't know if it's time to do even DSP or the sponsored TV. So that's good advice about the TV and there is no real, like right time.

Gefen:

I would just say hey, if you have some budget, if your ads are performing well, test it out.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, we test as much as we can, I mean if it works, amazing.

Gefen:

You know. If it doesn't, then we know it doesn't and maybe we'll test it out later on. But we can put that budget immediately into other areas.

Carrie Miller:

How long do you usually test it for DSP? Two or three months or?

Gefen:

Technically, DSP is a 14 day window before it's actually giving you proper data and usually DSP you'll know within a month.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, that's good to know too. Okay, so then we have Chris Shipperling said to your point about trust people also want to see the product ASAP and Amazon owns product operations. I bought a product from TikTok which is from Shipbob. I'll say no more as a customer.

Gefen:

Yes, you can technically fulfill with Amazon for TikTok shop. I don't have too many details on that, but I know it's possible. I don't know how much of that is being conveyed to the customer, and so that's a great point about trust from the. From the customer standpoint as a seller, it doesn't really take much more. I don't know the fees, I don't know what it kind of entails, but I know that I've heard that is possible.

Carrie Miller:

I it is possible and that's definitely a better. You basically connected to your Shopify site and then use the fulfillment by Amazon. But I I did purchase something on TikTok and it was literally shipped all the way from China. So I didn't know that was happening when I bought it. So that is kind of the that's going to kind of ruin some trust, I think, with people. So something to think about moving forward.

Gefen:

If you even talk about Temu here either, because that's a different ballgame.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's another one. All right, and let's see, Chris Shipperling has something else. He says, which, which is why you always KPI individual platform metrics, but blended CAC is so important when you do have several activities running to drive traffic and conversion. Completely agree with what you were saying, so yeah, 100%.

Gefen:

We use a cat model for a ton of our brands. We track new to brand customers on Amazon very closely new and repeat as well, and we have we have a lifetime value graphs that we track over multiple years to see what the actual return is for our clients.

Carrie Miller:

Amazing, that's awesome. Okay, so, Michael, would love to hear your thoughts on how to organize Hold on sponsored product campaigns. Thank you, you lost your audio there multiple skews in a category, independent skews, not variant ASINs that share many keywords. When is it better to combine ASINs into an ad group and let Amazon pick the best for separating each SKU into its own ad group or campaign?

Gefen:

Thanks, it's a phenomenal question and this is where you're going to hear the variation in answers. You're going to hear shows that advertising still, to an extent, is a good amount of art versus science, because there are different opinions and I manage my own brands for Vendo as well, and I've actually done both in terms of separating out and then keeping them together. So a couple of different things. Number one there are always differing what's the word differing attributes to a product, right, whether it's a count, whether it's a size, whether it's a color, at the very least you can separate out by that. So, for instance, if you have TVs, right, you might have a smart TV. Right, so let's. But you could have a 45 inch, a 55 inch and a 65 inch smart TV. So, right off the bat, you can look at the search volume. For what is a 65 inch TV bring in in terms of search volume? Okay, that's, that's a separate campaign, right, 55 inch, separate campaign.

Gefen:

And then to your question, my recommendation and best practice is you can never rank and and equally grow all of your products, right, you have to have a hero item or a hero couple of items. So, for instance, let's say you go back to these TVs. You've got, I don't know, 10 sizes, 354555, whatever it is. Some of those are going to be best sellers, right? More people search for 55 inch and 65 inch versus 24 inch, so you know that those are the ones that have the highest potential and those are the ones that you're going to want to rank. So you might as well take those, and maybe take three of them, and put them into their own hero term campaign, so smart TV, tv, etc. And then that way you're focusing the majority of your ranking spend on the highest search volume terms towards the few that are actually going to generate that sales and performance.

Gefen:

And even within that, I mean usually think about it. I mean, how many brands do you see that have three products ranked on the top row? Right, it's usually one. And so at the end of the day, we are going to try and diversify our sales as much as possible, but at the same time, one product is going to win out. And so to the last part of your question, when it's better to combine a since into an ad group on Amazon, pick the best when it comes to your hero items. Let's say you've got three and that whole product line the three best selling colors, three best selling sizes, whatever it is, put those into their own ad group and then Amazon can choose. If you're again going back to smart TV, it's like, okay, someone's typing in smart TV, Amazon's going to eventually know whether or not someone typing in smart TV is more likely to buy 55 inch or 65 inch. And you'll be able to see the conversion rate, you'll be able to see the performance and you can say that's good, that's not good, etc.

Carrie Miller:

We'll go into kind of ad creatives like videos and stuff. How do you optimize those? Are you doing a lot of tests and split testing? What is your process for creatives And so when it comes to the best.

Gefen:

So, again, we have five ad verticals. Every vertical requires different size creatives. So we have a phenomenal team working on our creatives that can really customize to whatever it is that we want or need. A Facebook creative is going to be different from a DSP creative. It's going to be different from a, from a credo creative. But to backtrack for a sec, specifically on Amazon, specifically for something like sponsored brands because you're sponsored brand lifestyle imagery and sponsored brand video, right, those the two main creatives that you're going to be generating. And I will say, first and foremost well, first of all, by January 31, all of your product collection ads have to have a lifestyle image on them, if not, they're going to be paused. So that's a note to everybody that's selling you need to have a lifestyle image on your product and ads, if not, they're just not going to show up. That's by the end of this month, but I've found, from a video perspective, having a video versus not having a video gets you 80% of the way there. Of course, it needs to look like decent, right, but if you have any form of a decent video made by, made by a graphic designer or software, that's good enough to pass for you to be like okay, I'm fine with that. You're 70 to 80% of the way there. Obviously, that 20% for much larger brands matters.

Gefen:

So that's where you bring in different testing, right, and usually that's at the discretion of the brand's creatives, right? We're not a full creative agency. We have creative support, and so what we like to do is we like to take their direction and actually make the asset. So usually they have a marketing team that's going to bring us either static imagery or video imagery, and then we're going to scale that into, let's say, three different videos from that static imagery of just like slideshows or whatever, and then maybe we'll test out those three. Now Amazon's sponsor brand video has different ad groups that you can test out, which is awesome. So you can do like three different ad groups there and whatever ends up working. Basically, from a CVR standpoint conversion rates going to be your primary KPI there Then that's the one that you go with.

Carrie Miller:

All right, very good, we actually have something else from the audience. I sell yoga pants. Can I print my website on the product hang tag? Does it follow Amazon and Walmart terms of service?

Gefen:

I don't think it does. I don't think that you're allowed to drive any form of traffic to off Amazon. Don't fully quote me. I am not an expert in all of Amazon terms of service. I know the ad portion. But if you were to ask me my two cents, I would say if you're referencing your website anywhere on your product and Amazon catches you, it's probably against TOS.

Carrie Miller:

I do actually on mine, have on our packaging our website, because we use the same packaging for all different platforms and I know big brands also have their websites in there and they even have you know things where maybe it's not enforced. Yeah, I don't know if it's enforced as much, but I think it's if you kind of drive traffic to your website or you're kind of contacting people with their info. But it is kind of a gray area there. So yeah, that is a hard one.

Gefen:

Yeah, it's tough. I know that on any assets you have on Amazon you can't do that. We've even made videos where, like at the end, like we've just taken a video from their website and put it onto sponsor brand video and it was like at the end, like the last slide was like buyonx.com.

Bradley Sutton:

And it got taken down. Yeah, exactly.

Gefen:

It just depends. I mean there's a lot of gray area. My guess is that's against TOS. Also to your point, Carrie if a lot of people are doing it, maybe it's not really a police stuff that much.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I think. I think the kind of differentiator is are you trying to drive traffic away from Amazon, or you know? I think it's also when you think about big brands. I don't think they're all going to change their packaging just for Amazon?

Gefen:

I guess that's going to not yeah, yeah, so that's also a good point.

Carrie Miller:

It's not really. You know it's when you're like you've got an insert and you're like buy this on my side or you know something like that. That's kind of a difference, whereas if it's just on your packaging, I think it's, it should be fine.

Gefen:

Yeah, um, that's actually a good question. So, do do branded campaigns help in the organic rank of your product? It's yes and no. So when you're launching, 100% yes If you're launching a new product line inside your existing product catalog, um to leverage your branded campaigns is huge. Or, excuse me, your branded traffic with branded campaigns is huge because that's how you build your sales velocity quickly. Same time, if you are seeing that you know a majority of your spend is going towards branded um, then I would look at the CPCs and I would say you're probably not um helping out with ranking as much as you could be for non-branded terms. Remember, amazon will rank you based on how you perform on non-branded terms. If you don't drive traffic to non-branded terms, you can't convert against them. If you can't convert, then you can't rank. Yeah, good point.

Carrie Miller:

All right. Another question from Douda to Silva how do you harvest search term reports from a main keyword running as phase type, phrase type? That uh generate tons of variations of the main keywords. Those keywords are all different, with one clicks costing me a dollar.

Gefen:

Yep, that's some. That's probably arguably the largest source of waste it's been. Um is phrase terminology, phrase terms, phrase keywords that generate one click, $1, no conversion. You have a thousand of them, you spend $1,000 and you didn't get anything as a result. Um, switch it to exact, pause it out and then test out them in like groups of 15 or 20. It's more manual work. It kind of sucks. But if you take the thousand dollars you spent, let's say over a month, and then you um, you take 500 of that, so you save yourself 500 and you put it towards 30 keywords and you test and let's say you generate sales after driving 10 clicks on each, on five of them, and then you use those as ranking campaigns. That's how you're able to scale the business. You're going to spend that money anyway. You might as well go deep rather than shallow, all right. Sounds like he was. He was testing me. He said correct.

Carrie Miller:

Hmm, that's. That's an interesting test, all right.

Gefen:

I'm glad I passed.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, yeah, you're definitely passing all these little tests here from people. Um, uh, just on a kind of an ending note um, are there any other kind of things you want to leave for people in 2024? Kind of final thoughts of you know what to look forward to, what, what people should be focused on, and uh, and yeah, just any final words of advice search volume trends.

Gefen:

We use Helium 10, I mean hourly, but daily, obviously uh to to look at where the search volume trends are in the space. And when I talk about 10 poll planning, when I talk about uh, uh, high, high traffic times, um, it's just the nature of the beast that you are going to perform better at certain times of the year. Um, you need to have a strategy that is able to address low demand and high demand to what you need your business to do, and so the more demand you're tracking, um, the better, uh, you're going to be able to prepare for that. And just a very simple equation or a simple example, excuse me, is um, if you know that last year you did phenomenal in December, um, then take the steps in October and November to make sure you're ready for that. And if that might mean taking or spending less in August and September, if you do have an annualized budget, then make sure you're looking at December in February, so you know that by the time August and September comes, you know what you need to do to prepare for that time of year. And so you, you know, we have, for almost every term, we have four, five, six years of data. At this point. You know what the best times of the year are. Obviously, things change every year, but we do know that, hey, if you're a holiday or a gift brand, prepare for that Right. And if you, if you are a brand some brands don't, but if you are a brand that has a hard dollar budget, make sure you don't get to December and you're out of money.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's a good point. Something to point out too about the Helium 10 tools Cerebro. We have um. It has shows trending if of keywords trending up or if it's trending down. So you can constantly check the trends and how much, what percentage, they're trending up and down. But then you can also do historical keyword searches for 24 months in the past. So that'll really really help. You know, you can kind of see year over year in the last two years what happened. But then you can kind of project also moving forward based on kind of the difference there and track it that way. So definitely, you know that's a really good point. Is, you know, kind of projecting out and making sure you plan properly your budget in the right places, very good? Well, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of tACoS Tuesday. If somebody wants to reach out to you, how can they find you?

Gefen:

They can find me by my email, geffen at vendor commercecom. Yeah, would be happy to talk anything. Advertising, um, we, like I said before, we run ads. If you can run ads on it, we do. But we take a different approach and that we make sure that we are looking at your business holistically and we're not just spending to spend, we spend to grow and so, um and so, because we spend to grow, we might recommend different strategies and say, hey, you know, even if it hurts us, right, because we take a cut from that, even if it hurts us. Say, hey, you know, you shouldn't spend 100 can meta. Maybe let's look at these different avenues or save that money for later on. We want to make sure that we are going to provide the best service for you guys.

Carrie Miller:

That's amazing. Yeah, thanks so much. I love you guys. Want to reach out to Geffen or Vendo? You need somebody to help you with TikTok ads or Facebook or Amazon or Walmart Walmart especially. I get asked all the time about Walmart, and Vendo is definitely one of the uh the top uh players in the game for Walmart.

Gefen:

So one of the largest advertisers on Walmart. Um, I think we have one of, if not the most, brands on Walmart advertising and um, we've just seen so much growth there.

Carrie Miller:

And so, yeah, thanks again for joining and thank you everyone for your questions and for joining us live, and we will see you again on the next TACoS Tuesday, which will be next month, and we'll have a different guest. But thanks again, Gefen, for joining us.

Gefen:

Of course, see you later.

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Have you ever wondered how the savviest Amazon sellers pinpoint products that skyrocket to success? Join us as we navigate the complex landscape of Amazon's seller tools with insights from our expert guest, Yi Zhen from Amazon Singapore, who unpacks the secrets of the Product Opportunity Explorer, Brand Analytics, and more. We tackle the nuts and bolts of metrics that matter—from sponsored ad percentages to the telling average age of selling partners—all to equip you with a map for mastering sales trends and strategic inventory decisions.

Unboxing the art of personalized promotions, this episode reveals how a deep dive into customer loyalty analytics can revolutionize your sales approach. We share real-life tales and tactics for waking up those hibernating buyers and how vital understanding customer lifetime value can be to your growth. From decoding top search terms to smart segmentation targeting, this is an arsenal of strategies you won't want to miss.

Lastly, we journey with Helium 10 to find niche markets where the quirky, like coffin-shaped cat trees, become a good product opportunity. Discover how leveraging data from Amazon and Helium 10 can lead to unexpected product triumphs, and why sometimes, the more peculiar the product, the more passionate the customer base. Our candid conversation wraps with a heartfelt thanks to our guest and a teaser of what's on the horizon for Amazon sellers. Tune in to get ahead of the game and keep your finger on the pulse of Amazon market opportunities.

In episode 526 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Yi discuss:

00:00 - Analyzing Product Opportunities and Customer Trends
03:51 - Understanding the Product Opportunity Explorer
12:16 - Product Returns and Display Color Analysis
15:43 - Tailored Promotions and Customer Loyalty Analytics
17:19 - Understanding Customer Loyalty Analytics
21:43 - Discover Niche Markets With Helium 10
21:55 - Analyze Product Opportunity With ASINs
29:21 - Analyzing Consumer Behavior for Product Development

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

And today we have invited you back onto the show the second half of the episode. I couldn't cut it off because there's just too much amazing stuff that we're going over. So let's go ahead and get you the second part of this interview and let's learn all there is to know about product opportunity Explorer, brand analytics, customer loyalty dashboard. We're going to talk about a whole bunch of cool stuff. Here we go. Did you know that Amazon sometimes loses or damages some of your inventory? Usually they reimburse you for this, but sometimes they might miss things. That's where refund Genie comes in. What Helium 10 refund Genie does is we go check out your reports and see if Amazon owes you any money, and then we give you the reports that you need to submit to Amazon so that you can get your money back. If you haven't run this, you can have hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that Amazon might owe you, especially if you've never used this before and you sell a lot on Amazon. So to find out more information, go to h10.me forward slash refund Genie. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series tellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. What else, so what else we have?

Yi:

here. Okay, I will just move on to the other tabs, because each tab will have different interesting insights for us to know.

Bradley Sutton:

So this one speaking of insights, I just clicked on insights.

Yi:

That's right. So over here you'll be able to know wow, I mean you'll be able to see the different matrix for instance, how many percent of the products are using sponsored product top five products. How many click share are they taking out?

Bradley Sutton:

At one glance, you're a good saleswoman, by the way, really Kind of like me. She's like she does this every day, but she's like, wow, like this never ceases to amaze me, Like this is so amazing. That's like you're like me and Helium 10, like look at this Helium 10 thing, guys. Wow. Like oh, my goodness, like I'm speechless. I'm just like, yeah, I love it. I love the genuine. This is a wow thing because this is I'm seeing here the 90% of click, like how many percent of people are using sponsored products? How many percent is prime, you know, and it's like 100% right. But then imagine if you guys found a niche where it's like 50% only are using prime. Wow, that would be a real wow. Right there, exactly.

Yi:

Exactly. Yeah, I think the reason why I said wow is because I saw that the percentage of products using sponsored products is above 90%, which is pretty high compared to many other niche I've done research over. Usually, I think the average I've seen so far is between 80 to 90%. This is like 90 to 98%, so it's pretty high. I would say it's really competitive, which is why I guess, when you see in the search term, tap earlier on, the search conversion rate is so low, because I think way too many people are running advertising on this. It might be a bit expensive. Yeah, correct, correct, this might. It's a consideration point.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not sure if you can give this information, but what does it mean here when it says number of successful launches, like what determines successful launch?

Yi:

I think actually, if you hover your mouse over the, over the matrix, you actually tell you. It means the number of new launch. It's been in launches in the past 180 years. Wow, it's in there, right there. We've annualized it. Didn't say that before.

Bradley Sutton:

Like I was like in the dark. This was like six months ago.

Yi:

Since I've looked at this, I didn't even notice that.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, Number of new launches with an annualized revenue amount of over $50,000 in the past 30 days. All right, yes.

Yi:

I think we are just being more transparent, especially because many sellers are telling us they don't really understand this matrix. Can you explain this better, this product opportunity explorer? I think throughout the entire year I've seen so much changes and in fact it's for the better, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, cool. So I see this. By the way, for the people not watching this, I see there's columns for today, columns for 90 days ago, 360 days ago. Oh, my goodness, the one thing that tells me to stay far, far away. Not stay far away from this niche, but average selling partner age almost 10 years. So, like these are like experienced sellers in this niche and if you're a brand new seller, you might not want to go against people with 10 years of selling under their belt. So there's another piece of interesting information here. Pretty cool, all right. Next one here is or is there anything else on this page? No, I think we can move on to trends.

Yi:

Okay, yeah, I think what helps over in the trends page firstly is to identify the seasonality of the product and also when you should enter to sell. So firstly for this product, as you know, shower curtains typically is something usually people will buy across the year. Right, there shouldn't be much pigs, but from what I see over here I think there's a pig in July. Probably is because of Prime Day. Prime Day yeah probably is because of Prime Day, otherwise it's quite flat throughout. So I think, regardless of where you, when you launch, I think it's fine. But just take note, maybe when you do your inventory planning or when you try to you know purchase your product from manufacturer, maybe before Prime Day you might want to manufacture more, right? So it helps you to do your inventory planning for that.

Bradley Sutton:

Also. I'm just looking at this and the number of products goes down. So that could mean one of two things. It could mean that more products are going out of stock, like maybe this people in this niche are not keeping their product in stock come Christmas time and they're running out, or like the stronger listings are getting more powerful because now it takes less products to make up the 90 percent. But either way, there's a clear trend here where, from September where it was about you know 90 products that make up this niche, and then now in November and December it's down to 65. So that's a pretty significant drop there, pretty cool stuff.

Yi:

Yeah yeah. There are also many other matrix that you can just toggle into to just quickly see, like how this niche doing. For instance, you can also look at the search conversion rate, but I just quickly see and it's pretty stagnant throughout. In fact, I think it seems like it's increasing towards like slightly.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, I didn't even know that I could hit this button and it shows me the graph history. Man, there's so much new stuff in here. I mean I swear. I looked at this like a few months ago I didn't know I could do all this stuff. Pretty cool, yes.

Yi:

Yes, so you can actually see, the search conversion rate seems to be increasing slightly, but yet the product count is decreasing. Maybe it's because, like, more products are stopping to sell or it's going out of stock, like you mentioned. So the remaining products are actually doing much better in terms of like search conversion.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, correct, correct Okay.

Yi:

Cool, okay. The next one would be purchase drivers. This is actually something new, and I noticed that not many sellers have access to this beta page, so for you that you are able to see this, oh.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm special.

Yi:

Yeah, you're special, yeah, so over here it's something new that I think it got released in October, so it's really really very recent. It will tell you what are the different features. They are leading to a successful sale or like a purchase by customer Right. So what are the important features I would say in this case? Then you could see the color white or it has to have curtain hook or the team is boho. Typically are the top three positive feature for this shower curtain. So maybe it's something you need to take note of when you come out with different variations for your shower curtain when you want to start selling it.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to read the little tool tip here where it explains what does positive drivers mean. It says here, because I didn't know, I was like what the heck am I looking at here? It says feature specific to this niche that positively impact the number of units sold by products within it. The impact is calculated by comparing the estimated sales of the products with that feature against the average units sold by all products in the niche. Okay, and then I'm assuming negative just means the opposite.

Yi:

It means the opposite here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, interesting. So this means people do not like the stripe pattern Exactly and they don't like that fabric one because it's not waterproof, I guess Correct, correct.

Yi:

So let's say if you can come out with something water resistant. Maybe you have a chance and maybe your advertising may not have to be that expensive. If they are not much similar selections, they are water resistant.

Bradley Sutton:

Anything else on this page, or can I go to the next one?

Yi:

The next one.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, customer review insights. So this is you know. We looked at the review insights based on like an ASIN. This is kind of just like based on the all the products in the niche right.

Yi:

Correct. Correct, and I also briefly talk about it for, like the particular ASIN just now, just that what you see over here is on the niche level. So you know, at the aggregated level for shower curtains, what are typical things that are wanted or not wanted by customers, and this is something I would say for you to work on, especially on the negative reviews for you to innovate your product in order to differentiate from existing products that are currently selling. Right, for instance, you see, there might be a seller selling the shower curtain a cloth shower curtain since 2014. But, let's say, if you're able to come out with a water resistant curtain which people like you can even like, win over some of the click share.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, so water resistant is one. I'm looking here and I clicked on the negative and I see a lot of people have issue with the magnet. The magnet is not strong. I know exactly what they're talking about. I bought one of these shower curtain. I don't know if it's this one, but but it doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't work very, very good. Maybe I'm part of this percentage in this niche of these negative mentions here.

Yi:

Okay, yeah, yeah, I think people also talk about the thickness of the product. So, yeah, there's something very immediate. In fact, the mentions of thickness is 18%, which is significantly higher compared to the other topics, like magnetic strength, because magnetic strength, even though it's second, it's only 5%. So, in fact, something that you immediately need to work on will be the thickness of the shower curtain.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I see that right here.

Yi:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and then here at the bottom it says topic impact on the star rating. So yeah, the thickness is the number one, like everything else. Is that like two? Or point zero, point zero, two, but the thickness at 0.2, so like 10 times as much. So that's a easy way to see what people are complaining about.

Yi:

Correct, correct. So I mean looking at the product itself, even though we see like the product might be quite competitive in state in terms of like the sponsored products percentage, in terms of search conversion. But actually there might still be opportunities because people are quite strong about the negative review they are talking about. That means there are products on Amazon.com. They are not able to satisfy people that are complaining about existing product within this niche. So in this case, if you are able to come out with something different, position yourself differently, there might still be opportunities for you to go in. Yeah, even though there are multiple Asians available already.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Alright, we're ready to go to the next tab.

Yi:

Yeah, the returns.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's see, oh return. There's another one of the new ones, because there's beta here.

Yi:

Correct, correct. This is something new. I think it was announced in Amazon Accelerate this year, which I think you are quite lucky.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you see my shirt on Word today? Look.

Yi:

I bet you don't even have this sweater here. I don't have it.

Bradley Sutton:

I was a speaker at Amazon Accelerate so I feel special. I got to have an Amazon Accelerate sweater. That's my word.

Yi:

Yeah, it's nice, it's nice.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright. So I'm looking at this literally my first time looking at this because I haven't looked at this and I see a lot of the same data points here as far as search volume and things like that, at the very top. But if I scroll down here under product returns insights, it gives me the percentage of mentions of certain things like. The number one thing was the display colors. There's that thickness right there, 8%. The material, the value for money. So yeah, that's interesting how people were giving bad reviews for the thickness the most, but as far as why they returned it, it looks like they didn't like the colors.

Yi:

They feel like it wasn't accurate, right? I think they mentioned the green didn't look like what it was as advertised. So the product listing images also plays a very important part in this, as well as part of the returns, which is why we always emphasize on coming out with a good listing, as accurate as possible. Give sellers or customers, in fact, even more information to help them make decisions on whether they want this product and help them understand this product, so that you'll reduce possibility of returns. So yeah, in this case, display colors really like a huge issue.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so tons of new stuff here in Product Opportunity Explorer. Now, one thing I kind of referenced was there are some familiar data points with the top clicked and stuff that we might have been used to from years ago in brand analytics, but it is a little bit different brand analytics. So then, how would a seller use Product Opportunity Explorer with Amazon brand analytics?

Yi:

Yeah, I would say it's more of how do you use brand analytics together like some initial insights of what you should sell. Then Opportunity Explorer is always a tool for you to look more in-depth into and see how can you further validate the product selection. So I think that I would probably share a few useful cases of how people can use brand analytics in order to shortlist a couple of ideas from there. But just something to note brand analytics is only available for sellers and wrote into brand registry, so, beyond just professional selling account, they need to have an eligible trademark that is enrolled into brand registry to access brand analytics.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool, yeah. So Product Opportunity Explorer guys, remember it's available for everybody, but brand analytics is only available to brand registered sellers. So hopefully most of you guys are brand registered and if so, go ahead and click over to brand analytics and there's a whole bunch of new stuff here. Are we going to talk about the CLA? This is the CLA. As soon as I get in brand analytics, it goes directly to the CLA Customer Loyalty Analytics. Oh my goodness, look at all of this new stuff here.

Yi:

Yes, yes, this is something that I wanted to introduce, actually, because it's something that's pretty new, also, I think, introduced around in October. So over here, you'll be able to understand what are, like, the demographics of the people that are buying your products. Right Then, from here, actually, what we'll recommend for sellers to do is to tie it up with brand tailored promotions in order to run specific discounts or promotions that will be able to help you to retarget a particular segment that you want to grow further. Yeah, have you tried using brand tailored promotions?

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, I have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, like I've done in some of my accounts the abandoned cart and some other different markets here where I was able to get some sales that I probably wouldn't have gotten without that correct. Now this here is looking at one of my. I'm seeing my coffin shelf brand here. I see I have an option of weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. And wow the hibernating customers what's a hibernating customer?

Yi:

Basically people who haven't, I guess, purchased in a long while. So, which is why it's very important for you to look into these analytics before you actually do your brand tailored promotions. Because when brand tailored promotions first launch, sellers always ask us which segment should I target? They don't really know right. But over here, after looking at our analytics, you'll be able to know which segment you have the most customers in, so that you'll be able to re-target them or re-activate that particular segment. For instance, your hibernating customers is 600 plus. Maybe you might want to run a promotion that target sellers or customers that haven't been purchasing your product for a while. Maybe you want to do something special about that.

Bradley Sutton:

And there's a button right here that I can do that on the right side. I'm assuming this kind of ties directly to the brand tailored promotions. Right, this create promotion button. Okay, correct.

Yi:

In fact, over here, if you go to the top left corner, there is a button where you can click into the segment view. So the thing about customer loyalty analytics ideally it's for sellers that have been selling on Amazon for at least a year, I would say so that there will be sufficient data for you to make decisions on Of course, you need to have enough customers for you to re-target right. In this case, over here under the segment view, you'll be able to see a few metrics, including predictive customer lifetime value, right. So usually, if there's sufficient data, it will roughly tell you what is customer spending this year and what they are predicted to sell, to buy next year as well, for, like your top tier customer. So this is what's very important for you to know, so that maybe you'll be able to Kind of like retarget them, either through promotions or actively through the post that you have, in order to engage with them.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, see my repeat customers average repeat purchase interval.

Yi:

Very interesting stuff if multiple people are like Purchasing from you, if you're selling like commodities, if maybe you can consider doing subscribe and save, for instance. So it really depends on what segment you have so that you'll be able to leverage on, like the different programs or different promotions that you have, in order to retarget this group of customers.

Bradley Sutton:

This wasn't even. Was this even in your presentation in Singapore?

Yi:

No, it isn't, yeah, because this wasn't even out a couple months ago. Okay, yeah, that's what I thought.

Bradley Sutton:

I know my memory is bad, but I didn't know was that bad? Okay, good, I'm glad. I'm glad it's not that I forgot about it. All right, cool, anything more in the CLA.

Yi:

Nothing much to highlight additionally here? Yeah, because after all, is still a very new tool. I guess, at a very start for sellers, when you review this dashboard is to see is to understand more about the Demographics of like customers that are purchasing, how valuable they are. If not, is there are some immediate actions that you can take, for instance, using brand tailored promotions in order to actively engage with them first.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, I haven't done that. In a few weeks I might be. I might need to look at my numbers here and run, run some more.

Yi:

Yeah, let me know how it works for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, what's the next hour? Gonna switch to Marketplace.

Yi:

Amazon brand analytics, but I just I'll be talking about maybe three use cases on the different reports that you'll be able to use in order to shortlist the kind of products that you want to Investigate further or explore further using OX.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so that's it for the customer loyalty analytics. What's next? What should I? What should I click on? Yes, you're, you're, I'm the driver and you're the navigator. You got to tell me where to go next.

Yi:

Okay, okay, right now We'll still stay in Amazon brand analytics, but the next thing that you need to click on is the top search terms report. I think it's under the Correct.

Bradley Sutton:

I see it's under search analytics and go to top search terms correct. All right excellent.

Yi:

So over here.

Bradley Sutton:

This is the one that I.

Yi:

Often use.

Bradley Sutton:

I love like three years ago when this came out. This is the greatest thing in the history of mankind, I think yeah, but this is cool, and now it's like kind of crazy because it's like the oldest thing now. Now Everybody's talking about the OX and SQP, but still I think this has some Definitely has some value, yes, yes.

Yi:

So over here, what I think is actually useful is let's say, if you don't really know, you know what kind of products that you want to sell, but then, or maybe you already have like an idea of like the keywords of like that item that you want to sell. Maybe, to put it better, in a better way, let's say if you have a rough idea, yeah, if you have a rough idea of what you want to sell by I'm not sure how to Validate the selection or what niche is it in actually right, so you'll be able to use the top search term report I would say keen the keywords in the search bar over there. I'm gonna put coffin because that's my, that's my main.

Bradley Sutton:

My main thing here.

Yi:

Correct.

Bradley Sutton:

And here we go.

Yi:

Okay, so over here, immediately, you'll be able to see what I like, for instance, the top click brand and top a, since over here, so immediately, you'll be able to know what are the similar a, since you can benchmark yourself against right. But how do you work backwards in order to find out what are the niche for this product, in order to do more research? Because, after all, within this analytics report, the Data available is still limited to a certain extent. So what I would advise sellers to do over here Is to copy the ASIN. For instance, we can take the top ASIN. Take this coffin show and copy that we can put it back into opportunity, explorer and search for this product Correct. So over here You'll be able to see your target ASIN. So likewise, like what we have did Previously, you'll be able to see, like customer review insights while like the click counts etc for this ASIN. But I think what's more interesting would be if you can go to the previous page, you can click into niche view, which is beside ASIN view, can you see at the left side You'll be able to see which niche this product is Situated in and in fact, for some ASINs. Sometimes it might be present in multiple niche. So over there you'll be able to work. Go backwards then after that to do your research, for on the niche level, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

I see it right here. All right, so for those just listening, you haven't seen what I was in. I took the ace in, put it back to product opportunity explorer and then looked into the ace in view and also the niche view. Now You've been showing me stuff this whole time. Let me show you something you've never seen but that we just launched in Helium 10. This. This you might think is pretty cool. So we took brand analytics now, because this is available in the API, and now we have this kind of like database here Inside of black box and again, just like with brand analytics, you can only get this. You know, Helium 10 is checking your account if you have brand registry, and if you don't have brand registry, we can't show you this information because we always play by Amazon's rules, and which is a Reasonable rule. So let me show you something I literally found today. This was my first time. I think I actually did a video on this and it was a product that I couldn't believe existed. But what I did, let me see if I can remember. I think I did the same thing where I typed in coffin here and, and then I was like, alright, show me a keyword that has, and now it's easy. The cool thing about this is taking like Helium 10 data At the same time as as Amazon data. So I'm like hey, show me something that has at least I think I said 500 search volume where at least two items had greater than 30% Click.

Yi:

Share you see like right, this is something you can't.

Bradley Sutton:

I mean, you could download this, of course, in In brand analytics and I'm not doing anything new other than the search form. This is all stuff that anybody can just download, but I'm just doing it right here in this dashboard. And then let me I'm not sure if this is the exact thing I typed. Let's just take a look, I'll know when it comes up and I hit apply, there, it is right here. Look at this Cat tree. And I'm like you've got to be kidding me. What the heck is this 3,200 search volume? I, you know, I thought I knew everything about coffins, right, and then so I actually click this again. I got this from brand analytics and then you I know you guys are a lot of you guys can't see what I'm looking at. This is insane, guys. There is these cat trees, oh, and the one that is out of stock. It's out of stock already. There is one that's a hundred and forty dollars and it's sold like 800 units or something. Here's one that's a 100 and it's a hundred and forty dollars. It's crazy. People are buying cat-shaped trees.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me see if, if that product is still here, that was number one. Where is it? This one here? It is right here. This is the number one selling one. This is cool, guys. It doesn't show up in Amazon search anymore. That's why I didn't come up, but because it's in Brand Analytics, which is another good thing about Brand Analytics. By the way, I bet you I could find this right here in what we just did. Let me coffin cat. There. It is right here. So, you see, I would have found this even if I was in Brand Analytics. There it is coffin cat tree. But it takes me right to this number one click one, which is now out of stock because it was being bought too much. People were selling this for ridiculous amount of money and they sold almost 1,000 units of this. But I discovered a completely new niche thanks to Brand Analytics and this new Helium 10 tool that incorporates Brand Analytics. So yeah, guys, brand Analytics is still very valuable. You can get some really cool ideas. Do you have any pets?

Yi:

cats or dogs or anything I don't have a dog or cat, but my boyfriend do have a Pomeranian.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now would he make a coffin shaped bed? Like isn't that kind of morbid? Why would you do that for your pet? Like I don't understand pet owners, but guess what guys? There's 1,000 people a month who want a coffin shaped toy or a bed for their cat to sleep in. I worry about those people, but I'll gladly take their $140. $140 is a really, really good price point. I'm quite sure the person's margin must be great, Considering.

Yi:

I mean, there are many other sellers selling at much cheaper price, but people still buy the $140. There must be something great about it right, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's great, it's great, but my boyfriend's dog just lies on the towel. That's all we wanted to buy a bed, but it doesn't want it, that's normal.

Bradley Sutton:

see, that's normal. Putting it in a coffin shaped towel, that's not normal.

Yi:

Oh yeah, okay, anyways, anyways.

Bradley Sutton:

So I was. We were in. Let me go back to where we were. We were looking at the search terms. You were talking about the cool use of this. Anything left on this search term page or should I go somewhere else now?

Yi:

Now we'll move on to the next one, which is under the brand analytics as well, is the consumer behavior analytics.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Okay, do I just click it, or do I click one of these three sub-options here, or you can click into the market but size analysis. Market MBA, so that normally stands for like a master of business something or other, like a degree that I don't have, but here it means market basket analysis. Correct, correct.

Yi:

What's useful?

Bradley Sutton:

And here's all my products. This is my Project X products. Right here I can see.

Yi:

So I think what's useful about this page is, let's say, if you already have an existing product that's already selling, right, you're wondering what kind of product can you extend to sell? What kind of new selections can you introduce? So right over here you'll be able to see what are people commonly buying together with your products and if this is actually something that is relevant, it might be something you want to consider selling as well. Let's say, if you want to brand yourself as, like, a coffin shelf or coffin team seller, maybe you can expand to sell even like those brush holders, et cetera, right?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, my skull shape. For those who can't see this, I just clicked in the very first one and 4% of people are buying it with a skull makeup brush holder.

Yi:

It must be like the person that's buying your coffin bookshelf, just like the coffin team, kind of like products. You know there are people who have like their whole house filled with Hello Kitty, so I'm not surprised there's someone who likes everything coffin related. So maybe this is something or like the brand, that brand positioning you want to go into, or like the team you want to get started with, so you do not need to sell, like you know, different kind of shelves. In fact, you can just go stick to coffin team products. Yeah, that's something that you can consider as well. So that's one way. Then the last way that I would like to just quickly introduce would be under the consumer behavior analytics as well, under demographics. So over here you'll be able to know at one glance who are actually purchasing your products, Like you know, the gender, income, education, the age of the people buying your products. So the way that you want to introduce new product, or like the type of product that you want to introduce to like the this customer segment that you have, it can be fully customized.

Bradley Sutton:

There are three people who make $250,000 a year. Who is buying the coffin shelves? All right, so it's not just for cheap people. This is for the high class people they have high class kids. Yeah exactly.

Yi:

So if you scroll to the left side, for instance, let me take a look at what is the age demographic? Oh, it's quite well spread out throughout, like 20s to 40s.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's actually surprising, maybe.

Yi:

I'll consider them, maybe the office crowd, so you may want to launch something that is favorable for them. Maybe, you know, it can be like the coffin pen holder, which can also be used for the brushes, right? Maybe you can position it as like a pen holder, something like that. So we need to understand who are actually buying your product so that you'll be able to launch products that suit them, right? So this just roughly gives you an idea to help you. You know, have like initial sparks or something to get started with initially. Yeah, so it's at the idea stage. Yeah, so I think, just for the purpose of like product research, I think these are the three common ones that you can start using first. Then maybe next time I can share more.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, I mean yeah this is like way more than I have been using lately. I guess you use kind of like the traditional stuff, but now this shows me that I definitely need to be in here a little bit more looking at stuff. All right, so, wow, this was a lot of information. Now, pretty much everything that we went over today is available in those marketplaces and even more, actually, the OX is available in those six, seven marketplaces that she mentioned earlier. You know Europe, USA, Japan Brand Analytics is actually available a lot of the stuff in almost all of the marketplaces. But also, you know, like he works here in the Amazon, Singapore and you do some like you know, if anybody's in your region, you actually have some cool programs. But first of all, let's talk about what is your region? It's not just Singapore. Like, right, like, like what. What countries are you servicing the sellers?

Yi:

So we are actually covering Southeast Asian sellers. There are from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, so any sellers that are coming from this country. Actually, we do provide free account management support To help them on board and start selling out Amazon.com. So I think many of the sellers May not know that we exist, but I just want to share that we are here beyond just the account management support. We do have many other educational resources available, for instance, seller university Live broadcast webinars so you can watch it anytime. We do have our monthly seller meetup and events yeah, every month, but this is only currently more for Singapore sellers. So if you are a Singapore listener, please drop by for our event and Do let me know. If you want to attend an event or do not know where is the registration page, let me know. We'll let you in. Yeah, so we do have many other pages, like our telegram community groups, as well as Facebook Pages as well, where we do share some practical tips from other existing seller on how to sell better. Yeah, and also we do share updates on like new products or any policy updates, etc. So just stay tuned. We do actually have a lot of different Pages available or have support that we can provide to Southeast Asian seller, so do reach out to us. If you are a new seller within this region, we'll be able to help you and then how can people do that?

Bradley Sutton:

How can people reach out like where's what website should they go?

Yi:

They can either go to sell.amazon.com.sg to Reach out to us, either through by attending our live webinar or signing up for our seller events. Alternatively, they could also hit us up via our Facebook page, which is the global selling Southeast Asia Facebook group, so they can also Reach out to the marketing team from there. Then they'll reach the seller with account managers like us. Then we'll be able to follow up accordingly to help them launch.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah and, by the way, guys, if anybody has doesn't have Helium 10, actually Amazon Singapore has special discounts that we don't give to anybody else because they help, you know, they help new sellers, you know, come and join. So, like, if you want to discount, like actually you can give you one that's probably better than the discount that I can give. So that's a. So make sure to go through Amazon Singapore, guys. They got the, they've got the hookups. And now I was talking to Anna in In China last week when I was in China and she's arranging the Potential Philippines.

Yi:

Amazon conference.

Bradley Sutton:

So I'll be hopefully going there and maybe March. There might be a smaller one in February, but I'm gonna probably go to the March. Any chance that you can go, that you can, should I? Should I put in a good word to Anna, like make sure, hey, we need a you over there talking about this?

Yi:

kind of stuff, maybe. Maybe if for the March one you might see me there, then I'll bring you around for good food. I do know some nice.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, yes, yes, that's, I am. Um. I've only been to Philippines like four times, but I am half Filipino and I need to. I need to connect more to my roots, but I have a team out there. I'm definitely gonna be trying to go in in the middle of March, whenever this conference is, to look out for more information on there. Well you, thank you so much for joining us, and this has been an amazing year, I think, for Amazon and for brand and little lakes, for search group performance, for product opportunity Explorer. Well, it was great to have you on here. I didn't realize it was gonna last two episodes, but there's just too much good stuff here. So, thank you so much, and then maybe you know, next year or in 2025, we'll definitely want to bring you back, because probably by then there'll be so much new stuff that have been released that will need you to talk to us about it, and then, until then, maybe we'll see you in Philippines, or maybe next year, some in Singapore hope to see you again with to bring you more good stuff so that we can share with all your listeners Next time round.

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Global shipping rates set to jump as carriers avoid the Red Sea amid Houthi attacks
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/10/global-shipping-rates-set-to-surge-as-carriers-avoid-red-sea.html

Walmart Connect now allows brand term targeting for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Video campaigns to help suppliers and sellers gain new customers and defend and maintain share of voice.
https://gecrm.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#61000000ZKTc/a/8Y0000010m2h/7xTFu8gBw7LO5UHgY1DcW.oPCExzSEZqfWAJlat9k_g

Improve your campaign performance on rest of search placements using Sponsored Products rest of search bid adjustment control
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/improve-campaign-performance/

Sponsored Display is expanded to Amazon Business globally
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-display-amazon-business-globally/

How Amazon Fashion is using AI to help you find the perfect fit
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/how-amazon-is-using-ai-to-help-customers-shop

Walmart unveils new generative AI-powered capabilities for shoppers and associates
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2024/01/09/walmart-unveils-new-generative-ai-powered-capabilities-for-shoppers-and-associates/

Alibaba Boosts SMEs With New AI Feature at CES 2024
https://aithority.com/technology/alibaba-boosts-smes-with-new-ai-feature-at-ces-2024/

Sky High Ambitions: Walmart To Make Largest Drone Delivery Expansion of Any U.S. Retailer
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/01/09/sky-high-ambitions-walmart-to-make-largest-drone-delivery-expansion-of-any-us-retailer

Walmart unveils latest technologies at Consumer Electronics Show
https://drugstorenews.com/walmart-unveils-latest-technologies-consumer-electronics-show

Our training tip for this week is how to add Helium 10's Follow-Up tool to your toolkit, gathering customer reviews has never been smoother. So, buckle up because you've got yourself an episode brimming with actionable insights and essential updates for every serious seller out there.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:45 - Amazon Fees to Hike 300%?!
02:42 - Unenroll, Avoid Suspension
04:20 - Walmart Brand Term Targeting
05:48 - New Placement Bid Adjustments
06:20 - Sponsored Display Expansion
06:51 - AI Powered Innovations
08:20 - CES Announcements
10:18 - Comparison Charts Gone!
11:22 - Pro Training Tip: Automated Request A Review
14:00 - Join And Meet Bradley In These Events

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

Amazon shipping prices to increase by 300%, unenroll an automated AI, changes to your listings and a plethora of new AI-powered integrations. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Shivali Patel:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you all the latest news in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce space and we also provide you with a training tip of the week that will give you insight into serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. First up, let's jump to shipping and logistics. I'm currently on CNBC and, as you can see, the latest news is global shipping rates are set to experience a steep rise.

Shivali Patel:

In order to divert ships from the Red Sea, where there has been a surge of ships being attacked with drones and missile strikes by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, new routes are being taken, extra fees are being imposed and, as a seller, you should expect longer transit times. Analysts are actually warning the chaos could bring about a second wave of inflation, as many container companies are electing to reroute the vessels through routes sailing around Africa's Cape of good hope, making the journey longer than usual. Of course, for sellers everywhere, this differs based on where you're sourcing. This also comes at the expense of time, money and delayed product deliveries, and while we can hope that the global supply chain will eventually return to normal, for the time being it's probably best practice for you to prepare your inventory, turnover and profit margins accordingly. I actually recently had a conversation with Brock from Foursquat and I quote he said that it does affect every line price and departure times and schedules. Majority of these shipping lines have 10 to 15 day delays. If we're talking about a departure from China, that container vessel has to go from China to England, which will then go from England to USA, and every sailing schedule is connected to one another. From China to UK. It's around 7,000, versus two months ago when it was $2,500. The main problem being the total turnaround time. And of course, this has a massive impact because Chinese New Year is also around the corner. Geez, talk about a steep height and a snowball effect. Understandably so, but as a seller myself, I don't love it, though I would prefer my shipments remain intact. Hopefully, as a seller, you are able to make feasible changes that sustain your business needs.

Shivali Patel:

Next up, we have this post that Jason made in our serious sellers club Facebook group yesterday. The meat and gravy of this post is actually based in something that we reported on the weekly bus a few weeks ago. At some point, amazon announced they would start potentially optimizing listings using AI. Now we've seen many, many sellers report that their titles, even their bullet points, were getting changed, sometimes without notice, and occasionally those changes end up being products that could get a listing suspended.

Shivali Patel:

Thankfully, there is a way that you can unenroll from this and if you are someone who wants to opt out, here's how you do it. So you're going to want to go to your seller central account and once you're there, go ahead and open up that left paneling click inventory, not inventory catalog, click add products. Once you're on this page, then you're going to go to this section down below where it says explore brand selection, click learn more, and by going to the page that this takes you to, you'll see there's an option right here that says you can unenroll from the program at any time. So go ahead and select that and then at the very bottom of this page, you'll see it says no thanks, I do not wish to enroll, and go ahead and select that From there. You are good to go. If, in the case that Amazon has already chained something like they did for David right here, then you will need to create a case for it to be resolved and affirm that you want to be the lead contributor, as you are the brand owner. So there you have it. It is really as simple as that. But you will want to make sure that you're doing this if you want to defend your listings against any changes that you haven't made yourself. With that, let's go ahead and move forward to a different fruitful note, where we have an article from Walmart Connect.

Shivali Patel:

Part of being a seller is gaining new customers and retaining loyal ones. So, outside of the clear variables to stay on top of, such as knowing your customer and ensuring your brand and products are relevant to the customers you're targeting, having great keywords, compelling listings, creatives and utilizing brand shop and shelf URLs, setting up a defensive for your brand by bidding on your own and your competitor's branded terms is really beneficial. So the good news with Walmart Connect is they actually allow brand term targeting now for sponsored products, sponsored brands and sponsored video campaigns, so that way, customers can discover your brand and products when you advertise, while simultaneously helping you defend and maintain share of voice, as it says right here. This is really cool because, statistically speaking, Walmart has publicly revealed that 58% of customers surveyed will spend time looking for a discount, while 54% of Walmart consumers are open to switching brands if it means getting a better value for the same products. I know my family is definitely a part of these metrics. So to use it, make sure that you bid on keywords related to your competitor's brands and products, and bear in mind that there are some restrictions. For instance, you cannot bid on Walmart private labels, and this is only applicable for exact match keywords. Now that's Walmart toggling gears.

Shivali Patel:

What's happening over at Amazon? Well, a few things. But to start, advertisers can now apply bid adjustment for rest of search placements in their sponsored product campaigns. Looks like they're saying that the new bid adjustment control for rust of search works pretty much the same as the adjustments available for top of search and product page placements. So, if you choose, you can adjust bids up to 900%, just like the other two placements. This is great for helping you balance out campaign performance throughout your placements. Amazon has also expanded their sponsored display to show up on Amazon business globally with placements on the homepage, search and detail pages, be it on desktop and mobile, meaning you can now promote to business shoppers with exclusive pricing, such as quantity discounts, as they tend to purchase in bulk and more frequently than regular customers. This is available in North America, parts of Europe and Asia Pacific.

Shivali Patel:

For a continuation of exciting changes, ai has been all the rage since its inception and when reading up on different news pieces, that definitely shines through. Platforms like Amazon and Walmart are tapping in. For instance, amazon fashion here is using AI to help consumers find the perfect fit. Alongside that fit insights tool If you remember, I talked about it the last time I hosted weekly buzz and hopefully for you as a seller, this can translate to less returns overall, while improving the overall experience that you deliver to your consumers. Similarly, in terms of Walmart, most families spend six hours planning household groceries and shopping. Many do it digitally.

Shivali Patel:

Now the company is moving towards using a generative, ai powered search function to expand their searches, with the intent of allowing shoppers to look for specific themes, ideas, products across a host of categories. As an example, here on Microsoft's blog, we have a parent who is planning a birthday party for a child that loves unicorns and, as opposed to typing in maybe independent searches or running multiple different things such as napkins and plates, you can now just type in help me plan a unicorn themed party for my daughter and instantaneously you have a goal based search as opposed to scroll searching, and I really liked that identification right here. So it says shifting from scroll searching to goal searching. At the end of the day, both of these news pieces are a testament to a move towards a more customer centric approach. In other news, at CES, which is currently happening, alibabacom also dove into their newly developed smart assistant, which acts as an intuitive personal assistant guide to sourcing, where an AI powered robot can help you with your basic queries regardless of time zones or language barriers. This is an in addition to their September 2023 launch of upgraded image searches and smart requests for quotations to allow business owners to manage data collection and insights from a single touch point, and I'm excited about this. I know something we always consider is how well we are able to communicate with our suppliers, and the language barrier can make it difficult to understand the efficiency of operations. With this, hopefully, it expands the efficiency and ability to work with even more suppliers.

Shivali Patel:

Ps, Alibaba debuted a new campaign to celebrate entrepreneurial spirit and innovation and, since we're all a little bit nuts about what we do, it's actually a super fun quiz. We have our own link so you can be eligible for prizes from Alibaba. Just go to H10.me slash nuts that's again h10.me forward slash nuts to see what kind of nuts you are. I think I was a cashier when I took this quiz and Bradley was a chest nut. Okay, more from CES.

Shivali Patel:

Walmart's Tuesday keynote expressed they will be expanding their drone delivery to 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas fourth worth metropolitan area. While their drone delivery system isn't exactly new, their expansion signifies demand, efficiency and growth. The company also revealed an in-home replenishment which uses AI to understand consumer shopping habits and then keep them stocked with their favorite groceries after determining a cadence, as well as a beta platform that's called shop with friends, which will allow customers to create outfits visually and then get some feedback from their networks. Lastly, if you haven't seen it yet, inside of the news section, directly inside of your seller central account, amazon has opted to make some changes on what documents are acceptable to standardized product listings, as well as make it easier for your consumers to understand the information that's available about your product.

Shivali Patel:

From January 29th 2024, you will not be able to upload or edit the following on your product detail pages. This does include brochure, comparison charts, compatibility guides, FAQ, size charts. There's quite a few things, but in the case that any one of these already exists on your page, then that will stay there until February 26th, at which point they will be able to remove it from your product detail page. And all this is to say that if there is certain information you want to ensure stays on your listing page, make sure you audit your SKUs and then move that information to the appropriate sections or at least respond to that in a supported format, reflect uploaded accordingly. So that concludes our news pieces for the week. With that said, we move forward to the training tip of the week. Having substantial social proof is such an integral part of driving momentum in any business, so I'm going to pass it off to Carrie, where she will share a little bit about Helium 10’s Follow-up tool.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, I've been noticing lately that a lot of you have been asking how to get more reviews on your Amazon listings, and I have a very simple, easy and quick way to set up an automation that will help you to get more reviews with no effort, pretty much other than just setting this up. Now you have access to this tool If you're platinum diamond, elite. All the plans should have access to this, so it's a great thing to utilize. If you have not yet utilized it, the first thing that you want to do is you want to obviously log into your helium 10 account, and once you're logged into your helium 10 account, you're going to go up to the top here where it says follow up, and you're going to click on follow up, and then, once you're in the follow up tool, you can obviously set up your own kind of customized automations, but that takes more time and effort. I would recommend just doing what I tell you here, and this is an automation, so email automation is where you're going to go next, and then what you're going to do is you're going to go up to the right hand corner where it says new automation and you're going to click on new automation and then you're going to click here where it says send a message to request a review. Once you click on that, you're going to click on create a new automation and this is where you're going to kind of set up the parameters here. Now, if you wanted to use this for a certain ASIN, like you wanted this automated request to go for a certain ASIN, you're going to put that ASIN right. You can click on this and you can add this filter and you're going to put the ASIN in here. You can also do that by skew as well, but that is how you are going to be able to do the request review and this is an automated email that goes out through Amazon that they already do.

Carrie Miller:

The only other thing that you are going to want to edit is this wait time. So this is how long they wait after you had an order placed. I recommend 12 to 25 days. You mean you can really go anywhere in here. So maybe day 20, you can add that action and then you're going to hit save and exit and it's going to basically automatically send these emails to request a review from Amazon. This is a very quick and easy way to get those reviews that you want and if you haven't set this up. Once you've set it up, it'll automatically request those reviews for you. Basically, it goes through Amazon and Amazon requests those reviews, so check it out, if you haven't already. Again, that's the follow up tool and let us know what you think.

Shivali Patel:

Incredible. So there you guys have it. Make sure you're making use of our email automation functionality to help you streamline your processes and keep that Amazon flywheel in motion. Before I close out, I just want to briefly touch on some of our upcoming January meetups and conferences. I know Bradley covered these last week, but perhaps between then and now some things have changed and if you have the bandwidth, obviously we would love to see you. Don't forget to let us know in the comment section if you're attending any of these.

Shivali Patel:

First up, we have a Dubai meetup on the 12th, which is this Friday. I believe this event is sold out now, but if you are nearby or you already have tickets, you will likely be meeting up with Bradley and Crystal from Amazon Seller Society. It's a casual meetup in the morning, hosted at the Movenpick Hotel apartments in downtown Dubai. Find out more at h10.me forward slash Dubai meetup. And a couple days later, on the 14th, Bradley will be in Lahore at the Pearl Continental for a reality check. If any of you are tuning in from areas close to there, then hey, it might be something you want to consider heading over to. Then we have our Frankfurt event on the 25th. I'll be there. Bradley will be there. It's a Helium 10 Elite event we're hosting in collaboration with Avask that typically only elite members in Avask plus members get to go to. If you are an elite or Avask plus member, you get in for free, but what typically costs elite members in the 600 range, this time, if you're not a member, you can still access this full day event for only 75 euros, because it is the first of its kind in Europe.

Shivali Patel:

We have a carefully curated but killer lineup of speakers Matt Altman from ClearAds, Kara Sayer from Snooze Shade Both are flying in from UK, Nick from Boomed Silas, who used to be head of paid and organic search at Lego, and a few others. You don't even need to rent a car or anything, because it'll be at a venue located inside of the Frankfurt airport. Literally just fly in and come through. And the biggest event is in Berlin with AMZ Hackers live conference at h10.me/germany on January the 27th. Again, Bradley and I will both be there, so come, swing by and say hello. Hope you enjoy this week's episode. We will see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Imagine unlocking the secrets of Amazon's new cool data tools with the help of an insider. That's precisely what we did in our latest episode as an Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer team member joined us to spill the beans on how sellers can mine Amazon's data for hidden gems. We showed the Black Box tool by Helium 10, marveling at how it works in harmony with Amazon's own treasure trove of information to pinpoint profitable product niches. Our guest Yi Zhen also shared her inspiring climb from intern to account manager at Amazon Singapore.

Amazon sellers, get ready to have your minds blown by the power of Amazon's Marketplace Product Guidance and Category Insights tools. We took a stroll through Seller Central's Category Insights and discussed the 'golden data' at your fingertips, data that can guide you to high-demand product categories ripe for the picking. The episode peeled back the curtain on critical sales and search data metrics, providing listeners with a toolkit for making savvy decisions that could propel their Amazon ventures to new heights.

Wrapping up with a masterclass in product validation, we outlined how to sift through the noise and hone in on opportunities that not only look good on paper but can actually translate into profits. Our conversation illuminated the strategic use of the Product Opportunity Explorer to validate product choices and identify niches with less competition and higher potential earnings. And for those feeling the pinch of low search conversion rates, we shed light on how these metrics can sharpen your advertising strategies, giving you the edge in a fiercely competitive market. But wait, this episode is so good we had to cut it into two parts! So stay tuned for part 2!

In episode 525 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Yi discuss:

00:00 - Leveraging Amazon Data for Product Opportunity
08:51 - Unmet Customer Demands and Category Insights
09:49 - Understanding Category Insights in Seller Central
13:48 - Product Analysis and Seller Considerations
15:32 - Product Positioning and Discovering New Types
17:31 - Exploring Product Opportunities and Niche Selection
25:21 - Using Product Opportunity Explorer for Validation
28:25 - Product Opportunity Exploration and Validation
34:50 - Low Search Conversions and Brand Analytics
35:15 - High Conversion Search Term

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got somebody from Amazon who works on the Product Opportunity Explorer team to do a deep dive in how sellers can use this Amazon data to find new product opportunity, and there was so much good stuff in this episode that we actually had to split it into two episodes. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 houses the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself, we have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me/blackbox. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got somebody who's helping serious sellers from the other side of the world. I've met her a couple times now when I've spoken at Amazon Singapore events, and I really liked her presentation on some unique things. I'm like hey, I want you to come on to the podcast, be the first person from Amazon Singapore on our podcast. So, Yi Zhen, welcome to the show.

Yi:

Thanks Bradley for having me here. When Bradley was at the Seller's Meet this year, he literally just asked me like hey, do you want to come on a podcast with me? So I was like really caught off guard because my presentation was before his right. So I was like maybe, and now I'm here.

Bradley Sutton:

I don't take, I don't take, maybe I don't take, maybe I only take yes as the answer. Yeah, when I'm in Japan and Korea for my trip.

Yi:

Bradley's like when are we going to have our podcast?

Bradley Sutton:

So it's always bothering her on her vacation. Always on my mind. Yep, yep, you know it. You know we're going to talk about that a little bit, but I want to go back. I don't know too much about like your backstory. Were you born and raised in Singapore?

Yi:

Yes, born and raised in Singapore like a true blood Singaporean.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you go to university also in Singapore?

Yi:

Yes, in Singapore, actually, I went to Nan Yang Technological University.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, then and what did you study there? Business so now I'm helping sellers to run their business. Yeah, and was Amazon your first job out of university or do you work doing other things?

Yi:

Actually it is, and in fact I was intern here, so I actually got converted to a full-time account manager, living the dream.

Bradley Sutton:

University to intern, to full-time employee, one of the top ones in the product opportunity explorer department. Oh, my goodness, what was your favorite part of your trip? I love travel myself, and you went to the same, exact same countries that I just did recently. What did you like the most?

Yi:

Wow, I actually love Mount Fuji the most. It's like so magnificent. Every time you just see it in like the pictures and everything, you're like, oh it's just another mountain. But it just hits different when you're there yourself. And I think I was lucky because I could see the full Mount Fuji. A couple of like our colleagues, you know, like even two so she mentioned that she haven't had a chance to see like the full Mount Fuji before, even though she has been there a few times. So I consider myself quite lucky. And of course, the food there is great, thanks to Bradley's suggestions.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, awesome, awesome. You got to go to some of those places. I love it. Yeah, now are you a Korean drama fan?

Yi:

Of course Okay, so that's why on the Korean.

Bradley Sutton:

When you went to Korea I saw you and your husband were wearing like the school uniforms when you went to the photo shoots and stuff.

Yi:

Yeah, so we actually went to have our wedding photo shoot at one of the abandoned team parks where most of the Korean dramas are filmed there.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice Real life Korean drama Alright. Well, we're not here. I mean, I could have a whole episode about Korean drama and travel for sure, I could have two episodes about that, probably but we're here to talk about some cool stuff that you know, like, I think, a lot of our listeners. Of course, they use Helium 10, and what but people don't realize is number one. You can use Helium 10 with a lot of the amazing data that Amazon has given and have even more advantage. Or maybe you're not ready for Helium 10 yet. There's stuff that everybody, including people who don't even have brand registry which, by the way, everybody should have brand registry but even if you don't, for whatever reason, there's some cool information that Amazon has available and this is stuff that you know. Like six years ago, seven years ago, when I was first getting into Amazon, I would have never, ever, ever, ever imagined that Amazon would make this kind of data public and and it's kind of, it's kind of crazy, you know. So I want to make sure that people Kind of like know about this stuff, but before we get into it, I Want you to, I want you to quiz me, okay, all of the and people I'm trying to like see if I have my second camera, but my second camera is not, is not showing here. I want to prove to people I'm not going to cheat. I have nothing actually. Actually, I'm gonna show people my screen right now. Hold on, so this is you know. For those watching this on YouTube, this is my screen.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm just looking at you know I'm getting ready for what we're gonna talk about product opportunity Explorer. But I'm not cheating at all. My hands are up here. You test me on the acronyms on a bunch of stuff that we're gonna talk about today. You know the. We'll start with like OX. I know what that is. That's easy opportunity Explore. So we're gonna do that. Let's see, like I'm gonna pause before I answer because I want the people listening see if they know what these these Abbreviations stand for. All right, so OX equals opportunity Explorer.

Yi:

Give me another one something that Bradley was just clarifying with me earlier on. So what is MPG?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, you see, okay, hold on. I'm glad you mentioned that. You see you're in Singapore. Your cars go by kilometers, right? Yeah, yeah so here in America, mpg we go by miles. That means miles per gallon. Okay, well, like well, how much your gas mileage on the car? So that's why I asked you that today. So this one is kind of cheating, because I already asked about that earlier, because I was like what the heck is MPG? Yeah now you're ready for God? No, no, I got it. Mark marketplace product guidance.

Yi:

Yes, exactly You're right, You're right.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, got it All right. How many of you guys got it right? All right, give me. Give me another one, hit me. I think they're all easier than that one. That was the hardest one. What's another one?

Yi:

Have you heard of this thing called the CLA?

Bradley Sutton:

Is it not a Mercedes? No, like a kind of Mercedes.

Yi:

Nope, I can give you a CLA. It's actually something new under Amazon brand analytics which is an acronym in itself.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah that's a B, a right.

Yi:

Yeah, so something new yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Consumer doesn't start with consumer.

Yi:

Customer.

Bradley Sutton:

Nope, I give up. What is it?

Yi:

It's customer loyalty analytics. Yes, that's the new dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, customer loyalty analytics. All right, what's another one? So now we've done three. We've done OX, we've got a, b, a, we've got CLA. We don't know we've done, for we got MPG.

Yi:

What else is out there? Do you know what is SQP?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's an easy one. I had that team from Amazon USA on. Anybody else know who's listening. All right, search query performance. I think that's the one that everybody got. Everybody got right.

Yi:

Yeah, I watched the episode.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, you watch that episode. Do you know those people I had on the show?

Yi:

To be honest, I haven't really heard of them. Amazon is pretty big, but I know they are the growth consultants right Based in a yes, yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, I think that's most, that's most of them, but we'll see if we go over some, some other ones today. So, um, you know I wanted to. I wanted to get into some of these things because, again, you know, even even for me, like I have not done too much the customer, the customer loyalty dashboard, but what I wanted to start talking to you about today was the something else about? I'm not sure if this is the same dashboard, but before we get into it, you know, the first thing we mentioned was OX. You know, which is opportunity Explorer. So what is just the, the, the kind of like elevator pitch. Like us, you have like 30 seconds to a minute to explain to somebody in the elevator what is opportunity Explorer? What would you? How would you describe it?

Yi:

Basically, you are able to find out what are the unmet demands of US customers that are buying or searching on Amazon.com and, basically, based on the data that you have, you find new products to introduce and sell on Amazon.com.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Now you say Amazon.com it. I know it's in Amazon.com, that that's the one that I sell and that's where you I use it. How many other marketplaces is it available in outside of Amazon.com?

Yi:

They are actually six more. So it's in the five European store, namely United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, and they are trying to roll out to other European stores in your future as well. So just keep a lookout, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

And pretty much any seller with a professional account can access it without Brad, even without brand registry right.

Yi:

Yes, exactly, you just need to have a professional selling plan and you can access, like this, golden data From Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's talk about the, the one I didn't know too much, which was the category insights. First of all, where in seller central? Which menu is that? Even in?

Yi:

I'm trying to find myself actually under growth, then you can hit over.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm gonna share my screen for those watching here on YouTube. So I go to growth.

Yi:

Then marketplace product guidance.

Bradley Sutton:

Marketplace. There's that mpg. All right, there we go. That's the mpg.

Yi:

So, in fact, under mpg itself, there are a couple of tools which I think we can talk about it later on, but category insights is just one of it. So I see right here it's at the very top there's a there's a button looks like I have got 30 of them. Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is based on Whatever account I'm in, the kind of things that the categories that I'm in, or the order, or I have access to all you have access to all category on a browse note level.

Yi:

So in fact you can see already over there you can choose the marketplace available. So in fact it's available. This insights is available for the US, UK, Germany, Japan store, so you can toggle to the other marketplace to view category based insights as well.

Bradley Sutton:

What, what it like? What's the benefit of this? What should I be looking at here?

Yi:

Yeah, I mean the benefits over here is, let's say you don't really know what kind of category you want to start selling in. You roughly want to shortlist and See what is the demand for the specific browse note as well. You can use that to do your preliminary research. So I would say product research right. So there are a couple of ways you can get started into it. So firstly, let's say if you roughly know, you know what kind of keyword, what kind of product you roughly want to sell. There's a search bar at the top of the item type, keyword Module. You can actually put in your keyword over there. Alternatively, let's say you are a blank piece of paper. You completely do not know where to start, but you just want to see what is like the hottest category in that particular marketplace. We do have a bar that you can see right over there, so that bar length actually signifies the demand in that particular marketplace. So that's how maybe also.

Bradley Sutton:

That means in home and kitchen. Curtain is a very popular product type right now.

Yi:

Exactly.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes.

Yi:

So you can narrow down to curtain and it seems like window curtain panels. It's one of, like, the hottest product under this product type. Yes, that's how you can roughly get an idea of when to start with. Then, of course, you can scroll down all the way to the bottom to see many other selection matrix that help you to determine whether this is something that you want to get into before you do additional research, using opportunity explorer.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah and so this is like you know, this. This kind of popularity index is this. Is this based on what people are searching for, or what people are buying, or just in, you know, a combination of both? Or how should I view this? The this list like scale here.

Yi:

Yeah, this is like, I guess it's like a combination. So in fact, actually when you scroll down, it will exactly tell you Roughly what it's like the unit. So what is the net sales for this particular item type, keyword that you have narrowed down Across, like the different window periods that you want to see? So there, can be like seven days, thirty days, ninety days, twelve months, yeah oh, wow, man, window yeah, window yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

window curtain panels are flying off the shelves at Amazon, exactly who would have thought that that's.

Yi:

Lands views.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's see what does it say? It says some of glance views received across these. What it what's a what's a glance view?

Yi:

that means who are basically viewing a sins? How many Ascends within this item type keyword are being viewed in the United States? Which ever month that you have filtered by? Yeah?

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. So what I mean, like all I mean, I'm still scrolling here and you know I know peace. A lot of people are just listening. They can't see what I'm seeing on my screen, but we've got here. Search to purchase ratio Return ratio. The reasons for returns yes. Number of new ASINs number 26 million ASINs in this. Oh, that must mean.

Yi:

That's why the bar length is extremely long for this particular item.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, yeah, so doesn't mean that it's a longer, it's longer.

Yi:

It's something that you want to go into, so, but it's just another consideration for you, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, and the FAQ down here it says what is demand. We identified demand Considering 300 demand factors. Obviously we're not going to go into the 300. There's a lot of stuff that is going in here. Um, is there anything else that? Or is there anything here that you think really Kind of like sticks out, like hey, if I'm a seller, this and I'm looking for a new product, this is something that I should be looking at.

Yi:

Actually, for me it'll just be like three key things that usually I like to highlight to my sellers. So number one is actually the search to purchase ratio. So they want to see roughly what is the demand like, how many people will convert. Let's say, if I run advertising, what would be the ROI like? So that will give them a gauge right when they do their own calculations. Number two is the return ratio. We know how well the return that exchanges policy Amazon is.

Yi:

So this is something that you probably want to factor in when you do your profit and loss analysis at the very start. Maybe it's something that you want to bake in as part of your expenditure, right, because not all returns will Will allow you to get, like a food reimbursement. So usually our advice, seller, to consider that as an expense from the very get. Go for this particular product. Then the other one that I typically like to highlight, actually the features, right.

Yi:

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, it shows you a couple of matrixes like price Pattern, color, room type, etc. So it essentially already tells you what are the products typically purchased at like, which price range, and maybe in this case people like to buy solid curtains. There are blue in color and they like to place it in their bedroom. So maybe, when you want to sell window curtain panels, maybe you want to sell specifically Baked room curtain panels and, in fact, within your listing, this is something that you might want to highlight specifically is for bedroom use. So, yeah, this are some of the ways that you can, in a sense, give you a overall or initial understanding of how you should position your products. Yeah, we didn't this category.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. I'm looking here. There's patterns. I don't even know what it means. Oh, ombré, like what? The heck is a ombré? Do you know what?

Yi:

that means Different color, then it's like a bit fader, then okay, you do know what I mean. I don't okay.

Bradley Sutton:

There's interesting. I discovered a product type I didn't even realize existed. All right, so this is I think this one is one of the newer kids on the block that not a lot of sellers have been using. So, guys, this is good. If you're selling right now, you want to look into some numbers for your category or you just want to explore some new ideas. Now let's hop into the one that's been around a little bit longer, but it has been seems like it's been constantly updated over the last year or so. A lot of new features, and that's the opportunity explore. So Let me I'm sharing my screen again. It says here I can search by keyword or ASIN. So let's go over a use case. So what use case are you going to give? What pretend situation are you going to give me right now and we can walk people through it?

Yi:

Yeah, yeah, In fact right, maybe I can just introduce to you how you can roughly use Opportunity Explorer even without searching for keywords or ASINs. So recently, if you see, the dashboard has been updated where there are many more recommendations within it, such as recently review niche similar niche from the category that you're selling in. So let's say, if you're already an existing seller, they'll recommend you potential products that you can sell. What are the increasing searches? Decreasing searches and many more recommendations. So sometimes, if you completely do not know what to sell, you just want a second opinion. Do check out the dashboard over there.

Bradley Sutton:

There's a product that looks pretty cool. I'm seeing right now a book nook reading valet. Never in my life have I seen this product, but it seems to be getting popular. Okay, so, without even clicking anything or typing anything in, you can get some product ideas here. All right, what else?

Yi:

exactly. On top of that, I think we can just move on to quickly just showing an example of how we can shortlist or decide how to narrow down on what niche we should sell, because if you have been using Opportunity Explorer for a while now, you'll know that, let's say, when you type in a particular keyword within the search bar, sometimes it'll show you multiple customer needs. Maybe what I can share over here within this podcast is how can you shortlist the customer needs or like the niche shall be offered so that you'll be able to do further research based on that. So mainly is to see how we can narrow down your searches. Okay yeah, maybe for a start we could just key in shower curtain sets in the search bar.

Bradley Sutton:

Shower curtain set got it yeah.

Yi:

So I think, in general, I would just like to introduce like four different use cases where people can best filter or shortlist products when you arrive at this page over here, depending, of course, depending on your business objective and your goals, what you're trying to achieve out of here, and these four use cases are actually built together with sellers. So I'm sure it will be relevant to some of the people who are viewing this podcast here. Okay, so the first one would be how can you identify, you know, ASINs or, in fact, niche that are high in search volume and has fewer offers from other sellers? So, over here, I would just like to highlight that, if you want to review that filter by the search volume column as well as the top click products, oh, actually, you'll be able to see it within the niche page already. Okay, so you can just filter accordingly into the total the total search volume sorted by that. You can sort by that. Okay, got it, yeah. So, by the way, everybody listening.

Bradley Sutton:

If you guys are a bit, if you guys are on your computer, I want everybody to do this, like literally every seller can be doing this together with us. If you're driving your car, riding your bicycle, please don't try and do anything and get in the accident. But if you're in front of your computer, what we did was I went to the seller central menu bar, I hit growth and I hit product opportunity explorer. And now I'm right here in the product opportunity explorer. I entered in shower curtain set where it says search by keyword. And now I'm on the very page and everybody probably, you know, depending on you know, when you're looking at this. It might, you know, look a little different if you're listening to this, like two months later, but it's basically gonna be the same thing as what I'm looking at. And I just hit the under the search volume column. I sorted it by the total search volume over the last three 60 days and now it's in descending order. And now what should I do?

Yi:

Yeah. So another thing that we should focus on is also how many top click products are there, right? So you'll be able to know how many selections are available. Is it too crowded or is there still opportunity, right? So usually let's say if you do like keyword search, sometimes they will offer you many results. In this case I think there are about 39. So sometimes you need to click into the second page to view more results. So in this case, sometimes I'll recommend sellers to click the download button at the top right corner so that they will be able to transfer the results into Excel sheet to further shortlist. But in this case maybe we can just take a look at the screen that Bradley have shown, so at one glance you'll be able to see, for instance, we do have like shower curtains, that's like, where the search volume for the past 360 days is like 53 million and the number of top click products available is 61, which is, it seems, decent compared to many other customer needs which are above 100 or 285.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I see one that's 300 almost, and now again. This means, if I'm not mistaken, the last time I was studying this, I mean actually it did change before this number of top click products meant how many products it takes to get 80% of all the clicks in this niche, but now isn't it like 90% or something like that?

Yi:

90% now. So 90% of the search and purchase products, yeah, Got it Correct.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and so yeah, that that is a big difference, like a 61 and then two. Down here there's Christmas bathroom decor 3 million search volume only, but 300 top click products that means it's like a wide open, too many going into it. Yeah, yeah.

Yi:

Yeah, yeah, okay, and I mean seasonality also plays a fact right, the one that you saw is actually Christmas bathroom decor. It might be because everybody just want to jump on the bandwagon and just sell Christmasy stuff. So, even though the growth is like 2000 plus percent, it may not be something that you want to go into right, especially if you haven't really launched Okay. So that's just two matrix down to highlight. First, let's say, if you would just want to explore, you know, products that have high search volume and have like decent selections available that slice you opportunities to go into. So these two matrix you can look at that.

Yi:

Then, another one that I wanted to highlight is actually the search volume growth, which I briefly talk about it earlier, so doesn't mean that you know the growth is 2934%, like you see, for the Christmas bathroom decor is definitely something that you go into. Consider, like the seasonality, is it appropriate for you to go into it right now? Right, of course. At the same time, you need to take a look at the search volume. There are instances whereby maybe the search volume is only 60,000, but then the growth is like 7,000. So even if it grows by 7,000, it doesn't mean much because the search volume is too small. So it's important for you to find like a healthy balance between like the search volume that you want to see, as well as the growth percentage you are looking at to find like 20 products.

Bradley Sutton:

Now it says here growth past 180 days. So is that mean it's taking Like what Like just the day search volume compared to 180 days ago, or like this month's compared to six months ago, or what is this percentage representing?

Yi:

So this is like past 180 days, like based on, like the day, because we refresh the opportunity dashboard, like on the weekly cadence right, so it's constantly being refreshed.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and most of these I'm seeing are like kind of seasonal. You know I see Thanksgiving bathroom set and then I see Halloween and Grinch. You know it's kind of like a Christmasy thing. Aha, here's one that's not necessarily gothic. You know I'm in that niche because of my coffin shelf right. Gothic shower curtain that could be a possible. Well, here's something my daughter would love. Hello Kitty bathroom set is growing 27%. Dallas Cowboys I don't know who likes Dallas Cowboys anymore, but our orange shower curtain is getting up. Alright, this is interesting stuff.

Yi:

Actually there are another two which I think it's also quite important that I would like to share also. So the third one will actually be looking at the average price of the product that you want to sell, because sometimes you know when you want to sell a particular product, you want to earn a certain amount of margin, right? If the cost of the product is really, let's say, example, $10, including all the different fees, ideally maybe you want to sell something that is maybe in the $30 range, so that you'll be able to earn a healthy margin, so that you'll be able to factor in the promotional discounts that you'll give and advertisement spend that you'll be able to make, right? So in this case, what I recommend you to do is to hit on the filter results button which is on the left-hand side, and you can actually filter the average price to. Maybe you can put $30. Minimum $30.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Minimum $30, okay, and let's take a look at what's in the box and then submit yes.

Yi:

Oh, there's only one.

Bradley Sutton:

Only the Dallas Cowboys. People are paying lots of money for this. Yeah, yeah, stick in Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, alright, so that can be something that you can filter by.

Yi:

If, let's say, you have a target margin that you want to work with, especially if you already got a quotation from, like, your manufacturer, this is something that you can work backwards on to see whether this is feasible for you to get started on. Okay, correct. Then the next one is pretty similar to this, but what it actually tells you would be the annualized niche. That means your annualized opportunity. Sometimes sellers will tell me, for instance, I want to earn $30,000 in a year. I know it's quite little, but for new sellers maybe it's a good stretch. Sometimes they'll tell me I want to sell $30,000 for this particular category, but after we searched on Opportunity Explorer, we found that there's insufficient demand within this category. They want to sell in in order to hit the $30,000. Right, if the average unit. So it's not enough. On average, you won't be able to hit your goal. So you may need to have another strategy. Either you launch multiple selections in order to hit your goal, or you pivot to sell in another category. So how are you able to find out your annualized opportunity? You can do it through filtering the results as well. Maybe you can click on filter results again. Okay, maybe let's set the average price to $15.

Bradley Sutton:

Average price $15. All right.

Yi:

Then let me calculate, assuming let's say I want to earn $20,000. Okay, just put 1,500 units.

Bradley Sutton:

So average unit sold put $15,000, $1,500. Got it and then we've got shower, just regular shower curtain. Customer need of the niche yeah correct.

Yi:

So maybe you need to explore selling something within this niche, that something that you'll be able to meet the customers. Later we'll talk about how we innovate products looking at the niche page, but basically this is like the opportunity you need to start with. Let's say, if you want to keep that certain, you need so as well as the price that you want to sell. So you need to work backwards based on your goal.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool, all right. So you know like, let's say, I go through a whole bunch of these keywords and I come out with a few or something. You know like whether I'm doing this or I'm doing Helium 10, the next step is usually like a validation. You know like, all right, here's what looks cool. But then I can't just up, it's time to go to Alibaba and source it and like there's some more steps. So how can product opportunity explore help with validating my ideas?

Yi:

Correct. So I think maybe you can click into a niche, maybe the shower curtains one, since you're at that page already. So within the niche page itself, you'll find that there are multiple tabs that give you further insights on a particular niche detail that you are at, like product insights, search term insights, trends, and there's something I'm seeing brand new things here.

Bradley Sutton:

I've never seen before. Something that I want to purchase drivers and returns. Look at that, correct, correct.

Yi:

So, yeah, these are like a few other things you can take note off in order to validate your product and also to see how you can innovate your product. So maybe I can go through like the different tabs quickly to see what are the key matrix that you should take note off. Okay, so the very first one would be like the product steps. So over here you'll be able to see what are like the top purchase product right. Whenever people key in the search term shower curtains, for instance, so over here you'll be able to view basically the similar ASINs. You'll be able to see what they are selling at, who is actually having the most key share and what's useful about this. You'll be able to click into the specific product title in order to find out more information about this popular product Right.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh wow, Correct.

Yi:

So over here if you scroll all the way down, because, like some of the product matrix available at the top, you'll be able to see it from revenue calculator. But what's useful is, if you look at the bottom, there's this section called the niche. Product appears in, so that means this product is popular, not just in shower curtains, but this few other niche as well. Right, so this is just something for you to take note of. Maybe when you want to sell something similar to this, you can also cross, do kind of like across analysis, across the other similar niche listed over here as well, or maybe take a look at the top search there as well.

Bradley Sutton:

And this is kind of like I would imagine like for some people might view this as a good sign that it's in multiple niches. It's not just only getting sales in this shower curtain niche, but it's got one for non-toxic shower curtain liner Green. I mean green bathroom decor. That's a very broad keyword, so interesting Okay.

Yi:

Cool yeah. So the other one is actually the customer review insights. That is specific for this ASIN. Previously I've always heard from my seller they're still doing it the manual way. They'll go to like a similar ASIN. They'll comb through manually, like all the customer reviews, but you actually don't have to do it. Everything is all summarized within opportunity explorer, so at one glance you'll be able to know what's good about this product and what's bad. And what's bad about this product is an opportunity for you to innovate your product, to make it even better, and maybe you might even open up like a unique, like market demand for this kind of product that you are offering in the future. For instance, over here I think one of the negative review actually mentioned that the color is not what they wanted. So maybe the photos that you take in the future maybe you have to cross track with real life images to make sure that they match to a certain extent as much as possible, so that customers won't will be more assured of the product they'll be getting. They won't leave negative reviews. Maybe another one would be, for instance, water resistant. They mentioned that this shower curtain is not water resistant at all, which is very strange. I mean shower curtains is supposed to be water resistant, so this is something maybe you need to work on with your manufacturer to ensure that it's indeed water resistant.

Bradley Sutton:

This umbrella is not water resistant.

Yi:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, is that like yeah, yeah, quite funny.

Bradley Sutton:

No problem.

Yi:

Yes, yes. So these are just some of the things you can take note from here. Then maybe we can go back to the other tabs quickly. Okay, so maybe I can just go through the search term tab, okay, okay, so over here you'll be able to. Again, it gives you different matrix, such as the search volume, growth count, the demand in terms of conversion and click share for all the different search terms. So over here you'll be able to sort, for instance, by the different matrix you want to see. It can be search conversion, because you want to see which search term is giving like much more conversion for like the product that you want to sell shower curtains, buff roof curtains. Sometimes the search term over here can even give you insights on how you can develop your product to make it even better. So, for instance, I see over here, when I filter by search conversion, one of the top search term is actually cloth shower curtain. So I mean it's not water resistant. Maybe because there are people who like cloth shower curtain. So maybe that's why this product is still selling well, even though it's not water resistant. Maybe this is something that you can think of and because, in fact, it's one of the search term that leads to highest search conversion.

Bradley Sutton:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this, like the search volume and conversion, is this basically the same as search query performance, but not the same as brand analytics? Currently right, like brand analytics, I believe, like for top three click might be something different or it has to be something different probably because this is not even a week. You know like this is showing 360 days, right?

Yi:

Yeah, yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah, Okay. So the explorers should match with the search query performance.

Bradley Sutton:

Search query performance Okay.

Yi:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool Interesting.

Yi:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, these are some pretty low search conversions here, like some of these are 0.05.

Yi:

Oh, my God Like nobody Not as great Like 0.05.

Bradley Sutton:

That's like one out of every 1000. Yeah it's quite so, something crazy. Yeah, like less than less than yeah. One percent is one out of every 100. One tenth of percent is one. No, that's like one out of every 5000. Oh, my goodness gracious, it's quite bad, basically, the conversion is quite bad.

Yi:

It means that it might be quite, you know, competitive, I would say, because there are like a range of selections available, which is why maybe, let's say, if you even want to run advertising, it might be more costly to win the bid, right? So this might be a consideration, maybe it's it might be a little too tough for you to get into, right? It's just a signal for you to know.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys, we're going to have to cut the episode here because there's just too much good stuff, so make sure to come back. In the next episode we're going to go more into brand analytics, the new customer loyalty dashboard and a whole bunch of things more. We'll see you in the next episode.

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Discover the best practices for Amazon product sourcing excellence as we welcome back Kian Golzari, the Amazon product sourcing sage, for his fifth appearance to impart his vast knowledge on mastering the Chinese manufacturing labyrinth. Kian's guidance takes you through the crucial steps from selecting the right manufacturers on Alibaba to conducting effective factory visits, ensuring you return home with more than just souvenirs – but strategies to boost your product quality and cost-efficiency.

Venture with us into his secrets of product differentiation and learn how to stand out in a saturated market by uniquely combining various components and embracing innovative packaging solutions. We dissect the art of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, from deluxe packaging to strategic bundling. Furthermore, Kian reveals the underestimated power of packaging in offline sales, sharing insights on making a product pop on the Amazon website and attracting crucial impulse buys.

To wrap up, we get into the strategic intricacies of forging long-lasting relationships with suppliers and the nuances of communication that can make or break a deal. We dissect how to scrutinize supplier profiles and the vital role that understanding your supplier's capabilities plays in aligning with your business goals. Kian and Bradley also uncover the best practices for sample evaluation, navigating the norms of sample payments, and why investing time in personalizing your interactions with suppliers can pay dividends in the long run. This episode isn't just about finding the right supplier; it's about creating partnerships that will sustain your Amazon business growth and success.

In episode 524 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kian discuss:

00:00 - Guide to Factory Sourcing and Visiting
02:52 - Insights From Visiting a Factory
11:40 - Sourcing and Differentiating Products in Manufacturing
13:22 - Revamping Coffin Shelf Market Strategy
16:29 - Importance of Packaging in Offline Sales
18:20 - Clarity and Importance of Product Filters
18:44 - Finding & Evaluating Manufacturers on Alibaba
21:53 - Filtering for Top Factory Products
25:48 - Importance of Trade Background and Markets
28:31 - Selecting Suppliers and Communicating Effectively
31:40 - Price and Quality Selection Process
33:48 - Strategies for Sourcing and Product Defensibility
36:38 - Benefits of Attending the Canton Fair

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got the world's foremost expert on sourcing, Kian, back on the show and he's going to give us step-by-step guides on how to source on Alibaba.com and an SOP for visiting factories in China. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create PO's for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside inventory management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash inventory management. And don't forget you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code, SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We're going to the other side of the world to Dubai right now for a record breaking fifth time. That's how long this this, this show, has been out there. Guys, like we only have people on there, if they're really good, we'll invite them back. And if they are really good and we invite them back, it's only one time per year. The very first time ever in the history of Serious Sellers podcast, somebody's on the fifth time is the one and only Kian. Kian. How's it going? Welcome back.

Kian:

Oh man, thanks so much. It's a great intro man. It's an honor to be the only speaker to be on here five times and wow, I mean that must mean you've done a lot of episodes as well. So congrats to you to be plugging away. Like, how many episodes have you put out now?

Bradley Sutton:

We're like in the mid-500, like we're about 520 now, like we're in the mid the the five teens around there, yeah amazing, yeah, incredible man. Yeah great to be back and, yeah, really looking forward to sort of diving in and we're going to talk a lot about Alibaba, but before we get into that, I'm actually visiting, for the first time, Chinese factories. Like it's been years since I've even been to China and I've never visited the factories where we make the Project X, project 5K products. So what's some advice you can give me? You know like, hey, should I bring some gifts? You know like maybe some chocolates or something to the factory owners? Should I negotiate? Should I just, you know, talk away, ask about their family, like I usually deal with a sourcing agent? Yeah, and she's going to come with me, my sourcing agent who found these factories, and translate a little bit. But what should I do.

Kian:

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I think your mind is going to be blown Like I think everyone experiences this like the first time you go into a factory and actually see how your goods are made, because you have this idea and you have this perception in your head of, like how you think goods are made. But once you go in and you see the production line and like you know, let's say this is for the, for the coffin items, right? So like you'll see, like the wood, like arriving, you'll see the wood getting dried. You'll see, like the woods, like the bad pieces getting rejected. You'll see it getting sanded and filed down. You'll see it getting sprayed and painted. You'll see it getting cut to size and you'll see it getting assembled. You'll see it getting screwed, like you'll just see in some of the different compartments, and then your head will be like, wow, here's like 20 different processes and steps that this product went through to get made, whereas when I just see it in a store, I just see it like in a shelf or, like you know, online. I didn't think about it in this way. But why that really helps you is that, like you know, if you've got cost challenges and you're like right, I've got this like $8 product and I need to get it down to 6.5, you've got like 20 different places you can go to in your head because you've seen it on the production line, right?

Kian:

You're like well, was that spring really necessary? Are we cutting it in the most efficient way? Can we just do straight edges rather than these curved edges? Was it necessary to have that coating? Like? There's so many different things you can now think about. And then, on the reverse, if you want to improve the quality, you're like here's things that we could do better, based on what I saw and how this product is actually assembled. But you're going there for the first time, right? So, in terms of gifts, I would say it's nice. They'll probably provide a gift for you. If you've been doing business together for like a number of years, then by all means, maybe take something nice. I would say something that represents your hometown, so you could take them your favorite team, like a Lakers hat or something like that.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, those are fighting words. All right, guys. The fifth and last time that Keen will ever be on the podcast.

Kian:

So you can always and, by the way, Bradley’s the clipper's friend for anyone who didn't catch that but yeah, like you know, anything that represents your hometown where it could be like a hot sauce, it could be like a local tea or whatever like that. Just it doesn't have to be anything expensive. Like for me, I always used to take like a personalized bottle of whiskey because I was coming from Scotland. Suppliers, like really, really appreciated that and just a nice gesture to do. And if you have, like a sales assistant that you've been working with, I would get one for the sales assistant that you talk to and then one for the factory boss as well. Very, very important to get a gift for the factory boss and also to get a photo with the factory boss, because there's always going to be time where you're going to need to ask for a favor, right, and there's going to be a time when, like you know, chinese New Year is coming up and, like you know, your, your goods are getting rushed out and maybe they won't make it shipment before Chinese New Year. And then you say like, hey, please, can you just ask the boss, please can you rush this, please can you push this to the front of the production schedule. Please can you get this out before Chinese New Year? And you're like, who's asking? Again? Bradley's asking which one's? Bradley again, oh, he's the guy that brought you that Lakers jersey. Oh, yeah, I love that jersey. Cool, all right, get the items to the front of the line. So it's always something to like for them to remember you if you get a nice little gift.

Kian:

Now, talking about, like, actually arriving at the factory, I think a lot of people, maybe, if you're going to China for the first time, they have this like fear of like well, you know, google Maps doesn't work out there Like how do I get there? Like your factory will arrange everything for you in terms of transport, and like you've got a sourcing agent there. So so they'll definitely help you out, but you don't need to figure out anything by yourself. Like you can just tell your factory hey, I'm arriving at this airport, I'm flying into Hong Kong, I'm flying into Shanghai, I'll be there on the 19th of March. I'm going to come and visit you on the 20th. They'll just say, cool, what's your hotel? We'll come pick you up. Driver will be there outside 10 o'clock and, like, literally, driver comes out with your name, they'll have a Starbucks waiting for you. Like they really, really take care of you, right.

Kian:

And if you're like, hey, I need to get a train to where you are, I don't quite know how to get there. Like they'll book the train ticket for you, like they're so hospitable, like if you have any issues of like how to get there, or even like you know, when I go visit a factory, I tend to visit like two or three at the same time, like of a similar competing product, similar competing category, and I say, hey, look after you. After a visit your factory, I'm going to see this other factory, can you help me get there? And they're like, yeah, no problem, give us the address, we'll drop you off. Like, even if it's a competitor, if there's there very, very, very hospitable. So, in terms of getting there nice and easy, in terms of like what you're, what you'll learn, in terms of their product development, it'll blow your mind. But in terms of being prepared for your factory visit, like I always before any China trip, whether I'm going to the Canton Fair, whether I'm going to visit a factory, I always have to have a plan for my visit Right, like what is the main outcome I want to achieve from this?

Kian:

Right, do I want to learn how the goods are made? Cool, I'll spend a little bit of time on the production line. Do I need a better price? Because I'm getting price pressure? Well, I'm going to do my research in advance to see. Well, what were other suppliers pricing me? So, like you know, you could get a specification sheet for your product. You could but I'm sure we'll talk about this shortly reach out to the top three, top five suppliers on Alibaba.com, get pricing from them and you can go back to your existing supplier to say hey look, I don't want to move production, but just to let you know this is a pricing I'm getting offered somewhere else. I need you to match it. So, is it better pricing that we need? Are you getting a few too many returns? Or the quality concerns? Is there something? Is there chipping off the wood on the coffin box? Is that something we need to talk about? Then, like, we have the products right there in front of us, like here, let's address these quality concerns. Are you not doing the quality control? Let's check the end of the production line. Let's see who checks it. Let's see who boxes it. Let's see why they aren't picking up on these things.

Kian:

So there's many, many different outcomes that you could have. It could also be we want to develop new products for 2024. Please prepare for us some additional new samples and we can review them together or let's discuss together. So I wouldn't necessarily go into a factory without knowing what I wanted to achieve and like no lie. I've been in factories where I've been there for 10 hours sitting opposite the boss and we're just negotiating, because I'm like I'm not leaving until we figure this out and like, literally Some of the factory bosses like to smoke and I remember like the guy went through two packs of cigarettes while we were talking it. Like I'm not saying that's going to be the case right For everyone, but I knew I had an outcome that I wanted to achieve on that trip, right.

Kian:

Certain times I was doing production for the Olympics and they required certain certifications for the factory and I went to visit factories and didn't have those certificates. So I was training them. This is what this is. A certificate needs to comply with. This is what we need to fix. We were looking at, you know, lighting, fire extinguishers, dormitories, all that stuff. I was like you're the factory I want to work with. I need you to be compliant of this. I'm not leaving until I know you can do this. So there's so many different outcomes that we can have for visiting a factory and like. Those are just some of the things that we need to be prepared for, but, honestly, it's going to be so much fun for you. Like, I'm actually excited for you and I can't wait to see your stories on Instagram to see what it looks like.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you, thank you Now, right now, let's just say, you know, for that, a lot of people you definitely know suggest, hey, you should go visit the factory. But for a lot of other people you know, they might not have the way to go to China or they might not be able to go to Canton Fair or Iwu or other places, and so obviously the easiest place to to find suppliers would be Alibaba.com. So we're going to try something different today. I didn't 100 percent have this plan, but now I just like thought of it right now I just went to Alibaba, but or I went to Amazon and let's just, we're going to do a pretend thing where I'm which is halfway real, and that is, you know, one of the project X brands we do is not the coffin shell, but we also do egg trays. We have this brand called Geese Chicken Coops.

I just like threw in a keyword to Amazon right now egg storage for countertop. This actually used to be one of our main keywords, but now it's not anymore. And then I'm like trying to find something that looks interesting and these like this, this egg basket that has like a ceramic lid. Here let's just pretend that I'm like, hey, I want to have. I want to go source this from China. I want to look. So first step is what? Just go to Alibaba.com and try and figure out what keyword it might be like something similar to this. So you've got a couple of options here.

Kian:

Right, because, like you have the traditional egg trays, which could be, you know, wood and plastic, acrylic, whatever, and you could just type in egg tray and you could find it right. But for that particular one, for those who aren't viewing, with like a video, like Bradley, how would you describe this? It's like the shape of a chicken.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it's really like the bottom part is this wire mesh like a basket looking thing. And then the like it has, this lid that shape like a, like a, like a chicken or rooster or something like that.

Kian:

here this is a really good example because, like here's a classic example of if you type in like egg tray or whatever on Alibaba, like this product probably won't come up, like we can have a look, but it probably won't come up the way that we're looking at this one, right, but like for you to have more defensibility in your brand, which is really, really important for 2024, you might need to go to another manufacturer which doesn't make egg trays. So you're looking at eggs right now and we don't see that particular product. Right, there's nothing like that. Yep, we could type in like caged basket for you know, holding fruit or holding vegetables or whatever it may, be right, and we could find the bottom part, but for the top part it was like a toy chicken, like on the top right, which is kind of serving as like the protector or the top of the basket, right, and so for that I would go to a toy supplier to be like different materials, right, it could be silicone, it could be plastic, it could be rubber, like I would say like rubber chicken toy or rubber animal toys, right, and you might be able to find this for, let's just say, 50 cent or 30 cent or 75 cent, and we could buy those separately and we could send it to the egg tray suppliers, or we could send it to the basket suppliers, right, and anyone wanting to copy that product wouldn't necessarily be able to, because they didn't know that they have to go to two different suppliers. Right, they didn't know that you could, just because if they type it in, they won't find it and they're not thinking.

Kian:

Right, I'm going to get an egg tray from a toy supplier. So this is something that gives you like, really, really good defensibility. And this is applicable to anyone like, not even people which are looking for egg trays, but, like, whenever I'm looking at a new product, I'm like, well, what other purpose does this product have? Like, for example, right now I'm using a podcast microphone, right With a boom arm or whatever, right, but like, I could also go to a supplier which makes selfie sticks and take the technology of the telescopic pole and use that right, and anyone who's looking to get like a microphone stand or a podcast mic stand is not looking at like telescopic poles. So there's so many different ways that we can look at other manufacturers to fit the purpose of the product that we want to manufacture.

Bradley Sutton:

I like that and that's something that's similar to what I'm actually doing. That's what I'm going to be going to the factory and talking to or, you know, checking out one of the first orders. So, like, what happened with the coffin shelf was that it got kind of saturated. You know, like you know, because everybody watched Project X and everybody started launching, you know, coffin shelves and now there's a million coffin shelves and I didn't want to do, I didn't want to play the race to the bottom price wars. You know, like, there's people now I used to sell the coffin shelf for like 32 bucks and now there's people selling it for like 19. I'm not going to try and compete with that price. So I'm like I'm going to go opposite, I'm going to raise the price back. Like I was selling for like 25. Now I'm going to raise it back to 30. But what I'm going to do is two things. Number one I'm going to buy a really fancy box and it's a box shaped like a coffin, like. So somebody would actually gift it to somebody in this coffin shaped box, and the box itself is almost a product. You can use that as a sock storage or something like that, because it's a really high quality. I mean, it's crazy. It's like almost 60% of the cost of the coffin shelf, you know by itself, but we're still only talking like two bucks.

Bradley Sutton:

And then I noticed in the customer reviews that a lot of people are putting like these little LED spooky little trinkets and figurines right. And so what I did was I also sourced like a pumpkin shaped LED candle and then a skull, like a, just a mini skull, because these are what people are using to display anyways. And so now I'm relaunching the coffin shelf at a higher price point with this box that's super hard to get custom made and from another, a third factory, these LED stuff. And so, like you know, these people who are just trying to make a quick buck and sell coffin shelves, you know, from China for $19, they're not going to take the time or effort to go and source three different things from three different factories. And so now I'm kind of like building this moat around and trying to dominate, redominate the coffin shelf market.

Kian:

I guess you could say that's mega and I'm glad you mentioned that as well because, like so, I was at this show called like global sources, just like last month or wherever, and I was filming a YouTube video, actually just posted it yesterday on like the highlights of that show, and I walked, assembled, into this guy's booth. His name was like Matthew and he had like he was just doing packaging, like really, really deluxe packaging, right. And I go in and I'm like, hey and? But the packaging was like super nice, like it was like magnetic boxes that folded flat, like he was doing it for a Sephora. He was doing like Pokemon boxes, like just high end stuff, right.

Kian:

And I was like picking up different bits of packaging and we were talking about like online versus offline and you know different styles of packaging and one color boxes. And then I was like you know how much is this box? And it was like a really small, flimsy one and he was like you know, less than 0.1. I was like, wait, less than 10 cents. He was like, yeah, it's around like 8 cents. I was like no way. And I was like, all right, what about this one? I picked up this like magnetic one. He's like that's around $1. I'm expecting the dude to say like three. He's like wow. I was like I was like these prices seem a little too good to be true. I was like where's your factory? He's like for Shan. I'm like okay, cool, so it's narrow way. I was like what are you doing this weekend? I was like I'm at the factory. I was like I'm going to come visit you this weekend. I was like cool, so rock up. And then I filmed a YouTube video in his factory. I showed the packaging process end to end, start to finish. All the like he had like machines which cost over a million dollars, like everything, like map finishing, gloss finishing, like everything. So the entire process, start to finish. And talking about like 2024 and differentiating and just what you just talked about. That's key. That's so key to being ahead.

Kian:

Whether you're selling online or offline, you want to win the click. Online, sometimes you show your packaging in the main image, sometimes you don't. But if you're selling it in retail, it's on a shelf. You have to catch people's attention. So if you're selling offline, you really, really have to catch people's attention. If and that's through the packaging, that's the first touch point and it can be catch for attention by color. It can be by innovative design. So packaging is going to play a super, super important role. So I'll definitely connect you with Matthew.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, Awesome Thanks, Appreciate it. All right. Going back to our olive oil, let's go to something more traditional, All right, so that's a great way for differentiation. Let's just say I picked something else while you were talking right now, Something that's kind of like all right, this is not something that you necessarily differentiate, Like we always. I think you should always differentiate, but maybe not let's not go to the effect where, like, hey, let's try and get stuff from three or two different factories and let's do fancy packages, Because you know, sometimes when people are just getting started, they want to get their feet wet. You know that might be a little bit too difficult. So then I pick again in the same niche. I hit this keyword egg dispenser on Alibaba, and so you know, for those watching on YouTube, you guys can see this. For those listening on podcast, we'll try and describe it here. But now let's just say that this, this kind of egg dispenser that has this like row, it looks like like a row on the top of eggs and it rolls down to the bottom row. I guess you just pick one and then it rolls down. So let's just say that, for whatever reason, this is the kind of product I'm getting. I just did my very first search on Alibaba. This is definitely the keyword. Next step would be so I start doing using some of these filters and then, if so, what would you suggest?

Kian:

Yeah, yeah. So I'm so glad you're showing this visually online as well, right, because you can look at that image. Right, see the second image. This says $2.50. The second one says, yes, 88 cents. It's the same image, right? So, yeah, this is what. This is where we need to get really, really clear on the filters. Right, because it looks like the exact same product. One is well, the one's three X the price of the other one, and you could see that I'm like, oh, okay, well, I'll go for the cheapest one. But you haven't necessarily done the research to know what already different materials or different sizes or different specifications. Does one hold more eggs? Does one have deluxe packaging? So we don't really know that, right? So you went to Alibaba.com and you typed in egg dispenser, and this is the first thing that came up. So the first point right, I would select verified manufacturers. So that's the first point that you see in the list right. Why this is so important, is that, yeah, perfect. This is where we need to be. The purpose of using Alibaba.com correctly is not to find the cheapest price. It's to find the best manufacturers. Once we find the best manufacturers, then we can start to negotiate the price. So the purpose right now we're just looking for the best manufacturers.

Kian:

So the first thing you did was you selected verified manufacturers. And what's that for? It means any information that they provide on their listing, whether it be number of years in business, how many staff they have, what certificates they have, what patents they have, what products they have, what does their production line look like, the images of videos in the factory. That's all been verified by a third party, meaning intertech, SGS, tuv. One of these very reputable companies have gone in and verified all the information is true, whereas if we didn't work with verified suppliers, then whatever information they want to put there, we just have to sort of take their word for it. So verified is the most important thing to search for first. Then on the left hand side of the page, you'll see trade assurance right. I would always click that as well, and trade assurance just means that your payment is protected. So if you've ordered an egg dispenser which holds 20 eggs and you do the production and you receive one which only holds 10 eggs, then the trade assurance will protect you and it will refund your order because you've selected that right. That's just a little bit of a safety net, important for, like you know, new sellers, right. And then as you scroll down on the left hand side of the page, you'll see something that says management certification, right. And if you scroll down a little bit more, yeah, so you see like BSEI, and you see sedx, you see ISO. I always like to select BSEI and ISO. So BSEI is your business social compliance initiative and ISO is just a really high quality standard and this just basically means these are factory certificates that they have. So BSEI will go in and they'll check, like you know, how many years have you been in business? Do you have, like, fire extinguishers? Do you have adequate lighting, do you have safety exits? Like we've checked the dormitories, we've checked like the canteen where the workers eat. So it's kind of like gives you confidence that you're working for a very, very good factory, right. So now, if we go back to the top of the list, right, we've now we've searched by manufacturers, we've got verified manufacturers, we've got trade assurance and we've got factories which have you know, bsei and ISO certification.

Kian:

So now, as I'm scrolling down the list, like if you zoom in on the company names, like the first word in the company name is always the city or the province in which that factory is located. So sometimes, like the factories like electronics are made in Shenzhen, backpacks are normally made in like Chenzhou. Like furniture, like steel tubing for furniture, chairs is made like Yongkang. So I'm just trying to get familiar Is there an area which specializes in egg dispensers? Maybe not, because it's such a niche product, right, that maybe you could make it anywhere. But as I scroll down, I'm trying to see, like, is there one name that pops up more frequent than others and in that interesting, the area which specializes in that product? But I see Ningbo has probably popped up a few times, right? So yeah, but anyway, doesn't matter. If Ningbo had popped out like eight out of nine times, I would say, right, well, that's the region we need to be ordering from, interesting. Then, as you scroll down as well, I would be like looking at the images as well, to see, like, do I find something similar to what I was looking for, like when we search by products like your first look somebody is specializing in that one crazy basket, one that we looked up earlier, that's crazy.

Kian:

But you know what's wild, though, right, I'm not surprised we found it because we had searched, like the highest level certification, so like that product would have required, like you know, some sort of standard. So it like the purpose of this filtering process is to align you with top factories, and top factories make top products right. And as you scroll down as well, I saw the main image. That was the one we were looking for the white one here, yeah, yeah, right here, that particular one, right. So now if you click on like view profile, we can just there's a couple of like boxes I need to tick of the supplier before deciding is this someone I want to work with? Right? So you see first on the left right Well, actually on the right where you were looking right, If you scroll through those like, you'll see videos of the factory. You'll see like images of the production line and you've seen the top left it says verified. So all these photos and videos have been verified. So like if you know that as the actual factory, because the third party has gone in and verified that's a factory, so you can actually see inside the factory and know that's them right. So we know exactly who we're dealing with.

Bradley Sutton:

They didn't just pull this, you know, like video or something like from stock video or something like that.

Kian:

Yeah exactly Right. So now, like before, without even going to China, I've got eyes and ears inside the factory that I can see what they actually look like. So if on their Alibaba listing they say, oh, we've got 200 workers in our factory, you're like, well, I can see the images that shows you've got 200 workers, right. Or if they said they had 200, but we see a production line with five workers and you're not verified, then we know that you know something isn't right there. So on the left side of that, you see where you have all those blue ticks. So it says, yes, all verified capabilities. So if you click on the bottom where it says, see all verified capabilities, this is everything the factory is verified for. So it says certifications, sedex, bsci. It will say, like you know, material trace. It says like quality traceability, things like that. So if you were like look, I need to know. Like, do these egg dispenser trays come from a sustainable source? We want to use like recycled materials, we want to use eco-friendly materials, then they can tell you yep, cool, we have traceability of our raw materials. We can find that out for you. So just by clicking that, we can find out what are the capabilities which are verified of this factory. And then, as we scroll down, like the main things which are really really important, see that where it says profile right, if you keep scrolling down, right, it's got right. See here so it says established yeah, years in industry 16. That means that they've got like 16 years worth of experience, right, so they've got the. See the audit there under certifications, where it says SMETA. That's part of the SEDEX audit and I know this so well because I was a board member for SEDEX in 2013,. After we did the production for the Olympics, every factory which made Olympic merchandise had to have a SMETA audit, right, and that was like they checked all the smallest details of the factory, right. So that's a really really good sign if they have that right. And then they've got the BSCI certificate. You can see that Now, as you scroll down, we're going to look at their production capabilities.

Kian:

See there it says production lines. They've got three production lines and they've got 18 production machines right Now. This is so important. This is so, so important, right, Because you are, let's say, doing this product for the first time. So they have three production lines means they're like relatively small company, right, so that's good for you because that means that they'll probably do a low MOQ. Let's say you wanted to do 500 pieces trial order, but let's say that production line. Let's say it said they had 250 production lines. You're like this company would never want to work for me. Like, why would like? I just want to do a small order, 300 pieces. They've got 250 production lines. We're not a good fit for each other. But on the flip side, if you're a big brand, if you're doing, you know, 10,000 units a month, then you want that factory which has got 250 production lines. So this kind of sizes you up to be like am I aligning with the manufacturer which is fit for purpose, right?

Kian:

And then the other really important thing to look at where it says trade background and main markets, it says North America 38%. Western Europe 35%. That is so crucial because 70% of their, more than 70% of their exports are going to the US market and it's going to the European market. And what does that mean? That means they're compliant with the latest FDA regulations in America, compliant with the latest like food standard regulations in Europe. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to sell to those markets if they weren't compliant with those standards. So if you're ordering this product for the first time and you know your factory has already got the certification or compliance needed to sell food products in the US market, because they're already selling in the US market. But if we looked at the trade background and it said, you know, 40% South America, 40% Africa and 20% domestic market, meaning China you're like well, you've never explored this product to America. So how do I know that you're capable of passing for FDA standards? So, but this factory, this is like one of the first ones we clicked on right, it's got everything we need right.

Kian:

But it was because of that filtering process. It's because we selected verified, we selected trade assurance, we selected ISO, we selected BSCI, so like it was in touch with the top manufacturer and then, like I'm pretty sure that if you go to the other manufacturers on that list as well, we'll find similar information that is a good fit for us. So that was kind of like the initial research to be like right, let's find a good factory. That's part one, right. Part two is now how do you read, how do you talk to that factory for your first message? Right, Because this is where I feel like a lot of sellers like stumble. They're like right, found a good factory. We followed your process. But, like, right now, what do we say? Like, most sellers go, hey, what's your best price? What's your MLQ? Can? I just heard this podcast? Can I get customized packaging Right? And then, yeah, so, supplier, bear in mind these suppliers are probably getting 50 to 100 inquiries a week, probably more, right, and my purpose with the original message is how do I get my inquiry to jump out at the top? How do I get the supplier reads my message and be like oh, I want to work with this guy, right? So I kind of write my opening message as like a three part.

Kian:

Like it first, introduction about myself hey, this is me. I'm passionate about eggs. I've been farming for 10 years and I want to start my own brand. Right, oh, cool, someone who really, really likes eggs. Right, they'll be a good person for this product. And then you can say, hey, we work with the biggest like influencers in the food space. Because I'm a beginner, right, I'm selling this, I'm ordering this product for the first time. So I don't want to say, hey, I'm a beginner. I want to say like, hey, I'm just ordering this, but here's my leverage. Like, I've got connections with the biggest influencers in the home and kitchen space. I've got connections with retailers that I've done business with before. I'm very, very skilled at selling on Amazon. I've exited a previous business before. I want to say something that gets them excited for them to work with me, not just, hey, what's your price, right?

Kian:

Second, I want to say why I chose that supplier, because all the things we just looked at, like a number of production lines you know 70% exports going to Europe, right, you having this meta audit. So I would say, look, quality standards are very, very important for our company. It's great to see you have this meta audit. I'm so, so happy that you also place a high importance on quality standards. I see that 38% of your exports go to North America. That's amazing because we'll be selling in America as well, and I'm glad to know you're compliant with the latest certifications. That's just me telling the supplier. I've actually read your company profile and I've selected you based on these reasons. I've not just gone into Alibaba, I've not just typed in egg dispenser and just selected the first 10 companies and copy and pasted the same message. I've actually had to read your company listing and I've actually had to write a customized message to send you this so they'll understand that. And then then you're like okay, this is a product that we're looking at. Here's the picture, here's the specification sheet, this is the materials. What would be your best price for this product?

Kian:

Suppliers now thinking I want to work with this customer because they have the ability to sell the product through their experience, through the influencers they have access to. They seem to understand quite a bit about manufacturing because they've told us what they've selected us. This is a customer which I think will go far because previously we've received messages asking for price in MLQ. We supply that and we never hear from those guys again. But this one seems serious. So we've gone through that process and we've found who are the top suppliers and then we've actually crafted a message that makes them want to reply to us. Because suppliers not thinking these are just egg-tracing, these are 80 cent. Maybe you order like a thousand pieces, right, a thousand dollar order. Suppliers not thinking they're going to get rich on this first order. They're thinking how much money am I going to make with this customer over the next three, five, ten years? So as long as you state look, business, partnership long term and this, together we want to grow this big business. You're saying the right things that get them interested to make your trial order first. Even at a break-even, they probably won't make money on the first order because of all the time and effort they have to put into sampling and things like that. They know that and they just want to work for you because you seem like a serious customer which you'll build with over the long term. So those are two really important things finding the best supplier and then communicating correctly with those suppliers as well.

Bradley Sutton:

At what point are you submitting like a RFQ request for a quote?

Kian:

So that's a really good point, right? So you can also do a request for a quotation. And I'm hesitating before I say this, right, because that process we just went through. We selected two of our best suppliers that we want to work with, right, we filtered out the bad ones. But when we go RFQ, we just submit our information one time and then the suppliers receive that request for a quotation and then they write to us. So now I have to do that filtering process again, but I have to filter the ones that write to us, right? So, because you might get an unverified supplier that writes to you or things like that. So you can also do RFQ because you think it saves you time, but realistically you have to go through all those applications of people which write back to you. And another thing I'd be cautious of as well and I'm not saying don't do it, I would just say that it might imply more work. It looks like it's going to save you time, but now you have to filter through every single manufacturer. But we just filtered through those suppliers really, really quickly.

Kian:

But ultimately the main selection criteria that we have to decide is what's the price of the sample and what's the quality of the sample. So once we get that information back, we have to then decide right. Am I happy with the price, does it fit within my target? And am I happy with the quality of sample? Because, as we saw, we might get a price for 80 cent and we might get a price for $3. I have to see the sample right. But by doing this exercise we're going to get a good idea of what is the market price for this product, because we went through that selection process to identify the top manufacturers and now we've got pricing from who we think are the five top manufacturers. So if our pricing is 95 cent, $1.05, 88 cent, like 112, we're like okay, we know it's around that $1 mark. But if I get pricing of like $3.50, $0.62, $4, I'm like this pricing is all over the place.

Kian:

Like I haven't. It's my fault I've not told them the specifications of which I require. I wouldn't just click on their image and say what's the price of that. I would send them a specification sheet of here's a picture of the product, here's the dimensions, here's the material, here's any testing that I need. And they like give me your best price. So they've all received the same information. So you're comparing apples with apples and then, once you see the price that you're happy with, you've compared it to the rest of the market. You see someone that you like communicating with. They have the right certification. You get maybe two or three samples from different suppliers. You compare them right. This is the one. Then here we go, let's place the order, let's go for it.

Bradley Sutton:

Normally? What's the standard as these days as far as factories and samples Like do you always need to pay for the sample 50% of the time? Do you need to pay for the shipping? 50% of the time? 25% of the time? What's your?

Kian:

experience lately? Yeah, so great question. And I would say that it depends on the leverage that you build, right. So, for example, that reach out message like if they think you're sort of wasting time, then they're like right, $100 for a sample, $100 for a freight, paid us $200 invoice and you'll get a sample, right. But if they're like I want to work for this guy, like I think he's capable of building a really, really big business and they'll do all right, cool, we'll just send a sample to you, no problem. Some people might say, right, we'll cover the cost of the sample, you just covered the cost of the freight. So, cool, right, fair. I always say, look, I've got no problem, I'll pay for the sample, but if I place the order, I'm going to deduct the sample cost from the first purchase order. That's always what I go with, right. And they're like fine, because I'm not trying to get free samples, right, that's something suppliers are fearful of. They're like but no one really wants a free sample of an egg tray, right. But if we took an example like a massage gun, you know, when massage guns got popular, everyone wrote to Alibaba manufacturers and said, hey, I want to order 10,000 massage guns, but I need a sample. They send the sample and then they never hear from them again. But that guy just got a free massage gun, right. So that's what they want to avoid. So I always offer to pay.

Kian:

I say, look, I'll pay for the sample, but I'm going to deduct the sample and freight costs from the first purchase order. And that is music to their ears. They're happy to hear that because they know that first of all, you're paying for the sample up front and then if the supplier ends up having to pay for it, will they go and order as a result of it, which is what they wanted all along, right. So that's normally the way I go. Sometimes they just send it for free. I'm like cool, very nice of you, and sometimes, if they charge me, I just always have that in writing. That will deduct that from the first purchase order.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you doing any like other website price matching or looking at like you know? Like maybe going to 1688 or something you know? That was a you know kind of like always suggested back in the day because there's a lot of price differences there and sometimes the Alibaba people, Alibaba factories, would be like, okay, yeah, we can probably go lower or that's not as much of a technique anymore and to be honest, I've always advised against that because, yes, you can.

Kian:

So 1688, for anyone who doesn't know, is like the domestic. It also owned by Alibaba and it's the domestic Chinese website. It's where, like, Chinese businesses buy from Chinese factories, everything's in Chinese. And then I think some people announced that it was a hack, that you could go to 1688 and get cheaper prices. And yes, there are cheaper prices, but that's because those products aren't being exported. So you know the things that we just looked at in terms of like, okay, is this egg tray FDA approved? Well, it doesn't need to be FDA approved because that's not a regulation in China, so they can use it with a different chemical. Therefore, it's a cheaper price. So if you go to 1688 and look for your products, yeah, you probably will find them cheaper, but then if you need them to match regulations of your market, then that's when it's going to make it more expensive.

Kian:

So I don't necessarily look at other websites, like I think you know you could go to globalsources.com, you can go to madeinchina.com. There's also sort of different websites as well, but generally enough, like, there's so many good factories on alibabacom and that definitely improved after COVID as well, because I never used to use alibabacom, like I was just used to go to China. I used to live in China. I used to go to the Canton Fair twice a year and that's where I'd find all my factories. And then, because Canton Fair was out for three years, that's when a lot of those factories started going online and Alibaba was like the first place that they would go. So I would suggest you're absolutely fine with alibaba.com. You can also, if you want to find the manufacturers of your competitors, you can look at importyeti.com, and I would say the best thing you can do for your business is really visit China as well. Go to the Canton Fair, and really because, yes, there's a cost in terms of a flight ticket in hotels to go to China, but I always say that cost more than pace for itself, because you are essentially fast tracking your product development.

Kian:

You're seeing products there for the first time that you'll see them in real life before you see them online from other brands, and now you have to make your own version. You'll be able to negotiate better prices. You'll be able to get better quality products. You'll be able to build better relationships with your factory. You'll be able to get samples very quickly If you're like Bradley actually. So you're going to the factory. I guarantee you, if you ask for a new product and you wanted that sample, that sample will be ready in two or three days and you can take it home with you right? They'll send it to your hotel by the time you leave. But if you reach out to these guys online, you're like, hey, we're working on this new product, we're going to take them two weeks to make it. We can have to send it. It'll take a month. So you can massively and imagine you've got multiple products across multiple brands. You've got a month edge on anyone in the market just by being there. So I would highly recommend. But you know, canton Faire is only April and October every year, so you can visit China anytime you want, but all year round. I would be visiting websites like alibabacom to get an idea of right, who are the best suppliers and what are the best prices, and are there any new products that we just found as well? And then I'd be going to China as well, on top of that as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, before we get into your last strategy of the day, how can people reach you if they want to, you know, see your videos or maybe reach out to you for some advice?

Kian:

Yeah, sure, so I'm putting a lot of work into the YouTube stuff. So if you just type in Sourcing with Kian on YouTube, you'll see a lot of cool videos there. I started making a bunch of different videos on this China trip. I went into factories, I went into packaging factories, product factories and filmed videos of like. So actually, brad, I'll try and send one to you before you go as well, just so you could get a little bit of an insight. But, yeah, Instagram as well @kian_jg. I've got a Facebook group of the same name Sourcing with Kian and yeah, it's probably the best way to reach out to me. But I've got some cool stuff planned in the coming year in regards to, like, trips to China and stuff. So, yeah, definitely look out for that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, what's your last strategy of the day? Maybe a 60 second strategy or around there for that you can share with the audience.

Kian:

I would say like, okay, 2024. Something you want to focus on would be product defensibility, right, Because you know, as you mentioned, with the shelf, like you know, a lot of people copied it. It raised at the bottom in terms of price and we have to innovate on top. So just like sort of three actionable tips. In terms of product defensibility, there's three main things you can focus on An act's getting exclusivity on your product, it's having a particular mold on your product and it's also getting patents on your product right. So exclusivity you can like if we go into a factory and we see a product that we like we didn't innovate it, factory did right, I can still order that product. But I can say, look, I want exclusivity on that. And you can get exclusivity by time. To be like, give me three months, we sell it to me and no one else. You can get exclusivity by region. To say, right, give me exclusivity for Germany or give me exclusivity for USA. Like we can pick a market, not just the whole world, and get exclusivity by that. Or we can also get exclusivity by quantity. To say, I've forecast I will order 10,000 units over the course of the year. If I don't order those 10,000 units, then you can sell it to everyone. So we just got exclusivity on a new product and I did this countless times at Alaska Anton Fair. That's a great form of defensibility.

Kian:

Then, like patents, you know you can patent the product. Supplier might have a patent on the product, but the more. And then oh, by the way, this is such a sick hack, right, there was a particular product that we've been selling for a while. Factory has got the patent on it and then a lot of US brands were copying and infringing Chinese factory, trying to go after those US brands. They write to them and they're like hey, yeah, we're this company, we have the patent. The US brands just ignored it. They're like oh, it's a Chinese company, they're never going to sue us. I said to them look, make our company the co-patent, so we have our US brand. I was like make us the co-patent owner and then we'll go after them. Done Like, we now own the patent of that and then us, as a US brand, using US lawyers, are going after those US brands and are getting shut down left, right and center. So if you have a factory which is patented the product, that's a huge key if you can get co-patent on that as well. And then I mentioned molds as well. Like, molds are expensive. If you're developing a mold on a product, definitely get your logos embossed on the mold as well, so that they can't use that for anyone else as well. So, yeah, those are the key things defensibility, exclusivity, patents and molds.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, Kian, thank you so much for joining us. I'm sure 2024 will be great for you and hopefully we get to hang out at an event or here locally. I've got to get you on my Helium 10 basketball court here. We've been trying to do that for a while, so, hey, I'm ready, we'll anytime we'll settle at once and for all Lakers versus Clippers. I'll wear my Clippers jersey, you can wear your Lakers and we'll see. We'll see who comes out on top.

Kian:

Let's do it, let's do it. Good to see you, bro, and thanks very much for having me and congrats on the 500 plus episodes.

View Details

What’s buzzing this week? Listen in as we explore TikTok's bold aspirations to skyrocket its e-commerce revenue, Amazon's innovative theme targeting for sponsored brand ads, and more!

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok eyes US$17.5 billion shopping business on Amazon’s turf
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3247219/tiktok-eyes-us175-billion-shopping-business-amazons-turf

Sponsored Brands introduces theme targeting to enhance goal-based campaigns
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-introduces-theme-targeting/

Alexa is now available as a new supply source for Standard display and AAP-mobile app
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/alexa-available-as-new-supply-source-for-standard-display-and-aap-mobile-app/
Sponsored Brands video introduces video-only creatives on the advertising console and Amazon Ads API
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-video-introduces-video-only-creatives/

And for those looking to network and learn, Bradley extends an invitation to join upcoming events in Dubai, Pakistan, and Germany.

Finally, our conversation leads us to Helium 10 new feature alerts emphasizing the importance of competitor monitoring, emphasizing the convenience and impact of setting up a comprehensive Insights Dashboard. Bradley guides you through automating competitor tracking to save precious time and demonstrates how to assess a niche market - with coffin shelves as our case study - using analytical tools to scrutinize competitor listings and keyword strategies. Additionally, he stresses the advantages of the Listing Analyzer tool, which transforms the arduous task of comparing listing images into a seamless, one-click operation. Stay tuned for next week's episode, where we'll continue to share invaluable insights for sellers looking to thrive in the fast-paced world of e-commerce.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:57 - TikTok Shop 10X?
03:00 - Amazon Sponsored Brand Update
04:57 - Alexa Ads
06:18 - Brand Tailored Promotions
07:23 - New Video Ads
09:05 - Catch Bradley On The Following Events
12:18 - New Feature Alerts
17:00 - Pro Training: Using Listing Analyzer

View Details

Listen in as Bradley Sutton unveils the game-changing Black Box Brand Analytics tool, a groundbreaking resource that blends Amazon’s Brand Analytics with Helium 10's robust capabilities. This episode is a gold mine for Amazon sellers eager to master product research and optimize their keywords to increase Amazon product rankings. Bradley walks you through the ins and outs of using the tool to pinpoint high-traffic keywords, unpack the nuances of search frequency rank, and demonstrate how these insights can drastically improve your click and conversion rates. Using practical examples, such as the comparison between "coffin decor" and "coffin cat tree," he highlights the market saturation and what it means for your marketing strategies and listing optimization.

In the second part of our session, we turn our attention to the strategic application of data filters for laser-focused keyword research. Bradley guides you through advanced techniques to navigate through the data, revealing how to eliminate certain terms and hone in on keywords with substantial search volumes. Moreover, we shed light on how to identify products with low conversion rates and dissect the competition by examining click share and conversion share metrics. We also dive into analyzing Amazon's Best Sellers Rank to identify high-performing products and dissect the success factors driving traffic to top listings. By listening to this episode, you'll gain valuable insights into market gaps and learn how to strategically position your products to stand out in the crowded Amazon marketplace.

In episode 523 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

00:00 - Introducing Black Box and Brand Analytics inside Helium 10
05:03 - Click Rates and Sales Dominance Analysis
08:44 - Data Filters for Targeted Keyword Research
12:34 - Searching for Dominating ASINs and Keywords
21:41 - Analyzing Top Clicked Keywords for Competitors
25:16 - Newer Home and Kitchen Products
30:19 - Keyword Analysis for New Product Launch
35:08 - Helium 10 Demo

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today I'm introducing a brand new, really cool tool to Helium 10. It's called Blackbox Brand Analytics and it allows you to combine Amazon data from Brand Analytics with Helium 10 data in ways that you have never used before. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. I want to know what keywords are driving the most sales. For a list of keywords. To do that, you need to know what highly searched for keywords the product is ranking for maybe at the top of page one. You can actually find that out in seconds by using Helium 10's keyword research tool, cerebro. Now, that's just one of the many, many functions that make this tool my favorite tool in the whole suite, and it's the most powerful keyword research tool ever created for e-commerce sellers. For more information, go to h10.me/cerebro. Don't forget to use the Serious Sellers Podcast discount coupon SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our monthly Ask Me Anything and training session. This is actually something that we do every single week for our Serious Sellers Club and Helium 10 Elite members. I got a cool demo I'm going to be doing today a little mini training on a brand new tool that Helium 10 launched a couple of weeks ago that maybe you haven't had a chance to play with yet. So we're going to be demoing that so that you guys can see how you can get benefit from it. So let me show my screen here. This is brand analytics. All right, so this is not Helium 10. Obviously, this is from Seller Central, but this is something that you guys have been using maybe for years, right, it's? Anybody with brand registry can use it. The way you access it is go to your menu in Seller Central, then you go to Brands and then you go to Brand Analytics and then you want to hit, under Search Analytics, the top search terms.

Bradley Sutton:

Now how I've been using this, how sellers have been using this the one, the version that's on Amazon, is you can go to a date range, like weekly, you can go monthly, you can go quarterly, and then let's say, first of all, that you want to see all of the keywords that start with the word coffin. Right, like hey, what keywords have coffin in it that was searched for the most? So here is one use case. All right, so I'm going to hit Refine Results after I put coffin inside the search term and then now all of the keywords that were searched the most on Amazon show up here for this week. Let's start with the word coffin. So we see, here we've got coffin nails tips, a lot of stuff that has to do with nails. Right, search frequency rank is how often it has been searched compared to other keywords. There we go. There's coffin shelf all right, c coffin shelf has been searched for is the 129,000th most search term on Amazon for the week of 1217 to 1214,. All right, you can see other other keywords here that have come up Now. This is great. Obviously, you know it's been out for a little over three years almost four years I think and it gave unprecedented at the time information you know, like, for example, let's take that word coffin shelf. Or let's go into a different one, let's go to coffin decor all right. So now if I see here under coffin decor, I can see the top three clicked. All right. So again, if you guys know this, you know you might be bored right now, don't worry, we're going to get into the new stuff soon, but I want to make sure everybody understands the value of this data.

Bradley Sutton:

First of all, what Amazon is telling you is, for whatever keyword, here are the top three clicked out of the after the search of a certain keyword. So if somebody searched coffin decor, the product that was clicked more than any other product in all of Amazon after the search of that keyword is this Gothic wooden makeup organizer. All right, and it makes up 5% of the clicks. Now, of the conversion share, it was 6%. That means of the actual sales of that product it makes up 6%. So, right off the bat, I know that they have a better conversion rate than just the average because, theoretically speaking, if they were converting at the same rate as everybody else on this page, well, their click share, or their conversion share, should be about the same as their click share should be 5%. Right, but it's 6%, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

The other thing I can do when I look at this and how I used to use this is I, right off the bat, can tell this is a wide open keyword. Why the top clicked product is only 5%, meaning that the other top clicked, the top three clicked, are less than 5%. What does that mean? That means that more than 85% of all of the sales from this keyword are from products that weren't even the top three clicked. Does that make sense, guys? That means it's wide open. That means people are probably purchasing like 30 different products on that page, and let me just contrast that with this keyword right here. This is actually the keyword that I found the other day using this tool. Look at this keyword here Coffin Cat Tree. Now, coffin Cat Tree. Take a look at the percentage of clicks that the top clicked product has 33%. You guys remember what the other one was 5%, right. The second top clicked product 27%. So, right off the bat, I know that this keyword, coffin Cat Tree the top two clicked products, already make up more than 50% of the clicks out of all the clicks on this keyword. Look at the conversion rate 33% for this top clicked one and 11%. That means that the other products on the page are only making up about 60%. You guys remember what it was on the other one it was more than 90%, all right, so you see the huge difference. So this is being dominated by a certain number of products.

Bradley Sutton:

The other thing that you could use brand analytics for is your historical data. Before Helium 10 had the historical cerebro, this was the only way that you could do historical research Like let's say, all right, hey, valentine's Day is coming up, right. What's interesting is I can actually look at what were the top keywords, and maybe I want to put valentines here. So here in brand analytics, I'm going to. What did I say I was going to look at 12th to February 18th. What were the top keywords? That has to do with valentines, all right. And yeah, I think I picked the right date because, look at these, valentine's Day gifts was the eighth most searched term in all of Amazon for the week of February 12th. So obviously this was a hot keyword. But if I were to try and do this right now, you know, if I was using not historical cerebro, it's not going to give me what are the best selling Valentine's products, because nobody's buying Valentine's Gifts in December, right. So this is was one of the ways that people could do Historical keyword research and see what were the products that were doing well, right, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that brings us to this announcement of this new tool inside of helium 10,. All right, I want everybody to navigate with me there. It's going to be under tools and then go to black box. All right, black box is a tool you guys know and love to find products, and now this tool Is in black box, and there is a new Tool here called a BA top search terms so I call this black box brand analytics. All right, a BA is just a abbreviation, because that's too long. A BA stands for Amazon brand analytics, so just click that and let me explain how this tool works and why this is going to be beneficial for you.

Bradley Sutton:

This is going to be pretty awesome, guys, because this is pulling in all of that data from Amazon, and now it's combining it with the helium 10 data points that you already know and love, and it's giving you just a lot more targeted filtering ability and research capabilities. For example, I could just use it the same way that I was using it right now. Right, like again, hey, let me go in to the week of February 12th to the 18th and let me See what keywords that have the word Valentine in it, and then go ahead and apply the filters, and there those same keywords are coming up here right now. All of a sudden, though, I can see that, hey, what does being the eighth most search term mean? Right, it's not just that, which doesn't give me that much information, but now I can see, oh wow, the search volume was 2 million, because that's a Helium 10 Data point.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, I could see the top three ASINs, total conversions, share. I could see pictures of the top products All right, and I could also go to the history of the click share for this product. So I can do already just what current things that you can already do in Brandon Alex. But here's where it starts getting cool. Maybe I I'm like, hey, I want to Not see any keyword that has candy in it. So I'm gonna say exclude phrases containing candy, all right. Now I want to see. Maybe I want to see were there any products or Were there any keywords where the current the click share was wide open, meaning that people were clicking all over page one. There wasn't any dominant products. So I'm gonna say the top three ASIN total click share is a maximum of if I were to add them up together, a maximum of 20%. Let's just say, all right, maybe I want to see I don't want to see this two word Keywords. I want to say, hey, show me any keyword that hits this but that actually had three words. So like Valentine's Day wouldn't come up, but Valentine's Day gifts would come up, all right, what else can I do? Hey, I want to see the keywords that have a search volume of at least 20,000. All right, a search volume of at least 20,000? All right, let's just. Let's just see how that filters it down here.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, all of a sudden, those 2,600 keywords Go down to 36. Look at that. I went from 2,600 to 36 and now I can see Instant information, exactly what I was looking for. What are some other things I could search by? Like maybe I want to say, hey, what are all the the keywords where the top three products had bad conversion rate? All right, so let me reset these filters on and I'm gonna go and look at Just this last week. All right, guys, I have not tested any of this, I'm doing this all live right on the fly here. But let's look at December 10th through the 16th. Let's just say, out of any of the top keywords from December 10th to the 16th, if it was a keyword that had, let's just say, at least, let's just, let's just narrow it down. Let's try and find some low-hanging fruit. Let's go 2000 search volume to 6,000 search volume. All right, we're finding, from the week of the 10th through the 16th, a Keyword that had between 2000 and 6000 search volume. It's at least two words long, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

And then look at this. I'm gonna go hey, I want a Matt. Let's just say One asin had greater than, hmm, let's just say, 50% of the clicks. So I want to find a keyword where one asin is just dominating. All right, they were just dominate. I'm not sure if, you know, I can actually find something here. I might have to fix this a little bit, but we're one what had more than 50% of the clicks, meaning that you know, maybe they're, they're, they're just completely Dominating the clicks. Everybody's looking for this one product, all right. But if I take, look at this, the top three click asins, the average age is less than, let's just say, 12 months. All right, this is crazy, guys. You can't do this in seller central. Let me see, first of all, if anything comes up. I might have gone too narrow on this. Let's take a look here. And let's go 12 months average age 94 keywords come up. Look at that. All right, let me. Let me make it even more narrow conversion share let's just say we're one asin. Number of asin has greater than 40% of the conversions. That narrows it down to 62 keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's just take a look at it now. Obviously, we've got Lego and stuff like that here, but Is there anything One? So a lot of brand names here? Okay, that that that explains it, right? Which would you expect Products to dominate on a certain keyword like this? Well, obviously, it's going to be brand branded keywords. Mostly, if I'm searching for a Lego, I'm not gonna buy something else, right? Or here here. But look at this bubble face wash, right? Maybe I don't know what bubble face wash is. Well, I just put my mouse over here. I can see the top 10 products. So I'm like what? Why in the world is A Product getting dominated? Well, it does look like bubble is a brand name, which I didn't realize, right? But let's say that. What? Let's pretend that bubble wasn't a brand name? This would be something I would want to look into. Like, wow, there's only one product that's really getting a lot of sales here and a lot of conversion rate, and so that means that if I add another product, it's gonna be that much more likely that I can, I can get in on the action.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's take a look at some of the other keywords that come up here to see if we can see any non, any non branded branded ones I might want. I might want to go a little bit. I'm gonna go a little bit wider on this. All right, let's go. One asin had more than 30% and the top three ASIN's total review count is less than 400. All right, again, this is stuff that you cannot do in Seller Essential guys. But what I'm saying is, hey, I wanna see where it has a lot of the clicks. I need to go a little bit wider on this, but if I add up the top three click products, their total review count is less than 400, meaning it's a relatively newer niche. Let's take a look at the keywords that come up here Bassinet, lipliner, and I'm still seeing a lot of branded keywords here. All right, which is what you would expect, but look at these conversion share Top three ASIN's total conversion share 70% for this one Top ASIN click share 73%, 98%, 46%, 30%. So this is just an example of the filters that I'm entering, but you can see the potential here of how you can instantly find keywords that might have opportunity here. I was going and I was looking on the opposite end of the spectrum, where I wanna see where one or two products are dominating. Maybe I wanna see the opposite, where I want to see the top products only have a maximum of 5% click share or conversion share.

Bradley Sutton:

The list goes on and on. There's literally a million different combinations of filters that you could enter into here. Let's just go over some of these other filters I could use. I could have an exclude phrases. I can have the top three ASINs have a total click share with a minimum and maximum total conversion share, minimum and maximum search frequency rank. That's from Amazon where it's like which rank of search volume does it have? I could use the helium 10 search volume. I can have the search frequency rank trend. All right, search volume trend. Like, let's say it's, I'm looking at the week list on helium 10. Let's actually do that because I think that's a cool one. Maybe I want to see what are the keywords from week to week from December 10th through December 16th. Are there any keywords with at least 5,000 searches that increased 200% and that had at least three words, meaning that, hey, these keywords had to have like less than 2,000 search volume if it increased? And there's tons of them. Good grief, botox face serum look at that. Botox face serum went up. Let's take a look at the search volume here. Good grief, look at this. Like I'm not saying guys, go and source this product. But would I ever have known that Botox face serum went in one week from 10,000 search volume to 200,000 search volume? That's way more than 200% increase.

Bradley Sutton:

Look at this one gag gifts adults, dog beds for large dogs Dog beds for large dogs obviously was a hot Christmas product because it went to 151,000 search volume from 22,000 search volume. All right, let's narrow this down. I don't want to see these humongous ones. Let's go to 5,000 to 15,000 search volume. Anything that increased 200%. Let's take a look. We've got 1,200 keywords. Grippy socks, women all right, grippy socks, women is a keyword that went from and we can take a look here. It went from last month 9,000, now it's up to 14,000 searches. Let's see another one here, mr and Mrs Gifts. All right, 14,000 searches. It is up from 6,000 searches, all right. So, as you can see, guys, here the possibilities are endless as far as what you want to play with. Now, the question is this is just version one of this tool is what do you want to see? How do you want to search brand analytics to find products or to find keywords? Remember, this is not just a product research, but this is also a keyword research. You can enter I didn't show this to you, but you can enter in an ASIN. I probably should show that, because that's an important way of using the tool that we didn't go at all.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's just go to Amazon. I'm gonna go to Amazon and let's just say that I am looking for a bat shelf. All right, or I'm thinking of selling in the bat shelf, or I am selling a bat shelf and so I wanna see, hey, who's one of the top players in this niche and I could see that, hey, this product here is definitely a top one, so I can copy his ASIN, all right. Now I'm gonna go into Black Box brand analytics and I can paste that here. Okay, and I don't wanna just do this top one, maybe, I wanna do a lot of the top products. So let's just take a couple more of these bat shelves here, all right. Here's another bat shelf that sold like 100 units. Maybe let's go ahead and copy that. I can actually put up to 99 different ASINs here, all right, let's do another one. Let's copy this ASIN, all right. So here's three ASINs. So basically, what I'm saying is here for the week of December 10th through the December 16th.

Bradley Sutton:

Show me any keyword that has over 500 search volume where one of these three bat shelves was one of the top three clicked. All right, so this isn't just hey, they were ranking high, which is what's the rebro, and you know keyword tracker and tools like that tell you. But they were ranking high, but they were also one of the top three clicked and there's actually only three keywords that these came up that had at least 500 search volume. Bat shelf, goth shelf and bath home decor Tells me right now. Maybe I wanna go ahead and take off this search volume. Let's go ahead and apply the filters, see if any lower search volume ones come up. Six keywords come up. All right, emo home decor, bat shelves. Plural, bat room decor. All right, so this tells me now where any of my competitors were one of the top three clicked products in all of Amazon for that keyword. So if I have 20 competitors, I drop them all in there and I would instantly I would instantly see that to see where they were one of the top. All right, let's go ahead and open it up right now.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you guys have any questions on how to use this tool and what I can help you with or how to use anything helium-tun related. Guys, this is your time here. David says I would like to see leave out a specific ASIN or choose a competitor. Hmm, the second part, to choose a competitor we have that, so you could put in there your ASIN. I would assume, david, the exclude is because you may. Are you saying that you maybe you want to look specifically at keywords, that you are not one of the top three clicked already? And if that's true, yeah, that would seem like a reasonable, reasonable request right there.

Bradley Sutton:

We got another question here from Joanna. Can helium 10 find out what's new sellers who are settling the top 10 and best sellers ranking are doing in order to get their Product the top 10 so fast? Well, yeah, absolutely, you could see on the keyword side, all right, so so I don't, I've never done that, but let's walk through this and let's see if we can do it. All right, let's go ahead, joanna, and let's do this as a nice little case study. So let's, first of all, I'll go to see who is in the top 10 BSR in a certain category and then again that's in black box. So I'm gonna go this time to black box products, all right, and let's go into a, a subcategory All right, let's go in the home and kitchen category and let's go into the Kitchen and dining category and let's go bakeware All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's go bakeware and let's just see who has been in the top 100, like in the last month in BSR. And I can do that right here using the filters, where I put a minimum one of BSR and Maximum 100, and I'm in the bakeware category, I go ahead and hit search. Let's go a little bit higher. Instead of looking at that category, let's look at what was I in home and kitchen. We can just look in all of home and kitchen. Let's see. They better not be doing maintenance on this. Let me get mad. Nope, the here we got, we got tons of products in the home and kitchen category, all right. So maybe I want to know are there any products that are newer here? All right, and we do that by age, all right. So let's, let's go and put here under age a maximum Of, let's just say, four months. Are there anybody within one to 100 of BSR that have a product that's only four months or less? And we've got a lot of products here that have variations. So that's why there's tons of products coming up here, let's see, that has a lot less reviews. I actually don't want. I actually don't want the variations to come up. So let's just say max variation one, let's see if anything comes up at all. Nothing comes up in the home and kitchen category. So what you were asking nobody in the home and kitchen is less than four months old. That doesn't have variation.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's let's check out another, let's check out another category here. Let's go under. Let's look up baby, let's look up beauty, let's look up the Entity of home and kitchen. Here we go. Is there anybody? That's a new product that's up. So right now, Joanna, there's not many products that are newer, that are really hitting your criteria. But let's just, let's just expand this out and just do a make-believe. Let's go to 1000 BSR or 2000 BSR and let's see if anything comes up. Here we go, sorry. So here is a product. Let's just take a look at one of these products strong ahead Hair kit. The heck is this.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's take a look at this product on Amazon Strong ahead hair kit. I have no idea what this product is, but it's fairly new. It's less than four months old and it's already got a strong BSR. So if I wanted to see instantly what was some of the keyword ways that this product is getting up here, I could actually just run Xray keywords on this page itself, all right. So if I'm on an Amazon page, I put my mouse over the Helium-10 chrome extension and Select x-ray keywords and then I could see, without even having to go into Cerebro, what were the top searches, and I can see there's tons of branded searches. So for this product, now I know instantly why is it one of the top BSRs and it's a brand new product, and the reason is they have crazy amounts of brand search. Like, look at this Olaplex brand search 232,000 search volume Right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is the process, Joanna. Any product on Amazon that you are seeing is doing really well and it's brand new, maybe doesn't have that many reviews. Just run x-ray keywords on it. If you wanna go a little bit deeper, go into Cerebro and then you'll find out where they are at least getting their organic and sponsored traffic, all right. So this is this doesn't show you the sponsored traffic on x-ray keywords. You'd have to look into Cerebro for that, but that's not going to tell you. Are they running Instagram traffic to it, et cetera, but it'll at least give you a nice overview of where their organic traffic is coming from. That allows them to be one of the top sellers. So thank you for that question. Joanna Danian says how does this match up to competitor software using brand analytics data? Well, there's no competitors to Helium 10 that have this as far as, like all in one suites of tools, we're the only ones to have this in it.

Bradley Sutton:

Joanna now has a product, so this is the product that Joanna found. It's not selling that great. This is a top BSR, did you say. Let's take a look at their BSR, if it even says anything. So it is the number 33 in the Garment Steamer category right now. Okay, there we go number 33 in Garment Steamer category. Let's take a look here. What are we going? How old is this listing? Let's take a look at the BSR chart history and I could see that it has only been out for three days. All right, it's only been out for three days, so the odds that we could see words ranking for already is probably slim to none, because there's not enough time if this product has only been out for three days. But let's just give it a try. I don't think anything is going to come out here because this is too brand new Like even brand analytics is more than three days old. So brand analytics I'm not even going to look, because brand analytics is usually one week behind a little bit. So when I would check this, joanna is, I would check this next week, once the data comes out. But let's just see if Helium 10 has any data at all for this keyword, even though it was only launched three days ago. Oh, my goodness man, helium 10 is on it We've got.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's take a look at keywords where they're ranking in the top 20 and at least 300 search volume. Might not be too many here because, again, this product was just launched three days ago, but there we go, it's already ranking for 30 keywords in the top half of the page. So right here, look at this Travel steamer for clothes, portable mini. Good grief, that is a long tail keyword if I ever saw one. It already has 10,000 search volume and this product is organic rank 13. And look at their sponsored rank. They were one. So they are going hard and heavy on this brand new keyword and sponsored. So there you go.

Bradley Sutton:

I was kind of like selling Helium 10 short, saying that we wouldn't have any data since this product was just launched three days ago. Nope, I'm wrong. Helium 10, one Bradley, zero here. Easy to see where this product is getting sales from, because on a 10,000 search volume they're bidding for top of search and they're already ranking number 13. All right, so there you have it. That's where this product is getting a lot of its sales from that exact keyword, right there. Good question, joanna. I hope that was clear for you guys on how to do that for any product on Amazon. All right, you wanna know where their traffic is coming from, at least their organic search traffic. You just run Cerebra on it or look at it in the brand analytics, if it's been out there for longer than a week, and you're instantly gonna get an idea of the keywords that are driving sales for the product.

Bradley Sutton:

Jerov says I'm a new Amazon seller. I look for keywords to rank higher on Amazon, but I am still in 306 rank. So if you're 306, that means that you're not ranking at all, because Amazon only shows 306. I'm assuming that you're looking in Helium 10 keyword tracker and it shows greater than 306. That means that you're not ranked. Actually, how can you help me, because I've yet to make three sales. All right, the first step you need to do, jerov. If you're not ranking for keywords that you know are relevant to you, you need to make sure if you're indexed. Let me show you how you can do that. All right, so let's just take this product right here. This is the steamer that Joanna had found. I need to see if I'm indexed for certain keywords, all right, so let's go here to index checker. All right, what I'm gonna do is you're gonna take your ACI. I'm doing this for this travel steamer. You gotta put your ACI in here and I'm gonna put a keyword I know it's already ranking for, just to show you how this works. And so we already determined that this product is getting sales.

Bradley Sutton:

From what was that keyword? Here we go travel steamer for clothes, portable mini All right, so I'm gonna put that here. But what's a keyword that is probably not indexed for? I'm just gonna put a random keyword here sumo wrestling All right, but obviously you're not gonna put these nonsense keywords here. You would put the keywords that you think you should be ranking for, but you're not All right. So this is what you're gonna look for. You're gonna hit check keywords and then you are looking for the right column on index checker if there is a checkmark or not. Forget about all these other columns here. You just wanna see this cumulative and so I can see that travel steamer for clothes, portable mini.

Bradley Sutton:

For this product there's a checkmark. That means I am indexed. That means I am even if I'm not ranking. There's a potential for me to rank. But look at this keyword sumo wrestling. Maybe this was a product that I thought was super relevant to me, but you see here how there's a dash instead of a line. That means that I am not indexed. And what does that mean? That means I can't run PPC on this keyword. That means it's literally impossible for me to rank for that keyword. So the first thing you need to do, jerov, is make sure that on your keywords that you're trying to rank for that you even can. And if there's a dash there, the simplest reason could be you don't even have that keyword maybe in your listing. That means you're not indexed for it. If it does have a checkmark but you're not ranked, it's just. You know there's hundreds and hundreds of products that are indexed for certain keywords To be one of the top 306, it takes some doing. You probably gotta start running some sponsored ads to there. So, for any keyword that you are not ranking but that you are indexed for and you wanna get ranked, the path to doing that is running sponsored ads at the top of the search and hopefully people will see your product, click on it, buy it and that's what's going to move up your organic rank.

Bradley Sutton:

David says can you show us how Helium 10 works for Walmart sellers Interested in seeing its abilities for keyword ranking and finding arbitrage opportunities? All right. So, david, pretty much almost everything I've shown other than Blackbox. It works the same way for Walmart. So, for example, so let's look at walmartcom, all right, and let's go. I don't know, let's look up this product here Steamer iron for clothes. Let's do a search for that on Walmart. So let's just type in steamer iron for clothes. Okay, so this is not really for arbitrage, but this is more for ranking.

Bradley Sutton:

Like, hey, I wanna have, I'm gonna come out with you know some steamer, you know my own travel steamer and I wanna see the products that are selling a lot on Walmart in this niche. Where are they getting their sales from? All right, so let's just take, let's just go to this product right here. This is like the organic rank product. I'm gonna copy the item number, which I believe is this item number here at the very top of Walmart. Let's go into Cerebro and now I change this left hand marketplace chooser to the Walmart marketplace, all right, and let's type in that product ID. I'll know in a couple seconds if this is the right product ID or not.

Bradley Sutton:

And you just press get keywords and now this is going to find all of the keywords that this product is ranking for. And there it is. Look at that, let's find. Let's go search under the Walmart search volume anything over 1000 search volume, and now instantly I can see the top keywords where this product is one of the top 10 organic ranked. And now I know where this product is getting sales from. And these are the keywords I'm gonna have to put in my Walmart listing and I would also add this to keyword tracker for Walmart. If I'm already selling this product, I'm not ranking very high. I'm gonna put it in keyword tracker and track my organic and sponsored rank for these keywords Right off the bat too.

Bradley Sutton:

For this Hamilton Beach product, I can see that they are not running sponsored ads, so there's an advantage right there where I know, hey, Hamilton Beach is not running Walmart sponsored ads for this product, because Helium 10 doesn't show any sponsored ranks, so there's an instant advantage. I know that I can get as far as arbitrage goes. You just have to kind of like search for the products that have a high amount of sales, and we don't have as many sales estimates for Walmart products as we do for Amazon, because Walmart doesn't have what Amazon does, which is BSR, which allows us to make an algorithm, but we do have some sales estimates for Walmart products, and so that's another way that you could use the tool for Walmart selling. I'm about to actually start doing some arbitrage and some wholesale on Walmart myself. I was just talking to one of my team who I used to use a few years ago. We're gonna relaunch my Walmart business, so I'll have a lot more Walmart information for you guys soon.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you guys for joining us. If you're an Elite member or a Serious Sellers Club, we'll be back next not next Monday, but next Tuesday, I believe, because Monday's a holiday. If you are just watching this on YouTube or another platform, make sure to come back. At the end of January. We'll go ahead and have this available as well. But thank you guys for joining us, appreciate it. Make sure to use that tool and we'll see you later. Have a good one, bye, bye now. I'll see you guys next time.

View Details

Join us for a packed episode where we share the Serious Sellers Podcast’s cream of the crop e-commerce strategies this 2023, specifically curated for Amazon and Walmart sellers aiming to amp up their selling game. We kick things off by covering a slew of actionable tips, from the critical role of eye-catching main images to PPC campaign finesse and leveraging meta descriptions for Google indexing. Each insight is distilled to empower you, the serious seller, with tactics you can apply right away for real impact.

This episode doesn't stop there; we continue with the inside scoop on Walmart's Review Accelerator program and how it can significantly lift your Gross Merchandise Value by infusing your product listings with valuable customer feedback. We listen to the secret sauce behind crafting Amazon product titles that resonate with mobile users and discuss the art of bundling, showing you how to identify complementary items that could delight your customers and potentially lead to glowing reviews. The conversation shifts to strategic PPC advertising, underscoring the advantage of long-tail keywords to improve organic rankings without breaking the bank. It's a treasure trove of tips that will sharpen your competitive edge on platforms like Amazon.

As we wrap up, we reflect on the top strategies shared and their potential to redefine your Amazon business in 2024. Your feedback is crucial; we urge you to select and implement your top three tactics and join the conversation by sharing your favorites in the comments. The excitement is palpable as we look forward to featuring some of you in future episodes to celebrate the strides made in your Amazon and Walmart selling journey. Here's to taking the wins from 2023 and charging towards an even more prosperous year ahead!

In episode 522 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

01:44 - Top Strategies for Amazon, Walmart, and E-Commerce This Year
05:53 - Find Trending Products on Alibaba/Amazon
12:00 - Strategies for Obtaining Product Reviews
13:10 - Walmart Review Program and Bundling Tips
16:32 - Surprise in Customer Reviews
21:54 - Increase Amazon Productivity and Selling Strategies
25:32 - Maximizing Product Visibility and Differentiation

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is our yearly episode where we give you my handpicked top 20 Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce strategies of the entire year. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted, and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we've come up at the end of this year and, as we do the last four years now we do a kind of recap episode where I handpicked some of the strategies. There's a bunch of people on my team, you know, from Mhel, Nikko, John, Ralph, Bill, Maia, Klaudine. They all worked like going through all the transcripts and like gave me what they thought were some of the top strategies and then, from those like I don't know, like 90 different ones that they submitted, I like whittled it down to like 20 that would fit into this episode. So we're going to give you some stuff that you might not have heard, you know, if you weren't listening to every single episode or you might have forgotten about good reminders. We got some actionable stuff that have to do with, you know, Shopify and keyword research, product launch, just a whole bunch of different subjects, most of these like 60 seconds to just two minutes long, and so I hope you guys take advantage of this.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of it was really great when it aired and they're just just right now also as much, if not even more, applicable. So again, whenever we do these strategy episodes, I implore everybody, don't just, you know, listen to these and think, oh, this is so great. Isn't this amazing how smart these people are? No, I want you guys to actually pick two or three of these and put it in practice, and then let me know what you do afterwards. I'm wearing my Dodgers jersey today because, you know, just like we had a great year of strategies. Dodgers had an incredible year at the end of this year, hiring some of my favorite, or getting some of my favorite baseball players in. Shohio, tani and Yamamoto. But anyway, we're not here to talk baseball. I could have a whole episode just about that. We're here to get into the top 20 strategies, so here you go.

Dr. Travis Zigler

Best thing you can do, I’m trying, I was going the brand route, but I’m gonna try to keep it on Amazon route. Main images are key. Your main image has to be different. Go look up silicone coaster on Amazon, just go do that right now and tell me which one’s your brand because every single one looks the same. So it doesn’t matter, like for all those plastic widgets from China, everything looks the same, but what can you do to differentiate it? And the unfortunate thing is if you sell something that everybody else sells with no differentiation, then you can make a change to your photos, that works, then everybody else will repeat it. And so what can you do to make your product better and differentiated? And then how can you show that on the main image? And if you can show that on the main image that’s gonna lead to a higher click-through rate, what can you do with your branding and your copywriting to make it a little different to make it stand out a little bit more?

Aaron Biner

And another tip is your meta description of your brand store. Like, actually it’s super powerful, but there’s still so many sellers are this opportunity, if you’re gonna, like every page of your brand store has this meta description that is indexable by Google. So it doesn’t have any impact on Amazon, but it has really huge impact how your brand store will show up in the search result with sample who will type your brand name. So just, it’s only 160 characters. Do not keyword stuff make it readable and sometimes it’ll, like your brand store will show up like in top one in a Google search result. So it really works and it also helps you not only for your brand, for your brand name, but also for keywords that you can include in this section. So it’s really powerful. Well,

Bradley Sutton:

Where do you edit your meta description for your

Yana Tatochko:

You just have to kind of every it’s you have this meta description for every single page. So if you have five pages, you can fill in five pages of meta description. Okay. You just have to go to the settings of your store and when you will kind of click on the page, like you will see this meta description.

Bradley Sutton:

So why this is important is sometimes we might get into the rut of like, oh, I can only use like Helium 10 Black Box, or I can only search for product opportunity actually on Amazon. But a lot of times you can find some unique things that are trending on other websites. Like here is one of my strategies, like let’s say I just happened to be searching for a batch shelf and I find it on alibaba.com. What I like to do, if I find a factory guys that has a lot of reviews, I’ll actually click on their factory link in their Alibaba page. And then what I want to do is I just wanna search through some of their other products and see is there anything interesting that maybe I could just do some quick research into maybe something that’s trending in China that’s not here in the States yet.

Bradley Sutton:

So if I’m looking on this, this particular one who, this guy was selling batch shelves, but I clicked on his other products and I see he’s got something wood wine rack. So if I click into there, I see a whole bunch of interesting products that I didn’t even know existed. And then I see these a few of them here that are pretty interesting. This looks like a wall mounted wine bottle rack. I see a few of these here. Wall mounted wine rack. So what I can do is I can just, on this page, I can actually click the Chrome extension and I’m gonna hit this tool called Analyze Product Demand on Amazon. And then I would type right there, wall mounted wine rack, I haven’t left alibaba.com. And then I hit see analysis.

Bradley Sutton:

And what shows up is it’s going to show me if that exact keyword has search volume on Amazon and some related keywords to it and some data on it. Now, this right here, as you guys can see, those of you watching this on YouTube, there’s nothing much here. Like this keyword that I entered only has 633 search volume. But take a look at the variations down below of what it says, wine rack wall mounted. So just sh shifting the keywords around that has 9,000 search volume on Amazon. Here’s something that five minutes ago I didn’t even know existed, or at least this exact keyword I didn’t know was a thing, and now I realize it is something that has almost 10,000 searches a month. So guys, this, this is a great technique to use when you’re just like, ah, you just can’t seem to find new product opportunity to expand your brand, especially if you’re on your own suppliers website probably a lot of the products, like if you’re making coffin shelves or a back shelf at a, at a factory there, other wooden products probably could potentially go in line with some of your existing brands.

Destaney Wishon:

Yeah, so one of the first things I’ve been doing when I’ve been auditing brands is relying on the targeting tab. So if you go into advertising console in the top left-hand corner, you’re gonna see targeting under your campaign manager, something around those and the targeting tab actually allows you to add a column for conversion rate. So if you have been in advertising console for a while, you know we’ve never been given access to conversion rate on the keyword level, well within the targeting tab we now have that. So that’s been super, super helpful for any brand owner. Even if you don’t manage ppc, even if you outsource it, go into add console, open up your targeting tab, filter top down by spend and look at where your spend is going. Your highest spending targets should be your highest converting targets and the most aligned keywords for your products. That is like the number one quickest way to audit your brand performance. If you see that the top of your targeting tab has auto campaigns category targeting or product targeting, you’re probably not optimizing your PPC the best way possible because it’s not actually gonna improve your organic rank that much.

Ryan King:

So there’s that way of identifying competitors to match against. AB test, what I’ll say here is, is someone might be thinking do, are you switching it like every four or five days? You’re probably not switching that often. This is probably like you’re testing it two or three product types max cuz there’s not that many out there, right? And again, another caveat would be you’re not looking at, okay, I’m in herbal supplements and my product type is an herbal supplement. Am I gonna do well in protein shakes as a product type? Right? And we just one that’s just gonna be manipulation. It’s not, it’s not serving the end shopper. But also you’re not for that purpose. You’re not gonna index for any of the keywords you really want. The example I’ve given before is using herbal supplements was we had a product that was in herbal supplements as a product type and they were in an herbal supplement.

Ryan King:

But we were banging our heads up against a wall because we were not indexing for what we thought were no-brainer search terms for that product. And the algorithm just wasn’t letting us index for those. So what we simply did is in growth opportunities, I know you’ve shown this before as well. You go into growth opportunities on Seller Center, you go to those details next year, your listing clicks on one of your listings, and there’s a widget right in the middle there. Walmart makes it really easy. There’s a widget in the middle, it says product type. You look at that and you can say report issues. I think it’s a reported issue or something like that right below it. It’ll give you a dropdown of a few suggested product types there. And the herbal supplements case, what we saw was, although herbal supplements seemed to be an exact match, the end result wasn’t what we thought was gonna provide the shoppers with the best experience.

Ryan King:

And so what we saw was if we went one level up vitamins and supplements, there’s, so it’s, it’s, it makes sense in that vertical broader, and we found that instantly. We were almost instantly within a few hours we were indexing for the keywords we needed. So that’s, that’s what I mean. So you’re probably gonna be able to figure out product type pretty easily of what general ones make sense right now. That’s the best solution I know of. So I think it’s one of those, it’s just a helpful point of data as long as it’s available. And so hopefully that’s a help to you. Hopefully, that answers the question.

Lyann Nguyen:

First, we talked about keeping track of your three scores. Get cr experian.com or Identity iq. And if you have zero money and you’re broke as no joke, go to Credit Karma, get that account, put it on your phone, monitor that and find out what needs to be done. Number two, fix all your personal information, your name, your address, your employment, your phone number. Clean it up till you have one of each. Don’t have a whole bunch of stuff that would actually help clear a lot of bad data.

Bradley Sutton:

Wait. Hold on. Yeah, on on number two. Where do I go to do that again? I know you mentioned it earlier, but I forgot to write it down myself.

Lyann Nguyen:

No problem. You can go to experian.com or Identity IQ and the part where it says personal information, you can dispute a lot of that stuff. Or on Credit Karma, you’ll see all that information and then you’ll see like their name, address. The report doesn’t look right, you can contact the bureaus. You can just Google phone number.

Bradley Sutton:

So directly from like these experian.com and these.

Lyann Nguyen:

So you call them and then they’re gonna say, can you can you send me a get, make sure you get your utility bill because or your bank statement that has your name and your address, you would have to send that to them and a driver license to make sure that that’s your one address. You are not living in 10 different places. That’s gonna actually bump your score anywhere from 20 points to 50 points. Just that one move because it’s data.

David Milstein:

Reviews is a huge strategy. You definitely, it’s gonna help you with your conversion rate. I just do wanna point out, unlike Amazon where sales volume is the number one driver of ranking on Walmart, it’s the conversion rate and there’s two conversion rates that reflects, it’s the impression to click and to click the sale. And aside from price and basic content, the best way to get that conversion is through reviews. Now, how do you get reviews on your product? I’m going to suggest two strategies. You have reviews syndication, which is a free program from Walmart that I don’t know why people are not as into finding it. Maybe they should probably run a promo, Hey, sign up for reviews, indication, maybe send emails. If you have reviews on your website, Walmart allows you to bring them to the program. Two platform for free. This is a free program.

David Milstein:

Now you have to make sure that it’s legit and you’re not bringing in only some of your five star reviews. You have to bring in all your reviews to the program. Additionally, you cannot have your Amazon reviews on Walmart illegal. Amazon is against terms of service. They technically own their reviews. Technically you shouldn’t even have them on your website in the first place, but that’s none of my business. But Walmart is not gonna let you take those reviews to Walmart. You could try and they’re gonna say, Hey, those are Amazon reviews, you can’t use those. But it’s a great way if you have reviews on your website, sign up for reviews syndication hopefully you’ll get accepted as long as you answer the case correctly. Don’t, don’t try a lie and try to cheat the system. They’re just gonna shut you down and potentially suspend your as a seller.

David Milstein:

No one wants that. And go ahead and bring in your reviews. Legitimately A second program, I would su strongly recommend, this is a new launch from Walmart, which is the review accelerator program. It allows, it’s similar to I guess the Amazon Vine, but I think it’s actually cheaper. It’s where you enroll certain listings. There is a bit of a restriction on what is allowed and there’s up to, you’re allowed to get up to five reviews per product and it doesn’t recommend, it’s not necessarily gonna get you a five star review. This is important to note, it’s just gonna get you a review. Walmart does claim that five reviews on a product increases the GMV by 75%, which I think is that’s pretty crazy. So there’s just two restrictions. You have to have a sale in the past x amount of time, I think potentially 30 days.

David Milstein:

And you have to have under five reviews and therefore that will make your item eligible for the program. And it costs you $10 per view that you get regardless of the rating. And the incentive to the seller, or to the customer rather the shopper is that they will get $3 credit towards their next purchase. So Walmart sends out an email to them, Hey ’em, hey some li review and you got $3 credit and you will get up to five reviews per product. It’s a great way, the only thing is it’s kind of a bit of a cash 22 cause you’re like, I need to get sales in order to get into the program, but I can’t get sales cause they don’t have reviews. Advertising is key folks. With advertising you’re guaranteed to get at least one sale as long as you’re not extremely priced. That’s as simple as it is.

Jana Krekic:

It’s basically bilingual show, so I support that. But when it comes to translations, but we know this is basically maximizing on the keywords in the first 60 characters of your title. A lot of people forget about the mobile version of the website on Amazon which only shows first 60 characters. And a lot of people go crazy and wild with the keywords, like at the end of the title, just don’t put enough of the most important ones in the first part of the title. And I say like, you should definitely do that, if not because of like the mobile version. Cause a lot of people also will purchase products on their phones and people forget about it. They tend to forget a lot. Especially if you have like a really, really long brand name, then you couldn’t really wanna think about if you’re gonna like play with it or not.

Jana Krekic:

There was the one brand that we did, it was eye patches and then it had like the wordplay eye, like your eyeball, like Eye love it cause it’s an eye patch. And that literally took the whole first 60 characters of their title. And in the mobile version, it didn’t show any of the keywords. So that had to be completely redundant. We completely dropped the, I love it because also like in German and for Germans, it did not sit well, like too much English never work, works amazingly well for the German audience. So that is my tip when it comes to the title. And just like the mobile versions for Amazon. Cause brands really do not think about it a lot.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing I wanna talk about is explore bundling options, not just as something to add to your listing or to your product. I mean that, yes, that’s definitely something that you can do. You know, maybe you see that people are buying a coffin shelf and a skull together, right? So maybe you’ll be the first one to have a coffin shelf with skull together. Of course, that’s an option, right? But take it a step even easier. Use Black Box product targeting. Enter in your competitor’s ASINs and then filter for frequently bought together.

Bradley Sutton:

This is gonna show you what has been frequently bought together over the past, like 30 days or more that Helium 10 has detected. And sometimes you might find a product that’s like seven or $8 or even $6. And basically what this means is this, this could potentially be a product that you could source for like 30, 40 cents. Like one of the ones that was showing up here is, is spooky stickers. You know probably you could source some spooky stickers for like, what, you know, 25 cents or something like that. But if you have a history that your competitors are selling their product, and then the buyer at the same time is buying spooky stickers on their own, because you can see it in frequently bought together. Now what you should do if it’s really cheap, just go ahead and buy that product, maybe even in a smaller quantity if it’s a little bit more expensive, and then stick it into your product costing you 25 cents each.

Bradley Sutton:

If it’s really small, like stickers. And don’t advertise it. Don’t even advertise in the listing, right? I mean, you could advertise in your listing, but I prefer that for like, you know, more impressive bundling opportunities. But here’s what happens if you don’t advertise, and this is a strategy that, you know, Toma Rabinovich has, has been teaching for, for a while now. It’s part of his like six star method, and I’ve seen this myself out, out in the wild. But what happens is now your customer gets the product, they open it up expecting whatever they bought, say it’s a coffin shelf, but then all of a sudden they have these spooky stickers that customers like them, like, now what does that mean? That means it’s like a pleasant surprise, and it gives, it makes them like double 2x, 3x, maybe even 4x more likely to leave a positive review than if they were just happy with the product by itself.

Jocelyn Jeffries:

But if you want, if you’re in the natural toothpaste space, you need to be competing on those terms. You know you know, Toms of Maine, 12 pack natural toothpaste, blah, blah, blah, blah, is only gonna get you so far. That’s not really gonna improve your rank. You’re probably already solid there, but if you’re looking to improve your overall rank for a product, you need to be going after the keywords that are gonna keyword lead to that improvement. So it’s very much about understanding where you need to be spending and what terms you need to be spending and what’s actually gonna lead toward you know, improvement and rank. I think that’s the, the first step, and then it’s going and executing on that. So PPC is really the tool that you can use to influence specific pieces of search terms and customer behavior and whatnot. So that’s really how you start going after improving your organic rank.

Jocelyn Jeffries:

Yeah, so there’s a couple approaches you can take. I think the long tail keyword is a good way to look at it. You know, if you’re spending money on again, natural toothpaste that’s gonna be probably a waste of money to be honest with you. It’s gonna be so expensive for you to even try and compete in that, that it’s gonna be a waste of dollars. So starting to look at what are some of the longer tail keywords that I can win, you know, if it’s, you know, the most br you know, specific keyword ever, but if it applies to your product, going after that and starting to just chip away at some of that organic rank is gonna be a good way to start. And then, you know, if you have a similar product within your brand or you have competitors, you can start targeting their product detail pages.

Jocelyn Jeffries:

So if someone’s not specifically searching for you, but they see you on you know, another product detail page, that’s a good way to kind of start again, chipping your way in and kind of moving from the outside in to the, the kind of larger volume because again, it’s gonna be a waste of money if you’re trying to go after those high volumes and you don’t have the foundation of strong rank. So starting to chip away I think is the best method and mantra of having it, and this goes to new products as well of if you’re starting from zero, it’s gonna take some time. So long tail and product detail pages is what I would recommend.

Lailama Hasan:

Yeah. So a lot of sellers can get nervous about like, main image strategies, and we give a bunch of those strategies out right at the end. You wanna increase, increase your click through rates. So one way, one hack that I have for testing that out if you’re nervous about it, is upload the strategy that, you know, your agency or whoever’s come up with versus like a fully compliant image. And you know, what you wanna do is upload it on, manage your experiments, and if it gets through the Amazon bots, then you’re good to go and you can upload that image, actually, it will verify it for you, so it’ll automatically upload it for you. Because one thing I wanted to point out is a lot of people will be like, oh, this is not compliant, but you theoretically, 80 to 90% of the main images on Amazon are non-compliant with including props, you know, let’s say a fruit and fruit bowls or including a model in there, or, you know, adding an extra sticker onto your label. All of these are non-compliant. So this is just a hack that I have if you’re worried about it, and plus you get extra insights on which version works better.

Vincenzo Toscano:

Yeah, so when I, when it comes to strategy something that we’ve seen a a lot, I know maybe you have heard this tip before, but it’s focused on the second language of the country you’re selling on. So, for example something we having a lot of success lately with our US brands is using Spanish cures in Canada, we’re using French related cures. For example, in Germany there’s a big population of, of Turkish people Polish and all of that. So there’s a huge potential of using second secondary languages on all these markets. And on top of that, what I would advise as well as an extra plus tip on, on top of this tip in the US for example, you can request your translation to be updated the Spanish one because some of the translation that have been done if the listen is old is it was done with the old translation engine that Amazon had, the backend. So you can actually request Amazon to redo your translation. And this sometimes can help you a lot to reindex for some Spanish queue that you’re not indexing the first time and actually be more relevant for Spanish related keywords. So that would be my tip. Yeah. Cool.

Crystal Ren:

So one tip I learned to increase your productivity by the way is to color different activities you do. So put everything together on your calendar. Like, if you go take a shower, you put it on your calendar. If you go to do some paperwork, you go put it on your calendar, but you want to categorize them differently. So, for example, I categorize them based on, you know, deep work, shallow work. So deep work could be something like a drafting agreement, right? With a supplier. And that would probably take like two to three hours of uninterrupted time. And shallow work would be something like I don’t know, like you know, putting together expense report, you know, so that’s some kind of administrative work that you need to do. And you know, there’s other things, for example, like personal time you know, a shower.

Crystal Ren:

So you mark them differently to make sure that you have enough of deep work time a week so that you know how much, how many hours you spend on deep work, how many hours do you spend on shallow work, which is something that you wanna shrink as much as possible and how, how many hours do you spend on personal time, which maybe perhaps that’s something that you wanna protect right? And you also want to make sure that you have a balanced life so you’re not overworking. So by coloring them into different categories, you can see that visually whether you’re being productive and whether you are having like a balanced week. And that’s what I’ve been doing for now, like six, seven months now.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, you’re doing great on sales, about to run out of stock. Do you slow sales by raising price and turning off ads and then that hurts your potentially keyword ranks before? Or do you just go hard and heavy, run out of stock and then just get back in and hopefully you still have your keyword ranks when you come back in the stock in a couple of weeks?

Liran Hirschkorn:

I think, from a ranking perspective, it’s better to run out of stock at a better BSR. I think that’s the better way to go. Sometimes you’re going to make a decision that, hey, I just want the profits Right, because that’s what’s more important to me at this point in my business. I’m going to focus more on the profits now, I’m going to reduce, I’m going to raise the price. Or sometimes you may be able to raise the price and there’s so much demand that you’re still driving pretty good sales and you can still raise the price someone and there’s a happy medium. But I would say, from a ranking perspective and coming back in stock at a better rank, it’s better to go out of stock with great sales than to slow down your sales.

Bradley Sutton:

And this is why I said that kind of like off the wall thing earlier where I’m now suggesting that you might want to always do a test listing. Now, all right, I didn’t say that before you know. I said do kind of test listing so you can, so that you can know what kind of exposure you’re going to get on PPC to validate some, some theories you have. When there’s not enough information from existing competitors, you know you might want to make sure that you validate your idea with a test listing. But now, guys, I’m saying, if you’re selling in a newer niche, especially and maybe sometimes, even if you’re an established niche, it might be worth it to spend you know 50 bucks and get another UPC code and just do a fulfill by merchant listing, send a couple of or have a couple of units available and have your listing that you want to go with and then see immediately what does Amazon think that you’re relevant for right. And then if you’re completely fine with this listing and you have the right keywords for Amazon recommended rank from day one, all right, well, you’re good to go. That means go ahead and launch your regular product once you’re ready and you can have that exact listing, knowing that from day one you might have that.

Mina Elias:

So for me, I think what I’ve seen is the sale, the selling points, like the USB, the selling point being visible and you showing that you’re better than everyone else just from the main image. And so when I, when I put a bunch of you know like products next to each other, my competitors versus me, like I know that I’m looking for a product, not a lot of people take advantage of the text on their, on their boxes or on their products. So, for example, let’s say you know you’re selling like flip flops, the cloud flip flops, so you can have the flip flops and, and you know, in an angle whatever. Or you can have the flip flops put on top of a box, a fake box, and on that box, you have two sides where you can write text and it says, like you know, the softest material on the market or whatever a hundred percent recyclable stuff like that, right, because you can have that text on the box that you couldn’t have actually have on your package, and that box probably doesn’t exist. You know you’re probably shipping it in a of the day, they’re going to get your slippers. They’re going to look this, you know they’re going to look like slippers.

Mina Elias:

So for me, my product, my electrolytes if you go look at it on Amazon, it’s like shinier. There’s text on the cap, there’s like some different logos that show that actually don’t exist on the bottle and when they do get the bottle it looks very, very similar. There’s just a few things, and those few things those are the differences that when someone types in a keyword and they’re looking, you know they’re browsing, I catch their eye because I have, like some elements outside of the product that are eye catching and I have some text on the product that, like they’re looking at all like this is an electrolyte powder, so this is an electrolyte powder with no sugar, with no carbs, and it has this and it’s made in America and it’s all of these things on the label and so they’re like they’re convinced to click on me without having to read like title or anything like that.

Ritu Java:

For example, just this morning I was preparing for a new product launch for one of our clients and I’d got all my data from Helium 10. I was at the stage where I have to come up with some keywords for broad match campaigns. I wanted to make sure that all the right keywords are in there, not just the long tail ones with high search volume, but I wanted to make sure that I’m capturing all the seed combinations of important words that make sense. So what I did was I exported the Helium 10 cerebral analysis and I fed it to ChatGPT and asked it to come up with two words and three word combinations of seed keywords that would perfectly describe this product. Now what I’m going to do next with that is basically convert that into broad match modifiers, which basically means you add a plus sign in front of all the seeds and then I’m going to create campaigns with it. So that’s something that I do at every launch. I generally don’t skip that step. It’s an important one for me. So, in addition to all the long tail keywords, I will come up with enough seed words that will run at a slightly lower bid but will be like a discovery campaign for me through the broad match modifier channel. So that’s kind of one thing that I do.

Ritu Java:

Then, like yesterday, I was doing another one for another client, where we have a list of keywords that we discovered from the search query performance report, which is kind of this new, very valuable piece of data that Amazon is giving us these days. So from there I was able to come up with a structure for sponsored brand headline ads and I didn’t have to do the work. I just fed that entire list to ChatGPT and said, hey, organize this into groups of very related words and then give me a headline ad which is less than 50 characters, because that’s the amount Amazon will give us. And then it did that for me. I also gave it one other important instruction, which is to make sure that one of the keywords or a very close variant of that keyword in the group must be included in the title, and that’s basically my way of saying, hey, I want this to be a lower funnel ad, not a generic kind of upper funnel ad, because my sponsored brand ads tend to be more focused on RoAS rather than brand discovery and brand awareness. So those are some of the ways that I’m using it almost on a daily basis. I had switched to ChatGPT plus a long time ago. I’ve been paying for it and it’s totally worth it.

Matt Altman:

Yeah, so the great thing about Product Opportunity Explorer is it really shows you what keywords are driving the sales for those. So more than how many products are there we’re looking at, are there branded terms that are in the Product Opportunity Explorer. So like an example that we were looking at this past week was for a floor cleaning product and we saw that of the 20 top like 50 keywords, bona was one of the main sales driving keywords. Like, even if there weren’t that many products in that category, we aren’t going to be able to overcome that branded search deficit. So it’s just not something that we would go into Um, but we definitely prefer to go into categories where those sales are spread across more Um. The main reason for that is we really like to do kind of um I would call it kind of like tailgating. We like to kind of stay behind everyone and we’ll pull like 10% of the sales from this person, from this person, and you can kind of pick off keywords from certain top products and they may not notice that you’re coming up and then you can really use that to catapult yourself to the top of the category before the rest of the products in the category realized what’s happening.

Marcus Mokros:

Amazon recently announced that they will look for title images that are not meeting the terms of service and they will use AI to change that. They will download your image, remove everything that doesn’t belong there in their opinion and upload it again, and that is something you don’t want. You don’t want an AI to touch your title image. Yeah, and Michael from AMZ Boost, a product photographer, he told me, just use your picture, space number nine. Nobody looks there. Put a title image there that will meet the terms of service and because what Amazon is doing first, they will scan your product photos and check if there is something that is compliant to the terms of service and they will put it to spot number one as your title image. And if they don’t find something, they will change it in their terms. So that’s an awesome hack.

View Details

Listen in as we explore the latest buzz around Amazon, starting with their new advertising push on Prime Video to their billionth same-day delivery package milestone. Plus, let’s look at the latest features inside Helium 10.

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon Prime Video viewers will have to pay an extra $2.99 monthly in January to avoid ads
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/amazon-prime-video-ads-commercials-when-does-it-start-how-to-avoid-rcna131369

Amazon customers have scored 1 billion packages from U.S. Same-Day sites
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/amazon-same-day-delivery-milestone

Amazon.se: Three years in Sweden
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/job-creation-and-investment/amazon-se-three-years-in-sweden

Bringing electric cargo bike deliveries to Croydon, England
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/sustainability/bringing-electric-cargo-bike-deliveries-to-croydon-england

Meanwhile, Bradley is buzzing with excitement as he gears up to jet-set across Pakistan, Germany, and back to the US next year for multiple Amazon events. He’s excited to meet you in person! But before you think this episode is all about the hustle, he introduces you to slick additions and features to Helium 10: the product tag group, Chrome extension updates, and the new subscribe and save feature. It's all about giving you that competitive edge.

And for a final flourish of wisdom, Shivali steps in with her training tip on using Inventory Heat Maps, ensuring you're never caught off guard by shipping delays again. This year might be winding down, but we're just getting started on setting you up for success!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

01:17 - Amazon Prime Video Ads
03:19 - Billion Same-Day Orders
05:04 - Amazon Sweden
06:07 - Vacation Settings
08:00 - Amazon Delivery Bikes
09:19 - Catch Bradley On The Following Events
14:52 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
21:18 - ProTraining Tip: Inventory Heat Maps

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon sponsored TV ads are about to go into effect. Even more, amazon just delivered its billionth same-day delivery product the Amazon conferences you need to attend in Q1 of 2024. How to check which warehouse is your inventory is at in FBA All of these and more on today's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that affect Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce sellers. We let you know what new tools and features Helium 10 has, and we also give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We've got a few articles that we're going to talk about some various topics that are actually not that much going on in the e-commerce world. For a change, it's the holiday week and not a lot of news reporters out there or Amazon press releases going on, so a little bit light, but make sure to stay to the end, because we have some cool training tips. I think that will help you. Let's go ahead and hop into the first article

Bradley Sutton:

Now. The first article is actually from Amazon, and this article I actually pulled from CNBC. But Amazon announced that Prime Video viewers are now going to have to pay an extra 299 monthly fee in January to avoid ads. So ads are now going to go ahead and start coming in. This was announced a while back. We talked about sponsored TV. That was announced at Amazon Accelerate or Amazon Unboxed. It was talked about, and so how people are going to consume these ads is basically everybody who's been watching Prime TV shows or Prime movies. They're going to start seeing these ads more unless they pay this $2.99 fee starting in late January. That's going to be in addition to the $139 cost of Amazon Prime I didn't remember that Amazon Prime cost that much or the $8.99 a month Amazon Prime subscription. Now this should come as no kind of surprise as far as Amazon always trying to find new advertising lanes. This article talks about how Amazon's advertising is now 8% of the company's total net sales and advertising incomes surpass income from subscription services last year. All right, so are you going to be trying these sponsored TV? It's different than pay per click where it's like, hey, somebody sees an ad of your product and they could purchase it right away. Now there are some versions of this where that can happen. We saw that in was it the Black Friday football game a few weeks ago but this is more of a brand play, like an awareness. I think that's going to be the benefit of this, and that's a little bit harder to measure if you're a smaller brand. This totally makes sense for a huge nine figure and above brands. What about you? How many of you are interested in trying out sponsored TV ads? Has it? Have any of you tried so far? Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is also having to do with Amazon, and it was entitled that Amazon customers have scored 1 billion packages from US same day sites. Now, they had this quarterback from some college I think he's from Washington or something, Michael Penix and he actually physically himself delivered the 1 billionth package. This article brought out that there's actually 90 different metro areas where same day delivery is possible and 55 different locations that's delivering, and this is all just big cities like the ones mentioned here, which are San Francisco, LA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando, Detroit and Miami. There's a lot of other places like I live in like a suburb of San Diego and you know this is a tiny, not tiny town, it's like 50. 50, 80, 90,000 people, but a lot of the stuff I get is same day delivery. So this is, you know, something that just I think, makes Amazon Prime more sticky for customers. And so the more inventory you put into Amazon, the likely, the more likely, that a portion of the population are going to have it available for same day delivery. Now, where you're, you know if you actually get a list of warehouses where Amazon does offer same day delivery service. Now, that would be something interesting for you guys to check and cross reference with where Amazon is storing your products to see if you know how big, how much of the country or how many of these 90 locations are getting same day delivery. And actually, the training tip of the week this week, you know, Shivali is going to talk about how you can actually see where in Amazon your inventory is stored.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, also from Amazon, it was entitled Amazonse three years in Sweden. Believe it or not, guys, I mean it just seems like yesterday this was one of the new kids on the block in Amazon. Europe was Sweden, but, believe it or not, it began in late 2020. So now it's three years and there's 550 million products available on Amazon Sweden in 30 categories. I'll tell you right now I have not heard of one amazing success story from Amazon Sweden. Obviously, you know you can look at this article that's linked in the comments. But you know there's Amazon Sweden is moving some numbers, but I want to hear from those who are crushing on Amazon Sweden, because I haven't yet. You know, like, like, we always talk about the big five in Europe, you know being UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, but I don't hear too much about Amazon Netherlands and Sweden and Poland, about you know, some people crushing it. So if you are selling in that marketplace, let me know in the comments and let me know how it's going for you Speaking of Amazon there in your seller central dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

There's just a reminder for those of you Maybe this is your first holiday season. Maybe you're going to go on vacation and you've got fulfilled by merchant listings. That would be me. I'm not going on vacation, but I have tons of everything I sell in Project X and in my own accounts is fulfilled by merchant and I also have another skew for FBA. Now what you need to do if you're not going to be able to fulfill. You know you have to be able to add tracking numbers right To orders. It's better to not close the listing one by one, especially if you have a lot, but set up vacation settings is what Amazon is reminding you to do. So you can actually do this by setting up vacation mode on the account. There's a link right on your dashboard to do that, and so just with a couple of clicks Now all of your fulfilled by merchant listings are going to be paused, so you're not going to be responsible for shipping anything.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, one of the things that this doesn't do is affect the time that you have to reply to customer service emails. Remember, you have 24 hours a day. Due to that, 365 days a year, seven days a week, you have to reply within 24 hours to customer service email. So I didn't know about this and I wouldn't pay for this. I'm just gonna always, you know, reply. But they say in this article hey, you should consider setting up customer service by Amazon. It's a paid program that's why I wouldn't do it but where Amazon will take care of customer service on, even on your self-fulfilled Orders, and they'll they'll take care of that by a phone, a chat and email. So, again, if you're going on vacation at any time of the year not not just here in the holidays and you've got fulfilled by merchant listings, amazon doesn't care that you're on vacation. You still have to deliver it within a certain time, so it's best to turn it off. Or if you've got a lot, go ahead and put that vacation settings on a last article of the day. It's just kind of like a funny article, you know, if you think of, you know FedEx trucks. You think of the white with the blue and red letters, right, if you think of, ups trucks is brown. You know those brown trucks. They all look the same and even now Amazon has mostly those like gray, amazon Prime kind of like electric looking trucks and other vans.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon put out an article from Amazon Europe. They have got the coolest delivery out of everybody. I think, right, like I would rock this, like I would deliver pizza in this. But, guys, if you guys are watching this on YouTube or if you're watching this on the podcast, go watch us on YouTube. Take a look at this article. They've got these cool electric Cargo bikes, they call it. They're kind of like four wheelers, almost With no doors. It's kind of hard to describe if you're not, if you're not looking at this, but I would totally have rocked this when I was like in high school to go to school or something or you know, deliver pizzas on the side, but is this like what you guys in Europe, is this how you guys are getting your Amazon deliveries on these cool, these cool electric bikes? They even have like a windshield and a windshield wiper and it's just. It's kind of hard to describe here, but definitely take a look at it. If you're just listening to this on the podcast, I'm just curious is that what you guys are used to? As far as what's delivering your products? Let me know, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, I want to talk about the different Events I'm going to be at and all over the world. You know, you guys know I like to travel, but I like meeting helium to members in different parts of the world. Now, the very first event of the year that I'll be at will actually be back in for my third time in Lahore, Pakistan. All right, so that it's the reality check growth conference. Saddam from AMZ One Step is one of the ones who is putting it on. I'll be one of this speakers there, there'll be other speakers, you know, people I've met before and a lot of service providers and agencies Coming out. So if you are in the Lahore area or anywhere in Pakistan you're able to go. Go to h10.me/reality. It's January 14th in Lahore, Pakistan, you know, one of my favorite countries to visit because of the food, the hospitality. There goes my diet for my news years. If I had New Year's resolution in January, it's gone, because I cannot be on a diet in Pakistan with the Chicken Biryani and everything else I want. I want to eat. But anyways, January 14th, if you guys are in that area, make sure to come by.

Bradley Sutton:

The next event is going to be January 25th, all right, and I don't have a, a website for this yet. We'll announce it next week. It'll be in Frankfurt, Hermany, right in the airport. Like literally, you walk off the airplane and there's the airport and then it's a building that's attached to the airport. It's gonna be a co-hosted event with Avosk and this is gonna be the first half is gonna be an Elite workshop. So if you're a helium-10 elite member or serious sellers club member, go to the Facebook group and I'll give you guys a link to sign up for that. It'll be free for you and you can stay the whole day. For the afternoon it's gonna be open to the public. I believe it's gonna be 75 euros and there'll be tons of different speakers at the event, including myself. I'll be speaking at the event and there'll be other speakers from different countries around, including potentially speakers from who have worked at Companies like Lego, etc. So We'll be confirming the speakers and confirming the the how to sign up shortly.

Bradley Sutton:

But mark your calendars Frankfurt, germany, on January, the 25th, speaking of Germany, also going to be at AMZ Hacking live. That's gonna be in Berlin, germany, and that's gonna be on the 27th of January. So make sure to go to AMZ hacking line. You can go to the website by going to h10.me/germany to get tickets. I'm just one of many, many speakers who are gonna be at at this event. It's gonna be great. There's gonna be like VIP dinner the night before and then a social afterwards. So that's definitely one of the top events in for the entire year in Germany is the AMZ Hacking live, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Another event this is actually a virtual one in February, all right. So after the Germany ones, the next one that I'll be doing is online wins the billion dollar seller summit. All right, this is gonna be an online event. You can go to h10.me/bdss, BDSS it's there's and then look for the online event, or it's called the virtual event, and that'll be February 21st and 22nd, put on by Kevin King. Tons of speakers there. I'm gonna be doing a presentation unlike anything I've ever done before, completely different than what you're used to when you're, when you're seeing my, my presentation, and we talk about stuff I've never talked about before. So make sure to go to that one, too.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, there's going to be back here in the United States a Want pretty much usually the biggest conference In the United States outside of the ones that Amazon does every year, and that's the prosper show, and it's going to be in Vegas at Mandalay Bay, all right, from March 4th to March 6th, all right. So you know, I've been to probably every prosper Since like 2018, so I don't know how many. That is 6, 7 or something like that. Always a great show. I'll be speaking at that event too. If you guys want to get tickets, go to h10.me/prosper. And I'm not sure where this coupon code comes from, but there is a coupon code for this event that you can use to get a hundred dollars off, alright, and it is SANAR1100OFFSPEAK. So again, if you're, you know, just listening to this and you don't see the little ticker right here, write this down SANAR1100OFFSPEAK. And that should save you $100 off of the ticket. That again, that's in, that's in Las Vegas, and we'll probably do, like you know, maybe some, some mini socials or something that we can, you know, get together at that event. Now, shortly thereafter it hasn't been confirmed yet I might be going to do an Amazon event, like an event that's actually put on by Amazon in the Philippines, their first time Going to the Philippines. That'll probably be announced in the next couple weeks. All right, so that's it for all of the events in Q1 of 2024. A lot going on. I know there's other events too, but those are the ones that I'll be personally at, and others from my team might Be there as well, so you can meet us and hang out. We always love to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, next up, let us go into the new feature alerts from Helium 10. This is something that we do every week, because literally every week, Helium 10 is launching either a new tool, a new feature, a new function, some kind of you know request that the customers have been asking for. The team is working year round. Here we are right after Christmas and there's stuff to announce, all right. So the first one I want to talk about is this again comes from the customers, because a lot of you guys were asking like, hey, yes, that's cool that in Helium 10, you know, in the profits and the insights dashboard, I can see products group by parent and things like that, and I could, you know, maybe even buy brand. But I want to have like full flexibility about Grouping products together so I can maybe see all of the sales of a certain you know like niche of products, or maybe it's not everything in a certain brand. Whatever the case is, you can now make custom groups and we call this tags. All right, so in your dashboard, your insights dashboard, I should say there will be a button that says tag, with a plus sign. So what you can do is hit that button and then you are going to go to this create tag. Like, let's say, I want to make a group of my products or a tag for all of my coffin shelves, all right, so I type in the name and then I add all the products that are coffin shelves, all right, and so I can just go ahead and do a search for coffin shelf. So what I can do is I can just go ahead and select, one by one, all of my coffin shelf products and then now I have this tag of coffin shelf and so I can just go ahead and hit this button uh, coffin shelves and then now in my insights dashboard, where it shows all of my product performance, I can just instantly see, like, all right, how's my keywords doing on on this? Um, how is my inventory doing? How many units have I sold in this timeframe? So a kind of cool feature there that you guys have been asking for is the ability to make groups of your products.

Bradley Sutton:

Next thing I want to talk about a couple uh updates to the Helium 10 Chrome Extension the most used Chrome Extension in the world for Amazon sellers, over one million active users and a couple of things you're going to uh, notice. First of all, this is just the beginning. You're going to start seeing widgets that are in other sponsored ad placement. So you guys know that in the uh, you know search results of Amazon when you run the chrome I mean, actually you don't even have to run the Chrome Extension It'll start showing up these little widgets that say where the seller is coming from, what the BSR is, how many sellers there are, et cetera, et cetera. But now, like, for example, in the sponsored brand headline ad you know that that you guys, hopefully, are running sponsored brand ads you're going to be able to go ahead and grab that ascent information right there, cause you know you can't really see what ascent it is unless you go ahead and click on the ad. So that's one update that has happened. Uh, another update is in this niche or keyword summary section that's at the top of any search result page, once you hit show full summary. Uh, something that a lot of customers were asking for was the ability to sort within the charts that come up here. So now, uh, if you hit the show full summary at this top little widget, any of these charts, you can go ahead and sort by organic rank, by the revenue by the market share, uh, things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

The last thing I want to talk about in the Chrome Extension is an Xray. All right, so when you run x-ray, first of all it's like loads, a lot faster than it did before and you can see tons and tons of rows. A lot of you guys were saying, hey, we want to see a design where there's a lot of rows showing up here. Now, something you're going to see at the very top right is this little section. Now you know there's no uh, more multi-factor success score. This is called the two-factor score that you can customize so it says top 10 products with revenue over $8,000 in mind and under 125 reviews. So what it's doing is instantly we just a click of the button on x-ray. You can take a look at the search results pages and now know from the top 10 organic positions how many have revenue over x and how many have reviews under y. Now everybody has different thresholds. Like, I put here $8,000 of revenue and so I can see six out of the 10. Top 10 organic ones have $8,000 revenue, but three out of the top 10 have under 125 reviews. Now if you want to customize, like, what thresholds you want to see with that quick access. Just hit your Chrome Extension button and go to the settings gear button and from there now you can go ahead and specify how you want your two-factor success score to work. So again you can. I put $8,000 revenue and 125 reviews because that's what I'm looking for in my top 10 products Last up.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you somebody who uses subscribe and save? Hopefully you are, if you have some kind of replenishable product, like in grocery or another category. One of the accounts I work on, as you guys know, is a hemp cream, and so this account definitely uses subscribe and save. So now you've got a way to quickly track, get some you know cool information on your subscribe and save in your dashboard. All right, so you're going to want to go to the very bottom of the page and then you're going to hit add chart. There's an add chart button and the chart that you're going to want to add is the subscribe and save chart. Once you go ahead and add that, it's now going to come up a new widget that will tell you exactly, in the timeframe that you have selected, what's going on with your subscribe and save. You'll be able to see your rate, the number of units that you've sold in, subscribe and save your sales, what kind of discount the customer got, and then your day by day chart. So this is just the beginning of this tool, but it's something that's going to allow you to just get a quick snapshot at how your subscribe and save is hopefully growing over time and then, if there's like any issues, watching this chart frequently is something that's going to help you out. All right, guys, that's it for the new feature alerts.

Bradley Sutton:

Last up, we've got Shivali with our training tip of the week. I talked earlier about you know understanding where your inventory is at in the United States, especially when you're launching that's important or when you're relaunching, coming back into stock, or you want to know how many people have access to you know same day service. So you have a list of those locations. Here is how you can see where your inventory is at in the United States. Shivali, take it away.

Shivali Patel:

Knowing where your inventory is located in warehouses across the country can really come in handy. After all, in the case that you were just launching, opening up your listing before your stock is nicely spread out means running the risk of having potential customers ditch your product for a competitors, all because your delivery time was two to three weeks compared to that gold standard two day shipping. Or perhaps you just want to see where the heck all of your inventory is because you're already selling, but waiting for a shipment to be checked in and save you from low stock or those incoming low inventory level fees that we discussed last week can be really beneficial. A great way to stay on top of both of those concerns is our inventory heat maps located inside of Profits. Think of it as the big brother of all of your Amazon FBA inventory, or a visual map that can help you see where everything is stored. For instance, I am looking at a product I recently launched this past month I actually had the shipment sent to a single Amazon facility a while ago and check out how you can see the inventory spread day by day across the whole country all the way going into December. The bigger the circle you have, the more product you've got there and it's updated every day, giving you the low down on sellable items, on damaged goods, defective items and the total count for each city.

Shivali Patel:

God forbid but say that there was a tornado that hit an Amazon warehouse or a worker strike, causing chaos. You need to be able to see if your product is affected. At the bottom, you can see how many units are available at every single facility that your shipment has been sent out to, and with heat maps. That is something within reach, because you always have a bird's eye view of your inventory. So go ahead and give it a try. Maybe you'll even get to make some correlations between where your inventory is situated and where it's being sold with the tab over, to help you make smarter decisions and ultimately keep your business on track. Cheers.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you very much, Shivali, for that. So that's something you guys all have access to. Make sure to check that out in your Profits dashboard. All right, guys. That's it for the news and training of the week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. This is our last one of the year. I'll see you guys next year, next week, to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Unlock the secrets to conquering the Middle Eastern e-commerce landscape as we team up with Krystel, our Dubai-based expert, to navigate the dynamic marketplaces of Amazon UAE, Amazon KSA, and Amazon Egypt. Our discussion peels back the layers of these culturally rich and diverse regions, showcasing strategic entry points for foreign sellers and the innovative AE2SA program that's revolutionizing logistics and cross-border commerce. Embrace the tales of triumph as we reveal how a local Prada sunglasses distributor and a savvy Polish pet treat enterprise struck gold in the desert by leveraging Amazon's robust platform.

Crack the code on advertising strategies and product hijacking within Amazon's ecosystem, where we dissect the intricate dance between cost-effective marketing and the darker shades of competitive tactics. Our conversation extends beyond mere product listings, as we arm you with the know-how to refine your sales acumen and construct a resilient product framework. Plus, get an exclusive scoop on the upcoming seller meet-up in Dubai, a hotbed for networking and exchanging insights with fellow entrepreneurs.

As the sun sets on our enlightening session, Krystel and I invite you to explore the vast opportunities ripening in the Middle Eastern sun. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just planting your flag, the region's e-commerce growth is a fertile ground, ready for you to sow your business dreams. So, tune in and prepare to be whisked away on a magic carpet ride of invaluable strategies and heartwarming success stories that await in the Middle East's online bazaar.

In episode 521 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Krystel discuss:

00:00 - Fastest Growing Marketplaces on Amazon
04:34 - Amazon Marketplaces In THe Middle East
12:09 - Amazon's Middle East Market Expansion
19:05 - Increase Sales With Prada Sunglasses
22:47 - The Viability of Reselling Products
28:19 - Comparing PPC Costs in Different Marketplaces
29:02 - Advertising and Hijacking on Amazon
34:17 - Building a Customer-Friendly Product Framework
35:30 - How To Contact Krystel Abi Assi

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got somebody back on the show who is going to talk about some of the fastest growing marketplaces in the world for Amazon, amazon UAE and Amazon KSA. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Helium 10's got over 40 tools for e-commerce entrepreneurs. I know how overwhelming it might seem to try and figure out how you're going to learn how to use everything, or maybe even to know which ones you want to get started with, so for a completely free course that's going to guide you through learning everything you need in order to become a Helium 10 expert, visit the Helium 10 Academy. That is h10.me/academy. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we are going on the opposite side of the world today, coming to us live from, I believe, Dubai. We've got Krystel back on the show. How's it going?

Krystel:

Hey, Bradley, very good. Thank you so much for having me back. Very excited to talk Amazonian with you.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, let's do it. Let's do it. You know I'm here in feeling the nostalgic vibes. I'm here in my I'm not going to call this the original serious sellers podcast studio because we, when we first started, we were in another. During the podcast we were in another small we work office way, way back in the day, but this was our second ever podcast studio. I'm here in Irvine, California, at our original Helium 10 office doing some meetings this week, so not in my regular studio, but you, you are. You've been in Dubai. How long now.

Krystel:

Since, well, I officially moved to Dubai in 2019 myself and the company we moved to Dubai in 2019. So not a very long time.

Bradley Sutton:

All right About the same time, since I've been in this, this office here. So if you're looking for a Krystel's backstory, we're not going to go too much into it today. You can go to episodes 304 and 376. She was on, so just h10.me/304 or 376. And you can, you know, see, you know a lot more of her backstory there. But today I wanted to, you know, catch up, because now it's it's, you know, pretty much, it's 2024. And we are, you know, in a new world where Amazon is opening up again to other market places. You know, there was a time where, where it seemed like it, wasn't really opening up to to new marketplaces and there was a time where there was just booming, you know, opening up in UAE and Saudi Arabia and other places. So I wanted to kind of like see what's going on in that region. So, first of all, in that area it's not just Amazon UAE, but what are the other main marketplaces in your region over there?

Krystel:

If you are a seller that's based or you know, you launch on Amazon in the UAE, you're not just serving the UAE customers, but you're serving UAE customers, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and, most notably and recently, Qatar, which became quite a popular country because, you know, if you're, if you're soccer fans, or yeah, or World Cup fans, then that's a really cool country. So, yes, as a seller, now you could just send your products over to Amazon in the UAE and you'll be able to access all of those countries as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, interesting. Now, which token is that connected to? Because I like, for example, if I'm selling in Amazon USA, that's like the North American token, but it actually also includes, you know, Mexico, Canada and Actually Brazil. You know, if I'm selling in in in Singapore, that's part of like the Asian token includes like Japan. And then there's Europe, which, just with the, you know, once I'm in one marketplace, I'm in all of the others. Now, is that, is that region connected to Europe? Is it connected to the Asian Marketplace where, as long as you're selling there, it's, it's pretty much just a few clicks? And then, of course, your business information, where I don't have to apply like from scratch, or is it its own separate entity?

Krystel:

It's really cool that you brought this up. So let me just clarify again Amazon doesn't have an Amazon like, unlike in Europe, where you have, for example, amazon Germany, amazon Spain, amazon France. Amazon still only has Operations in these three countries that I mentioned. However, they do. You as a seller, it'll be much easier for you because you can simply have your products warehouse in the UAE and sell them all across the rest of these countries that I just mentioned as well. Amazon has its own entity for the region, dubbed as Amazon Middle East, so it is part of your global marketplaces. For anyone that is currently an Amazon seller, you could just log in, add a new marketplace and you'll find the Middle East, and you'll find three countries under the Middle East KSA UAE and Egypt. You will not, unlike North America. You'll not be automatically, automatically. You know not. All three markets are gonna be automatically. You're not gonna be enrolled in them. You're gonna have to enroll in them separately.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting interest. All right now. I think as far as helium 10 is concerned, it's it's tied to one of them, if it's its own region or tied to another place.

Krystel:

I'm not a hundred percent sure you guys are tight counts, like when you're.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, oh tight to Europe. Okay that's important for some customers like, or anybody who uses software like helium 10, everybody does it the same way. Like they count, like how many Marketplaces you're in, not necessarily by each marketplace, but by the token. So so like, for example, a certain level of helium 10, if it says you're allowed to connect to Tokens, it doesn't mean just like two marketplaces like US and Canada, that actually still counts for one, even Mexico and Brazil, and then if you're in Europe, that actually counts for two. So I think what you're saying is like, hey, if you, if you are selling in Europe, or whether you're not selling in Europe, it counts as all, as just one token. So you don't have to like, get another helium 10 account, guys you know, to be able to to access our tools for the UAE marketplace. Now, what, how's it been? You know UAE is now, you know, been there for a few years Amazon UAE. Is that the number one grossing marketplace from the ones that that you mentioned? Or Saudi Arabia, come up, or what would you say?

Krystel:

So let me give you some numbers which are quite interesting. I'm looking at my phone cuz I have, like these slide See, these pictures of us in the actual event, so that I just mentioned. So If you forget all of the stats coming out of the region, you'll find that you know the numbers are really promising. Just to just as a backstory as well, the region isn't that big. Population wise, like the whole of the Middle East, is probably the same population of just the US alone, so this is not a very big market. So these numbers, which you might not consider very big if you guys sell in the US, but based on the population, it's quite.

Krystel:

It's quite interesting seeing that Two of the strongest countries when it comes to e-commerce are really just the UAE and Saudi, because they have also the biggest population. But what's estimated to Sales and e-commerce are estimated to reach about 56 billion US dollars in 2025, which is a really good growth and a really big spike. Very interesting, but that's e-commerce sales in general. Now, amazon in the recent year. What they shared during the event was what they saw in 2023 was a 69% sales growth on Amazon UAE and a 65% sales growth on Amazon KSA, which is quite interesting the reason why I think KSA is Picking up.

Bradley Sutton:

I know what it means, but just let everybody know what you're referring to with KSA.

Krystel:

Oh, kingdom of Saudi Arabia, sorry. Yes, so it's Saudi Arabia. So the official, the official or the shorter version of saying Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or Saudi Arabia.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I knew that, but, like you know, I think there's a popular youtuber with that name, so, like some, some people might have got a little bit confused, but yeah just make sure, we're all on the same page, but that's.

Krystel:

KSA. But yeah, you're right, You're right.

Bradley Sutton:

There you go, okay.

Krystel:

You're right. You're right, so it, so the sales growth, is quite significant. It's simply because Saudi Arabia started a little bit later than UAE Amazon wise, that's what I mean started. So Amazon launched in 2019 In the UAE and then at the end of 2020, early 2021, which is obviously not wasn't an easy time they launched in Saudi. So that's why, plus Saudi, Saudi Arabia, or KSA, is Bigger, like it has three times the population of UAE. So I think it's natural to see those growth. Another number that I think would be interesting to share is something that they call the new to brand, which is very much a Salesy type of platform type of metric that they follow. Will would would life to dissect it with you a little bit further, Bradley, but what they said was the UAE is experiencing about 38% increase in new to brand customer growth and Saudi Arabia is experiencing 67% in new to brand customer growth.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. So that's you know some promising, promising numbers. Yeah, um, there now, uh, there's every. You know, for somebody who's not familiar with the region, uh, and the operations there, is it very similar with how amazon operates everywhere else? You know like most customers will be able to get, you know, same day or one or two day delivery, and, and you know there's different. There's FBA warehouses all over the place and, and just like the, the, the system is exactly the same. Um, or are there some intricacies due to local laws or or the region?

Krystel:

That's a really good question. Actually, they are exactly the same and I have another number to share with you, if I can find it. Um, it's based on what amazon is trying, how amazon is trying to expand in the region, what they're trying to do and this is according to amazon's metrics, not to mine, okay, not my metrics uh, what they're what they've done is when it comes to storage. So let's, let's dissect the storage part of of your question. Yes, all fba, everything's there. Same day delivery, um, next day delivery, probably not two day delivery, even Quite quite good fulfillment centers and quite good uh logistic support. Uh, when asked, uh, a lot of customers say the reason why they like buying from amazon is primarily because of convenience and not because of price. So that's something to to be aware of. It's not a very price sensitive market, but obviously everybody likes to get a bargain. You know, um, amazon currently is it's increasing its capacity in the UAE by about 70%. So they do have about five fulfillment centers and they're opening up mega fulfillment centers in the UAE. I think they're positioning the UAE in particular to be the hub for the rest of the Middle East. Um, they obviously also do have uh lots of storage warehouses in Saudi Arabia. I don't have numbers for that. And what they're looking is they're looking to showcase and to, but they call it showcase, but obviously they want to onboard new sellers. They want to reach a hundred thousand sellers by 2026, all focused on SMEs and not necessarily large brands and retailers. So that's cool, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Now, you know, like, when you look on the amazon website and look up like, or Google like, amazon middle east, it mentions the two marketplaces we've been, we've been talking about um, which is, uh, you know, UAE and and KSA. Now what I don't see you know, their advertise at least is is amazon Egypt. But it but it mentions they like amazon Egypt was also something taken over from a Sukh website, like, like, is it fulfilled from amazon UAE? Is it completely separate or what's going on in Egypt?

Krystel:

You know, Egypt is one of the most interesting markets for me uh population wise. It has a hundred million people, so it is technically one of the biggest countries uh in the Middle East Um and it's a very promising market Uh. However, based on the logistics and how difficult it is for uh foreigners and foreign sellers to be able to import export products into uh Egypt, what amazon have done is they've just open, operating it as a local amazon market, meaning they're really focused on supporting uh manufacturers and sellers in the region sell on amazon as an additional sales channel and it's not really opened up to um to foreign sellers or to international sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting Okay.

Krystel:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, if I am a foreigner international seller, would you suggest, uh, I go at the same time in UAE and KSA, or is one a better starting point uh than the other?

Krystel:

That's a really good question. We get a lot of people reaching out to us for support, especially brands that want to, you know, really come into the market. Um, they're potentially already have feelers in the market. They know their product might work well. So we always tend to suggest that you get started in one market, which is probably the UAE. It is the most easiest market for you as an international seller to get into, launch your products in the UAE and then sell on amazon and KSA. What do I mean by that? So amazon did recently release a program which we are a part of and we support all sellers with that program called AE2SA, which basically means they want to support sellers.

Krystel:

Uh, try to expand from the UAE to KSA with support with things like logistics, shipment, product registration and also being able to immediately open your global account from UAE to Saudi. The reason for this is because the laws and regulations in Saudi are quite difficult when it comes to importing products, in particular, as opposed to the UAE. Um, I think the country is definitely making a lot of changes. I'm sure you guys have heard a lot of things that are happening nowadays in Saudi, so it's a really, really interesting country. But still, when it comes to business, there's still this problem. Amazon really recognized this and they saw that um SMEs, which are the majority of amazon sellers, aren't able to easily logistically get into Saudi, and that's why they thought the easiest way would be to just help and support them get from UAE over to Saudi with the help and support of Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now, uh, I know UAE is in mainly English marketplace as far as the language that you make your listings in. What about, uh, KSA? Is it also English?

Krystel:

Um, honestly. Honestly speaking, let's talk about the actual consumer first. Yes, amazon in the UAE is like you said, Bradley, because you have a lot of insights here. Uh, yes, primarily English. You do all of your cataloging in English. However, in UAE they did actually have to change the backend, the Amazon seller central, to be also in Arabic, because primarily, the main language spoken in well, the language in the region is Arabic, of course, but the UAE has about 80, or maybe a little bit more than 80% expats all English speaking, so the market itself is very heavy in English, whereas in Saudi Arabia it's it's the national, the actual language of the country, which is primarily Arabic.

Bradley Sutton:

So you can list your, so then you need to create your listings in Arabic for for KSA, as opposed to English.

Krystel:

You can. You have the option of creating it in both English and Arabic. You have the option of creating it in Arabic and getting Amazon to translate it to you in English Sorry, yeah, and getting Amazon to translate it in Arabic if you want to or you can log in and tweak the Arabic content as well. In the UAE we don't have that option, so we catalog all of our listings in English and the website automatically just translates the language into Arabic. We can't, we don't have any input as to if there's anything wrong with the, with the wording.

Bradley Sutton:

Got it, got it Okay, so not a lot of work for translation companies here in the region.

Krystel:

So it's going to be quite easy for you guys to be able to list your products for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

How about one success story each? You don't have to, you don't have to mention names or exact numbers, but one success story each from somebody that you know having success in UAE from outside of the country. You know could be somebody from Europe, somebody from North America who you know, maybe one of your clients, or just somebody in your network who said, hey, let's try UAE, and then they were here and now they're here, and then also somebody living in in UAE. Like I know, we had a one of somebody from your network last year on the podcast. I think he was originally from Serbia, if I'm not mistaken, but another kind of like success, or just to give people like an idea of like what the potential is of, you know, showing examples of real people.

Krystel:

Of course, I'm going to give you two examples of actual clients that we've worked with. Being an Amazon service provider, we work with a lot of key accounts from Amazon, so they send us a lot of great accounts that we can help, especially when it comes to strategies, which is what we love to do. What we see in the region here is that especially you know the numbers that I told you about earlier new to brand numbers. Those are primarily because larger brands in the Middle East, such as the recognized brands that you guys know and love, that we all buy, like Apple, samsung those types of brands don't really take Amazon seriously in the region. It's just just another sales channel for them. So that's why I think really savvy entrepreneurs are able to just come in soup in, and if you know how to sell to the Amazon customer these days because you know, you really know how to sell, you really need to know how to sell in this market then you'll you're able to pick up where these brands have left off.

Krystel:

We recently actually started working with Prada Prada sunglasses. We don't work directly with the Prada company, we work with the distributor of Prada right here in the UAE and they are a prime example of a retailer that was just. You know, they just have their products on Amazon because they need to. They don't have their team is amazing, but their team has no knowledge of Amazon. They're just an e-commerce like a couple of e-commerce people. They know a little bit about websites, they know a little bit about that, but they don't know a lot about the interest cases on Amazon. And because we made a lot of the changes to their listings, we were able to understand who their key client was. And, mind you, prada sunglasses are not cheap, of course. You know that. So we were able to actually increase their sales during definitely during Black Friday, without doing like a crazy discount, but we focused a lot on some of the viral Prada sunglasses that were, you know, viral now on TikTok. We were able to increase their sales by about 500%, and that's just during Black Friday. So the key takeaway of this story is to understand that sales are there, customers are there, but it's also very important to understand how the customer operates on Amazon, how they like to purchase products, what are their buyer personas and how to talk to those buyers. And still large brands like Prada still need to do the same thing.

Krystel:

Another story would be one of our brands that we recently well as of three or four months ago we started working with. They are a dog treat company. They sell natural dog treats. Based out of Poland, they are one of the largest they're really really popular brand on Amazon in Europe. We help them from start to finish, enter into Amazon in the UAE. It was quite difficult because they sell natural, raw dog treats for them to enter into KSA, so what we did was support them. You know, to get these products into the UAE is not really that complicated If I were to compare it to any other country. They do require registration. Things like makeup, things like supplements. Of course, these products do require registration, but the registration is quite simple. It takes about 15 days. It's very inexpensive to do, very easy to get done. So we did that. We launched the products. The pet industry here in the region is booming since 2020. Everybody now has pets. You see pets everywhere, but obviously pet stores sell the same exact products because it's the same distributors. So customers who are looking for things that are different, looking for things that are unique whether that be pet accessories or food or anything like that opt to search for them on marketplaces like Amazon, and that's where this company was able to, you know, really come into the region and be able to take a huge market share on Amazon, and now, from Amazon UAE, they've also launched NKSA through the program that we just discussed.

Bradley Sutton:

Are there other kinds of of selling that are having success in KSA and UAE, for example? Obviously we mainly talk about private label here, but there's people who do wholesale arbitrage. I'm not even sure if KDP is a thing over there, but our other forms of selling like maybe entry points for people or pretty much the way to go is private label in those marketplaces.

Krystel:

That's a great question. Thank you so much for bringing that up. I mainly work with private label. That's why I always have the private label lens on. I love private label as well, but, yes, for sure, other selling models, and obviously you don't need to pigeonhole yourself. If you are doing private label, you could also do reselling as well. Kdp doesn't exist in the region. I would say retail arbitrage is quite impossible. Amazon is making it very, very difficult for sellers to just sell just products that they buy from stores. But reselling is available and, yes, we don't deal with I don't have direct relations with anyone that does reselling, but I do. Obviously, in our community meetups I do meet a lot of people that are doing reselling and they're doing quite well.

Krystel:

The only thing that you would need to think about is you would just need a larger catalog. Because of the size of the market. You're not gonna have products that are selling thousands of units per day, so you would just need to think about expanding your catalog, and that's what you need to do also for private label. You just need to think about the strategy. You need to expand your catalog so that you can generate the revenue that you're used to generating in markets like the US as an example. But yeah, reselling very popular as well. A lot of people actually go to the local markets here in because we have a lot of wholesale Chinese local markets. They pick up just generic products and they resell them and a lot of people sell branded products. They go directly to the distributors, buy products or they even buy them from. Recently I met a great young lady. She started selling on Amazon. She buys all of her beauty products, everything from a distributor based in France and she sells them. She sells like very recognized brands on Amazon in the UAE and she's killing it and she just started. She's in university and she's doing really well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent, excellent. Now something that's I think a lot of sellers might wonder is all right, this all sounds well and good. How do I get started? Well, a lot of your clients using Helium 10 to do product research and keyword research. And then what are they for KSA? Are they kind of just using like brand analytics and things, since Helium 10 is not, doesn't have the research tools yet over there.

Krystel:

You guys have left us hanging in KSA. But you are promising me, Bradley, that soon nobody knows when we're gonna have Helium 10. Not, promising. Not promising.

Bradley Sutton:

But hey, what I can promise is that if the demand is there, we'll make it. So, like if somebody's listening on the show or some of your network want to make sure that Helium 10 opens up for KSA, you guys need to, like, make your voices heard and send customer service messages to say, hey, please, we need these tools for KSA.

Krystel:

I think that's what everyone did for UAE. I think your customer service team was like help. So, yeah, happy to do it in KSA as well. Let's go. The population is bigger, so I'm sure you're gonna get three times the amount of requests. So, yeah, exactly, we, almost everyone because Helium 10 is a really popular tool. You guys are doing great and we love it as well. Helium 10 is primarily the tool that people use in UAE. Unfortunately, there are no tools currently for KSA. For us, yes, we use brand analytics and such, but unfortunately for new sellers, they try to piece together any type of information that they can find. They maybe use Helium 10 for UAE and try to. They're very similar markets, very, very similar type of customers. So, yeah, they just try to make do with what they have.

Bradley Sutton:

What for a foreign entity? What are the requirements? What is Amazon asking to set up the account? Like, if I'm a UK business, can I just use my UK corporation? If I have a USA LLC or I'm a private individual, do I just register that? Do I have to have like importer of record, like Japan has? What are the obstacles that I need to think of before going ahead and getting started over there?

Krystel:

Really cool. Obviously, like any region, I know I'm painting it as very positive, but I look at it as a great region. Of course, but of course, just like any endeavor you guys want to do, you need to research it. Expansion is great, growth is great, but growth comes with risk and being uncomfortable. So if you're happy with that, go ahead and do it. I think and I did say that with you on the earlier, maybe the first ever podcast, I think Amazon UAE is one of, or the Middle Eastern general is probably one of the easiest markets that Amazon have for you to set up as a seller. Absolutely yes. You can get started with your LTD if you're a UK based seller. You can get started with your LLC if you are a US based seller. Absolutely no problem at all, and you can also register a company here in the UAE, avoid paying taxes if you like, and set up on Amazon in the UAE as well. But it is very, very simple. You just need a business license. You can even open a professional account without a business license. You can just use your ID. You just either need your business license and a copy of your ID or you need your ID and a bank statement Very simple and you'll get it done. It's a very simple process to open an account, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

PPC costs usually in, I mean, I think in America now people are like, oh my goodness, ppc is so expensive. But in my experience I've seen some of the other newer marketplaces it's usually lower. So is that your experience, comparing it to like US and Europe, where the per click fees in UAE and KSA are a lot less than what somebody might be used to paying in other marketplaces?

Krystel:

I wish you didn't ask me this question. That's the only negative thing. No, ppc is actually quite expensive here, which is very, very odd. Yes, it's very interesting, very odd. However, this is where it becomes really interesting. Sponsored, brand sponsored display ads are quite expensive. However, everything that you get as a trademark or a brand registered seller on Amazon, such as video ads, banner ads, are quite inexpensive. The reason is the majority of sellers on Amazon, especially the new sellers, are not brand registered here in the market, however, so that's why that part of ads is quite Cheap, dare I say. However, standard ads are somewhat expensive per click Mixture of things. Obviously, everybody wants to advertise these days you know how Amazon is but also potentially because there are a lot of new sellers in the region. So when a new seller launches, they just want to get started, they really want to test out the product. They are willing to sacrifice that product. So they start bidding more than they need to. Guys come on. So they start bidding a little bit higher than they should, which basically gets the PPC ads to be quite expensive. Well, based on how I think they should be, but yeah, it is somewhat high. It's not a cheap place to advertise, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, all right, sticking on the potentially negative kind of things. What are the like? Is the same kind of maybe black hat things happening over there, or is it maybe less? You know, like in American marketplaces, there's a lot of maybe listing getting hijacked or a lot of fake reviews that maybe don't get policed, or people trying to do shady things, like again, since that's a smaller marketplace, is that not happening as much, you think, like some of these shady practices, or is it just as prevalent over there as it is in other marketplaces?

Krystel:

That's an interesting question, I think. When it comes to reviews, no, not that much. When it comes to hijacking, yes. But listen, I get a lot of messages on Instagram. I got a lot of like. We get a lot of calls to the office, people just asking us for help and they say, oh, my listing got hijacked. And then I discover they're not brand registered, they're just selling a standard product. And I say, well, that's not hijacking, that's just another resender. So, yes, if I were to say are there hijackers? Yes, there are, but mostly it's not actually hijackers, it's just the standard business format of Amazon.

Krystel:

But some sellers don't actually know that that's the case. When they launch on Amazon, they think they own the product. They created the listing and nobody else is allowed to set it. And some hijackers that we have discovered don't do it because of black hat tactics or anything like that. They actually resell a product because they think they're allowed to. They think that's how it works. So we normally actually just communicate directly with the seller and we say, look, you're selling this product. We haven't permitted you to sell it. We don't even have to go through Amazon brand support, like. We could just talk directly to the seller and they're willing to just remove themselves. So it's not as prevalent and it's not as tough. It's quite easy to handle, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, cool. Before we get into your strategy of the day, a couple of things. So I'll be in Dubai on January night of January 11th, 12th. So we're going to be planning Krystel something. I maybe, either. I'll probably come in too late on the 11th, so it'll probably be like a seller breakfast or something like that the morning of the 12th. So if people want to first of all, just if they want to reach out to you at all to ask follow up questions or get help with UAE, or they want to reach out to you to find out details about whatever we're going to do on the January 12th, how can they find you out there?

Krystel:

First of all, I'm really happy. You've got really great loyal listeners, me being one of them, of course, but whenever we did our very first podcast, I got so many follow up questions and it's really, really exciting to see people excited about the potential of coming into the region. Please feel free to reach out to us. You know we're happy to help you in any question that you have, even if it's just a small question. The easiest way to reach out to us is through our official website, which is wwwasasamazonsellerssocietymiddleeastorg, or you could just simply find us on Instagram, amazon Sellers Society. Dm us and we'll be able to help you with anything that you need.

Krystel:

We will be, obviously, once we decide, bradley, what we're going to have for breakfast and where we're going to have it, we will be announcing it as well. So very excited to see a lot of people come to the breakfast. A lot of Helium 10, you know, a lot of Helium 10. People from the network also now live in Dubai, especially that, as you know, in January the weather is absolutely wonderful. So I hope maybe even people will fly in, who knows? Because the region is really quite close. So if you live anywhere close, you could just hop one hour and come to the breakfast.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Awesome, awesome, all right now, what is your, you know closest, with a 30 or 60 second strategy of the episode. Go ahead and hit us with one.

Krystel:

So thank you First and foremost. I always hear from new sellers, especially in the region here, that Amazon is such a saturated market. I think we've been hearing about Amazon being a saturated market probably since the beginning of Amazon. Tools like Helium 10 can definitely help you find really cool products to sell, but nowadays the Amazon customer, the e-commerce customer, is no longer just build it and they will come type of customer.

Krystel:

You really need to hone in on your sales skills. You really need to know how to build a framework for a product that customers can buy. We see it all the time. Customers come to us and they say sellers come to us and they say I'm spending so much money on ads and I'm not generating any sales. Is it a platform problem? What is it? Is it a product problem? And 99% of the time, it's because they don't know who their buyer is. They don't know how to talk to their ideal customer, so they're just listing the product and hoping for the best. Nowadays, that's not something that you can do. Make sure that you work on your strategy and you'll be super successful on platforms like Amazon or anywhere you decide to sell. And good luck.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right, Krystel. Thank you for coming back on the show and it'll be great to see you in person again. So my first event I did an event with you a couple years ago in Dubai. That was great and I look forward to seeing you in person again and wish everybody the best of success if they're expanding to Amazon Middle East. See you guys later.

View Details

Ever wonder how an Amazon ranking maestro maneuvers the complex chessboard of e-commerce strategy? Alina Vlaic, the founder of AZRank and our go-to guru, returns to the show with a fresh cache of tactics for conquering Amazon's ever-changing TOS and algorithm. With a pivot towards market research and feedback-driven methods, she reveals how her business remains a tour de force in enhancing keyword relevance. Our conversation is a riveting game plan for sellers eager to sink their teeth into compliant and effective ranking strategies, tailored for those who play to win.

Navigating the e-commerce seas requires a versatile captain, and in this episode, we chart the course through the distinct waters of Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy. Discover how social proof anchors Etsy's success, why Walmart's ecosystem is the new frontier to watch, and what Amazon's virtual bundles mean for your bulk sales strategy. I even share a personal tale of triumph with these virtual bundles that's revolutionized how my industrial scientific brand approaches the bulk market. This is your masterclass in adapting to the unique currents of each platform, a conversation not to be missed by merchants sailing towards profitable shores.

When it comes to marketing artillery, press coverage and user-generated content (UGC) are the cannons of the day. We dissect when press really packs a punch for brand awareness and the shift towards a cost-per-click payment model. Then, we turn the spotlight on UGC, contrasting its current clout with the fading glitz of external traffic channels. To cap off, I let you in on a strategic secret using Amazon's Opportunity Explorer to sharpen your PPC and ranking initiatives. For visionaries ready to unleash the power of authenticity and innovation in their online presence, this episode is your treasure map to success.

In episode 520 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Alina discuss:

03:13 - Dynamic Year in Amazon and E-Commerce
05:34 - New Strategies on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy
15:05 - Ranking and Variations in Virtual Bundles
18:50 - Press X and UGC in Marketing
22:07 - Discussion on UGC and Expanding Opportunities
23:03 - UGC and AI in Amazon Selling
31:03 - Expanding Brand With Miraclecom Dashboard

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/video

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we got Alina back on the show, and she’s gonna talk about what is working with Amazon and Walmart ranking strategies, as well as some cool Amazon virtual bundle that I didn’t even know about. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10's Index Checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we're going to the other part of the world. I believe she's in Romania right now. We've got Alina back on the show here, and what city I'm trying to remember? What city in Romania are you at?

Alina:

Sibiu

Bradley Sutton:

How far away is that from the Dracula castle that I've always wanted to visit?

Alina:

Very close, like 100 kilometers.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So, yeah, all right if we visit your family over there. I know we've hung out in Turkey, another place in around the world, but not in your home country, so I definitely want to visit over there. Now, guys, if you want to get her full backstory we're not going to go too much into it today because she's been on the podcast before, make sure to go to episodes. 122 was one of them, and also 267, and then most recently she was on in 406. All right, so this is now her fourth time on the podcast. Each time she's expanded what she's done, and you might know her from AZRank, which I've talked about a plethora of times. I've always joked with her that I wish I had some kind of contract where I get $10 every time I mention it. I might not be working at Helium 10 anymore. I'd be so rich. But hey, I mentioned things that I organically use, and no, you know, Alina doesn't pay me to, I'm not an affiliate, but I naturally will recommend services and things that I use and that I trust, and that's definitely AZRank.

Bradley Sutton:

Throughout the years has changed because of Amazon differences, and then last year we talked a little bit about one of our newer companies called Press X, and so let's just first talk about what people know you for what's going on in the AZRank world these days. Like somebody might think that, oh, AZRank must be completely out of business because now there's no search, find, buy and stuff. But you know, you guys are obviously still doing things that are above board. It's not, it's not, it's kind of on purpose. I'm wearing a gray hat, I'm not wearing a black hat, not a white hat, but it might be some gray here, but no, but anyways, update us on what's been going on the last year on the AZRanks.

Alina:

Yes, First of all, hello everybody and thank you so much for having me again. It's a pleasure, always a pleasure. It's been a very interesting year, a very dynamic year all around, I feel. I mean, from all the five and a half years I've been in the industry, it's been the most dynamic year from all points of view in the Amazon and e-commerce world. Yes, we're still alive and breathing in our ranking business. Things are working still very well In terms of TOS compliance, because I know everybody has this question on their lips. I feel like and I know we've talked a lot before about this everybody has its own, their own, risk tolerance about how the Amazon TOS is interpreted. You've known me for a bunch of years now and we've always tried to be TOS compliant or as much as TOS compliant as possible, because even back in the days, people have always been debating about even the search find buys were they compliant or not. So it's pretty much the same thing right now. We have pivoted and we have changed our way of doing things. We're mostly focused on market research and we have combined that with some surveys and with some feedback that people give you back while you're still ranking for keywords. And from my point of view. Now it's been like two years since Amazon has changed completely the TOS and I strongly can admit that the way we're doing things right now it's working much better because you're going on a broader experience with everything that means ranking and that helps you basically be more relevant in the algorithm point of view.

Alina:

So, yes, working, still doing it. We have a lot of, you know, tweaks and tricks and different strategies depending on. Depending first of all on the product, second of all on the marketplace, because Amazon is one thing, Walmart is another thing, Esty is another thing, and so on and so forth.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now what about on? You know you're talking mainly about Amazon, but did refer a little bit to, like Walmart and Etsy. Still the same old school stuff. Working on platforms like that, as far as you know, like, like you know, potentially search, find, buy, which is not against Walmart's service, and then on Etsy is something similar, is what's working for ranking.

Alina:

These days, etsy is pretty much in the same place you need to. On Etsy, we don't have too many tools yet. It's still the E rank that we're mainly getting the info from and the organic search that you're doing and finding your ranking. But at the same time, what we've seen lately I mean not lately, like lately in the past year or so, a year and a half on Etsy is that you need to have some social proof, like you said, you need to have some reviews, you need to have some, some people talking about you posting some real, real life photos of your product, because you know, etsy is all about visual. So Etsy, that's pretty much it. And on Walmart is very dynamic, it's extremely dynamic lately. They're changing so much and, yes, search, find, buy is not against terms of service you can do those. Add to cart are not against thermal service you can do those. And there are a bunch of strategies that we were working on right now and we're doing a bunch of tests to see which way to better go on specific situations. But it's going really well and I feel like Walmart is going in the right direction.

Bradley Sutton:

Finally, Now, going back to the Amazon, you know, like you know you're kind of like me in the sense that you like, you like experimenting and different things and you've had different theories. You've tested. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But you know, I know you've talked about experimenting with the questions and answers and potentially finding the scene you can find the secret sauce of if Amazon posts. You know influence, you know algorithms and stuff. But what can you tell me like in the last year or so, like even ones that failed, because you know if you tried it, I'm sure somebody else probably had the idea that maybe it would work. So what are some experiments that worked out well? Some things that are like Nope, can't really influence, you know, can't really help this ranking at all. What are some stuff you've been doing?

Alina:

So a lot of stuff, but what? I can tell you something? That it didn't work and it's related to my latest episode of the last year, one in December, when I was very sure that I am very close to discovering the secret for Amazon posts. Unfortunately, something happened and I think in the algorithm at one point it just didn't work anymore. If you're already doing the Amazon post, go on and do them. If you don't do them at all, maybe it would be a good idea to have that content out there and more visibility for your brand, but not in the terms of doing them just for ranking. I couldn't find the secret sauce yet. Hopefully it's still going to be out there. What I found to be working, and working real well, is something about virtual bundles. I know we've talked about that a lot lately in the past. So virtual bundles before pretty recently I couldn't say exactly when, but before recently you couldn't shuffle the quantity of the same product within a virtual bundle.

Bradley Sutton:

So then yeah, because I know, let's say, I've got a coffin shelf and a coffin bath rug I could make a virtual bundle, and it's one each. But now you are ready. Now are you saying that I could do a virtual bundle with 10 each, or I can do a virtual bundle with 10 of one and one of another.

Alina:

Both. Now you could also make a virtual bundle out of two coffin shelves only.

Bradley Sutton:

Of the same ASIN. I really Well, since when I haven't even been. You see, that's what happens. That sometimes boggles my mind. You know, like Amazon, obviously we were just talking about how I had to delay you because I was on the, I was doing the weekly buzz and you know I Amazon announces so many things and a lot of it is just like little tiny things, but that seems like it would be a pretty significant announcement or a change, and I never saw that announced. Anyway, were you just like playing around with it? And that's how you?

Alina:

discovered it. Here's the story. Uh, I think I told this like back two years ago in one of your podcast. So I'm selling uh, one of my brands is an industrial scientific and I'm selling some lab supplies, which usually are a pack of 10, pack of 20, pack of 100, because there's small stuff, you know. So I I saw at one point that people were buying more of the same product, right, like two units, three units five units. But since the virtual bundles were there, I couldn't do a virtual bundle with shop with the same quantity, I mean more of the same um quantity of the same product. So then I I created some FBM listings with pack of 500, you know, and combined and basically I was it's it was the same product but I was selling. I was sending the buyer five packs instead of a pack of 500. I was sending five packs of 100 because my pack of 100 was the product I was selling on Amazon. Make sense. So.

Alina:

But I did them at the end because I couldn't do them inside Amazon and I couldn't and I didn't want to do it FBA back then, because the FBA fees and all the stuff wasn't worth it. The, the package would would be too big and everything. So the, the profitability wasn't that great on the, it wasn't worth it to keep it into FBA. Let's say so. Then I did this. And then one point recently, very recently it's a matter of 10 days, two weeks maybe I discovered that that it was allowed to. I mean, amazon allows you to create virtual bundles, two of each, two of this, with one of these, three of this was one of this five of the same thing, you know, and at that point I well hold on.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm trying to, I'm trying to do it here and I can't figure out. Let me share my screen here. Let's see. All right, so well. First of all, I was able to add more products. I never did that before, like right then how, where you can only add two, before I was able to have like three here.

Alina:

You have the couple there to add more products, if you see, like on the left.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So I'm looking here and at first I didn't see it. But right here under quantity I can now individually change this.

Alina:

That's crazy To as many as you want.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, like, and then now it's gonna reflect in the ASIN. That is super cool. I never. Why in the world would Amazon not make this an announcement is kind of crazy. And did you just randomly discover it? Like you were creating a virtual bundle and you're like, hey, what's this button do? And that's how you figured it out.

Alina:

It's not entirely my personal discovery. Like me, Alina, I was working with somebody from my team and all of a sudden was like he said I need to try this, I need to try this. I think I saw a plus button somewhere and then that's how it worked. But I have more on that, and this is something even more crazy. That was absolutely not possible at all until now. You can run PPC on the virtual bundles.

Bradley Sutton:

You couldn't run PPC on the virtual bundles, yeah, before I think you could only do sponsored brand ads back in the old days, right.

Alina:

Now you can do anything. He discovered this Really. Yes, my team made discover this first by mistake because he was doing some bulk uploads in the campaigns and he forgot some bundle ASINs out there and all of a sudden we had like some huge conversion on one ASIN and he said this is a virtual bundle. How on earth this one got here? But then we started looking into that and apparently it works Mostly. What I can guarantee for is it's working through bulk upload. I don't know if you can add them manually in your campaigns or with some tools that you're using for the PPC, but with the bulk upload 100% working.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I don't think you can do it in the campaign manager. I'll just double check or add products to advertise.

Alina:

I would check this. If anybody has some bundles that really work, I would definitely check this because, since these changes are happening, they might allow this as well.

Bradley Sutton:

And then you've actually seen it then in the wild where you see a sponsored ad and it's showing the virtual bundle as opposed to so you like confer, wow, okay, that's pretty cool. But bulk upload, then very interesting, okay, so that's like super cool. Now what about ranking? In the old days it was mainly if you're ranking for one of the component units, like the coffin shelf. Let's say, I had a double coffin shelf bundle I could only rank. It's almost like a variation listing where you can only rank for one and you can't rank for the virtual bundle. But I swear I've seen recently where I had a placement for the virtual bundle and the individual. Are you seeing that too?

Alina:

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Now I've seen it and I've seen it a lot. I haven't run any tests for clients, but on my product, since we have a lot of this type of bundles I mean in the hundreds probably I see it a lot. So it's 100% valid for my category at least. Again, I'm not sure for all categories, but I think it's out there for everybody. If you're ranking on a keyword with your main product, you can rank on the same keyword with your virtual bundles.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, so really cool virtual bundle stuff going on. Any other hacks that you can share with us that's been working for you. These are not hacks, but another strategy or anything else.

Alina:

Relevance is still the main thing that helps you with your product launch or relaunch or ranking campaign or PPC or whatever. If you're not relevant, you cannot do anything. Basically and I know you were saying a couple of months ago about the Amazon recommended thing. Amazon recommended rank. I tested that myself and it works like a charm and it's very much valid in terms of ranking campaigns. I mean, yes, if you're having problems ranking, I double you and I say you need to check that Amazon recommended rank. Because there you have your answer and something related to keywords. I would say make sure you stay focused. I mean, of course, all of us want to rank on hundreds of keywords, on thousands of keywords, on as many keywords as possible, but for Amazon, especially when you're launching a new product, you need to be very focused on a particular set of keywords so that you can find your relevance and your ranking juice and then Amazon will start showing you on its own on some related keywords. If you have some root keywords, some good root keywords, in your title, in your bullet points, then you will have ranking on a lot of additional keywords. As I said before, try to have a logic for everything. If the common sense and if everything makes sense to you, then it will eventually make sense for the other people and for the algorithm itself.

Bradley Sutton:

What's been going on the Press X side? Last year you were doing a lot of cool work with getting a lot of traction on the Press side. Is that still a valid tactic, using Press during launch or to promote products at all?

Alina:

After one and a half years now, I can say that you should look at press and especially press acts. I mean, since we're talking about press acts, but press in general, not necessarily as a conversion tactic or a launching tactic or a ranking tactic, but it's a brand awareness, it's an appearance, it's something that people want to talk about, it's traffic. If you're looking at sales, conversions, this type of numbers, and you're planning on making a press article or getting your product featured in a magazine just for sales, then I would say, think again. And especially if we're talking about a new launch Press from what I've seen over a year, it's not necessarily for new brands. You can look at it if you're a very established brand launching new products. That's a different thing. You can very much look at it. If you have a strong Shopify website or outside Amazon and you have I mean, people know your brand and it's not just on Amazon only then, yes, you could look at that. You could also look at that, for example, if you have an extraordinary product, something that is unique, innovative, something that is very special, you can look at press too. And also an idea maybe you can look at press if you're looking at Kickstarter. I know it's very popular right now, but if you're planning a Kickstarter campaign, you can maybe consider also press to driving traffic to that Kickstarter campaign to make more money.

Alina:

So that's how press works. It's working better for some products, not that great for some other products in terms of again, in terms of ranking, in terms of sales, in terms of traffic. It's there. So it depends a lot of what your expectations are. Our model is a CPC cost base, so you only pay for the clicks you get. It's not like a retainer fee, it's not a fixed amount. If your article drives only 10 clicks, that means, for example, $20, that's all the amount you're going to pay and you're still going to get the article. And you need to consider that as the more articles you get, the more love you're going to get from Google and for all the external or outside Amazon platforms that are out there, because once the article is there, it's just there. It's there for everybody to see and click on it.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, all right. Any quick experiences of somebody it's worked out for in the last year like hey, they were doing this and then they ran a series of articles and this is what happened from it.

Alina:

We had a brand which is into the dental hygiene niche and we've had a few campaigns very successful. I mean, I remember the ROAS was six, so for $1 spent they made six, which was good. I mean, on top of the traffic and everything else, this one also made money, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. All right, now switching gears. You seem you're kind of like me. You can't stay doing one thing. You have to have your hand in like 75 different things. So you and I are liking that. So the latest thing I heard you talking about which I purposely didn't ask you about because I wanted to kind of like find out about here I know nothing about what you're doing there is you've mentioned you're doing some things on the UGC side. So first of all, what prompted that? You know like you don't just dream. One time I actually did have a dream about a tool and it eventually became something in Cerebro, the advanced rank filter. It literally came from a dream ahead. Most people, I think, don't dream up things. There's a reason why you thought of doing UGC. So what started that? And then, what exactly are you doing in that field now?

Alina:

OK. So UGC I think it's the. You know how external traffic was two or three years ago, when everybody was talking about external traffic. That's how I feel UGC is right now. So I started this because, from the community of people that we have and that we use for our ranking campaigns which is huge at one point I thought these people can do more than that. So what do we need as Amazon sellers? What does the market need that we can help with? And so this came First. We only started with UGC because it's more than that. I have something else that even you don't know about.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh my goodness OK.

Alina:

So, ugc, I don't know what's your take on the AI. I love it. I'm a little bit afraid of it as well, but what I can say is that, as much as people love it, eventually everything is a cycle and they will turn back to real life photos, real life commercials, real life billboards. I've seen this happen in Europe, at least Romania, and also other places in Europe. There are billboards with burger photos or commercials saying this photo was taken using a phone and they're showing real people. Those brands could afford an AI and they probably are using AI in different other type of places. I've done some research lately and I found some really interesting data.

Alina:

For example, brands huge brands that are running Google ads, and they compared not necessarily on AI, let's say a professional studio photo which is a wide background, blah, blah, blah, everything with a photo taken with a phone, a little bit of editing, but nothing serious, and they ran Google ads on it. Guess what? The CPC was 60% lower on the UGC one. The user generated a photo and the conversion was 38% higher on the same photo. So that's how we started. I think that's where we're going to go.

Alina:

It's a lot of stuff that you can do with your UGC. We do photos and videos, especially videos that we recommend people using, filling Amazon with content on their listings. In places where it's still free, For example Q&A, you can answer every question with a video and every event I go to and I speak when I ask this question, I get a maximum of five people in the room raising their hands. Who uses this? Almost nobody's still nobody's using this, and it's a free place on Amazon where you can post content. And then there's videos about your product line, right, or it used to be called related videos, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

I have brand.

Alina:

I have eight and nine figure brands I work with. They do not launch a product without at least three to five videos filled in that section, because if you don't put them yourself, then your competitors will come and they will tag your ASIN into one of their listings and then their video is going to show on yours. So when I want to buy your product and I scroll down your listing, I'm going to find theirs and maybe, I don't know, maybe it has a thumbnail that attracts me, and then I'm going to click on that and I'm going to go buy that instead of yours and then all that content, for example, all the UGC we do. If you want to, we can post on TikTok Just like that. Not on influencer accounts we don't work with yet we don't have those type, but we're working on creating a few influencer accounts from our people, but we're posting it there. As I said, you never know what happens on TikTok. We use hashtags. Everything can be there, and this is something that you don't necessarily have to come to us to do it.

Alina:

You can do it yourself in the beginning. You can do your own Q&A videos. You can do your own unboxing or whatever More explanations you want to do about your product and post in your Amazon listing, and then you just go post it on TikTok. It just has to be there. And then, of course, as I said, you can use it on Google Ads. You can do a bunch of things with it. One of the things I do believe it's very important nowadays is that we have so many tools, including AI, because sometimes you can combine these two. You can combine UGC and AI and have something amazing without going to a professional photo studio. I'm not saying that they are bad. They have their own thing. Which they do is great and necessary, but for some things you don't need to go to a professional studio to do it and pay an arm and a leg. Most of the time you can just do this. I hope I didn't ramble too much about this.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Now, before we get into your tip of the week, which you even prepared, so that means it must be a good one here is can you just let us know how people can contact you for any of these 75 different things that we've been talking about today? How can they find you on the interwebs?

Alina:

So if they search for my name, which is Alina, like vlaic on pretty much everywhere, they can find me and message me in person. Or I'm going to just say one website which is azrank.com Contact form, or my email is alina@azrank.com. Feel free to contact me with every I don't know, critique, feedback, idea. I'm always trying to reply to everybody as fast as possible.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right, what's your strategy of the week?

Alina:

A lot of people ignore opportunity explorer section in the seller central. I know all of us love the search query reports and everything that's. It's out there, right. But when you're launching a new product, you don't have that data, unless you use one of my older strategies that you can have. You can have the data, but I'm not going to go into that. When you launch a new product, you don't have that data right. So you should go into opportunity explorer, because Amazon gives you a list of keywords, right. First of all, you need to identify your niche and your perfect list of keywords, because maybe your product will be in several niches, so you need to go there and find all the keywords that are relevant to your product and those should be your focus keywords for your listing and for your PPC and for your ranking campaign. Because if that data comes from Amazon and it's basically given to you for free, if you use it, I'm pretty sure you have much better chances of success to become relevant in Amazon's eyes, rather than I don't know doing your own keyword research and focusing on 3,000 keywords at the same time and spending a lot of money.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah.

Alina:

And again, that's valid. That starts with your listing and then your PPC and whatever other ranking strategies you may use. So something else that is maybe a little bit for advanced sellers, but I found it very interesting. I spoke about this at the last Billion Dollar Seller Summit. If you've mentioned Kevin King, it's something called mirakl.com. It's Mirakl, but mirakl.com. It's a dashboard that helps you expand your brand on thousands not thousands, hundreds of marketplaces all over the world with a click of a button. What does that mean is, basically, they create you an account, you have a dashboard, you list your catalog there and they will take care of everything else. You just need to fulfill. You can connect it with your Shopify for now, but they can get you into I don't know, into Best Buy, into Target, into marketplaces that are very difficult to get in otherwise. Just give it a try and I know a lot of people will find it interesting.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right, well, Alina, thank you so much for joining us today. Very few people make it to four episodes on the podcast that means that you're a popular guest. So you've made it, and I'm sure you'll be one of the ones to make it to five. So we'll reach out to you at the end of next year perhaps, and see what's going on with you In the meantime. I look forward to seeing you, hopefully at one of these upcoming conferences. And yeah, thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you soon.

Alina:

Thank you. Thank you, see you soon. Bye.

View Details

Curious about how the latest Amazon innovations could reshape your selling experience? Let’s see what’s buzzing in the tech giant and Helium 10’s newest features that are stirring the E-commerce pot!

We're dishing out the details on Amazon's revolutionary Fit Insights tool and the game-changing low inventory level fee, set to shake up the way apparel and shoe vendors approach their trade. Experience firsthand how Amazon's shoppable A+ content module is making waves with its compelling conversion rates, and join us in tipping our hats to TikTok's staggering $10 billion consumer spending landmark, a true testament to the app's growing prowess in the digital realm.

As we navigate the ebb and flow of online retail, we're also spotlighting Amazon's translation feature for sponsored ads, now making waves across North America and Europe. And for a quirky twist, don't miss our take on California's recent ban on donkey skin gelatin sales.

TikTok becomes first non-game app to reach $10B in consumer spending
https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/11/tiktok-becomes-first-non-game-app-to-reach-10b-in-consumer-spending/

Language translations are now available for Sponsored Display custom creatives
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/language-translations-available-for-sponsored-display-custom-creatives/

Amazon will stop selling donkey skin gelatin, but only in California
https://www.engadget.com/amazon-will-stop-selling-donkey-skin-gelatin-but-only-in-california-212555337.html

We're thrilled to have Bradley with us, sharing his expert insights into the new Black Box Brand Analytics tool, a powerhouse for sellers seeking to maximize product research efficacy. This episode is brimming with strategic insights, so plug in and prepare to power up your Amazon and Walmart selling game!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:44 - Minimum Inventory Tool
02:00 - Fit Insights Tool
03:35 - Shoppable A+ Content
04:45 - Tiktok Hits 10B?
05:43 - Language Translations for SD
06:33 - Partnered Carrier
07:32 - Your Donkey Meat
08:05 - Subscribe to Helium 10's YouTube Channel
08:17 - Pro Training Tip: Helium 10 BlackBox x Amazon Brand Analytics

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

Join us as we navigate the intricacies of ranking on Walmart and gauging customer sentiment on this platform with our special guest, Costin Vlaic, from AZRank. Listen in as Costin shares his unique e-commerce experience, shedding light on the importance of product ranking at Walmart.com and how it directly impacts sales. He also shares valuable tips on ranking, from using microworker platforms to leveraging your social circle to place orders.

Further, we explore the value of Walmart Plus and Amazon Prime as essential additions to households. We discuss an interesting survey that reveals a trend of consumers comparing prices and offers on both platforms, with groceries emerging as a hot favorite on Walmart. Get the inside scoop on the potential growth of the Walmart platform and strategies sellers can use to optimize their product range and pricing. Our chat with a successful Walmart seller is sure to provide you with unique insights, from testing and patience to avoiding common mistakes. Listen in as they share their future strategies for selling on Walmart. Tune in for a comprehensive discussion on all things Walmart!

In episode 519 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Costin discuss:

00:00 - Ranking on Walmart and Customer Sentiment
04:57 - Developing and Ranking Products on Walmart
09:01 - Insights From Walmart Shopping Experience Survey
10:08 - Walmart Plus and Amazon Prime Insights
13:52 - Online Shopping Platforms
17:19 - Initiating Google Exposure Through Walmart
21:54 - Starting to Sell on Walmart Advice

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

On today's episode we have Costin Blake from AZ Rank and he's going to be talking with us about how to rank on Walmart and customer sentiment about shopping on Walmart, as well as some of the most popular categories to sell on Walmart. So this and so much more.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you like to network with other Walmart sellers? Make sure to join our brand new Facebook group called Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can actually search for that on Facebook or you can actually go to h10.me/walmartgroup and you can directly go to that page. So make sure to join, you can tag me or Carrie for questions and ask questions of other Walmart sellers or even share your own experiences in that Facebook.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. My name is Carrie Miller and I'm going to be your host, and this is our Walmart Wednesday, where we answer all of your questions about Walmart and we bring in guests that are experts in the Walmart field. So today I'm very, very excited to bring on Costin Vlaic, and he is from AZ Rank and so I've actually worked with him and, if many of you probably know his wife, Alina, I've worked with both of them for a lot of different projects, and so I'm very excited. They've been selling on Walmart for a while, and so I'm going to go ahead and bring Costin on Welcome.

Costin:

Oh hi Carrie.

Carrie Miller:

Thank you for coming on and talking with us about Walmart.

Costin:

It's nice for me to be to be here. I'm pretty nervous about but I hope we can bring back. We can bring some very useful information for your audience.

Carrie Miller:

I think you're going to do great. All right, so let's go ahead and get into the question. So the first one I want to ask you is can you tell us a little bit about you know, your background and experience in the e-commerce space, just particularly with selling on Walmart?

Costin:

So my background I'm based in Romania, so that this is the reason why it's 10 pm I'm speaking at. I'm trying to speak at 10 pm. I guess I was an early adopter of e-commerce in Romania and also an early adopter of Walmart marketplace. I liked the challenges. So this is why when they open, the marketplace is the marketplace. I applied immediately. Luckily for me, I didn't have any issues to be approved, because right now there are still people that have issues with getting approved by Walmart. I don't find any logic from Walmart to not approve big sellers on Amazon. But that's, that's life. So I like to play with the Walmart platform and I discovered things. I'm discovering things, new things every day.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, very cool, thank you, and so so I guess that kind of answers. My next question is like what would inspire you to sell products on Walmart? So I think it's you had already answered that, but do you have any kind of insights? A lot of people are asking you know, should I sell on Walmart? They're not really sure if it's a good opportunity. So Do you have any insights or like success stories from your experience in selling on Walmart?

Costin:

So, first of all, because all the people are talking about brands and branding and building a brand, in my opinion, if you want to become a real brand, you need to be on more platforms or more sales channels, not just rely on Amazon, because I think most of the people that are trying to apply to Walmart are coming from Amazon. So my insight is I mean all the time. I advise especially my European friends that are selling on Amazon in Europe and they want to expand in US, because most of them have a big range of products. I encourage them to try Walmart first, not Amazon. Amazon in US it's pretty difficult than Amazon Europe Just to get their feet wet with American customers. I always said that maybe they should think to start with Walmart in US.

Carrie Miller:

And so have you seen some success for many of those people selling. Do they get more familiar?

Costin:

Most of the people I refer to are people that are afraid, but I know some people that they've been to our company and they are successfully on Walmart. I really think that at some point this is actually one of my personal projects for next year is just to develop a range of products just for Walmart.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's actually an interesting thought, because I have talked to Walmart and they said that the products that do the best are complimentary products to what's already on the Walmart marketplace. So kind of creating products that are just for Walmart, for products that are just not even on there, I think is a really good idea. So I think that's a great plan. The next question is, since you all have a company called AZ Rank and I've used you all for ranking on Amazon and Walmart and so you basically help people to rank in these different platforms, so how important is product ranking on Walmart and how does it impact the sales for sellers?

Costin:

We can talk about ranking in every platform. So in every platform you are, you just need to think about the ranking. So, particularly for Walmart, I just show you that just before today I did some tests and lately I mean especially for the niches that are not so big add to cards and even some clicks. Sometimes they are working and they are working fine. So you don't just need to place orders, but at some point if you want to be on top of the page, you need also to place some orders. But just to start some add to cards and some clicks, even from your friends and family, because the TOS it's not like in Amazon. You can do.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, that's a really good tidbit there, so can you maybe give a little bit more insight about what you all do, what your strategy is for ranking products on Walmart? You don't have to go into details, but how do you usually go about helping people ranking on Walmart?

Costin:

It's depending on the niche. So basically we tried for some customers also the add to cards, which are pretty difficult to be made. But you can always use a micro workers platforms Even you can use even a mechanical Turk or I don't know. I think there are also other platforms for micro tasks and with a few cents you might get some clicks or some add to cards and just to see evolution. And from time to time just ask your friends just to place from in the first week one order. And it always depends on the niche. But if the niche is not very crowded you can try that and you might be successful.

Carrie Miller:

What kind of keywords do you recommend focusing on when you're trying to rank? Do you think that Long tail keywords are good, or what do you think about the types of keywords you focus on for Walmart?

Costin:

Well for Walmart. I don't believe in long tails, I just believe in pretty broad keywords. I mean, of course they need to be specific to your products but not to be long tail keywords. You should try always the search bar recommended what Walmart is recommending in the search bar. I found them very useful and not focusing, like in Amazon, on a bunch of keywords. Just take two or three in the beginning, the most important ones, and focus on them in the beginning and if you are ranked well, you can develop this strategy with other keywords.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, and just for anyone who doesn't know, that we actually do have two keyword research tools for Walmart. We have Magnet and Cerebro. So you can do a lot of really great keyword research for Walmart on those tools through Helium 10. Okay, so we talked a bit earlier and you mentioned that you conducted a survey with over 300 people about their shopping experiences on Walmart. So what were the main objectives of the survey and what kinds of things did you discover?

Costin:

First of all, I'd be very curious to apply the same survey next year and see the changes. Maybe we can share these results of the survey on the chat. So we always share our opinions about Walmart, but I think it's better all the time to return to the people, the people in our community, and ask them what they think about Walmart. So I found it very nice that I mean very encouraging for the ones that are starting a business on Walmart Just to see that, for example, 50% of them have Walmart plus, even if they have Amazon Prime. So they consider a very good add-on to their household to have Walmart plus and Amazon Prime. So that's a very interesting information. Also, I found out that a lot of people are checking both Amazon and Walmart for the prices and a lot of people are following the offers and the prices.

Costin:

We found out also that the main categories they are buying in Walmart are groceries. Most of the people said that groceries in Walmart it's much better than Amazon Fresh Groceries. It's a category that's much better than Amazon Fresh. Other categories where people are shopping in Walmart are toys, electronics, things like that, but all those categories are in that survey. I wanted to make the people to write with their own words instead of just checking some boxes. And also I think the results are very interesting. So, for example, around 30% of the people said that they have some products that are buying only one Walmart, not in Amazon, things like that. I guess these are useful information for the ones that are trying to build a range of products in Walmart, because they have also a direction with some categories. And also, in my opinion, after seeing the results of this survey, I believe that this is a platform that will grow in the next future.

Carrie Miller:

I think that there's a lot more exposure to Walmartcom, especially because they also have this advertising where you can basically do Google ads through the Walmart platform and your stuff will show up in Google shopping, so you can see a lot more exposure of your products there. When you're searching for anything on Google, you'll see Walmart pop up pretty quickly, so there's a lot more exposure there. Also, I noticed for Walmart Plus, a lot of credit cards are giving free Walmart Plus access. So if you use the credit card to pay for Walmart Plus, then the credit card company reimburses you. Like American Express Platinum is one of them. There's a few other cards that I've seen where they literally give you a free Walmart Plus membership. So Walmart's doing a really good job of kind of giving people incentive to start shopping on Walmart too. So I think that's very interesting that people are intending on getting Walmart Plus or they already have it. So very, very good insights.

Costin:

Yes, I'm not living in US, so I don't know all those information, so I was just preparing to say that I mean, I don't know if Walmart has a one year subscription like Amazon has. I think it would be a good way to attract people to their platform and also it's very good for Walmart. I mean this is a plus Walmart has, that they can pick some goods in stores.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, definitely. Was there anything on that survey that you found that you weren't expecting? That you thought was not something you thought people would say on the survey, or was everything kind of what you were thinking?

Costin:

I was very surprised that a lot of people that are buying usually on Amazon, are checking also the Walmart platform. So I mean I was really surprised.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I think that's pretty surprising too. I think it's definitely growing, because I think probably a year or two ago it wasn't the same. So that is very, very interesting.

Costin:

This is why I'm very curious what it will happen with this survey next year to see the trend.

Carrie Miller:

Is there any kind of strategy that you think, based on what the survey revealed, like, what kinds of things do you think sellers should focus on, based on what you found in that survey?

Costin:

We all knew that Amazon, that Walmart, likes pretty cheap products. So if they want to move their brand from Amazon to expand to Walmart, I think they should create a few products that are cheaper than in Amazon and just to sell on Walmart and also on the other platforms, but just not to have them in Amazon. I think this is number one. If they are starting right now an e-commerce business and the brand, they should focus on the category, the order, on specific categories. First of all, of course, they can see in the survey what people answered and also they can check where Walmart is not selling many products, because if they are selling products, it's pretty difficult to rank there.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I know there's a lot of brands that do a different brand. That's a cheaper brand, and I've noticed big brands in Walmart when I've actually gone into the store. I see Ralph Lauren, like Ralph Polo Lauren. I saw BCBG and a few other really bigger brands that I would have never thought would have been there and they're basically the cheaper version of what they already sell. So it's kind of I think that's a really good strategy and I do know some other sellers who have maybe some products on Amazon, but they do the little cheaper version. They kind of rebranded a little bit for Walmart and they've done well that way. So that's really good on that.

Costin:

Exactly. I mean, in this moment we have three or four products we are selling on only one, walmart. Two of them we used to sell on Amazon but the cost of advertising was very high, so we moved them to Walmart. We sell pretty decent quantities but actually we get some profit in Amazon. We just selling but no profit.

Carrie Miller:

That's a challenge one. I did see a question in here that somebody asked. Jeremy asked how do you initiate the Google exposure through Walmart? So the way to do this is what you're going to do is you're going to go to your growth opportunities tab once you log into Walmart's seller center and then it's a tab that's called SEM. So SEM is where you can create these Google campaigns. So it's not through Connect, it's actually on the Walmart seller center part. So growth opportunities and then SEM, so that's where you find those. That's a really good question, because it's kind of some of these things are hidden and you kind of some days, oh, you go in there and you see some new things that pop up. So it's kind of interesting that way.

Costin:

By the way, also in growth opportunity. You can see the performance of your products. Of course it's not like very detailed like in Amazon, but, like I said before, just to follow a strategy for ranking, you can see if you really have exposure. You know clicks on your products. First of all, I think you need to start with some clicks for your product. You can do it with friends and family Doesn't matter if they are doing that, if you have five friends that can do that every day for one week and see what it's happening. So it's not, I mean Walmart, it's not. I find Walmart it's not a data-driven platform like Amazon. So for the ones that are very data-driven, I think it's pretty difficult to work on Walmart. But Walmart it's more of a, let me say, instinct platform or you need to feel a little bit. You need to try.

Carrie Miller:

You got to kind of play around with things a little bit more, since it's so new, you got to figure it out a little bit. Yeah, exactly, okay. Let's move on to a different topic and I'm curious to know what you think the most common challenges that you faced as a Walmart seller or that you've seen other sellers have. So what are some of the challenges you think that are on Walmart?

Costin:

First of all, it's opening the account. I mean, I guess you discussed that a lot of times here, so I don't want to go into very big details. Maybe at some point you will have someone from Walmart to explain as the strategy, if there's the approval strategy of the accounts, because it is really annoying. There are people that are selling millions of dollars in Amazon and on Shopify or on the other platforms they can open an account with Walmart. So I don't understand why. So this is the first one. Second of all, I think the common mistake is copy-paste listing from Amazon. I think this is the biggest mistake everybody does Until now. I was about to say that the listing score is very important. I guess it still is because Walmart tries to take care of the catalog. But I did a test if I can rank a product just by optimizing the score in a very, very small niche. It happened.

Costin:

So right now I'm tempted to say that the listing score is not so important. So maybe you can sacrifice a little bit the score just to have a listing that it's rolled for your customers and not for Walmart. The same is that in Amazon you should write listing for your customers, not for indexing. I guess this is the common mistake. The common mistake, and also the other mistake, is that sometimes people are panicking. In Walmart things are not happening very fast Like in Amazon, so you need to test a lot of things, you need to have patience. And also for the keywords if you really want to be index and rank for a keyword, you need to have it in the title.

Carrie Miller:

A lot of people. When I ask them why they think they're not doing well, I ask them have they optimized their listing or have they focused on some keywords? They run ads and a lot of times people haven't they just copy pasted. So I think that that's probably a big challenge for people is they have to kind of focus on Walmart, like you said, and kind of test things out, because each category is different too. So when I have two different categories of one things that work in one category or not working as well for me in the other category, so it's kind of an interesting thing.

Costin:

Yes, things are happening, happening differently in the different categories in in in Walmart.

Carrie Miller:

Another question is for any anybody starting to sell on Walmart or that wants to start on Walmart. What advice do you have to give them to start selling on Walmart?

Costin:

You can make really good money in Walmart by starting with a big assortment. You I mean you, you really don't need for testing out some products, you just need to buy them from a wholesaler in US. Just put it on your list, it with your own brand, different, different UPC, and just you can just test it. With 20 pieces, I mean, you can start this kind of business in one week.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, you can start. A lot of people do actually also wholesale that I've talked to you where they actually use the brand but they bundle it so like they'll bundle a bunch of different things together that they see people already buying together on Amazon and other places, so they'll just bundle those and they create their own UPC for that bundle and then there's no competition for it because other people have that bundle.

Costin:

Right now Walmart, it's really allowing you to play with different brands. It's not like the same policy with Amazon, so you can play with those those brands. Yeah, if you want, or even if you are thinking to to have a private label brand, you just buy from a liquidator or from an out-sailor, just to bundling, just buy some product from anywhere else and just test it. Even if you are losing a few dollars, it's very important to test.

Carrie Miller:

You can also test, you know, with AliExpress too, because you can, you know, get things in shipped and do smaller quantities. So AliExpress is a good place too. What do you, what do you think is the future of selling on Walmart, and how are you kind of planning on changing your strategies for what? What do you see as the future like? What does 2024 look like, you think, for Walmart?

Costin:

Well, I think Walmart is is still flexible and you can test a lot of things, but unfortunately I see a trend that they will become like Amazon, I guess because they have a lot of employees that leave, leave, left Amazon and went to Walmart and actually I thinking they are doing the same mistakes like Amazon. I was expecting for them to listen a little bit more. The sellers, of course, every company is focused on their customers, but guess what? Also, the sellers are focused on the customers, so they at some point I think I think this will make a big difference, just to to to listen some sellers and some some needs. So the strategy for 2024, it's also from my side and from my point of view it's just testing a lot of things. A lot of things will change. Maybe the rules will be different in two months in Walmart platform, then they are. Now it is possible Because you you can see also a trend that they are changing a lot of things, but I guess, for next year at least, it's still a platform where you can test a lot. All right.

Carrie Miller:

Well, I think that's pretty much. We're coming to an end here. So thank you to everyone who joined live and thank you so much, Costin, for sharing all this information with us. You you have a lot of really good, valuable tidbits on ranking for Walmart and just strategies for Walmart. So thank you so much for for joining and and answering those questions and and talking with us about those strategies. So thanks again and we'll see everyone again, I guess in the new year in 2024, for Walmart Wednesday in January. Bye, everyone, thank you very much.

Costin:

Thank you very much for having me. Bye.

View Details

Are you looking to lead a healthy entrepreneurial lifestyle and diversify your business? Our special guest, a fitness celebrity, shares her journey from being a successful Amazon seller to becoming a wellness influencer after a tough E-commerce business setback. Her story is not just about overcoming trademark issues but also navigating a major shift in her personal brand and adapting to a new market niche.

This episode indeed offers a goldmine of insights. From harnessing the power of Helium 10 Chrome extension for Amazon keyword data to branching out into drop shipping, wholesaling, and even selling audiobooks, our guest offers a wealth of knowledge. We also revisit her previous episode about her brand, Dollface, exploring the trademark drama that ensued and the valuable lessons learned.

Finally, we delve into the realm of fitness, discussing the transformation of our guest's YouTube content and the decision to open her own gym. Packed with her wisdom on personal branding, niche-finding, and maintaining a balanced lifestyle, this episode is a must for both health-conscious Amazon entrepreneurs and those seeking to diversify their businesses. Tune in to learn, get inspired, and glean wisdom from our guest's entrepreneurial journey and her commitment to fitness.

In episode 518 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Carabella discuss:

03:38 - Beauty Products to Fitness Celebrity Transition
10:02 - Personal Branding and Followers
17:46 - Unwanted Attention in the Gym
20:53 - Entrepreneurship and Healthy Habits
23:09 - Non E-Commerce Questions for Guests
28:42 - The Importance of Health and Discipline
33:05 - Tips, Tricks, and Transformations for Success
34:34 - Diet Plan for 30-Pound Weight Loss
36:38 - Introduction to Bella Tech Studio

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton.

Today we've got a guest back who at one point was doing over a quarter of a million dollars per month on Amazon. That had it all taken away and now she's reinvented herself as a fitness celebrity. Out there, she has her own gym and everything and she's going to talk about her Amazon journey and she's going to give us tips and tricks on how to stay healthy as entrepreneurs. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you browsing a Shopify, Walmart, Esty, Alibaba or Pinterest page and maybe you see a cool product that you want to get some more data on? Well, while you're on those pages, you can actually use the Helium 10 Chrome extension demand analyzer to get instant data about what's happening on Amazon for those keywords on these other websites. Or maybe you want to then follow up and get an actual supplier quote from a company on Alibaba.com in order to see if you can get this product produced. You can do that also with the Helium 10 Demand Analyzer. Both of these are part of the Helium 10 Chrome extension, which you can download for free at h10.me/extension. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got a serious seller. Probably this might be the record of the most time between coming on the podcast. I think the first time you came on the podcast is probably like three, maybe four years ago.

Carabella:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

We've got Carabella here. The last time you were on the podcast, did you film it here too?

Carabella:

We didn't film it here.

Bradley Sutton.

But you came here for something else.

Carabella:

Then I came here, for there was a conference or some sort. We were teaching something. It was an Amazon event.

Bradley Sutton.

Yes, Okay, I was about to say, like you might be one of the only people have recorded in this old this is the original Helium 10 pPodcast or the second Helium 10 Podcast Studio, but we don't even, I don't even record here anymore. But okay, so this is your first podcast here, first time in a few years. All right, so if you guys want to get her like full, full backstory, her original episode was actually episode 64. Now we're like at 500 something. But anyways, let's kind of like catch up, because at that time you had your brand Dollface and then you were going through some drama back in those days because then somebody was trying to come and say, hey, this is no, this is our trademark. And I believe how we left it off was you basically had to like sell them your inventory or sell out of your product or what happened.

Carabella:

Yeah, exactly. So the company was named Dollface but they were selling cosmetics. I was so new to business and online business I was very naive. My thing was I'm just going to reach out to them see if they can approve me getting my trademark, cause the USPTO, I think, who does trademarks. They were saying there's somebody else that has something similar, you can't do it. So I said I'll just reach out to them. We're not really competition. I'm doing, you know, skincare tools. They're doing skincare creams. They said no way. So then I said okay, I have all this inventory. You're already selling skincare. Why don't you just take it? They said, okay, sold it at cost. And then we went from there and then I went out of business, out of Dollface, out of Amazon completely at that time.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, completely at that time.

Carabella:

And then I started doing drop shipping, wholesaling. I started doing audio books. I still have my audio books on there. I made the uh all of these on Amazon all of these on Amazon. So I did a fitness tracker book, things like that, and I was selling those, yeah, so completely different business.

Bradley Sutton.

And then that was around the time, like at that time you were kind of like a micro influencer in the beauty uh, you know, seen, because that was what your product was Right. But then you kind of like I remember that was when you first started doing like fitness videos on YouTube. Yeah, did you like make a new YouTube? Channel or you just switch your existing YouTube channel to the fitness stuff. Yeah, I switched my existing.

Carabella:

YouTube channel. I completely pivoted. I just started posting workout content and all my subscribers were like what is going on? And I just took down all my skincare stuff and a lot of people unsubscribed. They were like we're here for the skincare? And I said, okay, see, you later, but I just started posting workout videos. I had a tiny little apartment and I started doing these little workout videos in the dark. Basically it looked so bad, and then, little by little, I started my community there. What, uh, what prompted that?

Bradley Sutton.

Like, were you just so like, so fed up with what happened with the beauty, so like I don't want to do this, or the skincare stuff, that I don't want to do this anymore. Or you're like you know what. I think there's a need, I see a, you know, like an opportunity for me in the, in the fitness world, or how did that happen? It was kind of like a passion thing.

Carabella:

I took Tai Lopez's course 67 steps and he was saying what could you do all day long and love it and talk about it? And I was getting burnt out. On the skincare thing, I was making too many videos. My skin was breaking out. I didn't even wear makeup in reality. It was just like not aligned with me. I was just selling it to sell it and it was selling. So I was focused more on money there when I said what could I really do and just do it endlessly? It was fitness. I worked out every day I ate healthy. I was just in that lifestyle and it didn't feel like work. Okay, so I just jumped in.

Bradley Sutton.

All right now how you know the other Amazon stuff. You know audiobooks, drop shipping, like how did those work out for you? In the meantime was like was that the income that was sustaining you?

Carabella:

in those days. So I did drop shipping and I did wholesaling and I didn't do anything for fitness. I just kind of learned how to do all this drop shipping.

Bradley Sutton.

What kind of drop shipping?

Carabella:

I was pulling products from Walmart and I was selling them on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton.

I used to do that too Until.

Carabella:

I was on sorry tracking down and it was money making baby.

Bradley Sutton.

Like I think in one like November, December, I probably did like maybe $200,000 in just like one or two months. It was insane in those days.

Carabella:

Yes, literally million dollars in like a few months, just in. You know that selling and it was crazy. And then slowly and I started opening more Amazon accounts. This was before they got so strict. So I had multiple selling accounts, I had multiple LLCs and I was doing all this stuff with Walmart and then I was also using Home Depot, I was using a Costco, I was using all these other places to fulfill from because Alibaba and AliExpress. It just took way too long and people on Amazon they want their orders but people started telling on me taking pictures of their Walmart bags why is this that was so ghetto.

Bradley Sutton.

Walmart was ghetto in those days. They would straight take DoorDash I think they still do it a little bit like DoorDash drivers and they would like literally leave a plastic bag of Walmart.

Carabella:

And this is supposed to be an Amazon order, it's all yeah, I got busted, but I made a lot of money very quickly and it was pretty successful for a while.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, and then how about the books? Did that do anything for you?

Carabella:

Yeah, so I wrote a few. I wrote a planner, a fitness planner. It was like scan the QR code and work out for 60 days with me in a planner. So you scan the work out, you scan the QR code, you get a workout and then you do. You know, I ate this today and it's a weight loss book basically A little bit digital because the QR code. And then from there I said, okay, what about Kindle books? I took a course called publishing.com or something like this, where they teach you how to build out Kindle books and eBooks, and so I started doing that. I made a couple of those and those are still on Amazon, just listed there. I don't even look at them.

Bradley Sutton.

So around what year? From when to when I'm assuming it was after we had the podcast, obviously so like 2019, you started doing the drop shipping. How long were you doing the drop shipping?

Carabella:

I did the drop shipping for, I think, two years, so okay. So it was a decent amount of time. Decent amount of time, Made a lot of money, built a little team. I had a bunch of VAs, you know it was pretty successful. And then from there I was already doing the fitness recording.

Bradley Sutton.

I had my YouTube channel. Yeah, I had my.

Carabella:

YouTube channel and I had the drop shipping thing going on simultaneously.

Bradley Sutton.

And then you said you were doing a little bit of wholesaling, like what kind of was that?

Carabella:

That was like Amazon business, where I found pretty big suppliers that were selling in bulk and I would list on Amazon and then same thing like using Costco, using Sam's Club, these type of places, and I would just fulfill bulk orders at a discount.

Bradley Sutton.

What do you mean by bulk? Fulfilling bulk orders?

Carabella:

Like wholesale. So somebody orders like 200 units instead of one or two On Amazon.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, so also you made like a, like a very, was it like a variation where it was like 200 or they literally had to order 200 items.

Carabella:

They literally have to order like 200 items of something Interesting. There was a there was an Amazon business section sector and I got in there and I was able to sell bulk orders, yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, interesting, and then all right. So now, what year are we about? Like when we were talking about the second year of this 2019.

Carabella:

2020, 2021. 2021, end of 2021, 2022. And then I completely stopped all of that. No more drop shipping. Amazon got crazy. They closed all out of my accounts. I had like one account open. I think I have one account open which is where my books live.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, and then on the YouTube side was there a time you know where it just started taking off, or has it just always been gradual, Because I don't really start really small, but that was really big.

Carabella:

Actually it's not crazy big. It's like 6,000 subscribers still kind of small, but I feel like I have a very loyal following. And then I started doing selling from there, so selling inside of there. So I created a Shopify store with, like some workout things from Walmart. People can come by from my Shopify store, things like that. And then obviously YouTube pays you for ad revenue and super chats and all these things that you can do when you're going live and stuff like that. Okay, yeah. So that was always just gradual, steady, steady, steady.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, I think that's important, you know, cause it's not always about the number. Sure, yeah, if you're like MrBeast, you know like having he's a beast. Yeah, having that number of followers obviously is good for you, but other you know, you could have like a hundred thousand followers and then if you're not doing branding or you're not really personal, like it doesn't really do you any good because people only they're not following you, they're just like all right, I'm subscribed to this. Oh, there's another video. That was like when I started on YouTube, like a long time ago for the Zumba stuff, I was following a lot of people. Then I thought about it was like, if I saw these people like in an Amazon or Amazon see, I always think about Amazon nowadays If I saw these people like in a Zoom book conference, I literally wouldn't even know who they are, right, I don't know their names and stuff. So I'm like, if I'm gonna do YouTube, it's like how do I make myself memorable? And that's why I created that character. I wear the crazy socks and different things like that. But you kind of have to have a thing that makes it personal. Then you can have like six or 7,000 followers, yeah, and then it still works out for you.

Carabella:

Yeah, and you can monetize it and it's still good. And then, from there, I started doing fitness for brides and teaching online. Ah yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

I was doing that, I would do Zumba classes. For you know, guys, don't get twisted for bachelorette parties. It wasn't, the clothes stay on, all right, but you know, like, like, weddings are very stressful, oh yeah. And they're like for weeks, they're just like going crazy and they're like, hey, right, a couple of days before the wedding we just want to kind of like get our indoor friends out and just like work it out. You know, we're kind of and so like I would make a lot of money doing bachelorette and there'd be good dudes there too, you know that'd be kind of strange, you know, but you know so. So that's a, that's a interesting thing. So you would, you would like, was it mainly like, hey, get the bride in shape over?

Carabella:

a certain amount of time, or something like that. Exactly From there, I started doing my YouTube. Amazon was like way gone, didn't even focus on it. I started doing more personal training, one-on-one stuff, and then I said I can't do one-on-ones, this is going to be crazy. Like I have no time, yeah. So then, from there, I took a course and look at me taking all these fricking courses. I learned Amazon from a course, though, too.

Bradley Sutton.

But hey, see, see, hey guys, real quick takeaway here. Everybody takes courses. Very few people actually act or actually do what they learn. You know, I take a course, oh great, I learned so much, it was great. Or are you doing it? No, like maybe they haven't all worked out, but literally she, you know, she took a course on Amazon. She started Amazon. She took a course on wholesale and then drop shipping. She started doing that and now she took, she took a Tylopus course. She started. You know, she did something off that. I like that. I wish more people were like you. But go ahead anyways.

Carabella:

Yeah, it's a finisher, mindset, right.

Bradley Sutton.

There you go.

Carabella:

I did the publishing course I made books on Amazon. They're still there selling like you get royalties from them. So I took this course. Ruben Brooks he's a coach and he teaches coaches how to build their online presence for fitness. So I took his course. It was expensive like $6,000, $10,000 course and I was like I'm going all in. So I built out my online program. He said you need to niche down. I said okay, who can I teach? I had experience in the bridal industry from way before I started selling on Amazon. I worked with weddings and events. So I said brides, they got the money, they want to look good in their dress, feel sexy, they're honeymoon after, they want to be like ready. So boom, that became my niche and I started building out my course for brides and then from there it just was kind of easy, because there's a lot of brides in LA, especially Beverly Hills, that have the money to take training.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, so all this time, like you were saving money too from Amazon, because I'm assuming you weren't like living it's not called paycheck, they paycheck, but disbursement to disbursement from Amazon. You started saving up money and then. So that means when, that you know, when Amazon cut you off on some, it's not like you were on the streets or anything.

Carabella:

No, no, yeah, Always definitely have savings, have backup plans, keep your and I did one-on-ones between. So after that I did my one-on-ones, I made clients. I mean, I made money doing, you know, one-on-one training in the gym and things like that. So from there I said, okay, online is the way to go about the course. I went to conferences in Arizona to learn about the industry and then I started making money online again, but in fitness this time.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, all right, cool. So at what point were you like, did you just kind of like, shut down almost all of your Amazon? Like, today you have no physical products, it's a hundred percent, just like your digital product, digital books.

Carabella:

yeah, Two digital books. They just are on Amazon. I don't even look at them.

Bradley Sutton.

Was it? Did you have like tons saved up or was it a little bit? Was there a time where you're kind of scared Like, okay, amazon's not going to work out, like I better get something else pretty fast. Or was that other income from the training and stuff already going by that time?

Carabella:

Yeah, it was already going by that time. I was also. I'm also very much a worker person. I look ahead a lot. So I'm seeing like, okay, I'm stopping Amazon, they're closing my channels, I'm gonna get my personal trainer certification so I can start teaching people what I love already. And this was already in my mind, because I was teaching people how to do it on YouTube without a certification. So then I thought why not be more legit and then offer these things in person? And trainers can make a lot of money. Especially where I live, you can make a lot of money per hour. So I had already kind of foreshadowed what I wanted to do before Amazon cut me off completely. So I had savings and I didn't live beyond my means, which a lot of people I feel like do, which is bad running up their credit cards, especially in California, not paying the thing, I had a Mazda. I think you knew me then. I had a Mazda. I lived very humbly, so I didn't have all of this debt on my head and I didn't have too much to play catch up with.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, cool. Was there a point where just the trainer on their own like completely replaced what you were doing on Amazon, or was it still a little bit less?

Carabella:

Still a little bit less. It was less in person for sure. And then when I started to build scale with the online program and I could have way more clients than just like six a day, because six a day is like six hours of your life.

Bradley Sutton.

Hold on, like I'm kind of like spazzy anyways, are you saying you were doing like online, like Zoom? Like oh okay, For some reason I missed that.

Carabella:

Okay.

Bradley Sutton.

So that just widens your bait. Instead of trying to have to find some, all right, let's find a gym that we can both go to or come to my house or something you were, somebody could be anywhere.

Carabella:

Yeah, exactly. And then I was doing training for brides and things like that. And then I built out courses. I already had libraries of videos on YouTube. I just put them in trainer eyes, which is where all the videos live like a course, and then all you have to do is reach out to people who are getting married. And I did the hashtag thing, the cold DM thing. Hey, I see you're gonna get married. I see you just got proposed to. Hey, da, da, da, I'm a trainer, this is what I do. I'll give you a couple, you know, seven days free, 14 days free. Check out my course. Boom, get a sale. This type of thing.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, Okay, yeah, Interesting. Now at what point did it get in your head where it's like I want to have my own like brick-and-mortar location, like a physical studio or Always. Always, so that was always a dream.

Carabella:

I love equinox, I love working out and I always wanted my own place and literally I put it on my vision board. It's on my vision board, this little studio with perfect yoga mats, laid out with little yoga blocks. And then, when I got my studio, I did the same photo shoot in there and I matched it to my vision board. It was one year later. Wow, I put it on my vision board and then, one year later, I got the opportunity.

Bradley Sutton.

That's awesome. So what was your thought process? Cause I believe it's a little bit unique where you're only catering to female clients, right Like was that always the plan, or were you just like kind of like thinking like an Amazon seller, how can I niche down? Or what was going on there? A?

Carabella:

little bit like the Amazon seller. How can I niche down? How can I make it special? Also, being in the gym as a woman. Sometimes you get unwanted attention. A lot of women feel the same way. It was a consistent thing I heard from my brides about being in a physical gym. It's uncomfortable. I have a husband, I have my man, this and that I don't want to get gawked at all this stuff.

Bradley Sutton.

So I have to deal with that. I don't know. I'm just like.

Carabella:

So I just thought what a concept. And I know the majority of gyms are full of men, so I cut my audience in like half, maybe even 60, 40. Cause men just are in the gym. But we're doing something very different. It's only group classes and it's only for women, and if you go to gyms and you look at their group classes, it's all women.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, when I was teaching Zumba it was like 45 women and like two dudes only. Yeah.

Carabella:

And it's all feminine. You know style of movements, classes, so I feel like we're on the right path, Okay.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, all right. So yeah, basically this episode is about guys. Hey, you guys are Amazon sellers out there and if you want to do this for the rest of your life, do it. I think I might do Amazon for the almost rest of my life. You know, like I have no plans to do anything, but it's important to have you know kind of backup plans too, and if something goes wrong with your Amazon business, it's not over. You know, like, like she, she's had a couple of two kind of major bad events happen on Amazon. One because of her trademark. She didn't, you know, do enough research and she got shut down and then she started it again. And then again because Amazon kind of changed her policies with drop shipping and things, and again she didn't, she didn't let it knock her down. So do you have, like you know like financial advisors, or you know planning and stuff, or have you just done everything on your own?

Carabella:

Yeah, no financial advisors, no planning. I mean I had a financial advisor when I got life insurance, but that's as far as I've gone, you know, so far. Yeah, hopefully I get huge and I'll need all of those. But yeah, from where I'm at now and where I was, no financial advisors, I did QuickBooks, I had an accountant, but that's the extent of it.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, yeah. So what's in the like on the horizon for you? What's your plan? I mean, obviously the studio just started like a few months ago, right? We?

Carabella:

just opened about a month and a half ago. On the horizon, I want the studio to flourish. I'm only focusing on this one location first, but my big dream is to have a clothing line with this company, more locations with this company, and I want to go worldwide. Oh my goodness.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, I want to have.

Carabella:

Bellatec clothing line yoga mats. You know huge events. You know how Aloe Yoga teaches yoga too, so we're actually going to do our first event with Fabletics and USC. Wow.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay.

Carabella:

Yeah, that's exciting. And the Clippers came into our studio looking for a place to train their girls.

Bradley Sutton.

Yes.

Carabella:

So we're right in the middle of downtown it's my team right there. There you go.

Bradley Sutton.

Yes.

Carabella:

So, yeah, wow, I really want to expand and make this a huge, huge company. I'm looking at it right now Like realistically. I just want to make this baby grow up.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, so then you're almost guaranteed going to find your way back into physical products and online and e-commerce.

Carabella:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

Because you know, if you start doing merch or something for your brand and start to, you know making your own, I mean you're going to. If you get popular here, you know like right now you're probably just buying all your own like yoga blocks and mats and stuff.

Carabella:

Exactly, we actually bought everything from Alibaba.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, but then you see, you could still do that. But then now you put your logo on it and then you know, sell it for people, especially since you're, because you're still doing the online courses and stuff like that. So then in that case, you know, like it's not just, oh, only the people who go to your physical location would be buying your stuff. You know, if you have customers all over the world, they could buy yourself online.

Carabella:

Exactly, and Bellatec is going to have an online portal as well, where people can work out with us from all over the world, even from this first location. I've already started building out with our web developer an online portal for girls to work out from New York, and they can join our Bellatec community from anywhere.

Bradley Sutton.

Awesome, awesome, alright. What's your advice for somebody else out there, like, maybe people nowadays obviously can't make money that quick the way you did, because it literally doesn't exist anymore where you can just do drop shipping and stuff like that Bye. But is it a matter of like, hey, if you're selling on Amazon or Shopify or TikTok shop or whatever, like Start putting some money to the side. Or what's your advice? Like, how were you able to succeed with life after Amazon?

Carabella:

I feel like you just have to play it smart. Be careful, but also take risks. And finally, don't be scared to like Burn it and keep moving, but also just be careful. Like I'm not a financial advisor, and so I can't really say much, but definitely focus on having a cushion, a fallback cushion, save money, plan things for longer term. You know, think smart, think about your future, because Amazon changes every single day and, like you said, you literally can't do that to type of drop shipping anymore, those type of selling anymore, and that was insane. But yeah, I would say just you know, focus on being a little bit careful but also still taking risks, because you can't be too careful or else you won't grow.

Bradley Sutton.

We're going to talk you know the rest of this episode is actually something I've been doing. The last year for guests on the episode is I've been asking them a lot of like non e-commerce questions like, hey, what do you do when you need to step away from your business? Because I think all of us you know, you remember how it was like you can get so engrossed because it's fun, you know sometimes, but you know like what's that mean? There's like a meme like hey, amazon sellers are the ones who want to quit their nine to five just so they can work 16 hours a day. You know, like because we just get engrossed and especially when you're work from home, you know you could just like kind of let yourself go and not have great eating habits. So let's talk about healthy habits. But first of all, what's yours? Like you, it's kind of like fitness is almost like your job. That was like for me and like people ask me back in the day what did I do to stay in shape? When I was in shape, like doing zoom, but like I didn't have to. That was my job. Like like I was doing 10 classes, 12 classes a week. I could almost eat whatever I wanted to, even though it's not good, but I would never gain weight because I'm just working out. But like, what about you? What about mentally? Maybe I need to take away from or take a step back from the studio, take a step back from my training. I just need to have some me time. What's your go to? Hobbies or things?

Carabella:

Yeah, this is the most important thing for all of us entrepreneurs, because we get obsessed and there's no work life balance and at the moment, I have a brand new baby. I have no balance, but I force myself.

Bradley Sutton.

You have a brand new baby?

Carabella:

Yeah, at Bellatec.

Bradley Sutton.

Oh, okay, I'll say wait a minute. Okay, I was like, did I miss something?

Carabella:

No, my business is like a month old. I'm looking at it like a child.

Bradley Sutton.

It's how born, yeah, newborn.

Carabella:

So things that I do to step away. It's very hard to get away from my phone, just I don't know, it's an addiction thing, obsessive controller thing, but I just go get massages, turn my, turn my phone off, get a massage, put it on, do not disturb. I ride horses, I get in nature. I love to run on the beach, I love to meditate. Journal I'm a big journal. If anyone read the book, the artists way Okay, this book is amazing, it'll change your life. And so she talks about in that book that to sit down and do morning pages where you brain dump three pages a day and you give yourself time and then you can, you know, understand yourself better. But healthy habits for me is giving yourself time alone, alone, alone not with friends, you know. I like to take a bath, I like to spend time in nature, go see my family. Sometimes I mean they're not very far, but I don't make enough time.

Bradley Sutton.

They're my neighbors. I know they are your neighbors.

Carabella:

My sister just had her sixth baby. Can you believe your sister has six? Wow, that's crazy, yeah. And then I'm in the gym every day, were they were.

Bradley Sutton.

they when we're not tri-city, hmm, tri-city hospital right there, I don't know. That's where my kids were born.

Carabella:

Yeah, I don't know, but I saw the new baby on Thanksgiving and she's so cute, oh yeah, but yet I I work out every single day 5am. Make sure that you're choosing healthy foods. You know your food is your fuel. Yeah, so if you don't choose good fuel, you're not going to have, you know, a good day. You're going to feel slow.

Bradley Sutton.

Let's talk about that, for a little Cause entrepreneurs out there, I think 15 years ago was different, but nowadays, thanks to the apps from the devil AKA door dash, uber eats and everything else, like it's just so easy to you know, at least back in the day maybe you were lazy you actually ate better because, all right, I'll just make myself a ham sandwich or something you know which is probably more healthy than all right, let me order McDonald's to be delivered to my doorstep.

Carabella:

Exactly.

Bradley Sutton.

What are some eating habits for the stay at home entrepreneur? Simple things that they can keep in mind to stay healthy.

Carabella:

Yeah, no breakfast. Do intermittent fasting, I would say.

Bradley Sutton.

How many hours on, and I would say 16, eight 16, eight 16, eight.

Carabella:

So 16 hours fast eight hours. Eat no breakfast. I don't eat until 11 o'clock. My biggest meal is lunchtime and then I take breaks. Make sure you take breaks, guys. Get off your butt, walk around, get your steps in 10,000 steps, minimum 10,000 steps a day.

Bradley Sutton.

Minimum. We just did the okay hold on Minimum Hold on hold on. We did this thing at work where it was like a challenge and they were like all right, we need to do 7,500. And I was struggling, like I was walking, like I would go an hour on the. I have like a standing desk so I have the treadmill on the bottom and then I would do like an hour on that. And then there was some time where I was traveling. So I would like walk like two miles and I'm like I'm still not at 10,000. I'm like what is it? Or not even at 7,500. So like to get to 10,000, what does that mean? Does that mean I need to walk like three miles? Does that mean I need to spend an hour and a half on a treadmill? It's about six miles?

Carabella:

Oh, my goodness, it's about six miles If you walk. So I wear an aura ring. Usually it's dead right now and I see my step counts are insane. I mean, I walk 25,000 steps a day. But if you want to be, if you want to be like the hunter and gatherer people that we used to be walking everywhere, they did minimum 10,000 steps for women.

Bradley Sutton.

Wow.

Carabella:

Men's steps should be way more, cause you have higher testosterone, you have different bodies. So I would say 10,000 steps a day minimum. Get up and walk around and then your smallest meal should be dinner. So you go to bed light but you're not hungry. You know, and then I don't eat after 7pm. Okay, so 11 to 7 is my window, and that's all I get to Just water. Yeah, water, I like green juice, celery juice, ginger tea, things that'll flush you out also. Yeah, that would be my way to how to eat if I'm going to stay at home and even if I don't stay at home. This is how I eat. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

So maybe like, hey, you know, maybe that seems unattainable, I mean, it seems unattainable to me almost 10,000 steps, but you can get a treadmill, that's on. You know, you can still be on your computer, but on your treadmill, like while you're doing it, but then I, the thing that I don't do enough of is, you know, like, take walks outside. Hey, do you have a zoom call or a call that doesn't require to be in front of your computer? Take that zoom call on your phone, maybe and just take a walk. Wow, okay, yeah, I need to step on my. I need to step on my game here.

Carabella:

Yeah, but don't forget, health is wealth and you don't want to get to your wealth and be sick because you're not in good shape. Like, don't forget that your body is should be your number one and the sharper you are physically, the better your wealth is going to be. You know and I saw something somewhere, I think it was the guy who does the 75 hard, andy Fersilla. He told me he said when people see a person in shape, they want to do more business with them, they want to work with them more because they see the discipline. So that discipline from your health transfers into other places of your life, like your business, getting things done on time, planning things out, showing up to meetings on time early. Da, da, da da. Cause you build that habit.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, what about I mean, apart from just steps? You know, like, like, if that's all we're doing, that's great, but it's still not enough. Like, what are some easy maybe exercises? The desk jockey, you know, can do just like break. You know, like you said, take breaks and stuff, so like, what should? We? What kind of little mini exercises can we be doing during our breaks?

Carabella:

Yeah, jumping jacks, pushups, sit ups I would say planking for sure. Keep that back strong. Anything that's in the area that you're, anything you can do in a very small area. So think about it. If I were to stand up here, I could probably do some jumping jacks. I can get on the floor and do some pushups, simple things like that For guys. If you have a pull up bar at home, hang it on your door, do some pull ups. You don't need a full gym to get in shape or to stay in shape, and then you burn calories a lot. Jump rope get a jump rope, stand outside. That's the best one.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, yeah, All right. What about as far as counting calories portions? You know you talking about having dinner as your smallest, but, like you know, how much vegetables, fruit should we be having? Like? What do you think about these different trends, Like you know, like carnivore diets and all this crazy stuff?

Carabella:

I feel like it depends on the person. Not one diet fits all, but I would say depending on. For calorie counting, if you want to lose weight, you got to eat less than your, your basal metabolic rate, which is like the minimum calories that your body burns at rest.

Bradley Sutton.

How do you, how do you find that out? Calculate that?

Carabella:

There's a, there's a or a ring will track it. Your Apple watch will track it.

Bradley Sutton.

Oh, I have an Apple. I didn't know I had that Okay.

Carabella:

Your Renfno scale will track it. These scales that scan through your feet they'll track it. So they do this scan and they'll you'll be able to see, you know your weight, your body fat, your muscle mass, your water, your you know metabolic age, which is the age that your body is at in the state that you are in now, and then how many calories you burn at rest. So if you burn 1500 calories at rest and you want to lose weight, you better eat a thousand calories a day and you will naturally lose weight. If you want to gain weight, you eat 2000 calories a day. It's very simple math.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, and I mean that is definitely going to help you lose weight. But then you want to have you know if you go to a physical checkup and have your good cholesterol high, your bad cholesterol low. So what are some foods to stay away from? What are some foods that you think are must haves in your, in your diet?

Carabella:

Yeah, Whole foods diet is the best diet, which means not whole foods. See instantly, See, instantly See what I thought about. No whole foods like anything that comes from the earth chicken, eggs, spinach, greens, fruits, anything that comes from the earth. Anything that comes from a bag and you don't know what's in it when you read the ingredients, that's automatically not good for you. I don't drink sugary juices. I would stay away from sugar completely. I would do just foods that come from the earth must haves in your diet eggs, chicken, steak unless you're vegetarian, which I did, vegan, and it was a shit show for me. I'm sorry, Can I say that? It was it was not for me. You know, I did some blood work when I was vegan. Going through that, my protein tanked, my hair was falling out, I had low iron, low vitamins not for me. Some people are thriving on vegan, so I feel like it depends on the person's body. But Whole Foods diet is the best way.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, yeah, cool. What are the tips, and tricks or anything can you give to our community out there?

Carabella:

Try to de-stress. Get an animal. I don't have an animal, but a lot of my friends have dogs and I ride horses, so getting around animals makes you feel happy, release dopamine, release stress. Also, you have a companion and then just spending more time outside, fresh air, grounding, just staying. Staying a human in a digital world is so important and that we get lost in that. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton.

Yeah, any inspiring stories of people like transformations that you've had, you know, like maybe it's a bride or maybe it's just one of your you know clients, your one-on-one clients, um, where they actually like, all right, we're just going to go ahead and do whatever you tell me. And then they saw some like incredible results.

Carabella:

Yeah, actually I have a lot, but I'll tell you this one which I absolutely love. This guy I was training. He's a pharmacist, very successful pharmacist, very busy guy. We started training and he was basically lying to me. He's like I'm not losing any weight, I'm not losing any weight and we're working out three times a week. This isn't, this is not working and not everybody can eat healthy and lose weight. And I said what are you eating? And he was like I'm eating healthy. What are you talking about? And we sat down one time and I was so ruthless I'm like you're a liar. You're not following the diet I'm giving you. Show me a picture of your food every day, every meal. So then we I we had this really tough conversation. Two months later he lost 30 pounds. He was eating clean, he was training consistently and 30 pounds he looked like a different person.

Bradley Sutton.

He went what did he take out of his diet? Mcdonald's Also. He was eating McDonald's and complaining that he wasn't losing weight.

Carabella:

He was eating out every single day, drinking alcohol, and he took all of that out of his diet. He started work. I had him on something very strict like tuna, salad water and just almost like a keto, and he lost weight so quickly. He went from 193 to 163 and literally like two months.

Bradley Sutton.

How tall was he?

Carabella:

He's 5’10.

Bradley Sutton.

Okay, Well, I mean 193 is not, that, you know, like for for a guy, unless you're like five, six or something that's all right. Can you give me his his diet plan, or the one that you gave him?

Carabella:

I could give you a diet plan. I want to lose 30 pounds. It is strict.

Bradley Sutton.

It's strict, but I'll give it to you All right.

Carabella:

Yeah, I have it on my phone right here.

Bradley Sutton.

Awesome.

Carabella:

Yeah, I'll give it that to you.

Bradley Sutton.

Cool, all right. So this has been a great episode because it's like, you know, we don't have, you know, like we have tons, of course, amazon success stories on here. But success doesn't mean just success on Amazon, just success in life is like, hey, are you happy, are you, you know, supporting for you and your family and stuff like that, and you've achieved that and it's, you know, sure, amazon, you know paved the way, but then you completely transition and it's nothing wrong with that. So, guys, don't be thinking that Amazon is the only way to success. It's a. You know, it could arguably be said that you wouldn't, you might not have been able to have enough to start this, you know, uh, business and stuff If you hadn't done the Amazon, absolutely use Amazon. And then if Amazon keeps working, great, keep it rolling. I'm sure you would have loved to have kept doing like six figures a month.

Carabella:

I'm coming back when I get my, when my clothing comes out and I know how to work it and I'm going to come back to it. I love it All right.

Bradley Sutton.

But then, most importantly again this you know, you guys know I've had some lot of health issues in the past, and so that's why this year I made sure to always ask the guests about their health regime. And this is, you know, one of the experts in the game as far as that goes, so I hope you put her advice to use now. If somebody is in, you know, if there's any of our female listeners out there who are in the like LA area, how can they find out about your, your studio?

Carabella:

Yeah, check out bellatec.com and you can come in for your first class free, and all you have to do is register on the website. It's very easy. The steps are there. You can find me @carabellariazzo and DM me on Instagram. I'm very personable. I talk to everyone. I'm not the type of person who's going to ignore people, except Bradley, except me when I'm trying to get her on the podcast for like a year. Just kidding, but yeah, so check us out there. We're at Bellatec studio on Instagram and everywhere else. Yeah, come say hi.

0:37:15 - Bradley Sutton.

It's great to see you again, and I hope the next time you see me, you don't recognize me because I'll be like the more fit version.

0:37:22 - Carabella:

Let's go. I believe in you, I love it.

View Details

TikTok Shop Wants to Beat Amazon at Its Own Game
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-13/tiktok-looks-to-challenge-amazon-amzn-with-tiktok-shop

Let shoppers engage with your brand across multiple products using Amazon Video Builder
https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-video-builder-powers-use-of-multiple-product-asins/

Walmart pushes ahead with e-commerce platform
https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/29475-walmart-pushes-ahead-with-e-commerce-platform

Etsy lays off 225 workers after ‘essentially flat’ sales, says CEO
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/13/etsy-layoffs-online-business-retail-industry

But wait, there's more to this episode. We'll guide you through the process of automating Amazon keyword research using Helium 10. We'll help you streamline your efforts, saving time by setting up keyword insight settings to alert you when a competitor ranks for a new keyword. Plus, we're handing you a roadmap for business growth in 2024. We're talking about a free downloadable checklist that will help you develop essential daily habits, and keep you focused on your goals. Go to: https://h10.me/habittracker for more information! So, whether you're a newbie seller or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with strategies that will give you an edge. Grab your headphones, and let's get started!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie talks about:

00:42 - TikTok Shop Vs. Amazon
03:19 - Seller Support Chat
04:36 - Video In Multiple Languages
05:41 - More Products in Video Ads
06:51 - Walmart Investing in Marketplace
07:33 - Etsy Sales Flat
08:21 - New Apparel Tool
09:35 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
13:36 - Pro Training Tip
17:26 - 2024 Daily Habits Seller Checklist

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

TikTok is giving Amazon a run for its money. Chat is now available in Amazon seller support, and now you can upload videos in multiple languages on your Amazon listings. This and so much more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Carrie Miller:

Welcome back to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast. My name is Kari and I will be your host, and this is our weekly buzz, which is our weekly episode, where we give you all of the latest news and updates for Amazon, Walmart and the e-commerce world. We also give you updates on Helium 10, new alerts and features, and we also will give you a serious strategy for serious sellers of any level. So let's go ahead and see what's buzzing. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into this first article, which is how TikTok shop is giving Amazon a run for their money, and I do know that they are doing a lot of amazing incentives for sellers. First of all, there's no fees. They're also covering shipping costs for you and if you give discounts with some of their promotions, they often will actually cover those discounts. So, for example, if you give a 30% off discount through one of their promotions, they'll cover the 30% discount cost so that you don't have to pay for it. And I've actually talked to sellers who have made more money than their usual listing price for products. In addition to that, they're giving customers coupons to purchase and really helping to incentivize them to start purchasing on TikTok, so they'll give them a $20 off coupon. I know I bought something that was $21.95 and I got $20 off, so I only paid a doll her 95 for it.

Carrie Miller:

Let's go ahead and get into the article that talks about this. This article is titled TikTok shop wants to beat Amazon at its own game. It's from Bloomberg and they talk about a seller who had started getting all these incentives to sell on TikTok shop and they were really surprised at how they even did $10,000 in sales the day after Cyber Monday, even after all this was done. Really really cool stuff that they started selling and learning how to use TikTok shop and because of all the incentives they're more profitable, which I know. A lot of people on Amazon are kind of wondering what's going on with profitability because it keeps shrinking. So this could be a potentially good opportunity, especially while they're giving these no fee incentives to get in there.

Carrie Miller:

But something that's really interesting is that they're saying that Amazon shouldn't be too worried yet because basically people are seeing things on TikTok. They don't necessarily yet trust the platforms that are purchasing elsewhere, so they might go to Amazon. In addition to that, the shipping isn't as fast on TikTok, so you can see that people are going to go and want that two day shipping, which is why you'll see a lot of people buying something on Amazon. Maybe it's the same brand, so a lot of times people will look for the same thing that they found on TikTok to see if they can actually find it on Amazon to buy that. Something else that I found very interesting in this article is that they were talking about how people are saying it's kind of like a farmer's market or a digital craft fair, because you can do live selling on TikTok shop and people can ask questions and you can interact with the product live and show people how to use it. So it's a really good opportunity to kind of have a different experience for people and really incentivize them to purchase. I'm really curious to know if any of you have started selling on TikTok shop and how you've done so far. Put your comments below and just let us know how you're doing. Have you had a hard time starting? Have you gotten some success on TikTok shop? We would really like to know.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the second article, which is something I think a lot of people are going to really like, and hopefully this is something that is really beneficial for a lot of sellers and that is that now that you can actually get chat instead of just email and phone call on seller support. So this is a little press release document that was released by Amazon so you can now chat with an actual person. So, instead of having to call, you can actually chat. So there's an FAQ. So one big question that's what I had. I thought is it going to be a chat bot, because I can't stand dealing with those. So they said will I be communicating with an actual human? And yes, all live chats will be handled by a seller support associate. Will I see if this receive the same level of service that I do with email? And it says many cases you will, and then you don't have to go back and forth with email. And in what cases is it not available? It says they can currently help you with the majority of support issues with chat. So that is a really good thing that they'll be able to kind of help with a bunch of different things with chat, and basically you have to go and find it in the same way that you would any other support and there will be an option for chat. So my question is what do you think about this and are you going to start utilizing the chat feature instead of email or the phone call, or what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, this next article is really exciting, especially for the US, because there are so many people with different languages in this country and you want to really market to as many people as possible, and I know I've been noticing a lot of Spanish keywords when I'm doing keyword research in our helium 10 tools, and this is a great opportunity to be able to reach Spanish speakers and all speakers of a lot of different languages. So this article talks or this is actually an announcement from seller central that now you can actually upload your videos in other languages. So now you can upload Spanish videos, you can upload Chinese videos or other languages that you think that your customers might be looking at your listings and maybe they might need it in their native language. So this will help you to be able to sell to those people and really showcase your product to a wider variety of people, and I'm really excited about this. I think this is really a great thing to be able to kind of further expand the languages on your listings that you already have. Now Let us know in the comments below if you think this is a great thing and if you're going to get started doing it right away, or what you think about, you know, being able to upload these videos in different languages.

Carrie Miller:

This next article is about being able to upload more than one product to your videos for your ads. I think this is a great opportunity to showcase more than one product. I noticed that when I was able to show more than one product on my brand story and my A+ Content that people were buying in bulk or bundles, basically, of things that they weren't buying in bundles before. So this is a great opportunity to showcase all of your products in one video and catch the eye of a lot of different customers. So this is actually an announcement from you know advertising on Amazon and the way that it works is you're going to be able to upload those three different products, and why it's important is you know you're going to be able to get more brand exposure and just a lot more reach. Maybe one person might not be looking for one thing that you sell, but maybe one of the other items they're going to be interested in, so it's a really good opportunity there. Also, this is where the feature is available. It is. It is available in the US, Canada, Mexico and then all these other countries across South America, Europe, middle East and in the Asia Pacific. So check out to see if your country is allowing this and start getting some of these video ads up, and so I think this is going to be a really good thing for showcasing even more of your products and incentivizing people to buy more of your products all at the same time.

Carrie Miller:

So the next article here is in the Walmart realm, and that is basically that Walmart is going to continue to invest in their e-commerce platform in 2024. And this is according to an article on meatpuletry.com. They have they did see quite a bit of growth on their digital market, so they want to keep growing it. They actually talk about how it was even more. They had more growth in China. However, they are still just overall, growing this marketplace so that, you know, more customers can buy their products online, since more people are switching to online shopping. So it's a really you know good time to get into Walmart as well. If you really want to grow your, your brand and your products. You know, maybe consider selling on Walmart as well.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, this next article is a bit of sad news and that is that, um, basically, Esty had to lay off a bunch of workers because their sales were flat, so they laid up 225 workers. I'm not sure what this means for the future of Etsy or what they're thinking about sales trajectories, but it is really a curious thing. I know there are a lot of Etsy sellers who watch our content. So if you're an Etsy seller, have you seen sales kind of stay the same? Have you seen growth? I know it really is dependent on the individual seller, so, um, you know this really could be dependent, um, you know, seller to seller, but also Amazon does have Amazon hand made and you can get these products pretty quickly. So that might be something that's been causing some competition for Etsy. But hopefully this doesn't mean that it's doomsday for Etsy and that we'll see them revive again.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, this is the last but not least, but this is a really good thing for apparel brands and I think that because of Sheen and Temu, those are really big platforms that are really competing with Amazon right now and they sell mostly apparel and basic. We saw last week with the fees, they're reducing fees for apparel, which I think maybe has something to do with the fact that they want to compete with those, those platforms. But now they have a new fit insights tool that's going to help give you know apparel and shoe brands access to fit specific insights about their products to help you know the customers you know get the right sizing so they can help reduce returns. I think this is a really good thing to help offering you know sellers the opportunity to you know, improve upon their actual sizing measurements to make sure they're the most accurate for customers to prevent the most amount of returns. I do sell in this category and I think this is a really good thing. Um, you know, for all of us, I do sell in this category and I think this is a really good thing to add and really help us to be more specific with our sizing so that all of our customers can get the exact product that they want with the exact right fit. All right. So that is all of our news. So let's go ahead and check out with Shivali what our Helium 10 feature updates. So, Shivali, go ahead and take it away.

Shivali Patel:

Hi guys let's get into this week's helium 10 new feature alerts. We have some ground to cover today, the first feature being located inside of Cerebro, our reverse ASIN keyword research tool. Let's talk about the Amazon total search volume and Amazon average search volume metrics Diving into Cerebro. Essentially, when you're performing a keyword search and say you end up filtering down any group of keywords or phrases, then the tool will actually tell you what the total search volume is for that given pool of phrases, as well as what the average search volume is per phrase. The first number is especially helpful if you want to understand the combined impact or reach of all the keywords that your products are ranking for on page one, while the latter is great for understanding individual averages of your pulled key phrases, since the multi ASIN search that I have pulled up here is quite broad and it includes indexed keywords and phrases. We have a Amazon total search volume that is upwards of 3.5 million, but let's refine the search to have an organic ranking somewhere between positions 1 and 50. In applying these filters, what you're going to see now is the combined value of your page one reach, and that for us in this cuff and shelf market is 22,000 roughly. Alternatively, in the case that you want to see the search volume of all the keywords that your competitors are beating you on, you could use a different filter. Instead of the position rank filter, you could use the relative rank filter and then proceed to take a look at those metrics. How cool is that? Right, all right.

Shivali Patel:

And the second thing that I want to talk about now is filter presets available inside of Atomic. So what do I mean by that? Well, if you navigate over to Atomic, you can actually access this inside of the, the analytics or the add manager tabs. I'm already inside of analytics and I'm in the search terms tab, so I'm just gonna stay here, but you guys are more than welcome to do this inside of the add manager tab as well. You probably are gonna see this inside of Cerebro, too, and going down say that instead of going through all of these 1450 search terms, I want to take a look at the last 60 days. I know that I want to see those different search terms that have 20 clicks but no orders, no PPC orders, and I'm spending at least three dollars on that search term. Well, now I can actually go in and click save the filter preset, and when I click save filter preset, you're gonna be able to name it and then click apply, and every time you go back into Atomic, you're actually going to be able to access it quickly with just one click, by clicking filter library, and then select whatever you'd like to see and it's automatically going to take those search terms and narrow them down based off those filters that you selected.

Shivali Patel:

So be sure to take advantage of this. If you are really interested in minimizing your actions maybe you have a lot going on and you really want to get straight into the actionable data and insights that will move your business forward then this is a really quick way to do that, to optimize those PPC campaigns you have. Or even if you're doing this inside of Cerebro, you're using the filter presets to quickly get in and take a look at any new keywords or phrases that might be relevant to your niche. So be sure to take advantage of this if you really want to minimize the actions that are needed to get to actionable data and insights, and I wish you much success.

Carrie Miller:

Alright. Thank you so much for those updates. Helium 10 is always doing a great job of just updating products that we offer and then coming out with great new tools that can help you to further your business. So we are so excited about all the things that are going to be coming in 2024. So keep staying tuned to the weekly buzz so you can be the first to know about all these new updates. And, last but not least, we have our training of the week, so we will go ahead and send it on over to Bradley for the training video of the week.

Bradley Sutton:

How to automate your Amazon keyword research. Alright, we've been talking about a lot of strategies as far as how to find top keywords from your competitors. You know from your own listings, etc. Now I the way I showed it to you guys. It doesn't take too much time. But you know, maybe you've got 10-20 products and you want to be checking your competitors keywords once a week. Well, it can start getting pretty tedious and time-consuming and a lot of data that you're gonna have to process to every single week or every other week, go through all of your products and all of your competitor products and no, alright, is my competitor ranking for any new keywords that I didn't know? So I can put it in my listing. So how would you like a way to just put time back in your hands? I mean, time is money, right, so that you know this could take hours and hours a month, but instead of that, let Helium 10 do the work for you.

Bradley Sutton:

How can you automate keyword harvesting from your competitor's keywords? Well, it actually goes back to your dashboard, all right. So what you're going to want to do is you're going to want to go back to just your regular dashboard, okay, and you're going to hit insight settings on the very bottom left of the screen insight settings all right. Once you do that, you are going to find the keyword insight settings and then you are going to hit four insight types and you are going to select customize under keyword suggestions based on my competitors, all right. So hopefully you've set your competitors, and if you haven't set your competitors on your Insights Dashboard, you know there's videos that we have on our dashboard on how to do that but you want to put your top five competitors for all of your products and these are the ones that you probably are running Cerebra off of. Once you've got that done, like I said, go to your insights types, hit under customize under keyword suggestions based on my competitors, and what you're going to do here is you're going to enter exactly whatever you like to do inside of Cerebro. You're basically automating your Cerebro process.

Bradley Sutton:

So maybe you said, hey, I want to know any keyword where the search volume is at least 400 and my rank is like maybe I'm not ranking at all, so I'm going to put zero and zero, but at least one of my competitors is ranking in the top 20 positions. All right, that's it. You just fill it out just like you would on Cerebro. So now, any time that one of my competitors for any one of my products right, is getting sales from a new keyword that I'm not ranked for now, I'm going to get actually an insight on it or a notification right here and it'll tell me hey, your competitors rank for these new keywords. Would you like to start tracking it? Would you like to start putting it in your listing?

Bradley Sutton:

This is like super, super cool guys, next level. If you don't have access to it, you're going to need the diamond plan in order to access this. But I mean talk about putting money and time back in your hands. I mean this saves hours and hours of work. You now don't have to even run Cerebro almost ever again on your products, unless you want to do some advanced filtering, but you can now get those keywords delivered to you in a message saying hey, your competitor is getting sales from these keywords. Do you want to put it into your listing? So, guys, if you want to start automating it, make sure to set that up on your Insights Dashboard.

Carrie Miller:

All right, everyone, thank you so much for staying at this point. I do want to leave you with something that I think will be really helpful going into this next year, and that is our 2024 daily habits seller checklist. Now, I actually helped to put this together, and it's daily habits that are going to help you to stay on track, to monitor things that are really important for your business, things like your sessions and your page views and all the kind of metrics that you need to make sure that you're staying on top of your account. There's a ton of different things in this checklist that are going to help give you really good habits to help you to continue to grow in 2024. So I hope that you all check it out.

Carrie Miller:

It's really just an easy, free, clickable download. You can actually check these things off digitally, so you don't even have to download and print this thing out. You can do it all on your computer, so we will have the link ready for you in down below in the description so that you can check out this Daily Habits checklist, and I think you all are going to love it. So go ahead and check it out and we will see you all again next week and we'll see what's buzzing. Bye everyone.

View Details

What happens when you blend the minds of Adriana Rangel and Marcus Mokros, hosts of the popular Serious Sellers Podcast Spanish and German shows, with the world of Amazon and its ever-evolving marketplace? As it turns out, a captivating concoction of strategies, trends, and real-life success stories. From the transition from UPC codes to QR codes to new monthly networking calls for Spanish and German-speaking audiences to an imminent event in Germany - we dissect it all with our esteemed guests. We talk about special highlights featuring their recent guests.

Buckle up as we take a ride through the ups and downs of outdoor sports sales on Amazon with two seasoned sellers. One recounts their thrilling journey from a booming 2020 to a challenging 2021, all leading to a triumphant comeback in 2023. Hear their plans for product expansion and driving website traffic, and learn from their experiences. From across the pond, our European seller shares his wisdom on improving product images, revealing two crucial photography tips. We also touch on the advent of a novel 3D rendering service, eliminating the need for physical product delivery to a photography studio. All this while emphasizing the critical role technology plays in growing an Amazon business.

Did you ever wonder how selling on Amazon varies across different European countries? We've got you covered as we compare and contrast Amazon sales in the top five European countries: the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. We navigate through the VAT-related intricacies in these nations and how Amazon aids in VAT declarations. Find inspiration in the story of a successful Spanish seller who has grown her Amazon business with a unique approach - collaborating with artisans in Spain and Mexico through Amazon Handmade. We also chat about avoiding burnout while scaling up your Amazon business, ensuring a healthy work-life balance. Wrapping up the episode, we shine the spotlight on two entrepreneurs who’ve built flourishing podcast communities and Amazon businesses. This journey is filled with challenges, triumphs, plans for the future, and valuable advice for budding entrepreneurs. So tune in for an episode filled with information, inspiration, and innovation.

In episode 517 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Adriana, and Marcus discuss:

00:00 - Tips and Strategies From SSP Spanish and German Hosts
01:19 - Celebrating Podcast Milestones and New Networking Calls
06:33 - Insights From Amazon
08:28 - Trends in Outdoor Sports Sales
14:42 - Using AI Tools for Content Creation
18:19 - Build Brand With Technology and VA's
20:50 - VAT and Selling Strategies on Amazon
24:11 - Artisan Networks in Spain and Mexico
29:19 - Uniqueness and Innovation in Saturated Niches
31:50 - Tips for Balancing Work and Relaxation
36:06 - Amazon's AI Strategy for Product Listings
37:55 - Celebrating Podcast and Amazon Success

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got the host of our Spanish and German podcast back and they've got lots of tips and strategies from themselves and their guests on a wide variety of topics, such as Amazon, image creation, KDP, amazon handmade European marketplaces and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hey guys. Heads up, Kevin King is the new host of the AM/PM Podcast, so if you love Amazon strategy, make sure to subscribe to it. Whatever you're listening to this podcast on, take a listen to AM slash PM podcast just by searching for it on that platform. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got a couple of our host from different parts of the world here today. We've got Adriana from Mexico and Marcus, who is in Europe right now. Welcome back to the show, guys.

Adriana:

Hi Bradley, thank you for having us.

Bradley Sutton:

It’s really great to have you both here. This is now. We just celebrated two full years of Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol Serious Sellers Podcast of Deutsch, and the numbers have been going up, you know, record months this year. It's really great to see what you guys have created just from zero, like literally zero, and now you've got podcasts that are listened to by thousands of people out there. We have YouTube now, you know, for the podcast. So, guys, make sure, if you speak German or Spanish, you need to be listening to Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol or Alph Deutsch. You can search for either of that on whatever you're listening to this on, even on YouTube now. Now we're doing full videos so you can get kind of like a better vibe of it as well. So guys, this is this is really cool. And just one more thing that's new We'll go ahead and promote it right now is that you guys are now hosting in Spanish and German like monthly networking calls, zoom calls, for Spanish and German speaking community. So, Adriana, tell us about yours like, like when we just had the first one on December 6, but is it always like on the 6th, or is it going to be like the second Tuesday of each month, or how is yours going to work and how can people sign up for it?

Adriana:

Yes, of course we're meeting the first Wednesday of every month, so I'm not sure what that is for January, but of course that's going to change for February as well. So basically, the first Wednesday of every month at 6pm, Mexico City time and people can sign up. They just need to visit our link, h10.me/llamadaconadriana and that's it. You can, and that way you will get the reminders and the link to join us in a live call networking call every Wednesday.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Now, Marcus, you too are just had your first ever German call in December, but starting in January. When is it going to be? And also, what is the link for it?

Marcus:

Yeah, we want to keep it simple. It's the first Monday of the month, 12 o'clock, and the link is h10.me/elite-de.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, h10.me/elite-de for German speakers. And when you say 12pm, that's 12pm Germany time, 12pm German time. Correct, speaking of Germany. Guys, I'm going to be in Germany. I'm not sure if anybody out there is going to be in in town, but I'm going to be out there on January 27th in Berlin. I'm going to be speaking at an event and also I will be hosting an elite workshop. So if you guys are interested in going for the event I'm speaking at h10.me/germany. So h10. h10.me/germany. All right, enough of the kind of like logistics here. I think, hopefully, if you're a Spanish or German speaking person, you got enough information there to take advantage of these. Everything we just mentioned is free resources for the community. But you know, you guys, let's start off with. What I like to do is because I don't. You know, I obviously can't speak German, so I can't listen to the episodes and understand what's going on. So I'm going to first start with you, marcus. What are some notable guests you've had in the year that really had like some really cool strategies or really cool story that you can relate to us?

Marcus:

Yeah, really some really awesome guests and it's hard to make any kind of selection. But one recent one was from GS1, the company who is doing the UPC codes, and the employee. He told me that they are preparing a big change. They want to go in the next couple of next years from barcodes to QR codes and they call it as a 3D code, and that will be more than just a number to identify your product. That will have like access for you to, for marketing, for example, the customer. Obviously, obviously the shop can scan the QR code, see the price, but the customer can scan it as well and you can put your promotions in it or, for example, like giveaways, anything, and he says it will even support promotions day by day. You can have one promotion set on a Monday, something different on a weekend, or like if there's like a bad batch should produced, you can add it into that QR code and the cashier will know I shouldn't sell that. So there will be a lot of functions and features coming and I mean that's where that will be a big task. They will have to change all systems in all shops worldwide. That will be something very interesting for marketing.

Bradley Sutton:

Huh, interesting, yeah, I mean because you know the traditional barcodes is kind of like what the world's been used to for so long, but the move to QR and having extra information, that'll definitely be interesting. Alright, going to Adriana now, the first kind of story that comes from your mind, or Stragia, or something that's one of your guests in the last year talked about.

Adriana:

Yeah, well, one of the highlights is that we had Amazon join us on a call or on an episode for the podcast, maybe a couple of weeks ago, maybe two or three weeks ago and that was great because we had the opportunity to ask them stuff such as you know, what's up with seller support, how can we best go about getting an issue fixed and, let's say, something happens to your listing, your listing is down, or an FBA shipment, or you know, these things we deal with as a sellers on a weekly basis, right, and so that was a big one. I was very excited to have them on a call because, you know, it's our opportunity to get answers right, instead of, you know, searching in forums or asking other people. It came directly from them and they gave us really interesting tips for how to go about certain issues and also they shared with us really interesting well insights, of course, but also resources on how we can learn more about the platform, etc. Right, and I think that this is very valuable because it comes directly from the how do you say, the horse's mouth? Or, yeah, I guess, directly from Amazon. So that was a lot of fun. That was two weeks ago and, as I said, for me, the main takeaway that I got from them was basically how to work the seller support system to get them to answer and fix our issue, as opposed to getting you know, like the template response that we sometimes get when they don't understand. What is it that we need help with?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm curious how are your own Amazon businesses going? Like, are you, do you think you're going to be up this year than before, or how things been going for you?

Adriana:

So for me, 2023 has been a good year, actually compared to 2022. 2022 was weird. I sell in the outdoors sports category, so 2020 was amazing because, of course, at least the second half of 2020, because, of course, everyone wants to be out of the house and in some place. You know that was outdoors, not indoors at a restaurant or at a mall. So it was. It was a great year sales wise, 2021 as well. 2022. It had, yeah, I experienced a deep, I would say, because everyone was, you know, out and back in the clubs and the restaurants and the concerts and all of that. So people just forgot about outdoor sports. And then 2023 came back strong. Of course, I did focus a lot on my ranking and, yeah, basically, like optimizing my listing and all of that, my images especially. I was like you know what, like if I up my conversion rate, then everything else will fall into place in a way, you know, like my ads and all of that. I do my own PPC, but I'm like you know what, as long as the conversion goes up, then I can send as much traffic as I want via ads and it should convert right, Like it should turn into sales. So 2023 was great and I'm hoping for a good 2024. I want to expand my product line and I also want to work on getting more traffic to my website and, yeah, basically growing that channel too.

Bradley Sutton:

Now going back to Marcus, what about for your Amazon businesses, your communities? What's some trends that you've seen this year like, especially since your community and you are mainly selling in Europe? Like are things in? Is there inflation in Europe? Is things getting harder? Is competition getting more? What's going on in the European Amazon market?

Marcus:

It's an interesting question because, like over the years, I always got that kind of question is it still worth it? Should you still start Amazon? But that somehow that dried out. Everybody knows that Amazon is big and I mean like yeah, like the whole world is in a tough time, I guess, right now. But as I see it, like Amazon sellers, they are doing good, they're doing well.

Bradley Sutton:

On the strategy side. You know like one of your specialties and you have people in your community who are specialists about this is like photography and things like that what do you see as kind of like working? Now, what's some tips you can give the audience about, like how they can really make sure their image deck and or videos are really better than the competition?

Marcus:

Yeah, actually I have two photography related tips and first one is from JP. He was a guest in the podcast. He's quite young guy but like living the dream, traveling to through Bali, Thailand and doing Amazon FBA. He's like selling a lot and he also started a photography business. But he has a totally different approach. He doesn't need your product. You're providing photos from your smartphone. You get a tutorial. You have to send him six photos from every site and here's a team who does a 3D rendering of that product and, um, that way he's at a price point that's just a fraction that you expect for a product photography. And, yeah, his team will do a 3D model of your product that looks like totally photo realistic and they will put it into a lifestyle photos, put it into Infographics and send you the whole products as a product shots that you expect, but without touching your products. And I mean one.

Marcus:

One thing is interest. It's interesting for people who sell, who just start out, or sell products that have like two thousand five thousand dollars of revenue, but also people who don't have time, because imagine your product is being produced in China right now and you don't have a master sample right now and as soon as the first product is finished in China, you can ask your manufacturer Do these photos for me with your smartphone, send it over. He does your product shots and the moment your delivery arrives in your local warehouse, you already have your listing completed. By the way, that website is JPD Dash advertising dot com.

Bradley Sutton:

And yeah, that's what I think I remember. You know, I again I remember. I don't, you know, I don't speak German, but I remember that episode because I look at the videos just just like see how they look. And he looked like a, like, a Like, almost like a, like a tick tock celebrity or something like crazy, crazy hair right, yeah, okay there. There we go cool. So that, yeah, that's interesting because Just recently, amazon announced that there's no longer going to be the three hundred and sixty degree Images that have been for a while. Like, if you look at the project X coffin shelf, it has it like we didn't we didn't put it there, amazon just did it themselves. It's being replaced with a 3D image that I think you can you can still like, turn around and then they were saying that all they need they're making some kind of app where you can actually take the images with your phone, and then the Amazon app, I'm assuming, or something, yeah, and then submit it. So that's interesting. You know Concept, because you know, like, I'm still using, like, traditional photography studios and that's. You know, logistically, you know you have to send the product there and then they you know they have to shoot it. So have you seen images that? Or have you seen listings that actually came from this model where they just take the pictures and they do it 3D and it looks realistic, or what's your experience with looking at?

Marcus:

Yeah, I mean, I saw it on his listings he sells thirty thousand units a month, and he's just using his service, of course. How many units thirty thousand a month is selling? Europe, US, Japan?

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, it's quite, quite busy cool all right, so that's a good one. Let's go back to a either a strategy or some kind of cool story from your experience.

Adriana:

Yes, going back to technology, per per Marcus comments I feel like many people, many sellers, that want to Be able to grow without having to invest all of their money into, you know, launching a ton of SK use or Paying people to to write blog posts for them or kindle books for them, etc. I am seeing how many people that come on the podcast. They say how they Work with either either they do and themselves, basically they they use to create content. They are using this To, such as me, journey, etc. Ai tools basically to help them create content, to help them generate user generating content, etc. Right, and so I chatted with Casspin. She was episode 90, actually episode 100 a couple weeks ago and she was telling me how she will.

Adriana:

First of all, the way she Gets ideas on how to expand her product line. She goes to her competitors stores and she's like, okay, let me see what else they're selling, right, and they some. And she sometimes finds ideas that way for complimentary or supplementary products to grow her product line and she says that it's actually very easy to launch this new SK use because, of course, you already has the Relationship with the manufacturer and it's a matter of basically just sending other products that can be, that can actually, you know, sell on their own or become kids, right, or become a brand new SK you and she was telling me how she even launches act With every SK you that she, or with every main product that she launches on their her brand. And so, of course, she, she can do this very easily because she can either get a BA to write it for her that that content for the Kindle book, or she can do it be a chat GPT, which I think it's like you know, this is something we couldn't do maybe a year ago, right, and that way, she, of course, she adds a thank you card inside of the store and then you know, for them to get the free Kindle book, because it's, I feel like people see a Kindle book Like a more valuable, I would say, gift as opposed, as you know, like just like a regular, regular PDF. And so you know she tells them that they will, that she will give them that Kindle book, access to the Kindle book, for free.

Adriana:

And then she gets that email and then, of course, through email marketing, basically she sends a coupon For, you know, 10% off, 20% off, so they shop the product via her Shopify page, basically right, and that's how she starts creating her email list. And then, of course, she has when, when people visit her site, her Shopify site, they see that she has, you know, six or eight SK use, right, and so people, I feel like six or eight SK use, it's a good enough quantity to you know, for people to see like, oh, you know, this is a legit brand, right, like this is not a brand that you know, only has one product and that's it. And she says that it's like a fairly easy and it doesn't exhaust her, basically her resources to launch up, you know, like a complete brand off of one product. Really, you know she finds the main product and then she gets ideas on what else to add, what other SK use to add and, of course, grow her Shopify brand.

Adriana:

Get that images from either me, journey or, you know, get different variations of the content, charge EPT for the, for the text, for the Kindle, or, if you want to, I mean you can create the first draft with charge EPT and then have a VA. Basically, look, you know, do some editing on on on her part, and that's about it, and I was like, okay, I mean that sounds like like something we can all do. Even I feel like when I have some guests in the podcast, I tried to find Useful information for sellers that are starting out and that maybe they have a full time job right and they don't have, you know, eight or 10 hours a day to put into this business. Or, and maybe they don't have a ton of you know money to put into the business. So, finding ways to basically leverage technology and leverage you know help from VA's etc. To to build a brand and, you know, have a brand in a matter of maybe six months.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, she doing this in English or Spanish English, in the US market English, okay, all right, cool, marcus in. Let me give you a couple scenarios here. Talking about Amazon Europe, under what scenario would you suggest somebody in or outside of Europe to, or would you suggest that they only launch in one marketplace to start like, hey, you know, go ahead and start in UK, or go ahead and start in Germany? Or would you always recommend you know, you should go ahead and take advantage of the Amazon Europe network and at least start in a few marketplaces? Is there a scenario where you would suggest one or the other, or it's all one or all the other?

Marcus:

I mean, like it's up to you If you're from the US, you could start in UK and you already can reuse your listing, your PPC campaigns, because it's the same language. Germany is the biggest market. That would be also a great test if your product works in Europe and if it works in Germany, you could go to the smaller markets. I mean, france is still a quite big, italy and Spain as well, and then it gets a lot smaller. But yeah, that could be a good strategy to start in one of the bigger countries to test your product and then go all Europe.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay Now, as far as those smaller ones go, like are there any that you think is going to one day become, you know, better than the others? Because I think the core five is the UK, germany, Italy, france and Spain, and then like there's a big gap, you know, between all of the new ones Like I forgot, like Netherlands and Poland and a bunch of others. Like are there any of those lower ones that you think are better than the other? Or they're all kind of just like equally low?

Marcus:

Yeah, I mean, it's a question of the population and I guess, like the Scandinavian countries are also very interesting. But yeah, you already named the top countries for the moment.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. So now I'm just curious about like VAT and things like that. So let you know, there's obviously not an Amazon in every country, so I'm assuming that, or you correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm living in Austria, am I ordering from Amazon Germany? Or what website am I using if I'm just living in that country trying to buy something?

Marcus:

Yeah, actually, austria shares the website with Germany. You order from the German website.

Bradley Sutton:

And then. So in that case, like I know, like with for VAT, do I have to have VAT in every country? I'm selling things in from day one, or it's only until I hit, like a certain kind or amount of revenue in that country. Is it by country or by marketplace? But and what I mean by that is all right, well, there is no marketplace in Austria, so does that mean I never have to have a VAT for Austria? Or or how even does this work, because I've never sold it?

Marcus:

over. That's a good question, and that's where it gets a bit complicated. So Austria shares the website with Germany, but there are warehouses in Austria and as soon as you got your products in the warehouse in that country, then you have to register for a VAT number in every single country that you have your products in and regardless how much you sell. Yes, and Amazon has has has a program for that, where they help you with that VAT declarations.

Bradley Sutton:

Back to Adriana another story or strategy that you can share with us.

Adriana:

I interviewed Noemi from Spain I know there's a big, big community in in Spain that basically they, they do Amazon full time and she was telling me how actually she works with another two partners I have one of her partners here at the podcast too and she was telling me how she is growing her Amazon business through Amazon handmade. And I was like, oh interesting, because I mean, yeah, I mean I guess we usually we focus on, you know the regular Amazon program to launch you know products. And she was telling me how she works with people, people that artisans I wait, yeah, that's the correct term, right, artisans, is that a term in English?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I mean, that's English, but it's too fancy for my language. But I know what that means.

Adriana:

Yes, she basically so. She likes doing, you know, handmade stuff for herself too. But she started basically connecting with artisans in Spain, apparently and I didn't know this I mean, I've traveled to Spain for, for vacations, but I haven't, you know, spent much time there. But she was telling me that there's a big, big network of artisans in Spain and of course, as she was saying this, I was like, oh my God, I mean I'm from Mexico and of course, there are a ton of artisans here in Mexico, like a ton, ton, ton, especially cities such as, like, of course, Mexico City, Guadalajara, etc. And she was telling me how she has scaled this, because that thing I guess the first thing that comes to mind to us Amazon sellers were like, yeah, but how are we going to scale this, this business? And she's managing I mean she's, she's managing to scale her business because she, of course she doesn't do or like work on this product herself, of course, right, Like she has a network of artisans.

Adriana:

And I was, I was thinking, as she was telling this to me, I was like yeah, that's true. I mean I see, when I travel to the US, how much more expensive, or like highly priced, these products that we manufacture in Mexico are selling in the US, right? Only because they're like unique and they are and they are just like more attractive than you know like the regular products. And I was like, oh, wow, this is interesting. Like I guess I always knew that there was that option over there, but I just didn't see how we could scale that. But it makes sense. I mean, if you just work with artisans and you already know, you know like you start and of course one artisan connects you with another artisan and that's the way it goes and she's I mean, she sells a lot of, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of units of different SKUs and you know the price point.

Adriana:

That's at least where my mind went right. I was like you have no competition really, because if it's something very unique, then of course you can play with your pricing strategies, but usually you won't be concerned with you know someone else, that competitor, lowering their prices or you know going 30% off. You know of the sales price, etc. So I was like that's interesting. I mean, even you don't have to be selling a ton of units a day to be making good money, because if you have 40% margins or 50% margins or even more, because I've seen in, you know in the US at the retail shops how they sell Mexican or yeah, artisan you know this type of products and they sell and I'm like what the hell like, do people buy these products at this price? And I know how much they go for in Mexico. So I was like, oh, this is very interesting. And so I thought that was a very interesting. I think that was episode 98 with Noemi. She's based in Spain and yeah, I mean, Spain has a big next to us.

Bradley Sutton:

Is she doing all of this in Spain, or is she doing this in Amazon USA?

Adriana:

No, amazon. No, she's doing it in Spain and I think she expanded already to Europe. Basically, you know how they have that.

Bradley Sutton:

I didn't even know there was Amazon, handmade in Europe, in Spain and other. Okay, interesting yeah. It's like oh interesting because definitely a way to make it the key, that of that you mentioned, there is the no competition. You know, like, like. This is a very unique product. It's not a cookie cutter, you know, by definition. So I like that Back to Marcus. One last story or strategy from you.

Marcus:

Yeah. One last story that's from Michael. He doesn't sell on Amazon. He runs an Amazon agency called me to you, but he's like the Amazon detective. He's every day on the website looking what is Amazon testing right now? What, what did they change right now? What do other sellers miss? And he's like he comes with the craziest things. And one thing he told me, like would you start to sell a drinking bottle on Amazon? I mean that's like super competitive, me probably not, yeah, and I mean everything is the same. You just fill water in it and that's it. So it's difficult to stand out and there's a company they found a way to differentiate themselves. It's called Arup and they have a small cartridge on top and you can get it in all kinds of flavor, like sherry, melon, whatever. And when you drink your water you still drink 100% water, but you breathe the sherry flavor. So your mind is drinking like sherry juice, but you're still drinking 100% water. But the thing is he pointed out that they just sell the bottle and the cartridges. But if you have, like, all your different flavors and you want to change them during the week, what do you do with your cartridges? So you need like airtight, sealed box for it and people are searching for that. You can see it in Cerebro but they don't sell it. They just concentrate on their bottle. So every Amazon seller should find like an imagine like Apple are selling just their iPhone and you can sell chargers and cases, like I bet there's like in every niche there's something, yeah, and it's a big innovation and the company is just focusing on the product. So, yeah, that was a really awesome takeaway to look for.

Bradley Sutton:

Two things there. Number one is never think that a niche is 100% saturated, because there's always, like, a fresh idea you could bring. And then number two you don't always have to be the one that has that idea, you know, let somebody else come up with the idea. But then how can you take advantage of that? Like, is there a unique storage or a unique accessory that's needed?

Marcus:

Maybe even a coffin shelf to store your cartridges.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey, there you go. Hey, coffin shelf to store your water bottle cartridges. I'll get on that Okay An episode. I'll give you guys, or everybody here, a preview of a coming episode. I'm launching some new project X products and one of them is a bat shaped bathroom mat or rug and that potentially might make a coffin one as well. But you know, the possibilities are endless and that's one of the ways that you could also get into saturated niche is take a saturated niche like bath mats you know like they're going for like $10, you know who knows how they're even making margin on it. But then do you bring in a unique material like make a bamboo one, or make a coffin shaped one, or a bat shaped one for like spooky. So you can almost take any niche on Amazon that's saturated and just come in with a unique idea or unique design or unique material and now all of a sudden it's not saturated because you're the only one who has that. All right. So I'm going to ask for your final strategies, your 30 second or 60 second tips. How can they find you guys on the interwebs? They know how to find your, your, your Helium 10 podcast, but both of you have, you know, audiences and communities out there. Marcus, how can they find your communities on the internet?

Marcus:

You can look on YouTube for Amazon FBA by Marcos and everything else is linked inside the videos.

Adriana:

For me, my YouTube channel is Adriana Rangel Vende. Just like that, adriana Rangel Vende, and yeah, in there, there you can find everything else that I have going on, and I have a free like 90 minute like masterclass. I would call it because I go from product research to like keyword research, to what kind of keywords you need to put in your listing, et cetera. So, yeah, I would. For people that maybe need some free resources to kind of like figure out how this works, I would advise you check out that video. Adriana Rangel Vende in YouTube.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, adriana. Like, do you have any last, maybe 30 second tip or parting words of wisdom for the audience out there?

Adriana:

Yes, well, you know, one topic that I've seen guests come with and share with us in the podcast has been basically focusing, you know, at the first. You know, when we start our business in Amazon, we usually focus on launching products right, and launching new variations, and doing your PPC and ranking and all of all of these activities that we have to, of course, take care of. But one topic that has been coming up very often in the in our episodes here at the podcast is that we at some point, especially maybe like two years into the business, we need to focus on growing our team, right, because if not, we'll get burnt out at some point, right, like I know that happened to me and now I'm working, I already have a VA and, of course, I already have a designer that helps me, of course, with my you know, my products, my listings and also for my thumbnails for my YouTube channel. Like, he helps me for a ton of things, and I feel like that is the way. You know, that marks a big difference between someone that is making, of course, a few thousand dollars a month in Amazon and, you know, the seller that is doing several dozen thousand dollars in Amazon a month.

Adriana:

Right, because you cannot do it all by yourself, and also so you keep your motivation right, because at some point, whatever it is that you are doing repeatedly and that you're doing for 10 hours a day or 12 hours a day, after 18 months or 24 months you're burnt out. As much as I mean you can love it, but still you know your body gives out. So that is something that I would like people to start thinking about. Maybe this is your first year in Amazon and that's fine, but maybe start listening to you know these episodes where people such as Rolando and I know you had Rolando Rosas in the podcast because he speaks English too you know Juan David as well talked about this, rod as well talked about this, and I think it's just like very important to start planning this before it's like, before we're like burnt out and it's too late, right, and that way we get we can scale faster and just like with less effort.

Bradley Sutton:

What's your Adriana, what's your hobby or what you do to take your mind off of work? You take off your mind off your Amazon business, to you know. Relax like what do you do for fun.

Adriana:

Yeah, well, before I got into this whole Amazon business world, I was in the art business. So I of course like to, you know, business museums and you know, if I can business museums with friends and all that that you know, the better, of course. But I try to yes, to, even if it's like at nighttime, right, like I try to consume content that it's not, or like even listen to podcasts that are not like business related. I basically try to put you know if it's after 8pm, even though, even if there's like this really good podcast episode, I'll watch it tomorrow at 6pm or whatever when I take a break from work. But I try to put like hard limits because I just do it. I mean, I just do it for the business, right, like I remember I saw this at the other day that says that says something about your performance of tomorrow basically depends on your recovery tonight. Right, you know something in that frame of words and so I think it's just very important because we talk about, we go on YouTube and we saw, we see everything about. Yeah, you know you can scale to blah, blah, blah and you can be making all this money, but you have to be feeling okay, right, you know, your body has to be healthy and your mind has to be healthy as well. So that is something to we cannot ignore, that, even if that doesn't sound like you know, like the sexy tip, I feel like that's as important, or even more. To grow a business, scale it to as big as as you want, really.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, I like killing two birds with one stone. So my advice to you if you wanted to do that, go to the museum while listening to the podcast in your headphones, and then now you can kill two birds with one stone, all right. So, marcus, what about you? One last 30 or 60 seconds strategy or tip for our audience.

Marcus:

Yeah, one tip I learned that will make a lot of changes. Amazon recently announced that they will look for title images that are not meeting the terms of service and they will use AI to change that. They will download your image, remove everything that doesn't belong there in their opinion and upload it again, and that is something you don't want. You don't want an AI to touch your title image. Yeah, and Michael from AMZboost, a product photographer, he told me, just use your picture, space number nine. Nobody looks there. Put a title image there that will meet the terms of service and because what Amazon is doing first, they will scan your product photos and check if there is something that is compliant to the terms of service and they will put it to spot number one as your title image. And if they don't find something, they will change it in their terms. So that's an awesome hack.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, I never heard of that one. That's a really good one, All right, cool. And then same question to you also is you know, like me, that sometimes we can get and Adriana, we can get burnt out and if we put too much emphasis on work. So what are your hobbies, what are you doing to take yourself out of work when you need to relax?

Marcus:

Yeah, my hobbies are working out. I've got my home gym in the basement and that's also a good place to listen to something. Or I go for a walk at the beach with my yeah EarPods in and listen to a podcast. That's where I get new content.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right, well, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Wish you the most of success. You guys have had already a lot of great success. It's going to be really cool to see the next milestone for you guys, I would say is like hitting that 10,000 downloads per month. I never thought that would ever happen, but the numbers that you guys are doing are getting close to that, so it's probably within the realm of possibility. But I wish you the most of success with your podcast communities and also your Amazon businesses, and we'll see you next year.

View Details

Get ready to immerse yourself in an enlightening discussion and AMA session with Matt, an expert in advanced strategies and Amazon PPC. Join us in this TACoS Tuesday episode, as we answer questions about variation listings, auto campaigns, broad campaigns, and ranking. We also take a peek into Matt's impressive background in e-commerce, recounting his experiences with selling textbooks and private-label products. Hear us as we dissect Amazon's latest data tools like Product Opportunity Explorer, Search Query Performance, and Brand Analytics and discuss how these can help sellers optimize their advertising strategies in this highly competitive market.

As we journey deeper into Amazon PPC campaigns, we touch on our “north star metric” of two sales and a click-through rate above 0.2%. Learn about the significance of negative matching and how to identify underperforming keywords using the search query report. We also shed light on the benefits of using software like Pacvue for automation and analytics and how it can save you time and effort. Plus, discover the advantages of day partying and understand the impact of different match types on campaign creation.

Lastly, listen in as we dissect the topic of Amazon PPC and how to leverage it to drive sales and boost profits. We share the calculation for adjusting bids based on target ACoS and emphasize the importance of not solely focusing on ACoS as a metric. We also touch on the recent announcement of Sponsored TV and its potential for both large and small brands. Tune in as we demystify the misconception that PPC must always result in immediate profit and share strategies for effectively utilizing broad keywords despite their increasing cost. This episode is packed with practical advice, insightful discussions, and cutting-edge strategies to help you win in the world of Amazon selling.

In episode 516 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Matt discuss:

00:00 - Expert Matt Altman Discusses His Amazon PPC Strategies
07:59 - Keyword Promotion, Sales Metrics, and Negative Matching
11:59 - Maximizing Advertising Efficiency With Pacvue
15:44 - Bid Adjustment and Amazon Sponsored TV for Sellers
23:28 - Amazon PPC Strategy and Optimization
28:21 - Analyze Ad Performance With Feature Pack
32:25 - Using Keywords for Effective Campaigns
35:27 - Boost Search Ranking With Brand Name
37:29 - Amazon Variations and Outside Traffic Strategy
43:08 - Invitation for January Case Study

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got one of the world's foremost knowledge experts on Amazon Advanced Strategy and PPC Matt back on the show and he's going to be answering all of your questions live, as well as answering a lot of my advanced questions on things like variation listings, auto campaigns, broad campaigns, ranking and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to keep up to date with trending topics in the e-commerce world? Make sure to subscribe to our blog. We regularly release articles that talk about things such as shipping and logistics, e-commerce and other countries, the latest changes to Amazon Seller Central, how to get set up on new platforms like New Egg, how to write and publish a book on Amazon KDP and much, much more. Check these articles out at h10.me forward slash blog.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our tacos Tuesday PPC show of the week or of the month, I should say where we go in-depth into anything and everything Amazon advertising with special guests that we have, and this week or this month we're going to have a special guest. We're going to invite him up. We're having some technical difficulty. I'm here at the Helium 10 office actually here in Irvine, California, today. So I don't have my regular setup here, but wanted to make sure everybody's having a great Q4. So far, all right. Let's go ahead and bring up our guest of the month, and it is Matt from Clear Ads. Matt, how's it going?

Matt:

Good, how are you doing, Bradley?

Bradley Sutton:

Doing awesome, doing awesome. Where are you actually watching us from? Where are you located?

Matt:

So currently in London. So we're here in London for the next few months, but we moved to Spain about six months ago.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, nice, how's that been.

Matt:

We're in Barcelona. It's been great so far Loving it.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Have you been to any FC Barcelona games since you've been out there?

Matt:

We haven't yet now, but it is at the top of my list.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I've been to a couple when Messi was still there. Of course, those are good times. Love Spain Now, just in general. We've had you on the podcast before and you gave us really cool strategies in general. Today we're kind of going to be focused on PPC. That's like one of your specialties, but can you talk a little bit about your background and how you came into that Amazon space, if maybe somebody might be listening to you for the first time?

Matt:

Yeah, definitely so. Been in the space since around 2011, started in college actually selling textbooks and retail arbitrage, so did that for about three to four years. Kind of scaled up my bankroll to where I could get into private label and jumped at it and honestly launched a bunch of crap. We did really well for a few years until a lot of the manufacturers just started going direct to Amazon and had some pretty bad years. But pivoted, got into supplements and food and that's been for like the last six years.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Now you are known for a lot of like really next level strategies. We've had you before at our elite workshop and things. And so thinking just first of all, I mean it could be about PPC, but just thinking outside of PPC, almost with all this new data that Amazon has come out with in the last couple of years, I mean I think a lot of us were even surprised years ago when Brand Analytics came out. And then nowadays, search career performance and things like that, this is stuff that I would say I don't know about you but me. Like four years ago I would have bet $10,000 that there's no way Amazon would ever tell you exactly how many sales are coming from a non-normalized search and what the click share percentage of top 10 competitors are, and this and that I mean people were paying Amazon employees thousands of dollars for these underground reports that weren't even as robust as what is now available for everybody. So what's your favorite thing? I'm assuming it's search career performance.

Your favorite thing that Amazon has come out with? And then what part of that especially do you think is super powerful that Amazon sellers should be using?

Matt:

Yeah. So I would definitely say search career performance is up there. I would say they haven't changed too much about it in the last like year and a half, but really, where we've been getting a lot of knowledge and data from is Product Opportunity Explorer. I would say like this used to be kind of bland, like years ago. They recently updated it, and the amount of data that they are giving you is insane. I mean, they're telling you exactly if you sell such and such supplement. These are the 15 keywords that matter. Here's the trends on that, here's the seasonality. Like every data point that you really need is there, and that's what you need to win on, I would say. The other big one, though, is the new reports in the brand analytics, where it's giving you greater details into your customer segments. So, like we sell and consumables, and we've always kind of taken a strategy on ads that's hey, like, even if our cost is 100%, what is our cost per net new customer? And we were trying to manually calculate that previously, and now they're telling you specifically by week, how many returning customers, how many net new customers you have. So it's really helped us dial in the ads for that specific strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, like. One thing I always liked about Product Opportunity Explorer even when it was kind of bland, as you said was seeing how many, for example, how many products it took to make up or in the old days, 80% of the sales for the entire niche. Now they kind of like, without even announcing it, they change it to 90%. But then it'll be interesting to see that you know some, you know quote, unquote markets or niches, what they call it you know, would have like 200 products, means like it's kind of like wide open, it takes 200 products just to make up 80 or 90% of the sales. And now you know there might be some where it's like only 40 or 10, you know like or like wow, there's 10 people dominating this. Now how would you personally use that information? Like is one or the other like better than the other?

Matt:

Yeah, so the great thing about Product Opportunity Explorer is it really shows you what keywords are driving the sales for those. So more than how many products are there we're looking at, are there branded terms that are in the Product Opportunity Explorer. So like an example that we were looking at this past week was for a floor cleaning product and we saw that of the 20 top like 50 keywords, bona was one of the main sales driving keywords. Like, even if there weren't that many products in that category, we aren't going to be able to overcome that branded search deficit. So it's just not something that we would go into Um, but we definitely prefer to go into categories where those sales are spread across more Um. The main reason for that is we really like to do kind of um I would call it kind of like tailgating. We like to kind of stay behind everyone and we'll pull like 10% of the sales from this person, from this person, and you can kind of pick off keywords from certain top products and they may not notice that you're coming up and then you can really use that to catapult yourself to the top of the category before the rest of the products in the category realized what's happening.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting, all right Now. Just, you know switching gears and going, you know kind of like PBC. Let let's do like some kind of beginner question, then let's do some some, some, some advanced things. But just, I always ask a lot of the, the the tacos Tuesday guest, about their strategy on this, because I think this is applicable almost to any level of seller. But what's your, your kind of like rule set as far as uh, when you promote keywords from like an auto or broad to to an exact, and also when you negative match on the promotion side, like, in other words, like are, are you looking for at least you know just one sale, or does it have to be two or three, like in the auto and then, and then, and then you, you put it in um or what. What's your criteria for for moving something from an auto to a exact?

Matt:

Yeah, so short answer. We're usually looking for two sales and a click through rate above like 0.2% Um. That's kind of like our North Star metric Um, but it really depends on the strategy of that campaign. Um, like, if we're wanting to run a lot of just awareness, we're going after ones where we may not even have sales at all but we have a high click through rate because it's a discovery keyword, that someone's kind of navigating that category with Um. So it varies, but typically it's two orders and above like a 0.2% click through. Okay, Awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

On the flip side, when are you negative? Uh matching, like uh, is it a certain number of clicks? Uh, is it a certain number of clicks that, uh, you have to have? Is it spend that you're looking at without a sale? Um, and then the follow-up question to that is are there scenarios where you're like not just automatically negative matching but you're like, oh shoot, this is like an important keyword. I got to figure out why in the heck I'm not converting on it before I go and just blindly negative matches. So it's kind of like a two prong question there.

Matt:

Yeah, Um, so this is, this is where really the search query report kind of data comes into play. Um, we're looking at, hey, like for competitors, um, like, is this performing? Kind of what's happening? Why aren't we getting sales? Um, we'll go ahead and test, possibly changing out our titles, our images, um morph towards those keywords and seeing if we can produce some sales through that. Um, but again it kind of goes back to, like, you know, the, the, the, the sort of focus that we used over a year and a half. Back to like, what is the source of that keyword? Is it really a converging keyword? Is it a discovery keyword? Like, we have a few keywords that we spend thousands of dollars on a month on my own brands, where we maybe get one or two sales Like it's out of loss, but we know it's a keyword that someone that's looking for a type of product uses is like their first term when they're trying to figure out which one to buy. And we just want to make sure that we're always top of mind really hard to like, distinguish that out and see that you were getting benefits from that. But now we're able to go a little bit deeper in that funnel and see that like yes, this is actually driving sales further down the funnel for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, cool. Now on the more advanced side, like you know, as I just threw on my, my pack view, my pack view jacket here, what, what are you? You know, like I know you've been using pack view for a while, but you know somebody out there my in general not understand, like you know, some of these services. You know pack view is not like oh yeah, you know, $49 a month subscription, but no, it's, it's, it's, you know costs, costs some money to you. So at what point does does it make sense for somebody to to like say you know what, I'm overdoing these Excel spreadsheets, I need to use a software. And then what? What makes a software suite like Pacvue so valuable? Like, how to you know? Cause you're not going to be paying money for something for you or your business or your clients that doesn't give you good ROI. So why is it worth it for you?

Matt:

Yeah, yeah. So we've been using Pacvue for gosh almost like seven years now. I think we were one of the first like agencies at my prior agency to come onto the platform and we love it. Honestly, wouldn't go anywhere else. So first thing I did when we came to Clare ads, we actually started switching all the accounts over to Pacvue. But in reality I would say it's usable for every level of seller. But we've had a lot of accounts come to us that may be using it but they don't know how to actually use Pacvue to its full advantages. They aren't taking advantage of all of the automations and analytics that are on the back end there. But I would say, even if you're a smaller seller like in using something that, like Bradley said, is $49 to $59, like even though Pacvue is gonna cost more, you're going to get so much more out of it. It will make your ads been more efficient. You will see better results as a whole. Like make the switch now, because it's a lot easier to switch when you're starting out and you have very few campaigns. Like migrating accounts over that have 400 campaigns already. Like it starts to get hard and you've got to really rework a lot of that. So I believe in doing it right from day one, and you're gonna save yourself a lot of work down the line.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, one of the things Pacvue does that probably eventually is gonna come to regular sellers might have some visibility in this aspect, but it's kind of like the ability to do like day partying and things. So is that something that you guys actually do Like? Do you use that service of turning off ads or changing budgets at certain times of the day and if you are, what's your criteria when you're looking at that?

Matt:

Yeah, so we do use that on every single account. We use it in one of two ways. One is we're manually adjusting it based on, like our peak sales hours that we know of, if it's a high selling account. But on other accounts, Pacvue actually has an awesome feature where you can set up a day partying scheduler based on conversion rates, click through rates, number of orders by hour, and it will dynamically update that based on a trailing two week, three week period, whatever you set it to. So Pacvue really does a lot of the thinking for you and eliminates kind of that concern from your mind.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's see we've got from Dota In Amazon PPC campaign. Should I create one campaign containing an ad group for phrase match exact and broad, or should I create each match in their own campaign or like? So I guess he's saying like maybe he should have different ad groups in one campaign or do you just have like one ad group per match type, per campaign?

Matt:

Yeah, so I'll tell you why we do it a certain way. I would say this is definitely kind of interchangeable depending upon how you want to manage your campaigns, but in order to have full and absolute control you need to have a separate campaign for each of these. A good example of this is we had a client who came to us. They had a lot of mixes within their ad groups during Black Friday, cyber Monday, they upped their bids with top of search modifier and they didn't realize that it would affect their broad targeting terms, that they were spending like $7 on broad terms and just getting placements everywhere and tank the performance. So we always break them out into their own campaigns and then even from there we'll typically segment out, like superhero keywords, into their own single keyword campaigns.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent. Let me see we've got another one here from Kim Kim K. I don't think it's the Kim K. Hey guys, do you have a calculation that you use to determine how much to adjust bids? Longstanding sponsor campaigns with lots of history is the focus target. Acos, thanks to Vets.

Matt:

Yeah, so this is pretty easy. You can put together a pretty simple formula to figure out bids based on your target ACOS. So, off the top of my head and I could be saying this wrong we have it in Excel sheet. But you're really just looking at cost per click times, conversion rates, and then equals your ACOS over that. I would say we typically don't optimize any campaigns towards ACOS. I think it's something that's been brought up a lot across, like the Amazon ecosystem, and it's never really the best metric to look at. We've had a lot of accounts that have come to us where their sales have depleted over the last year, year and a half, and they're running very efficient. Like 20% ACOS. Tacos are like three to 5%, like the account looks healthy but you're undermining the daily velocity per keyword that you can achieve, which ultimately kills your organic ranks, and then you may not see it now or three months from now, but six months from now you're gonna be like what the heck happens and it's really hard to climb yourself back out of that pit.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah makes sense. But just in general, before I go into some more specific ones that I had. You know, we recently had Amazon unbox and there was a number of announcements one of them being sponsored TV, that create a lot of buzz. But the question I think a lot of people have is is, well, that's still something, or maybe only for humongous, you know sellers like first of all, is that true, or is there a path to using sponsored TV for, you know, maybe there's a low seven figure seller, high six figure seller, and then is it kind of only for brand awareness, or do you think that there's? You know the way that they're doing it, sometimes with QR codes, you know, like on Black Friday football game that they had, where there's a direct to purchase link or is it more for brand awareness, do you think?

Matt:

Yeah. So we ran some over Black Friday, cyber Monday, across large and small brands and actually saw decent performance on quite a bit of them. I would say the biggest factor that really drove it was the quality of creative. A lot of our smaller brands didn't have the creative backbone to really fulfill a huge TV push like that, and that's probably the guardrail that smaller brands are going to have trouble getting over. Like you can't take a $200 video off the Fiverr and put it on TV and expect it to do well. So really focusing in on the creative and making it more like a TV commercial definitely helped for us. But we did have some very basic like stop motion slide animated videos with just some text over them and they did pretty well as well. So I would say it's worth trying out. Just make sure you're really narrowing down those audiences that you're targeting, because the CPMs on it are extremely high. But test it, put $20, $30 behind it per day and just really see what you can do. I do think this will kind of be a big lever that larger brands can definitely lean more into to increase that awareness as they tap out other pieces of DSP and Amazon ads. But smaller brands is like it's just as evil, even as a playing field. But the creative does have to be elevated.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. William says should I expect to see profit from PPC? I rarely see profit, however, the volume of sales increases. Where I see profit Maybe he's kind of like talking a little bit of tacos here, or like you know people, I think the narrative nowadays when you hear, when you hear sellers, is oh my goodness, like PPC is so expensive, like I don't even know how I can be profitable. But it's not always trying to just make profit on the exact ad. Right, talk a little bit about that.

Matt:

Yeah. So like one question I always ask sellers that even like potential clients that come to us when they're complaining about profits or tacos or a cost, I'm like, what's your CPA? And honestly, I can count on one hand the number of people that actually knew their CPAs by product that we've talked to. Every other ad channel you look at CPAs, whether you're running on meta, TikTok, whatever you're looking at CPAs, and every time we've run the numbers the CPAs are way cheaper on Amazon than they are on any other channel. What that means is yes, probably there are some categories where you're going to run PPC at a loss, Like on my brain, main brands. We run PPC at a loss because it keeps our velocities up, it keeps our organic rankings up and you'll see those metrics in your tacos. So really, tacos is kind of your guiding light on that, but really setting in stone a target CPA and not adjusting your bids based on a cost or tacos. But as long as you're hitting that target CPA, you're continuing to see growth. That's what we really like to maximize towards.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, thank you for that. William Guarov says hey, amazon PPC is getting costly. What's a strategy to play with broad keywords? And then maybe I can piggyback on that and take a step back. Broad it seemingly has almost changed over the last year or so. I could kind of predict what would come with Broad. I would use Helium 10, magnet, I would do the smart complete and then I could see all the Broad kind of variations. I kind of know what could potentially come up here Now. I might have coffin shelf as a Broad match and then I'll get thrown in like Gothic decor, like not even the same, doesn't even share the same keyword, and so maybe I'm not sure, if that's what he's talking about there, how it might be getting more expensive. And then if, if so, like, like, how do you deal with that?

Matt:

Yeah, so I'll answer this and I'll answer more about kind of what you went into, Bradley, because I think that's a bigger picture that people need to look into in the future of Amazon. But really when we're running Broad, we're running modified Broad campaigns so that we're at least trying to get more exact towards what we wanted. I will say it doesn't always work. Sometimes you still get those keywords way out of left field, but you have a bit more control. But I would focus again really on the search query performance data and the product opportunity. Explorer, like Amazon, is telling you specifically what keywords are being searched and what's being purchased. Broad isn't as useful for us as it used to be like. All that data now is getting piped back to us and using Helium 10, using Pacvue, you can find pretty much every keyword that's going to be a converting keyword. The biggest thing that we've seen Broad actually do for us here recently and I would say for the last six months, is it's allowed us to catch on to like TikTok trends that are basically going viral and it's picking up those keywords quicker than we would be able to pick them up. So that has been a huge opportunity. But there are a lot of other, like TikTok, specific tools that you can use to kind of find those trending things to get them into your ad campaigns.

Matt:

The bigger thing kind of on how Broad has expanded is Amazon, like Google and other search engines, is really kind of shifting towards a semantic search, which is why, like you're coming up for Gothic decor and things like that and you've probably heard other people in the space talking about semantics this has been key in, like Google, seo for the last few years and it's only going to get more and more relevant in Amazon as Amazon starts to switch more towards an AI learning model for their specific search. So a lot of what we've been doing and working on is, for example, typically if you're creating your listing, you'd find your keywords through Helium 10, you'd use Scribbles to craft your listing, make sure you get all your keywords in there, but, like in your example, gothic decor that is a huge semantic keyword that is relevant to your coffin. We would go ahead and put that on the back end or try and figure out how to fit it into the bullet points, because it's just a checkmark that Amazon's looking for now because semantically they're saying you should say something about Gothic with your current product and a lot of products that we've been optimizing towards this on, we've seen success like crazy, probably more than anything else that we've done in the last year and a half.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, let's see. Guarev has another question here. What would be the ideal ratio performing and non-performing keywords in broad? Not sure if I understand that question fully, but do you know what you might be listening for?

Matt:

Say like in broad you're going to have a lot more non-performing just because of the control factor. Unless you're using a lot of negatives, negative phrases, throughout it, I would say we don't really look at the ratio of performing and non-performing in broad because really where we're caring about performance is on our exact match. We aren't caring as much here. We're using this to seed keywords, so even if they are performing, they aren't staying in broad that long if they are. So typically for us it would be like 90 to 95% are non-performing.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Now switching gears to auto campaigns. What's your strategy as far as, like the close match, loose match substitutes? Do you keep them all in one campaign or do you actually segregate those targets in separate auto campaigns?

Matt:

Yeah, so we actually mix it up. We've seen hit or miss performance on these when we break them out, for whatever reason. Sometimes they work better even with the exact same beds when they're all together. I don't know why that happens, but we typically test both and then whichever one's performing, we pause out the others and let one continue on. We do do a lot of negative matching in our auto campaigns that we're bidding on elsewhere, but we do also always still run a super low bid auto campaign. We negate out brand of terms and run them at like 30 cents per click, and I was just looking at account before I hopped on here Last week one of them got 135 sales for like $22. Like these campaigns still work, I've used them honestly as long as I've been selling on Amazon and we always set them up for all of our products.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, going back to software, software like Pacvue Adtomic. One cool thing that we can do is I could just see a search term, but not just at the campaign level. I could see it in all campaigns. Like, let's say, in an auto campaign, for example, I got a coffin shelf and in that campaign I had 40 clicks and zero sales. And let's say I felt that it wasn't too relevant of a keyword. I'm like, yeah, I don't want to keep spending money on this. Obviously, at 40 clicks I would negative match it. But with the software I can see that, hey, it's getting impressions and clicks in a broad campaign over here, maybe an exact campaign over here, but in those campaigns there's only like maybe five clicks. So, theoretically speaking, if I was just looking at that campaign in isolation, there might not have been enough information to be a negative match. But since you have so many negative or clicks with no sales in one campaign, do you just go ahead and say you know what, across the board, I don't want this keyword showing up in any of these campaigns. Or do you let the number? Do you let it roll? Do you let it ride in those other campaigns?

Matt:

Yeah, so great question. This is actually a feature pack view that we use every single day because you see a lot of variance in this and even like moving keywords over to exact match. But it may be in phrase that have dead like a third of what your exact match one is. Whatever reason, the phrase one is serving like crazy and you're getting sales. The exact match one isn't. So we look at this daily and we're trying to figure out one like why isn't our exact match getting served? Like hey, what's going on here? And adjusting the bids and keeping a close eye on it. But typically if we're seeing performance elsewhere, we'll keep it on, mainly because we don't know exactly where that ad is appearing Like. I mean, we now know like top of search, rest of search, product pages, but we don't really know granular details. This is also something that pack view does really well. When you have your share of voice turned on, you can see exactly where your ads appearing and what placement, what percentage of time. So using pack view or actually I don't know any other tools that do it as deep as pack view does on that We've been able to really narrow it down and figure out like, hey, this one's performing really well and slot four of ad positions. Like we can't get served for this one and slot two or three, and we can readjust our entire strategy for that keyword for position four and actually set up automations in pack view to make sure we're always in sponsored position four.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice. Now, speaking of that, how are you keeping at top of search? You know like I'm kind of old school where you know you're more old school than me, but you know like in my days when I first started learning PPC, there was no, you know, top of search modifier and things like that. You just raise and lower the bits and I kind of kept doing that because, like you know, I obviously with helium 10, like I'll turn on the boost and keyword tracker and it's checking 24 times a day, rotating, you know addresses and browsing scenarios. So I kind of like, no, am I showing up in top of search and sponsor or not? And I've just kind of like kept doing that. Now, are you still doing that, or do you use those those? You know like, hey, I'm going to go 200% for top of search or some kind of formula like that.

Matt:

Yeah. So I'll say when the bid modifiers first came out like they were amazing. We could bid like 60 cents with 900% top of search and get crazy conversions and everything was great. Too many people are using them now and it's kind of just a battle of who's going to pay more to get that position. What we've actually switched most accounts over to is actually using pack view organic and paid position bidding. So we'll set up rules to basically increase the bids until we're in position one and that will like set our new base bid if we're going for top of search and then we'll use that and then look at our percentage of serving time through pack view into that and adjust as needed. Like. One nice feature is you can set like I want a 90% top of search share of voice for this keyword and pack view will automatically update your bid without the modifiers, because sometimes using the modifiers can get out of hand quickly and you could spend your whole budget and one day, if the keywords big enough, within a few hours on one of the 50 keywords in your campaign. So we really rely on pack view to figure a lot of that out for us and optimize the perfect position for ads and we've kind of stepped back away from modifiers. The one place we do still use them quite frequently, though, is product page modifiers. We do a lot of product targeting where that's really what we're going after, and it does seem to still work well for us there. Rest of search hasn't been a great modifier for us as of yet. We have better success using set rules and pack view to manage that versus the rest of search modifier.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, cool, I got a fight to bring that into Adtomic. I didn't know that pack view had that Nice Two part question here from Duda how do you use these keywords Electrolyte protein phrase match and then electrolyte protein powder phrase match? My issue is that they are my main keyword but they generate different variations in customer search terms with different variations. With only one click or two, the most Out of those 50 different search terms that get that those main keywords are generated. How do I pick those that convert it? So I'm assuming that he's got two targets here and that maybe he's getting clicks on a whole bunch of long tail versions of this. Perhaps, if I'm deciphering this correctly.

Matt:

Yeah. So it depends on how that campaign is set up. So a typical phrase match campaign for us we would never put those keywords into the same ad group or campaign because electrolyte protein is electrolyte protein powder phrase. If you do have them split out into separate campaigns, if you have different bids there, one's going to serve over the other always. You have no real control in that. So I would say if it were me, I would just do electrolyte protein as a phrase match and get rid of any type of variation possible and use that as my guiding light. If you aren't getting served typically I know that's a high volume category your budgets probably aren't enough within that campaign to keep it serving constantly and you're getting middle of page or bottom of page placements. So that's how it's getting your budget throughout the day. I would test increasing the budget on that campaign and seeing what it scales up to and you'll probably see a bit more even click distribution between those.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, Cool. Sergio has a question here. Hey say, when launching, you tell your friends and family your brand and your product and hey, go buy it. Should I do an exact campaign for the brand name so they don't have to scroll? So first of all, at least it's good that you're like, don't be doing search, find, buy things or something which it sounds like you're not. Otherwise you wouldn't even have this question and hopefully you're telling your friends and family, do not leave your reviews just at all, to make sure that you're not getting in trouble with Amazon. But yeah, if you're trying to get your friends to support your product, I mean I think regardless, if you're trying to get your friends and family to support your product, shouldn't you always target your brand name, or that's only kind of like when you're more of a mature brand, Does that really come into play? What do you think?

Matt:

Yeah, I would say it depends on your brand name. If it's a unique brand name that, like nothing else is really going to come up for, like yeah, I wouldn't run ads. But if it's something that could be construed as something else, I would definitely run some ads to get towards the top. The one thing I would say about this and it's something that we do when we're launching and you're telling friends, family, anyone about it, we leave it kind of bland and just say, hey, this is my brand and it's a protein powder. I would really appreciate if you can buy it. You're not telling them to go search, fine, by keywords. But if you tell them that, hey, it's protein powder, and brand names are probably going to search protein powder, that brand name without you doing anything, Because it's always better, which is why search fine buys work to get a real keyword in there beyond your brand. But even just pumping the brand name does work as well. We've seen it with TikTok. Brand name searches can skyrocket you for every other keyword that you're relevant for.

Bradley Sutton:

William says yeah, this is a universal question, I think, or universal debate, I think. For successful exact keywords, do you recommend making those keywords negative in the broad? Some people teach that although you're converting for a keyword in the exact, do not remove that keyword from broad.

Matt:

Yes, this is debated quite a bit and I'll tell you from our experience it can kind of go either way, like sometimes we'll negate it in broad and then the exact stops performing. Sometimes we'll leave it and the broad performs better. Like it can go either way. I would say it's something that you should definitely test. Amazon ads is still kind of finicky on some of these things. For whatever reason. Older campaigns still tend to work better for us. So if your broad campaigns older than your exact match, it may still continue to outperform for a little bit. But what we do typically do is if we're going to leave it in broad, we lower the bids in broad I'm not specific keyword quite a bit and try and give the exact match as much room to run as it possibly could.

Bradley Sutton:

OK, cool, let's see. Hina has a question. I have 10 variations. They're not page one ranked. What strategy can I apply to get a good conversion on it? So I'm not sure exactly what he's saying here. But let me just change this into another question here. Like I've got betting that has a bunch of variations, or a consumable that has a whole bunch of different flavors, are you putting all the variations into one campaign? Do you have different campaigns for each variation? Do you only promote maybe one or two child items out of the whole variation? What's your strategy on variation items for PBC?

Matt:

Yeah, so we run a lot of variations. This is the one place where we do run ad groups. So our main products, the main variation, is flavored. So if someone's searching for a lemon flavored one, you obviously don't want that running against a chocolate flavored one. So an exact match campaign would have an ad group for each flavor and we'd be breaking out the different flavor variances within there. If it's a more broad term that doesn't include a flavor name, we're usually pushing it towards our hero product within that variation. But something that you can definitely test. I would say one thing to look at is search query performance and also the top I think they call it top search term report Now it used to be the old brand analytics report and see what the other top click products are. In our instance, if someone's searching for a sugar cookie, it may be that they're searching for a specific flavor and you can see that by the click through rate and a commercial rates from brand analytics.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Now, before we get into your final strategy of the day, can you talk a little bit about clear ads? I mean who you know, who, who you guys might be able to help the most, and what you guys do.

Matt:

Yeah, definitely. Um, so we're an ads agency um based in the UK. Um, we work with sellers and actually every single amazon marketplace now, so can help you across the board there. Um, we also do offer like full service management. So if you're looking for content creation, lipstein optimizations or even just day to day like inventory management, case log management, we can help you with all of it. Um, we also run DSPs, so pretty much a to z on amazon, we've got you covered. Um, and many of you may know George Um the founder. Um, he's everywhere. Um, so, yeah, head us up if you need any help with any of those things.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right, now um 60 second strategy of the day could be about PPC. It could be about search career performance. Could be about how to live as a foreigner in Barcelona. It could be about anything you want, so go ahead.

Matt:

All right, um, so I'm going to take it away and I'm going to do. Uh, outside traffic to amazon Um, so I think one of the big questions that search career report has brought up with a lot of people is like, hey, these sales numbers in here are extremely low. I know I'm selling more for this keyword or this product. Like, why isn't this represented? And I think majority of people don't ever look at outside traffic to listings and what's happening. But if you actually take the time to dive deeper, you would be amazed at how much traffic comes straight to your listing from other sources outside of amazon. Um. One great way to do this is how we do it. Um, you can use SCM, rush or a trust or really any kind of SEO tool. Plug in your canonical um amazon URL and just see, like, what articles have been written about you that you know nothing about, where you're getting posted on social. It will highlight all of these things. Um, but really the big key factor that we've been looking at is if you have a competitor in your category that you just you can't figure out how they're doing things. Chances are it's all coming from outside of amazon and that's why you can't compete. So doing this simple search, you can see like, hey, these are the bloggers that are talking about it, these are the articles that they got. You can reach out to those people directly. Most of those positions are paid. Like, don't trust any of those top 10 articles, they're all paid. Um, you can reach out and pay for those, and sites like a H refs SCM rush will tell you how much traffic that bloggers are, so you can kind of estimate what your return is going to be on that dollar. Um, I would say another big piece that we've been kind of working on for these is for a lot of terms like your, your coffin example.

Matt:

Like there's no one out there that has a website about coffins, like that specific product, it would take you with AI a few days to whip together a basic word press site that has everything you would ever want to know about small coffins and since no one else is writing about that, you're going to rank in Google like top three within a few weeks. If you're in these categories where there isn't that much competition or it's a unique product, start making some micro sites. Um, like I've shared some examples at some prior events and presentations, we have a few of these micro sites that are giving us seven to 8000 people a month now to our Amazon listings, and we used AI for the entire process. Um, so it took us maybe an hour per site and they just continue to produce. And the big thing with that is it's a traffic channel that no one else can really steal from you, because most people aren't looking at this and you'll always kind of stay at the top of your category because your velocities will just always be higher.

Bradley Sutton:

That might be something I'd like to dive into, if you are able to come out in January. Like your step by step case study on that, that sounds fascinating. Alright, well, matt, thank you so much for joining us. I know it's late over there. I appreciate it and hopefully we get to see you in January.

Matt:

Sounds good. Thanks for having me.

View Details

Ever wondered how Amazon's impending FBA fee changes could impact your selling journey? Let’s tackle this complex web and break down what these changes might mean for you.

View Details

Join us on a journey as our special guest, Ritu Java, takes us from her beginnings in India to her experiences in Japan, ultimately transforming her into a data-driven entrepreneur. With a unique perspective on the blend of culture and commerce, Ritu shares insights on how she leveraged her expertise in data and analytics to excel in Amazon PPC strategies. You'll also hear her intriguing tales of running an Etsy store from Japan and overcoming the complexities of helping Amazon sellers worldwide.

The conversation doesn't stop there. Discover how AI has become a game-changer in running Amazon PPC campaigns as we discuss our personal experiences combining AI with other data sources to optimize campaigns. Listen as we unveil the advantages of using chat GPT for keyword research and translation over traditional methods like Google Translate. This episode offers a unique perspective on integrating AI into workflows and SOPs, driving efficient and effective results. We also underscore the value of incorporating AI into Amazon PPC strategies for successful product launches and campaign management.

To cap off this enlightening conversation, we tackle the future of Amazon selling and the role AI plays in it. From generating keywords for Amazon searches to creating images for sponsored brand ads, we unravel how chat GPT and mid-journey can elevate your selling game. Don't miss out on our tips for creating effective lifestyle photos and the significance of close-up product images. We also shed light on the evolution of Search Query Performance on Amazon and share our strategies for effectively managing and analyzing data.

In episode 515 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ritu discuss:

00:00 - AI Power for E-commerce Sellers
07:54 - Utilizing AI for Amazon Sellers' Success
09:05 - AI in PPC Strategy With Chat GPT
20:52 - Search Term Modifiers and Word Order
23:04 - Enhancing Amazon Ads With AI
31:24 - Generating Posts Using Canva and Amazon
32:19 - Utilizing Search Group Performance Data
33:47 - Optimizing Data Strategy for Efficient Analysis
41:23 - Convert Snapshot Data to Time Series

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a first time guest who I think is probably top five in the world these days as far as actionable Amazon strategies, and she's going to give us an absolutely value-packed episode full of tips on generative AI, PPC and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. How can you get more buyers to leave you Amazon product reviews? By following up with them in a way that's compliant with Amazon terms of service?

Bradley Sutton:

You can use Helium 10 Follow-Up in order to automatically send out Amazon's request, a review emails, to any customers you want. Not just that, but you can specify when they get the message and even filter out people that you don't want to get that message, such as people who have asked for refunds or maybe ones that you gave discounts to. For more information, visit h10.me forward slash follow-up. You can sign up for a free account or you can sign up for a platinum plan and get 10% off for life by using the discount code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We've got a special guest today Ritu. So, first of all, we're going to get into your backstory about how we can even talk in Japanese, because that's something that's crazy. Were you born in Japan or were you born?

Ritu:

I was born in India, but I lived in Japan for 17 years.

Bradley Sutton:

So from what age?

Ritu:

You want to know how old I am.

Bradley Sutton:

No, no, no. From what age were you living in Japan?

Ritu:

Mid-20s. Yeah, so mid-20s.

Bradley Sutton:

Also was, so you didn't go to school in Japan.

Ritu:

No, I didn't. I went there as an adult. I was working at a company and I take company 17 years.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, that means you had to have gone there when you were a child. Then because you can't be over 25 years old. So I don't know what's going on here.

Ritu:

That is very cute.

Bradley Sutton:

I was all the reason. I was asking if you grew up because I wore this shirt today. Do you recognize this character here? What is this?

Ritu:

Yes Doraemon. Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome. I know a little bit about you, but I for some reason had this idea that you actually grew up in Japan and that was why you were so fluent in language. Once you go as an adult, it's a little bit harder, unless you really immerse yourself in the culture.

Ritu:

I did. I really immersed myself in the culture. I went there just for a year, honestly, and ended up staying 17. It's so crazy how that place had such a big impact on me. It was such a stark contrast to where I grew up, which was India.

Bradley Sutton:

Whereabouts in India.

Ritu:

In Delhi, the capital city of chaos that's how I describe it from chaotic to super orderly. You can imagine what a difference, that is A stark difference from the world I knew. I was just drawn to the calm and the orderliness of that place. How things were punctual, everything happened as expected, there were no surprises, everything was planned in so much detail, which I kind of liked. I think where I'm at right now is a nice middle ground, because I think I like the chaos. It has energy. It has a certain type of progressive energy that all of us need, especially as entrepreneurs. We need that energy to be able to kind of keep moving forward. But then I also like the organizational skills that I picked up while I was in Japan, because you need that to have good execution. I think best of both worlds is what I'm trying to be at right now, trying to draw from both my cultures.

Bradley Sutton:

Then did you go to university in India.

Ritu:

I did. I'm an engineer. I did my electronics engineering from India. I went back to school much later in life. I went back to school in the US and I did a course in data science, which is why I'm very attracted to PPC and data and data analytics and that sort of stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

When you graduated with the electrical engineering degree, did you start working in India, or is that when you went to Japan?

Ritu:

Yeah, I started working right away and I started working in India and I worked for an IT company and it was a pretty long stint there as well, like I was very interested in technology right from the start and it kind of aligned with my life's goals and stuff like that. At the time. I mean, little did I know that I would completely switch at a certain point. When I was in Japan I worked for not only the company that I was in India, I kind of went to their Japan office and I started helping them out. But then later on I switched to a more technical role at a school, at a high school, American school in Japan, and then I had my kid and took a break from work and then I kind of dealt in a little bit of entrepreneurship. I started running my own business. I had an Etsy store. Yes, in Japan, while I was in Japan, I started my Etsy business selling jewelry. It was like kind of one of a kind jewelry and I realized that, gosh, it's not enough just to create a listing and people are not going to flock to that listing. So I had to teach myself a whole lot of stuff like marketing advertising. So I learned Facebook ads, Google Ads, blogging, YouTube, all of that stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

So Etsy in the United States, or is there an Etsy in Japan?

Ritu:

No, there's an Etsy in the United States, but I was selling on the US market from Japan. So I was producing my stuff there, but I was shipping it worldwide wherever there were shoppers. But shipping costs are exorbitant. Sending stuff from Japan it's very expensive. Yeah, so mostly was attracted to the data side of things. Yes, I have both left and right brains, because the creative side was just all my creations, the jewelry that I made. But then I needed the data science side of things to kind of round things off and make money out of my business, because everything we do here is based on data and I know he's intended the data company. So is PPC Ninja. We might think that we're in the business of selling goods, but actually we're in the business of leveraging data. So that's why it was so important for me to get that knowledge and make sure that I'm kind of ready to go with my own endeavors.

Bradley Sutton:

Now. So, Etsy was kind of like your first online marketplace. Now, did you ever end up selling on Amazon or did you go straight into software and consulting etc.

Ritu:

Yeah, so I've never sold on Amazon, but I've helped businesses sell on Amazon. So it's basically the data side of things. So, I only sold on Etsy. I sold on my own website for a bit, but then I have never sold on Amazon myself. But PPC is where I'm focused on.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool. Now you talked about having an analytical mind, and that's kind of like what you're known for. When you've spoken at events like Billion Dollar Seller Summit and others is especially in the last couple of years, you're one of the go-to people as far as AI and things like that, now me, I'm a little bit behind. I use even on this podcast, we use AI to generate title options and transcripts and things like that, but I would say I'm not one of those full force ahead like, hey, ai is going to replace hours and hours of work. I haven't really adopted it to that effect. So, the typical Amazon seller what are some things that you don't have to be a seven, eight, nine figure seller but just like any Amazon seller if they have not started utilizing AI to help them in their operations or business? What are? Let's take it to that spectrum first. What are some things that you think that any Amazon seller could benefit by utilizing AI?

Ritu:

Yeah, there's so much. Actually, the magic happens when you start combining things. So AI by itself may not be the be all and all of things, because it's not going to operate in a silo. You've got to combine it with other pieces of data that you have access to. For example, just this morning I was preparing for a new product launch for one of our clients and I'd got all my data from Helium 10. I was at the stage where I have to come up with some keywords for broad match campaigns. I wanted to make sure that all the right keywords are in there, not just the long tail ones with high search volume, but I wanted to make sure that I'm capturing all the seed combinations of important words that make sense. So what I did was I exported the Helium 10 cerebral analysis and I fed it to chat GPT and asked it to come up with two words and three word combinations of seed keywords that would perfectly describe this product. Now what I'm going to do next with that is basically convert that into broad match modifiers, which basically means you add a plus sign in front of all the seeds and then I'm going to create campaigns with it. So that's something that I do at every launch. I generally don't skip that step. It's an important one for me. So, in addition to all the long tail keywords, I will come up with enough seed words that will run at a slightly lower bid but will be like a discovery campaign for me through the broad match modifier channel. So that's kind of one thing that I do.

Ritu:

Then, like yesterday, I was doing another one for another client, where we have a list of keywords that we discovered from the search query performance report, which is kind of this new, very valuable piece of data that Amazon is giving us these days. So from there I was able to come up with a structure for sponsored brand headline ads and I didn't have to do the work. I just fed that entire list to chat GPT and said, hey, organize this into groups of very related words and then give me a headline ad which is less than 50 characters, because that's the amount Amazon will give us. And then it did that for me. I also gave it one other important instruction, which is to make sure that one of the keywords or a very close variant of that keyword in the group must be included in the title, and that's basically my way of saying, hey, I want this to be a lower funnel ad, not a generic kind of upper funnel ad, because my sponsored brand ads tend to be more focused on ROAS rather than brand discovery and brand awareness. So those are some of the ways that I'm using it almost on a daily basis. I had switched to chat GPT plus a long time ago. I've been paying for it and it's totally worth it.

Bradley Sutton:

So there's how much is it for somebody to subscribe to?

Ritu:

that it's about $20 a month. It's not much at all, yeah, it's just $20. And what it gives you is all the beta features, all the new stuff. So right now you can actually upload files very easily. You can upload any kind of file to almost any kind of file to chat GPT and then ask it to analyze, analyze the file and then you can ask it a bunch of questions. So it's just made life so much easier. And I mean I think sky is the limit with what you can do with AI. It's like I always, always feel like I'm not using it enough, even though I'm using it probably quite a bit more than a lot of people, but I still feel cautioned to use it more.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, interesting. So there's some of the ways that you can use it in PPC. Now I remember you presented something. I've seen you speak, you know, various times, but I don't remember which event, this or what it was. That might have been a billion dollars, but where were you doing? You were doing like translation, using like Helium 10 because, like you were doing research, you weren't translating the English keywords. That's obviously a big mistake that some sellers make. Hey, I've got my Amazon USA listing, let me just translate it. Or let me just translate the keywords. No, you need to do the research in that marketplace. So you switch Helium 10 to Amazon Germany, for example, but if you're not a German speaker, you just see all this Deutsch keywords and you don't really know what it means. Or so they're doing it in Amazon Japan and they don't speak Japanese like you, so they might not know. So what's your? I'm not sure if it was AI or just something in Google you were doing to kind of like make that process a little bit easier.

Ritu:

Yeah. So what we've done is we have integrated chat GPD right into Google Sheets, and we had to write a little bit of code for that. But once we did that, what's happened is that we have these ready to go sheets where we simply change the prompt and add a bunch of keywords and then it will just translate into whatever language, right? So? And I've noticed that any translation done by chat GPD is way better than Google Translate and I've tested it, especially in Japanese, because I can read it. I know that the quality is much better.

Ritu:

Just to give you an example chat GPD will use the right combinations of Kanji and Hiragana, whereas Google Translate will not. It just doesn't do a great job. And if I tell chat GPD to give me a translation in all four different scripts, that's, kanji as well as Hiragana, Katakana and the Roma G, it will give all those to me. It's a no-brainer to use chat GPD for that sort of thing rather than Google Translate and then other languages as well. Like we're just onboarding this client that has four markets and we have no speakers of those languages on our team. But with chat GPD, we can simply include that into our SOPs, into our workflows and just use those sheets to kind of get the final product out. So it's really great the combination of Helium 10 and chat GPD workflows. They work really well for us.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool. Now going back a little bit, just remember you were talking about broad match modifiers. There might be people out there who don't know what that means. Can you explain that a little bit?

Ritu:

Yeah, yeah. So a broad match modifier is a type of broad match, so when you're setting your add up, it'll still be a broad match. However, by simply adding a plus sign before every part of the keyword which means if it's a two word keyword, then both the parts will have a plus sign in front of them what you're gonna ensure is that the buyer search must include those words in exactly that format in order for that match to happen. So this eliminates any kind of kind of synonyms or related words that Amazon might try to kind of connect to, which you don't think need to be there. So at this point, amazon is even replacing exact matches with weird sort of words that it thinks are similar. So we don't want that, because we've done all of the research to find out which exact version of that keyword is giving us the highest search volume, so we wanna stick to it.

Ritu:

In order to make that happen, we're actually finding ourselves doing more and more work with broad match modifiers, because all the other match types are being weird anymore. Like exact matches are not behaving like exact matches. Same thing with phrase match and broad match anyway, always was a bit too broad and it was always kind of giving you all kinds of weird matches for sponsored brands, but then it started doing the same thing for sponsored products as well, and that makes it a little challenging. It can be wasteful. So yeah, broad match modifiers is a great way of making sure that your matches are clean and that they don't bring in kind of extraneous, superfluous words that you shouldn't be targeting.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you use that 100% of the time when you have a broad campaign?

Ritu:

So you always have if it's a three word phrase.

Bradley Sutton:

You'll put the plus in between each of the.

Ritu:

Yes, 100% of the time. We've been doing it for the past two years and we actually future proved ourselves because we knew this was coming. It's kind of like Amazon always follows Google. So we knew this was coming because Google introduced broad match modifiers first. Now they've already sunset it. So I don't know where this is gonna end up for Amazon, because what I've heard and I don't wanna just speculate, but what I've heard people say is that Amazon might be moving toward a future where there aren't any match types. There's only a word, there's only a keyword, and then it figures out how to match it the best way. Now it's plausible, especially in this AI world. It's plausible that that might happen. But in the interim, I'm betting on broad match modifiers and exact match. Of course, can't do much about the fact that Amazon isn't treating exact matches the way they ought to be treated, but that's the best we have right now.

Bradley Sutton:

So what would the difference be between using broad, doing broad target with modifiers compared to phrase for the same, the same, you know, like coffin shelf, like. So if I do coffin plus shelf in broad or coffin shelf in phrase, what's the difference in the potential? You know showings of that keyword.

Ritu:

Yeah, no, I think the showings of that keyword might totally depend on the bids and they might also depend on relevancy. So it's very hard to predict which of the three match types are gonna win. You know that's been a struggle. I mean you can't really say if you put coffin, what was it? Again coffin shelf.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, coffin shelf.

Ritu:

Yeah, if you say coffin shelf broad coffin shelf phrase and say coffin shelf exact, what we would want it to do and what would be logical is that if I had a higher bid for exact match, then you know all the searches should come in match through exact match. But that's not always the case. You know, we've seen so much variability there. It also depends on which campaign, you know, starts out those keywords and then each campaign has its own story, its own history. Because let's say, you combine that keyword with a bunch of other keywords and let's say those other keywords got a majority of the early data points, like it started hitting some other words coffin longtail words Before it hit your coffin shelf word, then what happens is that this word starts getting starved of impressions, the other words start to take dominance and these words that get starved of impression give you the false impression that they're not working, whereas it's just a matter of how things started off, like what were the set of searches on that day, on that very moment that Amazon decided to match?

Ritu:

And then it's going to just take its cues from whatever little data it has in the beginning, because that's all it has to play off of, and then it just keeps giving more and more and more impressions to the early data points and everything else just gets ignored, you know. So it's like a game Like PPC is a game that you know you've got to be able, you've got to be willing to keep playing, trying different things, different ways, moving things, you know, trying it in a different match type, in a different campaign, restarting, stopping, all of that you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay now you know like, for example, if I just do you know, going to this same example, you know coffin shelf, no modifier and broad. You know, yeah, nowadays you know something crazy can come up with, like, you know, spooky decor.You know, potentially it could even come up not even including the word, but ones that are traditional, would be like, you know, coffin shelves for men, coffin shelves for women, but then also it could be coffin shaped shelf, like it could insert a word, or shelf shape like a coffin. You know, like changing the order, but if I put that modifier in there, does that force it, in your experience, to be only longer tail, like it's coffin shelf has to be in there as a phrase and then it's only putting words at the beginning or the end, or still. It could switch it up a little bit.

Ritu:

Yeah, it will switch it up. So coffin shelf could be shelf coffin even. As long as the word shelf and the word coffin both exist in the match, it will match. Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, going back to Helium 10, now I was looking at, I did it. I still haven't seen your replay of your presentation you did for Helium 10 Elite a few months back. But I was looking at your slides and there was something that you were talking about magnet and seed keywords and just by looking at the slide I couldn't tell what the strategy was. So can you explain what are you doing? I'm not sure if this has to do with chat, gpt or, but just how are you using magnet in a unique way?

Ritu:

Yeah, so what I do is basically I start off my keyword research by looking at audiences, like who is the right target audience for a product, right? So that's my first step. Now the audience list will help me figure out what words these people use. So if it's a garlic press and let's say there's five different types of people, there could be just regular straight up chefs, there could be restaurant owners, there could be whatever. So there's like five or six different types of people who might use a garlic press.

Ritu:

Now I ask ChatGPT to tell me all the words that these audiences or avatars are likely to use when they search on Amazon. So I'm actually starting from a suggestion of a seed keyword. That's my starting point, and then I use those seed keywords that chat GPT generates to go and dump that into magnet. And then I use the expand option the second one, not the first one and that basically gives me all of the keywords and their search volumes, and that's what I need Basically.

Ritu:

I wanna kind of run it by search volume information to figure out if it is really a word that I should be going after. Now I don't always come up with those words, probably because the search volume is too low, in which case I don't need to worry about it, but I can still use that information as broad match modifiers to just generate some sort of discovery. So like, for example, eco-friendly. I don't know if there's any sort of garlic press that's eco-friendly, but let's say someone in that audience wants an eco-friendly garlic press made out of bamboo or whatever. I will still create broad match modifiers that have those important words in that combination so that I can at least start to do some keyword research through an ad rather than through existing search volume data.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, switching gears from keywords now to images. I know you've talked about mid-jurdy Canva. Have you played around at all with the new Amazon one that they made kind of for sponsored brands? And then, if so, what's your results? I've had very different, like some of it are absolutely terrible, but then I know that part of it's because I don't really know how to prompt them. I'm not very good at prompting, but what's your experience with the new Amazon AI image generator for sponsored brand ads?

Ritu:

Yeah, I mean it's not bad for someone who's really struggling with image creation in general, but it's not really usable for every case right? In some cases, it's gonna be hard to come up with the perfect background for your image. The other trouble I have with it is that the product image is too small on the canvas, and that's not how I like my sponsored brand headline ads Generally. This is a tip actually for our listeners when you create a sponsored brand lifestyle photo, the biggest mistake people make is that they fully capture the lifestyle setting in which that product is being used, but then the product itself is so tiny. That's a big mistake. That shouldn't be the way right. The way to do it is to have the product front and center. It has to be blown up right in the middle and then you could maybe suggest what the background is. You might just use suggestive creatives rather than have it in absolute terms. It's being used in the setting that it's being suggested, so for that reason I generally like to request for zoomed in, highly close up type of images so that we can have better conversion rates.

Ritu:

And there's a story that I just wanna share here real quick. We had one client with a dog product and the product was being used on a dog that was sitting in the lap of a woman on a sofa, and then there's a living room in the background so you can imagine the size of the product. It's like so small you can't see it right. So then what we said to this client was give us a zoomed in image. So then they zoomed right in, so all we see now is the pop and we see the product. Right. So it completely changed the metrics for that ad and then we started using that particular image for many other of their sponsored brand headline ads, and then the rest is history.

Ritu:

They really started growing after that. But the point is that close up images are more important than pretty images, right? So pretty images anyone can create pretty images. You wanna make them highly converting images and for that reason I might not use the Amazon's AI generated images right away, unless they become better, unless they can kind of keep the product as the hero it needs to be, front and center. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out any prompt that can help me get to that stage, but I'll keep testing. I'm not sure yet.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so then what outside of Amazon? Then, like I said, I know you're using like mid journey, which is another one that's not too expensive it isn't like 10 bucks a month or something like that to use mid journey, or yeah. So then what if somebody is like all right, you told us what some basic stuff that people how chat GPT for 20 bucks a month can help Amazon sellers. What is something that Amazon sellers of any level can use mid journey for? That's kind of simple and definitely adds value.

Ritu:

Yeah, I think mid journey is definitely the leader and if you can learn to use it, there's nothing like it yet. But even straight up, chat GPT is now getting pretty good with images, so you can describe whatever you want and then it is connected to dolly in the back and then it generates those images and gives them back to you right in your chat GPT prompt, right. So if you have the paid version, then you can start testing that as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so let's say I've got all right, I've got a pretty nice image. You know, maybe it's a white background image or something of my product. Would the first thing I should do with experimenting with AI and mid-journey and things? Would it be making an infographic? Would it be trying to make a lifestyle? Like I remember in the early days of AI, like you could never put a human being in there because they would have like 17 fingers and just crazy faces and stuff like that. But like what should I do then? What kind of images? Or is it not really don't use it for your main images, but use it for, like, the sponsored brand and sponsor display, things like that?

Ritu:

Yeah, so okay, I think we need to think of images as layers, just like we think of layers in Photoshop. Right, there's layers like a background layer. So if you want just the ambience, the mood, the background, you generate that layer independent of anything else. That's one way of going about it. And then you layer in your product. You have your kind of no background product. Then you can always place it right in the middle, do those sorts of things. So it would probably be a two or three step process where you think of each layer separately, even the humans. You could bring humans in from a different source. You can get humans from there, you can get your backdrop from somewhere else and then you can get your product from your own product images and put them together. That would probably give you the best results.

Ritu:

But if you tried to have mid-journey to all of that, you might experience some failures there or some surprises with, like you said, 17 fingers and stuff. Now, mid-journey, the latest versions of it are getting better and better, so it's very human-like and it doesn't appear awkward. The facial expressions aren't awkward anymore, so that's good news, just means that we're going in the right direction. It's only gonna get better from here. So I would think of layering as one concept, and then, of course, where you wanna apply it is another thing infographics. I don't think chat, gp or even mid-journey would be good for infographic other than just generating the background for it, because text it still doesn't do a good job with text. You'll have to use some of your other tools for text. So again, it's layering, combining tools and coming up with the concept. So yeah, those are some of the ways in which you can use images.

Ritu:

Now posts is another interesting one. A lot of people are using mid-journey for generating posts, and that's a good way of generating lots of posts content, because Amazon doesn't allow you to repeat an image twice. So what you can do is you can have Dali or even Canva. I've used Canva AI, which is different from Canva normal. I can explain the difference, but anyway. So Canva AI can generate based on your description of what kind of backgrounds you want, and then you just slap in your photo your kind of hero image on top of it and there you have your posts. It takes barely any time to create like 20 different posts and most people don't realize this, but posts are free advertising. I would highly recommend generating posts on a regular basis and take advantage of it.

Bradley Sutton:

I've seen them more in search results lately too.

Ritu:

Posts. Exactly, it's one of those widgets that comes up.

Bradley Sutton:

That never happened, like six months ago or something. But, now it's right there on page one, so it's important to do, I agree.

Ritu:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So earlier you talked about search group performance. I love search group performance. My self is just like it's stuff that three, four years ago we would have. I would have bet a million dollars that Amazon would never release this kind of data to the public, and Amazon definitely has come a long way. What are some other ways that you're using search group performance, analyzing the data that Amazon gives?

Ritu:

Yeah, so search group performance. Like you said, it's unbelievable that Amazon is actually sharing this information out, so it's really up to us to take advantage of it as soon as possible. Almost feel like time is of essence here, because everybody's going to have access Everybody has access to that information. But right now most people are in the state of overwhelm. They're like, oh, I have this great data, but I don't know what to do with it. So most people are stuck at that stage.

Ritu:

But if you want to take the next step, then I would suggest start downloading those reports right away, because these things also get lost. Amazon discontinues things that you think they're going to be giving us forever and forever. For example, the brand analytics data that used to be I don't know millions of rows has certainly been compressed to just 10,000, and so on. So I mean there's a loss there that cannot be replaced. So I would say, number one start downloading your at least your monthly data at the ASIN level and then stitching all that data together, and by stitching I mean maybe putting it into a data warehouse. We use BigQuery in order to bring data in, and the way to stitch it is by making sure that your reports have some extra columns like the date column has to be there Then you have to make sure that you have the brand name in it and you want to make sure that your market is in this, so that when you stitch all that information together, then you can use a single report like a looker studio to dip into the data warehouse and you can basically use switch filters to switch between your different markets. So if you plan your data strategy well, then you will be able to use it more efficiently than just using it in a throwaway style, which most people do.

Ritu:

Most people go download a report, they look at it, they stare at it and they're like, ok, whatever Done, and it's thrown away. You don't want that. You want a system. You need an ecosystem for managing your data so that you can look at those from time to time. You get a month over month review. You get a month over month trend. You can see if anything has lost its search volume over time. It's so easy to check that at a search term level. Once you have stitched all that information together and is available in maybe something like a looker studio, how about something that's good?

Bradley Sutton:

it's important to understand the you know, like how to get started and not just like, all right, let me. Let me just look at search career performance or this data, just, you know, in the UI on on Amazon. But then what's the next step? Now I've got everything in my data warehouse and stuff like, for example, me. One of the things I like to look at in search career performance is comparing the conversion rate by the keyword for for just the overall niche, compared to my own. You know my own conversion rate. But you know, I think that's probably one of the most no brainer things. What are some other maybe not so common things that you're looking at when, when you get all of that data into your, your data warehouse, and start you know, start looking up stuff?

Ritu:

Yeah. So one of the things that I find really interesting is the average price per search term. So this is you know, amazon gives you the average price and that, basically, is a good indication of whether that search term is going for cheaper products or is it going for slightly more expensive products. Just to give you an example, let's say you have the word lotion right Now. You have a $50 lotion by L'Oreal, maybe, and you have a $5 drugstore brand Same thing, selling lotion. But if you're going after, if you're looking at the search term lotion, whatever, daily lotion or whatever and if you see that the average price for that search term is going at $6, let's say that's the average price of the product being sold. That is telling me that, no matter what I do to compete on that, on that search term, it's going to be hard because I'm going to be competing with lots and lots of cheaper brands. So we actually have filters on our search terms or search query reports, so that we only look at those searches that are in the ballpark of our products price point. That basically eliminates a lot of the noise, because otherwise you might be led into thinking that gosh, this is a great keyword and then you spend lots of money on it and ends up being a high cost scenario. You don't want that. So you look at both of the things one that you mentioned, which is what we call strength, keyword strength, which is determined as a ratio of purchase share and impression share. If you can get that ratio to be above one, then that's a good keyword. That is strong, inherently strong, because you're winning more of the purchase share than you're winning of the market, which basically puts it in a good spot.

Ritu:

And then the second one would be the filter on price. The third filter I would put is search volume, because, again, we don't want noisy, insignificant terms to distract us. And I think the fourth filter I would put there is data sufficiency, like how many sales have you had for that keyword over that period of time? So yeah, those would be the four filters to kind of get everything else out. And then, yeah, I mean that would be our way of figuring out which search terms are good. Then the other use cases of that would be to stitch that data with your ad data. So when you stitch those two together you can find gaps in a systematic sort of way, not just like a one off, throw away kind of way, where it's always being merged and it's always coming together and you can always see these are the ones that I'm not advertising yet. And then, yeah, I think those were the two main ones.

Ritu:

The third, slightly more advanced one, is when you want to figure out if a search term is good for product A, product B, product C, product D off your catalog because they might be sharing those keywords. Then you can see relative strength across your different products and see where you want to channel your information. Now that comes with the caveat, and that caveat is that there's a very high halo sales ratio on Amazon, which means you might be directing traffic to one of your product variations and something else is actually getting picked up eventually. So you need to know all of the. You need to know all those pieces in order to make the right decision and essentially in terms of using your, your traffic source as a fire hose, literally, and saying, okay, I want to direct it to this product and not to this product. Unless you know what the halo sales are, you could be off.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. Yeah, well really great stuff. Now, before we get into your last strategy you know, maybe it could be a PPC strategy, since that's your specialty how can people reach out to you if they, you know? How can they find you on the interwebs if they want to? You know, get some help with some of the stuff that you've been talking about today.

Ritu:

Yeah, absolutely so. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active there, so just look up my full name, Ritu Java, and you should be able to find me there and just say hi and I'll be happy to help. Yeah, and other ways, you can just reach out to our website, ppcninja.com or anywhere else. You see me.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now we have some of we do on our show. We call it TST. That's the 30 second tip. So you know you've been giving us lots of great tips and strategies, but what's like a hard hitting one you can give us in 30 seconds or 60 seconds or less. I'm not going to cut you off, go ahead.

Ritu:

So I think that you know we're all sitting on tons and tons of data and we don't know how to use it. I would suggest start thinking of strategies to use your data by connecting them up. Every piece of data that we get from Amazon or other sources, whether it's keyword rank tracking or search volume data, or your ads data or organic data. Also, you know competitor data and stuff like that. It's in different locations, it's hiding behind wall gardens and stuff like that.

Ritu:

You want to figure out a system to bring it all together, and I would recommend using a data warehousing strategy to start bringing everything together so that you can start looking at it holistically. So I would recommend start to think of simple ways in which you can convert your snapshot data into time series. That that would be my advice, and time series is basically for people who don't understand that. It's basically assigning dates to all your downloads. If you're downloading a business report, make sure you add a column and put the date there so that that becomes a way of identifying when that event happened. When you're connecting so many pieces of data together.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, Awesome Well thank you very much. Thank you so much for your time.

Ritu:

Than you so much Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

This was really awesome, awesome and we'll definitely be having you back on the show sometime next year to get your latest strategies.

Ritu:

Awesome, we'll look forward to that. Take care, Bradley, have a good one.

View Details

What if you had the power to manage over 200 Amazon PPC campaigns in just 10 minutes each week? Imagine the time and resources you could save with the right tools and strategies. Join us in this episode as we share how we use the Helium 10 PPC tool, Adtomic, to streamline our campaigns and work smarter, not harder. Bradley shares his best tips on campaign structure and show you how to apply rules to automatically transfer successful keywords from broad campaigns to exact ones.

Ever wondered how to navigate the labyrinth of Amazon PPC management? Allow us to guide you. We've harnessed the power of Helium 10's Adtomic tool for campaign automation and optimization. Discover how to conduct regular campaign audits, use negative keywords to curb wasteful spending, and use Adtomic to pinpoint unprofitable keywords.

Now, let's talk profitability. We know you're in this business to make money, so we'll show you how to optimize your Amazon advertising costs to maximize your return. We'll demonstrate how to set goals for ACoS and TACoS and use the Adtomic tool to optimize bids. And before you think about outsourcing, let us convince you of the merits of understanding Amazon PPC yourself. Despite your busy schedule, we believe learning how to manage your own PPC should be a priority - and we'll help you see why and how.

Google ads, Amazon PPC techniques, factors to negate keywords, and insights beyond the attribution window - we've got it all covered. We know the value of data and why you need to pay attention to it. Intrigued? Excited? We hope so because this episode is packed with strategies and tools that could revolutionize your Amazon campaign management.

In episode 514 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

01:09 - Manage 200 Amazon PPC Campaigns Efficiently Using Adtomic
03:53 - Campaign Grouping and Targeting Strategies
11:04 - Optimizing Keywords in Amazon Ad Campaigns
11:52 - Effective Amazon PPC Strategies
14:05 - Keywords and Campaign Management Simplified
16:41 - Optimizing PPC Costs for Profitability
17:56 - Profitability and ACoS
27:39 - Keyword Negation and Pausing Decision Factors
27:50 - Google Ads and PPC Techniques

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today I'm going to show you guys how I managed my 200 PBC campaigns in only 10 minutes a week, plus answer all the questions you guys submitted live. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Do you want to see how your listing or maybe competitors listing rates as to best practices for listing optimization? Or maybe you want to compare a group of ASINs or Amazon products to see how they compare to each other? Maybe you want to see within seconds the top keywords for a single listing or a group of listings? You can do that and more with the Helium 10 tool Listing Analyzer. For more information, go to h10.me/listinganalyzer.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask Me Anything, where we go ahead and take your questions live after giving you a demo of a cool tool that can definitely give you serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Today you'll notice I've got my what I call my Adtomic hat and shirt on. That's because I'm just going to give you guys kind of like a 10 minute run through of what I do to go through and manage my PBC accounts. I've been using Adtomic for since it was before Adtomic Used to be called At. So I've been using it for probably about three years now and you know I have probably over 200 PBC campaigns, over three, four accounts that I use it on, and I pretty much you know some. There can be a week where I don't even open it once, like it's doing everything for me. On average, I would say I spend about 15 minutes a week just checking out what's going on and implementing suggestions and things like that, and that's over 200 campaigns. So let me just give you kind of like a little idea about how I roll through it. Like maybe you used to use Adtomic before but trust me, it's like way different Now. A lot of this stuff. I already just recently audited the account, so you might not see too much new information here, but let me just show you what like my process is and why it only takes me like 15 minutes Now.

Bradley Sutton:

First of all, I have everything set up in kind of like my campaigns talk to each other, all right, and regardless if you guys use Adtomic or not, this is how I feel you guys should set up your PBC. All right. You have these groups of campaigns that all go to one product, and you've got one that's a exact manual campaign. You've got a broad or phrase match campaign I like to call that a research campaign You've got an auto campaign and then you've got an ASIN product targeting campaign, potentially a sponsor display campaign and then potentially sponsored brand headline campaign. So all of these kind of talk to each other, the auto and the broad campaigns. You can view those as kind of like keyword harvesting campaigns, discovery campaigns. You're discovering keywords that you might not be targeting yet and then, if you find some good ones now you move it to the exact product marketing campaign. Maybe you move it to the exact match keyword campaign, all right. But again, everything talks to each other so that you know the campaigns are benefiting each other, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is where I let me just show you how I set up that, that kind of like flow that I just talked about. So, for example, here is my large coffin shelf rule rule group, all right. So we've got a large and a small coffin shelf, or a large coffin shelf, and then there's a variation where it's a large and a small together. All right, I'm targeting both of those in my PPC campaigns. And here's the rules that I have set up so that I am not having to just, you know, every day download Excel sheets and make pivot tables and things like that. What I did is I put all of those campaigns right here in a group of campaigns. I've got my performance campaign. I actually have two. You know I probably hit like 25, 20 or 25 targets in one. So, like now, I only add it to a new one.

Bradley Sutton:

I've got my product targeting campaign. It's an ace in targeting campaign, sponsor display, my auto campaign and my research campaign, which I actually have as a broad and, as you can see what these checkbox that I'm showing on the screen for those of you watching this is. I'm saying, hey, if you find a keyword in the research campaign, like a broad right, like, let's say, I'm targeting a broad target coffin shelf and all of a sudden I get sales on this keyword coffin shelf for gothic decor, like a long tail keyword that I wasn't targeting, I'm saying, hey, find it here and then go ahead and put it in my performance campaign because instead of waiting for Amazon to show me in this broad match and just like hope that Amazon shows me, no, I want to target it specifically, all right. So that's basically all of these little boxes up here is me telling Adtomic to look for keywords in certain campaigns that I don't have in the other one and then, if it's good, go ahead and add that keyword as a manual target, be a product or keyword. Now, it's not just any keyword. Um, you can put your own criteria. So, as you can see what this is, just me, this is not saying oh, you guys have to copy what I'm doing right here.

Bradley Sutton:

I said I only want you to move this keyword to an exact campaign or suggest to me to do it if it gets at least two orders, cause, you know, sometimes there might be one, or like it might be complete fluke. You know, like maybe Amazon has me in an auto campaign and for some crazy reason, they showed me for my coffin shelf or, uh, you know a keyword egg tray or something like that, right, and then it could be like five days after clicking to add maybe the person actually does buy a coffin shelf. You know, it's probably not going to happen again, right? So I I put here a minimum of two because to me I'm like, hey, I want two people to order something. Then I know, hey, this is probably kind of like a good, a good keyword. And then I said, and I want my ACoS to be 30%. You know, if I had to spend 200% ACoS just to get these two sales, probably not that great of a keyword. And so, basically, that that's what it's doing, it's going to, it's going to, it's going to look at this.

Bradley Sutton:

I could set here the look this is, by the way, this bottom part is all new. I could look at the look back period. You know, some people might say, hey, I want to look at the last 30 days. Some people say, hey, no, I want. I'm a big seller, you know I'm doing spending $1,000 a day. I want to look every five days if there's new ones that meet this criteria. I put last 60 days. And then, hey, how often do I want to check this? I put daily. And then, what time zone do I want this rule to be off of? Now? I could automate this, right, I could automate it, but I'm not going. I don't automate my mind because I just like to be able to, to to click on it. Now, what about? On the flip side?

Bradley Sutton:

It's arguably more important to have good negative match, good negative match rules set up, all right. So I've got a negative match on this auto campaign and let me just show you how I have that set up. In the negative match, my, my rules aren't talking to each other, my campaigns aren't talking to each other, all right, cause I just like to do it in isolation. So I put here hey, I don't know why I didn't put this, somebody put six clicks. I don't want to get a negative match if it's just six clicks. So I'm going to split $10 here or $5 spent. So what does that mean? So some people people have their hands on the cookie jar in the project exit count and keeps screwing up my, my things that I have to end up changing it back.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, what this means is I'm saying, hey, if I get 15 clicks on a keyword or a search term in this auto campaign with getting zero sales, I want Adtomic to suggest to me to go ahead and negative match this so that I stop spending. Or if I spend $5, regardless of the number of clicks on a certain search term with zero sales, I want Adtomic to suggest to me to negative match that. And that's all this is doing, all right. So this is what. Again, I don't care if you guys are not using Adtomic, if you're just downloading spreadsheets. This is kind of like what you should be doing, right? I hope you're doing something like this where you know every few weeks, you kind of uh, you know audit what's going on on your PPC so that you're not wasting your spend, all right. So that's the kind of just the simple structure.

Bradley Sutton:

I can go a lot deeper into. You know budget rules and and different kinds of uh. You know situations there for what I want Adtomic to look at, but I like to keep my stuff real simple and then so, basically once a week, I come in here to my suggestions and oh yeah, by the way, one thing I forgot to tell you guys is I set everything at target ACoS, all right, there's different rules for my bidding, all right. So I was talking about keyword harvesting, keyword negative, what my rules were? Well, there's different rules that I could pit for uh pick for my bidding.

Bradley Sutton:

As you can see, I put everything here on uh and this is like AI powered. I want to target ACoS, like I want the campaign to perform at a 20% ACoS on almost all these. All right, I could choose max impressions or max orders, that it's not looking too much at the ACoS, but just just for this account I have everything on uh target ACoS and then I could put min, max, max bid. You know, like, maybe I have a $10 product and I know I never want to go past $1 on a, on ACoS per click. So I could say, hey, for my bid, I never want Adtomic to try and raise this bid on this search term or on this target. I should say for more than $1, or I want to. I never want to suggest to me something lower than than this. All right, so so that's that's. Uh, that's another thing.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, once a week I have my, my bidding, uh, you know, targeting, uh algorithms. Here I've got my rules as far as my positive keywords, my negative keywords. All I have to do is go to the suggestions, all right. And then, for example, uh, what I'm looking at here is the AI bids. So, hey, my, my target ACoS is 20% and let, on this keyword, my ACoS is 86%. So it's telling me to go ahead and lower my bid. All right here. And then, if I, if I agree with the suggestion. All I have to do is click one button. I can actually click the whole entire page here If I agree with all these suggestions, and it happens instantly.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not finding it in seller central. Where is this campaign? Where, you know, let me click on edit bid and let me, you know, find it. This and that that would take just by itself. You know like how, how many. I have a hundred and seventy nine bid changes I need to make. Do you know how long it would be to find these in my, in this account only has like maybe like 75 campaigns, but to go find them in these 75 campaigns and go into the ad group and everything and change these one by one, that would take forever. I could literally do it in 10 seconds right here if I just click a couple of buttons.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, here is my new keywords. I actually do have two ones, all right. So let's take a look at what it found. All right, take a look at this, look at this keyword here Coffin shaped shelf. All right, I spent $7 on this and I got $89 worth of sales. All right, and this was from an auto campaign. And so what is it telling me to do. It's saying hey, click me and then go ahead and add this to your manual campaign and, potentially, your broad match campaign. Now again, am I having to go find these campaigns, add a target, set the bid and all that stuff, like I would if I, if, if I'm down, if I'm working in seller central, uh, manually? No, I just click one button and boom goes the dynamite. It is now done. It is now added to that campaign so that I can go ahead and target that manually.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's another keyword that it just found. Again, it must have found this in the last four days because I just audited this. I just went through all my suggestions. Like three days ago, wooden egg rack, I spent $5 on uh, which campaign is another auto campaign. I got $55 worth of sales. It's saying hey, go ahead and add these to your manual campaign. All right, it would do the same thing for ascent targets as well. That it might find in the auto campaign.

Bradley Sutton:

Again, negative keywords. It's, it's, it didn't find anything right now, but that's where it would be All right. Now, what if you're just getting into Adtomic and you don't have all your rules set up and and you're just setting up your campaigns? It might take a while. What I suggest doing is like audits on your account, all right, and I just did this audit. Let me show you the kind of audits that I do. I go right in here to analytics and the first thing that I want and again, nothing should come up here that's not already negative matched, because I, like I said I already went through this.

Bradley Sutton:

But let me show you what I did to, in seconds across my account, find the worst keywords. So what I did was I said, hey, I'm looking back at the last two months of PPC activity here and I'm saying, hey, I want to see something that gave me zero sales, all right, but I had at least 30 clicks and I'm on the wrong page. I need to go to the search term page. Let me go to the search term. I can look at this at the ad group level, campaign level, target level. I'm going all the way down to the search term level in this case, all right. So again, I'm saying, hey, I had zero PPC orders, but I spent, let's just say, $8 at least on a keyword or on a search term, and what came up? Look at this Right instantly.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, great, I'm positive. I already negative match all of these because, like I said, I just did this audit. But look, if I had done this earlier I would have saved myself $152. Right here. This is not a big account, guys. This project X account doesn't do that much in sales anymore, but still, this is how much money I was wasting $150. I can just negative match all of these in one fell swoop. Right, right, instantly. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

What about the flip side? What if I want to find some killer keywords again? All of this is automated anyway, so that that's why I don't have to negative match any of these, because it already did it. But what? What if I'm like hey, is there anything that is is is doing really well for me that maybe I could increase my bid on? So I'm going to go to my target instead of search term level, all right. And I'm going to say, hey, show me something that got at least one order. But the ACOS was less than 5%, like crazy kind of ACOS. Right, and take a look, there was three targets that hit that. All right, now you can see I already change it.

Bradley Sutton:

But look at this. I was targeting this asin in an. It must have been in a product targeting or sponsor display. Look at this. It was a sponsor display campaign, guys. I spent a dollar and 42 cents and I sold $119 worth of product for a 1% ACOS. I could be leaving money on the table by having such a low bid. So my bid before was 47 cents. So you can see I already took action and I raised it up, almost doubled the bid, to see what would happen. Look at this one. Here's one where this broad match target fresh egg holder countertop. I had the bid at 51 cents and after one click I got $18 worth of sales. So now I raised the bid to $1. Cause I'm like, all right, let's see if I can get some more action on this keyword. But again, I click literally two things to be able to find this. So this is why, guys, I have four Amazon accounts and over 200 campaigns. This is why I can spend 10 minutes a week doing all of it and manage everything.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I was going to go into a refund gene a little bit, but I went kind of long here on Adtomic, so I want to just make sure there's enough time for Q&A. So at this time I'm going to check back in the questions to see what questions you guys were asking. You can ask me about anything Helium 10 related here, and it doesn't have to be about PPC, it doesn't have to be about Adtomic. Another Facebook user says what can we do to reduce PPC? I pay a lot and every product I sell is paid for by Amazon, all right. So one thing is don't think about it. As far as you know, reduce PPC Like, if you're profitable, who cares if you spend a million dollars on PPC, if you're making $8 million, right, and you're profitable, right.

Bradley Sutton:

So it's not just about the amount you're spending, but if you're be thinking more of, in terms of profitability, if you're spending so much on PPC that you are no longer profitable when you make a sale, yes, that is something you absolutely need to tackle and there's different metrics. You can look at that, you know. Maybe you're looking at your TACoS, your total, ACoS. Maybe you're looking at just your ACoS at the campaign level and you need to know what is your breakeven point, what? At what ACoS or TACoS are you able to turn a profit? And then that's the goal you set. And again, I just showed you guys how to do an Adtomic. You put in that goal of what you're trying to do where you know you can be profitable, and it's gonna kind of give you these suggestions automatically on what how you need to lower your bids in order to hit that goal. And, at the same time, it's not just about lowering bids, it's about stopping altogether spend on keywords that just are not doing it for you. So pretty much everything that I just showed you today, that is exactly what you need to be doing. You know, even if you whether you have Adtomic or whether you don't have Adtomic doesn't matter. You need to be auditing your account, looking at those metrics.

Bradley Sutton:

Another Facebook user says what is the best ACoS? So the best ACoS is what you can make money on. All right, for some people it's 5%, because they have very slim margins. Some people it's you could be like 80% ACoS right, and you're not making money. But guess what? It's okay because you've got products in like Subscribin' Save or some kind of replenishment right, where you're willing to lose money on that first order, because you're selling tea or you're selling coffee or something like that, because you know that they're gonna turn on Subscribin' Save or a certain percentage of customers, so you're willing to lose money on that first order and because you're gonna get that money back, all right. So again, the answer to your question is there is no magic ACoS number. The magic number is whatever you can still be profitable at.

Bradley Sutton:

Somebody says my ACoS I'm not sure they're the same person because I can't see your name but they said my ACoS is 70%. You know, for me, if it was 70% that would be terrible. I'd be losing money, crazy money, because I do not have enough margins on my products where I can afford 70% ACoS. But three years ago me, I was doing a lot of supplements which I'm not doing anymore. I absolutely wanted 70% ACoS, all right. I've got an account that is a hemp cream, all right. And I'm totally fine with 50% ACoS because I'm getting people and Subscribin' Save, absolutely fine with 50% ACoS. But you know, in my coffin shelf, brad, I want 20% ACoS, all right. So you gotta use these kind of you know reasoning here in order to know if your ACoS is good or not. I've got a shout out from Tony from YouTube. He or she says cheers, cheers. Back to you.

Bradley Sutton:

Another Facebook user says what subscriptions should we upgrade to so I can communicate with me more? The way that you can communicate with me, regardless of levels is here Once a month. We open this up so you can talk to me on these, on this. Ask Me Anything. If you want to be able to reach out to me in a Facebook group that I check every day, it's the Elite Group, so only Helium 10 Elite members have direct access to me. You can even book one-on-one calls with me if you're a Helium 10 Elite member, and we also have weekly Zoom calls that usually I'm on as well. So lots of touch points in the Elite Program. I'm not trying to sell you Elite right now because, guess what, if you want to sign up for Elite right now, you can't. It's closed. It only opens up certain times of year and right now it's closed. But you know, go to helium10.me forward, slash elite. I think there's might be a waiting list there. And if you want to join that so that you could be able to talk to myself and Kari and Chevali and Kevin King, then yeah, make sure to sign up for the wait list for that.

Bradley Sutton:

Another Facebook user says I hired somebody, but unfortunately I don't get any profit. I pay a very high fee. For instance, the payment is 500. Are you talking about you hired somebody for PPC management? If so, don't do it. I suggest to anybody out there don't outsource your PPC unless it is a resourcing thing, in other words, that you, you're, you're trying to expand and you're a one person one man or one woman show and you just don't have the bandwidth to do PPC. But you know how to do PPC. Okay In that sense, go ahead and hire an agency or or a service provider to to to take care of it. But it's important that you know PPC really well yourself first. Otherwise it's going to be hard for you to judge the work of an agency or a service provider if you don't know what is good and what is bad management.

Bradley Sutton:

Now my suggestion if you do have the bandwidth, you 100% should be doing PPC yourself. All right, you absolutely should be doing it yourself. Like, it's not that difficult, it's. It's complicated, right, there's a lot of moving parts, but, as you can see, tools like Adtomic just completely simplify the process and make it really fast. And that's why, to me, it's not even a bandwidth issue, if I can manage to I mean, guys, I work at Helium 10 full time, more than full time. Like you think I have time to be managing all the all these things on my own. I that's. I only spend 20 minutes working on PPC and that's that's for four Amazon accounts and I have a full time day job. Right, it's not that much. You should be doing Adtomic yourself or you should be doing PBC yourself.

Bradley Sutton:

In my opinion, if you have a tool like Adtomic Now, if you were trying to do it on your own and you have to do it manually and you've got 200 campaigns, what I do in 15 minutes would take you maybe five hours a week, if not more. All right, just look at that. Remember that bid page that I was showing you guys 179 bids after just five days to change, like what. That just takes forever to do manually and even to get to those calculations. So if you're on your own, I highly recommend not hiring out and there are plenty of great agencies out there and there is a need for them, like, we love agencies out there, I have them on this show, right. But those, the ones who I suggest using those, are the ones who have kind of like outgrown. They're like hey, I'm a seven figure seller and I've got 3000 campaigns to manage and I've only got one employee. I don't want to have to train somebody from scratch. Okay, go ahead and hire an agency, but if that's not you, I think you should be doing PBC yourself.

Bradley Sutton:

Somebody says the ACoS was 1%. Yeah, on that. On that example that I showed of how I had this crazy good search term, I had one where the ACoS was 1.18%. And then so that's a situation where it's like, let me raise my bid up right on this target because you might be leaving money on the table when your ACoS is so low. Because, like, let's say, my bid where I got that 1.18%, what was it? It was 47 cents. Right, maybe that 47 cent bid is only getting me impressions 10% of the time, like at the end of the day, when other people's budgets are out. Oh, then I start getting some bids or I start gaining impressions at that 47 cents. Maybe if I raise it to $1, I could be getting impressions all day long. All right, is my ACoS going to be 1%? No, but I don't care. If my ACoS is 10%, 10 times as much, I'm still making money like crazy. Because if my break even point is 20, 25%, that 10% is still making me money. So that's why you want to look at the small ACoS and don't just like pat yourself on the back and say I'm a PBC king, no, you want to raise that bid up because you might be leaving money on the table. All right, let's keep going with the questions now.

Bradley Sutton:

Dennis says what should be an approximate ad spend to justify Adtomic monthly fee. It depends on how you value your time. It's $1.99 a month for Adtomic and that includes $10,000 spent. So basically that means if you are spending less than $10,000, if you're paying Amazon in PPC fees less than $10,000 a month, you're only paying that flat rate of Adtomic $199. So at that point it's a matter of how do you value your time. Like, if you value your time at $50 an hour, right, if you value your time at $50 an hour and it takes you 10 hours a month to do your PPC, that means you're kind of spending $500 of your own time on PPC and in that sense is $200 of Adtomic to take that 10 hours down to 30 minutes or less than one hour. Is that worth it? Absolutely it's worth it. You know Every week Above that it's still a matter of time savings. All right, if you're spending $20,000 a month to PPC, you've got a pretty big operation. All right, you know you're probably a million dollar seller. If you're spending $20, $30, $40,000 a month on PPC, it probably would take you a full-time employee to manage your PPC, or paying an agency like $1,000 a month or something like that, right? So in that sense again, it's probably worth it to have Adtomic, it's all. There's no right or wrong answer here. It's about how you value your time. If you only value your time at $10 an hour and it only takes you 10 hours a month to do PPC now manually, is it worth it to get Adtomic? Probably not, I'll be honest, probably not. But if you value your time more, then I would say it's worth it.

Bradley Sutton:

Dennis, how to get initial reviews apart from the Vine program? That's pretty much it you know like. If you're talking about like some actual service that is, terms of service, approved, it's Vine. You know that's the only program that Amazon has for reviews. Now if you just wanna get a better chance at getting more reviews, you can use the Request Review. Amazon allows you to send one Request Review per order to customers. Has to be at least, I believe, eight days after the product delivers. So you can automate that in Helium 10 follow-up, right, you don't have to click one by one each order to say hey, let's say hey, 13 days after the product is ordered, send a Request Review. That actually triggers the Amazon Request Review inside of Seller Central. But you're doing it from Helium 10 follow-up and then you could just say, hey, do it on this day and only orders in this marketplace or only this ASIN, this schedule, this other ASIN, this other schedule. You can automate that and basically do, set it and forget it, and then that can give you a better chance to get a review, because your customers are theoretically reminded to leave a review more.

Bradley Sutton:

Sergio says what factors do you decide to negate a keyword or pause campaigns? It's very rare that I pause a whole campaign, right, like I don't think I've ever paused a whole campaign because my campaigns will have five, 10, maybe 15 targets. Sure, will I pause a target in the campaign, but all 15 of my targets are bad and I'm like that's very rare, you know. But to negate a keyword, I showed you what I put in Adtomic. I put, hey, I want at least 15, 20, sometimes 25 clicks and slash or a spend that's equal to 50% or more of the retail price of my product. So if I'm selling a $30 product, I put $15. In other words, if I get $15 worth of spend on a target with zero sales, I'm probably gonna go ahead and pause that target. What if?

Bradley Sutton:

Another question from Sergio is what if the keyword is highly relevant but competitive and have to spend a lot to rank? Check your conversion rate, all right. So look at your conversion rate for that keyword in search query performance and see if it's really bad compared to your niche as a whole. You gotta figure out why. All right. So it's not just a matter of, oh, let me pause this or let me just keep spending a lot more money, et cetera, et cetera. It's a matter of you gotta figure out if that is your most important keyword, why are you not converting for it? Why are people converting for others more than yours? Is it your price? Is it your pictures? Is it your bullet points? What is it? That's something that's very important to consider. I don't just blindly change bids or just pause or just give up on a keyword just because I'm spending too much money. At the same time, I don't just blindly keep it going because I know this keyword is important. I have to understand why my conversion rate is not good on it and try and fix it.

Bradley Sutton:

Matt says I've noticed that my overall ACoS for my PPC has almost doubled to 28% over the last two weeks. Does PPC usually get expensive around Christmas? Yes, ACoS per click goes up. A lot. People raise their budgets, they raise their bid sometimes and that's just gonna drive up the cost. So that is. I'm not saying oh, you gotta deal with it and be happy with losing money. But no, if you're asking, is this typical for this time of year, the answer is yes, and the reason why is because, again, people's budgets are higher, so that means less people are running out potentially of budget, so that you're not getting in at those cheaper prices that maybe you would towards the end of the day. Normally Other people are just like taking a blanket raising of their bids across the board so that to try and make sure they get top of search and that could be raising the bids as well. But yeah, this is a very competitive time for PPC.

Bradley Sutton:

Tony says what is the thing with the electronics category? Why don't you get data All the time? I mean, we can only give what Amazon gives, and so a lot of products in the electronics category, amazon doesn't give parent level BSR, so that means we can't have a sales estimate for it. Uh, now the says I spent $500 a day in ads. Uh, I get over 200,000 impressions, 350 clicks, but zero sales from those. However, my organic sales are extremely good. Is it because my impressions, my clicks? I'd make sure you're.

Bradley Sutton:

Uh, what is your look back period? I would not look this week. Make sure that you're looking at least one to two weeks back, and if those are the numbers you're seeing, that's very strange. I don't think I've ever seen 350 clicks in zero sales. Now, if that's across, like you know, 40 keywords or something, okay, well, well, that makes a little bit of sense. But first of all, make sure you're you're looking outside of just the, the attribution window. If you're looking within the seven days, it could very well be that somebody today is going to click on something or going to buy something that they clicked on maybe a week ago or something, uh, and you might be looking at the data and they'll say zero sales. But if you look at that same data for this week, in two weeks, it'll say you had sales. So I would make sure you're looking back at least two weeks, first of all.

Bradley Sutton:

But then, if, if it is true that you're just not getting sales, you got to figure out why are these keywords relevant to your listing? Now, if you've just got a whole bunch of those 350 clicks is across 50 keywords, right, so that each one is less than 10. I'm not sure it's time to panic yet because, like I said, I wait until I get 15, 20 clicks with no sales before I start worrying or thinking. That's not going to be good for me. You know, maybe only seven clicks per keyword has happened. Who knows, maybe your eighth click you're going to get a sale. So it all depends on what kind of um, what time period you're looking back on.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, and your, your second question kind of alludes that uh, now that it says could clicks that haven't been attributed to sales for that day be attributed to a high organic sales the following day? Uh, clicks can't be attributed to organic uh sales, like it's either one or the other. But if, if, if the sale, uh, the, the sale that you see might not be updated in Amazon as a PPC order, if that's what you're asking, then yes, that is possible, which is again why I suggest looking no less than uh a week, a week back and an older, instead of looking at this week. We got one more here. Let's see.

Bradley Sutton:

Matt says I love the freedom ticket course. Great job, learned a lot. Can you recommend a Google PPC course? I'm looking to drive more external traffic from Google directly to my Amazon listing. I've actually been looking into trying to create some content not myself because I'm not a Google expert but we might be bringing some Google ads into uh Helium 10 as far as in our training, so that we can, you know, let people know how to drive that external traffic. But even you know something that's very lucrative these days, even more than Google ads from right here is Tik Tok uh shop, and, and so I I suggest looking into Tik Tok shop If you haven't done so yet, matt, and we'll have some content about that soon as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us. This is something that our serious sellers club and our elite members get every single week here, which is our ask me anything, but once a month we go ahead and open it up to everybody, like we did today, and we also repurpose this as a podcast. So thank you, guys, so much for joining us and we'll see you next week. If you're an SSC member, we'll see you guys next month. If you're just in our Facebook groups and make sure to write all your questions down about Helium 10, I'll try and get them answered right here, live on the air. Thanks a lot, guys. Bye, bye now.

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We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon Hosted Record-Breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday Holiday Shopping Event, and Announces Millions More Holiday Deals to Come
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/amazon-hosted-record-breaking-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-holiday-shopping-event-and-announces-millions-more-holiday-deals-to-come

They did it again! Shopify merchants break Black Friday record with $4.1 billion in sales
https://news.shopify.com/they-did-it-again-shopify-merchants-break-black-friday-record-with-41-billion-in-sales

Save the date for Amazon #unBoxed2024 in Austin, Texas.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7135687573812768768/

Focus: Walmart shifts to India, cuts China imports
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/walmart-shifts-india-china-cheaper-imports-2023-11-29/

Stay tuned as we explore Helium 10's newest features, including an exclusive AI-powered image generator for Amazon Sponsored Brand ads and the ability to generate custom images for Amazon ads and Amazon Posts. We'll be sharing hands-on demonstrations on how to use these features and their potential benefits for third-party sellers. Plus, we have news on a monthly networking call in Spanish, designed to help Spanish-speaking sellers connect and share strategies. Join us for all this and more as we continue to provide you with innovative tools and updates that are transforming the Amazon and E-commerce landscape.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:52 - Amazon 3D Images
02:32 - Amazon Black Friday
04:31 - Shopify Black Friday
05:17 - Amazon Unboxed
06:02 - Amazon Transparency
07:01 - Made In India
08:45 - Spanish Networking Call
09:50 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
16:54 - Pro Training: How To Instantly The Most Searched Word On Amazon

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Soon, you can upload 3D images for your products on Amazon. Results from Black Friday. Amazon Unbox Conference date and new location announced. Amazon transparency update these stories and more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon Walmart e-commerce world. We also let you know on the brand new tools and feature updates that Helium 10 has, as well as a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. All right, let's go ahead and hop right into the different news articles Now. The first one was an announcement this week from Seller Central itself, so you can see this in your dashboard, and it's entitled 3D models to replace 360 degree images starting December 14th. All right now. This is going to be for US, UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy. All right now.

Bradley Sutton:

In the past, you could supposedly it says here you could put 360 degree images. Now, project X products had it, project 5K products had it. We never requested it. It was like Amazon just choosing to do on your own. I never actually heard of many people, if any, who were able to request the 360 degree images where you can kind of like put your finger in the app and like drag it around and see the whole thing. I've never actually known somebody who outside of like vendor central who could request that. But regardless, 360 degree images are going to be a thing of the past. And what is replacing it are these view in 3D, different kind of like experiences, view in your room, virtual try-on and showroom? So this was announced a while back at, I believe it was Amazon Accelerate. There was some talk about this. Now, what Amazon is going to come out with, what they said is, hey, to make it easier if you do create 3D models. It's not like we have like imaging software, right, they're working on a tool that'll allow you to use your phone in order to scan your product and create a 3D model. So more news on that coming soon, they say. But that is a change that is pretty imminent, because it says, hey, this is going to happen in December 14th.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so next article is going to be also from Amazon. It was a press release that they did, and this is about Black Friday results, right? This article says Amazon hosted record breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday shopping event and announces millions more holiday deals to come. All right, now I don't know how they calculated this, but they said customer save 70% more on Amazon during its 11 days from November 17th through Cyber Monday compared to the same period last year. Now it also cited a recent independent study from Profitero and it said that Amazon had the lowest online prices entering the holiday season, by an average of 16% across 15 different categories, compared to other leading retailers in the US, and they're on pace to deliver fastest delivery speeds for Prime members in the company's 29 year history 29 year history I didn't even know Amazon's been around for 29 years. That's crazy. Anyways, just some random stats here that Amazon talked about says customers ordered more than 500 million items from third party sellers. All right, and so that's a lot. This is just again. During 11 day period, and also some new programs started getting the limelight with their first kind of Black Friday. It says for the first time, prime members purchased great deals directly from Buy With Prime merchants during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday event. And it said merchants who participated in promotional activities experienced an aggregate more than a 300% increase in units purchased through Buy With Prime versus their daily average for the month of October.

Bradley Sutton:

So let me know out there, what about you guys? Anybody have some good numbers to report? I heard some people say hey, you know, cyber Monday actually worked out better than Black Friday, but how is your whole Cyber Five altogether? You know how was it from Thursday all the way through Monday? Let me know in the comments below, speaking of Black Friday, how many of you guys have Shopify websites? An article from Shopify, similar press release, says they did it again. Shopify merchants break Black Friday record with $4.1 billion in sales. So it says hey, from the crack of dawn in New Zealand, which is where you know, it becomes Black Friday first through the final minutes in California. Well, that's not right. The final minutes of Black Friday is in Hawaii. It says our merchants drove a 22% increase in sales over last year Shopping peak, when collective sales reached 4.2 million dollars per minute At 12 pm Eastern on Friday. Uh, what about you guys out there who've got Shopify websites. How is your Shopify Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Uh?

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to amazon now there's an announcement on amazon ads linked in Uh for amazon unboxed. You might remember amazon unboxed just a few weeks ago in New York, where it's been the last couple of years, you know, we did a podcast live there. They announced all kinds of cool stuff like sponsored tv and things like that. Well, uh, is amazon unboxed going to be in New York? Uh, in October next year? Well, it is going to still be in October, but guess what, guys? Uh, it is now moving to drumroll, please, Austin Texas. All right, so save the date, guys. If you miss this year's unboxed Uh marketing your calendars. Amazon unboxed 2024 for the first time Austin Texas, October 14th through 16th.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, going back to amazon seller central Uh, we announced this update a while back, where they kind of teased that this was coming, and now it's uh going to be in effect, and this is about amazon transparency. Amazon transparencies, a way to to help kind of uh dissuade counterfeit sales of your product. And they now announced amazon being that you can now have use your own serial numbers for transparency. All right, this is new, you know, you don't have to use theirs. You can use your own Uh serial numbers. And, again, you know, if you are uh active with your products in transparency, it means that they can't be listed or shipped to customers without valid codes. So if you have trouble, like with hijackers and things, basically this means that people you know, other sellers trying to like, list your or you know, add their uh the skew to your ASIN, it's not going to get accepted or shipped if it doesn't have these transparency uh codes. So for more information on that, check your uh dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Now interesting article. This one is coming from Reuters and it was entitled Walmart Shifts to India Cuts China Imports. Now, this is interesting because, uh, it basically said that they're moving more for the Walmart products that they produce themselves. They're moving the production more and more to India. All right, the world's largest retailer, Walmart, this article says, shipped one quarter Of its us imports from India between January and august this year. All right, that compared with in 2018 2018, guess how much? 2% it went from 2% to 25% being produced in India in just the last five years. The data, according to those articles, shows that it only 60% of its shipment only quote, unquote, only came from China. Now, the reason why it's only 60% is because in 2018, it was 80% of all of Walmart’s products were made in China. But China is obviously still Walmart’s biggest country, but it talks about, you know, hey, there's a shift happening at Walmart, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Guess what guys? Project x, all of our products have been made in China. Until Two months ago, we produced our very first product in where? India? All right, so that is going to be coming. You're going to see a feature podcast where we talk about the development Of that product, and we'll have Meghla on here. She helped us source it.

Bradley Sutton:

But big companies like Walmart, amazon, third-party sellers more and more are moving production outside of China. What about you? Are you still producing everything in China? Are you producing in India? You producing in Pakistan or other countries? Let me know in the comments below, all right, uh, one more thing before we get into some really cool feature announcements. We're not gonna some moss. I'll let spaniel.

Bradley Sutton:

So one more thing Do you speak Spanish? We have our very first monthly networking call in the Spanish language starting next week. All right, this is going to be something that will be hosted by our Serious Sellers Podcast en Español host, Adriana Rangel, and this first one is going to be on December the 6th All right market calendars, December the 6th, at 4 pm Pacific time. And then, for those who speak Spanish, for everybody who speaks Spanish go to h10.me/llamadaconadriana. h10.me/llamadaconadriana. Go to that website and you'll be able to register for the zoom. So again, if you guys want a network with other Spanish speaking sellers, whether you're here in the States, in Latin America, in Europe, in Spain, wherever you are in the world, go ahead and sign up. This will be a monthly Networking call where you can, you know, talk about what's working, what's not working in your business, get some help and I might, you know, pop in there every now and then as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into the helium 10 new feature alerts, and we've got some doozies today, guys. Whoo, the Helium 10 product team is been cooking with fire for sure. All right, the very first one is guess what, guys? Helium 10 kind of low-key now has an AI generating or an AI Powered image generator. All right, now, this is actually the Amazon Sponsored a brand ad image generator. But I'm gonna show you, guys, how you can use it for Amazon post. You can use it for you know, potentially lifestyle images or infographics, or getting you know other ideas for your, for your images. It's not perfect right now, but this is cool. The only place Outside of Amazon that you can get this tool is in helium 10. Why, cuz? Amazon chose helium 10 to be its exclusive partner, namely in atomic? Amazon chose helium 10 atomic to be the exclusive software for now. It'll open it up later to others, but we are the only ones that you can get this in. Let me show you how it works, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So basically, you go to your atomic and then you hit a new campaign. Once you get into your campaign builder, you're gonna want to hit single campaign. Once you get there, you're going to want to hit sponsored brand, the middle one. Once you hit sponsored brand, you're gonna hit next and then here you are going to go ahead and Put enter a couple of your products from the brand that you are trying to do. You know an image for, so I'm gonna go ahead and choose what up right here on my screen the helium 10, a coffin bookshelf and Coffin coffin egg tray here and then scroll down. Make sure under sponsor brand campaign, you select the actual brand that you're trying to do this actually kind of doesn't matter, because you're gonna be able to enter your own images yourself. But since I'm actually gonna do one for the coffin shelf, the coffin bookshelf, I'm gonna go ahead and choose Manny's mysterious oddities. Now, once you select that, you scroll down here to this new section called Creative.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the whole purpose of this is actually to create sponsored brand, so you can actually create the, the custom sponsored brand image right here. But I'm gonna show, I'm showing you guys, how to just create any image you want right now. The first thing I'm gonna do is I'm actually gonna first just do this coffin bookshelf and I'm gonna put a different background, all right. So right here, under custom image, you're going to hit AI generated image, all right. Now I'm gonna go ahead and since, like I said, I'm gonna use the coffin bookshelf, so I'm gonna go ahead and choose that again here.

Bradley Sutton:

Now what I'm going to do is, in this prompt, I'm gonna say what I want I it to be like in the room. So I'm going to say put this coffin bookshelf hanging on a light colored wall and there are other bat themed decor items hanging on the wall, all right. So I mean that that's just a super, a super simple thing right here. I can actually choose theme here, so I'm not going to. I'm not going to choose a theme for this. Let's just see what happens. This usually takes about a minute to do, so I'll come back as soon as it generates and here we go.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know, sometimes you're going to get some crazy stuff, like here it actually changed our coffin bookshelf a little bit, but take a look, you know, here it put. It did exactly what I said. I said, hey, put it on a light colored wall and you could see, here's the coffin bookshelf hanging on a wall and there's some like bat shape, like little decor items on the wall. Now I will. I did not give it a good prompt. You know, I only wrote about 121 characters. I can write up to 300. I didn't even include a theme, but you, you know you can get pretty specific.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, is this AI going to be perfect? No, this is coming directly from Amazon, you know so. Helium 10 doesn't have control over this. So you know, like, if you're not getting good output, it's it's. You know that's because Amazon's AI is not great yet. But again, this is using connecting directly to the API, to the Amazon's AI generation, and what I can do here is I can actually, you know, choose some of these. I can zoom in and then I can actually save these. I can select them and save them right here, download it. I can save it to my creative assets. So it's kind of like a cool way to, you know, generate Amazon post images without ever even leaving helium 10. So that's the first thing that I wanted to talk about today. The second thing is also super, super cool, requested by a lot of our users, and this is wherever you see keywords in your insights dashboard and cerebro, in magnet.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, sometimes you see a whole bunch of keywords and you know you can see the, the score there for how important the keyword is, you know, based on maybe it's search volume or or competitor performance score. But sometimes you're not quite sure how maybe what I call real world relevant the keyword is like, for example, you know, coffin shelf. I think you could understand that probably all the results are coffin shelf. That's the top 10 on page one. But what about other keywords like coffin decor? Maybe it's not coffin shelves, but just random coffin products, and so what, what have you always had to do before.

Bradley Sutton:

If you just want to kind of take a quicker or a quick look at the results of, you know, keywords in cerebral magnet, well, you would click one by one on those keywords and take a look at them on Amazon. Well, now you know you're not going to have to do that anymore. Let me show you exactly what you can do. Anywhere where you have cerebral magnet, any keywords, you just have to put your mouse over it, like so, for example, if I want to say what is in coffin shelf, I just put my mouse over and I can see they're mostly coffin shelves here. But then maybe I'm like, all right, well, what about goth gifts? Are there any goth gifts that are showing up here in, you know, for coffin shelves? And I can just all I do, I'm not clicking on anything. I just put my mouse over here and I can see there's some Spooky looking slippers or some skulls, and I'm not actually seeing any coffin shelves in the top 10. So now I know you know what this, this keyword you know, probably might not be too too relevant here. I can look at a coffin box. I'm like, hey, what kind of things are coming up for coffin box? Okay, there is one coffin shelf, but the rest of these are just like maybe some jewelry boxes. So again, I am not clicking on anything, but now anywhere where there's a key where I can put my mouse over. So we're get an idea about the last time healing.

Bradley Sutton:

Then 10 check the top 10 results Little thumbnails that show what products were ranking for these keywords. I could see their price, how many variations they have, how many reviews they have. You know, that can be cool, like instantly I might see a keyword was like wow, look at this. Out of the top 10, most everybody only had, like you know, 10 reviews or 20 reviews. So like it's a great way to do product research as well. So I hope you guys can enjoy these two new feature updates from helium 10. Make sure you use it and let me know what you think.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, last up, today we have our training tip of the week, and this one is going to be courtesy of Carrie, and this is another keyword based strategy where, in seconds, if you want to find the Keywords that have the most search volume, that start with a word or two words or three words, within seconds. Again, this is one of those no click strategies like. This last one I gave you was a no click strategy. This strategy has zero clicks. How can you see what are the top searched keywords that start with any word or phrase? Carrie, take it away.

Carrie:

I'm going to show you how to instantly find the most search terms that start with a specific Keyword. It's very easy and it's something that you can do for Low-key keyword research. If you're just kind of curious about something, maybe you found a product that you want to kind of look a little bit more into. You can see what the top phrases are that start with that particular keyword, and I'm going to show you how to do it. Right now. All you have to do is you just need to go to magnet and it's very, very simple. The next thing you're going to do is you're just going to start typing so we sell a coffin shell. So I'm just going to type in the word coffin and with this it's going to basically show me all the keywords that start with coffin. That in the order of the most searched to the least search. So we've got coffin nail tips. That is the most searched, and the next is coffin, and then the next coffin press on nails. So we can take it even further. We want to say I want to see all the keywords that start with coffin shelf from the most, you know, search to the least. So we've got coffin shelf, coffin shelf, large. So all these great keywords.

Carrie:

Another thing you can maybe try like the most popular search term or search product is garlic press, so maybe we can look at garlic Okay, so we've got garlic, garlic press, garlic powder, so we can say garlic press here and see if there's any other keywords. It looks like garlic press stainless steel is the next most searched Garlic press. Oh, so, as you can see, this is a great way to find. You know, kind of do some low key keyword research and you can see all the keywords that start that exact keyword that you want to find, and In the order of the highest search volume to lowest. So I hope you check it out. It's very, very easy and really interesting to take a look at.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you very much, Carrie, and thank you guys all for tuning in this week. I will see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Get ready to take your Walmart selling game to the next level! Our brilliant guest, Michal Chapnick, a Walmart expert, talks about Walmart's ad certification, the unveiling of innovative beta programs, and the integration of Google ads into promoting your Walmart products. She'll also shed light on Walmart’s commitment to third-party sellers through initiatives like fee discounts and personalized product suggestions. This is the inside scoop you need to unlock the potential of Walmart's marketplace and see your sales soar.

Discover the power of Google ads in driving traffic to Walmart and how it can work wonders for your brand exposure. Dive into the advantages of Walmart's SEM program and learn why it may be more beneficial than directly sending Google ads to Walmart. Michal reveals the abundant opportunities awaiting sellers at Walmart Canada and uncovers the potential impact of beta programs, such as brand stores, on your sales figures. This Walmart Wednesday episode is packed with insights and advice for those seeking to extend their business reach on Walmart.

As we approach Q4, the busiest time for e-commerce, Michal shares her expertise on maximizing your sales during this hectic period. From planning and implementing promotions to optimizing your listings and enhancing customer service, we’ve got you covered. Uncover the impact of the beta version of coupon codes and the power of video ads in holding customer attention. We wrap up our episode by acknowledging all the diligent sellers out there and remind you to make the most of the opportunities available on Walmart's platform, particularly during the holiday season. Buckle up for a wealth of knowledge, and best wishes for a profitable Q4!

In episode 513 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Michal discuss:

00:00 - Selling on Walmart Updates and Opportunities
03:13 - BIS Mentor and Customized Suggestions
06:07 - The Growth and Opportunities With Walmart
12:35 - Walmart's Influence on Black Friday Sales
15:23 - Running Ads for Walmart Benefits
19:17 - Opportunities for Selling in Walmart Canada
23:53 - Promoting Walmart Sales With Coupons and Videos
31:56 - Optimizing Keywords With Helium 10
33:24 - Q4 Selling Tactics and Appreciation

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

On today's episode we have Walmart expert Michal Chapnick. She's going to be talking about Walmart ad certification, new beta programs for Walmart, as well as Google ads for Walmart. So this and so much more on today's episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and I'm your host today, and this is our winning with Walmart Wednesday, where we talk about all things Walmart. We answer all of your questions and I'm very, very excited today because I have an amazing guest. We have Michal Chapnick, who is going to be joining me. I'm going to be asking her lots of questions because she's a Walmart expert. She has a Walmart agency and she's had a lot of success on Walmart. I know a lot of you are familiar with her. Hey, Michal, how's it going?

Michal:

Hello, I'm good and good. How are you doing?

Carrie Miller:

Very good. Thank you, nice to see you, and thanks so much for coming on. I'm really excited to have you because you're one of the you know Walmart gurus one of the few Walmart gurus. I would say, probably one of the top in the industry here for Walmart. So thank you. Yeah, so I'm really excited because I know that you have a lot of kind of cool updates to share with us. Okay, so I'm going to get into it. I'm going to get into some of the first things. I'm going to ask you just what kind of updates are there that you would like to share with us about Walmart? Do you want to share any updates of anything new for Walmart or what's new?

Michal:

basically, I think there are so many Recently. You know, every week we do Walmart updates and we have, like you know, 10, 15 slides every week because they're really on top of it, they're working really hard and a lot of them are really exciting because and I'm telling that all the time Walmart really wants you. They want you on Walmart, they want the brand, they want you to sell and a lot of people you know sometimes having a hard time to enter Walmart or when they're on Walmart they're having a hard time to sell. But Walmart really wants you there and they're doing everything they can from their side to help you and, you know, give you help to set up, give you help with fees. There's always some kind of promotion there is doing for sellers that are already on Walmart or new sellers. So right now they're doing a lot of like. They're cutting off fees in different ways.

Michal:

So either if you have the Pro Seller badge and you can get deep discounts on fees and you can get credit that you can use it for run ads or to use it for the review accelerator program, so you get this credit back. The only thing you need to do is go to your BIS mentor. It's in every account. It's on the, I think, top left and Walmart is giving you customized suggestions so it just specifically for you.

Michal:

So from things like items that they think you have an opportunity to get more sales if you lower your price and they're willing to cut your sell off fees, so they will cut your sell off fees so you'll be able to take your price lower to sell more. So this is just one example of the second thing they will give you like a customized list of products that they think you should add to your account. So they're basing that, based on the category you're selling or the brand you're selling. So if you're a resale, of wholesale, you will see a lot of opportunities and I know that some of my sellers that I'm working with they're taking really good advantage of those and they're they managed to get a lot of sales because usually Walmart will tell you something that is out of stock or something that the other sellers are not using WFS.

Carrie Miller:

So once you got this inventory and it's already selling very well and you're the only one selling it or the only one WFS, imagine that is like so much self I actually talked to them about this and they said that they anything in the assortment growth tab, that those are really the best opportunities because they kind of compliment what they already have on Walmart. So they're looking for complimentary products. So I think that's why is they're really going to. If you take those suggestions, they're going to boost you and then you're going to get a lot of exposure and sales. Like I know, I was talking to an account manager and she said that somebody in the toys category had a bunch of assortment growth suggestions for toys and they started manufacturing them and basically have been killing it on Walmart, just making tons and tons of sales. So that's a that's something that is really interesting right now for opportunity for selling products.

Michal:

It is working. I know that one of our clients that he have an account manager. You know in the past you know they were doing it personally, they know exactly the opportunity so they can do it all and you know he's selling in the category of backpacks. They told him you know what styles right now there is like a lot of demand, for example, clear backpacks and things like that, and the same thing is killing they're. They're making six figures a month.

Michal:

They're just amazing. So Walmart is there to help you. I think, if you, I don't know I was selling on Amazon for 12 years, but I remember the 10 years ago. I used to get emails from Amazon every day with items to sell. They were like telling me hey, you know these these, you know those items right, and I don't know if they still do that. I have no idea, but I haven't gotten any recently. And but with Walmart is the same thing. They want to know.

Michal:

For them to get to the same or as close as Amazon sells, their catalog have to grow and that's their focus. They're focused in growing their catalog and they're using the sellers, the third-party sellers, to leverage the catalog. There's still far away in a couple of hundreds of millions of products from Amazon. There is so much place for new sellers and even people that come into Walmart and they're new and they don't know what to sell. I can show them so quickly. So much opportunities. There's endless opportunities. One of the coolest things with the mentor base even if you're a private label, walmart know you're selling, for example, in the toy category or kitchen, and they know exactly what product, have a lot of demand and they will tell you. And then you need to go and manufacture that or source that or there's so many ways you can get your hands on these items. This is one of the things that I really like, that they're really encouraging you and we just talked about it.

Michal:

Right now they have an update for the category of automotive. They will tell you all the products they're looking for in automotive and they tell you please bring those products, list them. We want you to create the listing. They do not want you to sell something. Yeah, of course you can sell. Something is already on Walmart but what they're trying to do is to get you to create new listings. They want you to not just to create new listing. They also expect to need to create good listings, because when they're good listing, they can be in front of customers. Customer can find them. When customer find it, the content is good, so he will buy it.

Michal:

Right now they give you the option to upload videos to your listing. Everybody can do that right now. It doesn't cost you anything. You can just go ahead and there's a when you go and open the case. There is one of the section it says upload rich media, upload video, and they will give you an instructions and a file to upload your video. So they're really doing a lot for the sellers and going a little bit back. The most important things that you need to remember is that you have to follow the guidelines, because you're going to have so much benefits coming after that, Getting the processor batch, for example. Now they're offering the SEM, that's the searching agent marketing, and what is that? So let's talk about that for a second, because that's I think this is one of the most exciting updates the last couple of months.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, I saw it pop in my account and I took a look at it. I think my biggest question is because this is basically advertising through Google Shopping, through the portal, and they basically do it for you. As long as you're really well optimized, you'll show for the best keywords. But is this now the paid version of what was free? Because I remember my product used to show up a ton on Google Shopping just for free and I hadn't been advertising on Google for Walmart but it would say available on Walmart.com. Is it now kind of paid and not free, or do you see both?

Michal:

No, it's definitely both. So here's the secret. Walmart is spending millions Even I wish I could see their budget for Google Ads. It's insane, it's really crazy. They know the power of Google Ads. We saw in many, many clients a lot of time when we went deep into the sales and trying to understand where those sales are coming from. Between 30% to 40% of a lot of item sales coming from Google Ads. So Walmart is pushing all the listing to Google Ads.

Michal:

But there's a couple of criterias, like your listing have to be following the guidelines, you have to have good images, so you have to have not too long title and all the things that are very important, and you can see it in your listing score. There is a tool that show you exactly the score for every little part of your listing and if your score is high, there is no reason why you shouldn't be eligible to show up on Google Ads. So Walmart is not going to put you on Google Ads if you don't have enough images, because then the pain for your item to show up on Google a customer is going to click on that is going to come to Walmart and he's not going to end up buying because there's no information or there's no images. So again, they have to make sure your listing is going to have the chance to convert before they will do that. So the only thing you need to do is make sure your listing is following the guidelines. And so now Walmart is telling you we're giving you the option. We know how powerful is Google, we know how powerful the ads are coming. We are spending a lot of money, but if you want to do some extra, you want to spend more money, you want to put more product. We're giving you the option to start doing campaigns on Google, and I think that's huge and I think whoever is going to take advantage of that is going to see amazing results in their conversion rates.

Michal:

Because Still, 40 percent of people will start their search on Google. I think 35 percent going to go directly to Amazon, 40 percent on Search and Agent, and then the rest is spread on different things. Some people will go through Pinterest or even social media. They're going to look and stuff in there. Another thing that why you want to be optimized is the same thing as more you optimize and you listen to high quality. Walmart is not just advertising on Google or Bing or Ad. They're advertising with a lot of social media advertising, with a lot of bills website. They're advertising with a lot of really big influencers that they're paying them a lot of money. As more as you're listening is good. They will expose your items to all those channels they're advertising at.

Carrie Miller:

That's possible. Yeah, I know that.

Michal:

Yeah, I was talking with one of the account manager and they have the option to pick items and put them on this bucket, this list, and then website deals website like a silk deals, and there's all websites like that or influencers have the option to look at that list and pick the items they want to promote this week because they're getting paid and they get also getting paid affiliates. Yeah, there's things like that. Sometimes, if you follow influencers on Walmart on Instagram, they're doing a lot of Walmart. You can see they're pushing a lot of passion. Yeah, kitchen items. And right now it's crazy because people are waiting for influencers to show them what's the deals on Walmart, because everybody know that Walmart have the best Black Friday deals.

Michal:

Yeah, we always have the biggest selection, the biggest selection of deals in each category. Because other stores can be just electronics, best buy with Walmart. The Black Friday deals are on home, on outdoor, on Christmas decoration, toys, clothing, jewelry, everything. Walmart is very known in Black Friday.

Carrie Miller:

We did have a question about SEM. It says do you do Walmart SEM and your own Google ads at the same time? That's a really good question Because if you don't want to cannibalize your own Google ads while doing the SEM Google ads, that is a really good question.

Michal:

Usually, when you do your own Google ads, you choose where the traffic is going to go. You can run Google ads for your website. It's good because many times I remember I had items that I used to sell in the past. There were not all of people were selling them In the category. I would say it was a kind of a shoes, a specific shoes for kids. When I used to go to Google and I used to write that specific keyword. I get Google ads and I sell my shoes on Walmart. Next to it I saw my shoes on my website and next to it on Amazon. I used to get all the Google ads I could. Now, most likely, the customer will buy my shoes. It doesn't matter where, but he will buy them. Again, you're creating brand awareness. It's more ads you can create. It's more exposure. You can put your brand in a product. It's better for you because the customer remembered that.

Carrie Miller:

I think that they clarified it. I mean sending Google traffic to Walmart. Maybe not do your own Google ads to Walmart if you're doing SEM, potentially.

Michal:

Yeah, that's what it's going to do. That's exactly what it's going to drive traffic from Google to your Walmart. So I say you know, try, try, you can put a budget. It's not too complicated to run those campaigns. So I would say, give it a try. And before you do that, also go and search for your item on Google and see if it's really coming up, if Walmart is already promoting your items. And again, the most important thing, make sure your listing is following the guideline.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, for my own Google ads. I did do an experiment where I was trying to see if it would help with ranking if I sent outside ads, like from Google, like at U-Kan on Amazon, and I noticed that it did not make a difference when I sent my own Google ads to Walmart. And so I think that probably, if there is going to be a benefit, it's probably going to be through the SEM program doing ads to Walmart. So if if I were to choose between the two, I would probably do the Walmart SEM over Google to my own Google ads to Walmart, whereas I would still obviously do Google ads because I have Google ads to my own sites as well. But that's what I would think because I know that they are kind of looking at their own metrics and the more you convert on their side, I think that the better it is. But that could be just a guess, but I do know for a test that it did not help my rank. So there is that, because I know a lot of us do that for Amazon. We send Google traffic and it does help with rank, but it didn't on Walmart.

Michal:

Yeah, one more thing I'm thinking of is that it's probably going to be much better because they have better pricing, so it might be going to end up being much cheaper than you spend it yourself.

Carrie Miller:

Yes, it's Walmart.

Michal:

It's going for Walmart account. It's not your Google account, it's Walmart account having their own pricing. So you will get that. And the second thing it's known because I can see it. Every time I go to Google I can see Google love Walmart. Google will always place Walmart ads in first five. So this is another thing you will get better exposure and you have better chance to shop in a better ad in a better location Because, again, it's through Walmart. So just that it's worth it.

Carrie Miller:

We have another question. Actually Bradley asked this one and it says is Walmart Canada worth it yet?

Michal:

I absolutely think so, absolutely. It is very like with Walmart.com, the same thing with Walmart Canada. Not every product will be a huge success because those marketplaces are still building their customer base, but I think Walmart.com is doing very good. Now for Canada, from a lot of people that I have a lot of friends that live in Canada people online. When they go online they usually will go either to Amazon Canada or Walmart Canada. There is not too many options. Some items people can go to the store and have some problems to find Like there is not always big selection of things. So if you know to find those items that people having a hard time to find in the store or next to their house, you will know that Canada will be very, very good.

Michal:

So actually, going back to the time when I used to sell kitchens, we had exact same styles on that farm in Canada and actually it was a period of time that we met sales on Canada. Because I guess you know people need, you know everybody needs shoes for their. Yeah, you don't need to do much, it's going to sell. If you have nice shoes with quality, it will sell. And I think the thing is that, again, people when they go online, they don't. There's not too many brands that are selling on Walmart.com or Canada. So again, if you find those opportunities and there is tons of opportunities on Walmart Canada and also in Canada people, the Canadian, are paying high prices on stuff, so you don't have to sell nothing to cheap, you can sell it in your price or even higher and customers are paying and they're also paying shipping as well, so I think the profit is also very nice on Canada.

Carrie Miller:

All right, let's go into some other things I know. Can you give us some insights to you know, like I think, some beta programs I think coupons, brand stores, any other kind of beta programs that you've seen, and have you been able to use them and what's your experience been with those?

Michal:

Yeah, so brand stores are available for very selected amount of sellers. Right now it's mostly they started with a lot of sellers that do it fashion, so we do have a couple of our clients that they have the option to do brand stores and right now it looks great. I cannot wait for it to be available to everyone because we need that. You know you want to click on the brand and go to a nice storefront that you can display your. You know what are you selling. I think it's going to help a brand grow really nicely on Walmart and I think the best part is, again we see the people that selling on Walmart. There's not a lot of brands that take Walmart really seriously and doing those extra steps, but the one they do, those that want to see really success on Walmart. So I'm excited to you know, to see some of the brands we're working with, you know, using that feature and growing. The second thing is coupon codes. So coupon codes again are in beta right now. Yes, and it's available from whatever.

Michal:

Only like 50 sellers got that, yeah, maybe now a little bit more, but I cannot wait for that because, again, this is huge for doing social media marketing, because people love those videos and those ads and everything that you give them. Coupon code is, like, so popular right now with Amazon, and I think it's going to help get so much more traffic and sales to Walmart when you can, you know, and display your items with the coupon code. I think so.

Carrie Miller:

I think that it's a bummer we don't have it right now because my sales when we started doing a coupon on Amazon have done really, really well, because I just think people are always looking for a deal. So, seeing that coupon, they're like, oh, I might as well just get this item too in here because it's on sale or there's a coupon, whereas you know we don't have it on Walmart yet. I'm kind of antsy to get coupons on Walmart. It would be really cool if they just decided next week to release those, because I'm desperately waiting for those because they work really well on Amazon. We see that they work because people are already shopping on there and they're like, oh, I'm looking, they're looking for deals, right? So the more access we have to give deals, I think, the more sales we're going to make on Walmart.

Michal:

So, yeah, in beta anymore. It's available to everyone. If you're a brand, you have to be brand and register, but is the video ads. Yes is the most exciting thing I think happened recently for brands is that you can create a video ad and you get your customer attention so fast because you know the minute they search for something, your video is and it's big, it's really big. You saw on Walmart, it's not like tiny. It's like yes, really like the page. It's really nice big deal, and I'm still amazed that so many brands are not using that. There are so many people and sellers that are not using the video ads or even just to upload the video to the listing. So many people are not doing that. So and so, yeah, this is I think the key to this with Walmart is paying attention and doing all this stuff. I agree.

Carrie Miller:

I think I've talked to some people and because the minimum is a dollar for the video ads, they haven't been utilizing them. Have you started doing video ads and have you seen some good conversion on those, like just better conversion overall? Or what do you see with the video ads Currently?

Michal:

yeah, we do have one of our clients that is running video ads and their sales are are really going high, Like we're talking about 30% more than before, so that's really nice. They're very happy with that, and so this is one of the things that you know with advertisement usually you should see growth and you know with sales.

Carrie Miller:

Mm, hmm, that would be. Yeah, that's amazing. Okay, so let's see, there was something else that you mentioned, and it was ad certification. Do you want to talk a little bit about Walmart ad certification? I think this is a completely new program, so yeah, that's a new program that Walmart is.

Michal:

see that people struggling with ads Like they're trying to run ads and they don't know, they have no clue what they're doing. So they're saying, hey, let's give you a certificate. So I think it's just to make people feel like, oh, if they're going to go through a course, they're going to be certified and they know what they're doing. So this is what they're trying to do. Or they're even offering that to your team. It doesn't have to be you, it's going to be somebody from your team. So if you have a VA, or because Walmart advertisement is not difficult, but you have to take the time and and learn how to create your campaigns correctly, how to optimize them, how to find the right keywords, a check your competition.

Michal:

If you're running ads and you don't spy on your only competitors to see what they're doing, you're missing out. Because this can be. I always find. When I do, you know, when I look at competitors, when we run ads for customers, we can always see that there is, we have a list of all the relevant keywords and then we look at the competitors and sometimes they're missing one or two, or sometimes even more. And that's your opportunity. So I think it's just to make sure that you're not missing out, and so we can always see that there is.

Michal:

We have a list of all the relevant keywords and then we look at the competitors and sometimes they're missing one or two or sometimes even more. And that's your opportunity, because nobody's paying for that keywords and you can pay for it and get all the traffic. Or Another thing that I see all the time with the competitors is that they're paying for a lot of phrases but they're not coming out as relevant because they don't have that phrase in the listing. So the ad algorithm is very smart, so he will sometimes place them for these keywords, but only because they don't have somebody that looks more relevant. Once you come and you're more relevant, you're not really competing with him because you will always get the first spot in the first page because the algorithm know you're relevant. So it's easy. Even if somebody in your confederate is advertising sometimes they're not doing such a good job you can always come and find those little holes where you can take advantage of something that your competitor is not doing.

Carrie Miller:

Very good, very interesting. Well, I think we're pretty much at our time limit, but I was wondering if there's anything else that we didn't talk about that you might want to give advice on or share with the audience. Any final thoughts?

Michal:

Yes, I think through the end of the year. Right now it's a really good timing for a lot, especially of the new seller, to see the potential of Walmart because a lot of them will be surprised right now with the sales. So I really want a lot of you to catch the momentum of the end of the year. Right now it's the best timing to add new product because there's a lot of traffic. So take the time and add new product. If you have a product they're doing very well, sometimes you can even just create another offer. It can be two-pack, three-pack, it can be a bundle. Again, it's more items you add, more customer can find you, you create more brand awareness. So add as many skills, as I always think is a good strategy to build your brand and stay in stock, even though pay attention, because a lot of people what happened right now? They're getting out of stock because they didn't thought they're going to sell so many, so much on Walmart and they're getting out of stock quickly. So try to stay in stock so you keep your momentum and your ranking. So add, advertise. Now is the best time.

Michal:

Advertise, pay attention to your budget. Make sure you're running ads during those peak days and peak hours. You don't run out of your budget too early of the day, so take advantage of the Google advertisement promo code. One thing that I wanted to say it's going to be super cool when you run ads. So your item is showing up like write the first thing the customer seat and then you use a promo. Like promo it's mean you're doing something like reduce price. So your item right now instead of $29.99 is $24.99. So you already catching the customer eye because you can see this item is on sale and then they click on your product and then they see there is coupon code. Right, it's going to be like. I think it's going to create a lot of conversion.

Carrie Miller:

I think so too.

Michal:

Together, and so I cannot wait for the coupon code to come. But right now you can run ads, you can do promo and that's going to catch some eyes. You will get a lot of sales just by doing that, as well as running ads going to help you get ranked. So this is a really good timing to not just sit back and say, oh, it's too late. No, it's not too late, you have enough time. Continue optimizing. Even right now. I'm telling all our customers please run a new keyword report.

Michal:

One of the things that people don't do is everybody that listen right now. When the last time you optimize your listening maybe you upload a year ago did you optimize it since then? Keywords is something that change all the time, especially in Q4. Because in Q4 there's a lot of new phrases. So if you sell toy for girls and right now you can add something to one of your key features, it says that toy make a great Christmas gift for girls. Christmas gift for girls is a very high search term at this time of the year and if you don't use it, you're missing out thousands of thousands of customers that potentially can come to your listening because that phrase is in your listening. So it's the perfect time right now, today, or even if you're on vacation or something next week, whenever you listen to that at any time.

Michal:

Go to Helium 10, run keyword refresh, keyword report to your product and do a couple of adjustments. Go and add those keywords to your description, to your title, even to your key features. Even your attributes can use some refreshment. Go to your listing tool score and see your score and see what you can improve in there. So just by doing that and you know what I love about it, that if you do that, you will see that in the next week or two you will get more traffic. It's working, guys. I think this tip is always working.

Carrie Miller:

One more question on that Do you use Helium 10, Cerebro and Magnet to find those keywords, or where are you finding those keywords? Is that kind of the best option?

Michal:

I'm using both. So Magnet, we're always doing searches just to see what's coming up, and I always like to use Cerebro because I will go to my competing items. At least two or three of them will take their item number, go to Cerebro to see what they're ranking for, which keywords, and almost always I will find the phrase that I never got in the other search. So always do both.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, we're updating those keywords every week, so you should be able to find new keywords on Helium 10, Cerebro and Magnet. So thank you everyone for listening. Thank you so much, Michal, for coming on. I always love having you on because you are definitely one of the top in the industry, so I appreciate you taking the time and answering questions and giving advice. So good luck to everyone who's selling this Q4. I think we've gotten a lot of really great tactics here from Michal on what to do, from you know, for Q4. So we will see you all next time on Walmart Wednesday. So thank you.

Michal:

Bye Carrie. Thank you so much.

Carrie Miller:

Bye.

View Details

Imagine navigating the exciting landscape of launching an Amazon KDP business and entering the glitzy Miss Universe spectacle at the same time. That's precisely what our incredible guest, Shivali, has managed to do. In this episode of SSP, Shivali takes us on a fascinating journey that begins with the debut of her original beauty and personal care product in the electronics section of Amazon and ends with her unforgettable time competing in beauty pageants. Gain insights into the tactical maneuvers she employed to overcome the hurdles in the fiercely competitive Amazon landscape and enjoy the open discussion of her unique approach to launching an Amazon product.

In the second half of our talk, we change topics and focus on the colorful realm of cosmetics and beauty, emphasizing the need to create styles that accentuate unique qualities. With her unique take on the process of creating digital products, Shivali shares the details of her next cosmetics training initiative. She also discusses her amazing book writing and publishing endeavors, as well as her first experience publishing KDP books on Amazon. In order to bring your private label endeavors to new heights, we conclude the episode by getting into the specifics of Amazon's KDP platform and providing insightful advice about quality control, marketing techniques, and pricing strategies. So, listen to this episode and take away some wisdom from Shivali’s inspiring story.

In episode 512 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Shivali discuss:

00:00 - Starting a KDP Business
05:19 - Passion and Celebrity in Product Success
11:07 - Versatile Looks and Digital Product Creation
16:43 - Promoting KDP Books on Tick Tock
21:52 - Effective Usage of AI Writing Tools
23:53 - KDP Book Publishing and Marketing Tactics
27:52 - Understanding Amazon Royalties and Profits
34:11 - Being Proactive in the KDP Market

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► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're sending Shivali to the other side of the microphone and she's going to talk about her advice for those wanting to start a KDP business, her super unique Amazon product launch that she's doing that would be impossible to copy, and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to check estimated sales for products you see on Amazon? Or maybe you want to instantly see how many listings on page one of a search term result have the actual search keyword in the title? You can find all of these things out and more with the Helium 10 Chrome Extension tool, X-Ray. More than 1 million people have used this tool. Find out what it can do for you by downloading it for free at h10.me/xray. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. I'm not going too far away in the world. We're going to North Carolina right now. Shivali in the house. Welcome back to the show. How's it going?

Shivali Patel:

It's going good. How are you?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm doing all right. We're going to talk about KDP how Amazon sellers can do it. I'm going to talk about I know you're just going to be launching another Amazon product soon. We've got a lot of a business thing to talk about Before there. We were talking earlier that there was just recently Miss Universe. You said a couple of people that were in this Miss Universe pageant you were actually in the same pageant with them last year, the year before, right.

Shivali Patel:

Yes, correct. Miss Universe Thailand this year was actually our reigning international girl when I competed at Miss Super National in 2021. Then Miss Universe, Puerto Rico Carla, who also made top five at Miss Universe Miss Thailand, actually took first runner up. Carla was also, I believe she made top five. Yeah, really really strong group of girls. They're both wonderful. It definitely gives me the pageant itch as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, I've joked with you before that, hey, I'll approve time off, but there's got to be like some. I put a Helium 10 logo on my basketball court. I think that on your gowns or your evening wear or talent competition, there's got to be like Helium 10 logos displayed somewhere. Then I'll go ahead and approve that time off if you go back to pageant life.

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, that would be a wild gown.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, but hey, it will bring us lots of impressions to Helium 10 and then all of a sudden our site traffic will spike and then we can attribute it. We've got this metric that we go evangelism reach and that'll definitely help the evangelism reach. Anyways, here let's go to business. First of all, the last time we talked was a while back. I mean, you're definitely no stranger to show, you even host a few podcasts yourself or a few episodes yourself with the weekly buzz and tacos Tuesday and things like that. But as a guest you haven't been on here in about a year and I remember at the time you were looking for a new product to sell on Amazon, and now, as of today, you've got it all in Amazon. But you were having like, didn't they like? Put them all on reserve status or suspended or suppressed, or what was going on there?

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, so my product is actually. It's in the beauty and personal care category, but it was also an electronics item, which is very interesting because when I was getting started a few years ago, I remember telling myself you know what? I'm not going to touch electronic items with a stick. It's not for me. I don't know all the regulations.

Bradley Sutton:

And then I think you have a death with electronics.

Shivali Patel:

Yeah, that too. Let's forgot about that part too. But yeah, that was one additional reason that I didn't want to touch the electronics category. But I think the more time that I've spent in this space, it changes your mindset a lot, because then it becomes about well, which barriers are you willing to cross? Because problems are such an integral part to running any business system and it just comes down to what or how you're willing to overcome it. And so when I found this product, I was really, really interested in launching into it because I felt like I could deliver value into it. You're always thinking creatively well, what can I add to this product so that way it will sustain competitors regardless of when they're coming in? And with my first product, I had about nine months before I actually got that product to market because of some backend issues, and this for this particular product. You carry all those lessons that you learned through time with you, and so I really wanted to ensure that, regardless of when the product goes out, it actually sells. And it really came down to okay, yes, it's an electronics item, but I can learn it's a higher barrier to entry for my competitors. And then I did feel like I could add value to the space. So, yeah, that's really my mindset of going in.

Bradley Sutton:

But along those lines it ties in with what we were talking about with pageant, life and stuff. But people, I've always suggested to people, hey, you can't always go with what your passion is, because if there's no opportunity there you're not going to have success. But in a perfect world, if you can do a product that you're passionate about or leverage some kind of like off Amazon, you know, following, then I think you know people absolutely have to do that. Like you know, I always thought before like if I was still like really big in the Zumba world, like I was in the old days, that you know, like I could have had a lot easier way to launch some kind of Zumba fitness related product or something. So then you kind of, you know you said it's kind of like a beauty product, but then you're kind of taking your quote unquote celebrity status a little bit and offering like coaching or some kind of like digital service along with your product.

Shivali Patel:

Right, that is correct. So I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to do this, but pretty much anybody I talked to, yourself included, said it was a good idea, and so, yes, I have chosen to represent myself as Miss Supernational USA 2021. And I, whenever somebody buys the product which it's actually I'm fine with sharing it. It's a makeup bag with LED mirror and three settings, but it comes with makeup lessons as well, and it's not just live group coaching calls, it's like a full blown course, because I wanted people to not just walk away with a product, but walk away with an experience where they can buy this one bag and learn how to use all of the tools that they'll be putting inside of that bag, where they can now go into their everyday life and actually carry themselves with confidence because they now know or have a skill, sets and techniques on how to use those products. So it really was a long game for me and that's how I approached it.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, but yeah, the reason why this is, I mean, nothing is guaranteed success. Guys in Amazon. You know like maybe something weird might happen and she has to like lower her price or something. But I know you're starting at a very high price and you actually have a chance of success. Like if I were to come in with an LED makeup bag and like, let's say, all of them were like 60 bucks and I'm trying to sell it for 120, I mean it's not. Not only is there not a guarantee of success, it's almost a guaranteed failure. Because why, you know, why would anybody pay 120 dollars? But with the fact that you're bundling this, this is now all of a sudden you actually have this ceiling, like it actually is possible for you to have success at that price, price point. Also, this is something that nobody can duplicate. Nobody can copy like any. You have some like super fancy water bottle, you know, that has like this really crazy design spout or whatever. So somebody can copy that. Eventually, can a can a you know Chinese factory or a factory from India just go and say, hey, let me get another country's miss super national or miss universe or whatever and offer coaching classes. You know that's like not going to happen.

Bradley Sutton:

So, again, this is not a guarantee for success, but this is the kind of thing guys those of you are selling on Amazon look for these kind of things that are hard to duplicate, whether it's on the product side, like something you have a patent for, or or it's on the you know the personal side, you know where you're offering digital courses or something like that with it, and then that just sets you apart. So that that was why I really liked that, that idea, and I think that other other people should think about. Not, not everybody has something you know, but, but sometimes we sell ourselves short A lot of people. We might have something that we don't even know. Maybe it's one of our relatives or something that we can offer as as part of a bundle. So how are you delivering? Like, is this course live? Is it like something you recorded and they get access to it once they opt in? Like, how does that work?

Shivali Patel:

I was actually listening to Alex Hermosi I'm not sure if I pronounced this last name correctly, but he talks a lot about the $100 million offer right, and something that is very principal to that is providing an offer. That is a no brainer, and when I was thinking about what I wanted to offer in terms of an experience and what would be most impactful, you want leveraged impact right. You want somebody to purchase this bag, transform their lives, and then they go and tell their friends and say, hey, oh my gosh, like I learned this incredible thing. I feel so much more confident, and I think that's a mixture of prerecorded lessons, but it's also live coaching, where people do have access to you. They do have the ability to ask you questions.

Shivali Patel:

Now, I would not consider myself a makeup guru by any, by any milestone, but I think you really only need to be a few steps ahead of somebody to be able to offer help, and with makeup, I have spent a considerable amount of years in the fashion and the beauty industry. I started very young and I grew up in that field, and so I do feel like I can say something to someone and help them with their confidence in applying makeup or even just in presentation, right. I think it takes a certain level of courage, or even foregoing some of the expectations other people might hold of you, to compete in something like a beauty pageant. And so I can take those and transfer them over to somebody else and hopefully that will allow them to be equipped with skills they can put into their day to day life, and so it's actually a mixture I'm sending them over into a funnel, right, and that funnel will set up the drip email campaign, which then leads them into this whole course. So it's a four module course as of right now. I plan to add to it. I want to update it consistently as new trends come out.

Shivali Patel:

As you know, there's so many versatile looks you could do. You could do a day look a glam look. Maybe you are somebody who's going day into glam, that sort of thing as well as just expression. So it talks a little bit about color psychology. We have what else? We have undertones, we have foundation matching just a lot of different broad ideas that are important when you are trying to figure out what's going to work on your face, because everybody's face is different. I can't actually go and give you the exact same things that I do, and it's not necessarily going to work for you, because you know you might have almond shaped eyes.

Bradley Sutton:

I think my beauty is a little bit different than yours, yeah.

Shivali Patel:

Exactly, Exactly. But for those of you that are listening, you know you might end up if you're a woman and your are planning to use the same exact makeup techniques that I am, well, it might not work, because you might have hooded eyes and I have almond eyes, that sort of thing. So we do have the four modules plus bonus lessons, where I'll have some of my pageant friends come on, some of the you know influencers that I can get on and they'll do lessons as well, and then I also have a group and they'll be promoting this product, like once you know, now that you see there goes again, guys, there's, it's not.

Bradley Sutton:

She's not just going off of what you know she has, but what you have is your network too, and so if you have people who are influential, you know, and who are down to down to promote, that's another great advantage. Like, like, I'm doing something different on the coffin shelf, you know, like I'm not making a community or anything but the coffin shelf market is very saturated. All of a sudden, you know, people come in low balling and I'm going to go a little bit more in depth in a future episode, but what I'm doing is I'm just experiencing again, again. I might fail at this, but I'll never know if I don't try. I'm actually raising my price and not going lower, like everybody's 20% lower than me. I'm going to go not only not lower, but I'm going to go 20% higher and I'm adding Products that almost double my cost of manufacturing. I'm giving, like, a coffin shaped box, like the box that it's gonna come in is literally coffin shaped and it can be reused as something else, like you know, a sock box or something like that, and I'm offering some other stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

So for me, that's what I think is gonna differentiate, because there's no way that any of these other cheap Coffin shelf makers are gonna go and spend two dollars and fifty cents like is what it's costing me to make this custom box for Shivali. There is no way any of her competitors are gonna go and have multiple pageant beauty queens From countries like you know offering courses. So, guys, again, the moral this part of the story is is do what you know, use your advantages, that you have to be unique and offer something that is that is not duplicatable and and that's kind of like along the lines of it doesn't always have to be a physical product. Mine, mine, is a physical product. I'm doing a box right and along those lines is a perfect segue. Your first entry into Amazon wasn't even in the physical product, wasn't didn't. Before you make physical products, you were doing digital products, namely KDP books correct.

Shivali Patel:

I got started by selling on KDP and I wrote books fairly fast. I had some ghosts written, but I also wrote some of my own and I knew that if I spent too much time on Writing them that I most likely would be disappointed in the results. Not trying to be a pessimist, just a realist, where if I spent, let's say, months preparing a book and I put it out into the world and people don't receive it well, or maybe it the field is changed by then, right, I would be so disappointed and so I worked on. I Just focused on putting it out there as opposed to perfection, just progress, not perfection sort of ideal.

Shivali Patel:

And yeah, it went okay. I wouldn't say it was. I became like a best-selling author or anything, but I sold copies and I continue to sell those copies actually from the books I wrote when I was I think I was 23 at the time- so those books you made years ago You're saying you're still getting, like you know, per like it's not, it's not free, you have to pay for it or you're free, so people are literally are still paying you for this book you wrote years ago.

Shivali Patel:

Yes, yeah, I mean, granted, my books are very, very cheap, because again I was like, okay, I wrote this in 24 hours. I think it was like 24 to 36 hours max, but I went through, wrote it pretty fast. One was on positive self-talk, the other one was on engineering powerful habits successfully. I've actually published way more than that. I just only tied those first two to my name and so those actually that are under my name, they're tagged to my socials and so I actually do end up going in and still seeing sales from those even today, and that's cool, because I don't actually actively promote them or anything.

Shivali Patel:

They just end up selling, and so I really, really love digital products because digital products cost you little to no money To actually set up right. You can go into Canva today and create something. In fact, last month I wrote four books and I need to actually get them published this month, hopefully this month. Hardcover paperback would be great. I wrote one on AI. I wrote one on what was my other one, even on, can you believe I like I struggle sometimes even in float Instagram, because I had done a case study with Instagram at some point where I quickly grew it from Zero to 10k followers in the span of like three to four weeks.

Shivali Patel:

Now, of course, that case study is a little bit old, but I learned a lot through it and I can still sell that information, and so it's really easy to go into Canva, build out a full fledged book and then it takes you maybe five minutes to upload into KDP. And KDP isn't even the only avenue you can use. There's many other platforms that allow you to do that. Now I specifically focus on KDP and I Was talking to Bradley not too long ago about potentially doing a case study about that for helium 10 content, which hopefully, if you guys stay tuned, you'll be able to see that. And that is just experimenting with tick tock, because tick tock is also growing. Tick tock shop just became a thing and.

Shivali Patel:

I'm really interested in seeing how you can kind of combine both of those landscapes into one Right now you can't actually add links, I believe, into the captions to promote your Amazon KDP books, but you can Send traffic using a link in bio to a funnel page or a landing page or even into those books via that route so you can attach your KDP link. I think as long as you have the link in bio. You can't actually do it inside of the Video that you're uploading, like the post that you're uploading.

Shivali Patel:

Okay and so there's so many things you can do there too, right, you can go in and do like a reading what is it? You read like an excerpt of your book and that's a reading. You could do Q&A. You could add Just some knowledge to the space. If you have something that is non fictional, you could do so many other promotional videos that can lend itself to traffic for your pages.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so let me give you a couple scenarios. Scenario number one I am listening to this podcast and I'm not selling on Amazon yet, and the reason why I'm not is because, you know, I don't have $3,000 or maybe my product is like super expensive, it's $10,000 what I would need to invest. You know, $5,000, what have you? And I'm just like, hey, I'm not on any kind of like strict timeline. You know, I got a few months like I can build, you know, save for my day job, but I want to kind of like X, you know, start making some more money on the side Without investing. How, what would I? Where do I start? Like, like, what's my research? Like you know, maybe I don't have the time to do an Instagram Case, that you know you know. Whatever, whatever you do like, do I need to pick a topic that I know or you know? Do I do like product research and in helium 10 and find some kind of Subject that way that there are searches on like, like what's my step one, two and three?

Shivali Patel:

I think that's an excellent question, and it's when I can get very excited about sharing information on because you absolutely want to do product research. There's no point in you building a book and then set trying to sell it in a market that's super saturated, or maybe you don't know how to market and so use the helium 10 chrome extension. That's what I recommend is make sure you download it. You can go to helium 10 comm forward slash extension and once you add that to chrome, you can actually use x-ray to see a lot of back-end data. Go inside of Kindle, the Kindle store, go into categories, subcategories, use x-ray to see how people are doing and then from that, maybe, if you find a book that you Are interested in creating a book on, you feel like you could do something better, you can optimize that listing better. Then what I actually recommend that you do is open up Canva, open up ChatGPT and Open up quill bot. Okay, and what you can do is, first of all, use review insights which is also a part of our helium 10 chrome extension on your competitors inside of that niche. Figure out what's good, what are people talking about, what do they like about that book, what are the topics that you want to focus your book on and then go into chat GPT, provide a title, come up with a title. If you don't want to go directly into that, you really want to get granular. Go into Cerebro before you go into chat GPT, go and see what people are typing in and then from that Make a list of all the chapters you want to have for that book, all the keywords you want to rank for, and then you can use those keywords as chapter titles. Then you go to ChatGPT, you feed it inquiries and if you put in garbage if you put in garbage you're gonna get garbage out. So make sure you're very, very hyper specific about what you're inputting in.

Shivali Patel:

When you do that, you can start with an outline. You can say, hey, I'm writing a book for this, this is how long I want it to be. I'm going to, over time, over the next few prompts, feed you a set of Subject or chapter titles, chapter topics, and I'd like you to Draft a written response in the tone of XYZ. Maybe you have a favorite author, a favorite artist. Whatever the case may be, get very, very specific and, as you go through first, still provide you with the outline. So I would recommend really starting with the outline. Once you have the outline, the outline will present you with maybe two or three different markers for inside of each chapter. So even if you don't know the first thing about that niche, that is okay. You don't need to do a case study like I did. I've written plenty of books that are on topics I don't know anything about, and that is okay for you too. So go in to chat GPT, go into the outlines and then actually take each chapter Section, so maybe just the two or three. Copy and paste that and then you'll see I'll draft an entire thing for you.

Shivali Patel:

Now, the only thing that I don't love about ChatGPT is, yes, it has limits, but it also is quite redundant sometimes in its language. So you'll see some words pop up over and over again. You'll see vast, you'll see realm, you'll see Ecommerce landscape if I'm talking about something in E come and so you might want to go in and be specific, say, hey, don't use any sequential words or don't use these specific words, include these keywords, and it will actually go through and refine what you've written. The point, or the best way, rather, to use chat GPT is Start broad and get more and more granular, refining your results every single time, and so pretty soon actually even in the span of 30 minutes you can have a full book that you can then put into quill bot, which is a paraphrasing tool, and Actually change out those words. So now you have a Section of your book that is AI generated but it looks more human because you've gone in and actually changed out some of those words.

Shivali Patel:

Of course you want to add a little bit of personal touch, but can you imagine how hard it must have been to write books that are 500 600 pages back in the day, not to say you need to write 500 600 pages. Most of my books are somewhere between some are as low as 20 pages and others are I think my highest might be about no, actually 120 pages, I think is my highest. But you can go in and go as little or as Long as you really want to keep in mind that if you go and upload this to KDP, you will need to do some formatting beforehand, as well, as if you are making that book a paperback or hardcover book, you're gonna have certain associated printing costs because this is print-on-demand if you're using KDP. Anyways, I've gone completely into a whole splurge based off of this initial question of what the heck do you do if you're just getting started right, and so that was really to start with product research. Do the keyword research.

Shivali Patel:

If you want to figure out which chapters to create, use ChatGPT with Canva and I say Canva because you can actually transfer over, not transfer over with Canva. You can make the book title, book cover, page, and so you're. You now have a free book cover that you've created. You can create a really nice manuscript inside of honestly like word. I've done word before. I've done this inside of Google Docs before. I've also done this inside of canva before, where you can really make it nice with different fonts, and then you will want to throw it into KDP after that and make sure that the manuscript looks okay.

Shivali Patel:

That's really, really important because people who are Kindle readers read this on a handful of different Devices and you will want to make sure that they can actually read what you're writing, because the they want to consume the content. They don't want to be distracted by mistakes. When I was 23 and I published them on my first books, some of the feedback I got, I thought, okay, I'll just get feedback and refine it afterwards. Well, I did get some things that in in the reviews and oh, like the grammar was a little bit, you know, off for one of my fictional books and I was like, okay, it's fine. Whatever, you know, this was ghost written, I don't really care about it, I'm not gonna go in. I refined it as much as I could and I feel like the story still got across just fine.

Shivali Patel:

So once you have your book built, your book cover built inside a Canva, you've saved it, you're uploading to KDP. Create a KDP account, go in, upload all of it. It's pretty simple to follow. If not, we do have blogs on KDP. So I suggest that you go and you check out our blog section on Helium 10 to to figure out how to actually upload it, if you need some help, and then, from there, focus on marketing. I honestly, through mistakes, have learned that it's not enough just to build a high quality product. You will need to do the marketing side of things as well, and KDP is no different. If you want to stay low on costs let's say you really want to save for private label then go into existing blog forums, go into Facebook groups, create that TikTok account and do what we talked about earlier, where you're creating promotional videos, maybe you're doing reads Q and A's, you are getting on live, maybe, and talking about the book. I have seen some lives that are ridiculous. Bradley, do you remember the Chinese seller who made $18.7 million just by promoting products?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, like three seconds per product. It's kind of ridiculous.

Shivali Patel:

It's absurd and people still sell based off of those three seconds. You also have people who are doing the whole NPC trend, if you've seen it, and they make money on that. If they can make money on that, can you make money on a book that sells content? Absolutely, but will you have to put in the work to actually make the promotional videos? Yes, so you can go in and do stuff. The trade off is really going to be the time investment, so you will need to spend some time inside of Facebook groups. I've done this before. You find niches that are related to your book, go in, actually post that. Hey, you know what? Like I just released this book. I would love to get some feedback. I'd love if you guys could show some support and you're not telling anyone to buy, really, but they can go in and select or or, you know, purchase that product if they feel like it's up their alley and hopefully leave you an honest review, as long as you were very, very forthcoming with what you were hoping for in the beginning.

Shivali Patel:

Outside of that, I've also used blogging sites so you can go in, find niches where there's tons of readers subscribed to an email list and those email lists are really, really helpful too, because I've used those to launch books before, where you can go in and essentially maybe some of these sites are free, some are not. Some are like 20, $25 book beam there's. There's other ones that cost a lot more and they have millions of readers who are waiting for books to be published. So you can also tap into Kindle Unlimited. You can go in and actually end up promoting, let's say, even the book for free while they're doing these promos, so a lot of people can read them, you can garner those reviews and then hopefully start your PPC campaigns to sell really well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so that's, let's say, I do all that. I make a book about 60, 70 pages. What's about the target price? And then, at that price, what am I taking home? You know, based on you know what, what Amazon is charging me.

Shivali Patel:

So you can select from two different royalty options. With KDP, you can do 35% or 70% of royalty from your list price, and that's if you're based in I think it's UK. No, if it's based in Europe, then that's without the VAT tax. So it's just taking a look at your list price 35% or 70% and it really comes down to you on what you want to market at.

Shivali Patel:

You'll see books that are $40. You'll see books that are $2, which is what my book started with way in the beginning and so you can go in and choose and then base off of the royalty price that you select, you'll be able to figure out what sort of profits you're making. Then, of course, if you are saving for private label, you know maybe you'll want to focus on building really quality books, not not making too many, and then just work on marketing them. Or you could go wide right. You can make many, many books that are really really cheap and just focus on the launch side of things to garner that initial revenue or not revenue. Revenue, yes, but also the initial capital you need to get started with private label.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Now, you know, that was a scenario that I gave, where it's like, all right, I'm just trying to get some extra revenue. Theoretically speaking, I could be already selling on Amazon and that's still you know, like I want to. You know, get more revenue so I can do that exact process. If I'm an existing Amazon seller, we would have nothing to do with my current Amazon business. It would just be, you know, me doing product research for something. But let's just you know. The other scenario, number two that was kind of like scenario one B, but you know. Now two is like all right, I sell coffin shelves and egg trays or what have you, and I want to leverage KDP in a different way. I'm not really necessarily making a revenue play, but maybe it's. It's something like I'm giving a free, you know, yeah, lead Magnet or add on what is a scenario? That I'm not necessarily making a revenue play, but as an existing Amazon seller, I could potentially leverage KDP and it'll benefit me.

Shivali Patel:

So I think a really good play for that is the leads generator, and that's just. You already have your product set. Maybe you want to tap into these Kindle users, because these are people that are already reading books. They're interested in that topic. Well, maybe they might be interested in a product in that setting, and so you can go in create a book using the process we just talked about right. Go into ChatGPT, go into Canva, into quill bot, and you can transfer those skills over and end up leading, putting in pages into your eBook that are for a leads generator. You tag that you can use portals inside of helium 10 to create a landing page and then actually end up taking that link and put it into your eBook, put it on KDP and then work on also ranking that book, so that way those readers end up hopefully navigating into your product and you end up capturing those emails as well through KDP.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so that's KDP. Now you know, one of your other specialties here at helium 10 is you work with our market tracker 360 program, something that I don't know too much about. It it's mainly for those who reach, like the eight, nine figure level. What's some new things that you can tell us about for those like, hey, I'm high, seven figure, eight figure seller, some new things that I can get excited about if I'm using market tracker 360.

Shivali Patel:

So the beauty about market tracker 360 is you can go as broad or as granular as you want, something we have been talking about today with this podcast. But what's really cool is now you can divvy out into how you want to build your market. So if you want to build your market, let's say, at a brand level, you can input up to 100 brands and focus on it simply at the brand level. If you want to put in keywords and asins, you can still do that, but you can go in and refine it based off of categories, subcategories as well, as something that is newer is being able to create markets based off of those subcategories too. So it takes a little bit of time to set up that market, but once you have it set up, you can always go in with filter presets and get an understanding for how your market is moving, not only from a year over your comparison standpoint, or a month over month or week over week. You can also just look at it from a competitor level, check out your market share, check out how your other competitors are doing year over year the historical comparison of your products versus their products, whether it be at a brand level or at a product level. You can also dive deep into your keywords, into their keywords, check out what strategies they're using and then how they're rising and falling in terms of a keyword heat map. And so it's really nice being able to not only set up the market as you want, you can go in at the.

Shivali Patel:

I've heard so many you know six, seven, eight, nine figure sellers talk about how important it is for them to be able to see their category or subcategory just at that level, and we're actually coming out with that. Now is before you could go in and get granular, do it as a filter preset. Now you can actually create the market based off of that. So that's something exciting that you guys can look forward to, and if you are on the diamond plan, I believe you have access to a market. So I highly encourage you to go in and make use of that single market you have. Okay, cool.

Bradley Sutton:

So I always forget about that. You know, like I even said right now, market tracker 360 is like, mainly on our supercharged plan, but if you're a diamond, you can actually, you know, go ahead and get one started. So, even if you're not a eight figure seller yet, go ahead and, you know, take advantage of that free one If you've got a diamond account, all right. So now we're at the end of this episode. Do you have our, our 60 second tip or 60 second strategy of the day you can share with the audience?

Shivali Patel:

I think my 60 second tip is going to be be proactive because, first of all, we are very close to new years and we talked a lot about KDP today, but you can absolutely tap into that market now because there are going to be so many people that are out there looking for goal setting things, for habit planners, and it's a really easy way for you to start with a no content to low content book. Maybe you don't need to do the whole ChatGPT thing just now. You can go in create something inside of Canva that is maybe template base, that you can go in, switch out the formatting, the colors and try to start working with the marketing side of things to get a feel for what it would be like if you posted a medium to high content book inside of KDP. So you can start really, really easy with low efforts and then also be proactive in terms of maybe you want to go out, maybe you want to check out some trade shows. You want to find a really good product for your FBA business. I know we didn't fully talk about product research for a FBA business, while I might have shared a little bit about my mindset about finding my latest product that I'm going to be selling. You absolutely can go in into trade shows, into stores even, and start thinking outside of box. What value could you bring to that niche with that? I hope you implement and you don't just listen to the podcast.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right Again. You're no stranger to the podcast. You'll be hosting some upcoming episodes of Weekly Buzz. And then also, you were definitely instrumental and part of our relaunch of Project X and you were handling one of these products that was actually sourced in India and so definitely have you back soon to talk with you and Meghla, who helped out with that project, to kind of see how it was. We've never had a Project X product sourced from India, so that one is going to be launched soon. So as soon as that launches we'll definitely have you back. But thank you for sharing your knowledge and we'll be seeing you soon.

Shivali Patel:

Sounds good. Thank you so much.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

How Amazon is using AI to ensure authentic customer reviews
https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/policy/how-amazon-is-using-ai-to-ensure-authentic-customer-reviews

Temu, Shein far lag Amazon as online holiday shopping ramps up
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/temu-shein-far-lag-amazon-online-holiday-shopping-ramps-up-2023-11-22/

Amazon to Launch Live Shopping Deals During Black Friday Football Game on Prime Video
https://variety.com/2023/shopping/news/amazon-black-friday-football-game-prime-deals-1235805778/

Hyundai to Sell Vehicles on Amazon Starting in 2024
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45896102/hyundai-amazon-car-sales-2024/

Stay tuned as we discuss the latest new features from Helium 10 and share some valuable newsletters to keep you in the loop. Later on, we share some game-changing strategies with Mina Elias for auditing your Amazon PPC campaigns. You'll learn how to manage campaigns effectively and monitor and improve campaign performance. Join us for this exciting episode!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:02 - AI Review Police
03:20 - Temu, Shein Lagging
04:53 - Black Friday Football
06:45 - Amazon Posts Videos
08:15 - Hyundai Buy Box
10:00 - Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter
11:00 - Commerce Accelerated
11:35 - Weekly Buzz
12:19 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
16:20 - ProTraining Tip: How To Audit Your PPC Campaigns with Mina Elias

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon is employing AI to police fraudulent reviews. Timo and Sheen are lagging in holiday sales. This week is the first ever Amazon Black Friday football game. You soon can have videos for Amazon Post. These and much more stories on today's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on as far as news goes in the Amazon, Walmart, e-commerce world. We give you all the latest new Helium 10 features that have been released this week and we give you training tips the week that will give you serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. All right, today is Thursday. Yes, I'm recording this on Thursday. Yes, it's an American holiday, but we at the weekly buzz do not take any time off, guys. We want to make sure you guys know what's going on out there, so let's go ahead and hop right into the news.

Bradley Sutton:

The first article of the day is actually a was a press release by Amazon, and it's entitled how Amazon is Using AI to Ensure Authentic Customer Reviews. All right, you know a lot of us worry, sometimes complaining about, you know, a lot of competitors doing some black hat strategies in reviews, right, and so this article goes in to talk about how advanced AI helps publish authentic reviews and weed out the fake ones. You know it mentions how the vast majority of reviews pass this Amazon bar of authenticity and they get posted right away, but that they're using AI to kind of look or try and detect if there's potential review abuse and if that happens, they either delete the review, they take action against the reviewer A lot of interesting things this article talks about. Now, the thing that almost kind of like worried me was that I still see, in 2023, a lot of obviously fraudulent reviews. You know where it's reviews that have to do with, you know products that you know are not even part of. You know the listing and a whole bunch of other things. This article was talking about how, in 2022, amazon observed and blocked more than 200 million fake reviews. So it's like that's kind of crazy if you think about it. Like that's last year and this year I'm still seeing reviews like man. That's a lot of reviews and a lot of you know, fake reviews and bad reviews. So it's funny because you know, we've been talking about that FTC lawsuit and I I've always mentioned how there is like so many other things I think that Amazon sellers are worried about. Uh, as far as Amazon goes, that the things that that FTC thing is and I would say the like, the fake reviews is one of them where all of a sudden, some new competitor comes in and within like three days, there's like a thousand reviews or or all of us, and they, they merge a whole bunch of listings and or resurrect some dead listing, those reviews for a phone case, but you know it's really for a coffin shelf or something. I mean, these are the things that, uh, you know I think a lot of Amazon sellers hope that you know Amazon would crack down more on. Hey, this article might be a move in the right direction If it's utilizing more advanced AI. Obviously, ai in 2023 and 2024 is not what it was in 2022. So maybe there is uh kind of like light at the end of this tunnel.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Reuters and it's entitled T moon Shane lag far behind as online holiday shopping uh ramps up. So you know, like I've been talking about this cause it comes up in the news a lot, how you know they're making a lot of waves, so many people are going to their websites and stuff. But I'm not. I never really was worried, uh, about you know, t moon she like biting into Amazon sales. Even Amazon's not worried. We talked about in the weekly buzz before how Amazon is not even doing price matching on these websites Cause it doesn't even really consider it like on the same level. Now, uh, similar web in this article said that hey, nine out of 10 visitors to T moon and sheen and when I say a lot, you know visitors there's millions of uh, uh visitors coming this holiday season. This article says nine out of 10 are window shoppers, not buyers. All right, sheen's website drew 28.6 million unique visitors in October, which is up from a year before, but visits that resulted in actual transactions, you know, a visit to the website that ended up in a sale went down to 4.1%. How does Amazon compare? 56% of Amazon's 268 million monthly visits in October resulted in sale. So, again, like I don't think Amazon is is scared or we as Amazon sellers need to worry about all this traffic that's going to, like T moon and sheen, people are not really buying on there right now. You know things could, of course, change, but as of now you can. You could see that. You know, buyer intent is really lacking on those other websites.

Bradley Sutton:

Uh, speaking of Amazon, uh, this next article is from Variety. The title is Amazon to launch live shopping deals during black Friday football game on prime video. All right, so the very first ever black Friday football game is happening. Usually, you know, thursday, thanksgiving, Thursday, football is kind of a big thing. Now, the first ever Amazon black Friday game and it's going to be broadcast on Amazon and says deals are going to go live during pre game, half time and post game sales. All right, and there will also be one big limited time deal per quarter.

Bradley Sutton:

Now there's rumors about what these might be. You know some say it's like. You know, might be some big uh from beats by Dre and Lego and different things. Now you might think, well, you know that it doesn't. That's not me, you know I don't have my deals on there. But again, we've been talking about kind of like a move by Amazon to start having more deals with their prime video and their video assets, and even though this might not have regular third party sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

You know we're not going to afford uh, you know, a spot in this once a year. You know, you know football game. But imagine, you know if millions of people are watching football and you know a certain percentage of them are going to go to buy these beats by Dre, or these legals or these other things. Now, all of a sudden guess what? It's a you know, commercial time, or it's a break, it's halftime, they're on the Amazon app and they're buying something else, but now that they might go ahead and browse other other things, you know. So this is good for for Amazon sellers. Even though you might not be taking advantage of this exact kind of advertising, you are advantaged by it because Amazon is sending all of this new traffic directly to Amazon and hopefully you know that they can find their way to one of your listings if they start browsing, you know, while they're waiting for the second half to start, or something like that.

Bradley Sutton:

So, interesting, interesting things, how you know, the world of advertising for, for Amazon and the world of sports and entertainment is coming a little bit more together. Next, one article is actually just from you know, from my buddy, jeff Cohen's LinkedIn. I've been seeing this. You know multiple people post about this. I don't have access to this in my account but I wanted to, you know, show Jeff's post here because he was the first one that I saw talk about it. But on LinkedIn he says that Amazon post is going to soon support video. So Amazon post, you know, hopefully you guys are utilizing that. We've talked about how you can use the Amazon AI and the helium 10. I had to create images and captions completely automatically with Amazon or for for Amazon posts, but soon you're now going to be able to upload video. You know I personally have been seeing Amazon posts come up more in search results than in the past. Perhaps you've seen that before. So imagine if now in the search results you can see Amazon posts that have video. All right, so it's going to be pretty cool. Jeff talks about here in his his LinkedIn posts that he says that, hey, shoppers who interact with a post end up performing 45% more branded searches, and brands with 10 plus post have, on average, compared to brands with fewer than 10 posts, two and a half more time store visits and almost four times more followers. And so you know, the thought being that, hey, that's just with static images. How much more could, potentially, having video now increase your branded search and some of your traffic? So if you don't have it in your Amazon post section yet, you know, like me, it's probably going to come in the next few days for you. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is actually from car and driver First time we're quoting car and driver here in the weekly buzz and it's entitled Hyundai to sell vehicles on Amazon starting in 2024. All right, says looking for a 2024 Hyundai, look no further than your Amazon Prime account. Now, again, does this affect third party sellers? You know, maybe, maybe not. I just thought this was an interesting kind of like article here, because that's just kind of crazy If you think about where things are going now. Basically, this article is saying that, hey, you're going to be able to like, pick your color and everything. You're going to use the buy box. There's going to be different dealers that maybe have different offerings. Different dealerships are now playing the game of fighting for the buy box like arbitrage sellers. There's no, there's no haggling here, and I just think it's like kind of like fascinating where the world of online commerce is going to. You know, buying brand new cars online is not new, but Amazon obviously is going to be the biggest website ever to sell new cars. And who knows, you know, maybe I'm just waiting for the first dealership to make a mistake on their coupon and they don't realize there's some coupons or deal of the day stacking and I'll be able to get a new Hyundai Santa Fe for like 50% off or something. My very first ever new car was a 1999 Hyundai Elantra. So yeah, I kind of only drive like he is and things now, but I still love my Korean car. So, who knows, maybe I might be one of the ones to be one of the first ones to buy a brand new car on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news articles this week. Actually, not that much going on Now. Before we get into the helium 10 new feature alerts, I wanted to call attention to a couple of newsletters. I've never really been one to promote newsletters, never even had my own until a couple of weeks ago, but there's only three newsletters that I subscribe to, or that I actually read out of all the ones out there, and so the first one is actually the billion dollar sellers newsletter. All right, so that's made by, obviously, kevin King from the helium 10 elite program and the AMPM podcast. It's very, very valuable. All right, there's not BS in here. There's actionable strategies. There's not a whole bunch of fluff. A lot of humor in there, though. So if you guys want to get strategies that you can use right away and some no BS newsletter, go ahead and go to h10.me forward slash BDSN. H10.me forward slash BDSN. Completely free to subscribe to that newsletter and a lot of great stuff. That's the first kind of like outside newsletter I ever read in my life, just because it's the only one worth it to me.

Bradley Sutton:

Another one that I've been subscribing to for a little while is made by Pacvue’s own Melissa. All right, so this is on LinkedIn and this is called commerce accelerated. So if you guys want to subscribe to it, go to h10.m/melissa. Another great newsletter. A lot of advertising in there and a lot of, you know, high level strategies as well as stuff that affects, you know, third party sellers. The last article was a recap on Amazon unboxed that Melissa was at, and so I highly recommend subscribing to that newsletter. And then, of course, you know shameless plug. The last newsletter is the new weekly buzz newsletter that I'm doing. It's not just like a transcript of this weekly buzz. I go break down all of the news articles and have some video on there and some other. You know strategies as well. So if you guys want to subscribe on LinkedIn to my Helium 10 weekly buzz newsletter, just go to h10.me/newsletter. h10.me/newsletter. All right, now let's get into the Helium 10 new feature alerts. Every week, we are launching new tools, new features, new functionality. A lot of it comes from you, the users. So what do we have cooking for this week? Even though it's a short week, we still launching things. The very first one I want to talk about is for Cerebro and Magna, and these are custom filters.

Bradley Sutton:

This has been asked for by a lot of you out there and you know you guys all have maybe your own strategy of how you run Cerebro as part of your process, like right, like maybe. Hey, I'm going to analyze, you know, 15 different niches and for everyone, one of my criteria. For example, what do I have? Here I'm showing a search volume of a minimum 400. And then a minimum number of one competitor. Maximum two are ranking between one and 20. And these keywords have a title density of three, like, like. There's like six filters that I'm using right there. Now, if you're having to do this search 10 times a day, right, because you know you're just doing some bulk research, it's probably a hassle for you to have to, one by one, re-enter all of these filters in. So now what we have is, once you enter some filters, at the very bottom of Cerebro, you are going to want to go ahead and hit this button called save as filter preset, right. And once you hit that button, another window will come up allowing you to go ahead and put a preset name and you can say, hey, this is my, you know, keyword research version one or whatever. And now this is going to show up as a one click filter at the very top of Cerebro, so that when you get into Cerebro, you enter the ASINs, you can just hit one button and it automatically populates your filters. Same thing for magnet. All right, let's say I have this process where I'm like hey, I out of all these keywords from what came out from, you know, these thousands of keywords that came out inside of my magnet search show me everything that has 500 search volume, that's at least three words, and that there's only 300 competing products for this keyword. Right, again, it might take a little bit of time to enter all these filters in. Once you do that again, just hit the save as filter preset and what's going to happen is you can just name this filter and then now, when you enter in, go into a magnet search, you are going to be able to just, you know, hit that button and your exact filters are going to come out.

Bradley Sutton:

The next and the only other update for the days is for those of you who are on the Helium 10 supercharge. You know, plan our supercharge plans for like eight, nine figure sellers. You guys have some pretty crazy graphs that you're going to be able to do, all right. So on your insights dashboard you're at the very bottom there's a, there's a button that says add a chart, right, you know everybody else has access to this too, but you got supercharged members have access to kind of like a crazy, crazy next level charting system. All right, and this is just the beginning.

Bradley Sutton:

So it takes you to a new page and then basically, what you're going to want to see is you can choose any two metrics that you want to compare, like, hey, I'm going to compare my ad click through rate with my unit soul. I want to compare RoAS, ACoS, ad spend and net profit. You know, all in the same chart. I want you know the dates to be preset. At this. I mean, like, pretty much, you're going to be able to now take anything that is in your, you know, helium 10 account, which comes from seller central, obviously all of your data, and then start putting it on graphs and tables and compare different things that you normally wouldn't be able to compare, because a lot of again, why do we have this? A lot of people were saying, hey, I love the data that's in Helium 10, but I end up having to, like, download it into Excel files and make my own power points and reports. No longer you can just compare anything you want, download the graphs and, and you know, make tables, et cetera. So that is for supercharged members. All right, that's it for the Helium 10 new feature alerts for this week.

Bradley Sutton:

Last up, we have our training tip of the week and it's actually a PPC training tip, and it's with a guest speaker, mina Elias, who you guys all know and love, and this one is going to be about how you can audit your account. Like, maybe you haven't been paying enough attention to your PPC, well, how can you go in there and give it an audit, mina, let us know how. Mina question that we've gotten from our audience is hey, you know, I've been running PPC for a while. I'm running it on my own for now. How can I run like an audit to know if I'm doing well or not? What are the things that you look at so that somebody can really understand like, hey, I'm doing excellent. Or you know what? I need some improvement here and there?

Mina:

Yeah, so I'll walk you through our audits and basically how I do an audit like step by step. Step number one I'm looking at portfolios. Are you organizing your products into portfolios, you know? Do you have like multiple child ASINs that are that have different campaigns, or are you lumping all of your, your child ASINs into the same campaigns? So then I would create the portfolios.

Mina:

Next is my campaign naming convention. So are the campaigns named? Easily? For us it's like product code space dash space. You know the type of the ad, like close match, loose match, complements or substitutes, if it's auto, broad phraser, exact, product targeting, expanded ASIN, so what's the type of the ad? Space dash space. And then it's like the purpose of the ad. So if it has a purpose like ranking or you know branded, something like that, if it's like brand, brand name, and then you know space dash space, the source of the keywords, and so that's like if it came from helium 10 or if it came from the search term report or if it's like a main keyword or something like that. And that allows me to sort through campaigns pretty quickly, because whenever I'm looking at like show me all of the performance of my, like exact, you know keyword campaigns, then I can just type in exact in the search and it pops up.

Mina:

Next I'm looking at the budgets of the campaigns, especially for campaigns that are either running out of budget or have a good row as. So if your campaign has a low a cost or a good row as, there's no reason that the budget should be low, even if you feel like, okay, my budget's $50 and I'm only spending $25 a day, it doesn't matter. Because what I've noticed is if I go from 50 to 250, I'll go from spending $25 a day to $80 a day, and if the ACOS is good, then you're just going to make more sales with the good ACOS it's definitely worth trying. And then if you're running out of budget, obviously that's also red flag. You should always control your spending based on a bid level. So lower the bids to spend less, as opposed to capping, you know, your spend on a budget level, because that I've seen just kind of effects performance negatively.

Mina:

Then from there I'm going to click into the campaigns and I'm going to make sure that each of them have only one ad group. What I've noticed is multiple ad groups cause like, let's say, you have $100 budget, it could be $80 to one ad group and 20 to another ad group Again doesn't make any sense. I don't know why it happens, but it's something I want to avoid, because it could be that the $20 ad group is the one that has the better row, as but Amazon is. Primary objective is to make you sell more. And then, once I'm in the ad groups, the next thing I'm looking for is how many keywords do you have in there? If you have, you know, more than five keywords, I start suspecting that you might have keywords at the bottom not getting enough like budget. So I'll just sort by sales or sort by spend and then I'll see. Okay, you know keyword number one, two, three, four, five, they all have sales. But like six, seven, eight, they have like one sale in the last 30 to 60 days. And then keyword number nine onwards, they don't have any sales. So those keywords are all areas of opportunity. If I pause those keywords in that campaign, move them to, you know, create a new campaign with those keywords, give them another, another chance. With a good budget they could end up spending a lot more money on making sales. So that's the next thing that I look for.

Mina:

Then I go into the placements tab. So, you know, do I find any placements like top of search or product pages where the ROAS and the click through rates are significantly better than they are in the rest of search? So, for example, if I look at, you know, in a campaign, I look at the placement tab and I see the top of search has like a 8% click through rate instead of like a 0.4 in rest of search and it has like a 7x ROAS instead of a 3x ROAS. What I'm going to do is I'm going to increase the bid by placement, you know, by 25% or something like that, just a small number, to what I'm telling Amazon is, if my bid is a dollar, I'm allowing you to spend up to a dollar and 25 cents. If it means that I'm going to show up on the top of page one, because, you know, I've seen, based on the data I'm converting, well, there, then I'm going to go into the targeting tab or the bulk sheet. You know, if you don't know how to use the bulk sheet, just stick to the targeting tab.

Mina:

In the targeting tab I'm sorting for keywords that are not profitable, so only exact and product targeting. I'm going to, you know, just do either two types of keywords. One where I'm like orders equals zero and spend is greater than a certain number. So orders equals zero means it didn't make me any sales and I spent money. Let's say I spent more than $15, or like half of my product costs, with no sales.

Mina:

I'll tell you how to handle them in a second. So those ones, I'm going to lower the bids or eat or pause them. You know, if it's spent $30 in the last 90 days and it didn't make any sales, just at this point it's not going to make any more sales. It could in the future, once you conversion rate significantly higher, but not right now.

Mina:

So, and then the other thing is okay, I'm going to just sort by a cost. So show me everything that's greater than 75% echoes and again all of those. And warning guys, you know, for anything that's greater than 75% echoes, do not touch things that have a really good, like a really high number of sales, because the ACoS could be bad but in reality it could be driving a lot of sales, even on the organic side that it's just not being attributed. So again, ACoS is high. I'm going to lower the bids and then vice versa, I'm going to sort by anything that has like a row as greater than, let's say, 5x, for example, and then I'm going to increase the bids of all of those keywords, meaning I'm willing to show up higher in the search. And you can always do like a cross check with you know cerebral and see where you're ranking organically for those keywords. If you're ranking organically and sponsored high, you don't need to increase the bids, but if your organic and sponsored rank is low and your row as is good, it's worth trying to increase the bids, get more visibility, more clicks and more sales. Then I'm going to go into the search term report. That's the final piece. And in the search term report, again two directions.

Mina:

Number one keywords that are not working. This is for auto broad phrase and expanded ASIN. The reason is for a broad keyword, it could be 30 different keywords that are being triggered in the search terms that are, you know, resulting in bad performance. So maybe five of them, 10 of them are bad, like low row as or spending, no sales, and then five or 10 are very good. So you want to keep the good ones and then negative the bad ones. So, again, a filter sales equals zero, spend greater than $15.

Mina:

Take all of those keywords and go into the campaigns and add them as negatives, negative, exact, and then you know a cost greater than 85%. Again, be careful for keywords that are generating a lot of sales. But I can take all of those keywords, add them as negatives in the campaigns and then vice versa, I can identify any keywords with like greater than five RoAS. Take all of those keywords, find which match types they're not currently being targeted in. So maybe they're in broad, they got discovered in broad but I'm not actually targeting them in an exact campaign or a broad campaign or whatever. And then I take those keywords and start launching them in new campaigns so I can get more visibility on those keywords. But that's essentially what I'm doing, that, step by step, awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right guys. So if you want to get more tips from Mina about how to you know run PPC, make sure to check out his company and hubhealium10.com. You can look for Trivium. Or if you have a platinum account or higher, make sure to check out PPC Academy. It's in your learning hub on your Helium 10 dashboard. He's got tons of great modules there. Mina, thanks a lot for joining us.

Mina:

Thanks for having me All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Thanks very much, Mina, for that, and thanks to all of you guys for tuning in. Hope you guys enjoyed this edition and we'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Are you ready to skyrocket your knowledge of Amazon PPC? In this TACoS Tuesday episode, prepare to be amazed as we bring you the secrets of the trade from none other than Elizabeth Greene, the co-founder of Amazon ads agency Junglr. Dive into the world of data analytics and learn why understanding the numbers behind the numbers is crucial. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned seller, we've got insights that are bound to give your Amazon PPC game a boost.

We talk about the core strategies for launching new products, from using supplementary keywords to strategic ad placements. We uncover the importance of context when branching into new markets and how to leverage different keyword match types to target specific search terms. Learn about optimizing strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how to manage your budget effectively during these peak seasons.

Lastly, ignite your understanding of advertising for branded products on Amazon. We debate the significance of tracking the share of search and using Search Query Performance reports, and reveal our strategies for advertising for products with only a few relevant keywords. Tune in and take away valuable strategies and insights that will elevate your Amazon advertising game to new heights.

In episode 511 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Shivali and Elizabeth talk about:

00:00 - It's Time For Another TACoS Tuesday Episode!
05:34 - Evaluating and Auditing PPC Strategy
08:10 - Analyzing Ad Spend Efficiency and Impact
12:34 - Advertising Strategy and Keyword Targeting
17:45 - Advertising Strategy for New Product Launch
25:32 - Keyword Research Using Helium 10
30:51 - Using Keywords and Sales Volume
36:31 - Optimizing Bids for Better Ad Performance
42:22 - Control Ad Spend, Gain Campaign Impressions

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

Today, on TACoS Tuesday, we answer all of your PPC questions live, as well as discuss what you could be doing in terms of launching and auditing your PPC campaigns during the Q4 season.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to enter in an Amazon keyword and then within seconds, get up to thousands of potentially related keywords that you could research. Then you need Magnet by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/magnet. Magnet works in most Amazon marketplaces, including USA, Mexico, Australia, Germany, UK, India and much more.

Shivali Patel:

All right, hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Series Dollars podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our monthly TACoS Tuesday presentation, where we talk anything and everything Amazon ads. So today we have a special guest with us, and that is Elizabeth Greene, who is the co-founder of an Amazon ads agency called Junglr. So with that, let's go ahead and bring her up. Hi, Elizabeth, how are you? I'm doing well, how are you?

Elizabeth:

Very good.

Shivali Patel:

So, nice to have you on. Thank you for joining us.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, thanks for having me. These are always, always fun.

Shivali Patel:

And what an exciting time to be talking about Amazon ads to a fat. It's cute for you. Oh my goodness, you must be slammed.

Elizabeth:

Life is a little bit crazy right now, but you know it comes with the territory.

Shivali Patel:

So it does. It is peak season I see we have someone coming, so it's a very exciting time to be in business and I'm looking forward to reading your questions and hopefully having Elizabeth answer them Now. The first question here says what can you suggest for a beginner like me, who is just starting out, and what and where can I learn to grow as much as possible?

Elizabeth:

I would actually say there's two skills that one, in the beginning, none of us have, and they are skills and they can be learned, even though they're considered more quote, soft skills. Data analytics made it not as much.

Shivali Patel:

My two things are going to be.

Elizabeth:

Data analytics and communication skills Community Asian sales are, you're going to find, are quite important when it comes to management of accounts management of accounts that are not your own. So if you are, even if you're a brand manager in a company or, you know, obviously, at an agency seller and a sourcing person, okay then I'm going to go with data analytics. Data analytics are going to be your friend. The things that I've kind of discovered have been, like you know, sort of mind blowing. For me are the numbers behind, the numbers Meaning. So when you're trying to evaluate ACoS, right, a lot of people are like, oh, it costs one up, it costs with down. Great, I know this, I can look at the account. What the heck am I going to do about it? Data analytics really good data analytics not only tell you the what, but the why and then the what next. So you're, if you can get really really good at the why and the what next, that's going to really set you apart and the way that I kind of have come to it. This is my own personal journey. Maybe there's other people who are way smarter than me, have way better journeys, but for me it has been, again understanding the numbers behind the numbers to have, for example, right, you start in a little bit of a way, it's kind of like the matrix.

Elizabeth:

So when you're breaking down, say ACoS, right, you go, okay, ACoS one up, big, else one down. Why right, what the heck happened? You're like, oh, wait, I can calculate ACoS by ad spend divided by ad sales. Okay, so it's either that ad spend went up and sales remain consistent or went down, or ad sales went down and spend remain consistent. She like, oh, okay, there's those two variables. Okay, now I can say, okay, ad spend increased. And then I can go, okay, ad spend increased. Great, I know that why. And then you're like, okay, so I can calculate my ad spend by my cost per click, by my number of clicks.

Elizabeth:

So either my cost per click went up or the number of clicks happening in my account went up. And then you can look at those two variables and go, oh, okay, it's the number of clicks. Why? Oh, I just launched a whole bunch of new stuff. Okay, that's why. Or my cost per click went up exponentially. Why? Maybe you know, it's just a natural market change thing. Talking about prime time, peak season, now you're probably going to see cost per clicks going up. It's a market thing. Versus other times you might have aggressively increased a whole bunch of bits in your account and so then you go check back. So data analytics that's the way I view it. I am not classically trained on data analytics, I just have looked at it for over five years now and tried to figure out the what the heck is going on a question and the what to do about it questions, and so those. That's my way of sort of. I've learned to sort of peer into the matrix. So if you can get really good at understanding not just what the data is but what it's telling you, that's really going to get you to the next level.

Shivali Patel:

Definitely, and I think a lot of people have very different strategies. I think Elizabeth's strategy, you know, is definitely one you should take into consideration. But also, the best way to learn is going to be trial and error and until you're really sifting through your own data, I think it's going to be hard to you know gauge sort of what's happening. I think a lot of things in business are just as they come. Now I want to kind of take the other side of that and go into, let's say, somebody's not a beginner, right, somebody's been selling for a while. They're more established. What do you recommend to somebody who might be evaluating or trying to audit their own PPC strategy?

Elizabeth:

Next level is going to be evaluating things on a per product level. And let me clarify when I say per product, I mean per listing. The reason why is the data gets kind of funky when you pull it down to a skew level. You definitely can, but there's some nuances that you really want to be aware of that can kind of lead you in the wrong direction if you're looking at a per skewer, per child days and level. But if you can start looking at your ad strategy, your sales growth, everything through the lens of listings, that's really going to take you to the next level.

Shivali Patel:

So when you see listings, are you talking about maybe like the conversion metrics? Are you looking at the keywords that you're using, sort of what is like the underlying factors? I guess all the above.

Elizabeth:

Honestly, but to make sense of it all. Because, to your point, like force for the trees, if you look at like everything, then do you walk away being like I have no idea what in the world I'm supposed to focus on? So the way that we've begun looking at it and the reason why we started looking at it like this is because we managed several clothing accounts. Talk about complexity, talk about force for the trees. You're like where in the world do I start? And you want to make impact on these accounts. Right, you can't just like all right, I did my bit, adjustments and call it good. Like you really want to get at our hands dirty and like really start improving the accounts. But you're like where in the world do I focus? So what we've started doing is percentage of total have been a little bit of a game changer. They're not, it's not the newest thing on the block. A lot of people use this percentage of total, but the two things that we look at is the percentage of total sales of each. Again, we're talking about a listing level. Again, reason clothing you have up to hundreds of different SKUs on a per listing level. Like how the heck do you make sense of it. So how do we make sense of it is rolling it up to the parent listing level and then looking at the percentage of total ad spend, again on a per listing.

Elizabeth:

So this gives you a lot of clarity into what products are driving the most sales for the brand. And then, what products are we spending, are we investing the most ad spend on? And when you look at it this way, it's very common to have these things happen in the account. If you haven't been paying attention to them, you oftentimes will see like oh wow, this product's driving 2% of my total sales volume and I'm spending 10% of my total ad spend here. Like that's probably a discrepancy. Maybe I should go and adjust those ads. So that gives you a lot of clarity. And then to court of gauge because again we're an ad agency, so ads are the thing that we focus on the most to help and drive improvements for the brands is we will look at the impact of the total spend on that per product. So again, percentage of total ad spend, and then we'll look at what we call like quote ad spend efficiencies, meaning ACoS, Total ACoS, ad sale percentage, also the delta between your ad conversion rate and your total conversion rate. Our unit session percentage is actually really helpful gauge. And so we're like, okay, we're investing most of our dollars here. How is our efficiency on that large investment?

Elizabeth:

And then you can sort of pinpoint like, oh, wow, I'm investing most of my ad spend into this product, to the point of like 5% of total brand sales, 13% of total ad spend investments. And wow, the ad spend investments are really unprofitable. Now, if you're in a launch phase, there might I mean there's context that you need to add to the numbers, to the point of like telling the story with data. And if you're managing the brand, you probably know the context. But at least it goes as okay. So here's two products we should dig into more. Here's two products we need to probably invest more of our ad spend on. And it really starts to clarify things when you really kind of understand how to see the picture in that way.

Shivali Patel:

To kind of follow up on that how do you really end up deciding which keywords to go after, as well as, maybe, how to really structure them into campaigns in accordance with your budget, because I know that's different for everyone?

Elizabeth:

Yes, it definitely is. We will always focus on relevancy first in the beginning. Now there are certain times if you're doing like a brand awareness play or you're like, wow, I've really targeted my market and I need to branch out, like what's the next hill? Absolutely go after categories, you know like, go after those brand awareness plays. But if you're in the beginning and you're in a launch, the nuance of Amazon advertising is you're not building, you don't build the audience. Amazon has built the audience for you.

Elizabeth:

All we're looking to do is use specific keywords or search terms to get in front of the audience that is already existing and that's where relevancy comes in. So you're saying where is my specific shopper? What are they using to search for products like mine? And I need to make sure I'm showing up there. So we're always going to prioritize that. That typically is going to get you better conversions, you know, better clicks, more interactions with your brand and which leads to more sales. And then also on the flip side, and if you're doing this on launch, it is a really good product sort of evaluation, because if you're showing up exactly in front of your target shoppers and your click rate is terrible and your conversion rate is terrible and like nobody's buying, there's probably a signal that maybe there's things to adjust with the listing or other factors that you should look into.

Shivali Patel:

Do you ever go into, like branch into, I guess, supplementary keywords where maybe it's not exactly for the product but it's maybe like a related product, and where do you really place those sort of ads?

Elizabeth:

Yeah, so when we'll do it is really dependent on the overall performance and the ads spend or profit goals, right? I mean, it seems so stupid, simple, but if you are advertising more, you're going to be spending more, and if you're struggling to bring down Total ACoS or ACoS again, ad spend divided by ad sales, the one thing you can control with ads is ad spend. So in those cases when we're looking to bring down Total ACoS, we're typically looking at pulling back on ad spend. So if a product or brand is in that phase, I'm not going to be like let's launch all these broad things and we're not quite sure how they're going to convert, right? So context is really key here, but when it comes to branching out, it really is dependent.

Elizabeth:

You will find certain products on launch where, like, for some reason, it's really difficult to convert on the highly relevant terms but, like adjacent markets or, to your point, like somewhat related keywords or related products, actually work really well. So we're always going to prioritize what's working. So if we're like finding all of these search terms that are popping up through, like, say, broad match or autos or something, wow, we weren't aware that this is actually a really great market for us. But it's very obvious, looking at the data, that's something that we should, that's a direction we should go in. Then obviously we'll push towards that direction. But depending on if we're going to like decide to branch out on our own, it probably is highly dependent on the ad spend and then also sort of the phase of the product, meaning like how we kind of conquered everything and what's our next play.

Shivali Patel:

And in terms of when you are launching, yes, we're going for the most relevant keywords, right, that are where you can find your target audience. But what about in terms of exact match, like yes, are you going directly into exact match and auto and broad all at the same time? Are you just kind of doing exact first and then branching into auto?

Elizabeth:

Yeah, so we do like exact first. I'm still a huge fan of like all the above, exact phrase and broad. The one thing that we have found is like within your exact match, you can just be more specific on what search pages you're spending your ad dollars on. So if you, especially if you have limited budgets in the beginning and you're like, hey, I really want to make sure that I hyper target these keywords, exact match makes a lot of sense. Now, if you're talking about you like branching out, we're still going to prioritize putting a higher bids on our exact match keyword. So we're still going to try and have most of.

Elizabeth:

Let me say this if you're going to be aggressively spending on a specific search page, you're like I've identified this keyword, this is my ranking keyword, I'm going to put a lot of budget behind it. Exact match all the way. Now I don't want anyone to say that clip and be like wow, she hates broad and freight. Like, no, I love all the above. Like we run autos, run multiple autos, category targeting, like all the above, do it. But if you're trying to get really aggressive with something, it's just it's the nature of how the match type works more than like it's quote best, because they don't really think it is.

Shivali Patel:

Now I do see that we have some new questions, so let me go ahead and pop them up. We have can you give a refresher on how people can do modifiers, since nowadays exact sometimes performs as phrase match and phrase sometimes is like broad. So if someone wants to make sure that an exact is that exact two word phrase is adding plus in the middle self that.

Elizabeth:

Yes, it does, but caveat, it only officially does in sponsor brand ads. If you look at the document, I mean I gotta go check it because they're like they keep updating the documentation on the slide and like not notifying us. But from my understanding and from the reps I've talked to, and also the search storm reports, I've seen modified broad match I don't believe a hundred percent works all the time in sponsored product ads, which is super annoying. So for those of you listening who are unaware of what a modified broad match is or modified search terms, modified broad match is a thing in sponsor brand ads. So the way that broad match keywords work in sponsored brand ads and they have sense care that over to sponsor product ads is that it cannot only target. You know we do classic broad match, right, you can put keywords in the middle, you can swap stuff around. But like if I had the keyword running shoe, right, both the word running and the word shoe must be present in the search term for your kind of traditional sponsor product broad match. It's not the case anymore.

Elizabeth:

You can target what's called related keywords. So for example, one would be like sneaker, right, it's kind of related to running shoe. And if you wanna say. I stuck a screenshot out on LinkedIn not that long ago and I was like, how is this relevant? Like one of them, it was like targeting like a bread knife and the search term that it triggered was like ballerina farm, go figure, I don't know, but like, so you can get like this really weird, funky stuff. So what we do to kind of combat that one, just keep up on your negatives these days, like, keep a sharp eye on your search and reports and add those negatives.

Elizabeth:

But the one thing that you can do is just sort of like to Bradley's point make each those individual words have to show up is if, in front of each of those words that you want to make sure are present in the search term, you can add a little plus symbol. So in the example of like, say running shoes, I would say plus shoes, plus what is our running whatever? Plus running, plus shoes, right, and then that would trigger to the algorithm. Okay, you have to use these things inside of your searches, which again is a factor in sponsored brand ads. If you look at the documentation, they do say that modified broad match is a thing and it's been a thing for a while. I just hasn't been super popular. But I haven't read documentation that they've rolled that over into sponsored product ads. I don't think it's a bad idea to get in the practice of using modified broad match and sponsored product ads though.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, thank you for answering that question. We also have another one that says I'm going to be launching a brand new store for FBA and Shopify for my own manufactured product. What will you suggest that I do for the first few months?

Elizabeth:

Well, I'm gonna assume that the question is saying, with ads because that's my area of expertise like new product launches, there's a lot. So definitely follow @HumanTank because they way more than just add advice to offer you. But as far as the advertising, I would prioritize keyword research for the product launches. That actually would be really helpful when you're trying to vet even the space for your particular products. And then I would again, I would hyper focus on relevancy in the beginning. I would run that in exact match, probably high bids.

Elizabeth:

In the beginning you're looking for two things. You're looking to get eyeballs on your product, ideally those eyeballs conferring to sales that is remain to be seen, based on how appealing your product is to the market and how good your search pages et cetera. But you want to get eyeballs in the product and then you want to use those eyeballs to sort of vet again how much these shoppers like your particular product for purchase. So that's what I do. I would focus on those again for like the first couple weeks is typically what we do, and then you might sort of branch out into phrase match run, auto campaigns et cetera. Now here's a trick is how many keywords you choose in the beginning to launch is actually going to be determined by your budgets. So I have seen so many sellers in the groups like they'll be like oh my gosh, I just launched and launched my ads and I'm spending like $1,000 a day and I can't afford it and I don't know what's going on. Again, it's simple, kind of seems like stupid logic but the more keywords you're advertising on, the more clicks you're gonna get, the more cost per clicks you're gonna pay, the higher ads spent. So you actually want to factor in what you're doing for your launch strategy with your budgets.

Elizabeth:

Like I just got off a client call and we're like all right, we have these new product launches. Yeah, it's a really competitive space. It's like skincare. We're not gonna have reviews in the beginning. You know what? In the beginning we're gonna keep ad budgets really lean and we have a really good brand recognition. We're just gonna leverage brand recognition because we know the conversion rates are gonna be there. It's gonna help us get the initial products. But we also are understanding that if that's the strategy we're running again a little bit more limited, just leveraging brand lower budgets we're not expecting the sales to be exponential in the beginning. So it's like setting expectations and then kind of understanding what makes sense for you at this stage.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, and, keeping that in mind, the review portion that you're mentioning, right, yeah, you end up like, let's say, for example I'm not sure if I'll pronounce it right, but in Sweat's example right, his question when he's launching, do you end up waiting for the reviews to file in before you are running those ads or do you end up just kind of going in? And of course, there's many moving components, yeah, there's a lot of moving parts.

Elizabeth:

It depends on what the brand's wants to do. Typically we will start running stuff out of the gate Again. We just kind of set expectations. The reason why ACoS is so high in the beginning is for two reasons. One, your conversion rate tends to be a little bit lower and then, two, your cost per clicks tend to be a little bit higher because you really are trying to get aggressive to be able to get that visibility on the product and then over time, ideally, conversion rates improve because you get more reviews and then cost per clicks hopefully go down as you optimize. So between those two things, that helps it get better. So we just set expectations with like hey, because conversion rates are low means it takes more clicks to convert, which means ACoS is gonna be a little bit higher and we expect potentially sales not to be still or out of the gate. Sometimes it'll be surprised. Sometimes you launch a product and you're like, wow, this is amazing, this thing just absolutely took off and I hope for all of you listening, that is the case for you and your new products, but it's not always the case. So it's really more setting expectations and then just deciding what makes sense for you.

Shivali Patel:

Why would someone create like a branded campaign If they've already have their standard stuff? Do you maybe want to talk a little bit about branded campaigns?

Elizabeth:

Yeah, there's two kinds of branded campaigns. One is considered branded, or maybe brand defense is what you might call it. One of them is you have a whole bunch of products. Which you might do is you would advertise your own products on your other listings. The goal of that is you'd be like, hey, if somebody is going to click off, they might as well click onto my own product. Again, it's called a defensive strategy because you're plugging people off and refer to it. It's like plugging the ad spots. My competition can't get this ad spot on my listing. The other thing that you might do is if you have any branded searches happening so people searching your brand on Amazon then what you can do is you can again advertise your own products.

Elizabeth:

There's a lot of debate out there. They're like, oh, if I already have people searching for my brand, why in the world would I be spending on it? Because they're going to convert for my brand anyways. Yeah, there's arguments to be made. The things that you can do is you actually track your share of search in using search query performance reports to look at your own branded traffic and be like am I losing out on sales through my branded traffic? That's something you can do if you want to be like, is it worth it for me to run? But the second thing and the one I was referring to when I was talking about that more specific launch that we're doing is if you have great brand recognition meaning there's a lot of people searching for your brand you've already built up a lot of traffic to your current listings and you have a new product that fits very well into that brand.

Elizabeth:

So example I just gave was we have a brand that has a skincare line. Right, they have their launching complimentary products. They have really good repeat purchase rates. What we can do is for people searching their brand, we can make sure that the new products are then advertised and show up high on their branded search, where they might show up lower before if we weren't leveraging ads for that. And then what happens is someone's typing in the brand like oh, wow, there's a new product from this brand. Awesome, and most likely not always, but of course you know you read the data, but most likely you're going to get people purchasing very similar. You know you can use ads to be able to get visibility again on your own products, but you're using your new offering. So that's kind of a way to like. If you have a good brand, share to be like. Hey, I got a new product. I want to try it out using ads.

Shivali Patel:

Got it, and I see Sasha has a question here, and it is what's the best way to research Amazon keywords for low competition products? And I'll go ahead and add as well what do you do in the case if, let's say, there is not necessarily a market, maybe it's a brand new product that doesn't end up having any sort of crossover? You're creating a sub niche.

Elizabeth:

Yes, those are the most difficult. The two most difficult products to advertise for are one to your point of like there really is no relevant traffic for it. Or two, when you only have one keyword that has any search volume and there's like nothing else besides one or two keywords, because every single one of your competitors knows those one or two keywords and there's really not anything else to choose from. So there's not really a way to like play a sophisticated game. You just got to like grin and bear it in those categories, which is like kind of painful sometimes. So reword I mean your keyword research is really going to be exactly the same as for any other product. You're going to be looking at your competitors, seeing what they rank you for. I mean, we use Helium 10, love Helium 10, just did a walkthrough of how we did keyword research using Helium 10. Like it's a really great tool.

Elizabeth:

The one different way that we have of generating your first keyword. We actually generate two keyword less in the beginning. So what we'll do is we'll use, say, like a commonly searched keyword. So a lot of times people will start with like all right, type in a commonly searched keyword and then like, look at the ranked competitors, choose them, you know, choose the relevant ones and then go through that. What we will do is we will take that first you know pretty general keyword that we're pretty sure is relevant to the products, and what we'll do is we'll type that into.

Elizabeth:

I'm going to get them mixed up. I'm going to say it's magnet, it's the keyword research tool, so you type it in and then you look at search, so you sort by search volume and what we'll do is we'll actually go down that first list and find what we call our highest search volume, most relevant keyword. So what you're looking for is the intersection between where you actually have good shop or search, and it is also relevant to your product, because the more hyper relevant you get to the product, typically speaking, not always the lower your search volume is going to be. On those keywords You're like all right, what's my top of the mountain? Because oftentimes people will be like, oh, metal cup, that's a great keyword, yes, but it's not highly relevant keyword. So you're looking for, like women's metal cup for running or something like is there a good search volume there? How can I like niche down a set? And then what we'll do is we'll take that search page for a highly relevant keyword and use that as our springboard to find our top competitors.

Shivali Patel:

So we do also have a question from David where he asks how would you use not sure what that's supposed to say for top competitive keywords when your product have multiple attributes such as gold diamond ring, gold solid hair ring and engagement rings should I run through, bro, on each? I'm assuming that's just supposed to be. How would you search for top competitive keywords? So? Yeah so I would, I would just look for.

Elizabeth:

I would look for whatever is the highest relevancy, highest search volume, one that's going to give it and you're going to have a lot of applicable keywords. So the walkthrough that I did I think it's just yesterday what we did is we were looking at baby blanket, and what we start doing with our final keyword list when we're looking again we're prioritizing relevancy is you will find what we call buckets of keywords, right. So when I was doing baby blanket, it was like girls receiving blanket, receiving blanket for boys, like some like okay, there's a bunch of girl keywords and their bunch of boy keywords and these are actually a little bit related to specific variations. You can start getting really sophisticated with it. But as you do that keyword research and as you're looking for that relevancy, you're probably going to find a lot of these buckets. So what we'll do on launch is we'll like take our group out and be like okay, so to your point, we have a bunch of diamond keywords.

Elizabeth:

Oh wait, I have a bunch of solitary keywords, right. So you can actually group those. I can take all my solitary ones and be like hmm, I wonder if the search term solitaire is. I wonder if people like my product in relation to that search. Okay, so let me take that out. Let me put those in their own campaign. I'll label the campaign like solitary keywords or something and then I would advertise the products there or engagement ranks, right, okay, maybe that's applicable to my products. Let me again pull those out and put them in a subgroup and a campaign. The reason why I like doing this is because then I can just scan campaign manager instead of having to like go in and like, look at a campaign with, like the solitaire keywords, engagement ring keywords, gold, diamond keywords. I can be like, oh, these are sub group in campaigns and then when I'm in campaign manager, I can simply look at how each of those three campaigns are performing and be like oh, wow, it seems like gold, diamond ring keywords actually perform best and you still want to analyze at a keyword level. But that makes it a little bit more scalable to like understand shop or search behavior in relation to your product.

Shivali Patel:

Now I see that David also would like to know about the filter for keyword sales filter, which it is essentially just telling you on average how many sales occur for that particular keyword every single month. So that's really what you're looking at there, but, Elizabeth, maybe you want to expand on whether that's something that you end up looking at when you're doing your keyword research for these different brands that you work with.

Elizabeth:

I don't really Everything honest. The two things that I look at actually probably three things is I would like to look at. We look at numbers to the count of competitors that are ranking again, because we're doing that whole like find, you know, do the first list to find the second keyword, to find the really really super specific products. So if you can find good super specific products, then you can kind of like use their ranking on the keywords. So actually I love that Helium 10 added in that column because it was one that a lot of us were like calculating.

Elizabeth:

When I'm like God, I don't have to do the formula, I just already filter for the list, so it's really awesome. So we'll download that list and then you know, we'll just see what's the highly relevant and the kind of cross check that with search volume you can use. I don't think it's a bad idea to use, you know, kind of like the sales volume, because sometimes what you'll find is that even though there's like a high search volume, if the keyword is sort of like a little bit broader keyword, you might actually not have as much sales volume through those keywords as you would think. So it's not a bad idea to analyze it at all. We just find if we're like again, we're super honed in on that relevancy factor, then we tend to come up with the ones that have better sales volume anyways.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, I think that's really, really insightful. We also have Sergio. Sergio, do you like to use the same keywords for each campaign in broad phrase, and exact campaigns?

Elizabeth:

I do. I would say the one sort of not qualifier would put on it, the one thing you should be aware of. I would recommend keeping the bids lower in the broad and the phrase match. I don't always agree with Amazon's recommendations, but if you listen to their recommendations on this, they actually recommend that you keep it lower.

Shivali Patel:

And Sasha has a question. If I was to start selling a product that has a monthly volume of 60,000 units a month, how should I position myself? Should I run out?

Elizabeth:

I would first want to know how the product performs. That's your first goal. You want to figure out what your average cost per click is and you want to figure out what your actual conversion rate is. Once you have those factors, you can actually start building production models and sales production models and stuff. Actually, it's not hard to build or not search. You want to search traffic production models based on oh, I want to hit $50,000 a month in products, this is my conversion rate. What you need is you need your conversion rates. You really need your conversion rates is the main one, and then you're going to need your cost per clicks in the ads to be like all right, this is what it's going to cost me. Right now, you're going off of nothing. I know I've said it about 20 different times on this live, but I'm going to say it again relevancy, focus on your exact target market, see what your numbers tell you, and then you can build up from there.

Shivali Patel:

I think that's a good plan, so hopefully that is helpful for you. Sasha, I see we have Sweat's leaving, but he has found the response was informative. Now I wanted to touch on something we talked about at the beginning of this call, which is Q4, right, we've been talking a little bit about auditing your strategy and some general PPC knowledge, but also what about, I'm sure a lot of you guys that are watching? If you're already selling, then you probably aren't full swing. Maybe you've already gone ahead and optimized your listings for Q4. But what happens if maybe somebody is just starting to be like oh no, I completely dropped the ball? Do you have? Hopefully, not Hopefully, none of you guys are in that position, but let's say something like that happens, sort of maybe if you have a take on what somebody can do to make sure that they're still able to tap in on Q4's potential.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, so we're assuming it's a brand new launch product and we have nothing.

Shivali Patel:

We can assume that they've been selling for a while, but they haven't changed anything for Q4.

Elizabeth:

Got it, got it, got it. Ok, no, that's fine. So I would say if you're already selling, most likely you probably have some ad structure. You're not in a bad spot. Ok, q4, right before Black Friday, December and Monday, we're not launching a whole bunch of test campaigns. Don't do it, because what happens is Black Friday, Cyber Mondays Really, what you're doing, you don't get same.

Elizabeth:

I know there's not really data available, but honestly, nobody's really looking at that. An inside campaign manager. You're not going to be able to say, oh OK, I got 20. My ACOS was so much better this last hour, so let me increase these budgets, right? What you have to do is you have to look back at historical data. So if you want to test anything, do it before this week is out. Get those campaigns up, get that data, because you're going to be completely flying blind If you launched a bunch of stuff a day before. You're completely flying blind on performance metrics and it's so easy because of how many clicks are happening on the platform to really lose your shirt. So I would say, if you're like oh my gosh, I don't have any specific campaign set up for Black Friday, so that's fine, you're actually in a really good spot. So what you want to do these weeks leading up to it you actually still have time you want to go into your account and you want to evaluate what is working now, what is crushing it right now, and then I'm going to make sure, as that traffic comes in, that those have good budgets. I have healthy bids on them.

Elizabeth:

To be honest, days of for the most part, unless we have a really specific keyword on a very specific brand, they're like we have to be aggressive when we must win top of search for this particular keyword. For the most part, we're adjusting budgets. Day of is our typical optimizations. So what we're doing prior to that is we're like all right, if we're going to be increasing budgets, we want to make sure that all of this is super solid. So you're doing two things. One, you're identifying all the stuff that really works and you're like all right, I need to make sure again, budgets are healthy, bids are healthy, all my optimizations are done. And then the second thing we're doing and this is also very important is what is all the stuff that's not working, meaning Clips with no Sales? Where are all my high costs, low sale keywords going on? Here's a good one. What are all my untested stuff, that I've just been increasing bids. So it's so easy.

Elizabeth:

If you're like normal optimizations, right, we're going to go in what has no impressions, increase the bids. We do this as well. It is not a bad practice. What often happens, especially if you don't have any caps so we have caps, we're like, all right, we're never going to increase past x amount of dollars or whatever If you don't have any caps. Sometimes what happens is you're like you can end up with like $10 bids.

Elizabeth:

So what I would recommend doing go into your targeting tab. I would filter for everything with zero orders, or you could just leave it totally blank, sort by the bid what has the highest bid in your account and you might look at it and be like holy crap, I had no idea that was in there. And what you want to do is what we call a bid reset. So you're just looking at all this stuff and you're like, hey, it's not getting any impressions. Anyways, it's not going to hurt me if I lower my bids, but then at least I know when that traffic hits all of a sudden that random keyword that didn't have any search volume, that I had like $10 bid on. It's not going to like pop off and waste all of my ad budgets.

Elizabeth:

There's another filter that is really helpful to identify the irrelevant stuff. I'm not saying pause all these things. I'm saying use this filter to bring to the top everything that you're like how the heck did that get in there? Because it's super easy. When we're looking in our search term reports we're like, oh, this converted once. Let me go test it Again. Great practice. What happens is sometimes you get these random things in the account so easy for it to happen. So what you do is you go again. Targeting tab is going to be your friend here. You're going to want to filter for anything that has what is it? Zero clicks, zero, maybe once, two clicks.

Elizabeth:

We're looking for impressions. It has probably at least 1,000 impressions on it and you want to filter the click-through rate by anything that is lower than maybe a 0.2 or 0.15. So this says it's got a lot of impressions, it's not really doing anything in terms of sales volume and it's got really bad click-through rates. And then sort that by either your click-through rates highest or lowest to highest, or you can maybe start by impressions, highest to lowest. So what you're trying to do is what it has a bunch of eyeballs that nobody cares about and what you're doing is that brings up.

Elizabeth:

So a lot of people saw it. Not. A lot of people clicked on it, which oftentimes means irrelevant stuff, and because it's only got a couple clicks, there's not a lot of data, so it hasn't moved into our optimization sequences. So again, it's just a once over of the account. The first time you do this you'll probably be like what the heck, why is that there? And then, if you find that great pause, it put low bids on it, just kind of. Again, we're doing clean up. If you don't find anything that doesn't make sense for you, conkudos to. You're doing really, really good targeting. But either way, it's a really good thing to give it a once over before again traffic hits and things kind of go crazy.

Shivali Patel:

Now we do also have your keyword sale filter. Says 89 with low search volume, and another keyword has 20 keyword sales but a higher search volume. Is there one that you would kind of opt for? I know you said you don't typically look at the keyword sales Filter.

Elizabeth:

Yeah. So the two things I would look for is one I'm gonna say again, relevancy. I believe in it so strongly, I'm gonna say it again. And then the other thing that you would look at is, you know, the Helium sandwich. Again, another thing that I appreciate that you guys have added to the download keyword reports is the Recommended bits. Now, again, you guys are pulling them direct from the API, like Amazon does provide the recommended bits. However, as we all know, like if you go in you launch campaign, you like add different products, the recommended bids change, so their benchmarks don't take them as gospel, but they are really helpful to again kind of help you identify how competitive a particular keyword is over the other. So, like a budget's were concerned, you're like, well, you know, this one has like 20 sale, like the sales volume is pretty good, but like, wow, that one's Really competitive. I got to pay two dollars cost per click versus the other one where I'm like, well, I only have to pay like 50 cents cost per click. That probably would play into my decision.

Shivali Patel:

Okay, all right, there's. I know I said to, but let's just do this last one and then we'll. We'll call it. And so how do you structure your top keyword campaigns versus your complementary keywords? I know we briefly touched on this earlier.

Elizabeth:

Yeah, so I will cash with. So I saying I'm not a huge fan of doing everything as a single keyword campaign. I think it's way too overkill. You end up getting way more confused than you do in sight From doing it like that. That being said, if we do, I definitely have like a top keyword. We are going to put that in a single keyword, exact, match, specific campaign. The sort of it depends Questions and answers that I always give is the more the higher amount of Control I need over where I'm going to be directing my ad spend, the less keywords I want to have. Then more important it is for me to gain impressions on this keyword. For, again, for my campaign strategy, the less keywords I'm going to have. So if it is a top keyword, if it's my main ranking keyword, if it's super, super important to me, single keyword campaign right, because that's I need to control ad spend. I need a lot of impressions on this and super, super important versus another keyword set, right. Maybe I don't really have it. So the other, very other end of the spectrum is going to be like a whole bunch of a Campaign that actually works really well.

Elizabeth:

For us is single word meaning, like you know, cup bowl dish In broad match low bits. Do not put high-pits on these. Even if you have great ACoS, don't put high bits. Not a good idea. But we'll run these all the time. But what happens is because we cap our bids at, say, I think it's from 25 cents, maybe 30 cents, maybe in 15 cents. We never intend to grow our bids past that, right.

Elizabeth:

So how is it important for me to control ad spend at the campaign level? Not really because I'm controlling it at my bid level, right. How important is it for me to gain impressions? Not really because I'm expecting half of these keywords to not get impressions whatever. So I would be fine with putting, you know, say, 50, 100 keywords in that campaign, right, because for me it makes no sense to create 10 different campaigns that I have to like keep an eye on, versus just one important like oh yeah, that's that strategy and that's kind of like my background thing, right. So I would look at it through that lens again. How important is it for me to control spend at the campaign level? And then, how important is it for me to gain Impressions on these particular keywords? The more infatily you answer yes to those two questions, the less keywords you should have in that campaign. The more you don't really care about those two things, or they don't really matter as much then I would be okay with a lot more keywords.

Shivali Patel:

Alright, well, wonderful. Thank you so much, Elizabeth, for your time and your information, your knowledge. We appreciate it. I know a lot of people learned quite a bit. Sasha says thank you. We have sweat who says you know he was also waiting on those other questions that you were answering. That was very informative, so we do appreciate it so much. And yeah, that is it for today. You guys will catch you on the next TACoS Tuesday. Thank you!

Elizabeth:

Awesome! Thanks, I appreciate it.

View Details

If you've ever wanted a peek into the world of Amazon selling, this episode is your golden ticket. We're joined by elite sellers and Amazon specialists, Christine Douheret and Sasha Zubatov, who share invaluable insights and strategies they've used to overcome challenges and achieve incredible success in the E-commerce space. With their unlikely backgrounds - Christine hailing from Hollywood with a degree in interior design and Sasha from New York with a computer science degree - they bring unique perspectives to the table.

Our guests reveal their strategies, such as utilizing flat files and Helium 10 Elite training, that have helped them stay ahead of the curve. They divulge how their diligent manual research, constant learning, and strategic use of VAs have been instrumental to their success. Listen in as Christine recounts her staggering 300% sales growth in just a year, and Sasha shares her client's seven-figure sales accomplishment. We also delve into the not-so-pretty side of things, including having listings hijacked and the struggles of facing stiff competition.

As we wind down our engaging chat, Sasha shares her take on Walmart's competition and the suitability of products across platforms, offering her top flat file strategy. We also discuss the potential risks and rewards of creating product variations. Christine, always ready to help, extends an invitation to listeners who may need assistance or have questions about their Amazon journey. We wrap up the episode with a look at possible future Amazon and Walmart meetups and the unique challenges these could present. However challenging, the future of e-commerce remains thrilling, and we're here to help you navigate it. Tune in and let Christine and Sasha's success stories inspire you to create your own journey to success.

In episode 510 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Christine, and Sasha discuss:

01:53 - Sasha's Funny Helium 10 Swag Story
10:35 - Sell on Amazon, Overcoming Challenges
16:25 - Sales Success and Expansion
19:11 - Successful Strategies and Challenges On Their Amazon Journey
25:18 - Organize and Inform for Successful Outcomes
27:26 - Understanding and Protecting Flat File Strategies
33:18 - Profit Margins and Competition
35:01 - Sales Performance: Amazon vs Walmart

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a couple of elite sellers and Amazon specialists who have come from completely different backgrounds but now have found success on Amazon, Walmart and what is even going to share his unique flat file strategies with us. How cool is that? Pretty cool. I think we know that getting to page one on keyword search results is one of the most important goals that an Amazon seller might have. So track your progress on the way to page one and even get historical keyword ranking information and even see sponsored ad rank placement with keyword tracker by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/keywordtracker.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We've got a couple elite sellers on with us from opposite sides of the coast here, if I'm not mistaken or I'm not. Let's find out. Actually, where are you guys actually from? Let's start with Christine. Where are you at right now? Where are you calling in from?

Christine:

I'm in San Diego California.

Bradley Sutton:

You're in San Diego, so forget it. You're local to me. I don't know why I thought you were on the east coast for some reason. Where in San Diego are you at?

Christine:

Carmel Mountain, Carmel Valley area.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, about like 30 minutes away from me. You know towards what is it? Towards the stadium down there, right? No, not like about 10, 15 minutes, okay, cool, wow, you're almost my neighbor and Sasha, about the distance south of me, you're north, you're up in like Orange County, California, right?

Sasha:

Yeah, I'm within like half an hour of any local workshop you guys put on.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it. Now here's a funny story about Sasha, like one time our you know, one of our executives, Bojan, he in our private Slack channel he posted a picture and he's like sell and scale summit t-shirt spotted in the wild or something like that, and he had snapped the picture of somebody that he saw in the checkout line in his grocery store up in I don't know somewhere in the OC and I was like wait a minute, that looks amazing. I was like yes, it's Sasha right there. So you're famous inside of Helium 10. There for wearing a Helium 10. Swag out in the wild, love it.

Sasha:

From now on, every time I go to Costco, I put that on. All right, you never know when a Helium 10 employee might capture you, awesome, awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, Christine, let's go to your origin story. Is San Diego where you were born and raised, or are you a transplant, or what?

Christine:

I was actually born and raised in Los Angeles. My parents were transplants. However. They came from Switzerland on the Queen Mary for their honeymoon, and so they landed in Los Angeles, and that's where I grew up.

Bradley Sutton:

The Queen Mary. That's now like in Long Beach, that one that you can actually.

Christine:

Wow, nice, that one 1955, that came over.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, Sasha. What about you?

Sasha:

I'm originally from Odessa, Ukraine, and so I speak Russian, and I wound up doing a lot of business with Russia, and that's what actually led up to Amazon eventually.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay now, how long have you been here in the States?

Sasha:

I grew up here. I grew up in New York in 1980s.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you must have moved here when you were one or two years old, all right. So growing up in New York, you had emigrated over here. What was your aspirations? Were you just wanting to be a fireman or an astronaut, or what did you think you'd be when you grew up? Quote unquote.

Sasha:

I had very little choice. My dad was an engineer and my mom was an actress, and all my life isolated between the two. So jump back and forth.

Bradley Sutton:

What did you end up going to college for then.

Sasha:

I ended up going. I got my bachelor's in computer science initially, and then, when my business was doing well enough, I went into a theater program.

Bradley Sutton:

So you still made both of them happy after my goodness, the model son here, Love it. What about you, Christine? What did you think you'd be when you grew up?

Christine:

I always wanted to be an interior designer and actually that's what my degree is in. So I was an interior design when I lived in LA, in Hollywood, for a big firm and often did a lot of the studio sets with the studio designers and maybe did something for Sasha's mom or there, you never know. Actually Johnny Cochran's office, I did.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, okay, all right, wow all right. So now you know what. How many years were you in that field, Christine?

Christine:

10 years.

Bradley Sutton:

10 years and then after that?

Christine:

Then I went into nurse recruiting.

Bradley Sutton:

Nurse recruiting.

Christine:

Well, yes, recruiting nurses for travel assignments. So a travel nurse assignments across the US in every hospital there's probably 20-30% of travel nurses, so that they can adjust their fluctuations in census, and so they bring in travel nurses when it's high census and reduce the travel nurse population when it's lower census.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm half Filipino. Is it true that, like 30% of nurses, are Filipinos?

Christine:

They do bring a lot of Filipinos over, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, so you're moving Filipino nurses around all the country, and others as well, and then how long do you do that?

Christine:

Ten years, at least ten years.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, so you stick with stuff. You start. I like that. All right, so well. There's 20 years of work, so you must have started working when you were three, four years old, yourself there, okay, and then after that, did you find e-commerce or what's next in your life?

Christine:

Yes, and I found e-commerce, so it brought together everything I've learned and I just wanted to be able to do something that I could do from anywhere in the world. Since my family is from Switzerland, as you know, since my parents immigrated, I like to go there frequently and I wanted to be able to do a business I could do from there, if I needed to be there for two, three months, or from anywhere in the world, and I found this.

Bradley Sutton:

So did you just like Google at the time? Do you remember like where you know things I can do on the road, or something like that? Do you remember what you searched for?

Christine:

No, no, I um. I always like to buy things on Amazon, and I knew that it was growing, that people would be buying online more frequently, and so I started searching how to do that, and I did several webinars and classes and seminars In fact, I did probably six months of education before I even jumped into selling to make sure it was something that I could do, that I had the skills for, that I had the money for and that I would be able to grow with. See, like in nursing nurses, they can grow, they keep growing in their careers, they do all kinds of different things, they advance, and I wanted something that I could also grow with, so I could become a bigger seller, I could expand selling to different regions, different countries, and so I found this fit the bill.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. What about you, Sasha? How does somebody who studies theater and engineering end up in e-commerce?

Sasha:

I went to Russia with a suitcase full of computer parts. That's how I started in business, and from then, on, I think one dollar Sounds very shady.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, I don't know how.

Sasha:

Listen, I mean nothing with. Russia is a white hat, let's put it this way. So yeah, and so that led eventually to doing a lot of exporting to Russia. I did everything from computer parts to software to eventually slot machines even, and mining equipment, so that kind of led naturally to.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you say slot machines and mining equipment? Amazingly, yes, never in the history of vocabulary has that, I don't think, been used in the same Both of those things? That's interesting. So you're basically exporting whatever and whatever they wanted there. Huh Okay.

Sasha:

So it really does depend on relationships there as well, just like here in the States, and so wherever you can find a competitive advantage, that's a good place to go, and so eventually, when that died down as a market and now essentially it's almost entirely out of reach, you look for other opportunities, and by that point I've already had a number of other businesses that I was involved with, and so I started Amazon on a dare with a friend of mine who really did not believe that we could do any sales on Amazon when his website was doing so well.

Sasha:

So I bet him that we could beat his website sales with Amazon sales, and that's how it was what year are we? Talking about this was just not too long ago, I think it was 2018,.

Bradley Sutton:

I think it was Okay so that's about five years ago. All right, and then, and did you make that bet without even knowing a lot about Amazon? Or at that point, had you done some studying and research into it, or something?

Sasha:

I knew very little about Amazon. I did not have any experience selling on Amazon or listing on Amazon, but just simply understanding the marketing and the size of the market and the demand there. It just seemed it was a bet I couldn't lose.

Bradley Sutton:

So yeah, okay, I took it, Christine. What about you? What year approximately was it that you made this leap into e-commerce?

Christine:

Well, I launched my first product at the end of 2019.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Around the same time and are you still selling that exact product today?

Christine:

No Can you tell us what it is, then well, there's still kitchen products, but Well, I am still selling the remainder of that particular Also, somebody is still active.

Bradley Sutton:

That's pretty impressive for your very Not many people are still selling, like four years later, their very first product. Usually, it's like they just get their feet wet and they're like, oh nope, this was the wrong choice, but that's pretty impressive. You still have some inventory left and still going on that yes. Now how did you learn to how to sell on Amazon?

Christine:

You know I did a course. I did a course, but I can't say that I really learned how to do it from that course. What I really learned was when I started believe it or not signed up for Helium 10, because they have so many of the courses, you know the get started courses. That's where I really Like I was already on the platform beginning the sales, but there is so much to learn.

Bradley Sutton:

So in Helium 10?

Christine:

I did all of the modules you know, from the first set to the second set. I mean literally everything and I would say that, and also being part of the elite meetings, that is where I really learned how to sell, so you joined elite even before you were that big of a seller. Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

And then that that was me, Like in 2016, 2017, I wasn't even a seller and I was like you know what I just want to, like be a fly on the wall in these trainings and learn, and that's how I like. I probably learned more in six months than I could have, you know, in like two or three years taking a course or something. So I took a very similar path as you, All right, so that's interesting. What about you, Sasha? Did you take a course too? Or you just like got just dove right in? Or how did you learn to do what you were doing in the first?

Sasha:

year or 18? It was all just manual work, digging into Amazon specs, so really digging in into the specifications of flat files and categories. And I actually started with there are not category listing reports, but with transaction reports. You know those reports that list every transaction and the challenge there is that Amazon doesn't give you a flat file there. It actually is grouped by different categories. It's very, very hard to figure out exactly what the expenses are, so it really makes you work to break it up and clean it up. And that took a lot of time to break up that file and eventually I made it so that every column would be would represent a single type of expense, so it'd be easy to run pivot tables on it and analyze it.

Bradley Sutton:

There goes your engineering background a little bit there. Now, where are you still selling the very first product that you started with?

Sasha:

No, and it's not because it wasn't selling well, it's just it became less of a product for the manufacturer. So I don't really sell my own products. I help partners that I have sell products in their accounts typically, and so it depends in a way what they're.

Bradley Sutton:

So that first one that you launched was that for your friend, who you made that with.

Sasha:

That's right, that was his products and businesses that have storefronts that are brick and mortar they have other channels, so they have other needs, other interests, so they might have distribution, they might have a retail store, and so Amazon website aren't always their first priority.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, that's another thing that one of you have in common with me is when I first started until I worked at Helium 10, I didn't have any of my own products 100%. I launched over 400 products before I started working at Helium 10. 100% was for other people partners or people who hired me. Just my mindset was like I'm good at what I do, I have a specific thing I'm doing and I like doing this where there's not risk, like I'm not risking my family's savings and it could totally fail, so I'm gonna get. I mean, it's not.

Bradley Sutton:

Of course, I always try to have success, but I didn't have to stay up at night knowing that I risk my second mortgage or something to do this product launch. Amazon could just close the account down back in those days. Now, if I had things to do over again, now that I know what I know, I would have probably gone ahead and launched on my own products. But in those days I was very happy just getting a paycheck and if they made a million dollars from my $1,000 work, great for them. But then if they lost money, it's like all right, sorry, not sorry. We did it. We did what we could.

Sasha:

I hear you. I hear you, but for me it's entirely different. I prefer to work with somebody else's product and do the marketing. In a way. For me it's sort of more customer facing for me. To figure out what it is they need, what their needs are, and make it work.

Bradley Sutton:

What's the biggest success story? Like some projects that you've worked on and now they've scaled up to X number of sales in a year or something like that. Anything stick out in your mind.

Sasha:

For me. There was a client that had not been on Amazon at all, but their products have for years and years. They're a large manufacturer of beauty products who sold through retail and distribution and when I took them on, they had hundreds and hundreds of listings that were not created by themselves but by other resellers that needed to be on Amazon. So in the end, when we eventually were able to capture that market share, those beauty products wound up being really large, really large numbers for them.

Bradley Sutton:

Hmm, well, how large we're talking. Well, we're talking about seven figures. I like it all. Right, excellent. Now going back to you, Christine, like you've been selling now for like three years or four years, which year was your peak in sales and approximately how much was it?

Christine:

I would say this year is the peak in sales. So this year's increased like 300% over last year.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow.

Christine:

An increase, and well, we're in the high six figures at this point.

Bradley Sutton:

Excellent, so this is your full income now.

Christine:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

And do you have employees, or are you doing this all on your own?

Christine:

Oh no, I couldn't possibly do it all on my own. Now I have a VA who does all of the reporting and all of the things like that for me, and of course I have a team. I've got the photographer, videographer, social media.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's in-house, or you just like have somebody on retainer or something.

Christine:

I just contract out as I need it yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now, what's been your biggest L, your biggest loss, still with you, Christine, like the worst thing that's happened to you since you started selling on Amazon, because that's something that I like to keep it real. Amazon is not all rainbows and unicorns Listings gets shut down, you get hijacked and bad experience with customer service. Let's keep it real here. Let's be vulnerable. What's your biggest loss you've taken, or worst thing?

Christine:

Well, I had a. It's a product I still sell, so it was actually selling very, very well and it was like top you know top numbers and a new person had designed a similar product and so they came in and cited us as patent infringement. Amazon pulled all the listings down, which, of course, stopped the sales immediately. Now we had authorization to sell, we had a patent, we had everything, and I contacted Amazon with I mean right away and sent that document, sent it to the person that claimed the IP, and it still took over two and a half weeks to bring the listings back up. Of course, by then sales were lost. It had to sort of rebuild its rank and everything, and this person did it which I've learned since in order to launch his product right.

Bradley Sutton:

So he wanted to clear the way so that he was the only kind of player in the chain.

Christine:

Exactly, and so that's my first time really realizing the tricks that people play just to get ahead and that was disappointing. It was sad I lost money, but you know what? I wasn't going to let him win, so I just worked hard to get those sales back.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. Now let's flip the script. What's the coolest thing that's ever happened? You like something unexpected or something amazing where you went viral, one of your products you sold out of inventory in two weeks or you made ridiculous profit on something. What's one of the coolest things that's happened to you?

Christine:

Well, yeah, I have sold out of inventory, but I've learned now to keep that in stock in backup. But actually this last prime day was probably one of the most exciting for me because I sold over a thousand units on that day For me that was A thousand units in one day, wow. Yeah, for me that was big, that was a big, exciting moment.

Bradley Sutton:

How many SKUs?

Christine:

In that particular product line there were five SKUs.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow. So how many units did you have in stock to cover that? That's a huge day.

Christine:

Well, here's what happened is I did run out, but I have a backup over at Deliver. So when it ran out it pulled from Deliver and gave me enough time to get more in. So I had, thank goodness, in the backup warehouse. I had a whole another thousand units ready to ship. And was able to send them in immediately as Deliver was fulfilling the overflow orders.

Bradley Sutton:

What would you say is the reason you did so well on Prime Day? Did you have some kind of, you know, Prime Exclusive Discount? Did you have a coupon? Did you send some outside traffic? Is there one thing that resulted in that crazy sales day?

Christine:

Well, I did a Prime Exclusive Discount. I also, prior to that, made sure all my ads were prepped and primed and that I made sure that the listing was 100% perfect and the pictures were perfect all before that Prime Day. So I guess I was just prepared.

Bradley Sutton:

I like it, Sasha. What about you? You know, sometimes, working with multiple accounts, you get exposed to even more things than the average. You know, seller, what's the worst thing? It doesn't have to be from you, but just like you were part of an account and you heard that something crazy happened. What's?

Sasha:

on Amazon. I think the most heartbreaking thing is when listings become hijacked. I mean, I've seen policy violations on Amazon and all sorts of difficulties that we have working with Amazon, but when listings get hijacked, that's just. I think. To me that's the toughest part.

Bradley Sutton:

And so what was one of the worst? Like somebody who had like, was there any? That was like they were selling 100 a day and it went to zero because of it, or something crazy like that.

Sasha:

They've got an entire product line with something that competitors were able to put Covid-related keywords in there somehow During the time when Covid items were hot and Amazon was blocking sellers, and so their entire list product line was shut down.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, all right. Well, let's not be doom and gloom. Christine talked about her. Great, you know, 1000 sale prime day. What about you? What's a crazy, amazing thing that's, like you know, can't happen, probably in the rain or it's very. It would be very impossible or very difficult for it to happen off of Amazon, but you've seen it happen on Amazon.

Sasha:

Gosh, I have to think about that, but the thing that comes to mind that the most satisfying thing that I had experienced was when I finally figured out how to put attributes up on Amazon that they don't give you in the category listing report. There are, for some, certain categories, like in the, for example, a grocery category that I work with a lot. When I was finally able to put up the nutrition table to get all the nutrition values up for products when it's not it's not regularly available in your category listing report, that was probably the most satisfying experience.

Bradley Sutton:

Where is that show on the list? Or does it show on the listing, or is this is only? We're talking about the back end here.

Sasha:

So it shows on the listing right above the bullet points. It's in that prime space below the title and right above the bullet points it'll show like nutrition information. It'll show ingredients and it will show the nutrition table that you usually see on products in the grocery store.

Bradley Sutton:

But for most products you don't actually get those attributes even if you download the flat file that you would, you know like it's not going to. It's not going to show up there.

Sasha:

It's not going to show up, even though it should.

Bradley Sutton:

So how do you do it? Do you like copy it from another category listing report that it does show up and then just paste those columns or something? Well, at this point, at this point.

Sasha:

You could probably find it. You could probably find it in some other category. I had to search for those attributes throughout the internet. I found them eventually in a European Amazon catalog. So I had to scrape them off of there and that's how I populated those columns. It didn't exist anywhere. My suspicion and I don't know this for sure, my suspicion is that they were available for products that were sold through Amazon Fresh. You know Amazon Fresh that product line, and so if you were in stores at Amazon Fresh, you had access to those fields, but not if you were in seller central, and so that was a bit of a hack.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, we're going to come back to you because I know your specialty is like flat files and stuff like that. So we're going to be getting lots of strategies. But going back to Christine, let's talk some strategy. Not anybody can have a thousand sale prime day. Not anybody can scale up on their own to high six figures. So what are some things that you think you're doing that is unique or that you're focusing on? Maybe it's not so unique, but it's like you put a big focus on it and you feel that that's part of the secret to your success.

Christine:

Well, I have these master files on literally everything that's required. So I think being organized and having all the information in one place is really important for me. For example I have, since I'm on both Amazon and Walmart I have like a spreadsheet that's got you know the UPC, the ASIN, the titles, the bullets, I mean literally everything on it that I can then, you know, adjust before fixing a listing, and I can refer to that sheet at any time I need to when I'm doing something else in Amazon, and also the same with Walmart. They have different IDs, different things, and this sheet goes as far as it has dimensions of the products and the pricing of the products.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, guys, I don't know if you picked up on this, but something I like to tell people is, no matter what career you come from, there's things that you can take from your previous life and apply to Amazon. You know if you guys picked up. You know Sasha used to be, you know computer science and engineer and stuff, and now he's got this analytical mind and now he just happens to be an expert on you know Excel and flat files and stuff. And listen, Christine, you know being an interior designer. You know she couldn't just like throw stuff together. You know like she probably had.

Bradley Sutton:

You know this system where she would really plan out her sets and very detailed, and now she's taken that and applied it to the way she manages her interior, designing her Amazon catalog, so you can always take stuff from and then play. You know, plus, sasha, you know being a service provider too. You know he's taking his acting lessons. He's very well spoken and eloquent there and very good looking too, so he's using whatever he can do right there. Sasha, back to you Another, maybe a flat file strategy that you can share with the community.

Sasha:

So with flat files, I think it's important to know that the category listing report is not necessarily what's live on the product page, and that's a major misconception that people have is that when they receive the category listing report, when they download it, they think that that accurately reflects what's up on the system, and it's not the way I would. The way I think about the CLR is that it is just a suggestion. It's what you've uploaded to Amazon and then Amazon makes a decision about whether they will accept that recommendation and update the data in the system or not. Conversely, the file itself, the category listing report or the category template, that is also Amazon's suggestion to you, what you can upload to the, to the cloud, and you don't necessarily have to follow that recommendation.

Sasha:

That's why there are a lot of ways to hack the file, the Excel file that comes down from from Amazon, and so one of the first things that you do if you do have a conflict, if you have an issue, you may take a look at what's in your category listing report and then compare it to the, to the UI, to the data fields that you see in your seller central when you click the edit button and take a look at the shaded text and numbers that are right above the field, which shows you what's what's on the cloud live, and very often you'll find that what you've uploaded is not exactly the same as what's on that now, and that could be things like title, it could be bullet points, clearly, product ideas and other other fields that Amazon doesn't think that you have the right to update or you have the priority to update. So that's one check that I would do once in a while to make sure that what you think is being uploaded is actually getting up there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, is it? I mean, I know this was the case years ago, but you know what would happen and how some people would get their listings, you know, shut down. Is you know, like, like, like COVID type keywords, but any adult keywords, drug related keywords, they would go to a marketplace where that seller wasn't in and where there's open spots in their flat file sometimes they would get to, you know, throw some of those keywords in there and then it would stop it. And then you know what was you know one way years ago of how to stop that is like hey, hey, you know, make sure everything in your flat files are filled out and even upload it to different marketplaces. Is that? Can that still help? Or what is the latest protection on how you can stop people from abusing the flat file system? Where, where they can get your listing, you know, shut down?

Sasha:

That is absolutely the right thing to do is fill out the category list and report with all the fields that are relevant to your product, and there's a couple that that are sort of not part of your product listing unless you're in the adult category that you should also update. But that is the good recommendation to update as much as you can that is relevant to your product, because bad actors can update your listings by doing that in other marketplaces or by virtue of having access to higher level of Amazon account, for example, they can do it through vendor central right. So that is that is a good recommendation. It is getting harder for people to to hijack casually because Amazon is making it more difficult for people to create and modify listings for that are owned by brand registry. But they they could still do it, and so I would.

Sasha:

I would say don't go overboard and try to complete every single empty field in your listing report, because you really cannot do that. There are many more fields that are related to your product. Then you can actually see when you download your category listing report. So you can't really even contemplate completing every possible field, but you should fill out those fields that are relevant. You should fill out those fields that have to do with compliance has met and so on, and you should fill out the field that has to do with is is this an adult product? To make sure that those don't get in there. Aside from that, you could you could still have bad actors put bad, bad keywords in your product. They'll get you shut down so that yeah, that's that hijacking process still exists out there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I'm just curious what's your ratio of sales from Amazon to Walmart? Five to one, 10 to one. Amazon more, Would you say it?

Christine:

for me it's. Let's see, last year it was like Five to one, this year it's more like eight to one on one.

Bradley Sutton:

It changed so eight to eight. For every eight dollars you sell on Amazon, you sell one dollar on Walmart.

Christine:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, are you using WFS?

Christine:

Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, how's your profit margins? You know like after, if you know calculate out what you're you know selling or you know doing for PPC, etc. Is the profit margins similar or you making more money than one platform, than the other?

Christine:

Well, last year I made more I mean profit margin was better on Walmart. This year the advertising Something's a skew there. So the profit margins not as good On Walmart as it was last year and I'm hoping they fix that and that goes back up. But typically because Walmart doesn't charge as much for delivery, they do still charge the 15%. They don't charge as much delivery. There is room for a better profit margin on Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, interesting, interesting. Do you find that there's less competition for your niche on Walmart compared to Amazon? Are you fighting more competitors on Amazon or is similar to the same ones? You who are there on Amazon are also there on the Walmart.

Christine:

I think it's less competition. It's less competition, but it's harder to rank up for some reason. But you know, it's a unique client. Each platform has its set of unique clients, right and certain products. Like I, have five different products With many, many skews. So one product does very, very well on Walmart and Not so well on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

So you're doing better on Walmart than you are on Amazon for one product.

Christine:

Yes, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I know Kerry's got one or two like that too interesting.

Christine:

Yeah, and where the other products do better on Amazon. It's interesting. So I I come to where I'm picking out different products for the different platforms.

Bradley Sutton:

Could you have predicted that, like you know, when you were looking in helium 10 at the search volume or the competitors, like could you have said you know what I think this might be, or it did it just happen, and then now, in retrospect, you know what to look for as far as science about what could be better on Walmart than Amazon?

Christine:

I think it just happened. But yes, now in retrospect I can look a little bit more, I have a bit more information about what to look for and you know, price is a key it's just a key thing on Walmart. So having good price products so if you have a product that's a little bit higher priced For me I'm putting it on Amazon it just doesn't move as well on Walmart. In my category I'm talking about kitchen now in another category it might work just fine, but in my category the lower priced products that appear to have the best value for the price let's put it that way Move better on Walmart. And yes, now I'm picking out things that fit that category.

Bradley Sutton:

Sasha you doing anything at all with Walmart, or everything that you do is all on Amazon.

Sasha:

I help with Walmart as well, but it really varies by client. There are certain products that don't do well on Walmart at all because they are on Walmart shelves and so if it's a, if it's a product that can be purchased from Walmart, in the store and Amazon and Walmart will ship it at their Walmart price, it's very difficult to compete with an Amazon price that includes FBA fees. So it it's really kind of all over the board where some products do Better on Walmart when there's no competitors and there's some products that really don't even have opportunity to compete.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and what's your last strategy for us? If I were to ask you for your 60 second, your 60 second strategy of the of the day for you? I mean, I said flat files because that's your specialty, but it could be about anything.

Sasha:

I'll stick with flat files. My top recommendation would be to create variations. Create them often and Don't wait until it's too late. You're your ASINs, your, your product listings are your assets on Amazon and they're constantly at risk. They could be taken down for multiple reasons, and so when your product reaches a level of maturity, when you have Thousands of reviews and is doing very well, create a variation, even if you don't think you need one. Create something with small, small modification. Pair it up with your best seller and let that new product gather reviews and that new product becomes a new asset and Then, once are doing well, you have the option of splitting it off from your main parent and take up Amazon real estate. So that's one of the top strategies I use with clients is I create variations with, with new products cool, cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Now. If people wanted to reach out to you, Sasha, to see if you know to contact you and ask for your you know Russian escapades, or perhaps talk about you know flat files or whatever, how can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Sasha:

If, if they want, if you want to have, they want to have that beer, I'll tell them the local bar. But if they want to talk about Amazon I'm usually on the Friday calls at 11 o'clock that those are always great case studies, so I'm usually. They are also in the Helium 10 elite Facebook group and of course it. If you want to reach out directly, my email is at amazon@cutterstone.com. Cutterstone spell, just like it sounds.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool now, Christine, you know, no pressure, you don't have to say your contact information, but if somebody was inspired by something you said and they wanted to reach out to you, dude, would you like anybody to reach out?

Christine:

Yeah, I'm happy to help. I mean, so many people help me along the way I want to do the same, so I'm happy to help, and my email would be christioinfo@gmail.com.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right. Well, you too it's. It's a great, you know, been having you and you know weekly calls and seeing you at the elite events. And Next one, probably neither of you can make it to because I'm doing it, we're probably doing it in Germany, so that'll be a bit of a bit of a drive for you guys who are used to being here in Southern California, but perhaps I'll see you at the next, you know, like online meetup or Next conference. You know be great to see you again.

Christine:

Thank you.

Bradley Sutton:

Great to be here.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Snapchat users can now buy Amazon products without leaving the app
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/15/tech/snapchat-users-shop-amazon-products/index.html

Meta lets Amazon shoppers buy products on Facebook and Instagram without leaving the apps
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/meta-lets-amazon-users-buy-on-facebook-instagram-without-leaving-apps.html

How Shein and TikTok Shop are trying to shake the ‘Made in China’ reputation
https://restofworld.org/2023/china-shopping-shein-tiktok-shop-global-sellers/

3 new shopping benefits Prime members get when using Amazon’s Buy with Prime
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/buy-with-prime-new-shopping-benefits-2023

Advertisers Are Investing in TikTok Shops Despite Mostly Tepid Results
https://www.adweek.com/social-marketing/advertisers-are-investing-in-tiktok-shops-despite-mostly-tepid-results/

Walgreens Shifts eCommerce Fulfillment From Warehouses to Retail Stores
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2023/walgreens-shifts-ecommerce-fulfillment-from-warehouses-to-retail-stores/

Join the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz newsletter on LinkedIn. We break down all the week's news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-Commerce World, New Feature Alerts, and Training Tips!

But that's not all, we're also diving into Amazon PPC and keyword research techniques. With new updates and features to Helium 10’s Amazon PPC tool, Adtomic, we discuss how you can sharpen your spending strategy and optimize it. Our special training tip from Shivali will guide you on how to mine long-tail keywords from a root keyword or phrase to boost conversions. So, strap in and stay tuned for a session packed with valuable news, tips, and insights!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:02 - Amazon & Snapchat
02:51 - Amazon & Instagram
05:10 - Shein Sellers Wanted
07:37 - Buy With Prime
10:02 - TikTok Shop
12:11 - Fulfilled by Walgreens
14:40- Manage Your Experiments
15:38 - Amazon Robots
16:41 - Weekly Buzz Newsletter
17:08 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts
20:30 - ProTraining Tip: How To Find Long-Tail Keywords From Root Keywords

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Customers will soon be able to buy Amazon products without leaving the app Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Buy with Prime launches, more benefits for dot com sellers. There's now new kinds of split testing that you can do in manager experiments. These new stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown on all the news stories that's going on in the Amazon and Walmart and e-commerce world. We also give you the new Helium 10 features of the week as well as a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We've got tons and tons of really exciting news stories today. sometimes it's a little bit dull out there. You're trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Sometimes it seems that I'm trying to like find news stories, but this week we got a few bangers out there, so let's go ahead and hop right into it

Bradley Sutton:

Now. The first story is actually from CNN and this is entitled. Snapchat users can now buy Amazon products without leaving the app. Now, this I thought was an interesting story. It's going to be followed up by another story that was actually announced last week, but according to CNN here it says Amazon will now run shopping ads for select products on popular photo messaging apps, snapchat, and Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNN Now. This spokesperson said that for the first time, customers will be able to shop Amazon Snapchat ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the app. All right, so. So that means like a lot of these social media apps, the last thing that they want you to do is leave the app. So there's been a lot of reluctant sometimes for links that just take them out, because what are these social media apps want? They just want you to just stay. Stay in the app, right like you see the moves that TikTok shop is making, they don't want you to have to go to Amazon, they want you to just buy right there in TikTok shop. like a lot of these apps make it difficult to go outside of the social media app because they just want you consuming the content there and consuming the ads, et cetera. So this is actually interesting. On Snapchat, you don't even have to leave the app to purchase Amazon products anymore. Now it says in app, shopping with Amazon is available for select products advertise on Snapchat and sold by Amazon or by independent sellers in Amazon store. So this is not just like a shipped and sold by Amazon. This, these are products that are you, you sellers out there are going to be able to sell. Now the bottom of this article says this Snapchat news comes on the heels of a similar Amazon initiative announced with Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms last week.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's actually our second news article of the day, and it's by CNBC, and this was from last week, in case you missed it out. There this was entitled meta lets Amazon shoppers buy products on Facebook and Instagram again, what's the key? Without leaving the apps, all right. So meta debuted this feature that lets users connect their Facebook and Instagram accounts to Amazon so they can more easily buy goods, promote them their feeds. Now it wasn't clear. If Snapchat is doing the same thing, I mean you'd almost have to. If you're not leaving Snapchat, that means that your Amazon account must be linked inside of Snapchat in a way. Now, this is just like super, super interesting to me because TikTok shop, as we know, has been making all of the waves lately and and this could be like Amazon answer to social commerce, as it's called, and like hey, maybe they see, like hey, this is the future. people are browsing social media and you want to kind of capture them while they're browsing, and at the same time, make these apps happy by not taking them to the Amazon app.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the Amazon spokesperson said to CNBC said customers in the U? S will see real time pricing, prime eligibility, delivery estimates and product details on select Amazon products ads in Facebook and Instagram as part of the new experience. So it's not just oh, there's going to be like a little button over here where it says, yeah, go ahead and buy with prime or buy this on Amazon. It sounds like like the buy box experience almost on Amazon where you can see all these details about when it's Going to get there. So, like this, this is, I don't know, I don't want to say like as flown under the radar a little bit. this is already like a week old. I'm reaching out to a lot of my contacts at Amazon to try and get some more details on what this is gonna entail, but I think this could be depending on how it's rolled out could be huge for third-party sellers to be able to advertise Directly on some apps and, especially, depending on the kind of flexibility we're gonna get for targeting so it could be something super, super cool and, again, like just more and more opportunity for e-commerce sellers out there now with this kind of like new Thing of social commerce. be it tick tock shop, be it snapchat, now Instagram, Facebook Really exciting times to be an e-commerce seller.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of e-commerce sellers, the next article is from restofworld.org and it's entitled how Shein and tick tock shop are trying to shake the maid in China Reputation alright, so it's talking about how these platforms are looking for global sellers and it gives a couple of examples. Like it talked about somebody who was in Latin America who was selling on the platform there that we all know, is one of the top ones in Latin America, which is mecca libre, and she was, she was doing, like $15,000 of revenue and she actually said that. like, when I first started considering Amazon, the process was confusing. There's too many documents required. The process to become a seller was very long, she said. But then this year in January Shein I hope I'm pronouncing that right, I don't even know Shein, but anyways Shein Contacted her and I was like, hey, would you like to sell on our platform? And there was actually Mexico based advisors that she could reach out to and they helped her set up the account, so that what she had said was difficult on Amazon, wasn't on Shein, and she's already sold $16,000 worth of goods on Shein's marketplace since it launched in Mexico this this past June and it's already surpassed Her medical Libre sales that she's been selling on for years now.

Bradley Sutton:

in the past for those who don't know much and including myself, I don't really know much about Shein never bought one thing on it, but Before it was almost all like. China, Chinese sellers on there and made in China products, but then last year they opened up distribution facilities in Poland, us and Canada this this article says and it's also opened up factories in Brazil and Turkey and also one coming in India. Now this article says, they're trying to compete with Amazon and that's why they're trying to build their fulfillment network and also open up to international third-party sellers. Now go ahead and check a link in the description, for the rest of this article is actually a super long article, but interesting. I really don't think she is like a big threat or anything to Amazon. I'm I think the reputation of the products and service is kind of low right now. But it's something to look out for and I'm curious. Shein reached out to this seller To sell on Amazon. What about any of you guys watching this? Have any of you been reached out to by Shein and Temu and TikTok shop to sell on the platform? Let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is a press release from Amazon and it's entitled three new shopping benefits prime members get when using Amazons buy with prime. So buy with prime, was announced earlier. We actually talked about it on the show where you can take like the Amazon Prime experience and kind of put it on Dotcom websites. All right, so until now you could see, like reviews and things and things like that. You can have the buying, literally buying with prime, right, you get the same day or one day or two day delivery. But now Amazon is announcing three more updates to this program.

Bradley Sutton:

This article says that this holiday season, prime member benefits now will include 24 seven customer service through a live chat feature. Again, this is for buy with prime obviously this has always existed for just regular Amazon. But now if somebody's shopping on a Shopify website and that Shopify sellers using buy with prime, these are the benefits that the customer is going to be able to get. So, again, 24 seven chat, live chat for customer service. Another main benefit is that you're gonna be able to see all of your orders in one place. So let's say, today I buy something from my Amazon app right. Tomorrow I buy something from the Amazon website. Day after tomorrow I go to dot a dot com website that's using Buy with Prime. I buy something there, I can go in my Amazon app and I'm going to see all of those orders in the same place. So that's something that's new that you know. Now is another benefit again, 24 seven live Support. you can see here in the screenshot what that is going to look like.

Bradley Sutton:

And then the returns. Amazon's already kind of pretty easy to have returns, but now by with prime can go through the same return process Even though they're buying from a dot com website. Now it says customers are gonna be able to choose from an expanded number of convenient drop-off locations at UPS stores, whole food markets or Amazon fresh stores, without boxing up or labeling Items. All they have to do is show a QR code and hand over the item being returned. All right, remember this is something bought from a dot com website. And now by with prime, members are gonna get all these kind of like regular Amazon prime Benefits. I'm just curious how about you guys out there Anybody start by with prime? Does any of what I just mentioned here make you more inclined to perhaps do buy with prime? If you've got a dot com website, let me know in the comments below.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from ad week calm and it's entitled Advertisers are investing in tick-tock shops despite mostly tepid results. And this is interesting to me because the title says, oh, mostly tepid results. But then the article goes on to just like give example after example of people, kind of like crush it on the platform. So the article to me didn't really match the, the, the headline here. But it says hey, there's mostly lackluster results in tick-tock shop. It says like, that's not what I'm that's not what I'm hearing. But then in the next paragraph it says hey, cosmetics brand beat BK beauty Join tick-tock shop. When it opened up three months ago, barely ab, barely spent anything on advertising and since joining the company has more than doubled revenue. Don't you see how, like why I'm confused with all this negative talk. Like in the title, in the first paragraph. The next Paragraph says oh yeah, somebody has spent digital, a single digits advertising and now they've doubled their revenue.

Bradley Sutton:

The article talks about how the platform is offering incentives such as ad credits, customer coupons, they're covering fulfillment charges, offering tons of promotions to gear up for Black Friday. I've talked about how helium-ton elite members like Elizabeth have been really absolutely just crushing it on that platform. In this article another story they give they say hey, mental health focus journal company, Zenful note, has generated 45%, pretty much half of their sales from tick-tock shop in just two months. So again, I don't know why they're kind of dissuading people from TikTok shop but at the same time talking about how people are just crushing it on there. But it's going to be interesting to see how this work. how this goes because, like I, really have high hopes for TikTok shop. It seems like they're doing the right things and it's not just taking like a whole bunch of random products from manufacturers in China that they're shipping snail mail. that takes three day or three days, so three weeks or something to deliver, like Shein or Temu. I mean, this is just like regular, kind of like Amazon level of product. So I really think that's next year that is going to be the platform that a lot of sellers are going to want to expand to.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from payments.com and this is entitled Walgreens Shifts Ecommerce Fulfillment from Warehouses to Retail Stores, and it talks about how they're, instead of fulfilling their dot com orders from their Walgreens warehouses, they're trying to do it at its 8,700 stores. They had this quote that says 78% of Americans live within five miles of a Walgreens. How about you guys listening out there? You probably have a Walgreens pretty, pretty close to you, but 78% are near there. So this maybe doesn't necessarily affect third party sellers too much, because this is. Walgreens mainly sells a lot of their own products.

Bradley Sutton:

But this is what I've always tried to talk to you guys, especially when I talk about Walmart and other places. We think too much only about selling online. If you can get and brick and mortar, it can be very lucrative. I've talked about when I worked at another company and they would sell in Walmart the kind of PO's that would cross my desk where one PO was like way more than what our entire year of Amazon sales were and we were in seven figures of Amazon sales and that would be like one PO from Walmart's because of how many Walmarts there are. We had accounts at that same company. I worked at Walgreens and it was still a big business and you don't have to worry about. a lot of advertising and customer service and all this stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

So like, when you are building your brand, absolutely start on Amazon, start on TikTok shop, but be thinking bigger picture, like, like, really create a brand and great packaging and things like that. Because now, if you start crushing on Amazon, you're going to get on the radar of buyers and at some of these places potentially, and maybe you can get your product in a Walgreens or a Walmart. And then this kind of move that Walgreens is doing is like pretty cool. Like imagine if you were making some kind of supplement, right, and you got it into Walgreens, brick and mortar. Now your online sales for Walmart, or Walgreens.com would also be pretty high because the fulfillment process potentially could have even same day delivery. Walgreens is saying that they're going to use, like Uber, eats and DoorDash drivers to deliver their stuff. But anyways, just something to keep in mind, guys, don't just confine yourself to thinking that you're only going to sell on online marketplaces. Getting into brick and mortar can be very lucrative.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is not really an article at all, but it's something that is in your manager experiments dashboard. So if you go to manager experiments, that's Amazon's kind of like split testing tool. It's always been free on live listings and you've been able to do stuff like test your, your main image and things like that, but now you can actually start testing your A plus brand story and also you can do simultaneous experiments to where you, where you test two separate things, all right. So this is something newish that maybe some of you didn't know about is available. I still recommend Always doing your split testing and audience kind of like polling before you even have your listing. You can do that with Helium 10 Audience. It's just right there in your Helium 10, dashboard. It's also available. it's made by a PickFu and I've been using that for six years now and that's like a game changer. But if you didn't do it before you launch and you're having trouble, absolutely you can use manager experiments on your live listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Last article of the day is just kind of a funny one I wanted to throw in here because it kind of has to do with Amazon. But it's kind of crazy what we're going to. And this is CNBC and it says Amazon's Astro Robot is now a roving security guard for business. I mean, guys, we are literally going into the Terminator world. Amazon is selling this robot for $2,300 and it's for businesses and it's like a security guard. it's on wheels but it like roams your store during the day, make sure people are not stealing it roams it. During the night, when you, when you leave your place of business. But amazon is more than just a marketplace. They're like at the forefront of a lot of different technologies. And now there's robot security guards. Guys, in 2023, 2024, what is this world coming to? Ai robots, what is next? All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

One thing I wanted you guys to know about was if you like to get the news and maybe you're not always about watching a video, you just want to watch it or read about the news. I have a brand new newsletter that covers in depth A lot of these news articles. We're talking about a lot of the things that we discuss in this show. So if you would like that, just email to you from LinkedIn and you have LinkedIn super easy, one click to subscribe to it completely free. Go to h10.me forward slash newsletter. H10.me forward slash newsletter takes your LinkedIn website and then just hit subscribe and you'll get notified every time if there's a new article.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now let's get into the New Helium 10 Feature Alerts of the week. every week, Helium 10 has is releasing new tools, new filters, new features, new functionality that you guys have been asking for, and so here's a rundown of what is cooking for this week, the first one that I'm going to talk about actually, all of these are an Adtomic, our PPC management tool, and the first one is about day parting. All right, so in the past, you could select certain campaigns and then in helium, you can look at the data that Helium 10 provides and see that, wow, my, my, a cost is like infinity. It's like terrible Saturdays from 7am to 9am. So what I'm going to pause my campaign every Saturday at that time so I can save some money, right, but that's just kind of like partially.

Bradley Sutton:

Why people like day parting. a lot of people might want to increase their bid. Like maybe on Sunday mornings a cost is like 6% on a certain campaign or a group of campaigns. Well you might want to increase your, your, your bid at that time. Other times, maybe you don't want to pause the whole campaign, but maybe you want to decrease your bids. Well, now you're going to be able to do that if you go to your day parting schedules section and you go to the bottom here where you can create the rules. You can just select which day you want to choose the time period that you're wanting to do. Like, let's say, I pick Mondays from 3am to 7am and now I can do increase bid, I can decrease the bid or pause the campaign, and I can do this at the campaign level or at the portfolio level or even at the product level. So, super cool update from Adtomic. That way really allows you to kind of like laser focus your spend and optimize it based on the previous performance, but on time of day and day of the week.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, another quick filter that is new in Adtomic. we have our AI bidding suggestions and that's like based on the algorithms that you, that you choose. I'm going to talk about a New update to the algorithms too, but like, for example, I've got a whole bunch of AI suggestions here about how, what I need to do to my targets as far as on the bidding in order to reach my goal, right, and so we have a couple new filters where I maybe I just want to see hey, show me all of the suggestions, the AI suggestions, where it's asking me to increase the bid or decrease the bid All right. So that's a new filter that you're now going to be able to see on your suggestions page. The last update or feature alert for the day is the ability now, on auto campaigns, to choose a bid rule. All right. So a bid rule is kind of like.

Bradley Sutton:

maybe you're trying to hit a certain kind of target ACoS. Maybe you want to use our algorithm that maximizes the number of impressions. Maybe you want to maximize the number of orders. Maybe you want to use one of your custom bid algorithms, all right. So before for auto campaigns, you weren't able to set these, but now for the auto campaigns, you can go ahead and choose one of our algorithms or one of your own and go ahead and activate it right there. So I highly suggest everybody go ahead and do that if you're using Adtomic. Last up, we've got Shivali here for our training tip of the week and it has to do with a keyword research technique, a very, very simple way that, within seconds, you can get tons of keyword ideas based on you entering a keyword into our tool, Magnet, Shivali. Take it away.

Shivali:

How to find long tail keywords from a root keyword or phrase. Why is this important and how can you use it to make money? Well, as an Amazon FBA seller, of course you're interested in ranking on the top half of page one for your main keywords as well as your supplementary keywords. But how exactly can you lead to even more conversions? Well, of course you want to get in front of a audience that is ready to purchase, and the best way to identify that is by taking a look at your long tail keywords. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, these are those keywords that have maybe two, three, four, five additional words in the actual search term. And by taking a look at those search terms, right, you're starting to take a look at those people who are ready to purchase their warmer leads. They know what they're looking for, and that means that they are ready to buy so long as you can convey exactly what it is that you are selling and it matches what they have on their mind.

Shivali:

So let's go ahead and take a look at Magnet. I'm going to show you a filter you can use, and that is simply this word count filter right here inside of Magnet, that you can use to input a minimum or maximum and narrow down your search results. So I went ahead and inputted coffin shelf as our main seed keyword and clicked get keywords. We were outputted 3,204 filtered keywords in results. And then I want to narrow that down further by finding those really excited consumers. I'm going to go in and input in a minimum of four, I'm going to click apply and, as you can see, it immediately narrowed that down to 792 filtered keywords compared to the 3000 plus we had before. Now, of course, not all of these are going to be relevant. I'm already seeing that instead of the coffin shelf, we're now taking a look at Vampire Diaries makeup. That's not really relevant at all. So let's go ahead and combine this with the phrases containing filter and I can input in coffin, click apply filters and you'll see that automatically narrows me down even further to 157 filtered keywords.

Shivali:

Now this was a very, very fast way for you to go from 3000 filtered keywords into 157 and find keyword phrases where people are looking for something very specific. Of course, if I were a consumer and I were typing in bookshelf, that's going to be a significantly different feel and probably browsing for different styles of bookshelves, compared to somebody that's typing in coffin shaped bookshelf or coffin shelf or coffin bookshelf large six feet tall. So this is a very precise market and of course I'll still want to go in and open each one of these up and see whether or not the search term is relevant to our product. But of course this is really easy to also remove if I realize that that's not a phrase I want to maintain as part of my listing later on.

Shivali:

So, as you can see, this is a really easy way for you to find those really strong buyer intent keywords or key phrases that you are looking for. That can help you boost your conversions really fast. Of course you want to be ranking for those keywords and you want to drive traffic and all of that's great, but you also want to convert and so when you're using those longer tail keywords, you can get in front of audiences that are looking for something specific and that allows you to make that conversion a little bit easier. So that barrier to entry to actually get them to purchase is so much better when you are using words that are a little bit longer in length. So with this, I hope you go into Magnet, you implement, you take a look at those long tail keywords and you find success. I will catch you in the next video.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you very much, Shivali, for that. I really recommend, if you guys haven't done it recently, even if you've already been selling for a while, go ahead and put some of your main keywords, especially if it's a not a long tail keyword. Put that into Magnet and just see what comes up. hit the smart complete button, for once you have the keywords that come up. After you put your main keyword in there and see how many keywords come up, and I bet you, I guarantee you, there's going to be keywords that are completely related to your main keyword because it's your main keyword is literally a part of those keywords that you possibly didn't even know had search for him. So that's just like a cool little homework assignment for you guys. All right, thanks everybody for joining us this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Picture this: Three successful Amazon sellers from each corner of the globe sat down in a quaint Italian café, their journeys colliding over a shared passion for selling on Amazon. In this episode, we're chatting with Peter and Franco, our guests who symbolize the true essence of a global Amazon seller. Born in the US, raised in Australia, and operating out of Asia, Peter's journey through the world of Amazon selling is a fascinating tale. Then we have Franco, an Italian native who transitioned from a traditional upbringing to become a leading e-commerce entrepreneur. We listen to their stories, not just the triumphs but also the trials, like the time Franco’s competitor created fake test reports to tarnish his reputation.

Venture with us as Franco shares his extraordinary journey as an Amazon seller. From hitting his peak year of gross sales to navigating the fiercely competitive medical device field category, his story truly is a rollercoaster ride. Then we turn to Peter, who climbed to the number one spot in the health and personal care category within a mere three weeks. His dedication to producing reliable products and setting the right price point made him a standout entrepreneur. His unwavering commitment to his product and the pursuit of excellence are lessons for every budding e-commerce entrepreneur.

As we bid our Italian farewell, we delve into Franco and Peter's strategies for success, from image testing to understanding European selling regulations and leveraging social media. Get a peek into Franco's vision of reaching nine figures and perhaps even owning a football team in Italy. We draw the final curtain discussing the potential of the Italian Amazon community and the role Amazon plays in shaping the European market. Join us for this riveting conversation brimming with success stories, challenges, and unique experiences in the world of Amazon selling. We promise it's worth the listen!

In episode 509 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Franco, and Peter discuss:

00:00 - From Italy to Amazon
01:55 - Discovering Cultural Diversity in a Podcast
04:01 - From Australia to Italy
11:21 - Launching Products in Global Markets
14:58 - Challenges and Successes on Amazon
16:29 - Medical Device Field Competition and Tactics
24:32 - Strategies for Amazon Success
27:54 - Challenges With Listing Product on Amazon
32:35 - European Market Testing and Selling Strategies
36:21 - Discussion on Translations for International Marketplaces
39:25 - Italian Farewell and Appreciation for Italy

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got sellers in the show that I originally met in Italy and now they're selling millions of dollars on Amazon. We're going to hear their story, which includes a case where one of their competitors even sent fake reports to the media about their product safety in order to get them kicked off of Amazon. How crazy is that? Pretty crazy, I think. What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all, your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash profits. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And today we are doing what I think is a first we are having a three continent podcast at the same time. We're not recording this separately. I'm here in North America, we've got Peter, who, I believe, is in the Asian continent, and we've got Franco, who is in Europe. So welcome to the show. And the funny thing is, I met all of them in person, at least in Italy, which is why I'm wearing my Mona Lisa shirt, my Mona Lisa shirt, here. So anyways, welcome to the show, guys, and good afternoon and good morning to Franco, and it's good evening here.

Peter:

Thanks for having us.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I, as I said, I met these gentlemen at a conference in Milan, Italy, recently and you know, just talking to them a little bit and I was like man, all right, I don't want to know too much more because this sounds interesting and I just love to find out about the rest of you know your stories. You know, along with everybody else, the podcast. Now, that was like a couple months ago. So the cool thing is, you know, with my terrible memory, the little that they did tell me I've already forgotten. So, guys, I am going to be learning everything you know, right, right with you, with all the listeners today. So let's, first of all, you know the first thing that that that blew me away was, here's Peter, and you guys can't see him. You know he, he is, he's in Asia right now and he is of Asian descent. You know like he looks. I'm half Asian. I don't look Asian. Peter looks Asian and here he is sitting with me in this Italian restaurant and ordering in perfect Italian, like, what? Like? Do I really have jet lag? What is going on right here? Let's start with your backstory, were you? Uh, oh, yeah. And, by the way, the way he speaks English was also a little bit different, so were you. Were you born and raised in Australia, or were you born and raised?

Peter:

Yes, sir, I grew up in Australia, but actually I was, I was. I was born in the States. I don't know if I mentioned that in the state.

Bradley Sutton:

That makes it even more interesting I love it when we're about here in the States, in Minneapolis, minneapolis Okay, man, that's, that's. That's still the coldest I've ever been. Uh, not sure I want to go back there in winter, but all right. So you were in Minneapolis, and how? I mean? You know, the Minneapolis Australia connection is not very common, so how did that happen?

Peter:

Yeah, so if I take it back a step further, as you said, um, I'm, I'm Asian. My parents were born in China.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay.

Peter:

And they. They met in the US, so that's why I was born there, okay. And then, after um, they finished their studies, they decided they wanted to move to Australia. So when I was a baby, still be immigrated to Australia.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. And then now, growing up in Australia, what do you think you're going to be when you grow?

Peter:

Yeah, I didn't have any, you know, any special, different aspirations. I was like all the other kids.

Bradley Sutton:

Fine.

Franco:

Anything like that.

Peter:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay.

Peter:

I didn't think of being an entrepreneur or a commerce guy or anything like that.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you go to university in Australia?

Peter:

Yes, I did. I studied engineering Engineering. I had a very traditional upbringing?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, okay. And then, upon graduation, did you start working in that field?

Peter:

Yes, I did I um. So as I had no real exposure to my Asian roots, I wanted to do one year in Asia. So I ended up working in Hong Kong. So I worked in uh in Hong Kong for a little while with uh in the engineering field related to engineering.

Bradley Sutton:

Did you speak Chinese?

Peter:

I did not. That was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Asia, because, growing up in Australia, yeah. At that time, I was the only Asian kid in school. Um, there was no real interaction with other families or anything, so, um, I just spoke English.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Now you know USA to Australia, to Hong Kong, how do you end up speaking Italian?

Peter:

So when I was in Hong Kong, um, I got headhunted for a job in Italy. So, yeah, I took the opportunity and went over there and um lived there for a few years and worked there for a few years.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, that's cool that you learn the language. You know some people, uh, you know, go to other countries and you know years and they don't are not able to learn the language. That's a, that's a cool, uh cool skill there and and all right. So so that brings us to. I mean, obviously you're not in Italy anymore, so how long did you stay in Italy?

Peter:

Right, uh, I think it was about five years. About five years, about five years in a minute. Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, and it was it during your your run in Italy there that you learned that you started on Amazon. Or how did you go from engineering to e-commerce?

Peter:

No. So, um, while I was in Italy, I also got headhunted for another job and I was moved to Shanghai. And while I was in Shanghai, I met a one of my friends who I did sport with, was very much into Amazon, and he always kept talking about it. And then, finally, uh, one day I said this sounds really interesting. Why don't you show me what you're doing? And I offered to invest in what he he was his business, because it sounded like it was really good. And he said no, why don't you just try yourself? So I did it as a um, as a hobby, for a while, and then eventually it became became a full time thing.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. All right. Now we're caught up to to kind of like the e-commerce list. Let's go ahead and take the journey with with Franco. Now for you it's a lot easier backstory Were you born and raised in Italy and lived there your whole life? Or or do you live in 17 million countries like, uh, peter?

Franco:

No, I was born and raised in Italy. I passed a couple of years in China, but it means that I was there like uh, every month of April and every month of October since 2003. So it's not was not like living permanently there. I was living in a hotel. So basically, I've been living my life in Italy.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Now. What about you? Uh, what did you go to university for?

Franco:

I did pure maths and when I was starting at the university, I thought that I would be doing academia after that. Okay, and then it changed my mind.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, what so? Upon graduation then, what did you enter into if you didn't want to go ahead and take that route that you thought you were going to take?

Franco:

Yeah, I did. When I graduated I didn't really know what to do because I changed my mind. I didn't want to be a university professor of math, so I was going into my other side of me, that was, being an entrepreneur. So I did an MBA and after that MBA I worked for a couple of years as a marketing assistant in a company and during that time I founded two companies, two different ones, with friends of mine. And then I resigned and from that point I always been an entrepreneur.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So what year did you go full-on into e-commerce? Then what did you say?

Franco:

I went into e-commerce probably more than 10 years ago.

Bradley Sutton:

Dot com or other marketplaces, or what Now?

Franco:

in Europe, we're selling.

Bradley Sutton:

At that time, what I meant was yeah, the dot com is on Europe, but what I meant was like online sales or was it like a marketplace that you were on?

Franco:

No, it was our own e-commerce, our own website, and I was selling on with my company. I was selling rubber trucks that are the equivalent of tire for excavators and accessories for construction equipment, so something that probably even today you cannot sell on Amazon because like super huge and super heavy.

Bradley Sutton:

So you exited that company and then you said you became like a full-time entrepreneur. What was that endeavor like Full-time into? Like what was your? Was it just still online sales, or now you got into Amazon, or what happened there?

Franco:

Okay, so well, now most of my time is well, 100% of my time is on Amazon. But yeah, the other company, the one that's now, is doing Amazon as a long story, because it started in 1999. And we've been doing so many different stuff because we started from scratch with nothing. So we started doing multimedia content, then we went into doing CD and DVD duplication that means producing physical discs, then USB flash drives, accessories for smartphones, electronics in general, and then medical devices. When we went into medical devices, we went quite big on our e-commerce. That was not something that we were doing in this company. We're doing business to business mainly. And then from that, we went into Amazon. Not that we even had tried to do Amazon before, because we opened the Amazon account in 2014. But it was just a sort of let's see what's happening there, not really investing in that. So we were becoming big on Amazon since 2020.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now we're kind of caught up in a similar timeline here. Let's go back to Peter then. Are you still selling your first product today, peter?

Peter:

Yes, I think I started with two or three, and all of those three products I'm still selling. How? Long has that been?

Bradley Sutton:

I started in 2017.

Peter:

Wow.

Bradley Sutton:

The same product. How many reviews do you have now approximately on that one?

Peter:

Maybe 3,000 or something like that. Reviews and ratings.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so you're still selling the same stuff that you got into. How did you find that first product? Did you just take some course that a lot of people did and then just use the criteria to find the product and just struck gold in your first one? Or how in the world did you hit a home run with your very first product?

Peter:

So my friend had done the ASM course and so he suggested I did it as well. He told me the beginnings that I was doing the normal thing everyone was doing Just looking for a product that had an opportunity, that seemed like a good, not too competitive, good price, etc. Etc. And I was just lucky, I picked something that could last well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, during this time you said you were back in China or were you in Italy?

Peter:

No, I was already in Shanghai at that point.

Bradley Sutton:

Ready in China? Okay, and then. So what marketplace did you launch this product on? Usa or Europe?

Peter:

Yeah, so I started in the USA. But I think within the first year I knew I wanted to be in Europe. So I immediately started in the European marketplace. I applied for VAT and everything. So yeah, pretty soon after the US Europe, I was into Europe.

Bradley Sutton:

Now? Was it any more easy than another person because you had lived in Italy before, or that meant nothing? Were you an American citizen, since you were born in America?

Peter:

Technically I have dual citizenship, but I always traveled on Australian passport. But, answering your question. So when I started Europe, I wanted to try the UK and Italy first before going into all the other countries. So, yes, there would have been a small advantage, starting with the Italian market, because I didn't have to worry too much about translations and more understanding what things were going. So small advantage, I would say, but not huge advantage.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, All right Now. In the first couple of years of selling on Amazon, what was your peak of sales for like a year? Gross sales.

Peter:

I think it was about the second or the third year I reached seven figures. So I was going at seven figures for a while, but in the last two years I decided to focus more on profitability than revenue. So it's now in six figures, but making more profit overall. Now at what?

Bradley Sutton:

point did, like you said, it become your full-time job. At what level did you have to get to for it, to replace your engineering jobs that you've been doing for most of your adult?

Peter:

life. Yeah, I was able to replace it. I think it was maybe three or four years into the business, maybe four years.

Bradley Sutton:

You say you sell in multiple marketplaces. Do you aim for the same profit across the board, or is there a marketplace that's giving you better profit over another?

Peter:

For sure, Europe is way more profitable than the US, for products Is it? The shipping? Is it the?

Bradley Sutton:

PPC or what's you know, you're able to charge a higher price. What's the difference?

Peter:

It's the sellers in Europe. There's less of them, in my category at least, and the sellers are less sophisticated so they're not as good at branding PPC and just the basic stuff.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, let's go back to Franco then. So when you started on, amazon sounds like you started doing different things, but was there a point where you were only doing the medical devices, as you said, or did you start with only medical devices and that's all you've been doing this whole time?

Franco:

When I started in 2014,. We started with electronic, with accessories for smartphones, but I mean, we were making money with other stuff, so we were, we didn't really take it care of a lot about that and we were a little bit inexperienced. So we also did a couple of mistakes, like in the quality of the products. So we just like got a lot of bad reviews and we say, okay, we are making other stuff, we don't care about this, and we just kept the account open but we didn't use it. When, in 2020, we started doing medical devices, we went big almost immediately on Amazon. But before that, as I said, we were doing pretty well, like six or seven months before, on our e-commerce. That was the same e-commerce that was selling the electronics. That was like that website that we changed it and were you?

Bradley Sutton:

and were you only selling in Amazon Europe?

Franco:

Yes, because I'm proud to do not have the certification for selling in the US. They are very highly restricted and certified, so the regulatory stuff in US is completely different.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what's been your peak year of gross sales? Approximately how much? 10 million, 10 million only in Europe in one year in medical devices. Yes, wow, is it safe to say that now Amazon is the main, as opposed to your?

Franco:

website. Are you still even?

Bradley Sutton:

doing anything on the websites or just all Amazon.

Franco:

We still have it. But I think it's very important because one of the reasons why we were successful on Amazon is because we know so well our customer. We know so well what they want from the product and when we launch a product we can tell to our customer. There is also this new product. You can also find this in Amazon, so it gives a lot of help. But because of the growth that we had on Amazon, we have a little bit of neglected our website. So as soon as we have more banned, we should keep making the website better and grow the website as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, as Peter was saying, europe is very profitable for him, partly in fact due to low competition. I would imagine being in the medical device field makes it even less competition. Would that be a fair assessment that it's very few competitors you have, or has it gotten a little bit more tough to?

Franco:

So I would say there are not so many, but the ones that are there are very aggressive, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Aggressive as in they might do some black hat strategies and things like that, or what do you mean by aggressive?

Franco:

Yes, also Because on medical, it's very like you can get suspended for any kind of claim. So yeah, it's quite an aggressive field.

Bradley Sutton:

What's the craziest thing that has happened to you. I would assume that you've maybe had your account shut down or at least products suspended or what's been some crazy experiences you've had.

Franco:

The craziest things that happened to me was a competitor that wanted to get rid of all the big seller of the same product, so it creates some fake test report. It passed those tests to the media and from media they went on national TV and that was insane At the same time. Hold on, hold on.

Bradley Sutton:

So he made some fake report about like that your product is like unsafe, or something gave it to like a TV station and it got in TV.

Franco:

The first thing to give it to the media, to a newspaper To a newspaper and it made the biggest newspaper. From the newspaper, bump it to the national TV.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, and then and then. So what was the result? Like, did Amazon see that and then shut you down, or did you start getting bad reviews, or what?

Franco:

happened At the same. We were waiting experience on all the way to do stuff properly on Amazon. I mean, we didn't even have the brand registry at that time, so they were also able to hijack. At the same time, they hijacked our product and they left all our picture, the branding of our product, but we could not access our listing anymore. It's insane. I know it's insane.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow.

Franco:

Up to now I haven't heard of anyone that has an attack like that.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it's intense.

Franco:

Yeah, and after like so the listing was destroyed because one month to get back the ownership of the listing and when it happened it was not possible to. I mean, it was like flu. That was probably more than a thousand of bad reviews, one thousand of, like one star reviews.

Bradley Sutton:

Now did the newspapers and media and stuff? Did they ever submit like retraction or correction?

Franco:

Oh well, yes, the newspaper, they we submitted like a press release, the newspaper, the newspaper added our press release to our today news. But customers don't really care. I mean, amazon business is a quick business, it's very quick. So we went, we look into that with, probably I think that the best lawyer we could find we usually have very good lawyers and there was no other way to have it fixed as soon as we wanted or to have like an economical compensation because of the way it was structured. Okay, the attack.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Now, peter, you know like it's safe to say that you've never had that level of attack, or you know?

Peter:

I don't think anybody has had that level of attack. So but I'm sure you have had my things on national television.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I'm sure you've had some crazy things happen. Anything like anything that's happened to you. That would you say. You would call it. You know, your, your, your your kind of like worse experience on Amazon or craziest experience.

Peter:

I haven't had anything really horrible. I've had a lot of the standard like minor attacks from competitors, but probably the scariest one I had was Just I think it was three weeks before Christmas a big competitor in our space did an IP complaint against me and had my products suspended, but luckily I was able to get it back within a week. That could have easily dragged on for months, but I was very lucky. I got it back in a week. That was obviously very scary. How did you get it back? Just submitted appeals I used. I have a lawyer which I use all the time and even they said that's way faster than we normally see. You were really lucky. So I was just super lucky.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now you know let's not just scare everybody with all these bad stories. Peter, you know, sticking with you what's the best thing that's happened You're the craziest in a good way or biggest surprise, or biggest win you've had over the years on Amazon.

Peter:

I think the first one, which was really a happy experience for me. I've heard other guests on your podcast. I think they're similar. I had a product, one of my standard products, and in the UK suddenly I was having 10 times sales that I normally have. So and this was quite early on, so I still didn't know about being attacked, so I wasn't worried like I would be now, and in those days you could still write to the customers quite easily. So I was writing to a few of them and I got a response back that a celebrity. I've seen the products used by a celebrity on their you know, on their social media. So yeah, that was fantastic and yeah, I knew that celebrity. So it was pretty cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. Now you know you've sold in multiple marketplaces, but you know you're probably an expert, I would say on the Italian one. Is what you do on Amazon Italy, 100% the same strategy across the board? Like, I mean, obviously the language is different, but is your PPC strategy the same? Is your branding strategy the same? Is your keyword research strategy the same, or is there something different that you're doing in Italy? You know due to your experience there.

Peter:

No, I would say everything's particularly the same. As I mentioned before, it was a small advantage, and even now it's practically no advantage with the translation software that's available. So I'm just doing the same thing in all the marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:

That's good to know, because you know some sellers out there. You know they start in a marketplace, whether it's Italy, whether it's Germany, whether it's USA, and they're like kind of scared sometimes to branch out because they're like oh man, I'm gonna have to learn a whole bunch of new strategies to go to this new marketplace. But no, it's across the board. I mean sure. You know every now, and you know there's VAT, you know, and then in Japan you might have to do a little something different. You know, but for the most part the strategy is the same. Now, what's going on these days with you know? You mentioned you sell in UK and Italy. What changed after the Brexit? Like, now do you have to send inventory to UK and then send inventory to Italy separately, and it's completely separated and segregated, or what was the difference after Brexit?

Peter:

Yeah, so you've probably heard of Pan-European and probably you'll. Listeners who have some experience know about Pan-European. Maybe I can explain that really quickly. Go ahead, please. It's like the US when you send a shipment to, it goes to one location and then Amazon will spread it out all over the US, right?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, we call that. North American remote fulfillment is what it's called over here.

Peter:

Right, so they have the same thing in Europe. If you're VAT, you registered in their core countries, which was UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain I think that's all of them. It was the same thing. You'd send it to one country and then they would spread it out amongst all the countries as if it was one country. So that was very convenient. When Brexit happened, the UK became its own separate country, so all the work that you do logistically, which you used to do for Europe, then you had to repeat it for the UK. So it's a bit of a hassle, time-wise.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Now, switching back to Franco, you had the worst thing that somebody could possibly imagine happening. Now the same question that I gave Peter what was the best thing that's happening? I mean, other than the fact that you're not even selling the USA and you can still gross 10 million a year? I mean that by itself is pretty amazing, but what else other than that is a cool thing. That's happened to kind of like pump up people's spirits after feeling so sorry for you.

Franco:

Yeah, well, I think that if I put on my hand the bad thing and the other thing, the good things, the good thing outweigh the bad thing. And the best one was the velocity to which we could reach the number one in health and personal care category with our products like in three weeks.

Bradley Sutton:

So number one, as in BSR, one in the whole health category.

Franco:

Yes, yes, Wow, that's pretty impressive. Yeah, that was between 2020 and 2021,. We reached that position in like three weeks with our product.

Bradley Sutton:

that's why we got a time Three weeks from the time you launched yes, Wow, okay, well, okay, well, then tell me, I gotta pause you there. Then how in the world did that happen? Like, did you have some crazy campaign? Was it all organic?

Franco:

How would you go from zero to number one so fast? No, they were proud of the COVID.

Bradley Sutton:

Ah, okay, okay, that's the reason. Now, did you was this after COVID you started? Or did you just get lucky, like it was something you were starting and you had no idea COVID was happening and the timing was just right? Or how in the world did you manage that?

Franco:

Well, we have been manufacturing in China since, I told you, since 2003,. We have a very strong presence in China, and so when COVID hit in China in January 2020, I knew it was coming to Italy or to Europe. I was pretty sure. I also wrote article about that, and so when that happened, I was a sort of reference for many people to say, hey, can you help in something? Because you know, italy was the first country in the Western world to be hit very hard, and so we started doing those like masks, those kind of product for COVID, and at the beginning, we were just doing that for hospitals, like for what was really needed.

Franco:

And then after that, we went to doing this on our e-commerce and the reason was that we ran out of money because the request was so insane Because we look into that so deeply that we were 100% legit. Our problem was like, probably the safest you can buy at the right price. We didn't want to speculate. We really want to have the country, and so we had a good product at the right price and we have an insane amount of demand for all those state-owned stuff, like the police even the finance police was buying from us. And so when we ran out of money. We opened the e-commerce because we need some very short money cycles and you know, on e-commerce you get the money like right away. And so after that, six months later, and also we got a lot of. Our e-commerce was an instant success as well, because we were supplying all the hospitals and so our product with our brand was in every hand, everyone hands and so our e-commerce was an instant success.

Franco:

And then we asked it like in April 2020, to our product to be listed on Amazon, and Amazon didn't accept it. And you have to consider that at that time on Amazon, it was fluted with product that were not legit, like all the things you were finding on Amazon related to the kind of product was like not compliant. We submitted our product. We were rejected. We said, okay, I don't care, I have other stuff to do. And then in October, I tried to resubmit the product. It was rejected again, okay, but in November, for I don't know what I receive, like Without asking again to to be listed, the I so the listing the listing was there but was not like, not active. The list he became active.

Franco:

From that point, I think that because we have so much, I'd say, brand recognition, yeah. Trust from the customer. As soon as we told the customer we are on Amazon was like that. I mean, we could have been number one, probably in a week. The only problem was the, the velocity, and that we need to have the product on their warehouse. Yeah, and so it was like giving three days out of stock. One day, then three, because of the space that Amazon was giving us, because when you are number one, you have to send a truck every day, or even more and and so, yeah, that's the story, that's cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know, for the last part of this, you know let's just go back and forth with some, some strategies, you know, and I don't mean, oh, you know, keep your a cost down and and and have a nice logo, or you know it's just standard stuff. But you know each of you to be at the position you are, you know which is, you know Amazon is your full-time business and you've reached six, seven, even eight figures. You know you've got to have some, some unique strategies and some, some things that are that you feel are the difference of why you've been so successful. So we'll start, you know, franco, with you. What is something that you know? So you know, it could be a PPC strategy, it could be a launch strategy, could be branding strategy. Uh, what? What's your first strategy of the day?

Franco:

I think that's still uh, the obsession with the product is a key. So like, uh, having the best product you can have for your customers, and so listening to all the advice and Now you can use AI and do all your research. But, uh, do the extra, the extra mile. Don't only use AI, because AI is very good to finding, um, like patterns, like to put in together Something that is saying a different way, but it's not good to find out liars, and many times in the outliers there are some very good gold nuggets, so talk with as many as you can, even even call them and Understand what are they paying, what are they, what they really want.

Franco:

When you have the best possible product, then you need to apply all the techniques that amazon Required. Like I have the best possible page. Uh, add those pains and uh, emotion of the customer reflected in your stack image At the best possible main image ever. Like, do a lot of testing, an insane amount of testing, until you know you will be the number one choice and never Let the customer down. Whatever they have a problem, solve it, solve it. Solve it, because then you have To, you have to reach the position, then you have to stick to in the position. Yeah, it's an ever-ending story.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, switching back to peter. Uh, what's your um first strategy you'd like to share?

Peter:

Uh, I'd give a general one and then maybe an amazon specific one. Very general. Uh, I think there's a lot of listeners on your podcast that are maybe just starting out, so I would suggest just to keep things simple. I've seen some people they they try and go to advanced from the beginning and it's uh, they get in over their head. They don't understand what's happening. So I would just keep it simple, even though I've been doing it for a long time. I I also Follow the same principle. I don't have any, I don't have any full-time staff. I I just try and keep things as simple as possible. And then, specifically for amazon, as I mentioned before, I think if you're, especially if you're getting started, you really need to think about products or a product that you can brand. And if you, if you can't brand a product for example, if you're doing I don't know stationary or Cleaning accessories or something, it's very difficult to build a brand around that, to build User excitement. So that's something you probably need to consider as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Going back to Franco, you know like you can give us another strategy, but before you do that, I wanted to kind of like double down on what you were talking about. You know you were saying hey, you know, have the best listening, have the best images and and do a lot of testing. How are you doing this testing and how are you making sure that? You have you know the best.

Franco:

Well, I'm using all the Software as a service, as a this are available. So I like take my few four competitors and I test my main image against their, I mean against the main image of my competitors. Then I got all the advice from the pollers, like we choose this because of this, we don't like this because of that. We run AI on that. But we don't only run AI.

Franco:

I read all the response one by one and I try to see how can make it. I can make it better. And then I write like Something that, what, what need to be done. I pass this to my and I try to be very, very Pacific. Like many times, I take a piece of paper and make driving by myself, like this is how I want this to be, and then I pass to my designer and then the designer make a new Couple of variation and it test again and sometimes I go very deeply on that. Like I am not happy until, like I get that out of five possible choice of main image, my main image gets 60% of the clicks and the other four share the 40%.

Bradley Sutton:

So it's not just a matter of all right, hey, I won with 30%, another one has 28, another one has 26. That's even though you won. That's a failure to you until you can get to the 60%.

Franco:

Yeah, I won like 60% and 40% spread between the other four, then I know that I'll stand out, and this is the first step. Then I need to like the page has to be consistent. And then I need to maintain my promise to the customer.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you selling? You're still with Franco here. Are you selling in all European marketplaces, like including the newer ones like Poland, netherlands, or are you focused only on the bigger ones?

Franco:

So my sellers, I sell both on one P vendor center and three P seller central and I have all the accounts. I mean all the nine accounts in Europe, but the only one that really matters are the big five UK, Italy, Germany, Spain and France. And for the most of my product I cannot use the Pan European, as Pita does, because there are specific regulations for each. So there is on top there is the EU regulation, but then there are specific regulation on a country level. So, amazon, do not allow us to do the Pan AU. We need to stop the product on each country.

Peter:

Okay, that's a lot of work and increases your workload to manage your logistics in each country like that.

Franco:

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, going back to Peter, you have any more strategies for us. But before you get to that, what about you? You mentioned UK and Italy. Are you also selling in all nine marketplaces, or are you only keeping your listings active in the big ones?

Peter:

Yeah, it was only UK and Italy when I first started in Europe to get an idea of how it worked.

Bradley Sutton:

And almost immediately.

Peter:

I think I only did UK and Italy for three months and then straight away I went into the Pan European.

Bradley Sutton:

So for the last few years.

Peter:

I've been, yeah, outside of the big five.

Bradley Sutton:

If you have to pick one of the newer ones, are they all doing equal or is there one that you feel? Hey, down the road, this could become the sixth one, that's a good question.

Peter:

Now I haven't really focused on any of the new ones. I think whether you're Belgium, sweden, I can't remember, but Poland's Check for public. But from what I've seen they're all very minimal. I haven't really put an effort into them. I wouldn't say there's one that particularly stands out.

Bradley Sutton:

And then for all of those, are you just using what Amazon does for the auto translation, or did you, did you commission official translation with a service or something? Obviously, you did the Italian one yourself, but what about for these other languages?

Peter:

Actually, I didn't do the Italian one myself. I used Yana's service, ylt shout out to Yana. But for the other marketplaces, no, I haven't specifically worked on those. I've just left it with Amazon doing their own translations, and then they have a similar system to NAF. So, for like for Canada and Mexico, then for the other countries that we just mentioned, they'll take the product from Germany or France or wherever, and then send it over. It's a similar system.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Any more specific strategies for us that you'd like to?

Peter:

share. I do a lot on social media. I don't know if you've seen that's been a huge part of improving profitability in the last two years. So the PPC costs were going up incredibly Like for us. It was getting. Tacos was getting up to 30%, maybe even 40% for some products and now, with some strong, a lot of work on the social media side and managed to bring that down to less than 5%, which I think is quite rare in the industry for the TACOS Less than 5% TACOS. Wow, that's very impressive and most of the TACOS is brand defense on the product page. So, yeah, that's been huge for us to make that change.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. What does the future hold for you, Franco? Like you, just hey, let's just keep going. Or are you looking to exit your business and retire? You looking to start any more brands, or what's your you looking one year down the road, five years down the road? Buying a lower division Italians football team, or like what's gonna, what's gonna.

Franco:

Yeah, yeah, maybe, maybe Now. Well, my dream would be to. I have my figure. My company reached nine figures. That's a very, very difficult endeavor, and at that level.

Bradley Sutton:

I think you might be ready for Inter Milan or AC Milan.

Franco:

Forget the lower division, you'll be ready.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's buy one of those.

Franco:

What else. And that could be through acquisitions of other brands or through expanding our product range. We have been looking to many, many things, okay what about you, Peter?

Bradley Sutton:

What's the future hold for you?

Peter:

Yeah, I'm just happy doing what I'm doing. I don't have any new term plans to sell the business. Enjoy what I do and just gonna keep going.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, excellent. Now why don't we just go ahead and close this out with a one or two sentence words of farewell in Italiano here. Start with Franco. Say something for the Italian community out there.

Franco:

The Italian community of the Amazon vendors has to grow to a great potential. Amazon has become one of the most important markets in Europe. So, guys, we're gonna win Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, and, peter, where were your Italian words of wisdom?

Peter:

Italian. If someone in Italy hears this, I'll pass their Shanghai. So they're content with the Vedetti.

Bradley Sutton:

All right.

Peter:

I have no idea.

Bradley Sutton:

This host of the podcast is a crazy guy.

Peter:

Shoot a sexy host of this podcast is what I said.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, there we go. That's good, I'll believe that. All right. Well, guys, thank you so much. It was great to have you on. It was great to meet you and hang out in Italy. We found that little nice restaurant that I was not expecting much, but I was really, really delicious food. My whole time in Italy was good food, but I look forward to seeing you at a future conference, whether it be in Asia, north America or Europe. So thanks for coming on.

Peter:

Thank you.

Franco:

Thank you.

View Details

In this third installment of our Seller Strategy Masterclass for Amazon keyword research, we pull back the curtain on advanced Amazon keyword research strategies, unveiling how discovering what keywords competitors are getting sales from - ones you don't even have in your listing - can revolutionize your Amazon FBA business. We shed light on the power of Helium 10's keyword research tool, Cerebro, and how it can swiftly identify highly searched keywords that your product is ranking for. We also discuss the clever use of the multi-ASIN search to see which keywords your competitors are capitalizing on that you aren't even indexed for.

Continuing the conversation, we explore the advantage of understanding your relative rank on relevant keywords, and how to use filters to spot keywords where your competitors outrank you. We share some keen insights on how to leverage sponsored ads to boost your rank, and even how to find keywords that your competitors aren't running sponsored ads for. We believe that this strategy could make you a ton of money. Listen in as we divulge ways to automate keyword research, and how to use Magnet to identify loosely related keywords and get quick information on a list of keywords.

Wrapping up the discussion, we delve into how you can get ahead of your competitors by finding hidden gems and uncovering keywords that your competitors are getting sales from that you may not have thought of. We provide guidance on using Magnet to find the most searched terms starting with a word or phrase and using the word frequency feature to identify trends. We also show you how to use auto-complete to quickly find the most searched terms. Don't miss out on this episode filled with actionable strategies that you can implement right away to give your business a competitive edge!

In episode 508 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Advanced Strategies for Amazon Keyword Research
10:36 - Product Placement for Competitor's Importance
16:39 - Sponsored Rank Average and Keyword Competitors
20:05 - New Feature in Cerebro
23:16 - Automating Competitor Keyword Tracking
27:47 - Analyzing Keywords Using Magnet
32:55 - Expanding Niche With Keyword Filters
39:32 - Keyword Search Volume and Popularity Ranking

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is the final part in a three part series on advanced Amazon keyword research, and we're going to talk about really cool strategies, such as how to find out what keywords competitors are getting sales from that you don't even have in your listing. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think you want to know what keywords are driving the most sales for listings on Amazon. To do that, you need to know what highly searched for keywords the product is ranking for maybe at the top of page one. You can actually find that out in seconds by using Helium 10's keyword research tool, Cerebro. Now, that's just one of the many, many functions that make this tool my favorite tool in the whole suite, and it's the most powerful keyword research tool ever created for e-commerce sellers. For more information, go to h10.me/cerebro. h10.me/cerebro. Don't forget to use the Cereous Sellers podcast discount coupon SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and today is part three in a three part series where we've been giving you guys just nonstop fire strategies all about keyword research, and I've been telling you in these episodes these are the kind of strategies that could potentially make you thousands of dollars. And if you want to raise my flag in other words the BS flag on that statement, let me just illustrate why I say that it could mean thousands of dollars easily. All right, let's just say you're a newish seller, all right, maybe you've only got one product and it's doing pretty good. You know, maybe you're projected to get about $100,000 worth of sales for a year. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now how many sales come from search? You know it varies by category, varies by product. If you take a look at your search career performance and look at the attributed sales to keywords that actually happen within 24 hours of the click, it's kind of a long, a long story how to calculate that out, but you know, maybe you see that 30% of your sales come from keywords. Now, obviously there's probably more that comes from it, just from your PPC alone. But again, let's just talk about that stuff that happens within 24 hours of a search of a keyword, which is called a denormalized search results. All right, so 30% of your sales come from keywords and you're doing 100,000 a year. That's like $30,000 come from keywords. Right Now, let's just say that, hey, that $30,000 that comes from keywords, it's from like 30 main keywords that you have already, on your own, found and you're getting sales from.

Bradley Sutton:

Now. Imagine if you could just add five more strategies, all right, total, I've given you, or at the end of today, you'll have 30 different keyword strategies that I've been giving you in episodes, or the the first edition, the second edition, now the third edition uh, over 30 strategies. From those 30 strategies, let's just say, for some strange reason, all you can get out of it is only five more keywords to get sales. Only five more keywords, all right, how much is that? If you were already getting $30,000 from 30 keywords, you just added a thousand dollars worth of sales for the year. All right, let's just say, no, you don't just have one product. You've been selling on Amazon for a few years. You got maybe 10 products doing about a million dollars a year. Total, all right, not even each, just just total.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, how much if you're adding like five, only five keywords that you've discovered through these strategies, all right, that's $10,000 worth of extra sales just by following some of these strategies. Now, I really think you guys can get more than five new keywords out of these 30 strategies that we've given you. So, again, if you're just hopping in on this episode, you can go ahead and listen to it, but, but I suggest watching the? Uh, the other two episodes first. Now, those episodes are 506 and 507. Uh, if you're watching this on the web, you can just get that at h10.me forward slash 506 or forward slash 507 and catch it on YouTube. But anyways, um, even if you just want to go ahead and keep watching this, no problem, all right, let's go ahead and hop into the strategies. All right, uh, this is, if you guys have been keeping count, this is strategy number 21,.

Bradley Sutton:

Out of our Cerebro strategies, all right, and this one is how to see which keywords your competitors are getting sales from that you aren't even indexed for. Now, why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, this is like the easiest no brainer of them. All right, your competitors very similar product to you. They're literally getting sales from a keyword because you know they're high on page one. Uh, for a decent search form keyword and you don't even have the keyword in your listing. All right, doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand how this is one of the easiest strategies of everything that we have here that can put money in your pocket. Uh, how do you go ahead and do it? Let's go ahead and hop in.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the first thing you're going to do is this works on a multi-ASIN search in Cerebro. So you put your product first in Cerebro and then you had put, you know, like four, five, six, seven, eight, nine other competitors right there as well. Now what you want to do is you are first going to hit position rank, zero and zero position rank. What that filter is is it means your rank, which is why you have to put your product first in this list. So if you put zero and zero for minimum and maximum, that means you're saying I am not ranked at all. And then what you're going to want to do is you're going to go ahead and go to the number of competitors, filter All right, number of competitors, and you're going to go ahead and put minimum one. That's all you care about. You just want to at least sell at least one person, and then nothing on the max. And then you're going to go to competitor rank and then you're going to put, let's just say minimum one, let's say maximum 10. So that means not only are your is at least one of your competitors on page one, but they are, like you know, at the top of page one. Like I said, they're probably getting sales. I'll go ahead and put since this is the US marketplace, I'll go ahead and put a minimum search volume of 400. You know you can do more or less than paying if anything comes up. And I mean the goal is for if you do this, you don't want any keywords to show up, right, you know that's the goal, like you're doing. All right, if no products or if no keywords show up.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, in this particular case, only one keyword came up Gothic cabinet, all right. So the way that you can see if a keyword you have is indexed or not you might not even have it in your listing Go ahead and take this list of keywords. Now, in this case it's just one keyword and you're going to want to go into index checker, right, that's the next step. So normally you might have, you know like 10, 15 keywords. Me, I'm doing all right. So I only have you know one keyword on there, but you're going to go ahead and paste the keywords into index checker and you're going to put your ASIN as the ASIN and index checker that you are checking, all right. So I'm going to copy my ASIN, I'll bring it over into index checker and then you just run index checker and then what you want to do is see does it say that you have indexed or not? All right, in this case. Yes, I am indexed. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let's just say one of the some of these keywords was not indexed. Well, the way to know if you are indexed or not, make sure to check the videos here in index checker and you can find out how exactly to check if you are indexed or not. But again, super simple, just a few clicks. Again, you want to see where you are not ranking at all, not even in the top seven pages, but your competitors. At least one of them is getting sales from a keyword because they're in the top, in the top 10 positions. And then the next step, if you just want to see if maybe you're not indexed at all, is go to index checker. One more quick thing I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but in another video we have match type here, all right. So I've been talking in strictly about organic ranks in a lot of these videos, but helium 10 is checking if they're also in the now defunct editorial recommendations.

Bradley Sutton:

If they're showing up in an Amazon's choice widget, that's different than just the regular Amazon's choice button, but in our badge it's an Amazon's choice widget. That's sponsored ads. There's a highly rated widget. They're sponsored brand header videos or sponsored brand header ads and also sponsored brand video. So these are all different match types in Cerebro, where it'll have a little letter next to the keyword showing that, hey, this is what keywords you know what's the match type of this keyword. It'll say oh or s or other things like that. So this is also valuable. Like, maybe you want to know, hey, where is my competitor showing up in the search results? And they've got a sponsored video ad. All right, hey, where's my competitor showing up in a sponsored brand ad? Hey, well, what are the keywords where my competitor is showing up for like five or six or seven different things all on page one. I mean they literally could be, could be doing that. So this is a great way to look at that as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into the next strategy how to find the keywords. Competitors are beating you on. All right. In the previous strategy, we talked about looking for the keywords where a competitor is getting sales from, but you might not even be ranked or indexed at all, and definitely not ranked. But you know what? If you're ranked on page four, five or six, or even on the bottom of page one, but most of your competitors are ahead of you, all right, why is this important? How can this make you money? Again, this is one of those no brainers. Hey, you want to show up before your competitors, right? So maybe you know there's a keyword Gothic decor and there's six competitors on there that are coffin shelves, and you're a coffin shelf. Right, there's customers who are searching for Gothic decor, who are looking for a coffin shelf. Now, they don't see all of those other products on the page. You know, maybe there's some Skull Candleholder or some moon shaped mirror or some weird Gothic thing, right, they're looking at only the coffin shelf. So it doesn't really matter the position placement there. Like, hey, is this page one, position five? Because if the first four products are all something different than what they're looking for, it's almost as if those don't exist, right? Does that make sense?

Bradley Sutton:

So, in this sense, like what we call your relative rank is important. Where are you showing up in the search results compared to your direct competitors? Because those are the ones who you are fighting for. You know the sale from. How do you view that? All right, so, again, this works if you have done a multi-ASIN search and then I, you know, I like to go ahead and let's put a minimum of 300 search volume. Now, what you want to go to is where it's called relative rank. All right, so I'm going to go here to the relative rank and let's just say hey, where am I? At least three, four. All right, that means I'm at least the third one that comes up. And let's go ahead, apply filters and we probably going to have a lot of keywords here. Yeah, look at this, 38 keywords show up. And so, again, these are all the keywords now where at least two of my competitors are beating me on. All right, if I wanted to, if I wanted to see all the keywords where four out of the competitors were beating me on, I would go ahead and put a minimum of four in relative rank.

Bradley Sutton:

Now let me explain how, again, this relative rank works. Here's coffin shelf. It says over here under relative rank, I am six. That is terrible. This is the most important keyword for my listing and it says I am six. So what I can do is I can put my mouse over this relative rank and I can see where my competitors are ranking. For Now, the one that is my ASIN. It's going to be in bold. So right here, clear as day, I can see why my relative rank is six. I see one competitor is one, another is two, another is nine, another is 14, another is 15. And then there I am, at 17. So here is a complete list of keywords where at least two out of my main competitors they are showing up on page one before me or just anywhere in the search results. You know, maybe I'm on page two, maybe they're on page two and I'm on page five. You know, regardless, this is a great metric that you want to look at. Where are your competitors being on? You are ranking for the keyword, so at least you're in the. You're in the ballgame, right, but you're not getting sales when your competitors are all showing up before you. So a great quick way to see where your competitors are being you from, find those keywords, figure out, you know, like, how you can increase your rank. You know, maybe it's by putting some more money at your sponsored ads for those keywords and hope your conversion rate goes up. But find a way to start beating your competitors so that you're the first in the relative rank On those keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Next strategy how to find keywords that your competitors are not running sponsored ads for. Now, wow, how can this strategy make you money? Um, you know your main keywords. No matter what, if none of your competitors are, you know, doing ads for it, or if all of them are, you still got to do ads for it. All right, you want to rank for it, for you know your most important keywords. But sometimes you know you might want to look for keywords that have a little less competition, or maybe at least your main competitors are not the run the ones running sponsored ads. You could view that as opportunity to make some money. So how can you find that out? Again, if you are in a Multi-ASIN search, you have the results here. Um, sometimes you can go ahead and put a minimum search volume of 300. That's what I'm going to do right here.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what you want to do is you want to. There's a couple ways you can do this. One way is finding out where not many people, not many of your competitors, are running sponsored ads at all. In that case, you're going to want to find the filter that says sponsored rank count and you can put like a maximum of, let's just say, two. What that means is, hey, show me the keywords here where my competitors a maximum of only Uh two are even running sponsored ads. Now, a lot of times, a crazy number of keywords are going to show up here, like even this one says a thousand keywords. So in this situation, I'm actually going to go ahead and put another Filter, which is the competitor rank average. All right, that means, hey, these aren't just random sponsored ads they're running. These are ones where they're probably, you know, getting organically around page one or two. So I'm going to go ahead and put minimum competitor rank average one, maximum 50, and then when I apply that filter now the number is going to be a lot less of these keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

And here, 56 keywords, like, for example, here's one right here gothic bookcase. It's probably is fairly relevant, right, and I can see there are only there is nobody running sponsored. Good grief, I can't believe this. There is zero competitors running sponsored ads on gothic bookcase, which is a very relevant keyword. Here's another one coffin bookshelf. Only one competitor is showing up in sponsored ads. Uh, for this keyword gothic cabinet Nobody is running sponsored ads. So that's a great way again to see which keywords your competitors are not even focusing on.

Bradley Sutton:

Another situation could be instead of the number of competitors, you might want to look at sponsored rank average and maybe you want to see where their average is like, at least Like 30, you know meaning they're probably a lot of competitors are not even on the first. You know few pages of sponsored ads and if I go ahead and apply the filters on that, so again, sponsored rank average, minimum 30. I'm not putting anything in sponsored rank count. Now I see nine filtered keywords and see here, here's one keyword right here coffin decor. There are a couple of competitors showing up in sponsored ads and this is a keyword that a lot of people are on page one for. But look at this the main competitors are are 33rd and 69th as far as sponsored ads. That means that's like page three and page Six probably in sponsored ads. That means if I come in, I would potentially be the only person. If I bid high, I would be the only person on page one For this keyword in sponsored ads.

Bradley Sutton:

So another great way to find valuable information that can save you money in advertising so that, uh, you know that you can focus on certain keywords and you're not going to have much A competition at all on the flip side. Maybe you're just curious hey, where are most of my main competitors? Uh, you know advertising for where they, where are they, concentrating their top of search spend? You can go opposite on there, say you can say, hey, show me, uh, you know, put in the filter here, show me where they're sponsored rank average, regardless of their competitor rank average. So me where it's between one and 20, meaning that on average they're on page one, and that's going to show you where most of your competitors are concentrating their spend. So a lot of different ways that you can filter through this information, but it's important to do that so you can really like dial in your ppc game.

Bradley Sutton:

How to get a quick view of top products for amazon keywords. Why is this important? Well, as you've been seeing from a lot of our Cerebro strategies here, sometimes when you do search results, uh or in Cerebro, you can have hundreds, if not thousands, of keywords. Not all of these keywords are completely relevant to your product and you shouldn't just base it on our competitor performance score. You know, like I said before, that that doesn't mean it's always 100 relevant or that there's not other Keywords that are very relevant.

Bradley Sutton:

If you're looking for uh keywords where most of the top you know 10 products or the pages, the ones that are at the top of page one, are somewhat similar to your product, you know how would you? How would you do that One by one? Well, you would have to go and click each keyword and look on amazon to see all right, gothic decor, are these all coffin shelves? Oh no, when I click on gothic decor, I see a whole bunch of of random products like dream catchers and and gothic bed frames and stuff like that. Right? So now you know, okay, this is probably not a keyword where a lot of people are searching for coffin shelves. Right on the flip side, if I search for, um, you know, mini coffin bookshelf, all of the all of the products might look like one of my products. I hope that makes sense.

Bradley Sutton:

So, instead of having to go one by one and just checking what these keywords look like, we have a brand new way in order to uh see this inside of Cerebro. Let me show you how to do it. All right. So, in in Cerebro, if you mouse over any of the keywords, you're going to see this pop-up window, if you don't have the advanced view on, and you're going to see thumbnails of the last time, helium 10 check the top 10 products, the thumbnails of the main image. Super, super cool. You no longer have to go to amazon to take a look at the keyword. You'll instantly see the thumbnails. If you're looking for a little bit more information, you, you're gonna. You can hit the advanced view and if you hit advanced view Now, you can actually see the titles of those products, you can see the price, you can see if it has variations. The rating Super, super cool guys is one of the uh, newest features of Cerebro. Um, you know, depending on when you're watching this, you might not have full access Uh to it yet. Um, but this is a really cool feature where you no longer have to go click one by one and then look off of Uh, helium 10 back on amazon to see what kind of products are on the top of page one.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, how to automate your amazon keyword research. All right, we've been talking about a lot of strategies as far as how to find top keywords from your competitors. You know from your own listings, uh, etc. Now, the way I showed it to you guys, it doesn't take too much time. But maybe you've got 10, 20 products and you wanna be checking your competitor's keywords once a week. Well, it can start getting pretty tedious and time consuming and a lot of data that you're gonna have to process to every single week or every other week, go through all of your products and all of your competitor products and know, all right, is my competitor ranking for any new keywords that I didn't know? So I can put it in my listing. So how would you like a way to just put time back in your hands? I mean, time is money, right, so this could take hours and hours a month, but instead of that, let Helium 10 do the work for you.

Bradley Sutton:

How can you automate keyword harvesting from your competitor's keywords? Well, it actually goes back to your dashboard, all right. So what you're gonna wanna do is you're gonna wanna go back to just your regular dashboard, okay, and you're going to hit insight settings on the very bottom left of the screen insight settings, all right. Once you do that, you are going to find the keyword insight settings and then you are going to hit four insight types and you are going to select customize under keyword suggestions based on my competitors, all right. So hopefully you've set your competitors and if you haven't set your competitors on your insights dashboard, there's videos that we have on our dashboard on how to do that. But you wanna put your top five competitors for all of your products and these are the ones that you probably are running Cerebro off of.

Bradley Sutton:

Once you've got that done, like I said, go to your insights types, hit under customize under keyword suggestions based on my competitors, and what you're gonna do here is you're gonna enter exactly whatever you like to do inside of Cerebro. You're basically automating your Cerebro process. So maybe you said, hey, I wanna know any keyword where the search volume is at least 400 and my rank is like maybe I'm not ranking at all, so I'm gonna put zero and zero, but at least one of my competitors is ranking in the top 20 positions. All right, that's what you just fill it out, just like you would on Cerebro. So now, any time that one of my competitors for any one of my products, right, is getting sales from a new keyword that I'm not ranked for now. I'm going to get actually an insight on it or a notification right here and it'll tell me hey, your competitor is ranking for these new keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Would you like to start tracking it? Would you like to start putting it in your listing? This is like super, super cool guys, next level If you don't have access to it, you're gonna need the diamond plan in order to access this. But I mean talk about putting money and time back in your hands. I mean this saves hours and hours of work. You now don't have to even run Cerebro almost ever again on your products, unless you wanna do some advanced to filtering, but you can now get those keywords delivered to you in a message saying hey, your competitor is getting sales from these keywords. Do you wanna put it into your listing? So, guys, if you wanna start automating it, make sure to set that up on your insights dashboard. All right, guys.

Bradley Sutton:

So we just went over a lot of strategies in the last three episodes on Cerebro 25 of them in total. I've just got a couple of strategies here using our other keyword research tool, magnet, so let's go ahead and get into it. How to find loosely related keywords to an individual keyword phrase. How can this be important? How can it make you money? Well, we showed you in Cerebro I had to get a lot of really specific information. But maybe you're doing a little bit broader research and you wanna kind of like, hey, instead of just looking at what these exact products are ranking for, let me have a broad view of keywords that are very loosely related and some closely related and see if something comes up that maybe didn't come up in Cerebro. Let me show you how to do that. If you go to Magnet, our tool, let's go ahead and enter a coffin shelf if that's my main keyword and I'm gonna hit get keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

And now what's going to show up here are all of the keywords that are loosely related to coffin shelf, and how these keywords are sourced is from different databases. One of the sources is organic, meaning these are the keywords that other products ranking for coffin shelf are also ranking for. Right, we've also got smart complete. Smart complete means hey, let's take this word, coffin shelf and then what are some long tail keywords related to it? I'll show you guys in a later strategy how to a little bit more recent. I'll show you in a later strategy a little bit more detail on that. And then last it's showing Amazon recommended keywords for other products that are on the coffin shelf search results, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So for example, I just typed in coffin shelf and take a look, even without any filtering at all. Look at some of these interesting keywords that come up Gothic kitchen decor, punk room decor, creepy room decor, goth bedroom, curiosity cabinet. So these are other keywords that maybe wouldn't have come up in my Cerebro searches. But I'm just getting a little bit more information here and a little bit more keywords on things that I might want to put into my listing. There's a lot of filters here. Like, maybe I just wanna see all the keywords that have over a thousand search volume, I can use that filter. Maybe I wanna have all of the keywords that have at least three words right, I don't want any one word phrases, I don't want two word phrases. You know I could use that filter. Tons of filters here. Maybe I'm interested in what are all the keywords that have a title density? Maximum three, all right. What does title density mean? Title density is the number of products on page one of the search results of a keyword that have that exact search keyword in its title. So there's tons of different filters you can use.

Bradley Sutton:

And then again, this is a great way to round out your keyword research or perhaps get other ideas how to get top level information on a group of keywords. All right, let's just say that you came up with, you know, 30 keywords from Cerebro that your competitor is beating you on. Or let's just say you've been, you know, getting a whole bunch of data off of Amazon, like you've been looking at Pinterest trends or Google trends or TikTok hashtags or whatever, and you just have this random list of keywords and you're like, hey, I just wanna see you know what's the search volume of these keywords. Let me show you how you can just get some really quick information without having to, like one by one, go through these. All right, so let's just use the scenario, first of all, that maybe you were on Cerebro and you found nine different keyword phrases that your competitors are beating you on and you maybe wanna know what is some information on those keywords. Well, I'll just go ahead and copy these keywords right here and I'm actually going to paste them into Magnet. All right, and again, these keywords can come from anywhere.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, where I want to go, if I want to analyze multiple keywords, is the second tab of Magnet, all right, so once you're in Magnet, hit the analyze keywords tab and then go ahead and paste all of those keywords. I can put up to 200 in here and then you can hit the button analyze keywords. All right, now what comes up is not all of the long tail keywords or not the loosely related keywords. This just brings up the exact keywords that came up. All right, from the ones I pasted, and now I can just see the information, such as the estimated keyword sales for each one. I can have the buttons that go to the brand analytics. I have the search volume for each keyword. Let's just say these were the keywords that my competitors were beating me on, or that my competitors are on page one from. Well, the cool thing here is I can actually see a keyword summary of the total search volume. So instantly I'm like, okay, wow, my competitors is beating me on keywords that have a total search volume of 7,200. All right, so there's a lot of cool information that you can see here.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, this is a great way to just get some like quick information on a group of keywords instead of having to go one by one on your keyword list, how to find long tail keywords from a root keyword or phrase. Now, why is this important? How can this make you money? Well, you might know what your main keywords are. You might know what other keywords products are ranking for, but it's important to understand that there might be longer tail versions of these keywords. Maybe they don't even have that much search volume that can really round out your keyword research, and maybe you'd be the only competitor who is ranking for these keywords, all right. So how can you do that?

Bradley Sutton:

Let's hop into Magnet. I just use one of my main keywords coffin shelf. Here and again, there's thousands of keywords that came up, but if I wanna see the long tail versions of this, all I have to do is I'm going to select the match type of smart complete, all right. So smart complete is allows me to show what keywords coffin shelf is the root of. Where are maybe there are some plural versions of this keyword? Where are some keywords where the order is different than the original word?

Bradley Sutton:

Do you know how you do autocomplete on the Amazon search bar? If you type in coffin shelf, it'll just show you keywords that just start with the word coffin shelf. But look at some of the words that came up when I did smart complete here for coffin shelf. I see coffin shelves. I see coffin shelf large six foot tall. I see glass coffin shelf. So there's a keyword where it starts with a different word. I see book shelf, coffin. So there, all of a sudden, it mixes up the words and even adds another one. Here's another one coffin wall shelf. It took those two words, coffin shelf, and then put a word in the middle of it. So this is like a great way to kind of like look for longer tail versions.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that what I just showed you, that smart complete. It's also indicative of what could come up in a phrase match target for PPC. All right. So if you do phrase match or broad match, right. So Amazon sometimes will change the order of the words. It'll add a word before, it'll add a word after In broad matches. A little bit, you know more crazy the kind of things that it does. But now, instead of just all right, let me just see what's gonna show up on a broad or a phrase match. You can actually get a preview of what kind of keywords would come up if you do a PPC campaign on a certain keyword. That's kind of crazy if you think about it. What is everybody else on Amazon doing? They're just like all right, amazon, take the wheel. You know, let's just see what you're gonna show me for no, now you can know the exact keywords that potentially could come up in one of those campaigns.

Bradley Sutton:

Another way that you can use this information is by trying to see where you know like maybe you wanna expand out in your niche, like I am selling coffin shelves here. I have this list of 3000 keywords ready to coffin shelf and I just wanna make something coffin shaped, right? Maybe it doesn't start with coffin shelf. Let me show you what you can do With the list unfiltered. The first filter you're gonna do is you're gonna go to phrases containing and then I'm gonna go ahead and put coffin there, all right. And then, once I apply the filters, now any keyword out of these 3000 that came up that have coffin in it show up. So maybe I'm like all right, where are the keywords that have at least 400 search volume that have the word coffin in it? And now, all of a sudden, I see 40 keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Right, and if I'm selling coffin shelves, all of a sudden, something else might strike my fancy here, like I'm just looking at this and here's something that I didn't realize. There's 400 people searching for coffin coffee table all right. There are 500 people searching for coffin decorations. There's 500 people searching for coffin bowl what the heck is a coffin bowl? I might wanna look at that. There's almost a thousand people searching for coffin rug all right, and here's a creepy keyword skeletons carrying coffin.

Bradley Sutton:

These are like new product ideas that I can expand my brand out to, that I didn't even know existed and all I did was I just put in my main keyword into MAGNET and I was like, let me do a filter for any keyword out of these 3000 where coffin is in it, and now I can see tons of product potential. So here's three different ways that you can find long tail versions of keywords what might come up in a PBC campaign, or even new ideas for product line extensions, how to see the keywords in a niche that are trending up in search volume. Now, why is this important? How can it make you money If you've got a lot of keywords that you're considering to use and maybe you can't fit them all in? Or maybe you're looking for new product ideas.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, how are you gonna prioritize it? Sure, you can prioritize it by search volume, but let's just say that even there, hey, all these keywords, there's a lot of products that have this, or a lot of keywords that have the same search volume. Well, how do you prioritize then? Well, what I like to do is I like to prioritize by the ones that are trending up. Right, if a keyword is going down in popularity compared to last month, I might not wanna focus on that keyword. So how can I easily see which ones are trending up?

Bradley Sutton:

There's a filter right here in MAGNET. So if I have any search results up in MAGNET, all I have to do is look for the filter search volume trend. And maybe I wanna see something that has a minimum of 50% increase compared to last month. I'm gonna put a minimum of 50 and I'm gonna hit apply filters. And now any keyword that has a big trending up is going to show up here. And look at this. Oh, my goodness gracious, I see coffin Zen garden is up 104% on search volume compared to last month. Coughing candy bowl is up 261%. So if I was looking to prioritize keywords, do you think I'd wanna prioritize some keywords that are up by over 100%, absolutely. So an easy way again to see in your niche what keywords are on the way up. Or, conversely, maybe you wanna see what keywords are on the way down. Just put in any keyword into MAGNET, check the related keywords and use that trending filter how to find common root words in an overall keyword niche. Now, why is this important? Well, again, I like to use this almost as a product research tactic. It could be, and also a PPC play too.

Bradley Sutton:

When I enter in Magnet a certain keyword, that's my main keyword and I'm looking at a whole bunch of loosely related keywords. Maybe there are certain trends that I don't realize. Like it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that if I put in coffin shelf, there's probably gonna be a lot of coffin related keywords, but sometimes there might be other keywords that could give you other ideas that you weren't even thinking about. How can you find that? Let me show you. Let's just say I searched coffin shelf here in MAGNET. I'm gonna look at this box called word frequency and what this means is, of all the search results that are showing up and I can also filter it down even a little bit what keywords appear the most in the phrases. And again, just like I thought the number one keyword here or actually the number one keyword is decor at 1000, but then coffin was 600. But maybe there's something else here that looks interesting. Like, for example, I see a spooky and I'm like spooky, 131 of these keywords have the word spooky in it. So if I hit spooky, what happens is is now all of the keywords on that list that start with the word spooky are gonna show up here and I can start getting some ideas. Like look at this 38,000 search volume for this keyword. Spooky basket 1400 search volume for spooky home decor. Spooky desk accessories has a couple hundred searches a month. All right. So now, all of a sudden, I just discovered, maybe in like a new sub niche where I'm looking at coffin shelf. But I see, wow, look how this keyword spooky is trending in so many of these keywords. And again, I can use these keywords in my listing or use it as potential PPC test or use it as an idea generation for new ideas for my brand. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Last strategy of the day how to instantly see the most search terms on Amazon that start with a word or phrase? All right. So this is pretty cool. Like how can this help you out? Well, you know, you might just be doing very, very like kind of low key research where you discover something you're like, all right, well, what is the most search term? Like, hey, I saw this garlic press, you know, is garlic press the most search term that starts with the word garlic? Or is there something else you know, coffin shelf. Is coffin shelf the highest search term that starts with the word coffin, or are there longer tail versions of this keyword that have even more search volume?

Bradley Sutton:

Check out a super simple way to find out in seconds which keywords are the most searched. When you start with any letters, word or phrase, all you have to do is just go directly to magnet guys and start typing. That's it. So let's just say I'm gonna type in coffin. If I pause just a few seconds, any keyword that has a lot of search volume is gonna show up here. And here I can see that the number one keyword that starts with coffin it's not coffin shelf. Coffin shelf isn't even top 10. It's coffin charcuterie board. That's crazy. I didn't realize that. All right, maybe I'm wondering. All right, what are the most search terms that start with coffin shelf? Here we go coffin shelf is number one. Coffin shelf large is number two. I mentioned garlic press earlier. What are the most search terms that start with the word garlic? Well, whatever shows up here in this autocomplete, right here in magnet, it is the words. It is sorted by the number of searches. All right, so I can see. If I put in garlic, the number one keyword is garlic, number two is garlic press, then garlic powder. So any keyword you can possibly think of on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

If you're just really curious, hey, what are some other keywords that might start with this keyword and one of the most search ones? Just start typing anything you want into magnet. Don't even have to click anything. Whatever comes up in the magnet autocomplete are the highest search terms. All right, guys, there you have it. We just did, I think, by my last count, 31 keyword research strategies over the last three episodes. Now don't just sit there and be like oh wow, that was amazing, Bradley, those are some incredible strategies and that's it All right. That does nobody any good. That means I just wasted my breath here in all these strategies. What I want you to do is pick some of these strategies and start doing it right now on your own account.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe you haven't even found a product yet, but there was ideas that I brought up in this keyword research on how you can find product ideas. Maybe you've got an existing brand and now you know of how you can come up with expanded ideas by doing keyword research. Maybe you've got your product on the way to you right now from your supplier and you need to start building your listing and you wanna make sure you've got the best keywords. These 31 strategies are going to help you with that. So, guys, hope you enjoyed these episodes. Bookmark these, go back to it, refer to it. I'm gonna try and put copies of these videos also inside of our tool and inside of our Helium 10 Academy so you can have them as reference. Let me know, guys, in the Helium 10 members Facebook group or, if you're watching this on YouTube, in the comments. Let me know which one of these strategies you thought was the coolest, which ones that have helped you find new keywords that can help you get those extra thousands of dollars of sales on Amazon.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

TikTok Creating Its Own eCommerce Fulfillment Network
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2023/tiktok-creating-its-own-ecommerce-fulfillment-network/

Amazon beefs up Prime loyalty program with One Medical discount
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/08/amazon-beefs-up-prime-loyalty-program-with-one-medical-discount.html

FTC: Amazon halted Seller Fulfilled Prime enrollment despite strong delivery performance
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/ftc-amazon-lawsuit-seller-fulfilled-prime-enrollment-shipping-delivery-performance/698780/

Walmart Black Friday deals 2023 start today
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/walmart-days-of-deals-2023-day-6-165846150.html

Watch how Amazon delivers to customers in favelas across Brazil
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/transportation/how-amazon-delivers-to-customers-in-favelas-across-brazil

Stay updated with the newest features from Helium 10 that can help you stay on top of your Amazon game. Plus, stay tuned for Carrie's hands-on tips for leveraging the power of AI inside our Listing Builder tool for quick and efficient listing creations. So, gear up for an expedition into what’s buzzing in Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce with us!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

00:55 - Fulfilled By TikTok
02:02 - Amazon Analytics
03:55 - Amazon Medical
05:16 - FTC Case Update
08:23 - Walmart Black Friday
09:19 - Brand Registry Update
10:11 - Amazon Brazil
12:40 - Helium 10 Feature Alerts
18:40 - Pro Training Tip: Amazon Listing Builder With AI

TranscriptTranscript generated by Podium.page

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Bradley Sutton:

TikTok Shop is building out their fulfillment network. Have you used the new customer loyalty dashboard in Amazon? Seller Central? FTC again gets things wrong in their case against Amazon. Walmart Black Friday has started.

Bradley Sutton:

These stories and more on today's edition of the weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton and this is the show that is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that's going on in the Amazon, walmart and e-commerce world. We also give you all of the new updates for feature alerts to Helium 10, and we give you training tips of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. We have a lot of news articles today, so let's go ahead and hop into it Now. The first article that we have today is actually from paymentscom and it's entitled TikTok is creating its own e-commerce fulfillment network. Now, this is interesting because this is not completely new news. We've talked about some of our Helium 10 elite members who have gotten in the beta program on some of these fulfillment, but for most of you who sign up for Tick Tock shop, you have to fulfill your own products or maybe fulfill it through Amazon, but they've been investing in a warehouse and fulfillment network. According to this article, wall Street Journal also confirmed that you know, talking about some of the endeavors that they're doing, so they're really making some kind of like waves in the industry, just even without fulfillment. It's kind of amazing what they're doing, because they're investing a lot you know, like giving sellers the ability to not have, you know, commissions for right now and giving incentives to influencers to promote products. So now imagine once their fulfillment network is fully in place. It's going to be pretty cool. What's you know to be selling on Tick Tock shop?

Bradley Sutton:

Next news article is actually from your seller central dashboard, and this is just a reminder about something that released a little bit ago on Amazon. It's called the customer loyalty analytics dashboard. Now this news article that came out talks about how it helps brand segment and reengage customers based on their past purchase behavior and engagement with your brand page. Some of the things that it allows you to do are identify high value customers, build your strategy for the right customer, engage customers at the right time, it says optimize marketing ad spend, reduce customer acquisition costs. So if you haven't taken a look at it, it's in your customer loyalty analytics page and it's, you know, in the similar places brand analytics and you can see a lot of interesting information, you know, at the weekly, quarterly, monthly or even yearly level, and you'll see some interesting unique metrics that you've probably never seen before, like the number of hibernating customers that you have. You'll see some interesting charts here.

Bradley Sutton:

There's also a cool feature on the right hand side that you'll be able to see. It's called new and potential customers. All right, and then it says, like you know, for for Manny's Mysterious Oddities, right here it says hey, there's 12,000 people have recently shown interest in your products but have not yet purchased, and allows you to create a promotion to send these customers a promotion code to encourage a purchase. And so if you click on this button, it actually brings you to the brand tailored promotion page that we've talked about before, and so this brand tailored promotion function allows you to send coupon codes to customers and have it show up if they happen to browse on your page again. So pretty interesting stuff, you know. Take a look at that. Have you been using it? Has it helped you at all with, you know, getting some customers on board and you can see the metrics and brand tailored promotions on how successful they are. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article up here is from CNBC and it's entitled Amazon Beef's Up Prime Day Loyalty Program with one medical discount. So this is something that is going to be a subscription that's going to be $9 a month or $99 a year. All right, now what is one medical? I guess it's kind of like I mean almost like a medical insurance kind of thing. This article from CNBC says, you know, one medical operates a network of boutique primary care practices in some parts of the US and it's around major cities, and users can access care from a doctor through the one medical app and they can also schedule virtual or in-person appointments at a brick and mortar location. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, you know you might be wondering well, what in the world does this have to do with being an Amazon seller? Well, we always like to talk about what are Walmart doing for the Walmart Plus program? What is Amazon doing for the Prime program? The more sticky an Amazon Prime member is, you know that means they're not going to cancel their Prime because there's just so many benefits. Guess what you know. That's going to be better for you, you know, because obviously the majority of Amazon seller sales come from Amazon Prime members. So the more benefits that Amazon gives to its Prime members, that's going to benefit us, the third party sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know we haven't talked about this in a few weeks. There hasn't been much news articles. But again, you know, FTC is showing that they really have no idea what the heck they're doing. Um, at least you know, with what I see in the news, you know who knows, maybe they've got some other stuff. That just news. You know, casters haven't picked up on, but I can only report on what I see in the news.

Bradley Sutton:

And this article is from supply chain drive and it's entitled FTC Amazon halted seller fulfilled prime enrollment despite strong delivery performance. All right. So basically, what the FTC is saying is hey, you know, uh, back in 2018, when there was seller fulfilled prime, now they're seller fulfilled prime again. You know, sellers met the delivery estimate requirement more than 95% of the time. Now FTC even said, you know, went on to say, oh, these sellers at times outperform orders covered by Amazon's own fulfillment service. Uh, had Amazon genuinely cared about improving shipping speeds, it would have encouraged seller fulfilled prime sellers to use independent fulfillment providers instead of shuttering SFP to impede those providers growth Wrong, all right, guys, this is not right. You know, like Amazon prime now, amazon prime in 2018 is a lot faster than than what the majority of sellers can do for seller fulfilled prime.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon clapped back at this whole story. They're like saying, hey, the fact is that in 2018, the sellers using SFP Amazon says this is a quote we're promising deliveries within two days less or within two days or less less than 16% of the time. So what? What is FTC thinking that? Oh, yeah, you know the. They think that all these sellers were were beating Amazon's prime one day and same day and two day delivery. No, they weren't. You know there's a few who could match it. Sure, like these gigantic companies that had their their own humongous, uh, logistic systems and and things like that. But you know, a regular seller couldn't just go to you know from California and like, hey, let me go ahead and send this two day shipping to Florida, you know, for $5, you know, like you can with Amazon prime. No, that never was happening in 2018. It's not happening now, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I, I really, I mean I really wish that FTC focuses on the things that Amazon sellers, day in and day out, are complaining. You know like uh, you know sometimes the customer support uh service that they receive and and things like you know getting suspended with no notification and and differing rules and allowing a lot of hijackers and and listing abuse and and and allowing too many subsidies for for sellers from China. I mean, the list goes on and on. You guys probably have a lot of complaints for Amazon, and rightfully so. No system is perfect, but I haven't even seen any of these complaints kind of like brought up in this FTC trial. Instead, they're they're like focused on things that are like literal non issues. Anyways, I guess that stuff like makes my heart race. Let's go to the next article, and this is from Yahoo, just giving a reminder that, hey, walmart Black Friday deals. We're starting yesterday, uh, on Wednesday. We announced this a couple of weeks ago in the weekly buzz that you know it's crazy what Walmart you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Black Friday you know used to be Black Friday. You know that's the Friday right after Thanksgiving. We're not even close to Thanksgiving, we're at the first of November and Black Friday deals are coming up. But the reason I mentioned this again is because this Black Friday deal has deals have started going on. You should see a little bit of increased traffic on your Walmart store. So so let me know over the next couple of days, are your sales up on Walmart? Keep an eye out there. You might want to check your ad spend if you're running Walmart ads, because your budgets might run out a little bit earlier If you, if you're reaching the budgets, because there's probably a lot of extra traffic on the platform at this time.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the next announcement was actually from an email that went out to a lot of brand registered sellers and it was from Amazon brand registry and it said hey, just launched managed selling accounts tool. So this is a new self-service tool that gives users with the brand administrator rule the ability to unlock brand benefit eligibility for users that have a active seller central account. Now, in the past, you had to like if you wanted to like, give access to another account, or or maybe you know you've got a reseller selling your products. You wanted to give them the rights you've got to like contact, brand registry, support and open up a case and do all this stuff. But now you can do it directly from your managed selling accounts on your brand dashboard. So if you want more information, just go to your brand registry dashboard and you'll be able to uh to see your managed selling accounts.

Bradley Sutton:

Last up, uh, they had a cool video on one of Amazon's website, uh, and it was talking about how they deliver in a favela from Paraisopolis in Sao Paulo, brazil, and this is a place that's like a really like kind of like dangerous neighborhood it was talking about and like nobody else would deliver packages to this neighborhood. But Amazon is using AI and machine learning to be able to ship. And it was just an interesting article. You know, we've we've talked about before how Amazon delivers on donkeys in some places, but here Amazon, you know, delivering to dangerous uh uh areas where other carriers might not deliver packages to, but Amazon is. And it got me thinking uh, there was an announcement that kind of flew under the radar. But did you know that North American remote fulfillment by Amazon also now covers Amazon Brazil. Uh, when I posted that in a couple of Facebook groups, you know most of the sellers didn't even realize that. You know, I think everybody knows that NARF, or North American remote fulfillment, that allows you to take your U S FBA inventory and open up listings in Canada and Mexico and be able to deliver there. But now, as long as you've got your Amazon Brazil set up you know you've added it as an account on your seller central and you've set up a bank account and stuff, you can actually now, uh, have North American remote fulfillment going to Brazil. Obviously it takes longer, but you know you don't have to. You know, set up inventory down there, you don't have to worry about taxes. Uh, the, the listings are translated and then if somebody buys the product it comes from your USA inventory. So let me know in the comments below did you guys know that Amazon is now shipping your FBA US inventory down to Brazil? And if you didn't know it, how many of you are have taken advantage of that? You know Brazil is a rapidly growing marketplace and so that's something to definitely look into.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, that's it for the news this week. Now one thing I want you guys to do is go ahead and follow our this podcast Instagram page. All right, it's on. Just go to Instagram and just go to serious sellers podcast. All right, serious sellers podcast, give us a follow. Sometimes I'll you know post. You know stories about my, my trips and different things on there. But mainly this has all of the clips from every single podcast episode. We do even this one, the weekly buzz. So make sure to go there If you have missed a couple of episodes. You can get some clips on recent episodes. A serious sellers podcast.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's go over this week's helium gas Weeks. Helium 10 feature alerts. Remember, every week we are launching new things at helium 10. Here are the new things for this week Now. The first one we talked a little bit about last week, that is in listing builder. All right, so if you guys go to your listing builder tool, you have your regular part of the listing. You know all the top of your description and bullet points and things like that. But if you scroll all the way to the bottom now you'll see a new section called Amazon post and if you have, you know if this is the actual listing and it's all filled out with the information up above. Now you can just hit a button, write it for me, and then helium 10, using AI, is going to write a bunch of Amazon post captions. All right, so this is good if you are, you know, having kind of like writer's block and you have a lot of images that you want to go ahead and put to Amazon post, but you can't don't want to have to think about making a unique caption every single time. We have a caption generator right there.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, next up a really cool feature to your competitor tracking. So for a while, we have Allowed you to add up to five competitors for every product that you have in your store and then you can start tracking if they're running coupons and get alerts, if, if they raise their price, if they lower the price, if they change their Image, if they change their title, if their BSR changes dramatically, etc. Etc. Now this was limited to, like I said, five different Competitors for every one of your products. Now, what if you've got more competitors you want to track in addition to those five? Or what if you're just like examining a new niche and you just want to start like tracking some products randomly and you don't have, like your own product to tie it to. Well, now you know, really cool we have the ability inside your competitors to just add competitors, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So how you can add competitors to this new section? Just go to your, your main dashboard. If you've got the diamond plan and you're gonna want to hit Competitors here on the top left, all right. Once you hit competitors, this is going to show you probably all the competitors you already have here. But now, when you hit the button add competitors, now you have the option on if it's a current competitor and that means you're gonna have to tie it to one of your products so that you can get the full benefits there. But if you have a brand new product, what's new this week is now you can put potential Competitor and then you don't have to tie it to your product.

Bradley Sutton:

Like you can see here, I'm tracking a Battery operated LED light, right, and there are no competitors now. But now I can track this guy's revenue. I can track their sales. I can see they've got an $8 coupon going. I can track their price changes, etc. Etc. So super cool addition Start tracking your competitors. Guys, start looking at other niches. Maybe you're trying to expand your brand. Add those to this Competitor dashboard so you can see what's going on, not just like be able to track it in this dashboard that I just showed you. But remember, you are gonna start getting insights Into things that you said that you want to know about that might be changing with that Competitor, you know. Maybe they're ranking for new keywords, maybe they have a coupon, maybe they turned off a coupon, etc. Etc. So, super cool.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of insights, we've got some new changes To or some new insights that are happening in your insights dashboard. Now, for those who don't know the insights dashboard, this is like next level. You know we're giving, we're doing the work for our customers. Like, for example, you've seen my insights dashboard. It says, hey, we discovered 15 keywords that your competitors are ranking for that you are not. Hey, you're ranking For a keyword in the top 10 and you don't even you might not have noted because you're not tracking this keyword.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, some of the newer insights that we now have Refund rates. So you can see here hey, refund rates for five products have decreased by 6%. That's great. That means I'm giving out less Refunds than before. All right, the opposite. We also added as an insight hey, maybe your refund rate is increasing or your return rate is increasing. You'd want to know about that, right? Well, you don't have to be downloading your reports every week, or even looking at Helium 10 and looking at the reports there. We will give you an insight based on the settings, the triggers that you set, on what you want to know about, on if your refund rates are going up or down.

Bradley Sutton:

We have some new atomic alerts that come on your Insights dashboard. So if you use that Helium 10 Atomic and you are getting a lot of clicks or a lot of spend in a certain target, you are going to get a notification. Hey, you've got. Look at this one I got here. You've got four targets with zero sales that have spent $70 in the last 30 days. You might want to review your targets and maybe negative match that. Again, you're not having to download reports. We are telling you this information. Another new one that has come up recently that we have is your storage fees. If your storage fee month to month is dramatically increasing, you're going to get a notification now about that. We're adding new Insights left and right. Guys, this is crazy. I mean we're living in the year 3000 while other Amazon software tools are parting like it's 1999 still I mean, this is not only our have. We had these advanced tools in Helium 10 where you can find these things, but now you don't even have to use those tools because now we're just giving you these insights and giving you these notifications to let you know what's going on. So that's it for our Helium 10 feature alerts that we have added in the last week or so. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, we have got a training done by Kerry on listing builder with AI. Just a quick review on how to generate listings and let me tell you the things that she's going to show you today. I literally created two listings. I'm doing a test listings for some project, five case draws. I use her exact strategy. I created two brand new listings that were for identical products because I'm testing it in two different accounts, but it created two separate listings in about three minutes. For myself. That would have taken me maybe an hour to have done back in the old days. So how did I do that? Kerry will show you how she does it.

Carrie Miller:

When I started out in the Amazon space, I was actually a freelancer and I actually was writing listings over and over again for a lot of different companies and they always wanted to know what my secret was, and I never told them my secret. But I'll tell you my secret now. Helium 10 was my secret. I use the keyword research tools and listing optimization tools that Helium 10 had at the time, so around 2016, 2017, 2018. And now they've gotten even better. So I want to show you how to use our new tools, especially for any of you who have a hard time writing or maybe have higher writer's block, we have a great solution for you to help you really optimize your listings in the best way using Helium 10. The first thing that you want to do is you want to log into your Helium 10 account and you're going to go to tools and then you're going to click on listing builder. I'm going to show you how to do this from scratch. So what we're going to do is we're actually going to just click on add listing up here and we're going to click on get started from scratch right here. You can choose whatever language you want to do, but I'm going to show you first in English how to do this, and I'm just going to start building. I have a keyword list and I'm going to just show you this from our for our coffin shelf. Here they are. So when you click add to bank, these keywords are going to be added to your keyword bank and if you wanted to add some more, you could add some more keywords up here manually, or you can actually go ahead and import keywords from an Excel spreadsheet or, if you wanted to do a cerebral search, you can do it here. I always recommend just making sure you have all of your keywords squared away before you even start writing your listing, so you should have your list already created. The next thing is you're going to go over to the listing optimizer. Now, this has AI in it, so it's going to help you to be able to write this very quickly and efficiently and it's going to give you, you know, help you get past that writer's block. If you ever have it. You don't know where to start. This is going to be great for you.

Carrie Miller:

Now you can write if you want to, if you wanted to write your own listings. So you know Manny's mysterious, you can just go ahead and write your listing there. Or what you can do is you can add in product characteristics and this will write it for you. So I'm going to put in coffin shelf black. I'm going to put Halloween, I'll just put Gothic Dwarfers actually Gothic decor, perfect gift for a Goths. Witchy decor, maybe something like Goth decor for home, goth decor for bedroom.

Carrie Miller:

You can put as many as you want, up to 500 characters, and the more you put, the more input that you put into this, the better it's going to be. And the next thing is you can put your brand name in and the next is that is the product name. So I'm going to put you know Manny's mysterious oddities here and I'm going to ask for it to be put at the beginning of the title. You can have it put at the end of the title if you want to, and then the coffin name is, or the product name is coffin shelf. You can choose the tone. So you can do casual, friendly, humorous. I'll just put casual in there. The target audience is got Gothic, goths, halloween and I think I'll leave it at that. So the more input obviously you put here, the better these are going to be. But I want to show you how quick and easy this is. So I'm going to ask it to write a title for me and I'm going to click on write it and it's going to come up with a title for me in a very short amount of time here. That's going to be, you know, helpful for me to get started, or it's something you could use right away.

Carrie Miller:

So Manny's Mysterious Oddities coffin bookshelf with coffin mirror unique Gothic decor coffin shelf home and bedroom. So I actually I put coffin mirror in there and coffin bookshelf, which we actually don't really need those. So I'm going to go back here and I'm going to take off bat shelf and coffin mirror and coffin bookshelf here and I'm going to hit next and I'm going to try this again and I'm going to click rewrite for me. So we don't have those keywords on the list and it's going to probably be more accurate. So you want to make sure all of these keywords are you know exactly what you would want in your listing. See Manny's Mysterious Oddities coffin shelf black Gothic decor for bedroom. Witchy and goth decor for home. Perfect gift for Goss Halloween fans. Intriguing coffin shelves for your dark side.

Carrie Miller:

I'm going to go ahead and use that suggestion and you know you can if you wanted to also kind of ask them to rewrite it. It's not going to erase that once you click on use suggestion and then you can get more ideas and you can kind of manually edit this as you go and just keep getting more ideas. If you want to see if it's worded better in the second suggestion, you can do that or you can discard it. Once you click on, you know, add suggestion, it's going to cross off the keywords over here to make sure that you optimize this fully and then for the bullets you click, write it for me, and the same thing it's going to write these bullet points for you and it's going to give you some great suggestions. Now, a lot of people what they do is they use this as a great starting off point to writing their bullets. Some people use this, just just these bullets that the AI created. It really is up to you how you want to do it, and this is the most updated form of chat GPT that is integrated in here, so you can see some great stuff here.

Carrie Miller:

So goth shelf our coffin shelf is a perfect addition to your goth a come to core. It's black, eerie designs out of unique touch to any room, ideal for goss or Halloween fans looking to show off their spooky stuff. I like that. I'm going to go ahead and say use that suggestion, and then you can see that it actually crossed out some of those keywords. And if I just go ahead and say, use suggestion, use suggestion, and I use all of these as suggestions, they have pretty much used all of the keywords in there. You can also have it write a description for you and it's going to write the description and you can choose to use that or not.

Carrie Miller:

Search terms If there's anything that doesn't get used and most of it usually does get used in the bullets you can add those into the search terms and you can put that in the back end. And so if you, you know, maybe aren't a writer and you want to really get some help with your listings and you are really good at keyword research, you can put those keywords in and AI can help you. You can always go back and edit it. You can keep getting more suggestions and editing as you go. It makes it so much faster and easier. So I want you guys to check it out and let us know what you think.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Thanks a lot, Carrie, for that training tip of the week. Have you guys used Listing Builder yet? I hope you have All right guys. That's it for the weekly buzz for this week. Don't forget to tune in next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Ever wondered how to turn strategic insights into a goldmine? This episode brings the secrets of Amazon analytics to your ears, highlighting the pivotal role of keywords in boosting your revenues and leaving your competitors behind. We've got a masterclass in the works that will open your eyes to the capabilities of organic and sponsored ranks, the art of tracking Amazon keyword ranks, and decoding the difference between ranks in Cerebro, keyword tracker, and a browser search.

Fasten your seatbelts, as we explore deeper into the labyrinth of Amazon Brand Analytics and trends. We will guide you on how to use data inside Helium 10 from Amazon’s brand analytics data to unveil what's happening with specific keywords and how to turn this knowledge into strategic decisions. Plus, watch out for our segment on the "time machine method" in Helium 10, a secret weapon to fuel your Amazon business’ growth.

Finally, we'll share some hard-hitting strategies for uncovering the top Amazon keywords for your market niche and revealing hidden opportunities in keyword research. We'll discuss how to use Amazon Brand Analytics to see the history of Cerebro keyword searches, identify sales spikes, and compare organic and sponsored ranks. By the end of the episode, you'll be armed with the knowledge needed to dominate your market and boost your Amazon business to new heights. So, are you ready to elevate your selling game?

episode 507 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

01:27 - Advanced Amazon Keyword Tracking Strategies
08:11 - Amazon Brand Analytics for Keyword Strategies
13:54 - Comparing Amazon and Helium 10's Data
16:53 - Analyzing Historical Trends in Keyword Distribution
19:56 - Keyword Analysis for Amazon Sales Increase
25:52 - Top Amazon Keywords for Multiple Products
32:58 - Optimizing PPC Strategy With Competitor Analysis
37:19 - Opportunity Keywords and Competitor Analysis

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is part two of our seller strategy masterclass, where we do a deep dive into keyword research using Cerebro, and the strategies we're going to go over today, if implemented by you and your team, could potentially mean thousands of dollars of extra revenue for you. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s completely BS, free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And this is now part two for a series that we've been doing that we call seller strategy masterclass, where we do a deep dive into Amazon keyword research. Now, if you haven't seen part one, you should go back and, you know, hop on that video, because a lot of what we're going to talk today is based on some of the things that hopefully you've mastered already in part one. So, for any reason you just happen to find this episode randomly, go back to episode 506. You can do that h10.me/506 and make sure to listen to that one. Take a lot of notes. Make sure you've mastered that before getting into this one. All right, for the rest of you who already watched that, let's go ahead and hop into it.

Bradley Sutton:

Last episode, we went through about 12 different strategies that can definitely help you, mainly looking at like individual products, using Cerebro and how to like reverse engineer, organic ranks and sponsored ranks, and how to use some of the advanced features of Helium 10. Today, we're going to look at even more advanced features. A lot of these are or most of these, all of these are available to anybody with a diamond and above, a lot of these are still available to anybody with a platinum Helium 10 account as well. But again, even if you don't even have Helium 10, let alone one of those plans, still pay attention to this, because these are strategies that you should be using, regardless of what software you're using. It's literally stuff, some of this that I would say 95 to 98% of Amazon sellers even if they have Helium 10, they're not using it, so it really can give you a competitive advantage over others. Again, the way that we do this in case you forgot it from the last episode instead of just making this some step by step guide, we'll show some step by step, but the main focus of this is to give you goals. All right, all right, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So this is like a how to guide. We're going to say stuff like how to compare organic and sponsored rank to the being the top clicked in brand analytics. All right, so we're going to start off with a how to and then, as soon as we do that, we're going to talk about well, why is this beneficial? Why do you even want to achieve this goal? What can it mean to your bottom line? And then we're going to get into the strategy. Ready to go? All right, strategy 12. How to start tracking Amazon keyword rank up to 24 times a day. Now, why would you even want to do this? How is this beneficial to you? How could this make you money?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, as we have talked about in previous videos, the ranks organic and sponsored that you might see inside of Helium 10, Cerebro are either from, could be from today, could have been from five days ago, could have been from 29 days ago. It's anywhere between one and 30 days old. We're not checking it completely actively. It gives you just a holistic look at ranking. Now there might be something that you really want to focus on, like your top keywords. You might not want to see something where it could have been taken last week. It could have been taken a couple of weeks ago. You really want to focus on that keyword? Well, in that case, you're going to want to be looking at your rank a lot more frequently than just looking at it, you know, once a day or even once a week. So one of the ways that you can do that, if you really found some good, most important keywords for your listing, is by exporting to a different tool keyword tracker.

Bradley Sutton:

And again, just to kind of set the scene here, what is the difference between a rank in Cerebro, a rank in keyword tracker and a rank you might see on your browser right now? You know, some people say wait a minute, how come my rank is different from what I see in Cerebro, to what I see in my browser? Remember, these are not estimates that are taking us to Cerebro. This is an exact rank taken from an exact browsing scenario. You could have 10 people at the very same time in different parts of the country. You could have three people in the same house at the same exact time search for something on Amazon, and it could be different ranks. All right, whether somebody's on a mobile browser, somebody's on Safari, somebody's on Chrome. Somebody signed in, somebody signed off. Somebody signed in in Los Angeles, California, somebody signed in in Brooklyn, New York. It could have different ranks. It usually doesn't fluctuate that much, but that's why you might see something different. It doesn't mean that one is wrong and one is right. They're all actual ranks but, you know, based on the browsing scenario, amazon might show something different.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, how can you track up to 12 or 24 times a day? Let me show you how. You're going to want to take your keywords that you want to go ahead and export let's just say, coffin letterboard, halloween DVD collection and coffin bookshelf. So you go ahead and click this button, add to keyword tracker, find the product that you're wanting to add this to, and you can add track a new product if you haven't added this to your keyword tracker before, and then, basically, you are going to automatically have these products in keyword tracker. Now, once you go over to keyword tracker, you should see those new keywords that you had added in here. Now I mentioned at the top of this section is how to do it 24 times a day. Well, by default, keyword tracker, unlike Cerebro, it's checking once a day. If you wanted to check up to 24 times a day. You're just going to hit this little rocket chip that is next to each keyword and then now you are going to get ranks 24 times a day for this keyword. So that's just a great way. Again, if you want to get more into detail on keyword tracker, there are other videos that kind of help you with that.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's just one of the ways to export keywords out of Cerebro. There's actually a couple more ways that you can do that. One of the ways is a lot of people like to manipulate the data, maybe in an Excel spreadsheet All right. So if you want to do that, all you have to do is hit the export data button directly from Cerebro and then you could say, hey, download to a XLSX file or a CSV file, and then what that does is it downloads all of the raw data, keywords and all the search volume and everything into an Excel spreadsheet, and then you might be able to do a little bit more filtering or something like that that you might not have been able to do inside of the Helium 10 dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

A third way that you can export the data from Cerebro is to our word processor tool, which is called Frankenstein. All right, so if you export, if you hit export and then you hit it to Frankenstein, what it's going to do is it's gonna open up a new window and it's gonna open up Frankenstein. So what this allows you to do is it allows you to take away duplicates and maybe filter out certain words, allows you to do word counts. You wanna see. Hey, show me all of the keywords that have at least four words. Show me all the keywords that have coffin. Take out any keyword phrase that has Halloween. Whatever you wanna do in Frankenstein, you can manipulate the keywords in that way. If you wanna have a better instructions on how to work with Frankenstein, there's a video that's in the Frankenstein tool that helps you with that. So there's three different ways to export. Number one go to Keyword Tracker. Learn how to track these keywords 24 times a day in rotating browsing scenarios. Number two export your keyword list to Excel and then manipulate the data that way. And then, number three export it to our keyword processing tool, Frankenstein. That gives you even more options.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's get into the next strategy how to see the top clicked and top purchased products for a keyword using Amazon brand analytics data. So Amazon brand analytics is something that Amazon released about two, three years ago, really helpful. It is a data point that tells you, for any keyword, what were the top three products that were clicked and then, from those top three click products, what was the percentage of their click share and what was their percentage of their conversion or purchase share. For any keyword that comes up in Cerebro, you can actually see that number. Now, why is this important? How can this metric help you make money? Well, all keywords are not created equal. All right, there are some keywords that result in a lot of clicks and a lot of purchases. There are some keywords that don't have a lot of purchases. There are some keywords where maybe the top three products that are clicked, they're dominating the clicks, they're dominating the purchases. There are other keywords, when you add up the top three products that are clicked, that they might not have a big percentage of the overall clicks and conversions for a keyword, and that could give you information to let you know, hey, that market might be a little bit more wide open. There's a lot of ways to look into this data and get ahead of the game. Like you might wanna focus on a keyword where you see a couple of really bad listings that are just dominating the sales, and you know that you can take over. That might be a more attractive keyword to focus on as opposed to something else. So how do you do that? Let's go ahead and hop into it In your Cerebro results.

Bradley Sutton:

You'll notice one of the columns. There's two columns. It'll say ABA, which stands for Amazon Brand Analytics Total Click Share and ABA Conversion Share. Now, right next to that, you're gonna see a little graph button, so like, for example, I can see Coffin Shelf and it says ABA Total Click Share 30.5%. What that means is the top three click products over the last month or over the last week for that keyword resulted in 30.5% of the overall clicks. It says ABA Total Conversion Share 15% for that same thing. Now, that right there just tells you something that you know, because, theoretically speaking, if the conversion rates were all created equal, if three products got 30% of the clicks, they should get 30% of the sales. Right, if all things were created equal. But this means that of the top three click products, a lot of people are clicking out of it and that means 85% of the sales that come from these keywords are not even from the top three clicks. So that right there might give you some strategy that you can look at. You can actually filter in the Cerebro results for this top three total click share and top three total conversion share.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing you can do is click on the graph. Like, if I click on this graph that is right next to ABA Total Click Share, another graph comes up and you're gonna wanna put your mouse over the different months or the different weeks. I can actually change the date settings to say, hey, I wanna look at this data on a weekly basis and maybe I'm just gonna look from October 1st all the way to October 28th and now, week by week, I put my mouse over this graph and then here at the bottom I can see which ones are the top three click Like. For example, for this week, October 22nd to October 28th, I can see that my product had 9% of the clicks. It was number three and it had 11% of the conversions. So that's pretty good. Look at this. There was one other product on here that had 13% of the clicks but only 3% of the conversions, so their conversion rate was not very good. So again, a lot of great data that you can see in here. This comes directly from Amazon. This is not some estimate from Helium 10 or some algorithm. This is directly from Amazon. So use this data in order to get some additional insights into what's going on on certain keywords. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next strategy how to compare the organic and sponsored rank and see how it relates to being one of the top three click products. Now, why is this beneficial? How can this make you money? When you talk about spending money on Amazon, as an Amazon seller, what do you think? You spend a lot of money on Sponsored ads? You're probably right, right. Apart from inventory, of course, and shipping and things like that, what do you pay Amazon the most for? It might be PPC, and so you wanna know hey, am I getting the best bang for my buck with my PPC? Do I even need to invest heavily in staying at the top of search for PPC? Do I need to, like, stay top of search and do some kind of campaign to bring my organic rank up? There's a lot of these questions that you might have, and without looking at this next measure, I'm gonna tell you you might not be able to see the answer. So let's go ahead and hop into this. How you can see this If you click on the graph inside of Helium-Tensoribro, on one of the ABA total click share figures here and, by the way, if you see an NA, that means it wasn't available inside of Amazon brand analytics, so let's go ahead and click on one that has the graph.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm gonna focus here on the right side of this graph, and this is giving me the last three months of what was the top three click products and these first columns that I'm looking at. It'll say click share and conversion share. Again, this is directly from Amazon telling me who were the top three clicked and purchased products. And the thing that is interesting is the next two columns are the organic rank average and the sponsored rank average. So we're now comparing Amazon data to Helium 10’s data. All right, take a look at this. I'm looking at my product here. For the month of October, I was a number three clicked product okay, but look at my organic rank average 21. So you might think that you probably would get zero sales being page one position 20, right, but I am one of the top three clicked and I was even converting at a higher clip than the number one clicked product. Why I could see here from the Helium-Tens data that my sponsored rank average was number two.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so how does this knowledge help me? Well, now I know I don't necessarily have to do some crazy campaign to get ranked organically. As long as I can stay ahead of the game on my sponsored rank, it is going to keep me to be one of the top three click Other keywords. You might see different data where the sponsored rank might not even be that important, but the organic rank seems to drive all of the sales. You might see another keyword where it's unless you are at the top of the page in organic and sponsored, you might not be one of the top three clicked or purchased products. So again, this is a super, super valuable data point that only Helium 10 has, where it compares Amazon brand analytics data with our keyword tracking data so you can find out which keywords to focus on and which keywords to focus on organic versus sponsored, how to view the history of how many keywords a product has ranked for organically or in sponsored ads. This is one of my favorite ones, something I've been asking for for years before the team finally put it in.

Bradley Sutton:

I like to call this tool the time machine method, but actually it's called historical trends inside of Helium 10. Now, why would you want to know this? How can this make you money? Well, you might see what a product is doing right now on Amazon. That's what Cerebro is for right, and it's always been for that. Hey, where are they ranking for now? But what if you're in a seasonal niche? Or what if you're curious about what happens during November of each year, because that's when sales spike? Or what happens when it's a beach ball and it's in the summer? You know, like, if I'm in December and I'm looking at Cerebro for a beach ball item, the keywords that people are finding this product now it's probably very different than the keywords in June and July.

Bradley Sutton:

Another way that I'm looking at this data is that you know what if there are trends in how a competitor is doing sponsored ads, or maybe trends in how their organic reach flows, like maybe they do outside campaigns that give them temporary spikes at different times of the year, let's hop in to see how you can see all of this data, and even more so whenever you are in Cerebro. There is a button in the middle under keyword distribution that is called show historical trend. You are going to want to go ahead and click that and it's going to open up the historical trends for up to two years if the product has been active, for where their organic and sponsored keywords have been showing up, and you'll see it in different colors. So like, for example, you could see that in October of this year they were ranking for 698 different keywords and also they were ranking sponsored 281. Now here's something that is cool. If I'm going to go back in history and I could see, wow, look, in November and December of last year, these guys were going hard and heavy. They really upped their PPC spend. This is not my coffin shelf here, I'm looking at somebody else's coffin shelf. So now I know, going into November of this year, hey, I got to be on guard because it looks like this competitor really ups their spend on PPC during November and December. But take a look at this If I look in January, it looks like they pretty much turn off their PPC ads.

Bradley Sutton:

They were only showing up for 84 different keywords in sponsored ads during January of 2023. So now, all of a sudden, I've got some data that shows, hey, they didn't really do any sponsored ads in January. January might be the time where I can kind of overtake them with my reach if I go opposite of them and go a little bit hard and heavy, maybe in November and December I'm like man it might be too hard to compete with them. Maybe I'll dial back my spend and let them go ahead and go crazy with their spend. I mean, there's different ways to interpret this data. There's no right or wrong way.

Bradley Sutton:

But for the first time, you can have visibility into the reach of your competitors. Maybe you see a competitor sales going up and up and up, right. Well, I would go ahead and look at this historical trend and see why are they ranking for more keywords? Are they advertising for more keywords? Same thing Maybe their sales are going down. Well, I'm going to check Are they ranking for more keywords? Are they advertising for more, more keywords? If not, that means they just got more efficient, right. If their sales were going up and the keywords were actually going down, it means that they were just laser focused on certain keywords. Which keywords were they focused on? I'm going to show you in the next strategy exactly how to find that. But, guys, take a look at this on your listing and your competitors listing, so you can see the history of all of the number of keywords that they're organically and sponsored ranked for All right. Now the next strategy is how to check an Amazon products organic and sponsored rank history. All right. So in the previous strategy we talked about how to just see the total number. But how do you actually see what they were ranking for and when? Why do you want to see this? Why is this important? How can it make you money?

Bradley Sutton:

Again, the example I gave earlier of a beach ball. You know if I'm going to launch a beach ball in July of next year, or maybe I'll launch it in spring, but you know the main focus is gonna be in June, july, august. In December I can't really Do keyword research on this product and know what are the best keywords. Right, I need to go find who was One of the top selling beach balls in June, july or August of last year and then I want to Analyze them. Not in December of this year, what, when nobody is searching for beach balls and they might even have their listing active.

Bradley Sutton:

But I want to see what were the keywords driving the sales of that product during that time of year. Maybe there's other products where I could see that they had a certain spike in a certain month. Regardless of see. Maybe it's not a seasonal product at all. It's a product like a power bank or something that people buy throughout the year. But I noticed in a certain month they had a lot of sales. Well, you know what I'm gonna do I want to compare what keywords and where they were ranking for in the month before their sales went up and then compare it to the month where their sales went up and which keywords increased in rank organic or sponsored. Guess what? That is the reason of why their sales went up. I can literally tie a sales increase at least part of their sales increase to Exact keywords, so that now I know for my product which keywords I want to focus on Of which potentially could increase my sales.

Bradley Sutton:

So how can we do that? Let's go ahead and hop into it. So again, if I see a, let's pretend that this coffin shelf here had a spike in sales on a certain year, like November of 2022 what I'm gonna do is I'm going to go in click historical trend and then I'm going to find the month when they had the the big sales. Now, before I even do that, I might go into the previous month and have that cerebral open in another window so I can see where they were ranked on a quote-unquote neural month. But let me show you. I just click on this exact date here of November 2022 and then I'm gonna hit apply filters. And now this is like taking a time machine, because it is now going to show me the cerebral, as if I was doing this in November of 2022.

Bradley Sutton:

That's what it is showing now, and then now I can go ahead and use Helium 10 filters and say, hey, show me of the keywords that had at least 300 search volume during, you know, october of 2022, where were they ranked? Between positions 1 and 20. And then now, all of a sudden, I can see the exact keywords that they were probably getting a lot of their sales from. And then again, what I'm going to do is, if I was trying to see a Spike in sales, like where the keywords coming from, I'm gonna take one of the months where their sales were down and then compare, keyword by keyword, which one they had a big increase or which one they hopped to the top of page one. And now I know Exactly why they had a spike in sales.

Bradley Sutton:

That customer. If they're not even using Helium 10 or they're not looking this data, they probably don't even know themselves. Uh, I say that customer, that competitor, they probably don't even know themselves why they have the spike in sales, but I can actually see that now and now I'm gonna use that data to make sure that I get ahead. So, guys, this I Cannot emphasize how valuable this feature is. Nobody has ever had anything like this super, super important that can really get you ahead looking at either spikes in sales, valleys in sales. You know it's the opposite. I didn't really mention that. But let's say you notice a competitor a certain month had a terrible month, even though they were in stock. Obviously, if they're out of stock, well, they would have a bad month, but they were in stock. They had a terrible month of sales. Well, I'm going to look at when they had a great month right before and I'm gonna look at what keywords they went down in rank, what keywords did they take the pedal off the metal for their sponsored ranks? And then, now I know the keywords, I need to make sure that I don't fall off, because now I know that, hey, if I fall off on these keywords, it could result in another sales. You know, sales lull, like it did for my competitor. So, guys, this is probably top one, top two around their favorite features in all of Helium 10, out of the 75 million things that Helium 10 can do, this right here is one of my favorites and this is what could really really give you a leg up on the competition Historical Cerebro. So make sure to use it.

Bradley Sutton:

Next strategy how to view the history of your Cerebro keyword searches. All right, why is this beneficial? Can this make you money? Well, a lot of this data changes over time and maybe you are like always checking somebody's Cerebro and you or somebody's product in Cerebro and you want to see the history of something like Amazon recommended and how it changed over time, or some of the graphs you know over time. Maybe you don't have access to the historical Cerebro? Well, what you can do is you can actually go in and see your history so that you know what was going on and when. All right, so how you can do that is by at the very top of the screen. Even before you get into any search, you're gonna see a very button at the top right called history. If you click on that, it is gonna show you all of the history of every single product you have ever searched in Cerebro and it gives you the date of when you looked at it and you can even search. Like you can see, I've used Cerebro here 1,500 times. I could search hey, where's all the coffin shelves that I searched for? And if I hit open, what it's going to open up in is the Cerebro as I looked at it as of that day. So this is a great thing to look at if you want to look at how things have progressed since the first time you looked at a product or a group of products really important to check your history in Cerebro.

Bradley Sutton:

Next strategy how to find the top Amazon keywords for a niche or a market, or multiple Asins, a group of products. Why is this important? How can it benefit you? We've been talking until now about looking up individual products in Cerebro, which is absolutely a great method and a lot of tools can do that, but now we're taking it to another level, where you are analyzing multiple products. Well, how this can help you is you know you might if you just look at one product like the top seller in a niche and understand their keywords, their top keywords. That's valuable information, right, but do you think that that one product is the only one making sales on keywords. No, another product might have discovered a different keyword that this first product doesn't know about, and so if you analyze that product, you know you might want to know what keywords they're ranking for. Maybe you want to know what's the most important keywords overall in the niche. Where are most of the top competitors all getting their sales from, because they're all ranked high? What are the keywords where maybe only a couple competitors really know about it? So these are kind of under the radar keywords that might have less competition. All of these are reasons on why you should analyze multiple products at the same time.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's just again talk about how you can find the top keywords, the top keywords for a group of products, or the most relevant keywords. Well, I actually like to start this outside of Cerebro. I mean, you could just go ahead and copy Aysons one by one directly in this Cerebro. I actually like going to Amazon itself and then looking at the products that way. So here I just searched for coffin shelf here in Amazon and what I'm going to do is I'm going to run Helium 10 X-Ray on this page Now. Once I do that, the top products are going to come up.

Bradley Sutton:

Now here is something very important. I'm going to select from X-Ray right on Amazon the keywords that I want to look at in Cerebro. But what's important to do is Cerebro Multi-Aysons search is built on comparing your product to your competitors. So if you have a product right here on this page, you want to make sure to select it first. All right, so I'm going to select my product, my coffin shelf, first. Now, if you don't have a product, maybe you're just doing keyword research in a brand new niche. I like choosing a product way from the bottom of the page. That's not one of the top sellers as my baseline product, and the reason is is because I don't want to exclude it from the search results. All right, so the way that Cerebro is built is to compare your product to competitor products. But you can kind of use this mini hack if you don't have your own product, just by selecting a random product here from the bottom of the page and then selecting your coffin shelf, so I can choose up to like maybe 10 or even 20 of the top coffin shelves.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me go ahead and choose, you know, some of the top ones that I see here on this page, and then, once I've selected them. I'm going to go ahead and hit the button Run Cerebro and it's going to open up Cerebro in another tab and it's now going to show me my rank versus all of the other competitor ranks in Cerebro. Or, if I didn't have my product as the first product, it's actually going to show me just the baseline product versus all of the competitor products. But it's really the competitor products that I'm going to be focused on. So now, if I just want to find out what the top keywords are, as you can see here, it found over 3,000 keywords that any one of those competitors that I looked at are ranking for. All right, that's valuable, but you know I really want to focus on the top keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

There's one button you can do right here at the very top of the page. If I just hit the button Top Keywords, it actually goes in and does some filters for me so that I can see what some of the top keywords are, and you could see it filtered that you know 3,000 keywords all the way down to five keywords. What is this based on? It just threw in some filters that make sure to show me what are the keywords that more than a few of, more than just one or two of these products that I chose are ranking for, and they're all kind of ranking high. The competitor rank average is between one and 40. That's what it did. So maybe this five keywords is not enough. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to say, hey, you know, show me the 300 and up search volume. Maybe the competitor rank average is between one and 50, and at least three ranking competitors are all ranking for it, and then, if I go ahead and apply those filters, more keywords might show up. Now, as you can see, 22 filtered keywords show up.

Bradley Sutton:

The column that I like to look at here is the competitor performance score. This can be viewed. As you know, some people call this relevancy. I don't like calling it relevancy because it could just be a fluke. But if you see a 10 out of 10 competitor performance score, that means that a lot of these products you know I think I had five or six products that I entered in here a lot, if not all of them are all ranking for it and they are all ranking relatively high. That's what this competitor rank average is.

Bradley Sutton:

Look at this this keyword has competitor rank average of 7.6. That means the five products that we're ranking for this keyword. If I average where they're showing up for it's page one position seven, right. So that's pretty crazy. If I wanted to know exactly where they were ranking for, I just put my mouse over relative rank and then it shows why that competitor rank average is so high. Look at this. It says one is number one, one is number three, one is number five, number 13, 15 and 16. You take that on average and it goes to a 7.6. All right, so this is a great way to see what are the top keywords in a niche. That means all the top sellers, if that's what I chose when I was looking in Amazon. If they're all ranking highly for a certain keyword, it's gonna show up here on this top keyword list. This is a great way to get your best keywords for your Amazon listing.

Bradley Sutton:

How to find the top sponsored keywords for a niche or a groove of products. Why is this important? How can this help you? If you are trying to enter a niche where you haven't run PPC ads before, you might not have the best idea about what are the most important keywords to advertise for. But if you're going into a niche where there's competitors who have been on there a few months or a few years, theoretically speaking, maybe they have already gone through a lot of auto campaigns and they know what the best converting keywords are. So if you look at where they are focusing their spend, where they are focusing on top of search, where they're showing up on page one in the sponsored results, it can actually help you go ahead and start from date one to be focusing on the right keywords in sponsored ads.

Bradley Sutton:

So how can you do that? Well, let's just say you did a multi-acent search, like I showed you in the last strategy, and you are looking at about four, five, six, seven or however many acents. What you're gonna want to do is you might want to look at sponsored rank count, and I like putting a minimum of two there. That means, hey, show me the keywords where at least two out of these competitors are advertising for you might wanna go three out of five instead of just two. Let's just start with two. And then sponsored rank average. You might want to choose between, let's just say one and 20, kind of like saying, hey, these are the keywords that if I take the average rank, they're on page one or two of sponsored ads, and then maybe I'll go ahead and do a search volume minimum of 300.

Bradley Sutton:

There's no magic numbers here, guys. You guys can play with these filters. That's why we have so many of them and, as you can see here, eight keywords came up for this coffin shelf niche and so I can see here coffin shelf, coffin shelves, mini coffin. If I look at the sponsored rank count, I could see how many people are advertising from the top players and then what the sponsored rank average is, and I could see some of these. Look at this one Cough and shelf. We've got somebody page one, position one, somebody page one position nine, eight and 10 in sponsored rank, and then one is 65. That brought down the average a little bit. This gives me a really quick way, within 30 seconds or less, to see who the top players are all kind of focused on in order to focus their PPC spend, and then you can definitely use that for your own PPC strategy.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, last strategy of the day how to find the keywords that most of the top competitors are sleeping on. Why is this important? How can it make you money? We talked earlier about how to find the top keywords for a niche, and that is just period. End of story. The top keywords just because a lot of the competitors are ranking for it doesn't make it a bad keyword. That actually makes it a good keyword. But, that being said, it's understandable to know that, hey, if all of the top competitors, all the top sellers in a certain niche, are all getting sales from this keyword because they're all ranked high, it's a very competitive keyword. Again, I reiterate, that doesn't mean it's a bad keyword or something you shouldn't have in your listing. You absolutely have to have the top keywords. But what about the keywords that maybe only one competitor or two competitors are getting sales from? This could be a potentially non-competitive keyword.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, sometimes these keywords are a little bit less relevant to your product. An example might be like Gothic decor. Right, maybe only one or two competitors of coffin shelf are ranking for Gothic decor, but all the other products that you see when you search for Gothic decor? There are things like maybe like a spooky skull holder or some Gothic bed frame or some Gothic looking wall ornament or what have you. But here's the thing, the reason why sometimes certain keywords work for products you might not think are relevant.

Bradley Sutton:

Like maybe you didn't think that a coffin shelf is Gothic decor is that there are people out there who search for a keyword with different buyer intent. Right, there is maybe somebody who, in the back of their mind, they really do want a coffin shelf, but they don't call it a coffin shelf, they call it Gothic decor. So what they're looking for is a coffin shelf. So they type in Gothic decor. They see a whole bunch of random products. But if they're looking for a coffin shelf and only one or two products are coffin shelves on page one, guess what? Those one or two products have a 50-50 chance or a 100% chance if only one of them is ranking for it to get the sale, because all those other products on page one is kind of meaningless to that customer who went there with an intent to buy a coffin shelf. They just use a different keyword than most people. So this is why looking for these keywords while they might not be the top keywords that can get you sales, they're a great way to kind of like take advantage of special keywords that certain competitors out there have found that's relevant to their product and they're getting sales.

Bradley Sutton:

And now, instead of having to fight seven, eight, nine of your competitors for a sale, you're only fighting one or two competitors. How can you do that? Let's go ahead and hop into Cerebro. So if I did my multi-acent search that I've showed you guys how to do in the other strategies, all I have to do is hit one button for this, and it's the button at the top left that's called opportunity keywords. This puts in a kind of like preset filters that you can play around with later and it's telling me a competitor performance max five, and then only one competitor is ranking between one and 15.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so, as I can see, as you can see here, there are 12 keywords that came up. For example, one of them is Gothic shelf. Now, why did this keyword come up on this search but not the top keywords search? Well, if you look here, there are only. There is only one competitor here who is ranked between one and 15, and it's somebody rank 13. The rest of them were ranked on. You know, here's one that's 16, here's one at 76, one at 77, one at 96. So, only if I get on the top page of Gothic shelf, guess what? I am only fighting one competitor for that sale, for somebody who might buy a coffin shelf.

Bradley Sutton:

You see how valuable this keyword list can go. If you want to, you know, fool around with some of these filters to narrow it in other ways. You can absolutely do that. But this is just a great way to see what we call opportunity keywords. Or maybe only one or two competitors getting only you know, maybe a couple sales here or there from this keyword because it might not be fully, fully relevant to the niche as a whole. But you're only gonna be fighting one or two people for sales for this keyword and usually you know all the top 10, 15, they all have a few of these keywords that they might be getting sales from. And now you can combine all of those top keywords into your listing and be one of the only ones that has all of those keywords in there and getting sales from them.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, as kind of an addendum to this strategy, some of these filters they're really great to use, just like get some insights right. So forget about that preset opportunity keywords filter, if I clear this, I really want you guys to play along, or play around with these filters here, which are number of competitors and competitor rank. All right, basically, the number of competitors filter means of how many ASINs do you want to hit a certain criteria that you are about to specify. So, as you can see, here I had put five ASINs. So maybe I say, hey, I just want to see the keywords where a minimum of one competitor any one of these, or all five of them, it doesn't matter is ranked between one and 10. So what I'm doing is I put number of competitors minimum one I don't put a maximum and then under the competitor rank filter, I put one and 10. Now this is going to show me all of the keywords where just any one, any two, any three, any four, any five of these ASINs are ranked between one and 10, and I came up with 83 keywords. So, as you see, guys, the possibilities are endless here.

Bradley Sutton:

With all of these filters, there is no one magic way that's going to get you the best keywords. Everybody has their own strategies. That's why we have these filters. But even that one could get you sales trying to look for keywords that at least just one of your competitors is getting sales from. All right, guys, that ends part two of our keyword research masterclass. We're going to have an unprecedented part three coming up soon, where we're going to show you the rest of the Cerebro strategies and we're even going to get into our other tool, magnet, to get you strategies that are going to give you sales that can help your business. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. We'll see you in the next one.

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What if you could unlock the potential of keyword search volume to exponentially boost your sales on Amazon? Imagine using a comprehensive tool like Helium 10's Cerebro to not only identify the keywords a product ranks for but also understand the demand of a keyword, observe products gaining the most clicks and purchases, and even keep track of your competitors' PPC strategy. In this Seller Strategy Masterclass episode, we break down these complex strategies, which, if utilized wisely, could lead to extra sales amounting to thousands of dollars.

In the realm of Amazon selling, understanding search volume and history is paramount. We guide you on how to capitalize on these essential metrics using Cerebro's robust features. Ever wondered how to leverage the power of reverse engineering the success of your competitors? We've got you covered! We dive into how to identify hot keywords in your niche, understand your competitors' PPC strategies, and find common roots among relevant keywords, all by harnessing the power of Helium 10’s Cerebro tool.

In our quest to empower Amazon sellers, we reveal new features and how to use the Cerebro IQ Score to identify profitable keywords and optimize their impact on your business. Plus, learn how the Amazon Recommended Rank can revolutionize your product listings. From the USA to Canada, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, UK, India, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and even the Walmart USA marketplace, these strategies are designed to supercharge your Amazon-selling experience. So, buckle up and join us for this riveting masterclass on Amazon seller strategies!

In episode 506 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

01:13 - A Seller Strategy Masterclass For Cerebro
06:11 - Using Helium 10's Cerebro to Analyze Amazon Keywords
12:38 - Understanding Search Volume And History
19:18 - Understanding Competitors' PPC Strategy
22:59 - Finding Common Keywords on Amazon
26:35 - Optimizing Title Density for Amazon Rankings
30:59 - Amazon Keyword Indexing
45:02 - Frequently Bought Together Products in Cerebro

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Walmart Announces Black Friday Sale Details and Previews Early Deals
https://www.cnet.com/deals/walmart-announces-black-friday-sale-details-and-previews-early-deals/

EU Store Transparency Report
https://assets.aboutamazon.com/cd/28/4d02dd2e41ec8c6d1bc341e9d919/amazon-eu-store-transparency-report-jan-june-2023.pdf

Bad Review Removal
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/h10bradley_dont-remember-getting-this-notification-activity-7125484541426708481-WmJx/

Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit's collaboration with brands and law enforcement result in global raids
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-counterfeit-crimes-unit-successful-raids-worldwide

Exclusive: How Walmart is using AI to supercharge its holiday plans
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-how-walmart-is-using-ai-to-supercharge-its-holiday-plans-190849969.html?guccounter=1

Shopify merchants seek AI boost for key sales decisions
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shopify-merchants-seek-ai-boost-key-sales-decisions-2023-11-01/

TikTok tests new ways to embed commerce into the in-app experience
https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/tiktok-tests-new-ways-embed-commerce-in-app-experience

And don't miss our deep dive on how to generate unlimited Amazon Post graphics using AI. Let’s discover how to elevate your business and create engaging content for your customers. It's an exciting time to be in e-commerce, and we're here to help you navigate it!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

01:12 - Amazon MYCE
02:37 - Walmart Black Friday
03:38 - FBM Update
04:22 - Premium A+ Content
05:21 - Amazon EU Details
06:33 - UK SAS Program
07:24 - Bad Review Removal
08:22 - Amazon CCU
09:41 - AI Everywhere
12:30 - Follow Helium 10 x Pacvue on TikTok
13:05 - ProTraining: How to Generate Amazon Posts using AI
19:48 - Helium 10 New Features Alert
23:48 - Did Bradley Hit 1 Mile?

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon's allowing sellers to send emails to customers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There's new requirements for premium A plus content, amazon's now sending emails out when they remove bad reviews, and there's tons of new AI news in the e-commerce world. This and much more on this week's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our weekly buzz. We give you a rundown of all the goings on in the e-commerce world this week. We also let you know what new features Helium 10 has and we give you a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week, all right? So first of all, if you're watching this on YouTube, you see I'm moving a lot. Well, I'm trying to be the first ever newscaster here to do a whole news segment while walking a mile on a treadmill. So that's what I'm doing. You guys know I've been trying to push health and wellness this year, so I'm trying to put my money where my mouth is and do some exercising here. Live on this show. My goal is to do one mile before this broadcast is over. Anyways, let's go ahead and hop right into the news. There's lots going on, all right. The first news article of the day is actually from Seller Central. It's on your dashboard and you may or may not have known this, but you can do marketing emails, all right. So now what you can do. This article here is talk is entitled increase visibility of your holiday deals with marketing emails. And so if you're a brand registered, you're able to use manage your customer engagement tool to you know market, to repeat purchases from existing customers and also your brand followers. Like you know, maybe you've gotten some brand followers thanks to Amazon Post, and if you take a look at this article, it talks about that. You're you can offer percentage off discounts, seven day deals and product launch announcement emails, and they're especially saying hey, you should try and do this during Black Friday and for Cyber Monday. So where you can do this, you can hit the link for manager experiments right there in that article. You go to your manager customer engagement page, you hit create campaign, you select your brand and then basically, what you can do is you can hit market product or promote a promotion and then you can market to recent customers brand followers or more and once you hit the next on this entry form, you're going to be able to pick your product and write the email, put the delivery window and more. So a lot of cool stuff that maybe you haven't taken advantage of, but if you've got some brand followers, you're going to be able to go ahead and take advantage of that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the next article of the day is actually from CNET and it's entitled Walmart announces Black Friday sale details and previews early deal. So this is kind of like a cool because it gives you kind of like a timeline of what is going on on the Walmart side. So they've actually got multiple events. So, like the first one is actually starting Wednesday, November 8th, you know, super early, at 3pm Eastern time, and Walmart plus early access goes from 12pm Eastern time. The second event starts on November 22nd and then Cyber Monday, November 27th, and so I'm bringing this out because you know if Walmart is going to be pushing these deals, that means there's going to be more traffic on Walmart.com, and if you're selling on Walmart.com might be a great opportunity to do some kind of discount or promotion or just be expecting extra traffic, so don't think that you have all the way until Black Friday, Cyber Monday, in order to start getting some more traffic on Walmart. It's starting as early as November 8th, according to this article.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is also from your seller central dashboard and it's entitled update on default handling time for seller fulfilled orders. So if you're doing seller fulfilled or FBM, you know traditionally you've had like two days in order to fulfill the orders. But make sure to check your dashboard. There's some new news. It's talking about how more than 85% of seller fulfilled orders are shipped within one day. So it's going to start putting by default one day, all right for the order window, and so I think this, you know this could be good because, if I'm assuming that, if this happens now, customers are going to see one day less as far as the estimated delivery time and obviously that's going to help your conversion rate, theoretically speaking. So check out that update in your dashboard and see if that affects you.

Bradley Sutton:

Next update is again your seller central dashboard a lot of the news articles in your seller central dashboard that you need to be checking out and it's entitled update to premium A plus content eligibility requirements. All right, so the new update is that first of all, I think before you actually had to have like 15 approved A plus content modules to be eligible for premium A plus. Well, now All you need is five All right, so five in the last 12 months. And then also you need a brand story module published on all of your brand-owned product listing. So again, premium A plus content allows you to put like really unique information, like video and other things. So if you're able to do that, make sure to qualify yourself for that. You know, so you can also get, even if you only have one or two products. You can still get qualified by having that brand story and then doing five times, getting some kind of A plus content approved, even if it's for the same listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, there is an article from Amazon Europe and it goes it's just called a transparency report and it goes like super into detail about tons and tons of facts and figures of what's going on on Amazon Europe and, like you know what they do to protect sellers and things. But the thing I wanted to show is the number of monthly active users for Amazon on the customer side for each of the countries in the EU. Now, obviously, uk is not in the EU, so that's not here. But if you guys thought that the number one country was Germany, you would be right 60 million active users. What do you guys think is the number two country? Number two country is actually Italy at 38 million, number three is France at 34 million and number four is Spain at 25 million. Those are the only ones that are in that bracket. The next one is Austria, with five million monthly active users in that country and there's not even an Amazon Austria, so they're probably shopping on Amazon Germany or one of the other marketplaces. So again, check the link in the description below. Kind of interesting if you guys want to see this whole EU transparency report.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article, again going right back to the seller central dashboard, but this time in Europe. All right, so if you are in Europe, you now are able to get a SAS or a strategic account services representative. You know sellers in the US have been using this to do tricks like what's called anything in the buy box. We've had that on the podcast before. But again, you UK and EU sellers, go to your seller central dashboard. You've got this notice. That's not on the US side, but you are now able to register here for the SAS plans and it's actually migrating a couple of the existing EU plans where you were able to have some kind of rep into this SAS core You'll rep service. So make sure to check the dashboard. You'll see a link that will allow you to go ahead and see if you can apply and then see if you qualify.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up there's this email that I got this week from Amazon. I hadn't seen it before. I'm not the only one who's gotten a lot of sellers I've been getting it some this week, some last week, some the week before where Amazon is now letting you know when they remove bad reviews or reviews from bad players on Amazon. So if you look, I put a link in the description on one of my LinkedIn posts where I talk about this. But here this is how the email looks. It says we remove product reviews from bad actors. All right Now, by bad actors. It doesn't mean Owen Wilson, sorry, bad joke, but anyways by bad actors. It means you know, whatever, they're probably abusing the system somehow. But I got an email that said hey, we notice there's some bad actors. We removed X and Y and Z reviews. You know happy selling pretty much. So I'm curious did you guys? Have you guys gotten this? Click the link below to my LinkedIn post and reply there. Let me know if you've gotten this email or not.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, for the next article, we have a theme song for it. Yes, we are talking about the Amazon department called the Amazon law and order CCU the counterfeit crimes unit. That actually is a real thing, guys Amazon counterfeit crime units. If you guys are listening on the radio or the your radio in your car or something, hopefully you heard the law and order theme song right there. But anyways, amazon has had this CCU, this counterfeit crime unit, where every month they seem to be doing new things to kind of crack down on counterfeits out there, and so they have a latest update that gives and kind of updates on the kinds of things that they've been doing. They did like raids, like crazy raids on with 150 Chinese law enforcements in China to like kind of like break down this smuggling ring on a bunch of fake products that were coming out. They took action against counterfeit rings across Europe. But this, this department, is doing some some cool things to try and break down on the bad players that are out there. So make sure to take a look at the link that we left in the comments below or in the description below, so you can see the kind of steps that Amazon has been taking to keep Amazon clean from the bad players.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the last few articles we're going to talk about are all about AI, and it's kind of crazy how AI is just taking over every marketplace, as being like in the news. Last week, as you guys know, we talked about the announcement on Amazon how they have now generative AI to help make images. We're actually going to have a demo of that in just a couple of minutes here. But now even Walmart is getting in on the AI. Bandwagon says how. This article from Yahoo Finance talks about how Walmart is using AI to supercharge its holiday plans, and it's talking about how they're using it to try and distribute the inventory across the country a little bit better across there, more than 4,000 stores and this is going to be able to allow them to deliver same day to more locations by having the right inventory in the right distribution centers and stores Again, a benefit for Amazon sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Moving on in this AI craze, there is an article out of Reuters about Shopify Says. Shopify merchants seek AI boost for key sales decisions. So make sure to check out this article, where it talks about Shopify's new kind of like features that are now featuring AI. And then, of course, not to be outdone, TikTok shop is testing new ways to embed commerce into the in-app experience, according to insiderintelligence.com. Now, this was almost the most interesting story for me, because they're rolling out this kind of like AI tool that can use AI to identify products in videos and suggest similar items for sales on its e-commerce marketplace. This isn't using the affiliate program.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this is interesting because, like, what that means is, let's say, somebody has got a just dancing video or they're doing a Amazon or a TikTok shop or a TikTok live or something, and then, in the background, all right, they've got I don't know some barbecue. Well, it sounds like what's going to happen is the AI is going to try and like, detect if any TikTok shop seller has a that exact barbecue or something similar, and then give a suggestion to somebody who's watching this regular TikTok video hey, do you want to buy that product that you see in there? You know, I mean, people follow these influencers and they want to copy them. They want to have what they have. They want to have their same furniture or have their same phone case and stuff. Now, without the influencer even promoting directly other products, TikTok shop is going to be promoting other TikTok shop products from there. Now I think the influencers might get a little bit upset, because this article talks about that. They're not actually going to get any affiliate commission for this. Anyways, this is interesting Another way that AI is being used. All right, that's it for the news this week.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, before we get on into the next segment, one quick thing. Speaking of TikTok, do you know that Helium 10 has a TikTok page? Guys, make sure to go to it, add it. Go to your TikTok app, search for Helium 10 pack view. All right, helium 10 pack view, no spaces, and then you'll see tons of videos from our social media team. Like Sydney, we've also got clips from this podcast and we've also got educational content on there. So again, give us a follow, like a couple of the videos to help the algorithm. Helium 10 pack view is the name of our account. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, we've got our training tip of the week, and this is a great one by Shivali. She's going to be talking about Amazon post, but did you guys know that you can actually have an infinite number for free of Amazon post, that you can post pictures every day and you don't have to make new images by yourself, or you don't have to take new pictures and you don't even have to make the captions. Guys, all right, it is completely done by AI, thanks to Amazon and thanks to Helium 10's new AI feature for Amazon posts. You guys want to find out how to do it. Shivali is going to explain how in this next video.

Shivali:

Hi there, Shivali. Here I want to talk to you about Amazon posts, which is a really powerful tool that you can use to elevate your business, create engaging content for your consumers, all while showcasing your products in a way that tells the story behind your brand. Now there are a lot like social media posts, but you can't just copy over the product listing copy and images. There has to be some intentionality, because it has to be visually appealing and attention grabbing. Let's take a look at an example. You can find Amazon posts by selecting the storefront underneath the product listing page and navigating to posts here. As you can see, it's not just a plain image with boring description. In fact, it's designed to be visually appealing and catch your attention, and that's what you really want. This brings me to my next point, which might answer your question, and that is what if I don't have a bunch of photos laying around from a fancy photo shoot? Well, that's what AI is for. You can use Generative AI to generate the content that you need. It can create images, captions and even suggest the best times to post for maximum visibility. It's kind of like having a creative assistant right at your fingertips, making your Amazon posts look like a million bucks, even if you're on a budget. I'm going to show you a quick and easy way to enhance your sponsored brand campaigns on Amazon. So I'm going to go ahead and navigate to my Advertising Panel, click Campaign Manager and, once I have that open, what you will want to do is select the sponsored brand campaign that you want to try this with. If you don't have one, no worries, you can just create a new active sponsored brand campaign and then, once that page has loaded, you are going to click on Create so Creative is on the left-hand paneling once again and then select Edit Creative.

Shivali:

Here comes the fun part. So you select Custom Image, click Change Image and then click Choose an AI-generated image. So this is in beta at the moment of recording, and what you will want to do is select whichever product that you want to try this with. I'm going to type in an image description, so this one's quite simple. It just says Product Hanging on Wall in a Bedroom, above the Bed with a Gothic Bed Frame. I would click Generate and ideally, what you would see on your end is multiple image options. Then you would go through and select the ones that you like that you find appealing. As you can see, we were given three outputs based off the query that we inputted, so I would then go ahead and open each one of these up and click Save to Creative Assets. I'll show you where these are getting saved in just a moment here, but let's go ahead and click Save for each one of these. All right, let's X out of that and then, once we have that stuff saved, it's going to be in Creative Tools, underneath Creative Assets, right here.

Shivali:

This, guys, is your gallery of images of your creative assets that you can really use anytime that you have generative AI images being saved. This is where they are being funneled. So what I'm going to do is just click this three dots icon and click Download and then, once I have that downloaded, I can then go into my brand content, go into Posts and begin creating a post. Let's select Manny's Mysterious Audities and then click Create Post and upload our image. Here I have the AI generated image, click Open and, as you can see, for us it's saying the image is too wide because, again, this design was built underneath our sponsored brand campaigns when we were trying to just generate AI based image. Keep in mind that this has saved us a lot of time and money and efforts in just being able to get images without actually having to do a photo shoot. So it's pretty simple to throw this image then into a sizing machine or even something as simple as Canva to resize it and then upload it.

Shivali:

After that I'm also going to need a caption. So what I'm going to do is go into our listing builder and as long as you have the product characteristics, the brand information, product name, tone, target audience, etc. Filled out at the top of your listing builder, then you can actually go all the way down to Amazon Posts or just select the tab right here and click Write it for me. I did already go ahead and click Write it for me, just to save a little bit of time so you guys can see it. But, as you can see, it's really good. This pulls from your keyword bank, it helps with your generated search volume and it absolutely makes your Amazon posts process a lot easier. Let's jump back into Amazon Posts and get that pasted in and once you have that part filled out, you can just add in your product. I'm going to click Add. Mine says out of stock, so it says one available. ASINs won't show in your post and posts have to have, of course, at least one ASIN in stock to be visible, but this was just an example. I wanted to go through and show you guys just how easy it is to generate images and captions so you can quickly create posts even if you don't have access to a wide gallery of images. Go ahead and click Submit for review. As long as you've followed along and you've created this with me, I hope you guys recognize that, with this new AI generation tool and the listing builder tool with Amazon Posts, now you really have access to a never ending supply of Amazon Posts. So with that, we look forward to seeing your content on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, thank you very much for that, Shivali. So, guys, that's available. I believe you might have to have diamond for some of that feature functionality inside of Listing Builder, the feature that she talked about for Amazon Post or creating those images that's pretty much open to anybody. So, guys, you, there's no reason anymore for you not to do Amazon Post. You can generate the images now for free and then, limited amount, you can generate captions for free, so you don't have to always be thinking about what am I going to write for a caption. So, guys, get into that now. And we've got announcements coming soon. Guys, that's going to make that process even more easy because we have an exclusive Helium 10 as an exclusive arrangement and access to a certain I can't really, you know, completely spill it, but a certain data point and a certain functionality that only Helium 10 has for the next few months, and we're going to try and give you guys that functionality as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up is a brand new feature that we're going to start doing weekly. Helium 10 is actually launching new features every week, guys. You know, sometimes you guys might not know everything that we're releasing. So here in the weekly buzz. Starting this week, we are going to start letting you guys know in a special video here what all we have launched in the last week so you can see if it benefits you and then make sure that you and your team use it. All right, so this week's Helium 10 new feature alert, let's hop right into it. The first one is actually on your dashboard in Helium 10. All right, or it's actually in a couple places. So you just go to your insights dashboard right here as soon as you log into Helium 10, if you've got the diamond plan on the above, you've got. You're going to see all of your information down here at the bottom. That's not new. What is new is that now, if you put your mouse over any of your products, you have this whole new widget of information that is going to come out where you can see the BSR in the parent category, the BSR in the sub category of your product, your listing age, you know who's, what seller has, the buy box, what your current price is, the review count. Now, that's for your product. So maybe you're thinking like, well, I already know all of my product stuff, but the other thing is on our competitors page. All right. So we have a competitors page now. If you're tracking your competitors, you can also again now mouse over and then you're going to see all of that same information. So that's a one cool thing that just got launched in Helium 10 insights dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

A couple of things now in Cerebro. If you're in Cerebro and you do a multi-ASIN search, one of my favorite filters were the advanced rank filters. Now they are no longer called advanced rank filters. I just wanted to let you know we change the name so it's a little bit more easier to understand what the advanced rank filters do is. It allows you to filter out and say, hey, I want to see at least this number of the competitor ASINs and this multi-ASIN search are ranking between this and this right? Well, now, now in those headings, if you guys want to find those features, it's right down here and it's called number of competitors. This is the filter the artist, formerly known as advanced rank filter, one which really kind of like confused some people. So again, what you're looking for is number of competitors, and then you put a minimum and maximum here of of how many of the competitors you want to kind of be ranking a certain range. All right, so if you put in 10 competitors and then you put a minimum of two and a maximum of five, basically, what you're saying is, hey, of these 10 competitors, I want minimum two and maximum five of them to be ranking between X and Y. And that's where you go to the very next field, which is called competitor rank. So you can say, hey, I want these to be ranking between one and 20. I want to know all the keywords, or at least two of these competitors, but a maximum of five are ranked page one, position one to 20. So, again, this is not a new filter. Is this a new name? And I'm just kind of reminding you guys about it. Again, it's called number of competitors and competitor rank.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if I actually go in and hit the show historical trend, we've got a small update feature there. This comes directly from you guys. So if I hit this, I can actually go in and pull out hey, show me the certain ranks, let's say, of June 2022. And now what you see? When you see this search volume, like before, we just picked the last week of this month. All right, so this is showing me the ranks of all of these products during the month of June of 2023. But now what this search volume represents that you see in the search results. Again, this is by, you know, customer request. It is now showing for that month of June, the week that had the highest search volume. All right, so 1468 was what the highest search volume was during the month of June. All right, that's it for this week's Helium 10 new feature alerts. Well, guys, that's also it for this week's Weekly Buzz. As you can see, I didn't hit my one mile goal here on my Apple watch. I only got 0.67 miles in. I'm going to have to keep walking for the next 20 minutes to hit that one mile. Anyways, guys, thanks for tuning in this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

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Unlock the secret to a successful Amazon launch strategy in our latest episode, where we discuss the fundamental aspects of the Maldives Honeymoon launch and Bali Blast pre-launch strategies, including keyword research, test listings, PPC campaign setup, and much more. We promise to equip you with an arsenal of tips, tricks, and strategies to help your product launch be successful. We'll kick off with the importance of sending relevant signals to Amazon, particularly when exploring a new niche - a component many entrepreneurs often overlook.

Shifting gears, we'll discuss how the Amazon Recommended Rank can be your secret weapon in product visibility. We'll walk you through optimizing your test listings, and share real examples of how to enhance your titles and send targeted traffic to specific keywords. We're also sharing how this strategy works in the Amazon Germany marketplace and all other Amazon marketplaces in the world, providing you with a comprehensive understanding of different markets and how the strategy adapts accordingly.

Lastly, we'll dive deep into the world of Amazon PPC campaigns, bid modifiers, keyword tracking, and the power of product bundling. And if you're confused by Amazon fees or finding a reliable 3PL - we've got you covered. We'll explore fee structures, pricing strategies, and 3PL selection to ensure you’re set up for success. Plus, we'll answer all your burning questions in our monthly Q&A session. So buckle up for a jam-packed episode filled with actionable insights, personal anecdotes, and real-world examples designed to elevate your Amazon selling journey!

In episode 505 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

03:32 - Amazon Launch Strategy
08:04 - Understanding Amazon Recommended Keywords
11:29 - Maximizing Amazon Impressions
13:03 - Utilizing Test Listings for Product Launches
16:37 - Launching and Ranking Products in Amazon Germany
25:59 - Surviving and Thriving Amidst Price Wars
28:31 - Launching a Product and 3PL Recommendations
31:25 - Launching Product at the Right Time
34:19 - How To Get Monthly Q&A for Serious Sellers Club Members

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a recap strategy session on Amazon launches and we answer all of your questions live, such as how to do keyword research on combo product listings, how to set up PPC campaigns and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you looking to learn how to sell on Amazon? The freedom to get course, made by Kevin King, is one of the most popular courses ever created for Amazon sellers. It's got over 90 modules and 40 hours of detailed, step-by-step training to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Now this course costs $997, but Helium 10 actually covers that cost of the course for any Helium 10 member. Find out why tens of thousands of students love this program by going to h10.me forward slash freedom ticket. Don't forget that if you do sign up for a Helium 10 account, don't pay full price. Use our podcast discount code SSP10 to save 10% off for life.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that is our monthly ask me anything and presentation. So once a month we open this up to all of our Facebook groups and our YouTube channel etc. To open up to any questions that you guys might have for me about Helium 10 and a lot of the functions, but we always start out with like a mini training session as well. Now we actually have this every week in our Serious Sellers Club. So for our serious sellers club, which are automatically enrolled in, if you've been selling on Amazon for over a year and do at least $500,000 a year of revenue, you're in our serious sellers club. This is something we give to them, as well as our Helium 10 elite members, every week, but once a month we open it up to everybody. So that's what we're doing today. We want to make sure that you guys just get a little taste of what happens behind the scenes here. But anyways, what we're going to be I want to present on while you guys are getting your questions ready and putting them in the chat.

Bradley Sutton:

Is Amazon Launch Strategy, all right. So we just had episode 500 come out where we talk about a recap of the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy, which that goes way, way more into detail on that. So you should definitely go to that episode 500 for a recap. And then another one that I want you guys to look at is what we call the Bolly Blast Strategy. That's like your prelaunch strategy. We just make up funny names for for stuff because it's easier to remember. But go back to episode 466 and 467. All right, episodes 466 and 467. You can go to h10.me forward slash 466 or h10.me forward slash 467 to go to those like prelaunch strategies about how to do your keyword research and how to set yourself up for success. But let's just focus for next. You know, five minutes or so on the, just the actual launch strategy, and I'm going to be doing this this week. I'm relaunching something and launching something. I'm always doing tests, as you guys know, and I'm going to be losing this exact strategy this week for this new launch. But basically, if you've done all the right keyword research, you know part of that Bolly Blast Strategy that I was talking about. Basically, what you want to do is is set your listing up to make sure that you have the most relevancy signals sent to Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, this is something new that we hadn't talked about in previous episodes of the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy. Right, we just said, hey, start your. You know, do the right research, start your listing, get ready to get ready to go and you know you're off to the races. But what I've noticed in the last year is a little bit of a I guess you could say algorithmic, you know, shift a little bit, where the effects of not being relevant from day one to Amazon is kind of like far reaching, like it's going to mean that you can't get, you can't get impressions in your PPC. Obviously you're not going to start ranking for certain keywords. And so one of the new things that I have been suggesting when you're launching, especially in niches that are not that competitive and that there's not that much, you know, established sellers, this is probably not the same thing as launching for collagen peptides or garlic press or something like. Or you know, neck pillow or something like that. Like, I would think that if you have optimized your listing the right way, probably Amazon knows what you are from day zero or from day one, right, but even in that situation it's not 100%. But especially if you're in a newer niche where there's not that much data out there, any little thing could mean that Amazon is coming completely confused about your product. And this is how I discovered that.

Bradley Sutton:

So I did some testing, test launches on this coffin bath tray, like a think of like a regular bath tray where you're just chilling your bathtub. You got a tray that goes over your your bathtub and you put your candles on there and your books or whatever. So I had some, some test products that I was launching and from day one, like I could not get, it didn't rank me right away for coffin bath tray and I wasn't even getting that many impressions in PPC, if any. So some some zero at all on some keywords that were highly relevant to coffin bath tray, which is what the product was, and it's not like oh, I didn't make my listing in the correct way or anything like. No, I had this in my title, I had that keyword in other places in my listing. I did the list. Trust me, guys, I did the listing the right way. By the way, I'm sure this has happened to you guys. How many of you guys have launched a product in the last year or two where you're one of your, some of your main keywords? You couldn't get impressions in PPC or it was like impossible to rank in the beginning. Has that ever happened to you? I'm sure it has. But basically now there's a way to predict that.

Bradley Sutton:

So you look at Amazon recommended rank this is in helium 10. All right, this is in helium 10, uh cerebro. That is actually a live feed from Amazon. Now there's no, there's no metric in Amazon called Amazon recommended. We made that name up, but where that data comes from is directly from Amazon. It's in real time, all right. It's not some estimation or some aggregate uh information. It is actually uh directly from Amazon in real time, and what it's referring to is is which keywords Amazon thinks is most relevant to your listing. Now, in the past, this one data point that we've been getting for years, it was only for in the context of Amazon PPC. All right, it's the keywords that Amazon suggests that you uh advertise for the most in PPC, but now it's kind of more.

Bradley Sutton:

For over the last year I've been noticing these, this trend, where it's a great indication of just in general, what Amazon thinks your product is. All right, you know what. I wasn't planning to do this, but but let's go ahead and and maybe just do a live demonstration Throw me a random product in the chat that that's got some, um, that's got some decent reviews. It's been on Amazon for a while, like maybe it's got a thousand reviews or more, where the keyword should be kind of obvious what Amazon thinks uh for. All right, here we go. I see somebody threw in something.

Bradley Sutton:

Aubrey says recipe box. All right, let me look that up. Recipe box or book box? I guess it's a box. I never heard of this uh product before. I think I think I, um, I misspelled it, but that's fine, all right, let me. Let me just show you guys what we're looking at here. All right, here we go. So this is a recipe box. All right, let's pick one that has a lot of reviews. Uh, heart and berry recipe box. It's kind of weird, though it hasn't had that many sales at least. Oh, there are 200 sales for this one. Um, 300 sales for this one. Let's maybe use this one right here. All right, sensory for you recipe box. That's pretty hilarious. Let's just take a look at this box really quick. Okay, I see what this is. All right, now I'm going to put this into helium 10's cerebro. Let's go ahead and go into cerebro here. All right, here we go. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, as you guys know, the the regular helium 10, you know, we've got all of our organic keywords and and sponsored and and and all that information. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to sort by Amazon recommended rank. That's one of these columns right here. Okay, you guys see that right here. All right, amazon recommended rank by me sorting it right when it goes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. What this means is this is the the top keywords that Amazon thinks you should advertise for. But take a look at these top keywords, guys. Look at this 10 recipe box. Recipe box. Recipe keeper box. Recipe box cute. Is Amazon confused about this product? No, absolutely not. It knows exactly what this is. All right. Now I don't know if this is going to work. I'm just going to go and pick an older, an older listing here.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go to like to page something that's not doing very good for recipe box. Let's go to like to page three. Maybe there's a brand new product here. Let's see, is there? Is there still a box that allows me to choose the top new products? There used to be a filter here that says like brand new products. Maybe it's not here anymore. Oh, here are new arrivals last 30 days. Let's take a look at this. All right, so this is last 30 days. Okay, perfect. Now I'm going to go to like something that's like way at the end here, like that's not ranked on page one, something that was brand new. All right, here we go. This is not a recipe box, but this is a tea leaf storage container. All right, let's take a look at this. I'm going to take this asin right here, copy this. Actually, I'm just going to run it directly in Cerebro. I'm going to hit this button and go run in Cerebro. So this is not a recipe box, obviously, but it's a. It's a newer product and if I'm looking at this, this product, it looks like a rectangular tea. Oh, tea leaf storage in here. That's probably what this product is. All right, but I'm just curious what is Amazon going to think that this is? Let's take a look right now. All right, let's go to Amazon Recommended and again, I obviously did not choose any of this. I have never looked at tea leaf boxes in my life here. But let's go ahead and do the same thing where we sort by Amazon Recommended rank and look at this. All right, this is not too bad.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the number one keyword this has made a little bit worried. It says coffee tea, and the number two keyword says storage container. But there it is right. There. Tea box is number four tea storage, but a lot of okay. So this kind of is a good. This kind of is a good example here guys, look at. Do you remember how on the recipe box, how in the recipe box all of these keywords had recipe box, the top recommended rank, like there's no doubt what Amazon thinks is this product. But notice this newer product. It's got some random stuff here. Like it does have the good keywords here. But then look at this. It says can storage is the number three keyword, coffee container it's not necessarily a coffee container. Seal container T10, okay, well, t10 might be a good one. Empty tins all right. So this is interesting here because, as you can see this newer product, can you see how Amazon is a little bit confused, maybe about what it is? All right. So that's why, right here, how this can be powerful.

Bradley Sutton:

What I suggest doing when you are how does this tie into launch? All right, what I suggest doing is do a test listing, all right, because if Amazon is confused about your product, guess what's gonna happen as soon as you launch it day one. You're not gonna get top impressions right away for a keyword that Amazon doesn't think is your product, right? Sometimes it takes a little tweaking, like should you maybe tweak a little bit of your listing optimization to make it more relevant. Yeah, you gotta tweak that to get this Amazon recommended number fairly high and to see if you can get these impressions. So when you do a test listing, this is the reason why Number one is for Amazon recommended. Number two is to make sure that from day one you're gonna start getting impressions. Now, if your Amazon recommended is non-existent for an important keyword, it's probably it's gonna be difficult usually to get those PPC impressions.

Bradley Sutton:

So now the question comes in well, what can you do to influence the Amazon recommended rank? Well, sometimes it is about listing optimization. Usually, if you don't have any of your title, you having your title, well then Amazon will figure out what it is. Sometimes it's sending traffic to a certain keyword search. We talk about that a little bit in episode 500, about the kind of things you can do to make sure that Amazon gets that relevancy signal. But the point of this discussion is about making that test listing. Is, if you just launch your product and you're having to figure things, these things out, like all right, how do I send this relevancy signal? Do I need to change a part of my listing somewhere to make sure Amazon knows where my product is. And let me do this test wait an hour for it to update. All right, let me see. Does this have an effect on my PPC? What's happening during this time? Time is being wasted right In, like your honeymoon period and initial velocity.

Bradley Sutton:

You want to kind of like start off your product with a bang from day one, where you're potentially getting clicks and sales and ads of carts and different things from organic customers out there. Well, if you're having to spend all your time trying to fix things, you're accumulating days of bad like interactions with your listing right and then so it's gonna be that much harder to write the ship. So that's why in episode 500, I was recommending people to make this test listing do all these like test and figure this stuff out beforehand like on a quote unquote fake listing. Now, when I say fake listing, you still have to have a real UPC. So you have to pay 10, 20 bucks for a UPC. You're wasting, but for me it's invaluable.

Bradley Sutton:

Testing, get everything right so that you know what you need to do to your listing to get your Amazon recommended. Rank up what you need to do to your listing to get those PPC impressions, and then now on your real listing from day one day zero. Now you're starting off on the right foot, and sometimes it's not just about optimizing your listing. It might be that you have to send some traffic to a certain keyword. Well, at least, instead of trying to figure out what that traffic is, you already figured it out on your test listing and now you can just go ahead and start off doing that from as soon as you make your listing live. So again, that's just like a summary of the. You know the recent differences in the Maldives Honeymoon strategy. Again, go back to h10.me forward slash 500 to get you know all the details, and then I show some of my, or I talk about some of my tests. I did that that brought me to this conclusion, but I hope that is going to that episode, plus the 466 and 467 about how to set up your listing, should help you have a good launch. You know whether you're launching here in Q4 or going to launch in Q1, these strategies definitely should help you.

Bradley Sutton:

So now what I want to do is open it up to questions. Okay, js says how do you run a test listing before you order inventory? No, no, this is not before you order inventory. This is you've already got your inventory ready to go and it's probably in Amazon almost, or on the way to Amazon. At least it could be at any time during this time. It could be before you order inventory, but to me I wouldn't do it. That that's way too far in advance. I would do this test listing like one week before you're ready to actually launch, and the reason is is you want the freshest information. You know you want to do something three months beforehand and then basically it's out of date by the time you're launching three months later, right? So this strategy is to have all inventory handy and start with a dummy listing. Yes, that's what I do. That's what I'm literally doing, literally today. I'm doing that on one launch. I'm relaunching some holiday related products that are going to be good in December, and so I'm doing a test listing to just like check what's going on right now. But, like, the product is already on the way to Amazon from my warehouse in California, so it's going to be there in like four or five days. So, yeah, that's what's going on there. Good question Farhand says if we launch in Germany, then what strategy is the same strategy?

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so everything that I just showed you guys right now. You can also do for Amazon, germany, as far as looking at the Amazon recommended, and Cerebro, as far as you know, sending the traffic you know to your listing. Everything I mentioned today absolutely is applicable to the German market. Here we've got somebody who said how to rank a product which is a combo of two different products. Okay, great question. So there's different ways to do it. All right, and I've done it both ways. I've done a product where I have the exact same product and I make two separate Asins for it because the keywords that can go for it are different, and I was just like you know what I want to kind of like tailor, make my listing and the image and the copy for people searching for this thing, but the product could be used for something completely different and so I made a completely separate listing for that. So that's one way to do it, not very recommended unless you're in a very niche thing, like I am, if you've got like two products, like I don't know, like I'm looking here at my desk, like like headphones and a microphone right Now.

Bradley Sutton:

Number one you want to make sure that you are relevant for the customer who is most likely to buy that product and who is the customer that's most likely to buy a headphone and microphone combo? It is somebody searching for headphone and microphone. So you've got to find the keywords most related to somebody looking for that combo, right, which is different for every product. Obviously it could be for this one, it could be podcast, podcast beginners kit or something Headphone and microphone combo, right. Those are words specifically for somebody buying a microphone. But then what I think you're asking is sometimes maybe somebody's searching for headphones but they're like oh, there's headphones and microphone together. I might go ahead and buy that. Well, yeah, now you've got to optimize and be ready for those headphone only related keywords and the microphone only related keywords. So it's kind of like you are doing three different keyword research. You're doing the research on other products and other keywords that have already the same combo that you have. You're doing research on the ones that have just one of the products and a research on ones that have the other one of the products, and then what you're going to want to launch on for me is going to be still the keywords. That is most likely to get you a sale and that's going to be on the combo products, right. So, or the combo keywords. So that would be my suggestion to you there.

Bradley Sutton:

Great question from Dan says is there a Helium 10 workflow chart checklist to help launch a new product on Amazon? It's pretty much that, that, those podcast episodes I mentioned. Now we're going to make that into like a PDF form soon. A lot of customers have been asking for that. But if you want to like it to go through a checklist to make sure you've done, you've done everything you can on the keyword research, you've done everything you have on the listing optimization, again, go to episode 466, then 467 and then 500. And those three episodes is kind of like my virtual checklist of everything you need to do, from the keyword research to listing optimization, pre-launch and then launch.

Bradley Sutton:

Now that the CLA says Bradley, what do you suggest? Create a campaign with each ad with all three match types, or create one campaign with one ad group containing all three match types? I'm not 100% sure I'm understanding, but if I understand what you're saying, basically what I would do is or what I would do what I do do is I make separate campaigns, each with one ad group, and it's a different match type. So I always start with one exact match campaign. Okay, I have another campaign that is a broad match. Usually. I have another campaign that's auto, and then I'll have two different product targeting campaigns. One is an asin targeting campaign and then one which, and then one that is a sponsor display campaign. But yeah, if you're talking, if that's what you meant by the match types you know, like broad, exact and auto, yes, I always keep those in separate campaigns, personally, in atomic Of course I'm talking about.

Bradley Sutton:

Kassar says new launch in Canada market. Give me some tips about how to rank in Canada. 100% the same. So everything Kassar, that I said today about launch, I obviously was talking about the US market, but that would be the. That would be also the Canadian market, german market, whatever you're launching, and you would use those same strategies. Everything works. Or back to Dota says I have gold cross necklace as phrase, match and gold cross necklace as exact in the same ad group. At which point should a performing keyword be moved as an exact keyword? Yeah, so, so again, for me, I wouldn't have that when I set up my campaigns. And helium 10, atomic, I keep the, the, the match types separate, all right. So what, what I'm going to have is I'm going to have a. Let's just say I don't have gold cross necklace as an exact match, but I have gold cross. Gold cross, all right, or no? No, no, let me say gold necklace as a phrase match, right? Okay, I set up atomic rules to say if I get two orders at a certain a cost or below, to go ahead and suggest to get that and make it an exact match in my Exact campaign. So then, if gold cross necklace, which is a phrase match from gold necklace, if gold cross necklace gave me two orders at 25% a cost or whatever you know I had chosen for that, it's gonna actually suggest to me to hit a button and it's gonna move it to my exact match campaign which again, is separate from my phrase match campaign.

Bradley Sutton:

Very important, in my opinion, to keep things separately for this reason, so that you could kind of like segregate what's going on as far as the a different, as far as your different campaigns and match types go. Constance says, when creating a new manual exact single word campaign, would you suggest to go above the suggested bid and do placement strategy a hundred percent for product pages and top of search to collect data or burn money? Yeah, somebody asked me this before. I'm old school, alright. So me personally, I don't use the placement strategy. That does not mean that it's bad or that you shouldn't do it, it's just because I have a system that's been working for me for years where I just changed my actual bid instead of doing the placement. You know, you know the bid modifiers and it works for me. Now, if you want to play with the, you know the top of search and stuff like that, there is nothing wrong with that. I know plenty of a very successful Amazon sellers who use that. But me personally, I keep everything in atomic, just strictly about the, the bid, and I'm looking at my keyword ranks right In atomic you can actually see, if you're tracking that keyword and keyword tracker, where you are ranking and sponsored. So that's why it's easy for me to like just modify my bid, because if I have boost on and keyword tracker, I know exactly where my sponsor that is showing up, if it's showing up in in 10th or 15th or 1st or 2nd, and so I know that. Alright, let me raise my bid up. Alright, then I'll get a little bit higher rank theoretically, alright. So that's that question.

Bradley Sutton:

Dauda says Bradley, how can we get a one-on-one call with you? So this is for helium 10 elite member. So I do one-on-one calls Once a month with any helium 10 member who wants it, and there's also group calls we have. So if you're part of helium 10 elite program, yes, you can have one-on-one calls with myself and also carry. Alright, daniel says my product is a two-piece set One main product and one complimentary product. I made sure that both are purchased together and I'm using 80% keywords for the main product and 20% for the complimentary. So wait, daniel, is your ace in just one ace in, or are you having people or do you have some kind of deal where it's like buy one and then Get this one for X percent off or something? If both of you, if this is just one ace in, daniel, what you want to do is Exactly what I said about 10 minutes ago. I don't know if you caught that, just rewind on this, but you want to make sure that that you're focusing on the Combo keywords, where people might be searching for both together, and then, yeah, going For the individual keywords as well, because sometimes this is differentiation. Maybe you, maybe there are no combo keywords out there and you just put this bundle together because you know that people will probably buy it, even if they search for just one, then yeah, then all you have to worry about is the individual Keywords. I'm not sure about 80% keywords for the main product and 20% for the complimentary. It depends on what you think has the most search volume for somebody who would buy that product, because maybe the people who buy the complimentary product are more likely to buy the combo and in that sense, you shouldn't just be Giving it 20% of the keyword keyword juice. Right there.

Bradley Sutton:

Kassar says when a good selling product, people start the price war, how to survive to maintain your organic rank in the product. Yeah, well, first of all, sometimes you just can't. Let me just say that right now. I know that's bad news for some of you. Sometimes it just gets so crazy that you just can't make money. You're just gonna have to cut that product after you sell out, all right. That being said, you know, like the coffin shelf right now for Project X, we've got tons and tons of competition and they're just doing some ridiculous pricing. You know, like we're, there's no way they're making money on it due to I know what shipping costs, right? So what I decided to do? I'm doing the opposite. I'm going up in price. I'm raising the price by like three or four or five dollars and I added about three or four or five dollars of cost To my product because I'm expanding out, like I'm doing some like really cool box that I'm going to use and I'm adding some trinkets to the coffin shelf to, and so my theory is that, hey, I'm gonna catch the customers who are looking for a more premium style of product and if this doesn't work, you know what? There might come to be a day where I have to stop selling the coffin shelf, and right now I can still sell it for a higher price. But if sales ever go down to zero, I am not gonna get in a price war. You know where. I'm not gonna put the coffin shelf for 19 dollars when I used to sell it for 32 dollars. No, so sometimes you just can't Compete. At that you you'll have to cut the courts. But Enhance your product with different, with different things, and go for that more premium look, and you know you could have some some action there.

Bradley Sutton:

Mario says Quick question Should I negate an important keyword for my product after having spent 25 dollars on it and zero sales, when the product itself is 40 dollars? This is a good question. Now, if you, if it's one of the main keywords like this is what people would search, before just blindly negating it, you've got to figure out why people are not converting. All right, so I would look in search query performance for that keyword and look at the Competitors who are getting high clicks. You don't know who's getting high purchases, so you know you could do that. You could look in brand analytics and see who is the top three Clicked and then is there one of them who is getting a lot of sales. And then I'll just take a look at that listing and ask yourself why is somebody clicking on my competitors listing after searching for the same keyword and they're buying my competitor product but not mine. So you've got to ask yourself what is the reason why they're not.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if it's a keyword that you just think is relevant to your product, are you were hoping is relevant to your product? Well, in that case you might have been wrong. So, where that cutoff is for you $25, you know if that, if you got, for me it's almost more important the number of clicks. Now, of course it's important how much you spend, but if I only got 10 clicks and that was what cost $25. That might not be enough data to say, hey, I need to negate it. So it should be like 2025 clicks, 30 clicks even, or yeah, if you get 30 clicks and you don't get a sale, you're probably not gonna get a sale. And again, all of this can be done right there in atomic, so you don't have to. You know, look at this manual. Amazon is regularly increasing different types of fees and squeezing the profits. Please guide on pricing strategy while remaining in Competition. So so, yeah, this is why you have to have your helium 10 profits Active and connected to your account and be monitoring that, because you've got to really keep an eye on the PPC cost. You know the other fees no, amazon is not charging that much. You know Amazon increases fees, but it's it's pennies that that Amazon increases.

Bradley Sutton:

If that affects you, you've got bigger problems. All right. If Amazon increasing the fulfillment on something from 73 cents to 81 cents and that kills your bottom line, you've got some other problems. That's different than just Amazon, all right. The one that really affected some people, which I can empathize with, is Amazon doing away with the small and light program that really affected me. That wasn't just a matter of pennies. You know that's like a dollar worth of profit off of our bottom lines a lot of us, you know, if we didn't do anything. So it's very important to make sure that that is. That is a setup. All right, we got one more. Ali is in the green room. We'll bring up Ali to the stage. Ali, how's it going? Hey Brad, how are you Pretty good on yourself? Excellent, yep, go ahead.

Ali:

So I'm just launching my new product. I just wanted to know that, is it better to launch in the fourth quarter or should I wait till January and then launch it? Because you know, right now the competition is really high and the sales are high, but my budget is not that much. Initially I have the budget, but I'm trying not to spend too much so that I can, you know, learn the game first and then go big.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it depends. It depends on on on the market. You know like if you've got a product that is still gonna, you know like if you're selling a Christmas tree ornament, well you better launch it now because you know you're not gonna do very well in January. But if it's something that is too expensive to launch now, because the traffic is so high that the amount of sales it's gonna take to get to you to page one is is going to be too much, that's a personal decision. You know you might have to wait.

Ali:

Yeah, page one, you know there's not a lot of reviews on. The maximum number of reviews are like 100 or 150 or something, but the search volume is a lot and it says not a seasonal product. So I think it would do well in any season. That is the thing.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, so those. That's the thing. You have to wait because the other thing is, like you said, maybe the search volume is very high right now, meaning it'll be very expensive to launch, but if this is the window where People have 50 and 75 and 100 reviews, but if you wait until February, everybody now all of a sudden has 400 views, yeah well, it's still gonna be expensive now because it's gonna. It's gonna cost you more to get you know, to get the velocity. So so there's, there's almost no right or wrong answer per se.

Ali:

Yeah, I mean personally.

Bradley Sutton:

I have never, ever, waited until Q1 to launch something. If I have something, I have the product in here and it's October, November, I'll go ahead, and I'll go ahead and launch it.

Ali:

Okay, so can I ask one more question? Okay, I decided to go through the PA 3PL route. You know I'm not I'm not delivering the product directly to Amazon. So I was looking into it and I really can't find some reliable website or somewhere to find 3PL. So do you have any ideas about that? Although that's a very immature question, but I did just try out hubhealyum10.com.

Bradley Sutton:

So there are some 3PLs there, hub.helium10.com and the Helium 10 users have like reviewed some of them, so I would take a look at the ones, look at the reviews and then go from there.

Ali:

Okay yeah, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Dan says this listing builder have all the features of screw, but you shouldn't be using. No, nobody, guys should be using scribbles anymore. I don't even know why we have that tool still active, like, like listing builder 100% took it over and it's way better than scribbles, all right. So, yeah, you should only use a listing builder. And if you have trouble syncing the listing Check with support, you know, make sure that you the the SKU that you're editing. All right, make sure that it is the original contribution skew. All right, make sure it's the original contribution skew, otherwise it's not gonna sink. But yeah, when, whenever I have trouble getting a listing updated, usually actually in listing builder, it actually updates better than if I try and do it myself.

Bradley Sutton:

A real estate Emporium says if our product is selling good, you recommend adding new variations or more products in the same niche. No right or wrong answer here. It's different for everything you got to choose. I've done both ways Before. Where I've added new variations, like a new colors, because I see the demand Sometimes, I'll just, instead of that, I'll launch a new product like, instead of a regular egg tree, a stackable egg shelf. So you can go both ways. That's a beauty about Amazon. All right, guys, that's all the time we have today. I was glad I was able to get to a lot of questions. Sometimes it takes you guys just a little bit to get Loosened up to be able to ask questions. So thank you guys, very much for joining us again. This is something we do every single week for our Serious Sellers Club and Helium 10 Elite members, but once a month we open it up and we repurpose this as a podcast episode. So thank you guys for joining us and we'll see you again next month when we open up this. Ask me anything. Thanks a lot, guys. Have a good rest of your day.

View Details

Join us for a fascinating discussion as we unpack Amazon unBoxed 2023, exploring the most exciting releases such as generative AI and more that can level up your advertising game. Our co-host from Pacvue, Anne Harrell provides us with a unique perspective on the advertising industry. Let’s start with our chat with Jeff Cohen, Principal Evangelist, Advertising API at Amazon, as he shares his transition journey and the biggest differences he's noticed.

Listen in as we dive into the role of ad tech in digital transformation and its implications for brands. We examine Amazon Ads' new offerings like generative AI and sponsored TV, which promise to revolutionize brand imagery and audience engagement. Get the inside scoop on Amazon PPC and new-to-brand metrics that could redefine your brand's success measurement. We also explore Amazon Publisher Cloud, a game-changing technology for publishers that promises unique and differentiated opportunities for advertisers.

Get to know Miranda Chen, the director of growth and modernization for Amazon Marketing Cloud, as she walks us through its potential. Learn how lookalike audiences can help your brand reach new customers and how templatized analytics can make AMC more accessible. We also examine Amazon Marketing Stream and Rapid Retail Analytics, which provide valuable data on retail signals. Discover how sponsored products can appear on platforms like Pinterest and the features that make Amazon's new Sponsored TV offering a game-changer. All this and more, right here on our podcast!

In episode 504 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Anne, and our special guests discuss:

00:00 - Amazon unBoxed 2023
04:31 - Insights on Amazon and Advertising Growth
08:29 - Sponsored TV and Ad Tech Announcements
12:29 - Embracing Change in Amazon Advertising
20:40 - Amazon Advertising Full Funnel Solutions
23:39 - Benefits and Capabilities of Demandside Platforms
28:25 - Lookalike Audiences for Reaching New Customers
34:59 - Amazon Marketing and Rapid Retail Analytics
41:15 - Amazon's Sponsored TV Announcement

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a special episode here at Amazon Unbox 2023 where we're going to talk about all of their releases, like generative AI and sponsored brand hats, and also a lot of cool things like sponsored TV. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you're like me, maybe you were intimidated about learning how to do Amazon PPC, or maybe you think you just don't have the hours and hours that it takes to download and sort through all of those sponsored ads reports that Amazon produces for you. Adtomic for me allowed me to learn PPC for the first time, and now I'm managing over 150 PPC campaigns across all of my accounts in only two hours a week. Find out how Adtomic can help you level up your PPC game. Visit h10/adtomic for more information. That's h10.me/adtomic. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10 I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We're here at Amazon Unboxed in New York. I've been on the road for like three weeks and there's a second there where I wasn't quite sure where. I was. I've been in so many countries lately, but we've got a co-host today and from Pacvue, and how's it going?

Anne:

Great. How are you doing?

Bradley Sutton:

I'm just delightful. Now, what is your background? What do you do at Pacvue?

Anne:

Yeah, so I'm a product solutions director for DSP at Pacvue, so I do basically anything related to DSP and AMC help with our product road mapping, help with strategy for some of our enterprise level clients doing customer within AMC marketing you name it, I probably do it.

Bradley Sutton:

How long have you been at Pacvue?

Anne:

I've been at Pacvue for coming up on four years now, so about three and a half years total. A lot has changed since I joined. I started at Pacvue focusing on our managed services team, so I was primarily working with some of our strategic accounts, helping to build out their capabilities, doing strategy not just for DSP but across kind of omni-channel focuses, so for search as well. Prior to working at Pacvue, I actually worked in an agency in Austin, Texas, where I'm normally based, where I again did omni-channel strategy for enterprise level accounts. So my background is not just with programmatic and DSP, but I really gravitated to it. It's just one of those types of advertising channels that really allows you to have a lot of flexibility and creativity and really is conducive to innovation. So I really enjoy working on the DSP side of things.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Now what did you go to school for?

Anne:

I went to school for advertising, so I think I'm in the right place.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so you're right. Where did you go to school at?

Anne:

It's called St Edward's University. It's in Austin, Texas. So I've been in Austin since I went to school and I just never left about a decade.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, I was about to say, because you don't sound like you were born and raised in Austin.

Anne:

I was not Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

What were you born and raised?

Anne:

Well, where I was born was Hattiesburg, Mississippi, but raised is a harder question. I moved about 10 times before I graduated high school. So you pick a state, I probably was raised there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool, yeah, because I was like wait a minute, she doesn't sound like a native Texan here.

Anne:

I know no accent yet.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, maybe 15, 20 years from now you might have a little twang in here.

Anne:

Right, right, I actually have a little bit of a Southern accent, I think I kind of got rid of it as I moved around.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool. Now what are you? We're going to be talking to some people that probably people have never heard of podcasts, right? You know there are exactly executives here at Amazon who are you most excited to talk to today.

Anne:

If I were to have to say, my favorite subject matter is definitely the DSP AMC side of things, and I know that we're speaking to Kelly, who's the VP of DSP, so that's obviously a great place to start. We're also going to speak to Miranda, who is a director for AMC at Amazon, so I think there's going to be a lot of really great content around that. But in general, we're also talking to a lot of people who are very broadly focused across all of ads, and so I think we'll have something for everyone in this one.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so you guys might be. There might be some newbies out there, don't tune out. This is stuff that you're going to need to know If you're an advanced seller. We're going to talk about some stuff that you guys might be able to use right away. That was just announced this week at Amazon Unbox, so let's go ahead and hop right into the interviews, all right. First up, we've got my brother from another mother here, jeff Cohen. Jeff, how's it going?

Jeff:

Everything is great. So great to see you, so great to see the whole Helium 10 Pack View team at this conference. It's great to catch up with everybody.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Now you've been in the game longer than me. I remember the very first conference I spoke at. You were a speaker and you were already a veteran speaker at that time. You know side note that that conference there probably had the best food I've ever had at the conference. This is probably the second best Like.

Jeff:

I'm really impressed with the offerings here. Yeah, I'm curious what conference that is, but we don't have to go into that now.

Bradley Sutton:

But it was right here in New York. But you were on the SaaS side. You know, like I am now. Now you're at Amazon, like what's been the biggest you know kind of eye-opening thing or difference, now that you're on the other side of the aisle.

Jeff:

Yeah, interesting because I always like to joke that you know I drink the Amazon Kool-Aid before I ever like came here. I've been an Amazon like fanboy since like 2005 when I started textbookscom and it's been interesting because I'm in a unique position where I can bring the outside in and the inside out, and I think that you know, one of the many things that I've learned is maybe like the patience that you have to have with Amazon Maybe I didn't have as much patience when I was on the outside and the amount of time that it takes for some of the things to develop at Amazon. But when they like grow and they go to scale, it then moves at like this rocket ship pace. And so I think you're starting to see that with some of the tools, like AMC or even like you know what's happening with, like Amazon Studios and some of the new, you know productions that are coming out, you have this like rocket ship pace of what's happening in terms of the development and the new opportunities and how advertisers are using the technology, and so you have to kind of be patient when new things come out. So when you have a totally new product like Sponsored TV, you got to realize that it takes a little bit of time to kind of figure out how does it work into the individual advertisers media mix, and so that's the measurement work for each brand along the way. But then once it kind of gets up to full speed, you get to see like how it all works and you know and how it's really excelling brand growth.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, now we're going to be interviewing a lot of your colleagues here about some very specific announcements that happened here at Unboxed and before I ask you to give a rundown, you know, one of the things that was announced today it's on the website too is about the new generative AI that can help people doing Sponsored Brand Ads to generate some new creatives. Can you talk about that just a little bit?

Jeff:

Yeah, I think there were like three themes to the keynote today that I kind of jotted down. One was this idea of, like digital transformation and one was this idea of like how ad tech plays in in a responsible way. And then the third one was like how we reinvent, right, how we have reinvent what's possible. That was said numerous times, and I think Gen AI kind of fits into almost all three of those categories. And you know, we saw a lot of opportunity, a lot of new changes with Gen AI that have come out of AWS. We saw a lot of changes with Gen AI that came out of Amazon Accelerate, and now we're starting to see some come out of Amazon ads and I'll you know it's cool, right, we can take a product and we can turn that product into a full lifestyle image. And I think it's if you can just start to kind of think about where the possibilities go from there and what else brands can do and how we can enable that, either with what Amazon ads is doing or with what our partners are doing right, because it doesn't always have to be invented by us at Amazon it's really making it easier for brands to be able to take advantage of this technology that maybe was a little expensive or time consuming or difficult to use, and now it's all done with prompts and it's really simple and easy and that's really cool yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what about some of the other announcements? Say you have any. You know things that stick out that you're especially excited for.

Jeff:

Yeah, I think that what we're doing I mentioned it during our opening segment but Sponsored TV, I think is a really cool one and you know, in short, it's democratizing the ability for brands to be able to place ads into our streaming portfolio right so across Prime Video, free V and all the other channels that we have that I can't even remember them all because I'm supposed to think so quickly and I think that's really cool. And again, like there's no budget for that, you do have to have the creative, but Amazon has services that can help you make that creative or there's third parties that can help you make that creative. And I thought that was a really exciting announcement that was made, you know, on the heels of the announcement that was made a month ago. It was kind of reinforced about like what's happening with Prime Video and it moving to an ad supported network, creating a ton of, you know, new inventory for brands to begin to explore, and that's really super exciting as we start to go into it. And then there was like a bunch around ad tech and like what's happening around measurement and I know, like from you know, we're all near and dear to this idea that measurement is critical to our overall success and new metrics that are being released, making it available to understand how new to brand customers are impacting the business, and I think those are all really important for us to be thinking about because we have to close the loop. As advertisers and as we move to this cookie-less world right, it's signs point to it happening in 2024, we have to find ways to be able to close the funnel and understand how our ads are working, and Amazon's working really hard to help brands be able to do that, both within our suite and also when you're outside of our suite.

Anne:

Yeah, you mentioned the new. New to brand metrics, new to brand consideration metrics, I think is what we're calling them. Can you walk our listeners through what those really are?

Jeff:

Well, when you're looking at new to brand, right from like a super high level, new to brand is starting to give you this metric that's beyond ROAS, and it's starting to allow brands to look at who was not buying their brand within the last 12 months. Who's now buying their brand, and there's a suite of metrics now that are available for you to be looking at so that, as you're looking at different inflection points of your advertising, you can start to actually dial down into what action you're looking for people to take. And I think that's what's really cool. And it's like this evolution and brands have to think through this evolution like one of the simplest ways to think of this, right for people who maybe, like this concept's a little far for them. One of the simplest ways to think of this is around this idea that, like, if you're trying to get more awareness of your product, when you're looking at a video, you don't want to just see video views, you want to see how long they've been watching the video, and so you might start optimizing your campaign based on video length, how many people get to a half the video or three quarters of the video. And so, when you start to get into the new to brand type of metrics, you're actually saying, okay, I want incremental growth and by definition is, you know, sales you wouldn't have had before. One of the best ways to measure that is by people who are new to your brand, and so by having multiple metrics now to be able to understand how those are being impacted, you can now go back into tools like AMC and see how that funnel is working and which ones are driving the actual you know points that you want to drive and that that's really cool, right, it's, it's very excited about.

Anne:

I'm very excited too, yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right. Last question for you know maybe not something that was released here at Unbox, but you know you're very active on LinkedIn. You see what people are posting about. You know I'm sure you look at metrics about what advertisers are using. Is there something in Amazon advertising that you feel is is kind of being slept on or not enough people are talking about it, that you think more people should be using it?

Jeff:

I mean more people should be using Helium 10 and Pacvue.

Bradley Sutton:

That goes without saying.

Jeff:

Okay, besides that, I think that you know, bradley, you and I get asked this question a lot, right? And? And our answer is always it depends. And I think that, instead of like saying, like this is a tool that you should be using or this is a a, an advertising function, you should be trying, I think that advertisers need to be open to the idea of test and learn, and I think the more you can train your mental model to work in a test and learn type of environment, the more open you are to change, because the only thing that's constant is going to be change. Right, and you started by saying like, where this industry was years ago when we both started, think about all the change that's happened and all the change that's occurred, and the brands that have not just survived but thrived through that are brands that have taken advantage of new opportunities, have invested by testing and learning and have then double down on the things that we're working. And I don't mean to oversimplify it, right, but it's not a very specific answer of like, use helium tens tool for keyword, blah, blah, blah, but it's like that's just one piece that you then use to implement the strategy. So work backwards. What's your goal. How are you gonna get there? And then figure out what tools you need to help you scale.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right, well, jeff. Thank you so much for joining us. We've been trying to get you on the podcast for like two years. I'm happy it finally happened and we'll definitely be keeping in touch. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. All right, next up, we've got Kelly here. Now, Kelly, can you go ahead and introduce yourself? Tell us what you do at Amazon.

Kelly:

Absolutely so, Kelly McClain. I lead our demand side platform at Amazon, so we call it ADSP, and excited to be here.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you for the time. Awesome, Awesome. Now you were, you know. Just saw you on stage a few minutes ago. What were your big reveals of the day?

Kelly:

Yeah, really good question. So I think if, if you think about Amazon ads and kind of where we've, where we've been and where we're going, we've really continued to make a lot of progress on on how, what we've been building a lot of our goals. We're focused a lot on interoperability with our ad tech solutions, so making it easier to use. We're focused a lot on performance improvements and then again, all of this is underpinned by making sure that we're putting privacy at the core of everything that we're doing, and so, with that in mind, we've been kind of launching this week in particular, a lot of different updates around, as you think about planning, activating and measuring, right. So within planning, we were launching Cross Channel Planner, which is a new way for you to really think about full, full funnel planning. We announced Amazon Publisher Cloud, which is the new clean room technology for publishers, which we're really excited about. We've been making a lot of performance improvements to the demand side platform, both with the user interface as well as the backend performance, and then we've also been been launching a lot more on our measurement capabilities, right, so making sure that marketers are getting the insights real time, making it a lot easier for them to kind of understand. You know how they should be looking at performance and where they should be making future investments. So we're excited about it. It's going to be a really fun week.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. We have our resident DSP nerd here, Ann, so she's going to go ahead and ask have some follow up.

Anne:

Definitely. Amazon Publisher Cloud was announced today, which is a big step for your publishing partners, obviously. Do you see any benefit for advertisers with this release?

Kelly:

Yes, definitely, and you know, I think to your point. I mean we've had, if you think about kind of clean room technology, right, really starting with cloud solutions. Then Amazon marketers cloud right thinking for marketers on how we can help support them. And Amazon publisher cloud it's going to be a mouthful after I'm speaking all morning. So excuse me, but you know that's really about a solution for publishers, right, giving them much more of the ability to pair any unique insights that they have right Demographics that they might know, of course, with folks who are coming to their site and then pairing that with Amazon Ads data. But the real core of that is, of course, providing opportunities for publishers but making it easier for them to connect with advertisers, right, advertisers. Often that you know there's so many different deal opportunities out there. A lot of the kind of deal process is very manual today and it's hard to discover the right deal and knowing which deal is right for you to reach your audience and so you know. A simple example, right is, if you're, let's say, you're a common website and you know the different demographics that are coming to your site every day, but by layering on Amazon audiences, you might realize, oh, I actually have pet food lovers who or sorry, pet food lovers- I have pet lovers who are coming to my site that I didn't realize, and so then that offers publishers the ability to maybe customize some unique deal opportunities to advertisers who might be trying to target pet lovers right, or specific brands who might be selling pet food, and it provides much more unique, differentiated opportunities, and we actually had a recent test with NBC Universal and they were able to offer three and a half times more reach than what they'd seen in the past, which is really exciting. So we see this as beneficial to both marketers and to publishers by really making it a lot more simple to connect with audiences.

Bradley Sutton:

At the end of the day, you know, pet food lovers are pets in about 10 years at Unbox. I predict like there's going to be some DSP where pets can actually base, you know, based on what they see on TV.

Anne:

They've already made more of the food, Exactly exactly, so we just launched something.

Kelly:

And if that's possible, maybe pets will be transformed into some sort of language that they can then activate.

Anne:

I think so, I think so. I don't even want to think about that.

Kelly:

I know, I never really thought about that?

Anne:

Yeah, that's very exciting. So, essentially for the advertisers listening, it's going to make your reach potentially broader but also more relevant, right? So the publishers have the ability to make targeting more relevant Absolutely Great. Another big announcement was the cross-channel planner. Yes, so can you walk us through how you think the ability to forecast reach will change how advertisers perform through their DSP program? Yeah, absolutely.

Kelly:

I mean, I think one of the biggest challenges today, as you all know right, is the fragmentation of channels and information and the overload of signals, right, and so that's where we're excited with Cross Channel Planner providing more of the ability to help marketers understand who they should be reaching right across the funnel and get much more information on how to kind of more efficiently drive their spend. In the past, we've launched Channel Planner, so that was our first product for mostly catered towards streaming TV, right, and how do you think about reach curves and how do you make sure that you're delivering against that for upfront pitches and so forth, and this is really kind of the next iteration to driving more efficient spend. So, ultimately, we think this is going to be kind of the next step of just providing much more granularity across all of the Amazon ads products on Amazon beyond Amazon, to make it easier to figure out. Okay, where should I be allocating my budget in the best way possible? We had a baby brand who actually was reaching audiences and they activated. So they leveraged Cross Channel Planner, activated via the DSP, and then they used custom advertising to direct customers to their online store and actually had four and a half times click through rate and 11% increase in impurchase rate, which was pretty cool to see. So again, I think the ability to plan and then easily activate is something that we're really committed to and excited about.

Anne:

Do you think this will be applicable for advertisers who are advertising both on Amazon and off, so more so that third party placement this will help plan for that as well. Absolutely.

Kelly:

So Amazon is known for retail media and driving conversions in the Amazon store, and we've been making so many investments over the past several years to really drive much more full funnel solutions and making all of our solutions work for all types of advertisers whether you're an advertiser that sells on Amazon or not because we're really excited about the power of again combining Amazon signals with marketers, third party and third party signals in a way that you can actually drive conversions, drive reach and have more of a full funnel experience and conversation. And that's where our Amazon publisher direct team comes into play, where we have a lot of these relationships and can reach anyone across the internet. But we've also been investing in modeled audiences and the performance through the DSP, and so a lot of people are kind of thinking about the loss of cookies in a negative way. We actually see this as an opportunity. We see this as a way to really innovate and rethink how marketers can potentially reach people in a privacy, safe way. That also drives performance, and so this is why we've also been investing in our modeled audience solutions right so, especially as we think about driving sales or reach off of Amazon, and we've been seeing over 25% increase delivery with a lot of the solutions, as well as 12% less cost per click per impression, which I'm barely able to talk. I'm going to lose my voice by the end of this day. But so, yeah, I think all of these from again, the planning, how you can activate all of the performance improvements we've been doing within our DSP we're excited. We'll continue to help accelerate marketers across full funnel wherever they want to reach people, which we're thrilled about.

Anne:

Definitely the ever looming third party cookie deprecation. Yes, exactly.

Kelly:

Yeah, a lot of energy, but understandably, and I think it's the right thing for us to rethink how we can really connect marketers and people in the right way, moving forward.

Anne:

Agreed, agreed. Another thing that was mentioned was the bidding enhancements that are now going to be available through the DSP program. So, essentially, you pick a KPI and you let Amazon do all the bid optimization in order to get to that KPI. Do you think this is going to change costs for advertisers, like, will CPMs go down in highly competitive categories or go up because of this automation?

Kelly:

Good question and, being a DSP enthusiast, I'm sure you know that our system has been really hard to use in the past. We've heard feedback from customers and partners that it was very complex, and so we've really been. So this goal seeking bidder, as well as re-augmenting our interface so that it's much more anchored on goals, has been paramount. We want to make it easier to use the DSP. We want to understand what is your goal, what are you trying to do? What outcome are you trying to drive for your business? And we've been making a lot of user interface improvements. And then the goal seeking bidder, on the back end to your point, I'm not sure what it will do in terms of you know, I can't talk to overall pricing in the system, right, but what I can say is that we're already seeing, you know, up to 40% reduction in CPAs, where we're able to better optimize against a goal, and we're seeing marketers just really gravitate towards the ability to kind of have much more of a simple experience. But we also believe in control, and so I think that's one of the powers that we think the Demand side platform has is, if you want all of the customization, if you want the complexity, we have that right. You can really adjust whatever types of bids that you want. You can layer on various different types of audiences. You can play around with different creatives. You can, you know, make a ton of different ads to try and test and at the same time, if you want a more simple, easy experience, you know what your goal is. We're able to help optimize and provide recommendations on the best way to do that. So we see it as kind of a nice balance in providing marketers kind of that wide range of capabilities, because we think there's a lot of different discussions in the industry right now on what way folks are going to be going.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time and thank you for all you do at Amazon. We appreciate it.

Kelly:

Thank you for the partnership. Appreciate it, of course.

Bradley Sutton:

Thanks, thank you All right Now we've got Miranda. Miranda, this is our first time meeting you, so can you introduce yourself and tell us what your position is at Amazon?

Miranda:

Absolutely. I'm Miranda Chen. I'm the director of growth and modernization for Amazon Marketing Cloud, or AMC for short. I've been at Amazon for 11 and a half years now, live in the Bay Area and at AMC I lead several teams responsible for product and engineering, developing our audience activation capabilities, making AMC easier to use for more and more customers, as well as our go to market and customer enablement activities.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Now. We have a wide variety of listeners, anywhere from brand new people selling on Amazon to humongous billion dollar brands. Now, the billion dollar brands probably know all about AMC, but some of our newer ones might not understand that. Maybe there can feel like wait, marketing, stream, marketing, AMC, there's all these acronyms. So can you just give a quick, maybe 30 second, one minute introduction about what is AMC?

Miranda:

Yeah for sure. So Amazon Marketing Cloud, or AMC, is Amazon ads as clean room, so it's private and secure by design. Each advertiser has their own campaign signals of all their various Amazon ad spend within their particular instance. So we have signals from sponsored products, sponsored brands, streaming TV effectively like all of the actual campaign events and enables custom flexible analytics on those signals. And then it also enables advertisers to be able to upload their own first party signals or third party signals so you can think of, like product catalog, retail conversions, things like that, and so then you can generate really really flexible insights, typically using SQL, such as path to conversion, reach and frequency, overlap analysis and then actually take actions on them.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool, so most of our listeners probably weren't able to attend here at Unbox. What's the big release for your department here at Unbox?

Miranda:

Yeah, so we had a couple different releases specifically related to AMC that I can touch on. The first was AMC template analytics. So it takes some of our most popular queries, such as path to conversion, reach and frequency, and then allows users to be able to generate those insights without needing to touch any codes. So that's a pretty exciting development, particularly since we know that not everybody no SQL has taught themselves SQL overnight. And then the second one was AMC lookalike audiences. So we already have the capability where one can generate a custom audience based on specific parameters. So let's just say, an advertiser saw, wanted to create an audience of folks that had seen their detail page view or even added to cart but didn't actually activate and then wanted to drive better performance. They could create a particular, they could run a query, generate that insight and push that directly to the DSP. So that's one way. That's AMC rule based audiences. And then now we launched this enhanced capability for lookalike audiences. So it enables effectively exactly what it sounds like. So finding alike audiences based on that same seed, leveraging machine learning in a clean room capacity trained on Amazon, shopper and customer signals, but all still in a private and secure place.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, you're already starting talking technical terms that are over my head, so let me bring in the smart one of us. And to clean rooms. My room's not clean, I don't know. That's not what we're talking about here, but go ahead and please follow up and make me sound smart here.

Anne:

Yeah, of course. So I'd like to talk about lookalike audiences more specifically, because this is a way for brands to reach highly relevant, essentially new customers. So do you think this will change the way people are targeting that new to brand customer targeting incrementality?

Miranda:

Yeah, I mean we think it's going to be a great way for brands to be able to reach more and more shoppers. So, as I mentioned, the lookalike audiences are trained on based on deep, deep ML, based on lots of very, very, very good signals, and then the advertiser can actually leverage, can get to choose what's their specific seed for the audience, like what's the general size of the audience, based on their objective and then also the relevance. So I think it'll be a really key tool as a part of the marketer toolkit.

Anne:

Yeah, definitely. Do you think lookalike audiences are scalable for brands that maybe have lower purchase data or lower engagement data that are using AMC?

Miranda:

I think so. I think they're precisely like the brands that actually could benefit from it, right Because they have a small bit of deterministic signals that they actually want to be able to enhance. And then also because AMC is private and secure by design, as I mentioned, they can also choose to upload their own first party or third party signals and then create a seed based on that and then continue to go find additional customers that seem similar to that seed.

Anne:

Right, I love that you call it a seed, because it sounds like it will grow over time if you're utilizing these tactics, so that's a great way to phrase it.

Miranda:

Thanks, it didn't come up with it.

Anne:

Well, we'll give you credit anyways. So you talked about the AMC templatized analytics, right? Is this a way to make AMC more accessible and, if so, are the queries that are available through those templatized analytics? Will it grow over time? What's available through that?

Miranda:

Yeah, so we think it's a first step towards making AMC easier for more and more customers. So we don't have a specific timeline yet on additional templates, but it is something we'll be continuing to evaluate. We have been talking to different customers and internal teams about how we can also make AMC easier to use through point and click applications as well. We also work with dozens of partners that are making AMC easier to use, either through visualizations or through their own innovative dashboard. So I think through the combination of either homegrown or partner built capabilities, we'll be able to continue to bring AMC insights to more and more customers.

Anne:

Yeah, pacview is one of those partners. We do have an AMC dashboard Great, I think. Another question that's kind of just in general about AMC do you think there are any verticals or categories that benefit the most from this data, or that you've seen a lot of growth and success with using AMC?

Miranda:

Yeah, we think of AMC as equal opportunities. So we look at the data a lot. We're very, very data driven surprise, surprise at Amazon and what we've seen is that there's penetration for AMC across brands and partners and agencies as well as across all verticals. So we've seen, certainly, strength from brands that sell on the Amazon store, but also pretty strong results with entertainment, with automotive, financial services. So you can think of someone who's like automotive who might have a bunch of local dealerships. They want to be able to do more fine event grained analyses based on specific geos, and so something like AMC is perfect for that be able to do more precise measurements. So, yeah, certainly we think it's a great product for all, but it really depends on that particular advertiser's objective and then what are the types of signals that they want to bring in and what kind of insights they can generate.

Anne:

Definitely, it is flexible.

Miranda:

Exactly Infinite and flexible. Yes, Great.

Anne:

My last question is just a kind of a fun one. Do you have any specific query or an example of a query that you think was really innovative that's been pulled through AMC that you can recall?

Miranda:

I think it's probably a generic answer, but I think the Path to Conversion one is probably one of my favorites, just because it's the simplest. I think AMC was actually the first place where an advertiser could see all of their signals across all of the Amazon ad products, and so someone who was buying sponsored products and DSP might not have realized before that they actually were driving better results together, and so Path to Conversion, and actually be able to understand how those two products were interacting, for example, really brought a lot more power and insight, I think, to advertisers.

Anne:

So I don't think that's generic at all. I love that one too.

Miranda:

There's a reason. That's core kind of at the top of the instructional query library.

Anne:

Right.

Miranda:

Agreed, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

I have another question for you. I like asking stuff that maybe nobody else is going to ask. When you want to take off your Amazon hat and kick back with a hobby to kind of like balance work life, what's your go-to hobby?

Miranda:

Well, I have an almost four-year-old so she is probably my hobby in most of the time. I'm going to try and go do fun things on the weekend, whether it's exploring new coffee shops or going to find music.

Bradley Sutton:

The four-year-old is a coffee drinker, is she?

Miranda:

No, she's not, but she's an avid consumer of chocolate croissants, and so we sample baked goods in lots of different places. Then mom gets her coffee. I think that's probably it, but in my prior pre-kid years I did a lot more yoga and hiking and things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

So enjoy those years. You know, my kids are over 20 already, so I wish I had a four-year-old. I remember those days All right. Thank you so much for joining us and you educated me a lot. It sounds like Ann knows all about what you're talking about. It was like a different language to me, so I appreciate you educating us on IMC. Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

Miranda:

Thank you so much.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, we've got Teresa here. Teresa, could you go ahead and introduce yourself?

Teresa:

Sure, I'm Teresa Uthralton. I'm the Director of Partner Development here at Amazon Ads.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome. How long have you been here at Amazon?

Teresa:

I've been at Amazon for almost 10 years, so I'm approaching that red badge. For those of you that know our badging conventions, Nice, nice.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you're from here in New York. I've always been in New York, yep. So I'm going to start off with maybe the most important question of the day Julianne's Pizza in Brooklyn. Is that the best representation of New York pizza, or not?

Teresa:

Oh, that's tough. There's so many really good pizza places now I can't even keep up with them. There's so many.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright. Well, we're going to have to connect right after this, because I have two days left and I need to maximize my time here.

Teresa:

Yes, Alright now.

Bradley Sutton:

We're not here to talk about food here.

Teresa:

I recommend checking out Roberta's in Bushwick though.

Bradley Sutton:

Roberta's in Bushwick. I have not been there.

Anne:

Yes, I think you'll really enjoy that.

Bradley Sutton:

We're going to that one.

Anne:

Right now. Yeah, actually, cancel the interview. Let's go there, we go. Yes, of course.

Bradley Sutton:

Now Anne here is going to ask a lot of the more technical questions, especially those that have to do with enterprise. Now I'm here to represent, kind of like, the voice of the average Amazon seller, and you know, there's some people out there who might not fully know what Amazon marketing stream is first of all. So could you just go ahead and just kind of give a quick elevator pitch for what that is?

Teresa:

Sure. So Amazon marketing stream is a partner-facing product, and what it does is it provides really granular hourly signals on all our advertising metrics through the Amazon API, and what that means to a seller is that they will be able to get all sorts of insights about their business that normally they would not have known.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, I love that. Did you practice this? I didn't even tell you I was going to ask that. All right, cool, cool. How about rapid retail analytics, your other specialty?

Teresa:

I know I love rapid retail analytics, so Amazon marketing stream obviously totally focused on advertising signals. As we know, so much of what's exciting about Amazon ads is that you got online retail and digital advertising Right, and so rapid retail analytics provides that level of granularity on retail signals, and one of the reasons that's so exciting is that that data used to be available at a daily cadence with a 72-hour lag, so we literally it's almost near real time now, which is a really, really exciting development.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Well, now that I got that out of the way, let me turn it over to the smart one of us too, and for some follow up questions.

Anne:

Yeah, so I kind of want to double click into Amazon marketing stream, specifically the fact that it was recently released for DSP or it's being extended to DSP. How do you think this will change the way advertisers manage their DSP campaigns now that they have that real time data that we were talking about?

Teresa:

Well, it's interesting. I think one of the things that I've learned is I've been humbled by our partner's creativity. Right, you know, I was just. I was just telling someone. I joined this team three weeks before Can last year and so I showed up at Can meeting all my partners for the first time, and we had just launched the first version of Amazon marketing stream and I was like this is the coolest product. But what really got me excited was it's a product that we developed based on the feedback we got from partners Like they, they have a seat at the table, they participate in all our betas and our product teams love them, right, because they get like this incredible, you know, they get their hands dirty and they come back and they're like these are the 27 things that are wrong and you need to fix right, which is if you're a product team, that's actually like really helpful, right, so, and what? The thing that's so interesting is like it launched and everyone loved it, but then people are like well, but it only has sponsored products. Right, like, I want more, I want more, I might want more. So I think what's exciting about having ADSP signals in there is that's going to unlock a whole bunch of opportunity around partners that are deep on ADSP Right. Definitely and I think you know, probably a few months from now, we'll have some really interesting case studies, success stories. There's really like almost no end to the creativity of our partners, which is really great because they're such awesome builders.

Anne:

I agree. I'm curious AMC they not AMS? AMC? I know they get our accurate, our Amazon accurate. I know, there's so many of them Also provides hour by hour data for both DSP and for sponsored ads. Prior to this, especially prior to AMC, but also prior to AMS, this wasn't available for advertisers, so you kind of had to guess when you were running, like day parting or anything along those lines. Do you think the release of the stream data for DSP will eliminate the need for the AMC hourly data?

Teresa:

Well, I think you got to go back to like what are the use cases that people use other product, right? I think, like what is great about Amazon marketing stream? Right, it's an aggregate, aggregate data pipe, if you think about it, right, and so ultimately that's going to help people build solutions that are evergreen. It's going to help people train AI models right, because how do you train AI models? You need, like, lots of granular signals, right? And whereas the Amazon marketing stream is really about very specific use cases around, like understanding the customer purchase path, understanding incrementality, understanding attribution, so I don't think it's like one or the other, I think it's very like use case specific.

Anne:

Right. That actually leads perfectly into my next question, which is how you see these two datasets working together with advertisers currently, or how you see in the future that they can work together.

Teresa:

Yeah.

So I think, like what I think is really exciting about partner innovation is, ultimately, I don't think there's ever been a better time to be a marketer, right, like there's that whole age old question about, like I know half my advertising is working, but I don't know which half, and I think we're getting about as close as we're going to get probably in our lifetime, but we're on the cusp of that with a lot of these tools, and so I think the the part about Amazon marketing stream that I think is so exciting is that it will allow the kind of automation that makes brands so much smarter and helps them do more with less. Right, and we're seeing like especially like this year has been an uncertain economic climate for a lot of folks, right, and a lot of a lot of folks are trying to figure out like my budget has been cut or my budget is capped, but I'm being asked to drive more growth Right, and I think, like partners have been able to deliver solutions based on Amazon marketing stream and rapid retail analytics that have really enabled that Awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

And you had a last question.

Anne:

I did. It's a fun one. What's your favorite thing about being at conferences like unboxed?

Teresa:

Oh, it's meeting my partners. You know, I learn so much from from meeting with partners, right, like I said, it's very humbling. The innovation, the creativity, what they teach us about our customers, what they teach us about our products and it's such an incredible learning experience is so energizing. Were you at our our cocktail party last night?

Anne:

No.

Bradley Sutton:

I was not.

Anne:

We had a lot of cocktail parties. I'm sure it was very.

Teresa:

That was like such a fun buzzing party and I got to meet partners from all over the world. At our award ceremony on Monday we met partners that came from Delhi and it was just really, really exciting.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right, well, thank you so much for coming on the show and we appreciate all that you do at Amazon.

Teresa:

Thank you, thanks guys.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, we've got Ruslana here. Ruslana, welcome to the show.

Ruslana:

Thank you, Bradley and Anne, for having me.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you based here in?

Ruslana:

New York no, I'm based in Seattle.

Bradley Sutton:

Seattle. Okay, Seattle was just there for accelerate, lots of rain, but I like. I like Seattle weather a lot. Quick question for you, first of all just how long have you been at Amazon and what is your title there?

Ruslana:

I'm a vice president of sponsored brands display in TV advertising and I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary Last week awesome, congrats, congrats.

Bradley Sutton:

now we're gonna go into like what you announced today, but you know something while you were on stage, you also referred to something that was, you know, launched a little bit ago. We're how, now you know, sponsored products can show up on websites like Pinterest and things like that, and one thing that was I have a bad memory, but it was new to me, maybe I knew about it, I guess, didn't know was like it's not just a product that's gonna display, but it'll also show, I believe, like the reviews count and even the shipping time did I, did I hear that right.

Ruslana:

Well, with sponsor products, our goal is to deliver the same value that Advertisers are getting today by having sponsored products was an Amazon store and some of the critical sort of trusted Amazon attributes, such as reviews, pricing information, as well as Prime delivery promise, are essential elements To helping customers make decisions and actually purchase. So yes you are, you got it right at that. Sponsor products will be containing Kind of product level or Amazon key, amazon trusted information Within these new and exclusive placements across some of these sides to help our advertisers to really go quickly and with ease from discovering something or exploring something to actually purchasing awesome, awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

That's been. That's been out for a while, but today, when you're on stage, you announce something brand new, and that was sponsored TV. So just give us maybe a quick 30 second, one minute overview of what that is, and Anne has some follow-up questions on that.

Ruslana:

Well, we see a sponsored TV, tv advertising as a whole, as a critical element of brand-building strategy. That should not be something that Brand cannot do. Any brand of any science should be able to tap into this opportunity and reach these engaged audiences on a big screen In the living room, and so sponsored TV is aiming to accomplish just that. We have worked very closely with our brands and our customers and Backwards from them, to understand what their key pain points have been and why they have not potentially used TV more actively Was in their overall brand-building strategy and, as a result, launch sponsored TV. I'm trying to eliminate three main pain points no guarantee commitments, no spend, minimum creative support and, lastly, access to first-party Amazon, first-party signals. Even when you advertise in TV, powered my machine learning and Right measurement so that advertise and send value, because what we've learned is spend is intimidating, a Lack of the right creative or ability to create the right credit. Just knowing what resonates on such a screen is Hard and intimidating and, lastly, just understanding the value that TV delivers for these brands was difficult. And so, given those three main pain points, that's there. That's why we're sponsored TV. I think to wrap like there is another element right. We at Amazon, we very custom obsessed and in this instance, we have two customers right. We have brands, and we just talked about the value we deliver for the brands, but there's also another key customer, which is the viewers, and for viewers, this is an opportunity to discover diverse collection of brands and products in places where they choose to spend their time.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now I'm just wondering where, like? What kind of placements are these? Are these like, like, like trailers that come up, or are there just actual, you know, banner ads that might pop up while you're watching a TV show?

Ruslana:

Oh, this is a TV advertising we're talking about, so they are video, so this is not this not sponsored display.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Ruslana:

This is video ads and they sponsor TV. Today service was in freebie content. Like I don't know if any of you watch freebie, I do. I love certain shows there, so big fan. So there is freebie content. There is streaming. Do you stream? Do you twitch?

Bradley Sutton:

Yes.

Ruslana:

Okay. Well, when you twitch during live streams, that could be. Another opportunity was in.

Bradley Sutton:

There might be people watch watching this right now on our rebroadcasts of this.

Ruslana:

People that twitch. This is where the ads would show. And then, lastly, was in a fire TV apps.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, excellent yeah.

Anne:

So it was mentioned that the goal of this campaign, or at least one of the goals, is to make it more accessible to Advertisers who have lower budgets, don't necessarily want to deal with spend minimums etc. Do you feel like there's a lower level of budget sufficiency for running these campaigns, or can it be tested with a small amount of money?

Ruslana:

Well, we, as I said earlier, right customer obsessed, working back, working backwards from our brands and working backwards for them. I'm really observed that they do want to be able to engage with this audience. Why wouldn't you like if you launched a product that is net new, delightful, on the market? Why wouldn't you want to tell? Like you know, I talked on my keynote about hex glad. I don't know if you don't know, if you have it in your kitchen, but if you don't, I highly recommend. I discovered through our sponsor TV offering the brand and I love the non-stick and also non scratch.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh no, you had me out when you showed part of the video where it flipped over and nothing Was coming on.

Anne:

I like that.

Ruslana:

Very impressive and so at the end of the day, like that is the brand that I'm delighted to cook with every day, and I like my eggs for breakfast. Doesn't matter if it's Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday or Sunday, so in at the end of the day, I think these are the type of brands. They want to engage with the right audience at the right time, and I think this is the right time.

Anne:

Great. Can you walk us through some of the targeting that will be available with this type of advertising? Most of sponsored ads is keyword basis. That going to be the truth for Sponsored TV, or is it going to be more signal-based behavioral audiences?

Ruslana:

Well, we always try to help our brands reach the right audiences. So let me Maybe adjust one statement here Most of sponsor brands is not keyword based sponsored products. Keyword based sponsored Products is keywords based. Sponsor brands has keywords Elements in their way and how you express intent. Sponsored display doesn't have that way to express intent. But our aim is to always work with our brands and help them, give them the right tools to express the intent in the best possible way so we can deliver their message and their story in the right place at the right time. So in the case of sponsored TV, the advertisers could use both sort of category based interests and as well as Genre based interest.

Bradley Sutton:

I've got a spooky brand on Amazon, so like come Halloween season gonna be Maybe throwing some ads on some spooky Halloween shows or horror show.

Anne:

Perfect, I think we have time for one more question. So I'm curious how do you recommend brands measure success with these campaigns? Do you have specific KPIs that you think you know appropriately measure the success for sponsored TV or anything along those lines?

Ruslana:

So they reach. Traditional metrics are available similarly how they would be available for any other TV offerings, but in addition, we are sharing branded searches as well as detail page and store page Traffic, and so that is a starting point for the offering. We will continue evolving our metrics and help brands understand the value they're getting out of their sponsored TV offering Wonderful.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Ruslana:

Thank you for having me and in Bradley.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon rolls out AI-powered image generation to help advertisers deliver a better ad experience for customers
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-ads-ai-powered-image-generator

Walmart beefs up its third-party marketplace as it challenges bigger online rival Amazon
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/18/walmart-beefs-up-online-marketplace-in-amazon-challenge.html

Amazon introduces Consult-a-Friend, a new mobile experience that lets you ask your friends for advice while you shop
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-introduces-consult-a-friend-mobile-shopping-experience

Amazon will now let you access Crunchyroll’s anime library right from Prime Video
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/24/23929990/amazon-prime-video-crunchyroll-channel-now-available

We round up with a focus on the importance of researching historical search volume and keywords for the upcoming holiday season. Stay tuned for all this and more!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:55 - New Amazon Image AI Tool
03:24 - Walmart Incentivized Reviews
04:13 - Amazon Seller Export
05:30 - Small Business Search
06:12 - Walmart Stats
08:23 - Amazon Call A Friend
10:29 - Anime on Amazon
12:22 - $1 Million TikTok Shop Month
13:25 - Join Helium 10 Elite
14:15 - Pro Training Tip: Historical Trend Keywords Q4

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon releases a new tool that allows you to make customized images with AI. Walmart is actually encouraging incentivized reviews. Amazon buyers now have a chance to phone a friend, as it were. This and many more news stories on today's edition of the weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown on all of the news stories in the Amazon, Walmart and E-commerce world and we give you training tips the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. Let's go ahead and hop right into the news. If my screen looks a little bit different, I'm actually recording this from a hotel room because I'm in Amazon unboxed in New York, and that's actually the first news story of the day. Amazon has actually announced today that there is a new generative AI image generator. Now it's especially designed for sponsor brand ads, but, as you can see from this article here, you're going to be able to use your main image from your listings and then you can write like a prompt, like put this water bottle on a Maldives beach or make this water bottle seem like it's underwater, and then what it's going to do, what Amazon is going to do, it's going to take that image and then it's going to go ahead and like overlay it on this computer generated with AI background. So, basically, what Amazon sellers have been wanting to do, you're going to be able to make lifestyle images with this generative AI. Now, as I said, it's mainly for sponsor brand ads. So you know how, in a sponsor brand ad, you can use a custom image now which convert a lot better.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, for a lot of you sellers out there, you might not have had a means to make a custom image, like maybe you don't have a studio where you can just get new images made. You know, maybe you're not wanting to rent an Airbnb to take a photo shoot in a certain you know room setting that you that you need. Maybe you don't have the means to do something in Photoshop for this image because you don't know how to use Photoshop. Well, now, this is where this generative AI is going to come in, because you can take your image from your listing or another image you have and then overlay it on any kind of background. Now I did a step by step tutorial on how to do this, because there's actually other kind of applications. Like you could just generate some images in this tool and use it as a lifestyle image, you know, for you you can generate multiple images and use it in Amazon post. So if you'd like to know how to use this and it's completely free for brand registered store owners go to the Helium 10 blog, h10.me forward slash blog, and then this should probably be one of the first blogs that comes up on the page. There will be a step by step with images on exactly how to use this new tool. I'm curious, if you've tried it yet, let me know in the comments below what kind of results you get. It's not always perfect, you know. Sometimes there's some funky images that come up, but this is super cool that Amazon announced this at Unboxed today and if you tune in this Saturday for the regular episode of the podcast, there's going to be interviews with a few vice presidents and other executives at Amazon about all the other advanced Amazon advertising releases that they announced this week here in New York. So make sure to tune into Saturday's episode. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next up, it was an email actually that I got from Walmart and part of the email says as you can see here, the review accelerator program now lets you get double the number of drumroll, please incentivize review. So it's hilarious. You know like we talk about Walmart. You know, following the path of Amazon from before. Remember, it was okay to do incentivize reviews back in the day on Amazon. Right now it's okay to do incentivize reviews, you know, using Walmart on the Walmart platform. So now they have this review accelerator program and it offers twice the number of incentivize reviews. I think this is more like kind of like. I haven't used it, so I think it's kind of like the Amazon Vine program, but if you're interested in finding out more information, if you're a Walmart seller, make sure to go to your email and you probably got this email this week and then click on that link and I'll give you more information on how to do these Walmart incentivize reviews.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the next news article here is just from your seller central dashboard. It's entitled ship FBA inventory from China at a lower cost. This is something that you talked about at Amazon Accelerate a little bit, and some sellers have been using this already, but it says hey, now you can ship your FBA inventory from China to our US fulfillment centers at a lower cost with seller export and delivery. I've always used my own, you know carrier, so I'm not sure if this is completely new or if this is something that has been existing. They're just expanding it. But it basically says hey, seller export and deliveries and Amazon partner carrier program that handles your FBA shipping, including customs clearance and door to door pickup and delivery. This program is integrated into seller central and offers a simplified FBA experience with Amazon negotiated shipment rates, seamless payments and end to end tracking.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So if you'd like more information on this, go ahead and go to your seller central dashboard and you'll be able to hit get that news story. Is that something that you'd be interested in trying? You know there's always been people out there who say, oh no, you know like I don't want to Amazon to know where my suppliers, because they're going to copy my products. Amazon doesn't need to like know who our suppliers is going to copy our product. So I don't think that's the issue. But I know that's maybe holding some of you guys back. So what about you? You going to use that. You know, check out Amazon's rates here, All right. The next article here is also from your seller central dashboard and it's entitled find small businesses using a small business search filter. So this is going to be on the buyer side, where they're you know. You know how. If you have a small business badge, well now, buyers who are interested in this kind of thing, they're going to have this filter, and I think in a lot of websites it's already active, Like if you search coffin shelf. So if you scroll down the page in the coffin shelf, you can actually see here there's a business type. All right, business type filter and then small business. So just another reason why you should make sure that your small business certification is still active on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from CNBC and it's entitled Walmart beefs off its third party marketplace as a challenges bigger online rival, Amazon, and there's a lot of interesting things, facts and figures from this article that might encourage you about selling on the Walmart platform. It talks about the older or the Walmart seller conference that they had earlier this year, but it's talking about what their plans are for this this Q4 and also some of the numbers that are encouraging. You know how Walmart had, kind of like a another prime day ish event. Well, if you notice here, it says more than half the items included in Walmart sales event that week they were from third party marketplace sellers. You know, you could have said that maybe two years ago, as most items were actually from Walmart itself. There's a increase in year over year sales, as you can see from this graph those of you watching this on YouTube and sales, and it says about 70% of items, including in Walmart plus week, were marketplace items. So way more than than half actually. Now this article quoted the outside source saying that you know, while Amazon has about 1 million active sellers, Walmart has only about 100,000 right now. So obviously still way, way, way, you know, below Amazon and as far as the share in 2023 of e-commerce sales, Amazon has 37% and Walmart has about 6%. But that 6% is is it's all time high. Just in 2016, it was at 2%. Now, remember another way that Walmart has an advantage over Amazon, as you can see from this article. It says they've got 4,600 stores across the country and those act as kind of like mini warehouses, with more than 50% of online orders fulfilled from the stores. All right, so you know. You might think, hey, well, Amazon has all those warehouses. Walmart has way more stores than Amazon has warehouses. So as Walmart expands the kind of delivery and storage at their stores, it could be a way for them to get even wider footprint than Amazon for delivery. But anyways, check out that article from CNBC. It's kind of interesting, very encouraging. I have always recommended you guys, you know, if you're into selling on Amazon, the USA, you should be selling on Walmart as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, next story here is actually from Amazon itself. But how many of you remember back in the day what was that show called? Who Wants to be a Millionaire? And it was like a quiz show, right? And then do you remember what would happen if you like didn't know the answer? You had the opportunity to phone a friend. I think it was called, right. It was like with Regis Philbin, who was the host of that show. Anyways, Amazon now has something like that for buyers. So take a look at this article. It's entitled. It's not called phone a friend, but it's an. It's entitled Amazon introduces consult a friend a new mobile experience that lets you ask your friends for advice while you shop. So this hasn't been live across the board. I'm curious if any of you have it. But basically what's going on is you could be on a you know mobile listing and, instead of just having the button where you can just share a link with your friends, it actually opens up like a chat window where you could use your text message or other messaging apps and Collaborate live with you know, your selected friends about a product and get feedback. What do you think? Do you think this is going to help sales or do you think it could hurt it, like maybe you know one? One kind of logic could be that, well, Maybe something that somebody would just bought, no matter what, Maybe now they might not buy it because they're gonna go ask their friends and maybe their friends don't don't reply right away. I'm not sure, but it's kind of an interesting you know interesting thing and there's gonna be buttons that that have to do with it and, like your friends are gonna be able to like vote if they like it.

Bradley Sutton:

You know multiple friends, so later this could be something that Drives more data points as far as what Amazon shows for keywords. So imagine somebody searched an Amazon for a certain keyword. They click this item. They have console friends. If somebody has a product where all their friends liked it, I would imagine that the Amazon algorithm is gonna work to maybe push that one up, as opposed to one where everybody all of your friends gave it a thumbs down. You know this is all still kind of speculation right now, but again, very interesting. Amazon is always trying to innovate on the buyer side and the things that it does on the buyer side Obviously affects us sellers. To what? What are your thoughts on this? One? Another article today coming from the verge, and it's entitled Amazon Will now let you access crunchy rolls anime library right from prime video. So I'm not sure how many anime fans Japanese animation out there are like me. I have a crunchy roll account and this is not gonna be free, but you still pay, like the 799. But now you can do it from prime video. All right, so you can like cancel your crunchy roll account now.

Bradley Sutton:

There's a couple reasons why I brought this up as an article. Number one it's just another benefit of Amazon Prime, you know, and the more Amazon Prime customers there are, the or, the more sticky, the more tools that there are, you know, the more sticky they're gonna be, you know, the better it is for us sellers. And I'm literally gonna do this because I can't stand the crunchy roll app. You know I need to watch my spy family and demons layer and all my other animus that I watch. Crunchyroll sucks as a platform. Prime video it's cool, like I don't have a problem with prime video, so I'm definitely gonna be switching this.

Bradley Sutton:

But then also announced today at Amazon unboxed is and I don't want to spoil it too much. Like I said, it's gonna be talked about in Saturday's episode, but we're we're gonna talk about how they're. They're putting advertising now out for like prime video. Now, does this count as prime video? It's an outside service. I'm not sure you know how that's gonna work, because I think the Amazon sponsored TV is is mainly gonna be for like Amazon shows and and things like that. But who knows, maybe now all of a sudden, you know, you might have some kind of like. You know trinket that weeps like, or people who like anime, and, and you could potentially target people who watch in the future Crunchyroll anime from Prime video. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but again, this is cool to speculate on and cool to think about. Amazon is always adding things that eventually is going to trickle down to us Amazon sellers here. Last thing I want to bring up is you know, a couple of days ago here in New York we had our quarterly workshop for helium 10 elite members and it was a doozy, guys. We had a Leeron who gave you know, crate input on a lot of features in sellers central if you're not using, and then we actually had an Amazon or a Helium 10 Elite member. She's been on this podcast before.

Bradley Sutton:

Elizabeth. You know she sold over $20 million on Amazon. Now she is up to guys after her only third month on TikTok shop. She is doing a million dollars a month on TikTok shop and she, like, opened up her TikTok shop seller center account, broke down exactly how she does her sales and showed you know the group. They're everything that they can do. We're going to have that recording up. So I think elite might be open guys. It's 3.99 a month. It would be worth. I'll tell you right now. It would be worth it to like, sign up just for two months or one month just to be able to get the recording, this video. You're like, I don't I've never said that before. You know, we have quarterly workshops all the time. They're all great, but this one literally could pay for itself just with you learning how to do TikTok shop. I mean, do you think you want to sell a million dollars a month on TikTok shop? I'm not saying that's going to happen, guaranteed, but, um, it's definitely possible because she's doing it.

Bradley Sutton:

So, guys, go to H 10.me forward, slash elite or upgrade your account, just temporary, to elite. I'm not sure you still can. They might have closed it already. It was open for a couple of weeks. They might have closed it. If so, if you have no way to upgrade to elite, send a message to customer services. Hey, I heard Bradley in the weekly buzz says to sign up for elite and he said that you guys can help me push it through, even though it might be closed. But but find a way to sign up for elite. We're going to have that recording up in about two or three weeks and, guys, it is a game changer to be selling on TikTok shop and she shows you exactly how to do it. All right, that's it for the news today. Now, next up, you know we're right in Q4. We have some really cool new ways in healing Tensa rebro, to do keyword research, looking at what your competitors are. You were ranking for maybe last Q4. You can do that now with just a couple of clicks. Carrie, show us how.

Carrie:

Today I want to show you a quick and easy way that you can find keywords that are going to be great for key 4, that maybe your competitors are Capitalizing on, that you have not really focused on at all yet. So I'm going to go ahead and just get into it and the first thing that you want to do is you want to log into your helium 10 account and you're going to go to cerebro. So it's under the tools bar. You're going to go to cerebro here and this is what cerebro looks like and I've already pulled it up for us and this is our competitors ascent. Right here I want to take a look at the keywords that maybe they were capitalizing on during Q4 of last year and that maybe we were not taking a look at. The way that we do that is. We're going to do that reverse ascent search and then I'm going to click on show historical trend and it's going to show us the past 24 months of data. So this is all bar graphs of sponsored and organic keywords. Now I'm going to click on December of 2022, because I want to see what they were doing in December of 2022, and I'm going to click apply filters. This is going to show all of the keywords that they were ranking for, organic and sponsored during that time. So you can see there's quite a big list here and I want to take a look at first maybe where they were in spots between ranking one and Maybe spot 20. Then I'm going to hit apply filters. This is going to show kind of the top keywords that they were potentially focused on, and so there's still about 209 which I'm sure there's a lot of great keywords that we're missing in here that we can take advantage of.

Carrie:

But I want to see some kind of Q4 specific things for the holiday season. I'm going to look at gifts, gift Christmas. That's what I'm going to kind of take a look at and see if we have some great keywords in here. It looks like we've got some great keywords, so goth gifts for home, goth that gives for women, goth gifts for women. So I'm going to take a look and see if we have any of these that we are indexing for. So I'm going to go to check index checker and it's under tools and you're going to click on index checker here and on index checker. I've already put our ASIN in here and I'm going to put in. I think it was. Let's see here we have goth gifts for women and goth gift. Okay so goth gifts for women, goth Gift, let's do another one. Let's see here what else we have that has a good search volume. Let's say, spooky gifts for women. Let's see if we're indexed for spooky gifts for women.

Carrie:

Okay so let's go ahead and click index checker and we're going to see if we're even showing up in as Relevant for these keywords in Amazon. And it looks like we're not showing for any of those. So that's kind of not so great. We want to make sure that we have these keywords, you know, indexed so that we can start advertising on these keywords and we can start ranking organically for these keywords. So there's probably quite a few keywords that we haven't capitalized on During the holiday season that we need to focus on right now, and I think those are some of the greatest. I looked, I took a look at the historical search volume and some of those they might be, you know, a few hundred right now, but a lot of them go up to, you know, 15,000, 20,000 during the month of December. So there's a lot of opportunity here to really capitalize on these keywords that maybe no one else is focusing on. So go ahead and check it out and let us know what you think.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you very much for that, Carrie. So, guys, I'm not sure if that's for platinum members, but at least for diamond members, maybe platinum members to you guys might have access to what she was showing you, so make sure to use that right away. Really important to be looking at the keywords here in Q4 from last year as opposed to just Looking at what's going on right now. All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us. I've been away from the weekly buzz for a couple weeks, but it's good to be back. I'll be back next time to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Get set to sail through the bustling holiday season sales with ease and finesse as we bring you this month’s TACoS Tuesday PPC expert, Mina Elias, Founder of Trivium Group. Ready to divulge his invaluable strategies tailored for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire holiday season, Mina introduces us to the art of optimizing ads. Listen closely as Mina recounts his own experiences and shares the lessons learned from past mistakes to ensure you make the most of your holiday sales.

Whether your product is a Black Friday hit or not, we've got the perfect strategies to maximize your sales and click-through rates. Discover the clever technique of adjusting your bids to your benefit and the smart way to maintain your spending within limits. We reveal some hidden gems on best utilizing the holiday season with budget recommendations and crafting holiday-specific ad campaigns.

Finally, we get into the world of Amazon DSP, providing insights on increasing conversion rates. Uncover the secrets of the optimal spend and timeframe for DSP, learn about bidding strategies for supplements, and also evaluate the effectiveness of Google ads. As we wrap up, we share some valuable tips on targeting long-tail keywords, setting and increasing bids, and making the tough choice between what ad types are top priorities. Tune in for these expert insights and make the most of your holiday season Amazon sales!

In episode 503 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Mina discuss:

00:00 - Black Friday, Cyber Monday, & Holiday Amazon PPC Strategies
00:13 - Amazon Prime Day Feedback
04:01 - Sales And Advertising Strategies for Seasonal Products
04:52 - Bidding Strategy for Holiday Shopping Events
10:53 - Split Testing for Main Images
13:57 - Holiday PPC Budget and Sponsored Campaigns
15:14 - Adjusting PPC Budget for Holiday Season
23:07 - Custom Images in Sponsored Brand Ads
26:53 - Running Amazon DSP
31:42 - Amazon Rank and Bidding Strategy
34:08 - PPC Strategy for TACoS and Keywords
35:09 - PPC Strategy for Improving Conversion Rates

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TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Today we're talking with Mina Elias from the Trivium Group and he's going to give PPC strategies for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holiday season in general. This and so much more on today's episode.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Not sure on what main image you should choose from, or maybe you don't know whether buyers would be interested in your product at a certain price point. Perhaps you want feedback on your new brand or company logo. Get instant and detailed market feedback from actual Amazon Prime members by using Helium 10 Audience Just entering your poll or questions and, within a short period of time, 50 to 100 or even more Amazon buyers will give you detailed feedback on what resonates with them the most. For more information, go to h10.me forward. Slash audience.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of this Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Carrie Miller, and this is our TACoS Tuesday, where we answer all of your PPC questions. We have an expert guest who's going to help answer all of your burning questions, especially for the holidays. Today on our show, we have Mina Elias, and I'm so excited to have him on. He's an expert in PPC and so I'm going to go ahead and bring him on.

Mina:

What's up? What's up, guys.

Carrie Miller:

Thanks again for coming on live with me. I'm so excited you're here.

Mina:

I know. Thank you for having me. It's been a minute since I've done a TACoS Tuesday.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, do you want to just introduce yourself a little bit, so everyone knows who you are, and a little bit about you and your agency.

Mina:

Yeah, my name is Mina Elias. I'm the founder of Trivium Group, which is an Amazon agency, amazon marketing agency. We handle pretty much everything on Amazon for brands. I started as a supplement brand in 2018, using Helium 10 religiously, of course. I grew and scaled that brand to over a million dollars. It's called MMA Nutrition In 2021, there was a very large demand for people coming to me saying please run my PPC and stuff like that. I ended up starting an Amazon ads agency. Initially it was just Amazon PPC. Now we do PPC, DSP, SEO, creatives, helping brands launch on Amazon all that kind of stuff. I actually worked with Helium 10 on their PPC course. If you are a member of Helium 10, if you haven't checked it out yet, you should definitely check it out. It is a full, thorough course. Me and Vince Montero did it together. It's like beginner all the way to advanced. It's everything that I do in our business for managing ads. I love sharing everything that we are doing and learning. We have about 150 brands under management, 80 people on the team. We're learning a lot every day and Amazon is changing. I know that it's hard. When I started out, it was very hard for me to know what's good and what's not good. I'm here to share my experience and then hopefully it benefits everyone.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Well, thanks so much. I have some questions prepared here for Meena that are more holiday oriented. This should be a really good episode. Here's the first question what is your Black Friday, Cyber Monday strategy?

Mina:

Cool. I love talking about this because on prime days and Black Friday, cyber Monday, I mean one wrong move and you could end up losing all of your profits. The reason I say this is because that happened to me multiple years in a row, at least two years in a row, where I was following the strategy of spend a lot of money on ads, do deep discounts and then you're going to sell four times more on Black Friday, cyber Monday or Prime Day. I did sell four times more, but I also spend way more and it resulted in me losing money or not making profits those days. There's two categories in which products fall. One category is they do very well in Black Friday, cyber Monday and Prime Day. I'm talking like expensive products, giftable products. You should know your product. If you don't, I suggest that you go into Helium 10 and you can see the performance historically of product sales over time, and I think Bradley did a video on this. It's on my YouTube channel, just Meena Elias. You'll find a video of me and Bradley and he uses X-ray and cerebro to show you historically how has this product sold and if you notice that certain products or you don't know if your product is going to sell a lot and you notice that there's a spike, then you're like, okay, my product might fall into that category of it's going to do really well Black Friday, cyber Monday. So if you're in that category, I'm going to give you the strategy which is leading up to Black Friday, cyber Monday or any Prime Day. You basically want to increase your bids. You know that you're going to do a deal, so you want to increase your bids and get as much rank as you can, because during Black Friday, cyber Monday, you're probably going to have to decrease it a little bit because you might not be able to handle the volume of the spend that's going to happen from all of the additional people coming in onto the platform. So you're initially increASINg your bids 30 days before you know you have a deal coming. The day of, you know the day before, I would say, and then the day of and then day after, you're going to lower your bids a little bit, probably I would say by 10%, nothing crazy and you want to check frequently that you're you know how much your spend is and you want to make sure that it's not out of control. There's also guardrails. I wouldn't do account level budgets, but if you have a software, you know you could do some sort of automation where it's like if you hit a certain spend in that day, then you know, lower your bids or your budgets by certain amounts so you're not overspending Again.

Mina:

The thing that I learned the hard way was, you know, I would, on average, sell $2,000 a day. The Prime Day came, black Friday, the 7th of Monday came, I sold $4,000, but instead of spending an average of, like you know, 400 to 500, I spent 1,500. And that extra 1,000 or whatever in profit that I was going to make because of the sales, it all went to ads and I ended up not making as much money or losing money. And you know why would I do that? When I'm just like selling more units and now I have to order, you know, more units faster. Now, if you're not in that category, what I would do is you need to have a very focused strategy on organic only. So 30 days prior to Black Friday, cyber Monday, you're going to increase your bids again, but the day before like, or maybe even two days before leading up to the day after those days, I cut my bids by 30%, and we do this across all the brands, so it's a significant cut, which essentially means you know if someone is clicking on your ads, you know they're probably like deep, they're not like window shopping or anything like that. They're probably on page three or something like that. And it's cool because you know people are going to, who are scrolling that much, might be interested in buying. And what I've noticed is, even by cutting our ads by 30%, they will probably our PBC spend will probably be more, like 10% more than what it usually is, but as a result we do get an increased amount of sales. It's not the same as if our bids were high. So we'll maybe sell 50%, 70%, 100% more than what we usually would sell in a day, but you know we'll have our ads spend the same and so all of that difference is net profit.

Mina:

And so you know, if your strategy is, if you're not the seasonal product, black Friday, cyber Monday type of product, you want to cut down by 30%. But if you are, then you're going to have a deal and you're going to probably only cut by 10%. Those perform exceptionally well for products like that. So we've had giftable products that were 45 and we brought them down to $35. We've had coffee makers that were $300 and we brought them down to like 260 or something like that, to 59. And that coffee maker, I think, did $70,000 in one day, wow, yeah, we had a card brand, a card holder, that did like a million dollars between both prime days. So when you have a giftable product, when you have an expensive product, something that people wait for deals to buy, you can make a lot of money and definitely utilize the deals that you know prime day deals or Black Friday, cyber Monday deals.And then one more thing that I didn't mention for both of those is if you do plan on like showing that you have a lower price 30 to 45 days before Black Friday, cyber Monday or Prime Day, increase your cost, your sale price and let's say you're a $30 product, bring it up to 35 and then, right before you can drop your price back to 30 and it will show that you have had the lowest price in the last 30 days. So, on top of like a deal, it'll show that you have the lowest price, or, if you don't have a deal, it'll show that you have the lowest price, which some people might think that it's a deal. That's essentially what we've been doing. And then another thing to consider is what are the things that you can do to improve your click-through rate during those periods which are going to be your sale price, your main image and your reviews? Those are the top three things that can influence your click-through rate. The higher the click-through rate, the more you're taking advantage of all that traffic that's coming in.

Mina:

And so, main image, the time to split test this probably now, because you have about a month until Black Friday, Cyber Monday. You know, with price testing, see how far you can go up right now before actually having a significant impact, because then when you go down you can have a deal and you don't have to go down as much. If you raise your price by 20% now and you notice that your sales and your profits are pretty much the same, when you do a 20% off in Black Friday, Cyber Monday, you're going to get all that much more profit because you're having more sales at the same price. And then, if you're at a 4.2 stars, do whatever it takes between now and Black Friday, cyber Monday to hit a 4.3, because once you hit the 4.3 and you have 4.5 stars, I've seen click-through rates go way up and traffic you know, paid and organic significantly improve. And just a note for everyone, higher click-through rates means lower cost per click, that's. I mean, I don't know why that's the case. My theory is that Amazon views higher click-through rates as better experience for shoppers and, as a result, they want to reward you and allow you to spend more money. So if you're looking for one way to get more free sales through organic traffic or more sales at a lower cost, through a lower cost per click, work on click-through rate.

Carrie Miller:

So would you say, to do the manage my experiments, to do split testing for those main images, or how do you usually split test?

Mina:

You know, manage my experiments has not been that reliable recently and I updated my main image and I did manage my experiments and I noticed that for one variation it said that the old one is better and then for one variation said the new one is better. So I said you know what? I'm just going to test putting the new one up and I know what my click-through rate has been the last month. Let's see what's going to happen the next two weeks. So I added the new image and click-through rate went up by a lot. Oh wow, yeah, I mean, and it was against kind of what manage my experiments said. So I think the ultimate way to split test is just, you know, use something like you guys have a poll feature right, yeah, yeah, audiences. So use Helium 10 audiences, get some preliminary data and then you know, if you feel a little bit more confident and you're like, okay, cool, like this image is definitely better than my old image, then go ahead and just like test it. Worst case your click-through rate goes down for a couple of weeks. No big deal, you can catch it pretty quick. I would not make any decisions until at least seven days because you need like one full week cycle so you can look at the average of the click-through rates before, average of the click-through rates after and then say, okay, you know, after it's definitely worse, because for me, Monday the click-through rate could be 0.4. Tuesday could be 0.28. Wednesday could be 0.43. You know what I mean. So that's how it just fluctuates. No one knows why. It's human behavior, you know. None of us you know behave in a predictable way Like you know, at least that predictable. So it's okay, like just let a full week cycle go by.

Carrie Miller:

Do you have some tips Like are there certain things like maybe if you have multiples in a package should you show all of them, or what are some kind of tips you have for those main images that you've seen, kind of better performance on the click-through?

Mina:

Yeah, great, great question. So for me, I think what I've seen is the sale, the selling points, like the, the USB, the selling point being visible and you showing that you're better than everyone else just from the main image. And so when I, when I put a bunch of you know like products next to each other, my competitors versus me, like I know that I'm looking for a product, not a lot of people take advantage of the text on their, on their boxes or on their products. So, for example, let's say you know you're selling like flip flops, the cloud flip flops, so you can have the flip flops and, and you know, in an angle whatever. Or you can have the flip flops put on top of a box, a fake box, and on that box you have two sides where you can write text and it says, like you know, the softest material on the market or whatever a hundred percent recyclable stuff like that, right, because you can have that text on the box that you couldn't have actually have on your package, and that box probably doesn't exist. You know you're probably shipping it in a, in a clear bag, but no one is going to pay attention to that detail and and you know, at the end of the day, they're going to get your your slippers. They're going to look this, you know they're going to look like slippers.

Mina:

So for me, my, my product, my electrolytes if you go look at it on Amazon, it's like shinier. There's text on the cap, there's like some different logos that show that actually don't exist on the bottle and when they do get the bottle it looks very, very similar. There's just a few things, and those few things those are the differences that when someone types in a keyword and they're looking, you know they're browsing, I catch their eye because I have, like some elements outside of the product that are eye catching and I have some text on the product that, like they're looking at all like this is an electrolyte powder, so this is an electrolyte powder with no sugar, with no carbs, and it has this and it's made in America and it's all of these things on the label and so they're like they're convinced to click on me without having to read like title or anything like that.

Carrie Miller:

Wow, that's amazing.

Mina:

Yeah, they're just心 restoring, etc. You have to get creative in that one, and so just think about what your product is and what are some elements that you can add around the product to make it pop. And then you utilize packaging with text to make your main image an infographic instead of a main. You know, like if you could make your main image an infographic? That's what I'm getting at.

Carrie Miller:

Very interesting. Okay, thank you for sharing that. That's a really good info. Okay, let's go on to the next question here. Let's see, I think you kind of asked well, this is for holiday season, so how should I adjust my PPC budget for the holiday season? So, in general, like you know Q4, there's more spend. What budget recommendations do you have?

Mina:

Yeah. So again like if, if, if you don't know historically how much your budget goes up by, what I would do is I would go, I would go into helium 10 and I find the increase in sales you know from my competitors and I would probably budget 50 to 100% like growth in my ad spend based on what I'm seeing. So let's say my competitor goes from selling 100 units a day to 200 units a day during during that season. Then I'm going to take, you know I'm spending $1,000 a day on ads. I'm going to go to 1500 or max 2000. That's kind of my range of of increase in ad spend and I'm obviously going to do it slowly and make sure that my revenue is growing, you know more, so that I'm left with net profits. So that's another point is to make sure that you are tracking your net profits. So net profits is your sale price minus your Amazon fees, minus your cost of goods sold, minus your advertising you know advertising spend and then obviously refunds and reimbursements take that into account and that's your net profit. You know, on Amazon, excluding, like your own, like cost, you know VA's, whatever, that kind of stuff. So make sure that you're measuring that because that's the, the like, the true number of, like how much you're taking home. And as that number, you know, is increASINg, you can increase your, your ad spend. And you know, hopefully, because at the end of the day, like I don't care about selling three times more in Q4. And then you know, my net profits the same.

Mina:

I'd rather sell four times less and have the same net profit because it's easier on my cash flow. So that's how I would. I would adjust my budgets Now. If you have historic data and you understand how your sales perform, then you can do it based off of your, your sales growth. Again, if, if you're like, not your spend growth but your sales growth, so if your sales have historically gone up by 80%, then I'm I'm, you know, going up by 40 to 80% on my ad spend. I'll start by going up 40% and then notice how much my sales went up, cause if I start going up by 80% and my sales are on the by 60, I'll scale it back down to 40. Because, again, I want to keep that gap big enough so that I'm making more profit, taking more money home.

Carrie Miller:

That's a really good point. Yeah, profitability is the most important thing at the end of the day. Yeah, another holiday specific one. What are some strategies for creating holiday specific ad campaigns and promotions?

Mina:

Yeah, so this is. I mean people are not going to like this answer, but every single time I've tried to create anything that's holiday specific has not turned out well. So sponsor products ads work amazing. Every time I start, I try doing a holiday sponsored brand, which is you know the Christmas tree with the products surrounded and you know that kind of stuff like Christmas vibes, I don't know what it is. My theory is that people on Amazon see that as an ad and they're like I don't want to click on an ad but they see sponsor products as like a very like organic thing and they're like oh, I didn't even know that it was an ad so. And then I've tried it with DSP too, and that one was painful because we have to come up with like 16 different sizes for each creator.

Carrie Miller:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Mina:

And so we tried a lot of it and it did not outperform regular you know our regular standard ads so I wouldn't worry too much about you know. Creatives for holidays, okay.

Carrie Miller:

I've. We've got a lot of questions in here, so I'm going to start pulling up some of these questions from the audience. Um, rick, I hope you said your name right. What is, or what are your rules to stop sponsored campaigns when a keyword does not perform as desired?

Mina:

Okay, so usually, if I'm, if I'm trying to be aggressive and grow, it is about the same price as my product and no sales. So if I have a $30 product, if I spend $30 in no sales, if it's an auto broad phrase or expanded ASIN, I'm adding it as a negative. If it's an exact, I'm lowering the bids and I'm going to lower the bids consistently until they either stop spending money or they're profitable. But more than likely, you know, they're just going to stop spending money. But I'm just giving it a chance to be on page four and if someone finds it and clicks on it, they're likely to convert. So that's, that's my strategy. If I'm going aggressive, if I'm trying to be conservative, it'll be 30 to 50% of my sale price. So if I have a $30 product, anywhere between 10 to $15 and spend and no sales, then I'm going to add it as a negative or positive. Now, if you notice that there's a lot of those and if you notice that you you know you went in and you're like, okay, cool, $15 and spend in no sales, I'm going to add it as a negative or lower the bids and you do that and you're left with very little and you feel like you know, like it's not your sales, your sales are not there. You probably have a conversion rate problem. So your problem is more yes, kill the bleeding. So $15 and spend no sales added as negative. Stop spending money on it.

Mina:

You know you can't help it, but focus on your. You know, with your current ads being the same, that your TACoS like gets cut in half by you doubling your conversion rate, because then from there you can start removing some of the negatives and retesting them, or just taking the negatives and relaunching them in newer campaigns and seeing if they're going to be able to get it, and then you're going to perform Cause. A lot of times it's like a balance between conversion rate and ad spend. So here at this ad spend, you know, and this conversion rate, I'm fine. Now, like you know, this conversion rate, now I'm not profitable. So when my conversion rate goes up, I can spend a little bit more. Conversion rate goes up, I can spend a little bit more. It's like a balancing app.

Carrie Miller:

That's a really good point. You know that. You know you got to look at your listing too. Is it the most optimized, or your images the best they could be? I mean even just your main image, the way you were talking about. You know adding those different things on the packaging, that's um. You know little touches that make a huge difference. So that is really good. You know not all. You know you can negative the keywords, but then you know they might not be bad forever. So it's really good. Mr techie says, PPC strategy help required. Selling a product in Indian market and then I launched it in the US Market. Have 60 plus feedbacks. My ACoS is 150%. I was running exact match, but conversion rate is negative 7%.

Mina:

So not sure what the question is, but yeah, yeah, can you, can you clarify the question? And then I mean, if your conversion rate is 7%, I mean ACoS really doesn't matter to me Tell me what your TACoS is. That's like maybe gonna be a little bit more indicative. Tell me what your, you know your margin is and what your TACoS is and what your conversion rate is like overall on the listing and I can maybe help you a little bit better. But I mean, if you're, if you just launched, it's more than likely your conversion rate is low. Having 60 plus Feedbacks or reviews, I'm assuming, is not enough. Also, running exact match alone isn't great. You can run broad phrase and exact and auto and expanded ASIN and whatever is working. You know you can keep that and whatever is not working you can pause it or add it as a negative.

Mina:

And the goal is to you know, across all the different Add types that you have match types and all that kind of stuff, to find just a bunch of winning keywords. You start off, let's say, with a hundred dollars a day in budget and you know you launch a hundred dollars a day worth of ads and maybe ten dollars of those ads are profitable. So the other 90 you're gonna kill and then launch a new 90, and out of that 90 there's 10, and so now you have 20, that's working, 80. That's not working, you know. Kill that 80, launch another new 80, now you have maybe 30, and you know, and so on, and so you're just trying to stack up like More keywords that are profitable and they're working, and then kill the ones that you tested but didn't work out, and again, all of them will work better if your conversion rate is higher.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's a good point. I think he said something else a little bit. I've already spent over 3,000. My sales are around 1800 through profitability, though Profitability is very low. So I think you kind of gave some good advice there. So so let's see. Bradley has a question. He says are you 100% of the time doing custom images for sponsored brand ads and if so, what kind of images are working well?

Mina:

Okay. So the one, the one image that I've seen perform really well and yes, I am doing custom images for sponsored brand 100% of the time the one image that I'm seeing work really, really well is Like something like social proof. So people that are on Shark Tank, people that you know, were like featured on, like there was a creative one where it was like the product and then like put on the cover of Forbes, you know, like with a magazine of Forbes, like next to it. We've seen like stuff done with an influencer, like really big influencers Hillary, dove, Halle Berry, you know who are like celebrities. So social proof is what I've seen Works incredibly well and you have to do it in a way where, like it's, there's no like text, so you can't just do like a bunch of like logos and stuff like that. I don't think they're gonna allow that, but that is what I've seen works best. Everything else has worked kind of Okay, you know, like similar sponsor brands in general and you know I hate to say this, but sponsor brands in general, they seem to not perform that well. They seem to just spend more money and not generate sales. So I'm a hundred percent an advocate for sponsor brands for your own branded search terms. But the second that I start going into like sponsor brand for other keywords. What I notice is it's like the people are clicking on sponsor brand and sponsor products, spending money and not and it's not generating any more sales. And we've tried it where our organic and sponsored is low. So there's. You know there's no chance they're coming into our listing and we try and run a sponsored brand and They've. They've done Okay, they haven't done great.

Carrie Miller:

That's interesting. Okay, the next question how you mentioned in one of your videos that you use same keyword in multiple campaigns, does not, does that not cannibalize the keyword?

Mina:

Yeah, so the only time I'm using the same keyword in multiple campaigns if they're if the match types are different and it does not cannibalize, and I'll explain why. So when you have a keyword in broad, that keyword triggers 50 different searches, 50 different search terms, right, if it's in phrase, it triggers 20 and if it's an exact it triggers one, and then these are, just, like you know, rough numbers. So it let's say that you know you have the same keyword in broad phrase and exact, this keyword in broad is gonna show one of 50 times. Now, if you have a hundred dollars a day budget in that campaign and a one dollar cost per click, that that means that it's gonna show across those 50 keywords twice per keyword. You know you're gonna. It's gonna, you know, be two times per keyword in 24 hours. And then you know for for the, the like phrase, it's gonna be five times per keyword and then for the exact, it's gonna be whatever, however many times, you know a hundred times for that keyword. That's, if you reach a hundred dollars, they and spend, and so you add that up, right, two times, five times. You know, and let's say, 20 times in 24 hours. They're not gonna compete with each other like there's there's so much time in the day. An ad could be showing up, you know, every minute. So it's like there is. They're usually in different match types, not gonna compete, and if they do happen to show in different times, from my understanding the the one that has the highest bid is the one that's gonna show up. So it's not a big deal. I don't think they compete. I just think like, statistically, you have something that shows up twice in 24 hours, five times in 24 hours, 20 times in 24 hours. What is the chance of them running into each other?

Carrie Miller:

Yeah, that's true. Okay, so Jeffrey asked what's the minimum amount of Spend needed and the minimum time frame you recommend for running DSP? That's a really good question. I've had this question a lot recently.

Mina:

Yeah. So I would say 2000 a month is would be the bare minimum and that's just kind of enough to cover like some loyalty or retargeting campaigns. And the minimum like in the first 30 days, that's when you're still getting data, and then in the second 30 days, that's when you're starting to optimize. So within 60 days you should start seeing like the true results. So I would say the minimum at spend would be 2000 and then the minimum you know amount of time should be 60 days, and then 60 days that's if you're like running it with someone, that's like experienced and they know what they're doing. If you're doing it yourself, it's probably it's gonna be longer. You know more, like 120 days because there's a lot of things that you have to tweak to get it Right. But yeah, I mean it doesn't have to be a lot of ad spend. I think you can get retargeting down with 2000. You just have to figure out which Placements work the best. So for me it's been usually Amazoncom, desktop, mobile web and mobile app. Creatives has been responsive, e-commerce has performed the best, and then audiences are Like sometimes 30 days is enough, 30 days retargeting. Sometimes you have to go with like 60 days retargeting. So it just depends on how many people are coming into your listing. For an audience to be created on DSP, you need at least a thousand Unique visitors a month to create an audience awesome.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, the next one is how are you using the bidding strategy for supplements and are you getting good results?

Mina:

First for supplements, the way that, like I work, from long to long, tail up, like from from long, like long term, like um, low, low search volume, all the way up because lower search volume are easier to win. And so my strategy is, you know, going to helium 10, I put in my, or I go into, like you know, the search results on on Amazon type in my main keyword, open up X-ray. I pull up the top 10 competitors, launch them in cerebro. Then I set up some settings, so I would say like a minimum of 500 searches a month, minimum ranking competitors seven or eight out of the 10. Um, and then maximum position, 60. Um, and so now it's showing me keywords that are relevant to most of these competitors with decent search volume and they're not ranked a super low. And then from there I have my core list and I take that core list and I start launching.

Mina:

I launched the big ones initially just to get relevancy and to get a lot of indexing for for a lot of different keywords. I'll watch this broad phrase and exact, but I start with the lower search volume keywords and I put them five in a campaign, one in broad, one in phrase, one in exact, and I'm gradually launching them and I start with a bid that's lower or around the suggested bid. Sometimes the suggested bid is $5. So I'll just start at you know, a dollar or $2. Anyways, and then I can always inch my way up, and so from there I wait and I, you know, I spend and I see what's going on. And then I start inching data up based on like, what's getting um, impressions, um, and obviously, if there's anything that's performing well, I'm spending a little bit more money on it. And I'm basically trying to start like I'm casting a net at the bottom and then coming up, up, up, up, up, until it starts like catching some people and instead of like spending up here, and then I'm like, damn, like this, spending too much money, it's not profitable, and lowering the bids.

Mina:

I started the bottom and work my way up and then, as I stack the, the long tail ones, it's easier to launch the bigger ones Because they're going to be more costly, but they'll balance out because they they will drive a lot of traffic, but you should have like a decent amount of sales that are profitable coming in first and then then it will work a lot better than if you just start with the broad keywords Um and yeah, and that gets me pretty good results. We're like looking for negative keywords very frequently, making sure that any keyword that spends a certain amount of money with no sales, is added as negative, like if it's an auto broad phrase or expanded ASIN, um, and then all any keyword that's like underperforming bids are lowered. And we're constantly launching new keywords and testing new keywords out. So, going through the search term report, um, you know, twice a week identifying any search term that converted profitably that we're not currently running. I'm not negating it or anything, I'm just taking it out, putting it in its own campaign in different match types to try and double down on those keywords.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome, all right. Next question Are Google ads still effective?

Mina:

Yeah, I would say Google ads are still effective. Definitely. I think you're trying to drive cold Google ads to Amazon because you have a lack of attribution. It's very hard to optimize. I wouldn't necessarily put my money there before maximizing uh, PPC and DSP.

Carrie Miller:

Can you elaborate a little bit more on this strategy for a rank? Do you have to put in specific keywords on your Google ads in order to rank on Amazon for those, or does it just sending Google traffic allow all your keywords to increase an organic rank, Like what? What is the strategy for that?

Mina:

The strategy is individual keywords. So it's like we'll set up a keyword, uh, in its own campaign and we'll drive traffic to Amazon and we're noticing that the rank of that keyword for us organically goes up and we're tracking it in the search query performance report, um, in terms of like all of everything ranking higher. That works well when we're using influencers. So we've done a strategy where we've hit up a bunch of influencers, like I'm actually going to do this for my new product that I'm launching, um on Amazon. It's like a new, it's like a packets version of my electrolytes, but basically I'm giving it away to a hundred different influencers and what we've seen is like brands that have done that that they've given it away to influencers on Tik Tok and they've like posted about it and made good content. And then people are like looking up the brand name and looking at it on Amazon, like that's really helped improve organic rank across the board.

Carrie Miller:

That's amazing, thank you, okay, so what's the best way to choose initial bids?

Mina:

Yeah, so start with suggested bid, you know, and if the suggested bits too high, just start lower and then work your way up. There's like no science behind this. Um, you're never going to nail it. You're just going to start somewhere and then you're going to have to optimize it. You're going to have to optimize over time until you hit the you know, the sweet spot. But I would rather you start lower and work your way up, because if you start higher you're just spending a lot more money faster.

Carrie Miller:

All right. Next one should broad and phrase match be used in campaigns throughout the product lifetime? I think is what that is.

Mina:

Product. Okay, so should broad and phrase match type? Yeah, broad and phrase match types should be used forever. They're like different types of keywords. So you have one keyword and you have different match types and those different match types perform differently. So you know, it's like. That's just how it is. Like you can have a electrolyte powder broad, electrolyte powder exact and electrolyte powder broad could do amazing, because inside of electrolyte powder broad there's 40 keywords. You've negative 10 of them that are not doing well, and then there's 30 of them that are doing good, you know. And then electrolyte powder exact is just that one keyword and you know you've optimized the bid as much as you can and it's doing okay, but you know it's spending too much money and not an ecosystem is high, etc. Etc. So you should always use phrase and broad. Yeah.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. Okay, and we have some continuation from the one earlier who had 150% ACoS negative 7% conversion rate. He said TACoS are 125%. Current sales two orders a day. Category gift bags. I need PPC strategy for the current situation in helium 10. I see my rank is poor for major keywords. I am tracking.

Mina:

Yeah, I mean this is. It looks like to me it's more likely a conversion rate problem. When I see TACoS that high, I mean it's not going to be your, because if your TACoS is that high, then great like, pause all your keywords and only keep the ones that are profitable. And if there's like, if the ones that are profitable aren't even making you two sales a day, then yeah, I mean you have a conversion problem. So it because if you fix your conversion rate, then your 125 TACoS could become 50% TACoS and then you'll have more opportunity to get you know, launch more keywords and some of them be more profitable, which will drop your TACoS even further. But it seems, as of right now you're, it's probably a conversion rate problem.

Carrie Miller:

Yeah.

Mina:

Sorry, let me just say okay, while you fix your conversion rate, what should you do for PPC? I would say go after a bunch of long tail keywords, start with a very low bid and work your way up slowly and try and catch some profitable keywords. That's, that's all you can do. There's not much else that you can do, right? It's because then, the day you're launching different keywords, you're testing different keywords, some of them need to convert and it's, you know, it's up to your conversion rate.

Carrie Miller:

Awesome. I think that's actually the last of the questions here, so and we're about, you know, almost at 40 minutes, so we've definitely had a pretty good episode here. So thank you so much for joining us on this live. We really appreciate you coming and giving all this expert advice. I think you just dropped so much information here, so many good tactics that people can start taking into, especially these holiday season times, to help, you know, maybe not overspend and to be more profitable. So thank you so much again for joining and we'll see you again, hopefully another time on TACoS Tuesday, and we'll see you again.

Mina:

See you later, see you soon, thanks guys.

Carrie Miller:

Bye everyone.

View Details

In episode 502 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Swapneel discuss:

00:00 - Selling on Amazon And Scaling Rapidly
14:18 - Product Launch Strategies and International Market Approaches
12:47 - Scaling a Multimillion-Dollar Business Solo
17:52 - Product Research and Potential Products
20:39 - Issues With Suppliers and Product Lifespan
23:42 - Product Launch and Maintenance Strategies
34:40 - What's Next For Swapneel?
38:52 - Swapneel's 60-Second Tip

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► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we've got a very unique seller. He sold over $10 million over the last couple of years, has 60 products in over 10 marketplaces and launches a new product every month. Guess how many employees he has? Zero. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 houses the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself. We have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash black box. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world and from the other side of the world. We've got a serious seller here that is joining us for the first time in the show. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, since it's your first time on the show.

Swapneel:

Hi, my name is Swapneel and I'm from India. Been selling on Amazon from the year 2014 and, as a full term, from last four years.

Bradley Sutton:

So yeah, were you born and raised in India?

Swapneel:

Yeah. What part Rajasthan, Jodhpur.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. And have you lived all your life there or have you moved around at all?

Swapneel:

Yeah, so when I was like 19 years old I went to New Delhi like for my university for five years and then right now I'm like kind of digital nominate, so I don't really live here anymore, but just maybe like two, three months a year just to visit my family, because my family still live here.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Well, what did you go to a university for?

Swapneel:

I did law so.

Bradley Sutton:

I wanted to be a lawyer.

Swapneel:

Yeah, so I did law for five years and I specialized in intellectual property rights.

Bradley Sutton:

How does one go from five years studying law and then all of a sudden, e-commerce? Not a natural transition there?

Swapneel:

No, I was doing part time, like other than focusing at university. I was working as well All my university years. Any commerce yes, I was selling on Amazon from 2014. And yeah, so, and I did. Well, how did that?

Bradley Sutton:

happen, though, because that's still not typical. It's not like okay, yeah, during the day I'm going to study law, during the night I'm going to sell on Amazon. I mean like especially in 2014, when hardly anybody was doing it, so how did Amazon even get on your radar?

Swapneel:

So, even before Amazon, I was doing a lot of other platforms like eBay, and there are some other local marketplaces like traders shop clothes, so, and you know, in 2013, amazon entered in India, but in 2014, they opened for everyone, and I knew that Amazon is a really big e-commerce company and I should be there and yeah. So, but, like, even before I went to university, I was making, you know, some money like some, doing some other stuff like flipping goods from online to offline.

Bradley Sutton:

So, like you've always been like kind of like I had an entrepreneurial mindset in one of those early age. You trying to make some action, okay, now it's making a little bit more, a little bit more sense, okay. And then things started getting bigger so that when you graduated from university, did you just go full time into into e-commerce then yeah.

Swapneel:

So that that time, like for me the money was pretty big motivation thing. So in my first year of the university I wasn't sure how much I would be making as a lawyer. But on the second and third year I got to know from my seniors like what is the actual situation and I realized that man like I need to put like at least 10 years in law if I really want to make some serious money in this field.

Bradley Sutton:

Now back in 2014,. I'm assuming you were selling an Amazon USA.

Swapneel:

No, I just did in India. That's where Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

India was active in 2014. Yes, yes, I didn't even know that. Okay.

Swapneel:

Interesting, yeah, but it was very new. It was really new they didn't do reselling or private label. Yeah, so I was just doing reselling. I used to buy a lot of stuff from USA, mainly from Amazon.com, and then selling in Amazon India. Yeah, Interesting.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, at what year did you first hit the seven figures?

Swapneel:

The 2021, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

2021 okay, and at that point were you one hundred percent private label or were you still doing like some reselling and things?

Swapneel:

I was doing both and like I feel like so, in 2020 I launched a lot of private label products. During all the, like you know, doing the first lockdown, I was just focusing on all the products launches I will be making, doing product research and my first product has really contributed a lot for my private label journey, like I started with one product and then just my.

Bradley Sutton:

You're still selling that product now.

Swapneel:

Not anymore, because the demand is okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Can you tell us?

Swapneel:

what it is, then, yeah, sure.

Bradley Sutton:

I can show. Go ahead and send me the link over in the chat and let me pull it up on my screen. Let's see here. Okay, I see what this is, so let's pull it up here so everybody else can see. There we go, all right. So this is like a, like a USB capture card I'm looking at here. And how did you find this Like? How did you even decide that this was going to be your product? You just got it randomly, or?

Swapneel:

what. So for me, like one of the criteria to search the product is checking the new launches of my competitor or and see like if I can have that same product in a very less turn around and can enjoy the party. So that's what's my like, I mainly do. And during that time I saw like a lot of people were seeing selling this product but they were doing MFF, like they were not doing full fill by Amazon and like, even though the product demand was there, but they were, I don't know why they didn't did FPA. And I knew one thing like as soon as I will do this FPA, the product doesn't have any. Like you know, any of my computer doesn't have a lot of reviews and if I will do full fill by Amazon, then I can, you know, sell a lot of goods as well. So how many?

Bradley Sutton:

how many at the peak? Like? How many units of this were you selling a month or a day?

Swapneel:

I was selling like I was selling like a month I was selling more than 1500 units in India.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, wow In Amazon India. And yeah, okay. All right so then you're like, okay, wow, yeah, this is definitely better than reselling, or I have to get a little bit and stuff you could just Well. Did you manufi, did you get it from China, or did you get it from there in India?

Swapneel:

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, I got through some of the suppliers in China. Yeah, but the best thing about this product is not just selling, but the margin I had. So I was buying this product like for $5 and was selling for like this product for around $40.

Bradley Sutton:

Wow, very nice. Yeah especially in India you're still living in India that the money goes even farther.

Swapneel:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

How long until you bought your parents a house?

Swapneel:

So I bought the like. You know, as soon as my business started picking up in doing COVID, my family was already super excited. So they already finalized, you know, like don't worry about being a lawyer anymore.

Bradley Sutton:

No, forget that you know like, hey, this Amazon is good, huh, okay.

Swapneel:

Yeah, but that you know definitely I was in a bit of stress situation. It's a really big thing, you know so, but that stress really motivated me to push myself further and focusing every small details of my finance, my product. So, yeah, I was a stress, but at the same time I was able to, you know, do better in those situations.

Bradley Sutton:

So 2021 hit that $1 million mark. How much did you sell last year in 2022?

Swapneel:

I did $5.4 million.

Bradley Sutton:

I mean, getting to $1 million is impressive enough. How did you go from $1 million to $5 million just in one year? We're just launching tons of products, or you had some products go viral Were you launching to other marketplaces. How did you increase so fast?

Swapneel:

So, like I was doing some international markets before in and out, like you know, kind of drop shipping back in 2018 in UK and some EU market also in USA but it was not, like you know, full time or doing throughout the year. Sometimes my accounts were also suspended because of drop shipping. But back in 2021, I started again focusing on the international markets, but still was not doing like a full-fledged business. And back in like 2022, I expanded my business in a very serious manner, like in whole of EU UK, Canada, USA. I know everything how to do an average because I had a lot of experience. And also in 2020, I did my business in Austria as well. So that has really helped me a lot. You know, like provided me enough money to expand in those other markets. Yeah, so that was one of the things like really helped me. And like I was just using my suppliers, which I'm already using in India, and I know that, whatever I would be selling the same product in USA, I would be doing 10X more at least. So that has changed a lot. And also my negotiation skills really helped me because a lot of my suppliers started giving me credit and I utilized those that credit in a very efficient manner like, yeah, you get loan and if you just spend on yourself, then it's not a good idea, but if you utilize pretty well in the business, then definitely it helps. So that's what helped me in 2022. Okay, All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now it's coming up. We're now here in Q4 in 2023. Are you going to do better than last year? Same Worse. What do you think you're going to end up with this year?

Swapneel:

So this year it would be exactly the same what I did last year, because the situation has changed a lot this year. Firstly, I'm traveling whole of this year and it's just maybe like 40-50 days. That was in India. Other than that, I was traveling full time. I was just came, like three, four days ago, from like a four month of trip. I was in North and South America. So this year I was like pretty relaxed and also a lot of things happened at Amazon as well. So Amazon is, I think, are really not smooth at Amazon, so trying to fix those things as well, all right, so now you've got this five months, you've got this five, six million dollar business.

Bradley Sutton:

You're traveling, enjoying yourself, not working like 100 hours a week, so you must have 20 employees supporting you, huh.

Swapneel:

Oh, not at all.

Bradley Sutton:

How many total employees have you had the last few years?

Swapneel:

So in India I just had one accountant and one person who manages, and then there is one guy from at Veros. That's it in India. But I never had any employee anywhere else, even though my Indian business is not even like 7%. If I compare to my last year's sales revenue, my Indian business was just 7%, but for the rest 93% revenue, I never had any employee. So for your Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

USA business and in Europe you have zero employees, just you.

Swapneel:

Yes, yes.

Bradley Sutton:

Well. So I mean, people listening to this might ask a question well, like, maybe that makes sense. You know, like if you're working like 90 hours a week and have no life and just stay in your basement and work all day, but how in the world do you scale a business so much? And you're the one who has to answer the customer service, you're the one who has to find a line of their products, you're the one who has to do the keyword research, you're the one who has to make the listing, you're the one who has to fight with Amazon if customer support, if something happens, how in the world can you run a five, six million dollar business just by yourself and not even working really full time?

Swapneel:

So the one of the best thing with Amazon is their FPModels. So a lot of customers, don't you know, reach out to you if they have any issues with the delivery and all the stuff, and that is one of the reasons why customers, you know, contact to the seller at first place, other than the warranty and all the stuff. And also I was doing a lot of reselling as well in US market, so the brand has to take care of those stuff. So a lot of time was saved for sure, yeah, so, and I had really good partners, for example, with the Logistic thing. I have a really nice shipping agent and that really, like you know, eases my work a lot, just sending the details of the labels and everything and just telling you where to ship which market. They take care of everything. So for me, the main goal was just to, like you know what I can do to improve my revenue, and also sometimes I used to use some freelancers if I was not really good with something. So, yeah, that's it.

Bradley Sutton:

So how many marketplaces now are you in? So right now I'm in USA, Canada, UK, whole of the EU, UAE, Japan, Australia, India, but more than 10 marketplaces, probably, and are you selling the same products across the board, or, like, some products are only sold in EU, or some products only in USA?

Swapneel:

Each market is different. For example, in India I can sell mostly a lot of products, but not very high end products and which are technical. Each country the situation is really different. Sometimes there is a really low like maybe a local company who is doing really good and have a lot of reviews, and maybe you don't have any kind of competitive advantage, even though I will try or push, try to push. So for me it's more like market specific strategies, because not all markets are same and every market is completely different.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now what's your, what's your process? Like, how many products are you launching or actually until now active? Approximately how many skews, different skews, you know, like if you're selling the same one product in USA and Canada and Europe, just count that as one. But just roughly, like you know, 20 skews in all marketplaces, 100, 300, like roughly. What do you think?

Swapneel:

So, like beginning of this year, I was also doing a lot of reselling, but now I'm not doing business with one of the company I used to do and that has definitely contributed a lot to my last year's venue. But things have changed.

Bradley Sutton:

So private label. Then how, yeah, how many skews are you doing?

Swapneel:

So currently I'm launching like every month at least one new product in private label and so and some I also take off the old you know, which are not really performing really nice and not what my efforts or the you know margin is shrinking a lot, so I just cut off, you know, those products. So right now maybe like 60, 70 products 60 or 70 products.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, walk me through. Have in mind your last product you launched. Like, when was the last product you launched this month? Last month? So have one product in mind. You have it in mind? Mm? Hmm, you got it in mind. Ready, yeah, yeah.

Swapneel:

Okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Now was it July that you launched it.

Swapneel:

Yeah, oh.

Bradley Sutton:

I guess that one product you have in mind. What month did you discover it, or what month are you like? All right, this is what I'm going to plan to launch. You know we talking January last year. You know what was it? Spring when was it?

Swapneel:

So in April and May I was in China and I was looking around some products and then I found some product which is doing good in the US market and I contacted some suppliers. When I was in China I visited the factory. So it was in May, in the month of May.

Bradley Sutton:

But which came first. You found the product, or, like you found the idea in China, or you had done some research when you were still in the USA and then went to China. Which one was first?

Swapneel:

Sometimes, you know, because of some advertisement or anything if I find I just keep on. Like you know, at least every day when I'm doing product research I spend at least one hour on Amazon just browsing and doing really nothing, checking what's going on and if I can add something value on that product. So then I just found one product and I was doing more and more research and then seeing like I do check, like you know, if any product is launched recently and the rank is going crazy, it means this product could be a potential. So this is one of the reasons. And then to validate, I check the data how much volume it says in a month and other than that.

Bradley Sutton:

What are you looking for? Like are you checking how many do you have, like a limit? Like oh no, there's already 30 people selling this, so it's too late. Or like what's your what are some criteria? Is that you're looking for when you're doing your validation?

Swapneel:

So I check if this product is a really advanced, then how the product you know like before generation did, for example, like which was not that innovative enough. It was a basic product, but how much that product was doing, how much is the reviews for that product. Is a really really established and do I have chances of getting success or not? So I do check all these things and I also do the search result how much is a search volume for this particular product? And to check whether this product is seasonal or not.

Bradley Sutton:

So okay, so, so then you did all that with this product, and then your next step was you actually went to China to like check some suppliers for it, or what was the next step after you're like you know what, this looks really good, it passes my test. What was the next step for you?

Swapneel:

So I was already in China during those time in April and May and I felt like visiting the factories and you know it's a really good idea rather than just chatting them. I visited factory and I did all the customization with them and, yeah, so ordered like I can also negotiate better. For example, they gave me a price for 10,000 units but I said, hey, it's a new launch and you know, then I try to get the same price for like maybe four, five thousand units and at the same time I make sure that if this product is not really doing good or it's very new in already UK or the U market, then I make sure that I launch the same product in all across the market places all at once.

Bradley Sutton:

So this one product that you launched in July, the one that you have in mind was that only for USA, or was that one that you had launched in other places?

Swapneel:

Yeah, at the same time I was launching UK and U for that product it was Enslafrom.

Bradley Sutton:

On the subject of suppliers, have you ever had issue with your suppliers where they sell your product to other people?

Swapneel:

Oh, A lot of suppliers do that a lot of if not that, then how do you handle that?

That is one of the reason, like why a lot of my products don't have a long life long life in case. Like you know, like people do a lot of drop shipping like tick tock products and Instagram, really, you may see so most of my products are also related to that as well. Not all, but at least 30% of the product. So I sell it. The trend is going on and, yes, then eventually the trend dies, or so it's not like I can sell the same product for another 10 years as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. Yeah, so you. So you don't get really emotionally attached to the product because you know that. You know, like now are all these products you're launching similar brands, or or you always starting just different, random brands.

Swapneel:

So I have some products, specific brands, and some brands are just used for any miscellaneous products.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. So then, this product. You were there in April and May. You happen to be in China. You were browsing Amazon. You found it. You found a new supplier for it, got it ready, 4,000, 5,000 units, shipped to Europe and to US. What's your, what's your launch strategy? Like, like, like, how do you, how do you what some techniques use? Like, how are you getting to page one? Are you just using, you know, ppc? You have any special techniques that you can share? I?

Swapneel:

Use very basic first of all. Obviously, your product should have really nice photos, should classify why your product is better than any other product in the market.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you get nice photos? Do you have like a studio?

Swapneel:

You do business with or what. So I first will try to work directly with the supplier so that I don't have to spend a lot of money upfront For these photos, even because I'm not sure whether how the product will gonna do. And then, if I cannot get anything, then I try to look at fiber to find some people who can do for me, and Then also do the nice a plus content, make sure the bullet points are really good, everything this is a really basic thing to start with, and then, since I launch a lot of products and a lot of market, I Utilize one of the best tool of Amazon, that is, amazon wine, because that really help you. And If you will launch a product in a lot of market, then you get a lot of reviews as well, for example, in the US.

Bradley Sutton:

My view just oh and all the reviews are stacked together, then you be Like you get 20 vine reviews in USA, 20 vine reviews in UK in the same ascent. Now you've got 40 reviews instead of I mean, I'm sure many people do that, but you know, it's just kind of just dawned on me like that's a good, that's a good strategy to have and another reason why you should launch on the the same ascent, okay. And then you find the keywords from helium 10, like you use Cerebro or what tool are using.

Swapneel:

So for me, because some of the products are really new in the market, there are no competitors as well, so it's really difficult to focus. You know which would be the keyword. So I just use Amazon automatic ads to check all the keywords which are performing and by or but. Maybe every week I try to optimize and seeing if some of the keywords are element, trying to put in the negative list, so, and trying to make sure that those keywords are on the product title bullet points. Yeah, yeah, to improve, to improve, so like just very basic, to like no things I use. And Once, like initially, you always get very good reviews because of the wine, because normally people don't put a lot of negative reviews, they leave mostly positive reviews. So you already got initial pull, you know, for your product. Yeah and Then it is totally depends upon the actual customers reviews. If the actual customers are Giving me good reviews, then I can be sure that this product is really doing good and Then I can have that as a long-term product as long as there is a sale for this product. And then I started improving more of my ASIN by putting videos, doing, you know, whatever things I can improve for this product, then putting some Warranty-related things, making sure the customer is always happy. Yeah, I feel like if you sit on Amazon, you should always align your values with what the values of Amazon are. Yeah, so I just make sure that and I take every detail of the customer to further improve the product as well, like checking voice, you know, a voice of customers.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so now you know, thinking back then, from April, your product research phase to Negotiating, negotiating with suppliers, you know, getting samples and doing your customization, like you said, sending it to the marketplaces, creating the listing in the different marketplaces, managing those PPC campaigns in the first few weeks to launch that product that you launch in July, up until, let's just say, august. You know, so one month into the launch Approximately, how many hours do you think that you spent doing all those things?

Swapneel:

Oh, one of the so one of the most interesting time for me when I launch the product is the first sale. I look at the velocity of then another cell, how fast I can. I'm getting another cell. Then you know, checking the performance each day and whether it's improving or not. And, yeah, I closely check every detail during those time and for me, whenever it's my first launch, my goal is not to make profit at all and I will focus on that. Yeah, for me, the main focus is just to see how good is the product and how is the demand actually, because if your product reviews are good and you are early, more Than you can make money for years for sure for this just one product.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay so, but then how? Same question like the how long do you think you spent up until you know, after those first few weeks of spending a lot of time checking the sales? You know like, do you think it took you 50 hours from April to July or to August for that product? Was it 10 only, or or approximately? How long did, uh, did you actually put actual work into that product? I must say like maybe, yeah, for 30 hours at least okay, so about 30 hours of work for the one product, and then now, like, let's say, a product gets mature. You know, now you are making profit. Now it's kind of taking care of itself. Like how much time in a month do you spend on that product, would you say you know because I'm you know, you're probably having to do your ppc and, and you know, check reviews, customer service. Is it like one hour a month because you almost have nothing to do? Is it five hours a month for that one product? What would you say?

Swapneel:

so if the product is really doing good, then the first important thing is to make sure that I have stock for this product, sure? So I negotiate with the supplier and, you know, try to to make sure that I have stock, and then I'll look at the competitors if there is something innovating they are trying to do and if I can implement the same as well, you know, as soon as possible, maybe one of my suppliers putting some new product as a free or, you know, trying to value add, then I also make sure that I do some value addition as well, because, just because of this stuff, I don't want my product rank to go down yeah, so how long does it take?

Bradley Sutton:

you know, like, what is your maintenance phase for a product? For that, for that? We're talking about that same product, you know. Now you know it's October, that product you launch in July. Thank you, how much time are you spending on that product?

Swapneel:

so right now I felt that this product reviews are not really doing great and I'm not motivated enough right now to do further, even though even without advertisement right now I'm getting sales for those products. But if I'm trying, this is a low value product. So if I'm trying to invest a lot in the advertisement it's not really giving me a lot of fruitful results. So right now I'm like, okay, once this product is sold I will not start again, but then, but, but still.

Bradley Sutton:

How much time is it are you spending on so?

Swapneel:

every day. I always wait for the helium, then emailed about my performance, and it gives me all the units I sold in each of the market and that really give me a lot of idea. If something is going interesting, then I try to figure out why it's going like that. And, for example, yesterday I definitely checked on that product and I was saying like, okay, I'm getting sales, not doing anything. And then I checked the reviews are there any improvement in the reviews or is there a possibility of me I take that as a possibility if I can, you know, sell this product for a long time. But yeah, I see that I still have some stock left and the other variation is that really go good, I didn't have that, but I'm still wait and watch. Right now I'm not trying to buy something. You know more from us at first yeah, let's see.

Bradley Sutton:

So you think maybe less than one hour a month you spend on it now yeah, maybe two hours yeah, so so now we can, we're getting a little bit clearer picture of how you, you know scaled up and still can be by yourself. Is, you know, like, hey, maybe to find and and vet the product and and all the work to launch it only took you 30 or 40 hours, and now that it's in maintenance mode maybe you're only spending one or two hours, you know, per per product a month but, I remember you telling me you know that you're leaving money on the table, probably because you're not using, like, all of the tools, or you're not doing all of that, the analytics, since you're by yourself. But still, even with not doing everything that you could be doing, you're, you're, you're doing millions of dollars. And then what? What is your like profit margin, would you say, after your expenses for for your business? At least 15, 15, 20 percent so always want to make 15, 20 percent. If it dips lower then then you go ahead and cancel that product.

Swapneel:

If it goes less than 8%, then definitely not worth it at all.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. So what's the future hold for you? Are you just going to keep doing what you're doing, like this, and just do stuff by yourself, launch a product once a month and things like that and then put on maintenance mode, or are you going to like you know what? It's time that I need to start delegating some of my tasks and maybe take some employees on? What are you going to do next year, in 2024?

Swapneel:

So ever since I was at our BDSS event, that has completely transformed how I see things and how better I can do, and from that time on was obviously I was struggling, so not focusing a lot during all those months, but right now I'm just thinking like every day. Once in a while I have thought about the delegation and what all things I expect from someone, and I'm right now in phase of hiring people, because I know one thing that I can do a lot better what I'm doing right now If I have people. For example, I have a lot of products in Australia. They do really good for me, but I feel I'm so stupid that I'm not sending the inventory on time there. A lot of my products are mostly on outdoor stock and if some market is doing really good, then I don't focus a lot on the market which don't perform well. For example, my USA and UK and EU market do such so better especially Germany, UK and USA that I don't put a lot of efforts in Canada, Australia, Japan, India and also I feel it's really bad because I have all the resources, all the infrastructure. All I need to make sure is ordering the right quantity and making sure that I have stock for those products. That's it. Yeah, so I'm losing just that.

Bradley Sutton:

That's the first thing that you're probably going to want to hire for is like, hey, I need somebody just 100% managing my supply chain, making sure that I'm not running out of stock anywhere. Okay, All right. So what would you say is your I mean, I'm assuming USA is your number one marketplace what would you say is your number two, three and four marketplaces out of all those that are going on UK?

Swapneel:

UK, I feel, can do a lot better as well. I really I'm very happy with UK market, a lot better than US market, because I feel the competition is less, the margin is a lot better than US, but overall sales it's number two.

Bradley Sutton:

You're saying next to USA.

Swapneel:

Yeah, yeah, right, okay, so far. Yes, so UK would do better than US maybe for me.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh really, wow, that's pretty impressive. Okay, interesting, all right. So, yeah, you got inspired by going to Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You can see all the strategies that people are using, and these are strategies probably your competitors are using and you're not you know. So, yeah, it's like when you go to events like this, it can open your mind as far as as you know, seeing what, what is possible out there. Okay, so, other than hiring, finally, some help. What are some other goals for you for next year?

Swapneel:

Focusing on external traffic, because this is a huge thing, really really huge thing, because I see a lot of products on Amazon having 30, 40 reviews and then there's a competitor having 20,000 reviews and they are on the top five products. Why? Because they're getting external traffic. So external traffic is a really huge thing and I think I should have some strategies to work on that thing. Maybe TikTok release, Instagram release, and I'm really like focusing a lot to get some people on board related to marketing, because that's where I feel I'm really not good at all. So, trying to work on that and, yeah, I think that can be really big thing for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Well, I wish you all the best of success. You know I've seen you already at a couple events this past year and hope to see you again at some other local events. And yes, please definitely start hiring people and get some help that you need, and then you'll be able to travel even more, you'll have some more time on your hand and you can enjoy what's your favorite place that you or craziest thing that you have done living as a digital nomad the last couple of years.

Swapneel:

So I'm kind of and really in juggy right now. So I do skydiving, mostly a lot of sports, mostly a lot of sports related to air, you know. So when I was in like just a few weeks ago, I was in north of Washington and I did some being walking on a plane, like almost eight years old plane. I was walking on that plane and that was one of the craziest thing.

Bradley Sutton:

Like on the wings and stuff.

Swapneel:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was really a show.

Bradley Sutton:

No, thank you, thank you.

Swapneel:

For me, like selling on Amazon is just giving me freedom to do what I love the most. I just need financial freedom. That's it, Because that's it Like it. And such a beautiful thing like selling on Amazon you can work and travel at the same time.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah

Swapneel:

Whenever I'm traveling still not many people very rarely meet someone who is selling on Amazon, to be honest, especially of my age group and they're traveling because either they quit the job or they just got two weeks off from office.

Bradley Sutton:

That's yeah, yeah. And they have to go back to work but not you yeah.

Swapneel:

So, yeah, this is a really like, really nice life, you know as a digital moment. But only bad thing is that when I'm traveling, I cannot focus a lot on my work. So I feel like, from going forward, maybe next few months or years, I would like to live at one place a lot more so that my work doesn't hinder. And obviously, if you will, if I want to approach eight or nine figure in coming years, then I cannot do by just one or two hours a day. I need to put more efforts and really need to be very cease at work, because big money comes with big responsibilities as well, I guess.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, all right. So why don't you leave us with a 30 second tip or 60 second tip? It could be either like an Amazon strategy, or maybe it's a strategy for traveling, for how to live as a digital nomad, a strategy for Amazon India. It could be about anything, so go ahead and give us your strategy.

Swapneel:

So I feel like there would be always a stress when you are selling on Amazon and you always need to have a patience, because Amazon will not fix your stuff in five minutes, even if your listing is gone, your account is gone or whatever. So the most important thing you can focus is on your mental health and you should prioritize that thing, because in life you may make a lot of money you can on the other day, if your account is suspended, you are bringing your nothing. So, but one thing can always help you is your mental health, and I think exercising is one of the best things, because that has changed completely me. I still remember how I was doing the first lockdown and how the journey from last three was not at all smooth at all, but not at all, like you know, not very smooth at all, but going workout and not stressing that helped me to not to stress. So I think, yeah, everyone should do this if you are especially selling on Amazon, because you don't have a lot of social life as well when you're selling on Amazon, except traveling, Okay, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, that's good for everybody to follow. I wouldn't follow the having zero employees for $6 million business, but everything else is kind of you know, something that I think a lot of people can do Well. Again, thank you so much for joining us and I hope to see you in person sometime next year.

Swapneel:

Absolutely Can't wait to see you again. Thank you so much, Bradley.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Sr. Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from, and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon announces the launch of Amazon.co.za in South Africa in 2024
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-south-africa-store-launch

Amazon makes it easier for brands to join Amazon Transparency through new interoperability features
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazon-makes-it-easier-for-brands-to-join-amazon-transparency-through-new-interoperability-features

The internet is littered with fake reviews. Amazon, Glassdoor and others are trying to fight back
https://apnews.com/article/fake-reviews-amazon-glassdoor-expedia-trustpilot-43a478ac0b27d6bb773a3bbdba1858b1

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days Was the Company’s Largest Two-Day October Holiday Kick-off Event Ever
https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/10/amazons-prime-big-deal-days-was-the-companys-largest-two-day-october-holiday-kick-off-event-ever

We'll also introduce you to the game-changing tool, Market Tracker 360 - your trustworthy guide in navigating a rapidly changing market. Get a demo of the MT360 tool here. Lastly, maximize your holiday profits with Helium 10's Q4 Strategy Guide – a step-by-step roadmap to unlocking the full potential of Amazon’s peak sales season. h10.me/q4guide

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers:

00:47 - New Amazon Marketplace
01:52 - Amazon Transparency Update
04:30 - Fake Reviews
06:26 - Prime Big Deal Days
07:39 - Walmart Listing Update
09:18- Return Policy Change
10:16 - ProTraining Tip: Market Tracker 360 Demo
16:30 - Download The Q4 Strategy Guide

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Amazon is opening up a brand new marketplace. The Walmart marketplace has created a brand new program to help sellers save on their referral fees, and Amazon is making it easier for brands to join Amazon transparency this and so much more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Welcome back to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. My name is Keri Miller and I will be your host, and this is our weekly buzz episode, where we bring you the latest and greatest news related to Amazon, Walmart and the e-commerce space. We'll also give you a tip or strategy for serious sellers at any level. Let's go ahead and see what's buzzing. Okay, so let's start off with one of the most exciting stories of the day today, and that is that Amazon is opening up a brand new marketplace. This marketplace is going to be in South Africa. So if you are a seller in South Africa, this marketplace is going to be opening in 2024 and it's open to currently local South Africans. So they basically announced that you can start applying for this marketplace now at seller.amazon.com/southafrica and that's going to be where you're going to apply, and it's already set up and ready to go for you to do that. It's a very, very exciting opportunity for anyone who lives in South Africa, because a lot of sellers are in that area and you're selling in Europe and you're selling in the U? S and other parts of the world, but now you can sell locally to your neighbors, and so it's a very, very cool time to be able to bring your brand to Amazon with that fast shipping in South Africa. So let us know below if you're a South African seller and you are planning on applying and selling in this marketplace.

Carrie Miller:

All right, next up, we have another amazing announcement by Amazon, and that is that they are making Amazon transparency a lot easier for brands to join. Before, they had a basically a 2D data matrix barcode that they would put on products and you had to label your products physically with this with your packaging. So this meant that if you wanted to join the Amazon transparency, it would take quite a bit of time to get that all set up and going, because you have to wait till the next run of your packaging and get it on your packaging, or you would basically have to repackage all of your products if you wanted it on your current inventory, which would be very expensive. What's really exciting about this is that they are making it easier for brands through new interoperability features. So, again, you know they had it available to a lot of brands, but they had to do their packaging with that special barcode on it and as of 2020, I believe they said as of 2020, there were more than 10,000 brands that did Amazon transparency, and now 33,000 brands are actually enrolled. So I think that that number is going to jump up dramatically and this is really good for sellers and for consumers because of the fact that you know, when you have that assurance that you're not going to get counterfeit products, it makes the whole process better for sellers, for their account, health and for consumers. They're getting the product that they paid for.

Carrie Miller:

So you know, I can imagine that it's going to be very, very easy, and so what's going to, what's going to happen is you can take codes that are already on your packaging and they can use those codes to verify whether or not your product is not a counterfeit. So, if we take a look, there's an example down here and Logitech actually has done this. So Logitech started out with this kind of using their own codes and what they did is they used the serial numbers that were used for warranty purposes, so those were the codes that they were able to use for this transparency and able to validate these. And so what they do when they, when Amazon's shipping is out, they scan these codes before shipping it out to verify that this particular product is the original and not a counterfeit, and then they can send it out. If it's not, if it's not anywhere to scan, or they're you know something is wrong, then they'll put it to the site because it's counterfeit, and that saves you a lot of hassle. Now this is going to be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US, so that's pretty exciting that they're really trying to roll this out worldwide. I think it's going to be an amazing thing to be able to roll this out quickly. I know I'm very interested in getting this going on my, you know, on my brand as well, because I don't have to go back and repackage everything. Are you going to start enrolling in brand transparency and do you think this is a good thing, or do you think it's going to be a hassle? Let us know. Whatever it is that you think below. Okay, going into our next article.

Carrie Miller:

The next thing is about reviews. Now, this goes to you know kind of with the theme of counterfeit and whether or not they're real, and, as you can see here that you know, this article is saying that the internet is littered with fake reviews, and we do know that this is true on Amazon, on Glassdoor, on TripAdvisor. I know for myself, I went and looked at reviews for a restaurant that I just opened and it had so many great reviews and I was like, oh my gosh, this place is going to be so amazing. And I went there and it was absolutely terrible. And what I realized, it was a lot of friends and family that were making, you know, these reviews go, you know, to five stars and they were putting these glowing reviews for it. And it was literally not the customers, because later on the actual reviews started rolling in and I could see that it wasn't the truth. So there is a lot of that that's going on, and so I think that this could be potentially a really good thing.

Carrie Miller:

It says in this article that they are, these big companies are actually teaming up now. So we've got Glassdoor, trustpilot, expedia, bookingcom and TripAdvisor. They're saying they're all launching a coalition to protect, you know, the consumer reviews, and so what they're going to do is they said that they are going to be sharing methods on how to detect fake reviews. This, I think, is going to be great, you know, for all of us to make sure that you know, when we're buying something, that we're seeing the actual reviews of actual customers, and then also just for those brands, because it's going to help consumers to know exactly what they're getting. So I think this is going to be good on all friends, for everyone. They're probably going to come up with some really great technology to really, you know, detect those fake reviews. So those competitors that you have that you know that are putting up those fake reviews. We're going to hopefully stop that, and so we'll see what happens with that. And let us know if you've had any issues with reviews. I know I've had some issues with fake reviews from competitors on my own listing. I'm curious to know if you've had any issues with fake reviews, so let us know in the comments below.

Carrie Miller:

All right, this next article is actually something that I was a little bit surprised by, and the reason for that is it's talking about Amazon Prime Day, big deal days, and I you know the economy is kind of struggling right now and I didn't feel as much momentum going into this day as I think a lot of other people probably did. And so it shows, because Amazon's big Prime Day deal day was the company's largest two day October holiday kickoff event ever. So that definitely tells me that I was wrong in my thinking. I thought it was kind of, you know, not that much excitement going on, but there clearly was. They had a billion dollars across in savings across all the Prime members. They also had 25 million items that were delivered either same day or next day delivery, which is incredible. They were busy delivering packages. Let me tell you, one package was even delivered within 54 minutes. So really, really interesting that this is, you know, kicking off so strong, especially with the economy the way that is. I think that this is a really good indication that we're going to have a really big Q4. I'm very excited for Black Friday and Cyber Monday and just the whole holiday season. This is always my biggest time of year. So really, really great exciting news to see that it's still going strong in sales on Amazon.

Carrie Miller:

All right, the next piece of news is from Walmart. So if you're a Walmart seller, I wanna see if you are seeing the same thing that I see in my dashboard. So I basically kind of logged in today and saw this in my dashboard it's the pro listing savings. Now it looks like what happened. Is I qualified for a pro listing savings? I think you'll have to be a pro seller in order to be eligible for this, but what I'm gathering is they choose listings that are doing very, very well, selling quite a bit, and you actually get refunds on your referral fees. So I have, as of today, this just starting about $3.12 in savings. So that's pretty cool. I know it says over the last 90 days, but I know this just started, so it's definitely not over the last 90 days. I think this is gonna be bigger and bigger as time goes on, and it's very, very cool to see this kind of thing because Walmart's really incentivizing sellers to join the Walmart marketplace and I think this is another incentive. As fees go up on other marketplaces, Walmart’s giving discounts and you can see on the next screen here this is.

Carrie Miller:

I kind of looked more into it and it's based on competitive pricing and fast and free shipping. So I use WFS and I also have, you know, the same pricing that I do on Amazon. So I think that's what helps me with that, and so you get 10% commission savings. That's pretty amazing. So I'm curious to know if any of you have seen this in your dashboard. Let me know in the comments. Let me know if you have any other additional things to add about that. I think it's a very, very exciting thing for Walmart sellers to just save money. You can put that money either towards more ads or just it'll add up over time. So we'll see how long they keep this going for, and I wanna make sure I can get all of my products eligible for it.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, last piece of news, but not the least for sure, this is just an announcement about the return timeframe, and this happens every single year on Amazon.

This is really nothing new, and so they're basically extending the holiday returns policy for consumers that purchase items between November 1st and December 31st, so they're returnable all the way through January 31st of 2024, except for Apple branded products, which are returnable only through January 15th. Now this policy applies to seller fulfilled FBM, fba and Amazon retail orders, and basically this happens every year. So it's something that I know a lot of us are very used to, and it's just another kind of added benefit for people to buy products during the holiday season on Amazon, and I think it does help us all in the long run. So just so that you're aware that's what's going on with returns. If you get some returns from November all the way into January, you'll know exactly why. Okay, so up next we have an amazing demo by Shevali. She's gonna be talking about Market Tracker 360 and how it can benefit you. So take a look at this demo.

Shivali Patel:

The tool I'm about to share with you is a great way for you to gain insights into niches, regardless of if you are a scaling seller, large brand or business that has been in the industry for years. When it comes to dominating sales, monitoring, tracking and staying on top of any rapidly changing market is important, and so, yes, you could go into Amazon and try to keep up with all the new competitors flowing in and out of your market, but wouldn't it be easier if you just had a tool that allows you to market create, curate and understand dynamic markets in one place? Well, that, my friends, is exactly what I'm about to share with you. Let's jump into market tracker 360. So, with market tracker 360, we do have logic in place. If it's your first time inside of this tool, you will be taken directly to market creation. However, once you've created markets, you'll be funneled directly to market list, which is this page right here. But what exactly is market create? Well, let's talk about it. When you click create market in the top right hand corner, you have access to four choices. We'll talk about these three in this video. For the custom market that is based on products, the system will pull in products that are adjacent to the ASINs you select. You can add in products from your list that you build inside of helium 10, type or paste them in directly into the search field box. Or, if you are a token connected user and your account is connected to your seller central, just click select my products to add and checkmark any of the ones that you want before clicking add. The only thing to note for ASIN markets is there is no filtering step. Let's click back and going back. As you can see, you can also define your market based on up to 15 keywords, either from your curated keywords list inside of helium 10, just by typing them in, or using our integrated Cerebro and magnet tools for relevant keywords without having to leave the tool. So if I were to type in matcha kit, I could click this auto complete, which, by the way, is simply what people are typing in on Cerebro, magnet and black box inside of helium 10. Click analyze keywords to receive this output of additional keywords. Use the information given to figure out which keywords you want as part of your market. You can also use this option to create hybrid markets of keywords and ASINs, though you don't see any ASIN additions.

Shivali Patel:

On the second stage of this process. You will see it in the third where it says optional set custom rules. Let's go ahead and jump into the next example for a full walkthrough. Now, if you do have your token connected, we are also offering what we're calling the auto magic creation, which simply means we will create your market. For you to do this, you just need to select up to five of your product lists based on their category, and we will find associated keywords to base your market on, though you can still enhance the market with keywords of your own choosing after the fact. You'll notice in the first step of this particular choice, our product pool is already grouped based on the lowest shared subcategory node, so we want to create one based on, let's say, coffin shelves. I'm going to select these two product pools. Select next to receive a prompt that asks if we want to set any custom rules for our market or simply go ahead and review and create our market. I'm going to click yes. Take me to custom rules.

Shivali Patel:

The third step we're looking at is the filtering step I mentioned before. You'll see this step on three of the four choices of market creation, with the exception being ASIN only creations. Now, if you wish to have a very granular view of your product markets. Setting custom rules is a good idea, as it allows you to generate a default viewing criteria. This is a feature for every market creation option, except for product only or ASIN only markets, as I mentioned, and just think of it as a top level filter. So when we do automatic market updates, only the selections that apply to these filter sets will show. You will always have the capability to add individual ASINs to your market at this level. So if there are any specific ASINs you want in your market view, go ahead and add them here, be it from your list or from your own products, we'll click next. That brings us to review and create, which is the fourth step in this process. Give your market a name. I'm going to call this auto magic coffin shelf market. We can set a default date range. Perhaps I'm only interested in seeing the last 12 months. Give it a default currency. I'm going to select USD. Choose your method of market updates. If you want products to be directly injected into the market without needing any approval, then you could select automatic how we relay the keywords to the products after.

Shivali Patel:

Market creation is typically modeled based on a fusion of the best seller rank, sales volume and search volume Controlled is similar to our original market tracker. It will give you the opportunity to refine by showing you new products under the suggested products tab to add or remove from your market, and the disabled option is just a static market, which would direct all the products that we receive to the removed products and suggestions section within market settings. From here, you can then review all the information that we just discussed, be it adjusting your product list, fine tuning your category, subcategory information or your additional filters. I'm going to click create market. That's going to take us back into our market view. We'll see the new market reflected on our market list page in about 10 to 15 minutes. Hopefully now you know how to create markets inside of market tracker 360 using keywords, keywords and asins, asins only, or even auto creating that market, as long as you have that token connected. Of course, you can gain a lot of insights and analytics with market tracker 360, but it all starts with this first step, so make sure you go and do that first step.

Carrie Miller:

Thank you so much, Shivali. That was amazing. I know that this is such an incredible tool, especially for larger sellers, to really help view the market overall. So check it out. If you haven't already, we'll put a link below to where you can schedule a demo in the market tracker 360 arena so you can get more information about it if you're really interested in it. And the final thing I want to leave you with is we've actually made a queue for checklists for sellers to get ready and prepare their listings and their business for hopefully the biggest queue for ever.

Carrie Miller:

And I basically put this together along with a bunch of resources that we have and it's things that you can use. You know Helium 10 for, and then also just tools on Amazon that are going to help boost your business during the holidays. So it's, it's in a checklist. There are videos to go with a lot of these particular items to show you how to do them, and I think it's a very, very beneficial thing for you to. You know, implement a lot of these strategies. It's still not too late to implement them.

Carrie Miller:

So take a look at the checklist. You can download it, you can print it out, look at some of those videos and I promise you, if you implement some of those, you'll see some positive results from this checklist. I think it'll be a great, great resource for you that you can use this year and in the years to come. So we'll put the link below and so that you can check that out too. Thanks again for joining me this week on the weekly buzz. I think Bradley will be back again next week, but thank you for letting me kind of step in for him this week. I hope you all enjoyed the news articles that we have. I think we have some great exciting stuff going on in e-commerce, and so we'll see you again next week to see what's buzzing. Bye everyone.

View Details

Listen in as we tackle all your burning questions about selling on the Walmart marketplace, from gaining access to coupons and utilizing brand stores to handling comp errors and deactivations. Discover why it's critical to get your inventory to Walmart as soon as possible before the end of October and learn the ropes on what metrics you need to focus on when aiming for the Pro Seller badge. We also tackle your questions straight from our Winning with Walmart Facebook group, so tune in for those insights.

Interested in the Walmart Influencer Program? We've got you covered! This episode also explores the ins and outs of the Walmart Influencer Program and provides key updates on when brand stores and video ads will be available to sellers. Listen in as we discuss the approval process for pesticide products on Walmart, the steps to register your trademarks on the platform to get the Walmart brand registry, and whether there is a request a review button in Walmart.

Did you know that Helium 10 has tools for the Walmart marketplace? We explore the nitty-gritty of product listings, coupon availability, and how to compete against first-party brands on Walmart. Plus, how to join the Helium 10 Winning with Walmart Facebook Group. Don't miss out on this Serious Sellers Podcast episode to make the most out of your Walmart selling experience!

In episode 501 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about:

02:13 - Access to Coupons for Walmart Sellers
06:24 - Walmart's Review Programs and Opportunities
09:48 - Prohibited Items Approval
12:58 - Walmart Image Guidelines and External Traffic
17:39 - Solving Comp Errors on Walmart.com
19:27 - Seller Badge and Rich Media Guide

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► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Today, we're going to be answering all of your burning Walmart questions. In this Ask Me Anything episode. We're going to be answering things such as when are coupons going to be available for everyone? When can I start utilizing brand stores, how can I deal with comp errors and deactivations? This and so much more.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. If you guys would like to network with other Walmart sellers, make sure to join our brand new Facebook group called Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can actually just search for that on Facebook or you can actually go to h10.me forward slash Walmart group and you can go directly to that page. So make sure to join. You can tag me and carry with questions and ask questions of other Walmart sellers or even share your own experiences in that Facebook group.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of this Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Carrie Miller, and this is our Winning with Walmart Wednesday episode, where we answer all of your Walmart questions and we give you all of the latest and greatest information about selling on a Walmart. In this episode I'm going to answer quite a few questions that we've had in the Facebook groups. I asked quite a while ago if you had any burning Walmart questions, so I'm going to go over those questions for everyone today and give you some great answers. In addition to that, I wanted to remind everyone that we are in Q4 already, which is kind of crazy that we're already in the last quarter of the year. But start sending in your inventory now to Walmart, because WFS is already starting to take kind of a longer time to check in products and it's going to just get worse and worse as the holidays keep coming closer. So, just like Amazon, try to get your inventory in by the end of this October and just kind of do more than you're used to sending in. I know last year I actually ran out during the peak season of inventory to forever to get checked in and so I missed like three weeks of December, so it was kind of a bummer. So if you haven't done that, make sure to send in that inventory.

Carrie Miller:

I want to start answering some of these Walmart questions that everyone had and I think they're really good questions. I think they're going to be very helpful for just looking at these answers for all of you. So the first one is that I had on my list is that someone in the groups asked because they really wanted to know this from Walmart, and these are not official Walmart answers. By the way, this is just some research that I've done. It's no way connected to Walmart, but I did do the best that I could to find answers for all of you that had really important questions for Walmart. So the first question was Amazon allows access to all deals and coupons to every seller, regardless of their sales volume.

Carrie Miller:

When will Walmart give equal access to things like flash picks to Walmart sellers, equivalent to best deals seven days, and what they said is that deal parity right now does not exist on the Walmart marketplace. However, if you do have an account manager, then they actually can submit those coupons for you. So for those of you who are lucky enough to have an account manager and usually you have to have a certain number, a volume of sales per month in order to get one of these account managers. They actually can help you and they'll be able to submit based on the fact that if you have a you know good seller response rate, if you have good WFS metrics and you know a low number of refunds kind of use it basically in the pro seller range they'll be able to help you with coupons if you're not a one piece seller. So that is something to kind of keep a thought in the back of your mind If you, you know, do have an account manager, ask them about coupons, if you can get into those flash picks and they potentially could help you with that. So sorry, I don't have a better answer, unfortunately, but I think that is a good way, you know, at least for some of you, to get access to some of those coupons. All right, so I'll go to the next question.

Carrie Miller:

Let's see here when can you tell us more about the Walmart influencer program? So the Walmart influencer program is called the Walmart creator program and they are actually trying to do similar to what Amazon has done and they're recruiting a lot of influencers and I don't know if you've seen this, but I know I've seen this on Instagram because I follow a lot of the fashion deals pages, and they are promoting Walmart products in terms of clothing. Right now. There's a lot of cute stuff that you know Amazon sellers are now putting on Walmart, so these influencers are also promoting it on Walmart and they're getting commissions for it. They get a specific commission based on the category, just like Amazon, and so that is something that's really up and coming and something to keep an eye on. If you are in certain categories like home decor, fashion I think those are really good. You know areas to really utilize those influencers because they already have kind of the right audience for you, and so I would highly recommend kind of checking out. Go on to Instagram and search hashtag Walmart influencer or hashtag Walmart partner and you'll see a bunch of videos come up and you'll see you know whose accounts are really Walmart partners so that you can partner with them.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so the next question is I saw that brand stores and video ads are in beta. When will these be available to sellers? Now? This is a question a while ago. Video ads are actually available now to brand registered sellers, which is really, really exciting. So if you have your brand registry all set up in the brand portal on Walmart, you have access, so you should be able to see on Walmart connect the video ads so you can do that. In terms of brand stores, they there isn't an ETA for brand stores, but I do know I've seen some sellers who are in the beta and they are testing it out. So I imagine it's the same as what happened with the videos. The videos were in beta not too long ago and they're going to start rolling out. You know the brand stores probably in a similar way. So that's pretty exciting and I hope it's soon.

Carrie Miller:

But they encouraged everyone in the meantime to take advantage of rich media. Rich media is like A plus content on Amazon and you can go on to the into the help section for rich media and you can actually get free hosting of videos and 360 images currently. So I would check that out. Otherwise, there are a bunch of agencies that do host rich media and you can get different modules that are really I think they're really great modules that you can utilize on Walmart. You just have to pay per skew, so it's a little expensive but worth it if you can see that conversion All right.

Carrie Miller:

The next question was Amazon has a request to review button that allows Amazon sellers to press a button on an order and Amazon sends a review request email to the to the customer on the seller's behalf. Will Walmart do something similar to help us get more reviews? So the answer of this is that there isn't something that's currently available but and there isn't a timeline for it to be able to get it to be available. However, Walmart actually does send a review request automatically after seven days to the customers on Walmart to request a review, so that's kind of an automatic thing that they already do. They wanted to also encourage all of the you know Walmart sellers to utilize the review accelerator program. So the review accelerator program if you have on your product five reviews or less, then you can pay $10 to ask your current customers for review. So it's actually, I think, different than Vine, because what it what it happens is that people are already buying your product and they'll send them an email and say, hey, we'll pay you $3 if you'll send in a review and then we pay. We pay Walmart $10 for this service, so it's actually really worth it. Up to five reviews, you can get verified reviews from your actual customers. So review accelerator it's in the growth opportunities tab, so check it out there If you have less than five reviews. There's also a review syndication where you can get your reviews copied and pasted, basically over from your website. So a lot of really cool opportunities for reviews, but they don't have any kind of timeframe for that request review button like Amazon has. However, I do think it's pretty encouraging that they're already sending those emails for us, so that's something that's that's great to see.

Carrie Miller:

So someone just asked how do you register a trademark on Walmart? So basically, you would take the same trademark that you have as an Amazon seller and you're going to go to the Walmart brand registry portal. It's a whole different website, so you can just Google Walmart brand registry portal and then you're going to apply there. It's very simple. You just put in your information there and you can. You can get accepted pretty quickly. So I would recommend go ahead and Google that and it should be pretty straightforward.

Carrie Miller:

What is the approval process for pesticide products on Walmart? We have 10 bestselling products on Amazon that we are simply not allowed to list on Walmart. The products have all the required government approvals with the EPA, et cetera. So the answer that I found on this is that there's an item report in Seller's Center and it's gonna have the reason code for why an item isn't published and so you can actually open up a partner support case, for all you know, for the web with whatever the reason code is. And then also, if the item status is on says item on hold, then the seller needs to either submit the required documents or provide the missing attributes to complete the submission. So it'll say what attributes are missing or what documents are missing, and you should be able to submit those. I will say I did kind of a case today you can find it on YouTube and we were uploading a hemp product onto Walmart and it has been quite a challenging process and you can actually see part of the process on YouTube. But I'm gonna give an update soon. But the update really is that they really don't want hemp products in WFS right now and I was able to get it approved to sell on Walmart. But it's been quite a challenging process so I'll go more into details about it. But the good news is we can sell seller fulfilled, just not WFS. So there is hope for any of you who are having an issue to get around that and do seller fulfilled if possible.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so the next question is some of my products are not approved to sell via Walmart WFS but they are approved for seller fulfilled. So this is kind of similar to what I was just talking about in regards to the hemp. Is there any special program that I can apply for to get these hazmat products approved for WFS? And it says Amazon has something similar and we are part of the Amazon hazmat program. So the answer was that internally, wfs has recently actually launched an updated prohibited items handling solution across their fulfillment network, which this is actually very new. So, depending on the category, prohibited items are handled in three different teams under the specialty compliance organization hazmat, food safety and non-chemical hazmat. So this is going to hopefully help reduce the time where these products are actually just stuck and unable to be fulfilled with WFS. So definitely inquire about those if you're writing a ticket to kind of be directed to those teams and hopefully we can get some progress on some of those Cause. I know I've seen quite a few questions about this, so I would definitely want to continue to try to get you all more answers about this. So that's the amount of information I have right now. So keep messaging me on Facebook or sending those questions in on the Facebook group winning with Walmart, so that we can help you get those questions answered.

Carrie Miller:

The next one is my account was denied. What can I do to get approved after I was initially denied? So sometimes well, actually most of the time they don't provide a reason, but there's soft denials and then you can do an appeals process and then there's like termination, which is much harder. So you'll have to kind of usually I think sellcord.co. They are an agency. They have helped a lot of people who have been kind of denied. You can reach out to them. That's kind of the best answer I have. Or you can kind of reach out yourself, but I would kind of suggest contacting somebody who's really good at this, and I do believe SellCord does do a good job of helping people get their accounts. You know out of that status. So if you have had that issue, I would say contact sellcord.co. And that also includes you know if your account is suspended or termination is very hard. So you will definitely need you know, inside access. So I would definitely recommend contacting SellCord for that as well.

Carrie Miller:

What is Walmart doing to attract more customers to their online marketplace? And so this is a great question and I can definitely answer that they are doing quite a bit. So they have Walmart Plus, which is kind of like Prime, and if you go into the stores they have it advertised everywhere. They're giving discounts on gas, they're giving discounts on just all a bunch of different things within the Walmart programs, like just in store discounts and also delivery and groceries. You get those for free. So they're really pushing for, you know, just getting more customers into Walmart Plus. Now I also saw when I was looking at applying for an American Express Platinum card, that they have a free opportunity for free Walmart Plus If you have that card. So if any of you have that American Express Platinum card, you get free Walmart Plus. So something else to it's basically like a free Prime membership. So I definitely recommend taking advantage of it. But they're doing things like that to really increase the customer reach. Also, if you notice and I've talked about this in other presentations I've done they are doing a lot of external traffic through Google Shopping and they're also doing Bing Shopping. So you'll see your Walmart products show up in Google Shopping and Bing Shopping without even doing any ads. So they are really doing a lot of work to try to drive traffic that way. So hopefully that answers that question. So this might be college.

Carrie Miller:

This is another question from somebody. This might be common knowledge. But what are the best performing aspect ratios for images on Walmart? Should mean image and secondary images be the same aspect ratios? Is the answer category dependent, and there is definitely some. There are some differences on the different categories. So I would recommend that you go into the Walmart guides and you can look for image guidelines and you're going to be able to find exactly what the image guidelines are for your category. So go ahead and check those out.

Carrie Miller:

The next question I would like to know why the payment schedule for reporting is every two weeks and then why it sometimes I have to wait a third or fourth week. Now I've seen this question quite a bit in the groups and I don't know exactly what's happening, but it's just a common thread, like I've seen it quite a bit. So if you, if you've had this, you can put it in the in the chat or the comments, because I'd love to know. But basically, the payment should be every two weeks, but something if you're not getting it every two weeks, it should. It's probably an error and I think you should open up a support ticket to see what's going on with that, because that shouldn't be happening. So make sure you kind of figure out what the problem is so that it doesn't continue on. So that's what I would recommend. I don't think that that's part of the process. So it is supposed to be every two weeks. I have confirmed that. So take a look at that. And, yeah, just go into the support and ask what's going on with your particular account. And personally, I did see this actually happen, so it did get fixed. Additionally, when see when removing, when doing removal orders, when it shows on the payment summary, can we get a detail of what the removal order consisted of? So if you want to understand what the removal order maybe consisted of, you can go to the WFS dashboard and that will give you a breakdown and it's going to highlight what was in the removal order.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, so next one is it possible to allow for multiple SKUs to the same UPC code? Amazon allows this, albeit in one UPC code to one ASIN. So no, this is definitely no. Walmart uses UPCs as their unique identifiers for products. So you cannot have multiple SKUs associated with the same UPC, otherwise you're going to get a lot of errors. So this is really important to make sure you have you own your UPCs and then also that you have an individual UPC for each product. I know back in the day in Amazon you were buying second. You know basically barcodes from other you know third parties because they were more expensive but you can buy individual barcodes from GS1. And I highly recommend doing that to show that you own the UPC codes. Because if you do have somebody hijacking your listing or taking over the content, you can prove with owning UPC code as well as your trademark, that you own that product and the listing so you can get it back. I had a problem with this because one of our products for our Project X did not have a UPC code that was GS1 registered. It was kind of a bot as a third party thing a long time ago and I was unable to get that content back. So it was really kind of frustrating. So I know this from firsthand experience my own business.

Carrie Miller:

I've always had UPCs for each product because you want to kind of think when you're starting out with these products with the end in mind and growing your brand and business. Each product should have a UPC. We've always been wanting to know if Walmart has a honeymoon period similar to Amazon. Now I haven't had an answer to this. I do not think that it's as intense as it is on Amazon. So what I would recommend is to do your best to optimize start ads. Do whatever you do for Amazon on Walmart and I think that you will be successful.

Carrie Miller:

The thing about all of this is I noticed people. What they do is they'll open up and start a listing on Walmart and literally just copy and paste what they have on Amazon and they're not doing Walmart PPC or anything like that to help promote their product and they're like why am I not making any sales? Well, you would never launch on Amazon without doing PPC or optimizing for Amazon. Walmart has different guidelines to optimize their listings. So you know, make sure to follow those guidelines and I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised. The next one is what advice do you have to third party sellers to help them compete against first party brands on Walmart? So the answer to this is Walmart really isn't viewing the two as competitive against each other, but they recommend that you find kind of holes where first party sellers are not really, you know, filling in the gap and finding opportunities on Walmart where you can provide products that are not available via 1P.

Carrie Miller:

When I've gotten a comp error, it feels impossible to get help for this. What is the best way to solve issues dealing with comp errors and how can we find out what the error is so that we can fix it? So then the comp errors are very difficult, I will say, and sometimes what they're saying is that you can actually go into the item report and check the columns. When you upload via flat file or anything like that, you can check the columns, the life cycle status, and then it's going to say published, unpublished or system error, and then on the adjacent column for the, it's going to have an error code and it's going to say things like enhanced vetting, IP infringement, shipping or etc. And you can open up a ticket to get help with this. But in my experience I've noticed that it's usually a pesticide word like antibacterial, antimicrobial. So if you make sure that you don't use any of those illegal words that are, you know, banned on Amazon, then you should be fine, and usually if you kind of delete your listing and rewrite it again. Without those words it'll come up within 15 minutes. So that's been my experience with that.

Carrie Miller:

So another question here is when some someone first starts selling on Walmart, what can they do to get their products ranked? Is it all based on clicks and sales or is there a lot more weight given to the listing quality score? So they did. You know Walmart doesn't really give me a lot of information about ranking, but I do know, for example, if you get a high listing quality score, that does help with your ranking. So make sure you fill in all those attributes in the back end. You know you enroll in WFS, you have reviews to start out with, get your listing quality score 90% or above, and I think that that will definitely help you. You also want to start running pay-per-click advertising to get some sales and I think you'll start to see yourself ranking as that goes. But in terms of like you know state, you know something that they actually say. It's really quite challenging to really say.

Carrie Miller:

And then the pro seller was another question. How can a seller become a pro seller and get the pro seller tag on their listing? So you want to make sure that your products are delivered on time. So I recommend using WFS because it takes care of most of the categories that are required for a pro seller. The thing about pro seller badges is you can actually filter on Walmart for pro seller so customers can say I want to only buy from a pro seller. And I noticed when I got the pro seller badge that I was starting to get more and more sales.

Carrie Miller:

So I will say it isn't an important thing. So you've got. You know, at least you've got an on time delivery rate of 95% or above in the last 90 days. You have less than 1.5% cancellation in the last 90 days. You have a really good seller response rate, higher than 95% in the last 30 days. And then basically it's, you know, fast delivery. And you also have to have over 250 orders in the last 90 days and you have to have at least been active for 90 days. So when you launch your products, you know, do your best to get those 250 orders and get those fast delivery times in and you can get the pro seller badge within 90 days. I think it's really, you know, worth it.

Carrie Miller:

So I would say WFS is probably the most important thing to make sure that you get that and yeah, so, and then the next thing is what? Will rich media eventually be free to Walmart sellers, like it is on Amazon? So there are some modules that are free, and that is the video and also the 360 image views. You can go into the help center and click on rich media. You can find it there. So otherwise, if you wanted to pay for some in the meantime, you can contact an agency and they can help you with that.

Carrie Miller:

So let's see if I have any questions. All right, Nelson, hello. Nelson says I'm a new to Walmart, in the process of onboarding and we already established our stores at Amazon. Is the procedures from Amazon to Walmart going to be similar when it comes to brand name products? If we are able to get wholesalers offline in our city to sell as branded products so we can sell online, are we still allowed to sell them? Yes, you are allowed to sell wholesale products on Walmart and I actually met at the Walmart conference quite a few sellers who have done very well selling wholesale products on Walmart. I think it's a lot less competitive right now in Walmart. So I highly recommend you get in there and start going for those, those products and, you know, make sure that you get in the game now? Great question. All right, let's see.

Carrie Miller:

It looks like I think someone was asking about tools for Walmart. Helium 10 has some incredible tools and I would recommend that you check those out. We have cerebral, which is our keyword research tool for Walmart. Another tool for Walmart called magnet it's another keyword research tool. We have x ray, which shows you sales volumes for Walmart it's our Chrome extension. We also have profits for one, one to help you, Walmart, to help you manage your profits. And we have our ranked tracker. And for pay per click advertising, we have add atomic for Walmart to help you manage your pay per click advertising. So we have all those great tools to help you and support you on your way to selling on Walmart.

Carrie Miller:

Also, if you're a helium 10 member, we have freedom to get Walmart where we should. We walk you through a to z on how to sell on Walmart, so that's available to you free if you are a helium 10 member. So check it out. If you haven't yet checked it out, alright, so it looks like I don't have any more questions, so hopefully, if that was very helpful, thank you to everyone who submitted their questions.

Carrie Miller:

For me to answer it was really, you know took a little while to get the answers to some of those questions and maybe some of them. I still need to do a little more research and hopefully maybe digging to get some more details on some of those answers, but hopefully that helps you in the meantime, and if you have any questions, join our group. Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. All you have to really do is search in the Facebook groups Helium 10 Winning with Walmart and you can join our Facebook group and ask questions there. You can tag me, you have questions, or other sellers are in there answering questions as well, so love to see you there and we will see you then. Have a great rest of the day.

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Ever wondered how to make the most of the 'Honeymoon' period when you first start selling on Amazon? Or how to get people to organically search, find, and buy a product without breaking Amazon's terms of service? Tune in to the latest episode of Serious Sellers Podcast, as our host, Bradley Sutton, unveils the intricacies and updates to the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy, along with his prelaunch plan, the Bali Blast Strategy.

He shares effective ways to use PPC to catapult your product to the top of the search, and how to utilize Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker tool and boost to gauge your bid's success. We'll discuss strategies for attracting customers to a product with no reviews, and you'll discover how to use tools like Helium 10 Audience and the CPR number to monitor and increase your orders.

The episode also sheds light on SEO and its relationship with Amazon listings. You'll find out why a simple listing score formula isn't sufficient to rank on Amazon, and why optimizing your listing for Amazon customers, as well as its algorithm, is pivotal. Let’s dive into the evolution of Amazon's algorithm over the years, and why sprinkling specific keywords a certain number of times isn't as effective as it once was. To top it all off, we'll explore how developing a tool with a potent listing score creator, like a “Surfer SEO for Amazon listings” can guide you in optimizing your listing and the importance of testing your strategies. Buckle up for an episode packed with valuable insights!

In episode 500 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy and Results
03:35 - The Maldives Honeymoon Effect
06:50 - Amazon Keyword Research and Competition Analysis
10:53 - Getting Ranked for Keywords With PPC
15:30 - Improve Amazon Ranking With PPC and CPR
18:49 - Amazon Algorithm Changes and New Strategies
25:20 - The Significance of Amazon Recommended Rank
28:23 - Analysis Of The Project X Coffin Bath Tray Keywords
34:40 - Relevance of Keywords in Amazon Ranking
42:44 - Listing Optimization and Test Launches

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today's episode 500 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, and we're doing it live right here from the Maldives, as usual, because we're gonna go into the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy and some of the new twists and turns that have come up because of the test I've been doing. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Two, three, four, music you want to know what keywords are driving the most sales for listings on Amazon. To do that, you need to know what highly searched for keywords the product is ranking for, maybe at the top of page one. You can actually find that out in seconds by using Helium 10's Keyword Research tool, Cerebro. Now, that's just one of the many, many functions that make this tool my favorite tool in the whole suite, and it's the most powerful keyword research tool ever created for e-commerce sellers. For more information, go to h10.me/cerebro. H10.me/cerebro. Don't forget to use the Serious Delors podcast discount coupon, SSP10.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world and, as you guys can see here. I am back here in the Maldives, Waldorf Astoria. The place that started all the way back in episode 200 was when I first started filming out here the Maldives Honeymoon launch strategies, and then every 50 episodes we'd come out here 250, 300, 350, 400. I actually skipped 450, but so this is the first time back in the Maldives since episode 400. But the Maldives Honeymoon strategy is just a strategy. I just made a funny name to it so that we can try and get the most out of what we call the Honeymoon period, when we just get started selling on Amazon for a certain product, and so we're going to dive into it and what's the latest here on this strategy. So make sure to stay to the end, because we've got some new things I'm going to be talking about today. But just some background again.

Bradley Sutton:

Honeymoon period what is it? Well, the Honeymoon period is that's not a term that I came up with. That's a term that relates to the first few weeks, the first couple months sometimes, of a listing where you get more bang for the buck. It basically refers to how, if you have a four or five year old listing and you do a couple PPC sales for a keyword, not much is going to happen, right, but if you have a brand new listing sometimes just changing the title, sometimes just changing a keyword here or there, sometimes just getting one sale on a keyword, sometimes just getting a few sales on a high volume keyword It'll start moving you around on the organic side. Big fluctuations might happen on your PPC on a positive way. And we call this the Honeymoon period. This is not an official Amazon term, but it refers to the fact that when you are selling a new item, especially one that doesn't have much history, what happens sometimes is that Amazon doesn't have enough data to kind of know what you're relevant for, and so any little micro actions where on a more mature listing is not going to have much of an effect because Amazon's got so much data and so many clicks and so many things to kind of measure and understand what it's relevant for. Those micro actions on a newer listing where Amazon's just trying to figure out what is this product going to be good for, it has a lot bigger effect on it. So we call that the Honeymoon period.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now what I started doing, like five, six years ago, is I launched a lot of product. By the way, I've launched over 500 products now, but even more than four years ago I had launched over 400 products and what I found was I always was experimenting. I found, like these, certain micro actions as I just made up that term now for myself I guess, these micro actions that could help me get even more out of the Honeymoon period, that would help me get off on the right foot. You know, just like you know, honeymoon is for a wedding, right? You want to get off on the right foot, and so then I was like, okay, what am I going to call this? I'm like I'm going to call this the Maldives Honeymoon effect, because these actions have a lot bigger impact, even more than just, you know, what we normally would see on the Honeymoon period. And so that's why I just went ahead and named it this thing, and I came here to the Maldives here to record it. So what is the latest with the Maldives Honeymoon method?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, we're going to go into some different strategies here, but let's do a recap. A lot of these methods is actually in prelaunch, and in prelaunch I made a new name for it. You know we call it the Bolly Blast. So I'm not going to go too, too in depth. But if you want to have a Bolly Blast, you know prelaunch these are the steps that leads the Maldives Honeymoon launch. Check out episodes 466 and 467. If I'm not mistaken, it's a part one and part two about all the things you need to do to get your listing ready. So h10.me forward, slash 466 or 467. You can also search that up on YouTube on our Helium 10 channel and in there I think I have like a 47 step process that happens before you even launch the product. Let's just review some of those you know. Again, those are two hours of episodes you need to go back and like listen to to get the full details.

Bradley Sutton:

But in a nutshell, you know it starts at the product research stage, right, picking products that potentially have lower title density. Title density is something that we have exclusively at Helium 10, which measures the number of listings on page one that have a certain keyword in phrase form in the title. So when I say certain keywords, the searched keyword. So, for example, if the keyword is coffin shelf and you see in Helium 10 that the title density is seven, that means that the last time Helium 10 check, there are seven listings on page one that have that keyword in exact phrase match in the title. All right, if you have a listing or a keyword that has title density of 40, that means there's 40 listings that have that exact keyword in the title and that means it's going to be a little bit harder to rank on that page because Amazon algorithm, you know, heavies or favors heavily the title as far as what a listing is relevant for. So it doesn't mean, you know, you can't launch against a keyword that were a title entity it's 40. It just means that, hey, it's going to be a little bit more of an uphill battle where sometimes you have a lower title density and Amazon thinks you're relevant. And, by the way, guys, I'm going to drop some bombs here about how you can know what Amazon is relevant or what's relevant to Amazon. But anyways, if you have a lower title density sometimes it's going to be a lot easier to rank. Sometimes even from day one you can be on page one potentially.

Bradley Sutton:

So that's one of the things we talk about in the Bali Blast method and then other things is about. That has to do with the keyword research, understanding where Amazon puts relevance as far as things that are in your listing, as far as keywords go from the title to the bullet points, and so we talked about getting all of the keywords that your competitors are ranking for, your direct competitors or the keywords that they're ranking highly for. We talk about getting opportunity keywords finding the keywords that maybe only one of your competitors ranking for, and that means you're going to be able to potentially rank for that keyword when you're only competing with one of your competitors, as opposed to five or six of your competitors. There are other keyword research strategies we talked about, such as trying to find complementary products. So these are all. Again, we're talking about pre-launch right now.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you put the right keywords in your listing Complementary products? But basically that means maybe you see your competitors have a frequently bought together type of product. For example, if you're selling a coffin shelf or your competitors are selling a coffin shelf, maybe you see in frequently bought together, which you can find in Helium 10 Blackbox, a history of other coffin shelves being bought with a coffin letterboard Right. Well, part of the Maldives Honeymoon strategy is that you want to get index for some of the main keywords from those coffin letterboards if you have a coffin shelf. So if you see that for these coffin letterboards, these five coffin letterboards. One of the top keywords is coffin letterboard and another one is Halloween display or something like that. So those top keywords from those coffin letterboards, even though they might not be directly relevant to your coffin shelf, you're going to want to get index for those listings and then from day one, you're going to be able to target those in product targeting, ppc, and then also you'll get a little bit more breadth, some width to what you're going to be showing up for, especially in broad campaigns and auto campaigns. So that's another strategy to use too. It's also a strategy to get index for forbidden keywords. Like, maybe you're related to an adult product or a drug related product. You can't put adult related products or keywords in your listing or drug related or other forbidden keywords. Well, if you make yourself relevant to the non-forbidden keywords and you're listening by sticking them in there, you potentially could get index for those forbidden keywords just because Amazon deems you as relevant. So that was another strategy we talked about in the Bali BLAST method.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, originally in the original Maldives Honeymoon strategy, when you're launched, we talked about using search, find by and two step URLs and things of that nature. Now that's no longer something that Amazon really wants you to start doing. And it's actually interesting. I was looking at the terms of service and it doesn't mention anymore the two step URLs. But it does talk about trying to manipulate your keyword search rank in the code of conduct. And that was a different change a couple of years ago where Amazon started specifying that they don't want you trying to do those kind of URLs and things to manipulate what it says the search rank, keyword rank. Before then we always would talk about, hey, doing search find by doing two step URLs, things like that, because in the Amazon terms of service it only talked about manipulating your sales rank, like your BSR. So then Amazon kind of cracked down on the keywords too. So that really changed the Maldives Honeymoon method. We do not suggest anymore getting friends and family or using services that are going to go out and get 40 people to search, find and buy your product with a keyword. That's pretty explicitly against Amazon terms of service. Now it wasn't before. People are trying to say, oh, it's always been against service. No, it hasn't, which is why Amazon changed it to make it against terms of service later.

Bradley Sutton:

So how did we change the Maldives Honeymoon launch strategy then when we couldn't use services like AZ rank or rank bell back in the day. So how can you get ranked for keywords right away? Well, we changed the Maldives Honeymoon method to be strictly PPC, so the whole theory is still the same. You need people to search, find and buy your products after searching for a certain keyword, and the more people that do that, that's what's going to get you ranked on page one. But when you have a brand new listing, how do you get on page one? How do you get people to even see your listing? You know, the old way was just doing search, find, buy, right, you know, getting two-step URLs, having a service send people to an exact keyword and they find you're listing on page six or seven and then they'll go ahead and buy it and then they'll move you up. But you can't do that anymore. So what we talked about, I think starting in like episode 300 or 350, was do the same thing with PPC.

Bradley Sutton:

So how do you get people to organically search, find, buy without breaking Amazon terms of service, you know, without using an outside service, without using friends and family, et cetera? Well, you got to think what is going to make somebody, if they happen to see your product, buy it, no matter what. Well, the first thing is what's going to make somebody see your product if you're not using outside service? The answer is easy it's PPC. So you've got to find the PPC bid that is going to get you to the top of search. You could do a top of search modifier in your PPC or you can just up your bid, you know, and do a fixed bid or down only bid, that's at a high, what you think is going to get you top of search, naturally, and then just make that the bid. Now how you know if you're getting that is you put your keyword to keyword tracker. After you put a bid of like $3, just say $3 on the keyword coffin shelf, I put coffin shelf into my keyword tracker and then what I do is put my keyword tracker on boost. Boost is something that checks it 24 times a day and now within an hour or two, I'm going to see a couple different spots on where I'm showing up randomly in the search results and different browsing scenarios and different locations. And then if I'm like ranked one, two or three, I'm good to go. If I'm ranked like eight or nine or below or something that probably I'm going to need to raise my bid to try and get my rank high. So, anyways, that's step one.

Bradley Sutton:

But if you have a brand new product and has zero reviews, obviously you know how do you get people to buy your product. Right, with the old old days again, search, find, buy you're using these outside services. They were getting incentivized to buy the products like, hey, you get the product for free, basically, all right. Now, now we can't do that anymore. So what is the incentive, I guess you could say, for somebody to buy a product that has no reviews, that they've never maybe heard of the brand? How do you get them to go ahead and purchase your product?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, the answer is by choosing a price point that makes them buy the product you know like no matter what. So that price point is different for every product. For example, if coffin shelves are all costing, or retail price, $25. So what you want to do is think what price point is somebody going to see this with? Like man, this is an incredible deal. You know, here's this other listing that has a thousand reviews, a lot of social proof. But I'm going to go ahead and get this other one. Well, maybe that price is $13, you know, 50% off? Are you going to make money at 50% off? No, you're not. But the whole point is, you know like you used to have to pay to get orders in the beginning to get that momentum and to get that sales velocity and search velocity, so you were paying money anyway. So to me this is a good investment. So you know you choose whatever that price is of where, when your competitors will buy that product.

Bradley Sutton:

And one way that you can, you know, do some product research. If you don't have, like Facebook groups where there's a community that's around coffin shelves and you could like do a quick free poll and they're asking them what price, or something like. Let's say, you don't have access to anything like that, use Helium 10 audience. All right, helium 10 audience it's a pay-per-use service inside of Helium 10, powered by Pikfu, where you can go and choose your target market. Like, let's say, your target demographic is females from the age of 18 to 30, who are prime members. You can actually choose that target market in Helium 10 audience and then just find 50 of them and within like three hours you'll have the answer to questions like hey, at what price point would you go ahead and buy this product even though it had zero reviews, and compared to and you can even have the other products there, even though the other products had a thousand reviews, and you would have pictures of it. So then you're able to see, you know, maybe, what price point somebody would buy that from your target market.

Bradley Sutton:

Or you can just guess. You know, I don't like guessing, you know all the time. So I like to go ahead and, you know, actually get some information. So once you've got that, then you go ahead and launch with that PPC and then in Helium 10, there's something called the CPR number. All right, the CPR number in Helium 10 tells you approximately how many orders over eight days eight to 10 days, I should say where it gives you. If you, if people, if that number of people search, find and buy your product, it gives you the best chance. Doesn't give you a guaranteed chance, but it gives you the best chance to get to page one of a certain keyword. All right, and so that's basically what I've been doing for the last two years. A lot of people have been doing this as well. You know, literally thousands of people are using this technique in order to to get to page one.

Bradley Sutton:

You monitor how many orders you're getting each day with the CPR number. So, like, let's say, the CPR number is 100. I like ramping up my order. So if the CPR is 100, I don't want to just divide that by eight or 10 and say, all right, I need 10 per day or 11 per day. No, what I like to do is I like to make it look organic. I like to start off slow, maybe day one, and get two or three. So the way I know is that, you know, I'm checking my, my PPC reports in real time and if I get two clicks and purchases on a certain keyword, I actually pause that target so that I don't get more. All right, I kind of want to like make it look a little bit more or organic and then the next day I started again and try and get maybe six or seven orders. Next day I try and get 11 or 12 orders until I can, you know, hit that CPR number and then go back and I'm going to check where am I ranking? Did it help my organic ranking?

Bradley Sutton:

Now it's important that again, when I said that you're you're choosing a, a cheaper price point, you don't put your list price or your regular price at this cheap price. No, because the problem is, if you do that, you might end up not being able to raise your price in the future. So when you choose, like, let's say you choose a $15 price point for your $25 coffin shelf, well, I'm going to make that a sale price or I'm going to make it a coupon discount, like, so maybe I'll put the price at $25, but then I'll put a, you know, 40% off coupon in order to hit that, that price point. All right. So again, don't put your regular price at that. And again, back in the Bali blast method, I had other tricks and tips about how to get, like, strike through pricing. So again, 466 and 467, make sure to check those episodes to see how to get you know, special strike through pricing and things like that. But but that's.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, in a nutshell, what the Maldives honeymoon strategy has always been, you know is is launching on five to 10 keywords. One other trick we usually do is hey, in the Maldives honeymoon strategy, don't just choose five or 10 completely different keywords like coffin shelf, gothic decor, spooky bedroom, mysterious oddities and Halloween, scary things Like. Do you notice the difference in those keywords? They're all completely different. They don't share keywords. What you try and do is find the embedded keywords that you can launch in groups, all right. So when you're doing your research in helium 10, you're going to find groups of keywords that have very similar roots. You know, like coffin shelf, gothic coffin shelf, gothic coffin shelf for bedroom. You know there's like six, seven keywords in there. You know coffin shelf for bedroom is also a keyword. So what you do is you try and launch all of those keywords at the same time, so they're all sending those relevancy signals for that root keyword to Amazon. All right. So there's another strategy that we use in choosing the keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Again, that's mentioned in the Bolly Blast Now. Here's the thing here. Now let's talk about some new stuff. All right, that's just kind of like a recap of the OG Maldives honeymoon strategy and Bolly Blast strategy. What is new for 2023, 2024? And I'm going to go out on a limb and I'm going to say something controversial, and that is I almost recommend doing a test listing if you're in any kind of a newer niche. All right, literally doing a test listing first, and you could potentially even do this for more established niche, all right. So that's the end game of what I'm about. That's the controversial thing that I'm launching now with this Maldives Honeymoon Strategy. Let's take a few steps back to explain why I'm suggesting this and what has changed on Amazon in the algorithm. Let's take even three steps back before there.

Bradley Sutton:

Listing optimization is important. All right, how you have the keywords, how many times you have it in your listing, where you have it. It's important, you know, to really send those relevancy signals. However, it is not as important as it was in the older days. Let me just tell you right that right now and it's also not a foolproof way to get ranking All right, do not use some kind of like formula where I'm going to use this keyword this many times and here and here and then, that's equal success. No, all right, if anybody tells you that that is incorrect.

Bradley Sutton:

People like using, like listing scores you know, like people have been, who have been using Helium 10 for years, have done something kind of like rudimentary, where you know they take what we teach them and say, all right, hey, I know I have to have. This keyword is my most important keyword and it needs to be in my title and in one bullet point and in one search terms. And I'm going to give myself three points to have that. And and then I'm going to give myself one point for this. You know, people I kind of do that myself. Like it helps me to kind of like know where my, my keywords are.

Bradley Sutton:

And people have asked, you know, helium 10 for probably like three or four years now to do some kind of like listing score, where we take an algorithm and assign points to it, right, and in the past we've always said nah, like I'm not sure how valuable that will be. But, but recently, you know, I started writing blogs again. Maybe you guys are watching seeing some of my blogs at Helium 10.com forward slash blog. But you know, seo is an important part of a company like Helium 10 and any company like that. So when we write SEO blogs, we're trying to rank for keywords in Google and Bing, right, it's kind of similar to making a listing for Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

It's not just let's randomly put together some words and make some something interesting. It could be the most interesting blog in the world, but if it doesn't have the right keywords in the right places and the right number of times, you're not going to get seen. So we we've been using, you know, for the last like year, this tool called things like surfer SEO or something like that it's called and like it gives you all the important keywords and then it tells you how many times you need to write it and like where, and then it gives you a score based on if you've optimized your listing around those keywords. I'm like, hey, this is kind of like a cool idea. You know, maybe we can do this for Amazon. You know sellers because you know people have kind of like been asking for something similar to this, and so you know this might be a way to help guide people to, to kind of know how strong their listing is as far as best practices. But here's the key Again, even though Helium 10 is working on something like that, once that comes out, don't just think that's all you need, that you know what.

Bradley Sutton:

All you need in order to rank is to know how many which keywords there are, how many times you put it in your listing and in what places, and try and get some high score Is a high score. You know, using this algorithm important to send relevancy signals to Amazon. Of course it's important, otherwise you wouldn't even be working on it. You know it's just a general truth in SEO, but the Amazon algorithm is so advanced these days, it is not enough just to have some kind of mathematical formula. And of course, it goes without saying you have to optimize your listing for an Amazon buyer, all right, which no algorithm can measure, all right. So I'm not even going to talk about the strategies there. But obviously you need to make sure your listing is attractive to a human being, right? All right, so that's a separate conversation about. You know how to do that. We've done podcasts about, about how to do that and really be able to connect on an emotional level to sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

But what about the algorithm? Like, why am I saying that just having a score is not going to be enough? Well, first of all, amazon algorithm does not work on a certain score. It's not like Amazon is scoring your listing as far as all right, it has this keyword four times, it's got to this root word three times and they've got this in the bullet point here in the title, and so it's always going to, you know, have some kind of formula that Amazon scores it and then that's how it deems you as fully relevant for all time. No, that's not the way Amazon works. Back in the old days, in the beginning, amazon did work a little bit more like that, you really could control how you know relevant you were to Amazon. You know, because the Amazon algorithm was not as as developed and I say this not, trust me, guys, I am. I do not have any secret access to the Amazon. I have contacts at Amazon who developed the algorithm and and develop tools like brand analytics and things like that. That does not make me some kind of special. You know, savant as to what the Amazon algorithm, helium 10, no other tool out there, no other guru out there knows what is going on with the Amazon algorithm.

Bradley Sutton:

People speculate, you know. They'll say, oh, I read this scientific paper. You know we've read all the scientific papers. You probably heard a couple episodes ago or you know we went deep into that. But at the end of the day, nobody really knows. Everybody's just speculating, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with speculating.

Bradley Sutton:

I speculate too, but what I like to do is I like to speculate based on tests and that's all I do. That's why I run Amazon accounts. I'm not trying to make money Nowadays. I'm trying to make a little bit more money in my Amazon accounts because that's what I do to to to support my, my kids, who are employees of my, my Amazon company. So now I have to make a little bit more money than I did. But my main point in running Amazon businesses is I use them as like my playgrounds to like test what is and isn't working with the algorithm.

Bradley Sutton:

Because, again, amazon doesn't make its algorithm public. The only way we kind of know how it works is by seeing what happens when we do things on Amazon and then just like measuring the results. But no matter what we do, again get it in your mind, guys there is no exact formula, and anybody who says there's an exact formula to rank on Amazon like an exact keyword the same time, every other time they're full of nonsense. All right, you know, even the helium 10 CPR numbers. Like we've always said, it gives you the best chance, but it doesn't give you a guaranteed chance. You know, every time it's based on a lot of trial and error. You know, I did a one and a half year case study to come up with that CPR number, all right. So what have I found that is working with the Amazon algorithm now and why is it different?

Bradley Sutton:

All right, well, number one is that a kind of important metric in helium 10 that people overlook is now a super important metric. All right, and what metric is that? It is Amazon recommended rank. All right, that is a name that we kind of made up, but it actually comes from an actual data point in Amazon. It's one of the things I'm very proud about. You know, I've made up the Maldives honeymoon strategy and you know I don't invent a lot of things, but this is one of the things that I discovered about five years ago and back then, like five years ago, I was like, oh man, everybody's going to copy us and start showing this. Nobody ever came up with this. I'm sure somebody's going to show it now. You know somebody's going to try and figure out where this data point is and show it to people because it is super, super important. I'm just shocked nobody's copied us in the last five years since we had this.

Bradley Sutton:

But again, Amazon recommended rank is coming from Amazon, where it kind of like says hey for X product and Y keyword. We think Y keyword is kind of very relevant to this product, or not so relevant, or medium relevant, etc. Amazon has a scoring system for every single product and almost every single keyword, where at least the top 1000 keywords if the product has a lot of history, it will go ahead and say, score it as far as how relevant it thinks for advertising. And in the past it was never something I really talked about too much that everybody should have to do because it was mainly about advertising. But it was a great metric to have because it kind of gave you insight into at least how the Amazon advertising algorithm thought that you were relevant for a certain keyword, right, or in relation to a certain product. But now, guys, in the last six months and all the tests I've been doing with launching everything else, it is all of a sudden a super indicative Metric on how just Amazon search algorithm thinks you are relevant. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

So I did a couple of tests with, like this, coffin Bath tray. I use the helium 10 project X account. I use a couple you know friends accounts because I wanted to have like Different accounts and different products, different ASINs, to kind of like test my, my theories right. And so I chose coffin bath tray because this was something that didn't have a lot of history on Amazon. So this is especially geared towards you people who are are getting in these niches where they're not completely saturated, all right. So because of that.

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon doesn't have that much data in order to know from day one what you might be relevant for. You know it's different, like if you're gonna launch some collagen peptides. There is hundred collagen peptides who've been selling millions of dollars a month and you know hundreds of thousands of customers have bought collagen peptides and Amazon has tracked every click and how they interact with the listings. They've got so much data on exactly what is relevant to collagen peptides that from day one of a brand new collagen peptides listening, you're probably going to be able to, you know, to get relevant for the right keywords but in a newer niche is a little bit different. So, sure enough, when I first launched these two coffin bath trays, I did on separate accounts. I did it with separate kinds of listings, one like a more in-depth listing and and I use the best practices again, you know I use that, my own scoring system, even on how to get you know Like I put coffin bath tray, like you know, like four times in the listing and long tail versions of I did all the right things and and get this.

Bradley Sutton:

The key words that I was relevant for from day one Was not coffin bath tray. Alright, if I was looking at the Amazon recommended rank from day one on one of the products. Or again, I launched pretty much the same exact kind of product. It was just different kinds of listings in different accounts at the same time. So I could, you know cross cross, see the number one. There was only one keyword on one of them that it was relevant for. Like Amazon only recommended one keyword. It was bath. Bath tray was kind of crazy, right. One keyword, bath tray. No other keyword had it on Amazon recommended rank. By the way, when you use that in cerebro in helium 10 to get the Amazon recommended rank, you have a listing up for five minutes. We'll already have Amazon recommended rank. This is something we pull from Amazon in Real time.

Bradley Sutton:

And the other product that I launched it was actually relevant for like 40 keywords from day one and the top three was interesting was bathroom decor, wineglass and candle holder. Very interesting. Alright, bathroom decor was super generic Word wine glass, what you might be like. Why does it have wine glass? Well, this, this, this coffin bath tray. I had in the. I think I put in the title and you know I had in the description that it has a slot for a wine glass. Alright. And then I also put that I had a slot for a candle holder but Amazon thought that this was a wine glass in candle holder. So from day one I was not.

Bradley Sutton:

I couldn't really do the Maldives honeymoon launch because for coffin bath tray, I was indexed for it but Amazon didn't think I was relevant. It would not even show me in PPC for coffin bath tray when those was the number one, most important keyword. I was optimized everywhere for it. It had a low title density. There was hardly any competition for coffin bath tray two years ago. I would have been on page one instantly for this, but because Amazon couldn't figure out that this was a coffin bath tray, it would not give me any PPC impressions. Alright, that's crazy.

Bradley Sutton:

So then, what are some of the things I started doing? I started changing up the listing. I had it coffin tray and other keywords. I wasn't even indexing for more times. I had to special features. I was trying doing search terms. Things were not working. I would see little bits of movement, but it was not moving like it would in the old days.

Bradley Sutton:

And this is a listing again. I just barely started. I started it like so definitely in the honeymoon period. So what got me to get coffin bath tray to Amazon recommended rank number two on one and Amazon recommended rank number one. What it was was I did an old-school two-step URL alright, I did an old-school two-step URL. It was the field ASIN URL. Alright, I did a field ASIN two-step URL and then I got somebody to buy it. I think one of them I might have got you know, chevali to buy it, and then the other one. I went to AZ rank and I paid AZ rank to get somebody by it.

Bradley Sutton:

Now I know what you're saying. Wait, bradley, didn't you just talk about how that kind of stuff is is against Amazon terms of service. Now, I think there's gonna be different opinions on this, but I could not care less in this instant about Keyword ranking. I was not trying to increase the keyword rank at all. Alright, I didn't even look at what the keyword rank was. My point was I knew I was not relevant for it to Amazon and so I was trying to send a relevancy signal to Amazon. So it knows that, hey, this is something important and this is something that you can give me impressions for in PBC and I'll gladly pay for clicks. So, in my mind, my interpretation of Amazon terms of service. This is not against the terms of service, because I'm not trying to manipulate or affect Amazon keyword ranks. I'm just trying to get, I'm just trying to pay Amazon some money in PBC and and make sure that they know that I am Relevant for it. So what I did was I just I just did one order, one field ASIN, where somebody added it to the car and they they bought the product for with the keyword coffin bath tray in it and, guys, less than 12 hours later it not only was it not Amazon recommended rank at all, it went to number one. Amazon recommended rank on one of the products and number two on the other product. For the top, amazon recommended rank just with one.

Bradley Sutton:

Feel ASIN now, because Amazon said two-step URLs for ranking is not good anymore. We took those off of our helium 10 gems page. So you guys want to know a trick to do a two-step URL still with a keyword. Right, go to index checker in Helium 10, put your ASIN, put that keyword in there and, whether it says is index or not index, you'll see it has check marks and dashes or whatever. Right click on the dash or the check mark, alright, and then do copy URL. Alright, so that URL is a feel on the field ASIN one there's a, there's a, there's a field ASIN check, copy that URL, replace the keyword and the ASIN with yours. Or if that's exactly the keyword in the ASIN and that's the exact URL you can use in order to get somebody to buy your product with the field ASIN two-step URL, and then that should get you the impressions and it should send that relevancy.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, this might be a controversial thing. You know, I'm definitely. You know I have a good relationship with Amazon. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna suggest something that is blatantly against Amazon terms of service. That's not how I roll, but you know, anything can change. I am like 99% sure this is not against Amazon terms of service Because, again, I am not trying to manipulate sales rank, I'm not trying to manipulate search rank. I'm just trying to let Amazon know that I am relevant for this keyword when on this new product.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, once that happened, once I did that one boom, I got to the very top of the search results in sponsored alright, I'm not talking to, you know, search rank and then I got some organic orders from sponsored and then that brought my organic rank up after just like two or three orders more that I got it got me to like the top of Page one for that keyword, just like the regular Maldives honeymoon strategy. It was very interesting to see because on August 2nd this is months ago this is one of the I do tests constantly, guys. So this one coffin tray you know this is just one. I'm just giving you, guys, one of the examples I've done. I'm looking here at my notes. On August 2nd, you know, the top 10 were keywords like bath tray, tray, decor, very generic keywords. It like he obvious Amazon couldn't figure it out. And then on 8, 4, 2 days later, every single one of the top 10 keywords on one of them was all had coffin in it. So finally I got Amazon, just without one order, to understand that, hey, I am relevant for coffin related keywords and in the other product it didn't show all coffins, that I didn't have coffin as many times. In listening again, listing optimization is still important for the, for the algorithm, but at least the number two keyword was coffin bath tray, and then a lot of the other keywords were were just generic. Now here's the thing, though. Here's a Again, I can do a podcast episode of just about the test. I mean I literally did like 75 tests and tweaks just in this case study alone for these two products.

Bradley Sutton:

Interestingly enough, before I started getting relevant for with the Amazon recommended rank for coffin bath tray, my number one Keyword on one of the products, like I said before, was bathroom decor. All right, very generic keyword, very high search volume, way higher than coffin bath tray. But because Amazon gave me a recommended rank of one which is not really from Amazon, amazon gives a score and then we translate the number one score into Amazon recommended rank one, because for bath bathroom decor, I Could actually target it in PPC and I was already ranking like on page five for this keyword. I didn't even get one sale for one at the cart one, nothing. And I was on page five for the super high volume search term, just because Amazon gave me a high recommended rank.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you might think, well, why didn't you double down on that? You know, Bradley white, you know, to me I couldn't care less about the word bathroom decor. You know, like I don't think that people who purchase or who search bathroom decor we're really going to buy, you know, a coffin shaped bath tray. But that just shows you again how today, in 2023 and 2024, this data point is super important and has wide reaching effects as far as how you or how Amazon thinks that you are relevant. So, at the end of the day, I had this product running for three months now and what I did was after the three months, and you know one.

Bradley Sutton:

My theory I wanted to test was well, is the Amazon algorithm trained All right now that I've been selling this coffin bath tray when nobody else was on these two accounts for three months? You know what, if I launch a new coffin bath tray, is Amazon, from day one, going to go ahead and understand now what this kind of product is? Because it has got this history and the answer is interesting. The answer is still no, not really. So I launched two products on two different accounts today. One of them I just made with the listing builder AI that we have that uses ChatGPT made a great listing, but it was optimized for the keywords that I knew were relevant. And the other one, I use the exact same 100% listing that I've had up for three months, thinking that, hey, now that Amazon recommended rank is very high for these products or for these keywords, well, it should know right away and copy that Amazon recommended rank. So here's what I found out on the very first one, the top three or four keywords that are Amazon recommended rank. On this brand new listing that I had really optimized for coffin bath tray, wine glass, charcuterie board, bathroom tray, wooden tray and bathroom caddy. So a little bit different than when I started off. On the other one, but again no coffin related keywords. So, even though it's you, I did everything right and optimizing my listings to make it somewhat relevant. At the end of the day that ASIN is still going to need me to run a field ASIN two step URL in order to let Amazon know that I am relevant for coffin tray.

Bradley Sutton:

On the other listing that was in Project X, where I copied the 100% same listing that's been up for three months, word for word. I changed like a couple, like just one or two words just to make sure it wasn't the exact same listing, so I should say 99%. Here is the top three keywords from Amazon recommended rank bathroom decor, wine glass and candle holder. Does that sound familiar to you? Exact top three keywords of when I started with that other product, even though now that same product has the number one keyword is coffin bath tray, which it should. So again, it shows listing optimization, guys, is not the end all be all. Having a perfectly optimized listing at times is not enough. It's more. It's probably going to help you more in established categories. But even though I've had this product selling for three months, amazon still needs more, a bigger bump in order to make sure that some of these niche keywords it knows that it's relevant for it. So the Amazon algorithm is not perfect. It was perfect. It would have known from day one that hey, this is a coffin bath tray. This other coffin bath tray has been getting sales from coffin bath tray, coffin bath caddy, you know coffin decor and all these keywords. This product is very similar. We're going to put it number one. All right, that's actually how I noted the Amazon algorithm work back in the day.

Bradley Sutton:

But this is a new year, a new Amazon algorithmic shift. I guess you could say where this is not. You know this strategy is not necessarily working anymore. You've got to send those relevancy signals to Amazon. So for now, you know my way of sending those relevancy signals is, and you shouldn't need this for every single keyword. Guys, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying go, go and every single one of your 10 launch keywords you're going to have to do a field as in two step URL. No, like, I think that Amazon probably wouldn't, you know, like that, because that almost would be considered manipulating sales rank, because you're getting all these sales that are not necessarily real orders. But if you find yourself having trouble getting relevant for a keyword because Amazon recommended a rank is off, try that out, get one or two orders, just try one at first for a field as in two step URL in order to send those relevancy signals and then the next day, wait 24 hours, run it again.

Bradley Sutton:

And this is why I said that kind of like off the wall thing earlier where I'm now suggesting that you might want to always do a test listing. Now, all right, I didn't say that before you know. I said do kind of test listing so you can, so that you can know what kind of exposure you're going to get on PPC to validate some, some theories you have. When there's not enough information from existing competitors, you know you might want to make sure that you validate your idea with a test listing. But now, guys, I'm saying, if you're selling in a newer niche, especially and maybe sometimes, even if you're an established niche, it might be worth it to spend you know 50 bucks and get another UPC code and just do a fulfill by merchant listing, send a couple of or have a couple of units available and have your listing that you want to go with and then see immediately what does Amazon think that you're relevant for right. And then if you're completely fine with this listing and you have the right keywords for Amazon recommended rank from day one, all right, well, you're good to go. That means go ahead and launch your regular product once you're ready and you can have that exact listing, knowing that from day one you might have that.

Bradley Sutton:

But if you're like me and you have to do like 40 tests or something to try and figure out, how do I make Amazon think I'm relevant for this important keyword? Well, you don't want to be doing that on a live listing when you're trying to like get you know, make advantage of your honeymoon period. So what the best thing to do might be to spend a few bucks and try a field ASIN, two step URL to see if that helps your Amazon recommended rank, to see if that helps you get those PPC impressions that you're going to need to do the Maldives honeymoon strategy from day one and then, once you figure out what works on this test listing, now you can start over again once your inventory comes in, or you can, you know, maybe your inventory is already there and now you can start off on the right foot so that you know from day one I'm going to send this field two step URL, you know, to go ahead and get this order or to get to get relevant for this keyword or maybe something you maybe have to optimize your listing in a different way. Again, like I said, listing optimization is important. Sometimes it can help. It can definitely help you by by doing things differently. But instead of trying to do all this trial and error on a live listing, when you're trying to you know, get your, you know, get your sales and everything do it like on a test listing first. That's what I did for this coffin tray and that's what I'm going to do for any probably the next few of my launches, or I've been doing it on some of my launches and it's going to be doing what I'm going to be doing, going forward on some of my launches. So, guys, let me know what you think, but this is the Maldives honeymoon strategy, like version four, 4.0, a lot of it's the same, but there's some new things that are different here.

Bradley Sutton:

But the very important that you guys know your Amazon recommended rank and especially if any of you guys have issues ranking for keywords or getting sales or getting impressions in PPC, just run your listing through Cerebro and check what that Amazon recommended rank is All right. So, number one again that means that's the keyword that Amazon thinks you're most relevant for, all right. Number 20, that means Amazon thinks you're 20th relevant, all right. The coffin shelf is a great example. The old coffin shelf seems to be completely locked in at a low Amazon recommended rank. Our Project X coffin shelf is like rank 25. For that you guys can see that yourself. Anybody can run the Helium 10 coffin shelf in Cerebro and you can see what the Amazon recommended rank is Right and it's not high. And that's why we're not ranking high organically. I don't know what happens, you know, like a shadow ban or whatever. I don't want to try and speculate on that, but in even in that case, this Amazon recommended rank is highly indicative of what's happening on the organic side. So, guys, I hope this helps. Let me know how it works when you guys try these strategies out, and especially, even if you have a more mature listening, let me know in the comments below what does it say for your Amazon recommended rank, the one that you've been struggling with? Let me know, and let me know how you fix it.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm not sure when I'm going to come to the Maldives next. You know, 500 was kind of like all right, I'm going to keep going until 500. So maybe if there's going to be a new strategy I need to come up with, I'll have another reason to come out, to come out here. This is my favorite place in the world the Waldorf Astoria. They always take care of me really well. If you guys make sure to you know, if you want to know how I afford this place, it's like $2,500 a night. Check out my travel hacking episode. Just look at up. You know Sirius Sellers podcast, travel Hacking. You'll find that episode and then you can see how I am able to get to this place without having to pay money or ask helium 10 for money for it. But anyways, guys, hope you enjoyed this episode and here's to another 500 episodes. Bye-bye now.

View Details

Prime Big Deal Days: Everything you need to know about Amazon's 48-hour shopping event
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-big-deal-days-faq

Amazon has reportedly tested a “Buy Again” feature to entice shoppers into repeat purchases. The company has placed the new feature in a tab on the “most prized real estate” on its app home page.
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2023/amazon-wants-to-get-cautious-consumers-to-buy-again/

American consumers are taking their foot off the spending pedal as bargain prices become rarer, former Walmart U.S. CEO says
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-consumers-taking-foot-off-102620170.html

In the second part of our episode, we turn our attention to the world of competitor monitoring. Carrie Miller shows us how to stay ahead of the competition with Helium10's Insights Dashboard Competitors Tab feature, which allows you to easily monitor your competitors in seconds.

Get ready to pocket some incredible news stories, strategies, and insights that are going to keep you ahead in the E-commerce game!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:49 - Big Deal Days
02:09 - New CPF Certifications
03:32 - A/B Testing
04:11 - Controlled Generic Listings
04:58 - Buy Again Button
05:46 - Bargains Gone Forever?
06:50 - Follow Helium 10 In Twitter
07:35 - Pro Training Tip: Insights Dashboard Competitor Tab

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► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel:

New certifications for the Climate Pledge-Friendling program, brand protection with generic product listings, a buy again button for your consumers and an incoming shift in consumer habits. This and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Shivali Patel:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you all the latest news in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce space and we also provide you with a training tip of the week that will give you insight into serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. The first article that we'll be covering today is from Amazon itself. First, I want to preface this by saying I was just looking at some Prime Day 2022-2023 stats earlier today with some of our Helium 10 team, and we were seeing conversion rates hold study or even increase, resulting in more sales year over year, as well as impressions remaining consistent leading up to Prime Day, but then soaring a whopping 25% year over year on the big day. You can check out our LinkedIn for more details. But, with that said, let's talk about Amazon Prime's Big Deals Day. So what exactly is Amazon Prime's Big Deal Days? Well, it was a 48-hour shopping event that happened in 19 countries and, just like Prime Day, it was a significant sales opportunity for many businesses. I've already seen a lot of buzz on LinkedIn and on our Facebook groups saying that Big Deals Days was going great for them. That is such a tongue twister, guys. I'm not quite saying that five times fast. Our Project X and Project 5K accounts both had more than double the normal average in sales. But I want to hear from you guys how were your sales? Were you up, Were you down? By how much and in what category? Let us know in the comments below.

Shivali Patel:

Next up Amazon has added three new certifications that recognize materials innovation to their Climate Pledge Friendly program. This is really helpful for customers in discovering more sustainable products at scale. Oftentimes, as a buyer, when we're scrolling search results pages and we're just on the prowl for a particular item, Badges can be a really great way to have a listing catch our eye, and perhaps that is part of the reason on why sellers have noted slight increases in conversion with these badges. Maybe it's the increased traffic or the feeling of leaning into a morally sound, feel-good purchase for your prospective consumers. But listen, whatever the case may be, if any of your products are eligible for one of these new certifications or the Climate Pledge Friendly badge in general, it may be worth enrolling into this program. To enroll, you must either have an approved third-party certification or be eligible via compact by design or pre-owned certified. Of course, this validation process is really going to vary based off of your product type, and therefore you should do your due diligence. The badge will then appear on product details pages, search results pages and give you access to different things like advertising packages, Amazon business features and much, much more. All right.

Shivali Patel:

Another segment of news coming from Seller Central is brands can now run AB tests on supporting images in the Manager Experiments Image Gallery. This is great news for those of you who haven't yet launched your product or you just want to optimize your listing images. After all, as it says here, 62% of customers are more likely to buy a product if they can first view its images and video. Yes, it's still best to do split testing via Helium 10 audiences, but to start split testing your supporting images and potentially hike your conversion rate, you can head over to Manager Experiments dashboard switching gears.

Shivali Patel:

Seller Central also recently announced that they've extended product detail page protection to generic product listings. So if you don't know what this means, if you are a seller who does not have brand registry just yet, this could be helpful for you. You can start off listing your product as generic and then Amazon will still protect you by keeping any changes that occur solely under your control. Basically, what Amazon is saying is they won't let other people go in and change out your listing. Even though you're not brand registered, we do still suggest that you get brand registry for most sellers. This is a really nice update, and it does come with a lot of different things, so just bear that in mind. But you do have access to this exclusive control with the generic listing product detail pages now.

Shivali Patel:

Then we have a new buy again button. I'm reporting this to you from payments.com. We all have purchase history with Amazon. That's really useful, but sometimes we forget that it's not just those subscription products like supplements and maybe the skincare items that can appeal to people and they'll reorder over and over again. If you can establish brand authority or deliver a really great product or experience, a simple button can be enough to bring back customers and increase your return on investment. Look, I'm a repeat purchaser in general, so I'm the perfect target market for this feature. Have you seen this button on the Amazon app's homepage to entice shoppers into repeat purchases? Let me know in the comment section.

Shivali Patel:

Last but certainly not least, the last article I'll be covering today is from Yahoo Finance, and that is Bill Simon. This guy is the former Walmart CEO, and he's raised some concerns about the impact of lingering inflation and various macroeconomic factors on the American consumers, suggesting that the era of big bargains might be coming to an end, you guys. He pointed to the evidence of changing consumer habits, such as shifting towards smaller purchases at the end of the month due to financial constraints, and retailers are feeling the effects of inflation, which could really affect consumer acceptance of prices and buying patterns. I know I've already experienced this inside of my retail stores that when I'm going grocery shopping, the prices are insane, as are gas prices and whatnot. So are you seeing a change in spending habits? Has this been reflected in your own sales? Let us know. We would love to absolutely hear from you. So that does conclude our news pieces for this week.

Shivali Patel:

Before I jump to our training tip of the week, I want to quickly encourage you to follow our Twitter account at Helium10 Software, that's @H10Software okay, @H10Software If you don't already follow us. We post announcements, slides, workshops, Q&As and so much more, and it's a really easy way to stay in touch. I don't want you to miss out. Let me go ahead and give you a second. Go ahead and pause this podcast or video, whatever it may be that you're watching this, and go give us a follow Done, All right, awesome. Before I sign off, let me pass it over to Kerry Miller, our brand evangelist here at Helium10. And, as a seller, being able to stay at the forefront of your market can also depend on what your competitors are doing. Perhaps they're adjusting their price points or offering a promotional coupon, and you will want to know when they do that as soon as they do. If you want to know an easy way, just keep watching.

Carrie Miller:

Q4 is here and I know a lot of us like to keep close tabs on our competitors, but it's often a lot of tedious work where you have to literally go to their listings to kind of see and try to figure out what they're doing in this Q4 season. A lot of times we want to see did they change their price, are they adding coupons, things like that. So I want to show you a very easy way that you can actually monitor your competitors using Helium10. The first thing that you want to do is you want to log into your Helium10 account. Okay, so this is actually all going to be on this dashboard that you see right here, and we're actually going to scroll down just a little bit and we're going to take a look at this product section where it says my Products, and what we're going to do is we're going to expand this down, and you can see there's a lot of different tabs here. I'm going to actually focus on competitors here. So these competitors, you can actually choose them or sometimes they're already populated for you. So if you don't like the ones that are already populated in here for you, just click on Edit Competitors and you can just add in whatever ASINs you want or you can choose them from this list down here. I usually put my own five that I want and it's the top five competitors that you have. Once you've done that, you can actually see them listed here. You can see if they have a coupon here. You can see if they have done anything in terms of revenue, if they're doing really well, if their price is a little bit different. But this is actually going to get in more detail in this Competitors tab. So on this sidebar here where there's these little swords, you're going to click on the Competitors tab and you're going to be able to see more in detail about your competitors. And so this is not just those five for that one product. This is going to be all of your competitors that you've chosen.

Carrie Miller:

So each product on that main dashboard you're going to see five, but this is where they're all going to be put together in one page and you're going to be able to see price changes and all kinds of different things like BSR. And if you wanted to customize and get alerts, you can actually get alerts for your competitors so you can see if their BSR has increased by a certain amount. If it's decreased, you can see if their review count has increased by a certain percentage or if it's decreased, or if their sales have increased or decreased. So that way you can see, hey, their sales are soaring, what are they doing, or maybe they're decreasing, and you can capitalize on that. There's a lot of different ways that you can utilize this and these are the different default or different settings that you can use. Now you can just uncheck it if you don't want to see it, or check it if you do want to see it, and you can add in whatever percentage number that you want to. So that is how you kind of edit these, but it'll show you. You know in general, if you know, there's some changes in price and things like that. But if you go down here to insights as well, we have some more information here. You can add in insights, for you know if their competitor changed the price or a coupon, you can actually get an alert for that. You can also see if they've changed their listing and you can see if they've changed any performance. So, right here, for a coupon, you can say you know if it's a price increase or decrease, or a coupon offered or a coupon no longer offered. You can edit this, however you'd like to get those alerts.

Carrie Miller:

If you uncheck it, you won't get any. For listing change you can change, you can check off which ones of these that you want. So do you want to see if they've changed their title, their main image, their category and subcategory? And then, finally, you can see about their BSR and their review count, just like I kind of showed you this a little bit before. So this is where you can really control all of the Competitor Insights. There's a lot more different insights and I'll go over there those in other videos, but this is just focus on competitors. So this makes it very, very easy for you to go into that dashboard every day. That dashboard is going to show you a little an alert button or it'll say insight ready, and it's going to show you those things in the way that you set them up. So if you wanted to see if they've increased, you know, by a certain percentage of sales, you're going to be able to see that in that insights dashboard. You're going to see if they've added a coupon or if you wanted to see if their title changed, you're going to be able to see all of that in the dashboard and it's going to be so easy for you to monitor just in seconds, where all of this stuff would take you hours actually to do, to monitor every day. Where we have it ready for you every single day in the dashboard, easy to see, and you're going to get a great overview of what your competitors are doing so that you can stay competitive and you can capitalize on anything that they are slacking on. So go ahead and check out the insights dashboard competitors section and let us know what you think. Bye.

Shivali Patel:

Awesome. Thank you for that, Carrie. I know the ability to monitor competitors with set thresholds was something that I was looking forward to for a while, and it's incredible to finally have it up as part of our tool set. Other than that, that is it for this week. I hope you learned something from this week's Weekly Buzz. We will see you next week to talk about what is buzzing.

View Details

Want to crack the code of Amazon's algorithm? Join us in this riveting episode as we sit down with Kevin Dolan, Principal Engineer of the AI Labs program at Pacvue x Helium 10, a mastermind who has scrutinized over 100 Amazon Science papers and run millions of tests to decode the intricate workings of Amazon's search framework. From semantics to lexical search and all the fine details in between, be prepared to gain invaluable knowledge and insights that will transform how you see Amazon's ecosystem.

Pressing on, we dive deep into the expansive landscape of AI with Kevin. We break down the complexities of Amazon Science's information retrieval papers, shedding light on the motivations, implications, and limitations. With a heavy focus on both the relevancy ranking system and the behavioral indicators, such as previous purchases and time spent on a page, we reveal the intricacies of how this system functions and the challenges faced by new products. You'll gain a comprehensive understanding of the balance between query intent and query volume, as well as the impact of micro-actions on a product's early life.

We wrap up our conversation by evaluating the role of Artificial Intelligence in selling success, discussing how semantic search differs from lexical matching, and lastly, looking at the promising future of the Amazon algorithm's evolution. This episode is a gold mine of knowledge and insights that will guide you in navigating Amazon's complex systems. With the help of Kevin's expertise and insights, you'll be better equipped to harness the power of Amazon's algorithm for your own Amazon FBA business’ success. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to gain insights from an expert who has spent countless hours demystifying the workings of Amazon. Enjoy the episode!

In episode 499 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Check Keyword Indexing With Helium 10
06:21 - Impressive AI Amazon Listing Builder
10:49 - Investigating the Amazon Algorithm
21:10 - How Amazon Search Works in Phases
25:43 - How Amazon Chooses Search Results
31:17 - Analyzing Product Metrics and Rankings
35:05 - Amazon Keyword Relevance and Product Ranking
38:44 - Amazon's Trend in Personalized Search
42:48 - Keyword-Based Search vs. Meaning-Based Search
50:53 - Advancements in Semantic Search Techniques

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we’re going to talk to somebody who might be the most knowledgeable person in the entire world about how the Amazon algorithm works. He studied over 100 Amazon science papers and runs tests on millions of data points, and he’s going to be educating us on his findings, about what he’s found on things such as semantic search, lexical search and more, including showing a shocking example of proof of how search on Amazon is evolving drastically even now. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10’s Index Checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker.

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And we’ve got for the first time, somebody on the show a fellow worker here at Helium 10, but one of the more unique ones. He’s not like we’ve had product managers here, we’ve had, like, some of our executives, like Boyan has been on the show before, Adam has been on the show, but he’s got a very unique and one of the coolest roles here and we’re just going to get to know him and you guys are going to be blown away by some of his insights into how the Amazon algorithm works, because he, probably more than anybody else in the entire industry, has done the most research on the subject. So, before we get into the details, first of all, Kevin, welcome to the show. How’s it going?

Kevin:

That’s going pretty good. That’s a lot to live up to, I got to tell you.

Bradley Sutton:

There we go, no pressure, no pressure.

Kevin:

Where are you located? Yeah, I’m out in Los Angeles so I do live near a lot of the other Helium 10 people, a lot of the back view people. We go sailing from time to time.

Bradley Sutton:

Is this where you’re going to be taking me sailing for my first?

Kevin:

time in a couple weeks. Yeah, we’re taking you sailing next week actually.

Bradley Sutton:

Where did you go to school at?

Kevin:

Cornell.

Bradley Sutton:

Cornell, that’s.

Kevin:

Ivy League. It is technically an Ivy League. We get made friend of a lot for being the worst one, but you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Isn’t that where the guy from the office yeah, he went, or something.

Kevin:

Okay, now I was like wait, how do I know he? Classically.

Bradley Sutton:

Andy for them.

Kevin:

Yeah, he brags about it a lot. That’s the kind of reputation that we try to avoid.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. What did you study there?

Kevin:

I studied computer science Originally physics, but ended up using computers a lot to do physics. Things ended up liking that more, so went down the direction of computer science. My focus was on artificial intelligence, which is why all this new stuff that’s been happening has been so exciting.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so I mean you were into it before. It was actually, you know, hip to be into it Before.

Kevin:

It was cool. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Bradley Sutton:

And so now, what is your position here at Helium 10?

Kevin:

So I’ve actually been with Helium 10 since 2020. I’ve served like a bunch of different roles, jumping in, you know, helping with individual products, with higher level stuff. Right now I’m serving as the principal architect for the AI labs and this is the AI labs between both back view and Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. So AI labs is like a like, almost like a secret organization inside of Helium 10. What is AI labs?

Kevin:

Yeah well, we try not to be a secret. We try to make sure everybody in the organization knows what we’re doing all the time. But basically you know, even if you’re not in technology right now, you’re hearing about AI. You’re hearing about chat, gpt. You’re trying to figure out ways to use it. You’re worried it’s going to take your job. You know, outside of technology, a lot of people don’t become aware of these technological shifts, but sometimes you get these breakout technologies, and AI is one of them.

This whole stream of research really began in 2017 with the release of the first Transformers paper. It started to take off really, really hard in 2020, when some of these new techniques started to get better results than any other techniques. But when last year, openai released chat, gpt, there was this sudden explosion and suddenly we’re seeing AI models that can do things that, say, 10 years ago, people would have never expected computers to be able to do, and so you’re seeing a lot of new products come out, a lot of new features. People are excited, people are scared.

I tend to be more on the conservative side when it comes to AI. There’s, I’m excited about it, it can do a lot of really cool things, but I think it can’t do a lot of the stuff that people say that it can. Right now, the goal of the AI labs is basically to figure out what’s hype and what’s real. We’re trying to figure out what of these AI technologies we can use within Helium 10 and PacView products to make our tools better, to make our sellers have a better life, and we’re also trying to figure out ways that these AI technologies can change the ecosystem. So what’s going on at Amazon right now that might affect the way sellers sell on Amazon, that people buy things on Amazon, and that’s actually the part of the job that’s really really exciting to me, because it forces you to predict the future and that’s just really fun.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it’s really cool how Helium 10 and PacFu is embracing AI. We have a whole department here dedicated to it. We just hired another executive who was leading up AI at Microsoft of all places. Obviously we have dedication, but somebody might say, wait a minute, like I barely have seen Helium 10 come out with anything AI. This is what I think is cool, because I remember back in the day I obviously have worked here at Helium 10 longer than you but five years ago when we were a tiny team we weren’t number one, we probably weren’t even number two.

It was like Jungle Scout was number one, maybe Viral Launch was number two, and then Helium 10 was kind of a newer kid on the block and because of that we had to be cutting edge like nonstop and try and be the first, and it was like a space wars, like who’s going to launch this reverse ace in first and who’s going to launch an auto responder email, and then sometimes we just rushed to get something out and it wasn’t maybe the best, but in those days, like being the first at something was super important in this growing industry. Now for a few years, since you’ve been here no coincidence there but since you’ve been here we’re number one in the game. So it’s like you know what. We don’t need to be first at anything. Like let’s be. When we launch something, let’s get it right. So we were definitely not the first to launch AI for listing building. But, man, it’s really amazing Like our listing builder tool now can do multiple languages and multiple marketplaces. I threw in words into a Spanish listing but then my inputs were like in English and even through some Portuguese in there, but then the AI knew that this is for Amazon Mexico and then took my keywords and it made a complete Spanish listing. I mean, it’s just like it even blows the Amazon AI listing builder like completely out of the water, let alone anybody else in our space here.

But we had long story short. We’ve got this whole team that’s working hard and making sure that we’re gonna do that. We’re doing the right things. But at the end of the day, you were talking about the. You know how AI is integrated into the search algorithm. We’re definitely gonna go deep into that, but just a preview, guys, like I don’t know.

You can tell me what you think, kevin, but in my opinion, we can read all the scientific documents we want, like you have, but at the end of the day, there is nobody on this earth not even Amazon workers, or not just one Amazon worker who could just tell you the exact formula of exactly how the Amazon search algorithm works, because that’s not the way it works. It’s not something that you can just turn into a mathematical formula. So just guys, you know what we talk about today is gonna be based on, you know, a lot of research and things, but you gotta remember that, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if we’re coming up with something, or somebody else out there who read some scientific documents is coming out with something. It’s speculation, you know, and we can you know. I think what we’re gonna show today is is that Kevin’s speculation probably is better than anybody else’s, since he’s read more. But are you with me there on that kind of like postulation?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean exactly like you know. I think whenever a new technology like this comes out, people get excited about it. They wanna use it. They wanna release products that you know claim to use AI, even if it’s not really that big of an important component to it. You know, I recently heard from one of my friends who’s in venture capital that he’s, at this point, tired of hearing AI pitches. When somebody comes to him and says, all right, our company is, we’re doing X, but we’re using AI, basically everybody just rolls their eyes and I think the reason is because AI, at the end of the day, is a tool, it’s a technology, it’s not even a feature and it’s definitely not a whole product.

I think when the dust settles, the hype dies down and this becomes integrated into day-to-day life, you’re not gonna hear about it as much. It’s just gonna naturally be a part of so many systems that you don’t think about it. Just the same way that you know, when you’re using Amazon as a buyer or as a seller, you’re not thinking about what databases they use on the backend or what fraud detection techniques they’re using. You don’t have to think about those low-level details because they’re just part of the system we’re about to get to a place, hopefully in the next couple of years, where these things just become more commonplace, and that’s a lot of the approach that I take when I develop technology is that I look at all of these things as tools that can be used to accomplish things, but at the end of the day, we still need to accomplish things that our users want to accomplish.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, now you know we’re about to talk about the extent of your research and how ridiculous, how many hours you’ve spent, you know, investigating the Amazon algorithm and stuff. But you know, just like we said, nobody, not even in Amazon, can, just you know, know instantly what the, how the Amazon algorithm works, how search works. So let me just ask you, like, why did you even do all this work in the first place?

Kevin:

If you knew that there’s.

Bradley Sutton:

you know, the ceiling is not even a full knowledge of what’s going on Like, so why even put all this work into it?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean, you know we are, at the end of the day, building products that help sellers sell things on Amazon. So the more that we understand about how Amazon search works, the better we’re able to do that. Yes, we’re never gonna be able to understand the whole thing, I would say. Within Amazon, it’s a large functional engineering organization, so the entire system is broken down into subcomponents. Some people are going to be experts on individual subcomponents. Some people are going to be experts on how all of the different subcomponents connect to one another. But, like you said, no one person really knows everything. And even if there are people at Amazon who can really say that they understand all the subcomponents at a deep level, they’re still not going to understand all of the emergent properties that come from the system.

Whenever you have a system that’s so complex that so many different people are using for so many different purposes, a lot of new behaviors start to come about. You get behaviors that come from the fact that people want to list on Amazon so that they rank more highly. You might not be able to predict ahead of time what that’s gonna look like. You might not be able to predict how buyers are going to change what they type into the search box as you change, how different search results come back, and so I think it’s something that, whether you work for Amazon, whether you build tools for Amazon, whether you’re an Amazon seller, or even if you’re an Amazon buyer, I think it’s important for you to understand what kinds of things are happening, because they give you hints to better understand how to interact with the ecosystem.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay now, what did your research entail? To what extent have you done that leads up to you giving us this information that you’re about to in this episode?

Kevin:

A little bit, a little bit. So the first place I went was the blogs, which I think was probably a mistake. They’re written for a different audience. I understand that they’re gonna be non-technical.

Like blogs from Amazon or just like blogs from people in the industry, industry blogs and blogs from Amazon as well, but in general they’re written for non-technical audiences, and so I understand there’s gonna be some loss in translation when you get there. What I was astounded by was just how wrong they absolutely are. A lot of the articles make things up. A lot of the things point to research that isn’t likely to be part of a production system. A lot of them talk about search techniques that were popular 20 years ago and we’ve moved well past those technologies, and so I think it is generally safe to assume that if you’re reading it on a blog, you can take it with a grain of salt. There might still be some useful information there. It might still be relevant when you are writing your listings, but at the end of the day, it’s not canon.

Amazon operates a publication that they call Amazon Science. They have a number of programs internally that lead to this, but this is basically where they release a lot of their public facing academic research, and there’s a section within Amazon Science that’s on the subject of information retrieval. It’s one of the biggest sections. That’s the academic term for search, and I went through and basically looked through the hundreds of papers that they had listed for publication there. I selected about a hundred of them that were gonna be relevant towards giving us hints about how Amazon how many pages does each of these have?

Bradley Sutton:

It depends. It depends these hundred that you read.

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean. Some papers will be as short as just a couple of pages, like two or three. Some will be 20 pages long. Some have a lot of appendices, a lot of formulas. When you do academic research, you get really good at skimming papers for the important parts and making sure that you’re not wasting time reading stuff you don’t need to read. But it’s a skill in and into itself for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the first time. I haven’t read many and I think you by far have read more than anybody else in the world. These aren’t written by the same people, so probably even county Amazon employees, you’ve read more of these than anybody else. The first time it came on my radar I was looking up. I found a patent that Amazon had filed for something about search, and that was the first time I was diving in. I was like my goodness, this is interesting stuff.

Like a lot of it was way over my head, since I’m not a data scientist and using language, but then it allowed me to understand like even parts of, like what we call the honeymoon period. They call it like cold start and stuff like this. It was just fascinating to read. But then I found out later that Amazon is just publishing left and right all these papers, like you said. But like, first of all, why are they doing this? And then, second of all, correct me if I’m wrong but just because they publish a paper on something, it doesn’t mean, like you said, that they actually have what’s in that paper in production in Amazon or is even imminent to hit production. Yeah, exactly.

Kevin:

Yeah, I would say that there’s a lot of different reasons why companies release academic papers and actually up until about 2020, amazon was very careful about the information relating to their system that they released to the public. They might release a patent, but patents are incredibly vague and the reason you release a patent is specifically to prevent other people from being able to do that or, at the very least, prevent other people from suing you for doing something similar. But when you release academic research, you’ve definitely got a different set of motivations. There. You run the risk of, say, a competitor adopting the same techniques something that’s part of your secret sauce becoming commonplace, and so you do have to weigh that against the benefits. But there are a lot of benefits to doing this. If you look at other companies like Google, google, unlike Amazon, came from academic research. The founders of Google created the PageRank algorithm, which was originally called the Backrub algorithm.

Bradley Sutton:

I bet you there’s a great story behind that there.

Kevin:

So you know, like Google’s approach was academic driven from the beginning and as a result of that, the academic research that goes into web search is probably a decade ahead of what you see in e-commerce search. When you release these papers as part of your company, when you get them out there, at the end of the day, what you’re doing is you’re sparking innovation on the subject. You’re sparking innovation within your own company because you’re able to recruit the best talent. If I’m an engineer or I’m a data scientist or I’m a researcher, I might now want to work at Amazon because I know that there’s a chance that I can release a paper that’s gonna be really important, that’s gonna be really great for my career. I know I’m gonna be working with the state of the art technologies and like that’s really exciting, so you’re able to get better talent that way. It also allows you to work with people who are in academia.

So one of the challenges that e-commerce search has faced in academic research on information retrieval is the availability of data, because Amazon doesn’t want to release to just anybody their search volumes, their search history, what products people are clicking on, and so it’s a lot harder for somebody who works at Cornell University to do research on that subject. Amazon started a program called the Amazon Scholars Program, where somebody who is perhaps a PhD candidate or a university professor can kind of be embedded in a team at Amazon to help them develop something, and in many cases conditions of that would be that they get access to data and they’re able to release important papers, and so at the end of the day you get these papers out there. They help you develop new technologies and new techniques, but it also sort of fosters this broader ecosystem of research. That happens so that just in general in the world there’s better knowledge about how to do things. It’s worked really well for web search. E-commerce search has been a little bit slower to do this kind of thing, but they’re catching up.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, All right. So, guys, first takeaway here is we could have the person who’s read the most scientific documents here in the world. We could have somebody who just reads one scientific document, but what you can’t do is just take one of these and say, okay, because of what I read here, this is proof of what’s going on in Amazon. You know I mean, otherwise we’d be releasing blogs every week with Kevin as a byline talking about what he’s learned from there. So, again, just keep in mind that not any one of us can just take one of these documents and explain what is happening on Amazon. But, that being said, there’s a lot that we can take away, both from what you’ve researched in these documents and what you. Obviously, being at Healing 10, you have access to more data points than almost anybody outside of Amazon, and so you can actually study behaviors and trends and things like that. So let’s just start at a very basic level. How does Amazon search work today?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean there’s some things that we can tell from the papers that are kind of like canon knowledge. One section of almost every paper is usually like a introduction discussion session where they talk about why this problem exists, what they’re trying to solve and sort of what the context of the problem is. In these it seems to be pretty well accepted that search happens in three high-level phases. The first phase is query understanding. So Amazon is gonna be looking at the query that was searched. They’re possibly gonna be looking at your past queries, your past purchase history, to try and better understand what it is you’re looking for. There’s a matching phase, phase two which is basically looking at Amazon’s catalog of billions of products to try and find a smaller set of products that are likely related to that search. So now we’ve whittled it down from, say, a few billion potential products down to a thousand products. And then the final phase, which is really the most important, is the ranking phase. The ranking phase is where it determines what order to show those thousand matching products in. This is, I think, where Amazon has the best opportunity to use the more advanced technologies to really precisely understand what somebody’s looking for and what somebody’s offering and to match the absolute most likely things that somebody’s gonna buy into the top of the search results. But even as you go further down the list, ranking is still important.

Amazon talks about a lot of situations where the priorities and goals that Amazon has for ranking are actually different than what you might think. You might think that when you’re making a search that you want to show in the number one search result the product that the person’s most likely gonna buy, but that’s not always the case. They use this example a lot in their research engagement rings. So I don’t know about you. I don’t know many people who are buying diamond engagement rings on Amazon. If you’re going to Amazon, you’re typing an engagement ring, you’re most likely gonna be looking for something like cubic zirconium, something a little more affordable, and so you would think that when you search this, the top results should all be affordable diamond rings. The reality is that if people see that, they think something is wrong with Amazon because they expect to see diamond rings at the top, and so in certain cases, amazon has goals that are more related to user expectations than quantitative optimizable goals, and so it’s a really complex system. But ranking is really where a lot of the secret sauce is.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now how does AI play a role like, for example, in misspellings? Or is this just something that has existed, where machine learning is used and it just learns to try and predict buyer intent based on most common misspellings? And then, how does Amazon work in that regard?

Kevin:

I mean misspellings is an interesting case, so that usually falls into the query understanding bucket. So somebody types in a query. There are a lot of existing techniques that you might call AI, you might call machine learning, but they definitely aren’t the same thing that’s being referred to as AI that everybody’s excited about right now to do a spell correction. It’s a pretty well researched area and so when you type a query into Amazon, one of the first things that they’re gonna do is run it through a spell check algorithm to try and figure out if there’s some obviously misspelled word that they can correct. And that’s usually gonna be like one of the first steps in query understanding.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now you know the holy grail or goal of any Amazon seller when they’re launching products or when they’re trying to get sales is hey, I need to get on, quote unquote page one of Amazon search results. You know, this is nothing new, you know, you’re a blogger, you’re an SEO person, you want to get. You know, page one on Google results. You know, but on Amazon, how? In general? You know we’re going to simplify this down before we go deep into the weeds here, but how does Amazon choose what to show? You know, first in search results?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean this. This is a really complicated question. Like, like we said earlier, amazon is a modular system. You know, there are going to be a lot of different teams working on a lot of different subsystems. These subsystems are going to be interacting in different ways, but in general, there’s a broad category of algorithms that work really well with these types of modular systems, and these are called learning to rank algorithms, and basically the idea is that you set some set of goals that you want.

You know a goal might be I want the product that the user is most likely to buy to be at the top. A goal might be I care about my long term relationship with the user, so I’d make sure not to show them things that they’re going to return. You know I care about my long term relationship with sellers, so I want to give new products a chance, and so the system’s going to have a lot of different goals that it’s able to juggle, and a learning to rank algorithm will take a series of signals and try to put things in the best order so that they can achieve those goals, and this also allows for engineers at Amazon to be modular in how they define those signals, so I might define relevant signals in terms of like okay, you’ve searched for a query with these particular words in it. I know that those words are in the title, so you should probably rank that a little bit higher. However, another signal might be everybody who buys this product seems to return it, so that’s a bad thing, and these different signals can go together to they can be.

These signals can be mixed together to basically come up with a ranking that best accomplishes those goals, and it’s really important to stress that these signals can be defined by, like a lot of different engineers. You might have data scientists who are working in relevance factors as to like whether or not a particular listing means the same thing that somebody is expressing in a query. You might have somebody who’s focused more on behavioral signals. We see that things that people have bought in the past is a really important signal for Amazon. If you search for a common query, something as simple as like pressure cooker, amazon knows which things people have bought when they’ve typed in pressure cooker, so that might actually end up being the dominant signal. But the learning to rank algorithms basically allow you to, instead of sit there and like manually tune all the rules that land at some particular ranking. You get to let the system sort of figure out how to do it.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, what about when we’re talking new products? All right, you know that’s just general, general how the search works. But then you know, especially when it, when it comes to to you know a history of interactions. You know, like, what happens on a mature product. You know Amazon can easily know what to prioritize because you know they have how people have clicked, how long people have stayed on a page or how they scroll. I mean, there’s like billions of data points. They have, after listings, been out there for six months. But going back to, you know, like what I saw in that one document about, like, you know what was called cold start. You know problem how does Amazon determine relevancy in things for a brand new listing? You know that doesn’t have this history.

Kevin:

Yeah, so it’s a problem. It’s a very active area of research. Of the hundred papers I read, at least a dozen were about the cold start problem. So I would say this is definitely something that is a focus for Amazon. It’s something that they care about really deeply and want to solve, and it’s also something that they haven’t entirely solved.

The cold start problem basically says that because for common queries, behavioral signals dominate and are so predictive of what somebody is likely to buy, the rankers are typically going to show products with deep history above products with, you know, a shallow history, like a new product. If I’m searching for a pressure cooker, it’s going to show me the pressure cooker that people usually buy. If some company comes and makes a better pressure cooker something that really just you know completely blows this the existing ones out of the water, amazon’s not necessarily going to show that to users because it’s got no behavioral priors. So solving the cold start problem is really important and there’s a bunch of different ways to do that. There’s a bunch of different techniques. Some of the techniques you’ll see in the literature are called bandit optimization, which uses like a gambling game as a sort of analogy for how you learn about you know whether you should continue exploring new options or exploit the options you have, but I would say most of the research and the papers that seem the most important lead to this idea of using details about the listing to predict behavioral priors. The idea is basically that you look at things like the quality of the listing, the seller, the image, the title, and you try to analyze them to a degree to where you can estimate what you think somebody might be likely to click the product.

At that point. You start to use those to intermix new products with the existing products and then you can measure that behavior against them. So you could say all right, I’ve started to rank this new pressure cooker high, even though I don’t have much priors for it, and it seems like people are really excited about this thing. It seems like people are buying this. So now I’m going to update my estimate and say like, okay, your optimistic estimate is really good. If I start to show it to people and nobody wants it, or people buy it and they start to return it, then I’m going to start to rank that item lower.

I think this is what leads to what you and the industry refers to as the honeymoon period. It’s this idea that there is a brief window of time when you launch a new product where Amazon is going to be ranking it more favorably than if it had a long sales history of poor performing sales, and so I think this is something that’s definitely an emergent property of the system. It’s not necessarily something that Amazon sits there and says, okay, the honeymoon period is two weeks, it’s definitely not something like that, but it is something that may emerge from the system as designed.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so, like you know, there’s in the industry. You know people talk about query intent versus query volume. You know, query volume, search query volume. You know don’t always just go for hey kitchen utensil has, you know, 50,000 search volume. And that’s what I need to be focusing on when I launch my product or when I’m making my listing optimization, as opposed to something with only 600 searches. But that’s super hyper relevant, like aluminum spoon for boho decor or something like that, you know.

And so I found that in early listings and I’m going to talk about this more in episode 500 of the podcast, where I talk about the Maldives honeymoon method, about how micro actions mean exponentially more in the, you know, honeymoon period, or whatever you want to call it first few weeks, cold start, whatever of a product, like you can drastically change how Amazon views your product. Now the first part is you guys obviously have to have your listing optimization down. You know, like I can’t have a water bottle, but then the copy of the listing just talks about kitchen utensils. It talks about, you know, I don’t know podcasting equipment and just random stuff, and then Amazon just miraculously is going to figure out that I’m talking about a water bottle. No, you’ve got to be super, make sure your listing has all the potential keywords so that you give Amazon something to start with. And the thing is, you could do all of the right things. I’m talking about this in the next episode, how we’re working on something so that when people are using listening builder, that they have like a scoring system that’s kind of based on best practices, like how many times do you have the right? Do you have all the right keywords, are you indexed for them? How many times do you have it and do you have it in the right parts of your listening? But at the end of the day, you could have a perfect score, if there ever was one, and still Amazon might not 100% know about what the product is, especially if it’s like a newer niche, like if it was water bottle, probably from day one. Amazon has everything ready. As long as you have a great listening, amazon knows exactly what your product is.

I’m gonna talk about how I launched or I did some dual testings on this coffin shaped coffin shaped bath tray, which maybe only one or two people has ever sold this on Amazon and not many units. And when I check in Helium 10, there’s a way to check how Amazon views your, which keywords Amazon views as relevant. It was obviously confused Like coffin is probably one of the most main words because that’s how it’s shaped, and it was like way, way, way down the list as far as what Amazon thought was relevant and it had like these generic terms that had great search volume. It was funny because I could rank easily for it on a keyword that another product probably wishes they could rank for. It was something like bathroom decor or something that had like 200,000 searches.

And just because Amazon rated that as the most important keyword to my listing, I was already ranking in the first six pages, even though there’s 30,000 other products that are indexed for that keyword. I was on page six and, you know, temporarily I was even on page one without doing anything, while other people are getting purchases for this product and they can’t get on page one. But does that really do me any good? No, it doesn’t do me any good, because that’s not necessarily what my product is and nobody’s gonna search that keyword and then buy my product. And so you know, sure enough, you know the keyword dropped down, but it shows you guys that you know you’ve gotta be thinking about the quality of the keyword and how relevant it is, especially in the beginning. So that’s kind of like your training Amazon to understand how to interact with that. Now, how does like advertising, you know, play a role in all of this in your opinion?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean. Well, I think what you just said is really kind of key across the board when it comes to writing your listings or using advertising. The optimization effort that you put into your listing to basically describe your product accurately, to target keywords that are more intent focused, that people are more likely to use to purchase your product. I think that that’s really good advice. I think that that’s gonna apply across the board. We do know that when somebody performs a search and ultimately buys a product through a sponsored listing, that behavioral signal still counts. It’s a technique that I know a lot of people recommend for how to sort of seed your behavioral signals.

At the end of the day, if people are buying your product, if they’re not returning it, if they’re leaving good reviews, those are all gonna be things that lead to better organic rankings.

We do see some evidence that the paid signals count a little bit less than the organic signals, but they still count, and so I think that advertising is definitely a critical part of any product launch. But I think, just like you were talking about with organic optimization and search engine optimization in general, your focus in the beginning really needs to be on high intent queries rather than high volume queries. If you are showing up on page one for a search query that has a lot of volume and people are not likely to buy your product, that’s actually likely going to damage your organic search rankings way worse than if you had ranked highly for keywords that are very relevant to your product. Because what’s gonna happen is Amazon has now shown your product to people and people have rejected it, which Amazon is gonna be considering a negative signal, and that could start to affect you on other keywords as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay now, a lot of the documents that you read might have been two, two, three years, or some of them might be two, three years old already, but the ones that you’ve read that are maybe published this year. Have you seen any trend that makes it kind of obvious that Amazon might be moving in a certain direction?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean there’s a lot of stuff on the cold start problem and I think that there seems to be a narrowing focus on this approach of estimating behavioral signals based on the listings and I think you’re seeing some sort of corolling of resources into that direction. There are a few papers on personalized search and it’s kind of always been in the background. I think there’s some evidence that Amazon might be re-ranking products based on individual preferences. If you’re a bargain hunter, I might be showing you different products than if you’re the type of person who likes to buy the more expensive, more luxury products. There’s definitely some query rewriting that might be happening based on recent search history. So if you’re looking for a lot of kitchen utensils versus if you’re looking for a bunch of hunting and camping equipment and then you search for something generic like knife, amazon’s gonna be thinking about what you’ve recently searched for to try and understand what types of products to show you. So there’s definitely some stuff going on there. There are always papers about UX improvements, little things that they can change in the site or big things that they could change in the site and how people search. I don’t think that the general UI of searching for something in a text box and then seeing either a grid or list of listings. I don’t think that goes away anytime soon. I think that’s a great way to look for products. You’ll see a lot of people who are pumped about large language models and AI talk about like conversational search or shopping assistance and things like that. I’m not too excited about those. I don’t think that those are gonna really really change how people do look for products.

But one area where Amazon may start to invest in is result explicability explaining to you why a particular listing might be relevant. They already do this to some degree. Like when you type in a search, they’ll highlight any of the words that are from your search that are in the listings to help you better understand it. With LLMs and other generative models, you can start to explain in more natural English like hey, this one might be really good for you because X, y and Z, so you might see some UX changes there.

There’s a lot of work on neural rankers, so this is sort of a technological detail of how they choose which products to rank higher than others, rather than fundamentally changing the way learning to rank works. So it’s not super relevant but I think probably the most important and most impactful area of research is this space called semantic search. Semantic search is basically looking through the listings and trying to find listings that are most relevant to a particular query, based on the meaning of the words rather than the literal words that are in both the listing and the search.

Bradley Sutton:

So give an example of like the counter to that would be lexical matching. How is semantic matching different?

Kevin:

Yeah, so within, I would say that today Amazon is still probably dominated by lexical matching. Lexical matching is the historical winner for search. It’s become less important in web search but it’s still a major factor there, and e-commerce has sort of fought this battle between lexical and semantic search for the past six years. In a universe of lexical search, you are trying, as a person who is searching, I’m trying to guess which words would likely be in a listing for a product that I’m looking for, and it requires you, as the searcher, to have a skill set for searching. The ideal in infamoration retrieval is that you don’t have to have a skill set in order to find things. You just type in here’s what a situation is, here’s what I want, and the search engine brings you back exactly what you’re looking for. If you really wanna get that, if you really wanna solve that you can’t use a keyword-based approach that as your only solution you need to really start thinking about the meaning of those words you’re typing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what are some things that you’ve dive a little bit deeper into to what you’ve found in the documents, as far as if you can kind of say where Amazon might be going with the search, because, like you said, this is something that’s already been kind of existing in the Google and regular search engine world, but it’s a little bit been slower for e-commerce places like Amazon to adopt. But where do you think we’re going with this?

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean I think that it generally seems to be accepted as true that using new advanced AI-based technologies to match products would give people better listings. It would give better rankings to it would produce better rankings in the matching the user’s intent. I think we have really really strong evidence that that’s the case. The problem is that they tend to be slow and expensive, and so a lot of the research today has focused on using AI during ranking. So, instead of processing a advanced AI model across all the billions of products on Amazon, I could process it across just the top 1000 that match your query and then I could find the exact product that you’re most likely looking for.

And I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Amazon is using some type of semantic analysis at the ranking stage. What’s a little bit less clear is what they’re doing at the matching stage. I have some examples to suggest that, most likely a technique that Amazon discussed in a 2019 paper called DSSM. I have some evidence to suggest that they are at least using that for matching. In cases where there aren’t a lot of lexical matches for a particular search, they may be using different techniques, but I have some evidence of this and I think that it’s definitely safe to say that they’re using semantic search at the ranking level to make sure that the top results you see are exactly the thing you’re looking for.

Bradley Sutton:

Now is, that is what that one. Was it you who found that, or was it Adam Shabazz? About the the noodle camera.

Kevin:

Noodle camera, yeah yeah, the noodle camera I think this is. This is one of the strongest pieces of evidence I have for Amazon using semantic search string matching. So I wrote an algorithm that I called a Adversarial search generation. So basically the idea was generate searches that are Are phrases that somebody might use, that kind of like make sense from a language perspective but don’t have a lot of lexical matches. And one of the search terms that the algorithm came back with was noodle camera.

Noodle camera is not a thing. Yeah, I thought perhaps you know it was a thing, but I Googled it. Nobody calls this a noodle camera. Most of the results that come back are endoscopes. Endoscopes are also called snake cameras, and I have two main Explanations for how this result is coming back for noodle camera. The first is a query rewriting explanation. It is possible that somebody who didn’t know the name of an endoscope might call it a noodle camera and they would search for that, not get any results, and then later search for snake camera, later search endoscope and end up buying that. So Amazon might be behind the scenes doing some kind of query rewriting.

Another explanation is semantic. A snake and a noodle are similarly shaped they’re long, cylindrical objects and so, going down that direction. That would seem to suggest that they may be doing some kind of semantic analysis of the words that you’re searching to try and find something that At least Resembles the user’s intent. We tried a couple variations of that that were also interesting. So when I searched for eel camera Figuring eel and snake they’re similar enough it came back with an entirely different set of results. It came back with underwater cameras, and I think that’s really interesting, because underwater cameras and Again, in this case, when you look at the listings, none of them talk about eels, but eels are similar to fish. They do talk about fish, and an underwater camera is exactly the type of camera that you would use To take a picture of an eel. And so I think that, at the very least for cases where a Search doesn’t burn back a lot of lexical matches, there’s a good chance that Amazon is augmenting those matches with some kind of semantic techniques.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, guys, you know I dug into this too and anybody can do this Everybody, you know, if you’re not in your car but if you’re at home, you know, just type in Noodle camera and then you’ll see what he was talking about. Like, like, there’s one brand here that that is kind of like could be a Misspelling of noodle called new e. Like it has a camera, and it’s actually interesting, when I, when I entered that into chat GPT, that was one of the first things that came up. He’s like oh, some people miss misspell noodle camera for this new e brand. It was really weird. And so, you know, amazon picked up on that. But then most of these are these kind of like endoscope cameras and so I took one of these. You know, just alright, I didn’t take just one of them, I took, like most of these endoscope cameras, and then I first threw it into index checker inside of helium 10 and it’s interesting to know the.

You know it says that noodle camera is indexed, and that rightfully so, because it obviously shows up in the search results. But usually when you have a phrase that is indexed, the individual words are indexed as well. But then I broke out the word noodle, and noodle is not indexed while noodle camera is. And then I went to the Ajax page a lot of you guys know what, that Ajax page where I can look at the whole back end of a Listing and then if I type in here, there is no noodle written in the front end, in the back end, in Amazon’s you know features. Nowhere is noodle in this listing or any of these other listings that are on this page. And yet clearly it is indexed. For noodle camera. Amazon is showing it in the not only is it index, is ranking you know for it. And so that you know, I don’t want to like scare people you know, or people you know start to think.

Wait a minute. You know, if Amazon goes full semantic search, you know, then tools like cerebro and helium 10 or listening builder and optimizing your listening are not Important and it’s gonna be out of date. No, there is always gonna be a need to To have to understand the right keywords and to build your listening. Otherwise Amazon won’t even know how to do a semantic you know match to your product if it doesn’t have a baseline. And so you’ve got to be all you know, you’ve got to be traditionally indexed, lexically indexed. That’s a thing you know for the right keywords for this. You know Semantic to take the the next step. But what? What you know? What should sellers do you think keep in mind over the next couple years? You know what is this move towards semantic searching mean for Amazon sellers and how they optimize our listening.

Kevin:

Yeah, the technique that I was just talking about, dssm. It’s a fairly old technique. The paper Amazon released was in 2019, but the technique itself goes back a few years before that. There are newer techniques that are closer to these families of exciting large language models.

In particular, this past May, in May 2023, they released a paper where they created a small Burt model, which is a much more advanced type of semantic search, and the challenge generally would be when running with one of these birds sand for anything and it stands for my names are bi-directional encoder, something transformers, yeah okay, so not just the dude who discovered it is an acronym I can’t remember the, the whole name, but anyways, they use this Burt model to basically Create a set of what they call embeddings to index listings in a semantic way and then perform search over that. This was something that we knew we could do for a long time, but they found a clever way to do it very fast, and this is going to be the difference between whether or not they use these technologies in production, because speed really matters when it comes to searching. You know the difference between Amazon getting you your search results back at a hundred milliseconds and ten seconds would be. You go and shop somewhere else, and so, even if you’re getting better results back, you need to get the results back fast, and so as we start to see new techniques that can do this deep level, deep level of query analysis, deep level of product analysis as we start to see these techniques that can be run more quickly, we’re going to start seeing them more In actual Amazon search results. I think that within three years, you’re probably going to be in a world where semantic based search actually starts to dominate Lexical search results. You know, that’s that’s my personal guess. You know who knows what it really looks like in the future. But I think at the end of the day, it is when things are heading and I think that does change the way people need to write their listings. But I also think that’s a win for pretty much everybody involved.

I think that buyers don’t like keyword stuffing because in order to get to the information they want about a listing, they’ve got to go through a bunch of random words. I don’t think sellers like it because it’s tedious. It’s a lot of work. I’ve talked to a lot of sellers who, you know, describe this as a major pain point in their jobs is trying to make sure their listings contain all the literal keywords that somebody might be searching for, and I don’t think Amazon likes it either because it makes Amazon look sketchy.

You see all throughout the literature how Amazon really tries very hard to make sure it doesn’t look like a flea market. You know they don’t want the search results to look like the results that you get on a site like Alibaba, and so Everybody’s incentivized to get rid of keyword stuffing. But because of the limitations of the way a search is done today, it’s basically an inevitable emergent property, and so I think as we start to see semantic search become more viable. As we start to see it get faster, as we start to see Amazon upgrade the hardware that runs their searches, there’s a good chance that semantic search is going to start dominating over traditional lexical search, and so I think that leads to a world where sellers, instead of trying to play these different keyword games, should just be describing their products as accurately and compellingly as possible, and I think that’s just a win for everybody.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, all right, guys. So you know we’ve. You know if your head doesn’t hurt right now that then you probably weren’t paying attention, but but a lot to take in. You guys might need to Re-listen to this. There’s a lot of exciting things happening on Amazon.

That’s one of the cool things about being in this industry. It’s. It’s not. It’s not something that stale or or something that you know you can master, and then you know you never have to learn another thing ever again because you’re your master at it. No, you got to keep you know studying and and keep you know seeing what’s going on, and that’s that’s what sets you guys apart.

You know the good Amazon sellers from the the ones that might fall off, is you know they just make their listening and then you set it and forget it and then never try and figure out how to, how to optimize or, you know, remain at the top. And so you know, those of you who listen here to the end of this episode, you’re probably one of those ones who’s like, nah, I got to make sure I’m at the top of the game and and continue to develop, because Amazon is is always on the cutting edge of different things. So you know. Thank you, thank you for joining us on here and any last words of wisdom you can share with Everybody out there, or something to you know, like things that we can expect from the cool AI lab, secret, secret Avengers team here at at Helium 10.

Kevin:

Yeah, I mean you’re you’re gonna see a lot of things come out. I mean we’re gonna be releasing features within Helium 10 with impact view, that use AI. These are gonna be things that you know, like I said, become commonplace. I Think the most important thing is that we’re paying attention to what’s happening in the industry. We’re aware of the trends, were aware of the new technologies and we’re gonna make sure that our sellers have the best chance of success.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, well, kevin, thank you for joining us, and you know I wouldn’t suggest reading in a hundred more scientific Papers that I think that’s too much. Your brain’s gonna explode soon. But we appreciate all the work that that you’ve done so that we don’t, so that we don’t have to go out and read all that stuff, and and we’ll definitely invite you back next year and it’ll be interesting to see you know where we’re at as far as the Amazon algorithm goes. So we’ll see you, yeah.

Kevin:

I mean, at this pace it’s gonna be completely different. So thanks for having me, Bradley.

View Details

A warm welcome back to the Serious Sellers Podcast for our returning guest, the queen of TikTok and Amazon Live, Gracey Ryback of Deal Cheats. With her world-famous influence reaching almost 2 million followers across all platforms, Gracie has been making waves in the world of influencer marketing in social media. Over the past year, she's been a force on Amazon Live and Amazon affiliates, producing more content, and gearing up for Q4. While considering venturing into TikTok Shop – following the footsteps of other creators like Alex Earl, the "it girl" of TikTok, who's been able to leverage their massive following effectively.

The heart of our conversation explores the power influencers have in promoting products on platforms like TikTok - a goldmine for brand visibility. Gracey gives us a peek behind the curtain of her success promoting products on Amazon and shares insights on the higher commission rates offered on TikTok Shop. We also dive into the potential of using TikTok shop to build your Amazon FBA brand, drawing examples from creators who have successfully taken advantage of this feature.

As we round up our chat, Gracey shares a wealth of actionable tips for Amazon and Walmart brands and influencers to increase their visibility and appeal. Bradley also explains some cool Helium 10 strategies for tracking competitor listings and leveraging the Helium 10 Insights Dashboard to find deals, monitor price drops, and keep an eye on coupon codes. Lastly, we take a deep look at Amazon Affiliates - a platform that offers influencers a chance to gain popularity and make an impact, and how TikTok Shop can be a potent platform for boosting your sales. This episode is full of insights for anyone interested in the fast-paced, ever-evolving sphere of influencer marketing, Amazon affiliates, and TikTok Shop.

In episode 498 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Gracey discuss:

00:00 - Welcome Back Gracie on Podcast
08:42 - The Importance of Authenticity in E-Commerce
14:32 - TikTok Shop's Impact on Views/Sales
22:27 - Expanding Audience With Non-English Videos
27:02 - On-Site Videos and Community Growth
32:12 - Amazon Insights Dashboard
38:05 - Importance of Amazon in Boosting Sales

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're bringing back the queen of TikTok and Amazon Live, Gracey, who's going to be talking about how she now has almost 2 million followers across all channels, why she thinks everybody should be getting on TikTok Shop and some cool ways to have some side hustle as an Amazon influencer. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. One, two, three, four, I've used this tool. Find out what it can do for you by downloading it for free at h10.me/xray. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS, free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And right now I've got a shirt. I actually have people make fun of me. I have a document that documents what shirt and what hat I wear each episode, just to make sure I'm not doing the same one. I'm wearing a shirt I haven't worn before. It's one of my old school shirts. It's called I'm Huge in Japan. I did that because we're bringing somebody on the show who's pretty much huge in the entire world. All right, Gracey, the world famous Gracey, How's it going? Welcome back.

Gracey

Hi Bradley. What an introduction. That's wild. I'm happy to be back, love this podcast, one of my favorites. Thank you, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. It's like it's hard to believe that it's been over, actually over a year since you were on the podcast last. So before we get into, you know, talking shop and stuff shop, Literally. We're going to be talking about TikTok. Shop is what I want to talk about. There's no pun intended there, but let's just talk about what's going on with Gracey the human being. What's been going on with you in the last year?

Gracey

Good question. So I mean, right now, no news is good news to me. So, still working on everything I've been working on, I'm still creating content still, but doing Amazon live, still doing my social media thing and still growing there and it's going really, really well. I'm excited for you know, q4 to come around. That's been a huge topic. I just spoke at a virtual summit about that and we're talking about TikTok shop now. That's what actually what I talked about there, but upcoming projects and, like my human being, life is hopefully getting on YouTube soon as a attempt to dwell into more like a long form content instead of just doing everything so short form. That's something I'm working on.

Bradley Sutton:

Wait, wait. You didn't have a YouTube channel before, Never. You were only Instagram and TikTok.

Gracey

Facebook and Twitter and everything else except YouTube pretty much.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, my goodness, I didn't realize that. Okay, what across all your platforms? Now, how many followers are you up to combined?

Gracey

Probably close to 1.4 million, majority of them being on TikTok. But yeah about 150K on Facebook now, which is my second leading one.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, okay, interesting. Is it a Facebook page group or what so?

Gracey

I have both about 50K in the page, 150k in the group. Yeah, yeah, both I guess.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, Cool, Cool. Now just taking a step back for anybody who maybe is new to the podcast. You know, people know how I usually try and get people's complete backstory, like where they were born and stuff. We're not doing that here because Gracey, as I said, has been on the podcast before. So if you guys want to get her backstory, go to h10.me forward slash 360. So she was on episode 360 of the podcast and you can find out her story, which I forgot most of it since I have. What was that movie? Is it 51st date? What's the movie where Adam Seller forgets his memory or not? Adam Seller? Drew Barrymore forgets her. It might have been. Is it 51st?

Gracey

date I don't know, but that movie sounds about right where.

Bradley Sutton:

Well, one of them, yeah. She forgets, she resets her memory like every few days, but that's pretty much me. Anyways, let's talk. You know you said most of your followers are on TikTok. So before I even get into, you know TikTok shop for other people. Is that ever something you would consider doing, or are you just happy doing the promotional side of it?

Gracey

Do you mean you like selling on TikTok shop?

Bradley Sutton:

Like actually selling on TikTok shop, Since you've got the followers like you know, like would you ever, you know, start your own store it has crossed my mind.

Gracey

Have I done it yet? No, but I think it would be a really great opportunity for other creators to like start dishing out their own product and start, you know, creating something in that world, because I think there is a shift. I have seen it just in the past couple of weeks that creators are like hey, I came out with my own clothing line, here it is, I'm making content about it, people are buying it, creators are making commission and, of course, the sellers making their, their earnings as well. So it's kind of like a win-win. And then I actually saw a guy he he created like a journal and it was totally based off his content, his contents like motivational, how to create the life you want. And he made a journal and I guess I was pretty cheap of him to do not cheap of him to do, but like cheap to create. And and then he actually talked about how Alex Earl who do you know who that is?

Bradley Sutton:

I do not.

Gracey

She's like the it girl of TikTok. She's like blonde and really pretty but also relatable, and whatever she talks about sells out. She has like millions of followers and like all the brands are going after her because she's like the TikTok it girl, so like everything she talks about is I thought you were the TikTok girl.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

Gracey

But she ended up promoting his journal just like organically and he was like I didn't pay her a dime and brands are paying her many dimes for her to promote their product. So it's just really cool how, like creators are just picking stuff up organically from TikTok shop because they have the incentive to do so, you know so and like.

Bradley Sutton:

Now is live selling happening on TikTok at all, either through the shop or just naturally, cause I know you know that's always been a topic. It's going on three years now is why you know people can't figure out why live shopping is not taking off in America, when it is everywhere, or at least in Asia. Yeah, we'll talk about Amazon a little bit, but is live selling a thing on TikTok?

Gracey

Absolutely. So, like we can talk about the official thing and we can talk about the cultural thing. So the official thing is absolutely TikTok shop. There's three ways to shop it. There is the live shopping, where you can link products to a live stream. You have the way you can link products directly in a TikTok video like a normal TikTok. And then there's the storefronts that are on people's profiles where you can like have products linked. So those are the three ways. So officially, absolutely live selling is a thing for TikTok shop. Shall we talk about the cultural aspect.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's talk about it.

Gracey

So this is really interesting and I think it's something I've seen a lot of platforms get into recently. It's like YouTube has a new affiliate monetization platform not platform, but like program for creators to directly link products into their YouTube videos. That's like a new thing they're rolling out. Pinterest is doing it. All these different social media platforms are trying to keep people on their own platform with their interest in buying a product. That's the new thing. So you can see this huge integration of shopping and social media. But not everyone is happy about it, because TikTok is normally an entertainment app. People wanna go there to escape the corporate grind, escape the rat race, like they wanna go there to like forget about work and forget about money and all that. So there have been a couple of videos I've seen that's like how to block TikTok shop videos from your free youth feed, cause I'm sick of it. I'm sick of TikTok now and TikTok shop. I see it every other video.

Bradley Sutton:

I think I did the weekly like have you ever seen my weekly buddy show? I do right, so what was I do Like? So when I do that once a week where I just like scour the internet for new stories and one of my keywords that I follow is TikTok shop, and boom, like I swear, there was 10 articles last night about what you just said, where people are like the four you feed is like ruined. Like I got all this TikTok shop stuff, so continue, but I definitely don't wanna talk about it.

Gracey

Like people are like sharing hacks on how to basically like not have that, like those TikTok shop videos in their feed, and I just think that, regardless that that is where the future of social media is going. It's like integrating shopping and integrating e-commerce into it. However, I wanted to just say that the importance of being authentic, the importance of being like real, like people wanna see a real review but they don't wanna be sold to, and I think that's also why you mentioned before that how like live shopping isn't taking off as it is in China or in other countries, it's because people don't like being sold to here, they don't like products pushed in their face. But if they see a product, they're like, okay, that's cool, I discovered it. And they wanna feel like, okay, like, I want the product organically. They don't wanna be like, oh, someone's trying to sell me something. So that just like highlights the importance of authenticity and being real when you're talking about a product and integrating it organically instead of like coming off like an ad.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting, interesting. Okay, now you mentioned Alex. Well, I can't believe I remember her name. Alex, you just randomly mentioned this guy's journal, right, but that was an organic thing. But as far as TikTok shop goes, what are influencers like yourself or others doing on a non-organic way? Cause, like the traditional way of promoting on TikTok is all right. Here's a link. Amazon affiliate link or hit the link in my bio or whatever the case is. But now if somebody has TikTok shop, are there like affiliate links that go directly to there that an influencer can get?

Gracey

Yeah, so basically the way that people shop is there's a little tag product in the lower left corner and it says eligible for commission on the bottom and then if I was interested in the product I could click that and it would take me to basically the shops page on the back end where I could check out and all that good stuff. Something I've noticed is that the shipping times are a bit longer. Like, I wanted to purchase something yesterday and I got influenced and I think it was like gonna deliver like mid-October, so that's like close to a month away. So there's that.

Bradley Sutton:

But in terms of like, that person had to have been out of the country then I would imagine, because unless they can sell stuff out of stock, because if you're shipping for America, why would it?

Gracey

take you Right, and it wasn't out of stock because if it was out of stock the little button of tagged product would disappear, so I wouldn't be able to click on it.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah so. Okay interesting.

Gracey

Yeah, I see there's that. And then there's also, of course, the marketplace, for both creators and shoppers. Like, you can search products, you can sort by category. There's different products and there's so many joining each and every day, like when I remember when it first came out earlier this year, it was like very few. There was like maybe 10, 20 brands up there, and now I'm starting to see a lot more mainstream products come along and like now, if I'm like, oh, like, I have this product, I wanna make a video about it. More likely than not, I can find it in TikTok shop now, which is great, and I can just kind of have a product I already have in my hands and like talk about it in a video, if I want to.

Bradley Sutton:

So then You've got like this portal, kind of like the Amazon associate or affiliate associates where, by the way, I became an Amazon influencer a couple weeks ago. I haven't done anything yet, but I got the account set up, I sent some links to some friends, but I'm trying to figure out what the next step is, because I want to get I have this channel that has like 30,000 followers On YouTube and I want to like go ahead and use that to to start my Amazon influencer career. Anyway, there's a side note like that, but I noticed, you know, I can just like find a product that's on Amazon in my portal and then it creates the link. So you're seeing, on TikTok you have something similar where it's not like the, the, the owner or the, the brand has to reach out to you and give you special links. You can just see something that you're like oh, I think this might pop off, let me go ahead and create a link, and then you're sending traffic.

Gracey

Yes, so it's not really a link. It basically is like on the page before you post the video there's an option to add a product tag and then you'd like click it, add product. You search product, add a video, blah blah, and that's how it shows up.

Bradley Sutton:

Mm-hmm. How are the percentages on there?

Gracey

commission percentages. Yes really good, really good, like for the better than Amazon, I guess 50%. Not all of them are 50%, not all majority, maybe like 10 wait, wait, wait.

Bradley Sutton:

50% higher than Amazon or 50% commission commission. How was that? Even real life? Yeah, how is that possible?

Gracey

I agree the journal that I'm talking about with Alex on the whole thing. The guy created it. He was like I made it 50% commission to incentivize creators to talk about it. So maybe he's like maybe selling At a very, very, very small margin right now, but the brand awareness like that, that could be something like a big brand one day. That he's just like doing the promotion right now but creating a brand in the long term. So like I'm not saying everything's 50%, that's not sure but upwards of 50%, and I see I think a lot of them are around like 10 to 20, 30% commission, which is pretty good. I mean absolutely More than what most affiliate platforms offer.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, I'm just seeing her Dumbfounded because that's, that's crazy. Like I heard, tick tock is also kind of incentivizing both the sellers and and influencers and trying to like subsidize a little bit. So I, man, that this is pretty interesting stuff, have you? Do you have? Have you had any success yourself, like where something went off, or you know, you know, I know, back in the day, you know you've talked about how you've given some sellers like six figure weekends, you know, like over a year ago. But what if that was on Amazon? What about on tick tock shop? Any, any cool stories?

Gracey

I've Humbly sold out a couple products so far, but, admittedly, I'm still focusing on Amazon a lot. I I still I haven't, like you know, sold my soul to leaving that yet, or like I still doing Amazon mostly. However, I am delving more into tick tock shop without trying to be annoying and filling my feet with it, but yeah yeah, there was a bodysuit that I did a video of and it was so silly and and Dumb it was, it was like me try it on. It was like oh, look at my belly before and then like don't even look, okay, anyway. It was like oh, this body like Now I want to find this video. But it was like, oh, here's my stomach now. And then like, oh, here's how slim I look after and it was a really good bodysuit Like I liked it, I feel, as it was good quality. It did slim. You know, it was like kind of like a shape wear bodysuit, so it was really cool. It was like a really quick like before and after it got, I think, over a million, almost two million views, something like that, and it ended up selling out and it was a million views your video.

Yeah, but but here's the thing Ticktock is absolutely pushing videos that have tick tock shop product.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah thanks like the algorithm is favoring towards okay.

Gracey

Yeah. So what I have like organically gotten those views, who knows? But because it was a tick tock shop video, I think that definitely boosted in the algorithm and it boosted the sales and it ended up selling out the product, so that was great. I don't know how long they're gonna keep pushing the videos, but that's why it's like that. It's so time-sensitive right now. It's like joining the platform as a seller is time-sensitive. Making the videos as a crater is time time sensitive. Like don't wait until it's super saturated and everyone's in on, and like they don't do these promotions anymore.

Bradley Sutton:

I know of a somebody who's in this niche From Amazon and I think it's very similar products, I believe, and they've done on tick tock shop.

Gracey

Yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

I think something like one or two million in four, four months or five months.

Gracey

It's just that that's amazing.

Bradley Sutton:

It's just crazy, I mean.

I mean it's so new and and people are just like you know, just going viral, like like, yes, she had a few videos that you know, like like yours. Yeah, that one viral and that's all it takes. You know, you know like not everyone, and you're like I'm looking at your channel here. It took me a while to find it. The reason I could find it is because it's not like every single one of your videos has one million, so I can just ease your skin. I mean, you're in the 10,000s, 100,000s, but you know, it's just like sometimes, so that you'll get one that gets a. I saw another one you were doing like a treadmill that had like two million. Yes, or something like that amazing product.

Gracey

Yes, that one is great and super popular. I will absolutely make another video about it. It was like a deal for a walking pad, but, yeah, it is definitely, definitely something that People should be hopping on, like on that topic. It's like on the creator side of things, tick tock is also giving creators like product samples. They're giving us coupons like hey, like get this much product and like, as long as you make videos about it, like product samples, like they're so, so, so, pushing it, and I love that because they're very supportive of both sides of like the seller, the Creator, and like they're wanting it to be the best of both worlds, which is what I was all about forever.

Bradley Sutton:

So Now would you suggest to people I mean, obviously there's influencers like yourself and I. There's obviously clear benefit with with hopefully you know somebody like you with a 1.1 million followers, you know About po, you know linking to their product, but at the same time, would you suggest to anybody who does have or is starting with tick tock shop, they should be putting out their own content as well, because who knows, you know, even without the followers, something of theirs could go viral as well. Or do you think that they should just stick to the shop and and just let the professionals do these, these videos?

Gracey

100,000%. And this is a little bit of a contradiction from like what I said before, because before I was, you know, in the Amazon world, it's like what you could do as a seller, like one of those things being live streams. I always said like hey, like, if you don't have all the time in the world to like be doing Amazon live, maybe just like focus on the brand selling part and then like have like a Amazon live Influencer or creator, do the stream for you. But in this scenario, I would absolutely a hundred thousand million percent Recommend that the brand also has, you know, content based on their product. Specifically, there is a brand of Chamoy. You know the sauce, chamoy sauce. There's a brand that is going absolutely viral on tick tock shop right now with their Chamoy and they basically make their Chamoy without any like color and whatever, but the the lady behind it. She makes so much content. She answers questions from the comments she gets. She shows the process of Making the product. She's like we sold out today, like so sorry, like more coming.

Bradley Sutton:

Do you know what that channel is?

Gracey

Yes, it's like their brand is called. I love she's an amazing example of a brand. She made it, she has a story and she's this yes, she's Kelly.

Bradley Sutton:

Don't take. So this is a brand, yes, and then now wait, this is her like this, she's doing her own.

Gracey

It's just like insight, like just like backstory. It's like, oh, like there's a real human behind this brand. This isn't a huge corporation. This isn't like it's just this lady. And she's asking questions, she's being interacted, like that is such an amazing brand example and hopefully not gonna take too much time and effort, like look, you can just make the video. It's like-.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, one thing I don't like and now I'm having to do it here is, unless I'm doing something wrong, I can't see TikTok shop on web right Like. I have to see it on my phone Cause like when I was doing something like on somebody else's the other day and I couldn't see their TikTok shop. But then I opened up my phone and it was there. I'm looking here and I can definitely see her store, her shop, on mobile, but for some reason TikTok is not allowing you to see the shop Like. So how much money is being left on the table for the old school people who are on their desktop?

Gracey

They're watching TikToks on their computer.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, interesting, anyways, okay. So, guys, I love Chamois is an example of somebody who is a brand owner and who's doing her own content. Let me go back to your page. Here Is there a video that's a good representation of like hey, here's something simple that almost anybody can do without, you know, having to have fancy equipment and stuff. Do you remember anything that I can just like look for real quick here?

Gracey

Pretty much everything I do is very, very, very low maintenance, like it's nothing studio. It's like me with my phone up with like a ring light. It's like nothing that everyone doesn't have. So let me see if there is one that I have. The bodysuit one was probably the easiest and simplest one that I have ever made for TikTok shop. Here's one. So it's a plumping lip gloss. Can I show a video? That's not mine.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, it's not even, yeah, yeah.

Gracey

Okay, and her pinned video has 20, almost 24 million views.

Bradley Sutton:

That was like 20 seconds long.

Gracey

Yes, and she's in like a dimly lit room.

Bradley Sutton:

On mobile. Is this one actually going to like a TikTok shop or anything?

Gracey

It's been sold out.

Bradley Sutton:

It's been sold out, okay, but it did. It did at one time.

Gracey

Yes, it was a TikTok shop video. It says eligible for commission, but the product is no longer tagged cause it's sold out. There are alternatives because it's now viral and I think she made it viral. So there's other products on TikTok shop that are probably the same or similar, but this specific one been sold out. And like you could do that, I could do that, our dog could do that, like anybody could make a video.

Bradley Sutton:

I've looked at it five times in a row while you're talking and I'm just like in shock. Here that's something like this could go viral. It's not, it's not unique. It's not like you know, mic drop or anything. That's that, just. That should just show yes, so how does that happen then? Is it just?

Gracey

People love a before and after. People love it simple. And here's another really interesting hack tip. Okay, so you know the, the creator named Kobi Lame. Kobi Lame, so his whole thing is that he's amassed such a huge audience because he doesn't speak in his videos, so you're not like constrained to English speaking audience. You could. You could reach any country, anybody. They don't. There's no like necessarily any need to understand English to understand what's happening in the video. Similar to that, the mega viral videos millions and millions of you, not one or two million, like millions.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah.

Gracey

They're very like. They're usually no speak, no, no speak, no talking. So, yeah, that is kind of a hack. It's like if you want to reach more people Mr Beast is the same thing he like translate his videos to like other languages to reach more more people. And like, once you start going viral on TikTok, they start promoting your videos to different countries. So, like if I had a really mega viral video, people start commenting in French and German and Italian. Like people start commenting in different languages. So don't cut yourself off. If you do like a simple like showing the product, no words, or maybe just text on screen, super simple. You're not talking before and after done.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, where? Where can I go or anybody listening to sign up to be? What is it called? Is it called TikTok affiliates or TikTok partners?

Gracey

So yeah, there, if you're a creator, I think there's a requirement of a minimum of 5,000 followers and on TikTok it's not like Instagram, it's like on TikTok you could do that in two, three weeks. If you're like consistent and you try, you could get those followers. So that's the requirement If you are an affiliate or a TikTok shop creator. If you're a seller, I don't think there's any requirement to be able to you know, sell or Link to your own, let your own stuff, because you're not you're not getting like a commission on your own stuff, Okay that makes sense yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, yeah, I just had recently the Rainmaker family on and they were talking about the Amazon influencer program, how it's a great way for people who you know they have this big community of like stay at home moms that's what they focus on and a lot of them don't have a lot of startup capital to just start their own private label business. So one thing they've been doing in their community for those people is that they become Amazon influencers and then they just start making all the you know Videos of everything in their house you know that could be found on Amazon, start uploading it to all those listings and then, you know, some of them make, you know, $500 a month, can make up to $1,000 a month. That's just, you know, a little steady income to build up some capital. So I think that that it almost sounds like the. Probably there's probably a higher ceiling on TikTok for somebody to do that, but the caveat is they need to have the 5,000 Followers first correct, and also for the Amazon influence program.

Gracey

There there is like a small gateway to get into the program, but once you're in the program. I just wanted to add on to what you just said. Yes, people can make $500 a thousand dollars a month. I also know people making Unbelievable amounts of money from just on-site videos.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's go ahead and switch back to Amazon. Now, then. Like, what is taking up your time on Amazon? Like, how much are you spending Amazon lives? Are you doing what I just said, like just doing videos for, for random products you think might go viral, or you just doing collabs with brands? So what's your? What's your day-to-day like on Amazon?

Gracey

Yeah, so I'm still doing Amazon live. I've been doing that consistently since start of 2021. I still do that two to three times a week and that is something I plan to keep doing until the cows come home, I don't know, and yeah. And then a lot of what I do day to day is just social media posting of like promo code deals, helping people find the requests of products that they're looking for Deals on. Like a lot of times I'll ask my community, like what are you guys looking to buy today? And then I'll they'll be like oh, baby, products, treadmill, whatever, whatever long list of items. And I'll just do a lot of research, finding the best deals, promo codes, coupons. That's a lot of where my time goes and then posting them. But I post them knowing that there's somebody looking for that specific product. So I know that there's an audience for that and I can also just like cater to what they're looking for instead of just posting willy-nilly. And then there's also, of course, the video creation of like TikTok, instagram reels, the short form content that you see on my TikTok. There's that, that as well, and the on-site video, which is like another aspect of this whole thing. Now, I haven't focused as much time on on-site videos as I absolutely should have, or have already, and the reason what's on-site video? It's like the shoppable videos that people can post their storefront and the listings and they get okay, okay. When you mentioned. Yeah, so I haven't been focusing on that as much because I've been focusing so much on all the off-site aspect. But the reason for that is because On-site will forever and always be controlled by Amazon, like they have, you know, the ability to Rotate videos out, rotate videos in they they can change the video placements and there's all those different options that are kind of out of our control. So I want to focus more on growing what I can control my own audience, keeping up with that community, and you know, like when you have a community, you got to keep showing up for them. Yep to keep them, and so I think I want to dedicate more time to on-site videos, but I can't do so at the loss of my community, so I just thought I like time, manage it better and Do more on-site videos, of course, because that is super lucrative if you put a lot of time into it. And Amazon, I definitely see, is focusing more on quality over quantity and obviously doing more quality control for their inspire feed as well. You know so there's a million ways to make money in this program. It's almost overwhelming.

Bradley Sutton:

Are you on On Instagram? Are you sending all of your traffic to to Amazon still, or have you started funneling some to tick-tock Shop at all?

Gracey

Um, so I can't really do tick-tock shop Traffic directing on Instagram, so most of my Instagram is still geared towards Amazon, but I try to keep the tape.

Bradley Sutton:

How do you do that, by the way? Probably talk about this before. Are you doing like a Lincoln bio, or or? Okay, okay.

Gracey

Yeah, yeah, so I'll just have the Link under the product and then I'll have that page where in the profile where people can click on it if they want something. Yeah, that's what you can do. And another thing that I've seen a lot of people do is like using chatbots, so that there's like a double edge to benefit to that, actually, because whenever I say like you can see my description of my Instagram posts, it's like comment this keyword for the link and then Whatever people comment on your post, which boosts engagement, then they would get sent the link to the link page, basically Similar to the page in my bio, but they could then get the link to Amazon from there. So I've seen that a lot of people do that and it's going well.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, now, if I, if I'm a brand, you know, be it on tick-tock or be on Amazon, and I'm trying to, like you know, get somebody of your caliber and following to post my product, it's gonna probably cost me a decent amount of coin. But then, like you said, you sometimes just find stuff on your own, you know? Yeah, like that's probably most of what you do. How do I Make myself more Findable by you or become more attractive to you when you're searching the? You know the, you know whatever you're searching? How can we do that to get on your radar?

Gracey

So are you talking like Amazon or tick-tock or kind of just?

Bradley Sutton:

Both, both.

Gracey

Okay. So I Am specifically like a deal person, so I'm always looking for the best deals. If you have a good deal running and it's a good product for my audience, I'm more than likely post it. But I understand that not everyone can have these hefty promo codes and deals that they put on their products. So I Would say, if you have some sort of like buzz going around your product and that could literally just Be a micro influencer posting about it, and then it catches on and it goes viral and that will start a tidal wave of you know a trendy product, and there's that, of course. But it requires a little bit of luck and very dust. I'm trying to think there there is the structure of like increased commission. I've been getting a lot of inquiries about my brands on tick-tock shop. They're like hey, if you create a product with my tick-tock shop link, then I will give you 30, 40, 50 percent commission and that's like a deal that you can do. Instead of like 50 percent commission for everyone on tick-tock shop, it's like just for you working with the brand. So you could offer a very hefty increased commission with the offer of just including my product in your video. You could do that too, and I'm sure if you reached out to the right people they would be down to do it because again, like they're getting paid on performance and they're getting paid a good commission, a commission you probably. It's very hard to get on Amazon 50% unless you're working with yeah affiliate program.

Bradley Sutton:

But yeah, I'm gonna give you something that I probably shouldn't make public, but Okay, like I was gonna do this on my own, it's something new that helium-10 has, but maybe now you know you can get, you can definitely use this new feature of helium-10, but I don't know. I really should keep this myself. It's that, it's. I think it's pretty valuable, but I Like to give, so I'm gonna just so, and then you can tell me if that my concept is even correct. Again, I'm an I'm a newbie when it comes to being an Amazon associate or whatever it's called. So we have this new thing called Insights dashboard. It's been out for most of the year, but the new part is you're going to be able to track competitor listings. Now, how it's worked until now is like if I'm a seller on Amazon, I've got my coffin shelf. Well, I'm gonna track just five of the other coffin shelves and. I wanna know, like when they're running coupons or if they go out of stock or this or that happens. But how it's gonna be soon is you can add products to track that aren't even tied to competitors. So somebody like you is not selling on Amazon. You don't have competitors per se. So what I was planning to do and now everybody can just go ahead and copy this but what I was planning to do is like go in and grab, go to some top BSR list of some trending subcategories be it body suits or whatever that I think I could sell and then just add like the top 100 BSRs, and then I can set notifications like let me know if they lower their price by this percent, or let me know if they start running a coupon, or let me know if this one goes out of stock, because now I know this other one, but it'll just give notifications instead of me having to like refresh pages every day. Like that theoretically should work right, like it'd be cool for an influencer like you know me.

Gracey

Do you read what I think? So like the question. There is like the promo code or the deal would have to be public facing it would be like a price drop or a coupon.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes yes. Because you got me thinking about that too, and when you were talking about how you're looking for deals.

Gracey

I mean, that's the whole name of your and not all of them are public facing, which is like the whole. Like time to search? Yeah, okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, some just go to prime members, some just go to repeat buyers but then, like a lot of times they don't even do a coupon or something because they don't want to have to pay Amazon for every. You know, if they're running an Amazon coupon, they got to pay Amazon, you know, a certain amount. So they might just do a sale price and then we can detect that you know like where they guess. And actually most of the time I do that for my products because the badge that shows up. If you just do a sale price, like if it's the lowest price in 30 days, it's like, just as you know, stick outable yeah, if that's the word it sticks out just as much in the search results as like a coupon. So sometimes I'll do that. But, all right, there you go. Guys, there's a tip of the day If you want to become, or hack of the day, a cheat, a deal cheat of the day if you want to find some deals on Amazon, you know, once that feature comes out in Helium 10, just add a whole bunch of some trending stuff so that you can get a notification as soon as a coupon or a sale price goes on.

Gracey

I definitely think it's helpful because there are, just like in my head, a bunch of best sellers that have done well, regardless of the season, regardless of whatever I'm talking about. So like. I would be able to, you know, add those best seller products and then, whenever the deal happens yeah, I'm just thinking through my head, but absolutely I think it's super helpful.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So I mean, I know we haven't. We've been kind of jumping all over the place because that's the way my brain works, guys, but I hope you guys can see the potential here. I mean, we could probably have a three hour podcast where we just talk about all of the cool videos that we see and what she does, but we're just scratching the surface, guys. So there's two ways to look at this, in my opinion. Number one if you're a brand owner and you don't wanna dance or do anything, totally fine, there's influencers who might pick up your product. Or you can get them in front of influencers like Gracey, who might show your product and, who knows, they might even do it organically. So, but you gotta be on TikTok shop in the first place to even let that happen. And then, or number two you know, if you're a brand owner, you can be like that. I already forgot what it was. What's your-.

Gracey

Chamoy Chamoy.

Bradley Sutton:

I love Chamoy I love Chamoy. Right, I love Chamoy and she is bringing hundreds of thousands, millions of views and visibility. You know what? I'm gonna just check something real quick. I'm gonna do this live and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I'm on Amazon here. I was looking at your page, by the way, I love Cham. Oh my goodness, look at all of this. Look at this.

Gracey

I love this. This is.

Bradley Sutton:

Helium Tendetta 5,000 search volume for this brand that probably nobody had ever heard of on Amazon, but because of the TikTok All right, I love Chamoy. Sugar free is 3,000 search volume. So this is what happens, guys. You know you have something go viral. Yes, you're gonna start getting some action on TikTok shop, but then there's other people who are old like me and who are trying to look at TikTok on a desktop and couldn't even get to the shop. So if that happens, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna go to Amazon and look up I love Chamoy. Maybe I don't know what this old TikTok shop is, as dang whippersnappers doing this. I'm gonna go to Amazon because I trust Amazon. So, and two days ship or same day shipping. Oh my God, I can't imagine it. I live in the suburbs and I get same day shipping all the time. It just boggles my mind. I'm not even in the big city, but anyways, guys. So this is like this is gonna be the thing in. I mean, it might be the ready to thing right now, but I think in 2024, like TikTok shop might start giving Walmart a run for their money as far as number two next to Amazon. They don't have the distribution at work. Obviously, that's gonna be a big. Like you said, one month shipping time is nobody wants that, but the views are there. This is where people of all generations I'm making fun of my oldness here, but people way older than me are addicted to TikTok. It's not just for young people. But anyways, any last strategies on something that we haven't talked about or something that we have, but you can just say something a little bit different.

Gracey

I just wanna highlight the thing we just found out. It's like, while it might be viral on TikTok shop, those sales always translate to Amazon because their Amazon has the consumer trust, they have the easy checkout process, they have the fast shipping, the customer service. Even sometimes I am like I don't wanna wait even a week for shipping on TikTok shop, but I see it, it's viral, it's available on Amazon, I'll always buy it on Amazon. So it's like those sales, even if it has nothing to do with Amazon, it actually does and you just saw that with Chamoy.

Bradley Sutton:

Yep, I love it. I might buy it right now, as a matter of fact. All right, so people want to find you on the intro. We almost went through all of your socials already, but go ahead and repeat how people can reach out to you or find you out there.

Gracey

It is dealcheats on all platforms D-E-A-L-C-H-E-A-T-S, and my email is contact at dealcheats.com.

Bradley Sutton:

Gracey, thank you so much for bringing your very unique knowledge. I've been talking a lot of people about TikTok. I've been talking to Norm, who I know is your. Are you a Star Wars fan at all? A little bit you suck. But I was about to say Norm is kind of like your Padawan apprentice, you're like the Jedi master, because he was telling me you're training him to be an official Amazon influencer and he seems to be doing a good job. Like I saw I was looking at his channel. But anyways, like everybody knows a little bit about this stuff, but like you're the one, you're the go-to person in the industry. We just kind of cool when I think about it. You came out of nowhere, I did you know. Like all of a sudden I was like who's this person? I see popping up everywhere that's talking about influencers. I just love how Amazon, just like you know, things go viral on Amazon, things go viral in the Amazon influencer world like this. So it's awesome, I think.

Gracey

I'm out of nowhere it does and I love it, and I've discovered so much and learned so much from the brands and sellers as well. So a great team, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, all right, thank you, Gracey. I hope to see you at an upcoming event, if not this year, then maybe sometime next year.

Gracey

Sounds good, thank you.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from, and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon planning major AI revamp that will change the search experience
https://searchengineland.com/amazon-revamp-change-search-experience-432913

Walmart experiments with generative AI tools that can help you plan a party or decorate
https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/04/walmart-experiments-with-new-generative-ai-tools-that-can-help-you-plan-a-party-or-decorate-a-space/

TikTok halts e-commerce service in Indonesia following ban
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/04/tiktok-halts-e-commerce-service-in-indonesia-following-ban.html

Report: Amazon made $1B with secret algorithm for spiking prices Internet-wide
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/report-amazon-made-1b-with-secret-algorithm-for-spiking-prices-internet-wide/

Serious Sellers Podcast #497 – Amazon Vine 101 + Changes to the Vine Program!
https://www.helium10.com/podcast/amazon-vine-101-changes-to-the-vine-program/

Etsy "experiments” lead to loss of income for many Sellers. Sellers noticed a significant decrease in sales without knowing why. After the issue began to be addressed in Etsy Forums, sellers did not know whether it was a technical problem or an "experiment".
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2023/10/1696187388.html

Shopify CEO discouraging staff from side hustles that divert attention from company
https://torontosun.com/business/money-news/shopify-ceo-discouraging-staff-from-side-hustles-that-divert-attention-from-company

Lastly, we delve into the ins and outs of Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker and it’s boost button which allows you to track your keywords 24 hours a day in various browsing scenarios, a tactic endorsed by none other than Manny Coats, the founder of Helium 10. We discover the direct impact of inventory levels, keyword ranks, and inventory heat maps on your page views and impressions. To top it all off, we'll teach you how to prepare for the unexpected by setting up alerts for sudden drops in keyword ranks and understanding how your inventory location might affect shipping times. This episode is packed full of insights, strategies, and revelations that every serious seller must know - so get ready and join us for the ride!

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley discussed:

01:12 - Amazon AI Search
04:02 - Walmart AI Search
07:11 - TikTok Shop Closes
07:45 - Secret Amazon Algorithm?
12:42 - Amazon Vine New Prices
13:34 - Etsy Testing Troubles
14:55 - Shopify Side Hustle
16:15 - Catch Helium 10 In Rumble
16:30 - ProTraining Tip: Boosted Keyword Tracking in Browsing Scenarios
28:52 - Keyword Fluctuation & Inventory Impact on Amazon Rankings

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon and Walmart are all in on generative AI search. TikTok shop in a certain country closes. Is there a secret Amazon algorithm that costs consumers a billion dollars, plus a special in-depth pro training on why you should be tracking keywords at different browsing scenarios. All of this and more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that's going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world and we give you training tips of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. We've got a lot of news articles that we're going to go over today. And make sure to stay to the end, because I'm going to go in-depth on a topic that I think might change the way you track your keywords. Nothing new, but it's something that you guys need to be doing, and I'm going to demonstrate exactly why it's important. So let's go ahead and hop into the news right now. The first article that we're going to go over is actually from searchengineland.com and it's entitled Amazon Planning Major AI Revamp that will change the search experience. This article says All right, now, this was a document that they're calling this project Nile or something like that, but basically they're talking about Amazon creating AI-powered conversational shopping agents. Now, I saw a lot of the documents that this was on and there's some like maybe some contradictory information. Like they did talk about how, like when, non-personalized search results actually perform better, but then, at the same time, they're talking about okay, this new initiative is going to really put an emphasis on personalized search results. So a little bit of contradiction. I'm not sure which side of the coin I'm on, but at this meeting that Amazon had, they said hey, before you commerce, the sales person in the store was your search engine and that individual knew everything about the products. They would look at you and know what you might want, because customers like you have been to that store before. So this is something that has been talked about for a while, about how Amazon is investing heavily in AI, and then the question is going to, of course, end up being well, how is that going to change the seller experience? We don't know.

Bradley Sutton:

They say this is going to come out sometime in 2024. I find it very, very hard to believe. It's just going to be like some chat GPT prompt. It's going to take over the search bar. I mean the search as it is now. It's hard to beat that. You test, type in two words like coffin shelf, and boom, you get pictures and prices of exactly what you're looking for. How do you beat that? Anything more is going to cost the customer more work. So I don't think this is going to be something that takes over all search, but some niche searches. Maybe somebody might want to go a little bit deeper and say I'm looking for a coffin shaped shelf that customers feel can be used for displaying shot glasses and has multiple color options. Now could there be somebody who might want to search like that? Sure, I'm not one of them. I'm not going to be sitting there typing all those words with my fingers on a phone, but hey, there's definitely going to be people out there who might want that level of detail, and so it's going to be interesting to see how you can do that, how Amazon's going to integrate this. Is this going to change the way Helium 10 works, or the necessity to optimize, or listening for the right keywords and looking at what has search problem? Of course, not, not at all. It might add stuff later on that you might have to optimize for, but the core functionality you guys have been doing probably is going to stay the same, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article here is from TechCrunch and also about search and AI, this time about Walmart. This article is entitled Walmart experiments with generative AI tools that can help you plan a party or decorate. It's so funny, like these days, like Amazon news comes out with something, Walmart comes out with something similar. Like the next day, Walmart comes out with something and Amazon comes out with something. I love the arms race here. This is good stuff. It's good for sellers, good for consumers, that these giants are kind of like racing to integrate different tools and experiences. Now, Walmart didn't say in this article which AI models it's going to use to develop these features, but they're experimenting with generative AI and it's going to include a shopping assistant, you know, kind of similar to what Amazon was talking about, and it says here that it's going to allow customers to have a more interactive and conversational experience, as it can answer specific questions, provide personalized product suggestions and share detailed information, all right. So this is going to be something interesting, you know, like it gives an example. It says, for example, if a customer wants to plan for a unicorn themed birthday, the AI displays a wide array of products such as balloons, paper napkins, streamers and so on, instead of having to type in numerous separate searches. Walmart's new AI search tools designed to save customers time that wouldn't save me time, like when I'm about to buy something. I know what I want, you know. So, again, this is going to be something that some people are going to love. Some people are like nope, just give me the old search. You know I'm talking about. When I say some people, I mean consumers, you know. So it's going to be interesting how this goes on.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, if you're, if you guys are, new to AI and have never you know, have never really worked with it, you know, just real quick segue here inside of helium 10, if you want an experience about how this kind of works, it's not shopping, obviously. But inside of helium 10, guys, on the very top right, okay, on the top right of your screen, right next to like, there's a what's new tab. Hit the button that said that that looks like a magnifying glass. All right, looks like a magnifying glass. And if you do that, it actually opens up a chat window. All right. Now this is using, I believe, chat GPT, and you could say things like how do I track keyword ranks daily? I'm just going to give an example here and I enter it in and what this AI is doing is it's looking through, like our videos and our knowledge base and things like that, and then right here it gives an answer to track keyword ranks daily. You can use the keyword tracker feature in helium 10, simply enter the keyword, blah, blah, blah. So so, guys, I'm not sure how many of y'all know that. Let me know in the comments below how many of you guys knew that there's a full chat GPT AI assistant inside of helium-10 that can, like, answer questions on how to use the tools and stuff. So make sure to use that. And then now think about how that's going to look now inside of Amazon, something similar like that. You know something to think about?

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, let's switch from Amazon and Walmart and let's go to the next article. This is from CNBC and it's entitled TikTok halts E-commerce Service in Indonesia following ban. Alright, this is not new news. We talked about this last week, how in the Indonesian government gave TikTok an ultimatum of one week, say, hey, if you don't remove TikTok shop and make it separate, we're shutting your whole platform down. So what did TikTok do? Like, fine, we're gonna go ahead and and take away, you know, TikTok shop. So that's a huge blow to TikTok because Indonesia is a the largest market for them in that, in that region. So RIP TikTok shop in Indonesia.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from arstechnia.com and it's entitled Report Amazon made one billion dollars with secret algorithm for spiking prices internet-wide. Now this, this is one of those, those articles that kind of made my blood boil. First I'm like, okay, this is interesting, like what this is? You know, this is new stuff that hasn't been talked about and and if this is true, you know, obviously that's an issue, you know. Finally, I was thinking, wow, finally is there a legitimate thing that Amazon is being investigated on by the FTC. But this thing was called they say, codename Project Nessie, and it says it allegedly works by manipulating rivals, weaker pricing algorithms and locking competitors into higher prices. The controversial algorithm was allegedly used for years, all right, and helped Amazon improve their profits. Now, first of all, it even says here that they stopped using it in 2019. So, first of all, guys, this has nothing to do with any of you sellers right now, because even the FTC, it seems like, admits that this was stopped in 2019, or somebody said it was stopped in 2019. But the weird thing is here is the FTC alleges says Amazon has successfully taught its rivals that lower prices are unlikely to result in increased sales. The opposite of what could happen in a well-functioned market. Like this doesn't make sense.

Bradley Sutton:

You know the Amazon price matching. Price matching, like, always helps everybody, you know, except a seller. Sometimes you guys remember how I mean those of you who you know. Four or five years ago even, you know you would shop at Best Buy and then you could like price match Amazon and vice versa. Where you could price, you know, if somebody else had a cheaper, amazon would give you, you know, like, a little rebate. Vice versa, if Target had a cheaper Walmart, you know it would make up the difference and things like that. Like that actually helps consumers, because when somebody's running a coupon, that means, like all the other major players would have to, you know, like, run a coupon or run a discount to try and match it. So like I'm not sure exactly what is the problem for for sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, you know, amazon right away responded and then they said hey, you know, this was a project. Yeah, there was a such thing as Project Nessie. Who named it? You know, they didn't say, but it says they were trying to stop price matching from resulting in an unusual outcomes where prices became so low that they were unsustainable. Okay, it's kind of kind of reasonable. You know, I'm not a little bit of a not sure what's going on there, but hey, that sounds reasonable, right, they didn't work as intended. They said, so we scrapped it several years ago and they kept saying, hey, this is not how competition works. The FTC has it backwards and if they were successful in this lawsuit, the result would be anti competitive, anti consumer, and that's what I've been saying to you. It's like the things that Amazon, that the FTC was complaining about I don't know about this Nessie thing, but was like hey, amazon is like making sellers match low prices on other websites I mean, that's like for the consumer. It's so weird how the FTC is talking out of both sides. Now, this is just what made my blood kind of boil here.

Bradley Sutton:

Later on they did a press release the FTC and get a load of this. All right. They said Amazon's far reaching schemes impact hundreds of billions of dollars retail sales over here. First of all, yes, I mean like now, you know, best buy Walmart, everybody's got a price match Amazon, you know. And if Amazon, you know, has these, you know that's why Amazon is doing big deal days. The entirety of Walmart now has a big deal day, or I don't know what they call it, holiday big day or something like that. You know, yes, amazon is is affecting a lot of sales, but in a bad way? I don't think so. It's in a good way. It's in a good way because now everybody has to try and keep up with Amazon. And then take a look at this. They say they touch hundreds of thousands of products sold by businesses, big and small, and affect over a hundred million shoppers. The FTC's press release said sell them.

Bradley Sutton:

In the history of US antitrust law, has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people Said this dude from the FTC like bro, come on, are you serious around? Like, like we Amazon sellers are, are very scared of this even ever happen? I don't. I personally don't think this is gonna go through, just because it's so, so ridiculous, some of these, these things. But but I mean, you're not helping anybody now who knows? A lot of the FTC thing is still redacted. So who knows? There might be stuff in there that are legitimate complaints, because we know Amazon sellers have a million complaints About Amazon, right, you know there's a lot of things that we don't like. You know, I was just dealing with something today where a removal order was taking like 90 days or something. It's just a pain in the neck sometimes. But the weird thing is the stuff that has been released in this FTC thing, none of it is the stuff that Amazon sellers are mainly complaining about. Yet they're just coming up with this random, random stuff here. Anyways, I don't want to go down this rabbit hole too much.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and go to more positive news here, and the. The next one's coming from seller central, and it is about a new pricing tiers for Amazon Vine. So now, instead of having to pay $200 from one up to 30 reviews, you can get two reviews in Vine for free. All right, you or you can say hey, no, you know what, I only want to get up to 10 reviews and then that's only gonna be $75 or the existing tier up to 30 for $200. So if you guys want more information on this, we actually interviewed one of the leads At Amazon for the Amazon Vine program. Ah me, she was great. It's her first podcast. She did awesome, so make sure to check that out. Episode 497 you could get that episode h10.me forward slash 497 tons more information in that document or in that podcast about the new Vine program.

Bradley Sutton:

Switching marketplaces we're going to Etsy. This was from e-commerce bites. It says s e-test lead to lost income from sellers. So we think we got problems on Amazon. Etsy just like on their own, just start deciding to do some tests with the titles. Actually, amazon was doing that too for a while, but Etsy gave no notice for these changes. And then they were. They were just like taking random words out of the title and taking punctuation out of title and making it look like the sellers Can't even speak English because the titles didn't even make any sense. And so at you know Etsy sellers. It says they were trying to go back in and fix the listings and stuff. But it's kind of crazy. You know, like Etsy does so many things, like Etsy remove like a few of my products, saying it violates and, and, and you guys think that Amazon seller support is bad. Etsy is a billion times worse. Let me just say that right now, like there is no support, like like they completely suspend the listing and they say there is no way that you can, you know, follow up on this. It's a final you know, don't even ask us about it. Basically, they sent me a message. I'm like what in the world this is like. This is very you know, this is a legitimate Etsy product. So, guys, you know, like, where there's no marketplace out there, that's gonna be perfect, right? Amazon has mistakes, Esty has mistakes, Walmart has issues. We just got to, you know, figure out a deal with it and move on.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of different Marketplaces, Shopify CEO, is this next article from Toronto Sun? Says he's discouraging staff from side hustles that divert attention From the company. Now, this is just something that doesn't necessarily have to do with e-commerce, but I wanted to get your guys opinion on this because, basically, here he said hey, he doesn't want staff to take on side gigs that divert their attention away from the company, says I'm not talking about, like, yoga classes on the side and coaching a, a soccer team or something. You know my kid soccer team but he didn't want people like doing their own Shopify stores and then having it like go big. He's saying, hey, no, if you're a Shopify employee and you actually do, you know, do a Shopify store and it gets bigger, you know, higher staff, or give it away or something. That's kind of interesting. So the reason I brought this article up was I'm just curious about about you guys. If you have Employees in your Amazon business, are you okay with them having like side hustles on the side, you know, like having their own Amazon business on the side, or do you want them a hundred percent focus on your business? All right, that's it for the news today. We had tons of be interesting to see what happens with some of these things that are that are ongoing.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, before we move on to our really important pro training Wanted to, you know, let you guys know, we're launching new platforms every week. You know, last week we launched on Twitter where we're doing a live video, so make sure to follow us on on Twitter, on twitch as well, and then one platform that a lot of customers want us to get on was rumble. You know it's. I didn't even know what rumble was. It's kind of like YouTube, and then I started watching rumble because on YouTube my sumo wrestling that I always watch Got canceled on YouTube, you know, for some, whatever reason. Now they're on rumble. So I'm like, okay, now I know rumble for sumo wrestling, but now instead of just sumo wrestling, you can know it for helium 10. So, guys, go to h10.me Forward slash rumble, make your own account if you don't have one h10.me forward slash rumble, and then hit follow here and then you'll be able to see we're uploading like old helium 10 podcast Episodes and training videos and things like that.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, guys, let's talk about keyword tracking. You know a lot of customers ask me what is that boost feature and why is it important. You know, like why? It's kind of annoying, I don't want to have to click it every 10 days, so I'm just gonna forget about it unless you tell me why it's important, all right. So for those who don't know, boost is the feature where, inside of keyword tracker, you hit this rocket ship Over here and then what it does is it starts checking keywords 24 hours a day, 24 times a day in different browsing scenarios. All right, so that's the key there, and so I'm gonna show you why helium pen has been doing this. Oh, I mean and this is, this is nothing new like 2017, when keyword tracker first came out 2018 as well, it had boost, all right, so so this is something that Manny coats, the founder of helium 10, is very important to him. But why is the question?

Bradley Sutton:

Well, why do we need to check different browsing scenarios? First of all, what is different browsing scenarios mean? Different browsing scenario is an edge browser, a chrome browser, edge in private mode, chrome incognito mode, safari browser, a mobile browser, a zip code in Minnesota, an address in Miami Florida. So it's like geo location, you know, like different addresses. It's also different browsing scenarios logged in, logged out. Basically, what happens is is Usually for like that. You know, the biggest selling products, a lot of their keyword ranks, stay kind of steady. You know, regardless of the browsing scenario, you know a lot of the keywords will stay pretty steady, but on the flip side, there might be just as many products and just as many keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

We're based on these browsing scenarios. You know whether I'm using a chrome browser, whether I'm signed in, whether I'm signed out, whether I'm using Safari, whether I'm in in Brooklyn, new York, whether I'm in San Diego, California, you might see different search results, right, and that's always been the case, like where people say, hey, how come you know my, my keyword tracker, my cerebral, looks different than what I'm looking at on Amazon? That's cause we're not using your Chrome browsers to actually go search for keyword ranks. You know, whatever your scene in keyword tracker is not necessarily the same as what the rank that we put, you know what browsing scenario that we chose. So I want to go in now and kind of like really illustrate just how much of an impact this potentially can have and why you should be using boosted, why you should care about different browsing scenarios. All right, let's hop right into it. Right now I am in an edge browser, right, Microsoft Edge. Like can't believe anybody uses that, huh. And I am here in the San Marcos zip code. All right, san Marcos is very near to me here in San Diego and I searched coffin shelf.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, now you take a look at the first line of search results. You see, you know three competitors. There's a makeup coffin shelf and then here's at one of our products. You know, one of our coffin bookshelf products is page one position for you know the second line of results, there's a bat shelf, three coffin shelves and a couple other coffin shelves and a makeup shelf. Now let's just compare. I am in the same exact browser, which is edge. All right, here I put a different address. I put my old address in Brooklyn, new York, one one, two, one Brooklyn Heights, right there. All right, this is the same search done at the same time. Now, if we look at the search results, the very first line, it looks like it's the same. But look at page one, position three, this is actually a completely different makeup shelf. That is here. All right, the other three products are actually the same. Like I said, you know a lot of times it is the same, but here this, this epic gifts coffin shelf, is completely different.

Bradley Sutton:

What has page one, position three from San Marcos, california, compared to Brooklyn, new York? As I scroll down to the next line of search results, it's even more different. You know, like like, this bat shelf is nowhere to be found. Here is that one. That's page one, position three, in one address, and now it's like page one, position 10 in another one. All right, so this is basically what we mean by, first of all, like the geo location or different address, different city. You know that you're putting in to Amazon. You could have different results in the same exact browser based on that and that, I think, kind of you know, makes sense to most people.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, one interesting thing it's not necessarily about the shipping time, all right. So, for example, remember that that that listing we said was different. The page one, position three, the coffin makeup shelf. Here, as you can see, for New York, it says it would be delivered on October 10th or October six is the fastest delivery. All right. Now that same exact product in San Diego. It's page one, like position 10,. You know it's way down the page. But look at the shipping time. It's either October 10th or October six, exactly the same. So the keyword rank here it wasn't that, oh, it can ship faster to New York. That's why it's going to be higher up there. Now, sometimes that might be the case, but it's. You can't always think that, oh, okay, this 100% ranking has to do with how fast Amazon can ship, because that's not the way that Amazon, uh, works across the board. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now next thing let's, this was edge signed in. Let's now go to edge in private, all right, so this is now like edge in Cognito mode, I guess, if you were, I did the same exact addresses. All right, again, San Marcos, California, and then I did Brooklyn, New York. Now this is like literally the same address. So the difference is one is an edge browser and one is edge in private mode. All right, take a look at the first line. There's like two here for San Marcos. There are two coffin make, those two coffin makeup shelves that were at different places. On the other, uh, listening, or the other, uh, browsing scenario. These are all in the top row. Now let's again compare it to the same exact city. Right here, this is San Marcos. Right, look at the top line of search results Completely different. Where's our, our product? Our double coffin shelf is nowhere to be found on on the same exact one.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and scroll down. It's not in the second line of products, it's not in the third line of products. It's all the way in the fourth line of products. All right. And again, was this necessarily about shipping? No, look, look at our product. It says delivery on the 12th or seventh. All right, in the same scenario delivery on the 12th or seventh. But one is ranked page one position for and just because of the different browser we're using, the other one was ranked halfway down, uh, page one, all right. Now take a look at this. If I scroll down page one in the in private, I see this crazy ugly looking grotesque, grotesque here, uh, like knife holder. That's a skull, right, it's gross. Looking Now in Brooklyn on the in private, let's see if I see that. Yep, there, it is right, there, it's all the way down the page.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, guys, this was not anywhere on page one, one in the same exact address, just a different browser, that that product was nowhere to be found. So you guys see, this is what we mean by different browsing scenarios. It's not just about address, it's not just about shipping time. You could have different search results. All right Doesn't mean one is right, one is wrong, just different results. It is what, it is, all right. What are some other examples? Let's go ahead and switch to a Google Chrome. All right, now I'm in Google Chrome. Now here's the thing Some people, you know, might think that, oh well, is the different locations? Is it only about, like, different states, or maybe it's different cities, or no, it's not cities, it's zip code. No answer is none of the above Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Sometimes, even within the same zip code, will have different rankings in the same exact browser. All right, watch this. This is Google Chrome, right here? Right, I put in look at this 92078 up here as a address and then in this other window 92078, I actually put a specific, a different, specific address that the other one. All right, so two different addresses, same exact zip code, same exact browser. Let's take a look at the search results. All right, line one, it goes uh, the, the Amazon's choice, and two coffin makeup shelves and then one other coffin shelf. Let's take a look at the other address Only one coffin makeup shelf and then another product that wasn't even in the top of the page. Okay, this is the same exact zip code, guys. Just two different addresses, same exact browser and we are getting different results. If I go further on this page, I found another listing that was on one on page one. It wasn't even on page one on the other one.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the other reason why you know it's not just about the address is, like you know, there's fulfilled by merchant. All right, so take a look over here. I just actually activate. This was a test product. I was doing some keyword testing on for episode 500 that's coming up on the podcast and it's a coffin bath tray, right, and I just threw it on here here I put Brooklyn, New York, all right, Brooklyn, New York address. And this is fulfilled by merchant. And I'm obviously in California. Amazon knows I'm in California, they know where I'm shipping from, I've got my shipping tiers and it's saying this is page one, position five, looks like five or six, right here, all right, and this is a fulfilled by merchant. Now, if I actually change this zip code, let me go ahead and change this zip code to let's go ahead and change it to something in San Marcos, really close to me, right, so that Amazon knows I, you know I'm shipping it, it's probably gonna deliver the next day, you know, because I'm shipping it right from here.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's take a look at the search results. You would think that it would go all the way up to page one, position like two or three. Let's take a look, nope, nope, it's in the exact same position and this time, page one, position six, Like. So again, if Amazon was like just strictly going on shipping time, you would see a little bit more consistency with the fluctuations. Now, that being said, the whole reason why we check different addresses and different browsing. Scenario again is that there is fluctuation, sometimes based on an address, sometimes based on a browser. And why is this important? All right, like why. Why should you care about this? Let me show you a great example of this.

Bradley Sutton:

Going back to that coffin shelf product all right, here is my keyword tracker that I had on boost sometime this summer, in May. All right Now, as you can see those of you watching on this look here like in the beginning of May, I had like pretty consistent rank. I had boost on and you could see it was only fluctuating my rank between like five and 10,. Right Now, look at what my impressions were for that day. Like the way you can see your impressions and page views is right on your insights dashboard of helium 10, your dashboard. You just set the dates. I set it right here to May six through May 13th and I scroll down here. I can see this at the parent level. I just wanna see all the impressions at the parent level and let's see what it was 1310 page views, 603 sessions. All right, it was doing pretty good here at the beginning of May.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, going back to that keyword, look what happened the second week of May. You guys see what's happening. All of a sudden now you start to see fluctuation in the different browsing scenarios. So you can see, instead of just going between five and 10, it's going back and forth between like five and like 15 and 16. Did this have an effect on the number of page views and impressions we were getting? Let's go to helium 10 insights dashboard.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's enter the next week 514 to 521, and take a look at the impressions it went from let me see, 1310 down to 881,. All right, it went down by a pretty big number here. All right, because of that keyword fluctuation. Let's go more on this keyword tracker graph. Take a look here the very following week. Look at some of this fluctuation at in one hour, in one browsing scenario it's position six, and the next hour it's position 25,. Even position what is this? 45, probably falling off of page one, all right. So what happened there? Let's go to the page views for that week 427, all right. So remember, just compare it. That first week where we were doing pretty good, it was pretty steady, your keyword ranks, right, you had 1310 page views. But because of this fluctuation on rank that probably was happening on multiple keywords it went down to 427.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what is the reasons? Could it be inventory? Absolutely it could be inventory. Let's take a look. You guys probably didn't know this, but in helium 10, there's a tool called inventory levels inside of profits, and I can actually go to a certain date range. I'm gonna pick April to May here and see, hey, every day what was my inventory. And sure enough, here at the end of April I had some inbound inventory, all right, and at the beginning of May I had some pretty good numbers. So the number actually, you know, went up between the end of April and the beginning of May. And actually if you look I actually show the page impressions all the way back from the end of April. It was actually pretty bad when my inventory was low. And then as soon as my inventory got in stock, my impressions went up and my keyword ranking, you know, potentially got a little bit better. So absolutely your inventory levels plays a role. That's why we have this here.

Bradley Sutton:

But, as you recall, as May progressed, even though my inventory was not going down much at all, I was still at the mercy of Amazon. You know we call that like the search shuffle, where Amazon was not consistently keeping me at the top of page one. So now another thing that people ask about is inventory heat maps. All right, so you know, helium 10 has inventory heat maps and that allows you to kind of see where your inventory is stored at across the country. And like, for some strange reason, here in inventory heat maps I can see where Amazon is storing my products and it's only in two warehouses. All right, it's only in Kansas and Ohio. So right off the bat, that tells me like probably I need to send more inventory in.

Bradley Sutton:

But that being said, it doesn't always mean that your keyword ranks across the board are completely affected. Don't you remember that even when I was in the Brooklyn zip code and I was in San Diego, like, I was still ranking at the top of page one about? So what I did? I was just out of curiosity. I'm like if Amazon only awarded keyword rank based on where my you know product is being stored, well, let me go ahead and pick an address very close to this place where they has most of my inventory. So let's take a look at Kansas, all right. So here I picked a zip code and the address right here in Kansas, and if you look, I mean you would think, hey, my coffin shelf should be at the top of page one. It's not in the first line, not here at the sec, or it is here at the second line, all right. So here it's, page one, position five, all right. So not too bad.

Bradley Sutton:

But look at the shipping time, guys. It says Tuesday October 10th, friday October 6th. Does that sound familiar? Do you remember how it was when I was in San Diego, california fastest delivery October 10th or, I'm sorry, regular delivery October 10th, fastest delivery October 6th, the same exact shipping time, even though it has to go cross country just to get to me, all right. What about the other address which was Ohio, remember? So I put a Cleveland zip code in here. All right, not in the first line, not here in the second line, not in the? Oh, it is in the third line. But here, even though the inventory is stored right, like literally next door to this address that I picked, it is actually showing a later shipping time. It's saying the fastest delivery is Monday, october 9th for this. And it also has this, you know, a little bit toward down, towards the page.

Bradley Sutton:

So you know, again, part of the moral of the story is nobody, we, none of us know. Amazon probably doesn't even know the ins and outs of the Amazon algorithm. It's obviously, first of all, not consistent. All right, it's not based on one thing, you know. It's not just all hey, on this browser, you're always going to see these results. If you're signed in, you're always going to see this results. If you're in this address, you're always going to see these results. If you have inventory close by to a warehouse, you're always going to have this. That's not the way, unfortunately, as of now that Amazon works.

Bradley Sutton:

But at the same time, there's a reason why helium 10 made all these tools I just went in keyword tracker with boost, inventory levels, history, inventory heat maps is because you need visibility into what's going on, so you're not scratching your head wondering what you can do or why your your page views are gone, have gone down, or why your page views have gone up. You know, conversely. So again, the takeaways here, guys, is number one turn boost on on your main keywords, keep it on, all right. Go into your dashboard and set up the insights where you'll get an alert if, if your keyword, uh, if your keyword drops in in keyword rank, you know, uh, more than four times in a row. All right, uh, set up an alert for if your page impressions go down. You like that that actually we have. This product is underperforming insight on insights dashboard. It'll let you know. Hey, your page views are down by 30% or whatever. All right, and that should trigger you to like.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let me go check my keyword ranks. Which keyword is resulting in this? Is Amazon like all of a sudden shuffling me around? Uh, take a look at your inventory levels. Do you need to send more inventory in? Is Amazon distributing your inventory? Like to me? They're not distributing my inventory across the board, but it doesn't look like it's affecting me too much. On keyword ranks, my keyword ranks are pretty uh stable at the top of page one across the board. So even though you don't have too much control over what's going to go on, as far as the search shuffle goes, it's important you understand what is happening out there so that you know you can take action uh in your account. So I hope this uh special training deep dive here uh was able to help you and, uh, you know, let me know in the comments below if you guys have any questions and we'll see you guys in the next episode.

View Details

Get ready to learn more about Amazon's Vine program with our special guest Ami Pandya, Sr Manager of Product Development at Amazon and a leader from the heart of the program itself. We caught up with her at Amazon Accelerate to bring you an inside look at this game-changer for brands on the Amazon marketplace. From the importance of reviews and the program’s unique approach to maintaining authentic and balanced reviews to the timeline to generate a first review after enrolling an ASIN, Ami offers a comprehensive understanding of the Vine program plus new big updates that can impact your Amazon businesses.

But it doesn't stop there! Ami lets us into the global reach of the Vine program, touching base in the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan. She also shares invaluable strategies for brands to maximize the benefits of the Amazon Vine program, demonstrating how to pick the perfect sample size for your units, timing your enrollment just right, and ensuring your product appeals to a mass audience. This candid conversation with Ami is a golden opportunity for any brand aiming to crush it on the Amazon marketplace, and a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Vine program for all the curious minds out there. Buckle up and enjoy the enlightening ride!

In episode 497 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ami discuss:

00:00 - Amazon Vine Program Q&A at Accelerate
06:02 - Amazon Vine Sellers Eligibility and Changes
09:53 - Authenticity of Balanced Vine Reviews
17:09 - Quality Reviews in the Vine Program
20:03 - Automatic ASIN Enrollment in Vine Explained

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/video

View Details

Are your competitors outranking you on Amazon? Discover how Helium 10's brand-new keyword automation feature is your secret weapon to gaining an edge in the Amazon marketplace. Our host, Bradley Sutton, will be your trustworthy guide to navigate you through the intricacies of this game-changing tool that can monitor your competitors' keyword rankings and advertising, saving you tons of time and exposing potential opportunities for your Amazon brand!

As we explore the ins and outs of the new feature, together, we'll dive into the comparisons with Cerebro and discuss the customization options that put you in control. Not only that, but I'll also be answering your burning questions, from setting up competitors and product tables on your Helium 10 Insights Dashboard to finding organic report keywords that have led to sales. And because we value your input, we’ll share how you can submit suggestions to Helium 10 to enhance your experience. Here's to bigger, better selling on Amazon!

In episode 496 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

00:00 - Q&A And Keyword Tool Announcement
03:37 - Suggested Keywords And Insights Dashboard
08:56 - Keyword Tracking and Discovery for Products
12:34 - Upgrade To The Diamond Plan For More Features
17:56 - Setting Up Competitors And Ranking Keywords
21:12 - Replace Keyword Tracker With Insight Settings
25:13 - New Tool For Managing Amazon Refunds
29:05 - Submitting Suggestions To Helium 10

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today we're answering all of your questions live with our monthly Ask Manny thing feature, plus debuting a brand new Helium 10 tool that's gonna save you hours of time every month by Automagically telling you what new keywords you or your competitors are ranking for that you didn't even know about. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or Maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create PO's for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside inventory management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash inventory management. And don't forget you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code, SSP.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask me anything where I go over like a new tool release or a new feature that maybe you guys haven't had a lot of experience using. That's what I'm gonna be doing today. I think it's gonna be a new feature I'm gonna be showing and then we open up the rest of the show to live questions from the audience. That is about Helium 10 or some, something that maybe you need some help with learning how to use, or maybe you want to know a strategy question that relates to Helium 10. We are going to get to all of your questions today, so let me go ahead and show the Helium 10 project X dashboard. Now I want you guys to be on the child view. I mean you can actually be on any of the views parent, child or skew but just to keep everybody on the same page, everybody click on child for me down here on your table, your product table, okay, and let's go to Keywords here on the right hand side. Hit keywords Right and then, once you do that, actually, first of all we got to make sure you guys have enough Competitors here.

Bradley Sutton:

So one of the first things I need you guys to do is Open up and just make sure you have competitors, because if you don't have competitors, this is not even gonna work, all right. So, for example, I open, I hit the triangle. All right, a right under the the little icon in the inside stashboard. You're gonna hit that little upside-down triangle to open up the Expansion. And then you're gonna want to hit competitors. All right, and right here you should show your five main Competitors of who you're competing with. And if you see something here and you're not the one who did it, that means Helium 10 is the one who, kind of like, assign your competitors. But you guys know your competitors the best. You can change this if you want. So, like, for example, somebody else on the who's in this account put this bat shelf as my competitor. You know what? I don't think that's my competitor. So I'm gonna hit edit competitors and I'm gonna get rid of that bat shelf and let's add another, coffin shelf, which I know is a better competitor. We'll add this one Right there. Okay, add selected competitors. There we go. All right, so I've got five competitors. So does everybody have competitors? Five competitors once you do.

Bradley Sutton:

I want you now to hit this new thing that you guys probably didn't even see. It's kind of funny. We don't even have a new, a new little tag on here. I want you to hit suggested keywords, all right. So so Casey asks when are we at in Helium 10? This is your regular dashboard, all right, so this should be on your dashboard, all right. So now, again, just just to show Casey where we're at. I'm on the main dashboard, I scroll down to the my products table and I'm in child view and I am now on keywords, and then now I'm going to hit this button, suggested keywords, all right. So hit suggested keywords, and this is something you need to have a diamond account for to fully get the full access, the competitors you might be able to to actually set up. But, yeah, you need a diamond account to be able to to run this. All right now, take a look here. Now. These are keywords that I believe I'm not tracking yet and what it's doing. This is what's cool, guys. This is what I've always been kind of like. Teasing is going to be coming to. Insights Dashboard is now automatically. We are kind of like running Cerebro in the back end for you, like on a daily and weekly basis, comparing you versus those five competitors that you added, and we are now letting you know.

Bradley Sutton:

Maybe there's a keyword that your competitor is ranking for newly that you're not. Maybe there's a keyword that they're going to advertise for that you're not, or that we show. Maybe you're not even indexed for. So this is just the start. So the first thing that you have to do hopefully you've done that a long time ago, because I'll show you some other insights that come from having Competitors. But now, once you have the competitors, you've got this suggested Keywords here, all right, and then take a look. This is going to tell you what, where these keywords are coming from. So look at this Gothic wall decor. There's three competitors who are ranking for it, all right, and here's the search volume and then the competitor performance score. This is kind of like a score based on how many competitors are ranking for this keyword and how high they are ranking for it. So, let's say, out of five competitors, all five of them were ranked in the top five. This competitor performance score would be like a 10 out of 10.

Bradley Sutton:

This is this is nothing new. This is literally directly from a Cerebro. All right, this is directly from Cerebro. What's going on in there? So this is not a new metric or anything right. It's just new that we're automating it for you. Now everybody has their own preference as far as, maybe, what keywords you want automated, like, like, or what keywords you want to have suggested. So what I want everybody to do with me right now is go ahead and go into customized settings. I want everybody to hit customize settings and this is what is going to be the basis of your keyword harvesting, or automation on what you want Helium 10 to inform you about. So you can, for example, put it's gonna check once a week. You could say you want the search volume to be at least 500, or maybe you want to, for whatever reason, put a Mac search volume Like. I don't know why somebody would want to do that, but hey, there might be somebody out there who wants to do that and if you are, if you can, you will go ahead and put a Macs when there the position rank.

Bradley Sutton:

This is. There's something wrong here. We're gonna change that. This is supposed to be the competitor feature here, so this is gonna be where their rank. All right, so this position rank means your rank. Forget that. This really means the rank of at least one of your competitors. So we'll change the language on this in a little bit, so it's a little bit clearer. Advanced rank filter. These are directly from Cerebro. We're gonna change the language here so it's more easy for you guys to understand. Basically, this means where at least how many of your competitors is ranking for. Remember, you put five competitors there, hopefully, and so you can put a minimum of one and a maximum of five here, right? So maybe you want to see keywords where at least two competitors are ranking high for right this advanced rank filter two or two again, we're gonna change the wording on here so it's a little bit clear. Maybe by the time you're listening to this podcast it'll be ready to go those of you listening to the replay and basically you're putting the rank range.

Bradley Sutton:

So if I put right here two, advanced rank filter number one, I put a minimum of two and then advanced rank filter two, I put between one and let's just say 25. That means I am telling Helium 10 for automation. I want you to let me know if there is a competitor. At least two out of my five competitors are ranking between one and 25 on page one for the rank. Now I think if you do this position rank, this might be yours, where maybe you're like, hey, maybe I am not. We're gonna change the wording. I know this is very confusing here, because we're just taking the raw data from Cerebro Position rank. I believe this is probably gonna be we're gonna have it here where it's my own rank. Like, hey, maybe I want to know the keywords where I'm not on page one, right, but my competitor is right, it's gonna be very, very customizable what you're gonna be able to do here, and later you're gonna even have the sponsored ranks right here. Okay, like hey, show me where I am sponsored. I am not advertising for this X keyword, but my competitor all of a sudden is at top of search. All right, will automatically get those keywords for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, these keywords are also based on my products. Like you know, you might not have certain keywords that you're tracking, that you are actually ranking for and you didn't even realize it. Like that always happens to me, like when I run Cerebro on my own listing, and you guys probably do too. You're like, wait a minute, sometime this month I was ranked five for this keyword that I didn't even know was relevant to my listing, right? Oh, let me start tracking that. Well, if you wanna start doing that, we're gonna automatically harvest those keywords for you as well and let you know right here.

Bradley Sutton:

So again, keyword suggestions based on my products. What you wanna put here is your kind of like qualifications here for what keyword. That is going to be All right. Your search volume, where your organic rank is in a certain range, and if you want the word count, you're like, hey, you only wanna see keywords that have at least one word, or at least two words, or three words, or four words. You will be able to do that and then, now, going forward, you're gonna get these suggestions automatically without you having to run Cerebro anymore. And just remember, guys this is something that I hope is already part of your process the manual version of this you should be running Cerebro on your product, like once every two weeks, to find new keywords that you're ranking for. That you didn't realize. You should be running your Cerebro, you versus your top competitors, to see where they are ranking, that you're not or that you need to improve on right. But now, instead of you having to manually run Cerebro and compare reports from last week to this week, et cetera, et cetera, we are automatically doing that for you. And then you are eventually again, if you have the Diamond Plan, you're not only gonna see that down here in the suggestions. You are going to get insights when those triggers happen.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, let's say you wanted to delete some keywords from this list. You're like, no, I don't need to see this anymore. That's gonna come here under deleted suggestions, ones that you delete. We're gonna definitely kind of like play with this a little bit, based on the feedback, on do you want this just to be snoozed, maybe, or do you want it permanently deleted? We can definitely work, work on that with you guys, but you know we need more of you into this tool, now that it's brand new, and working on it to let us know what kind of view you can get. So this is like something that's super cool.

Bradley Sutton:

I've been kind of teasing this for a long time that we're going to have this level of of automation where we're doing the heavy lifting for you. And then this is just the beginning, guys. I mean anything that you are doing in Cerebro and magnet and and you know, black box, just imagine those things us doing the work for you and just delivering the results. It's like you, you know, using Helium 10 almost as your virtual assistant, where we just deliver the results to you and you don't have to do the manual labor yourself anymore. So I want everybody listening to this podcast or listening to this live feed to go in number one.

Bradley Sutton:

Those of you with a diamond plan, and I hope you can see this If you have a platinum plan, you need to upgrade already yesterday to diamond to be able to get some of these features, like the historical Cerebro and now this, where we're even doing the Cerebro for you. But, by the way, I should probably throw a coupon If you guys are interested to try out the diamond plan. I'm not sure if this coupon code is going to work, but the one that for sure works is SSP10. So SSP10 gives you 10% off the diamond plan If you want 20% off for six months. I almost don't want to give this coupon code out because I don't think it's a good deal. But you can do SSP20 and save 20% off for six months. The reason why I don't think is a good deal is because after that now you can't use a coupon for like a year, and so it's going to end up being more expensive anyway. So I suggest just using the SSP10 and then try out the diamond plan so you can give this a try.

Bradley Sutton:

But I want you guys all working on this and hopefully you can see the value Now. You're going to know, hey, where's your competitors getting sales from on keywords that maybe you didn't even have on your radar, where are your competitors focusing their PPC spend that you didn't even realize, and you're going to see which ones your index for. Like, I don't think the index checker is working yet. This is something that's completely in beta, but, as you can see, there's going to be a column here where maybe you're like, wait a minute, gothic wall decor, I am not index for this keyword, so it might give you an indication that, hey, I need to probably get my, you know, get my indexing fixed on this keyword in the in the first place. Alright, alright.

Bradley Sutton:

So now for the rest of the show. This is going to be your show, guys, where you can ask me any questions, and let me go ahead and go back up and see what kind of questions we have. Remember, it could be questions about this. It could be questions about any tool in Helium 10 or how to do something. That's why I'm here to help. Like once a month, we actually make this open to everybody, but this is something we do actually every week in our Serious Sellers Club group of the six, seven and eight figure sellers. But once a month we go ahead and open this up to everybody and put this on the podcast so you guys can all benefit.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, let's see. I saw an older video where you mentioned that subject matter would post in Seller Central. Even if you can post it, can't post it manually on the listing. Is that still the case? For very few categories now Amazon has taken it out of a lot of character. I actually announced and I was mistaken, I thought Amazon took it, took it out of every category, just because of all my listings, like in in the home and kitchen, had it taken away. But I was just on a call, like three days ago, with somebody who's selling in the jewelry category I believe jewelry or accessories, clothing and accessories category and they had subject matter right there and they were able to definitely update it with Helium 10 listing builders. So there might be some, some categories where you still have access to the subject matter, right?

Bradley Sutton:

Another question here from Rashid Dear Bradley, do you know how to find organic report words that made sales? Alright, so in Helium 10, what we have is that's exactly kind of like what this is for. Alright, what I would, I just demonstrate because you know in Cerebro. You know, first of all, you don't know the exact organic sales that come from keywords outside of about 30 to 40 percent that show up in search query performance. Okay, so the ones that show in search query performance, you usually about 30 percent of your search sales. That's because it's those sales that happen within 24 hours. So you can kind of see there and that's going to come to Helium 10 eventually once Amazon opens that up in the API.

Bradley Sutton:

But the more holistic way you can get it done right now I've seen more keywords is just looking at the keywords for somebody's like in the top 10 positions and the search volume is like more than five or six hundred, because it's usually you're. You didn't get to that position unless you had some, some sales that were coming from organic search, right, and so that's just one of the ways that you can find out which keywords are bringing sales to a competitor is by looking at their organic rank for the higher search volume Keywords, which is what you've historically been able to do in Cerebro and now you can do on the inside dashboard. All right, tomer says. Tomer says what does it mean based on my product? Does it mean that the keyword improved in ranking? No, so, for example, you're already tracking keywords, probably in keyword tracker, and if one of your keywords goes up or down, you know we'll let you know based on that insight, like like you've already had that. We've had that for like three months where if a keyword goes up by a certain percentage that you specify or goes down, we'll give you a message. But there's other keywords that you might not be tracking already in keyword tracker because you didn't realize they're important. And so what you do is you specify the insight to let you know when you are ranking highly for a keyword that you were not tracking already, and then you specify exactly what you wanna see, or when you wanna see that happen, like if it's a minimum X number of search volume, if it's within a certain rank range or it's just ranking at all, you wanna get a notification on. You set that and then we'll send that as an insight and then you can choose to either track it or ignore it in your keyword tracker.

Bradley Sutton:

Dennis says how do you set up competitors for your products? All right, let me just show that to you one more time here On your Insights Dashboard. You go down to your products page, Dennis, all right, and then you hit competitors okay, and then you either have to do edit competitors if there is none here, or add competitors if there's none, or edit competitors here and then you choose which ones you want to use right here and that'll give you the competitors. Dennis, all right. It says I have a listing that shows I am ranked on many keywords in the top five. By the way, everybody, whatever you're watching this on, help the algorithm out. Give it a like, give it a thumbs up or a like or a super like or something on Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn, whatever you're watching this, just to help the algorithms out. Anyways, Facebook user says I have a listing that shows I am ranked on many keywords in the top five.

Bradley Sutton:

When I click the arrow to show the search through Amazon, none of my listings really show up. Suggestions on why? Well, you've got to make sure that you are, first of all, like. If you're outside of the country, make sure that you have a zip code that is inside of the marketplace you are looking at Like. So, if you're tracking Amazon Germany, you've got to make sure that your regular Amazon, you know, shows Germany, just to make sure that you're indexed, all right, and also to make sure that you are looking at the right search results and, at the end of the day, what you see in Keyword Tracker, if you see it fluctuating a lot, you need to turn on boost, because boost checks different browsing scenarios.

Bradley Sutton:

It checks different addresses, it checks, you know, like if you're logged in, logged off. It checks a whole bunch of different browsing scenarios, cause, remember, you could be showing up differently based on where the person is searching, what kind of browser they're using, et cetera. So to turn on boost, we're checking 24 times a day all those different browsing scenarios and if on your computer it's showing that you're not ranked, I guarantee what you'll see on boost is some of those checks. It'll be a blank, meaning that, yeah, sometimes you're just not showing up in the search results. All right, we're gonna bring somebody up from the green room here with a question How's it going, Josh?

Josh:

had mentioned about being able to see how competitors are targeting it using PPC. Is there anything PPC specific in the tool that I missed when you were walking through it, or how can we?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, it's not that part is coming, so the first phase one is we're showing you the organic rank. Phase two, which will be coming soon, probably next week or the week after, is the same exact thing that I showed you guys on the organic rank. There will be a separate settings where you're gonna be like show me in the sponsored rank where I'm ranking or not ranking per se on this keyword in sponsored, but my competitor or X number of my competitors are all ranking for it.

Josh:

Because I was gonna say that being able to see sponsored next to organic is helpful for our own, but to be able to see that for other teams, yes, yeah, so it's gonna be yeah, we start with the organic and then we'll be doing the sponsored next.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool thanks.

Josh:

Thanks, Bradley.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, no problem. Edison from YouTube says will this function replace the keyword tracker tool? It doesn't necessarily replace it, but it kind of does the work for you. So instead of having to go I didn't show this function today because it's already been there, remember you know what I'll just go ahead and show it right now. So, Edison, what you can do for the keywords here. This is actually showing my keywords that I'm tracking in keyword tracker. All right, so it's actually right here on the dashboard, like I technically don't have to go into keyword tracker. So in that sense, I guess you can kind of consider it replaces a little bit, but I still like going into keyword tracker.

Bradley Sutton:

But the beauty about this is you set up the insights, all right, so that instead of having whether it's on keyword tracker or whether it's here in the Insights Dashboard, instead of having to go every day and check this, you set your insight to trigger when. Let me show you where that settings is here. Hold on insight settings. Let me show it here keyword types. All right, you're gonna hit insight settings, you're gonna hit keywords and then you're gonna hit the three insight types and then, when the organic keyword drops or your sponsored rank drops or your keyword suggestions based on competitors, and you can actually customize that by hitting the settings here for your competitors. All right, so you can actually get the information. And it looks like it's not customizable. Yeah, I thought it was. I'm pretty sure there's a way to customize it of when you get an insight that your organic keyword drops or raises, that's gonna be the new one that's gonna come up to when your organic rank increases, like maybe you were on page two, you wanna know when you get on page one, et cetera okay.

Bradley Sutton:

Hope the answer is your question, Edison, all right. Colby says will Helium 10 ever be accessible via API? Could be, again, pretty much, I think for some of our larger customers they have API access for, like enterprise customers. If it's something that will be available on the backend for just any platinum or diamond or elite member, that's to be determined if that's gonna be available. But just like I told people who are asking for the KSA marketplace, you gotta let your voice be heard. So make sure to submit a suggestion in Helium 10's dashboard of say, hey, we would love to have API access. All right, let's keep going here.

Bradley Sutton:

Miko Lodge says will Helium 10 have listing builder for UAE? I sell in the USA and UAE would make it awesome to be able to redo my UAE listings in the listing builder. Yes, that is coming. I actually have that available in my Helium 10, but I don't think it's available to everybody yet. So that's coming imminently where it's not gonna be too much. I mean you can technically do that, miko Lodge. Now, all right, listing builder Like build your listing for UAE because it's English. It's still English and you would just put your UAE keywords in there. But the real benefit is gonna be once we have it open for Japan, for example, like you maybe ran Cerebro for Japanese keywords, right, but you don't have the slightest sense on how to create a Japanese listing, even though you have the keywords, because you don't speak Japanese. Well, now, soon you'll be able to push a button and create a Spanish listing for Amazon Mexico, create a Japanese listing for Amazon Japan, et cetera. So that's definitely coming for you, and I would assume that would include UAE as well. But if, for some reason, uae is not showing up on the listing builder dropdown, just send that to customer support and maybe they haven't released it yet and just ask them when that's gonna be released.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, let's say Rasha is asking a question about Amazon refunds. We'll have to check on that. We're gonna keep this to like the Helium 10 related questions here. Now we have a new refunds tool that actually is gonna go out and look Like if somebody is asking for a refund outside of the window I personally don't know what that window is, I thought it was 30 days that Amazon customers can do a refund and then, if Amazon refunds them outside of the 30 days, I believe we've got the new refunds tool that will go out and make a case. So if you guys are interested to get in on that service, let me show you. I don't have the exact link right here, but let me just show you guys how to find that. On our website you just go to the Helium 10 dashboard, go to tools and go to operations, and then you're gonna wanna hit managed refund service. All right, so that's different than refund genie, where you have to file everything. Go to manage refund service and get a free demo of it, and with this tool you're going to be able you're going to be able to stuff that has to do with Amazon logistics and all kinds of different scenarios where Amazon might owe you money, including what you were talking about, where Amazon might have refunded a customer when they weren't supposed to. We'll be able to go ahead and show that for you. All right, let's keep going here, all right. Facebook user another person who did not click the link so I can't see their name.

Bradley Sutton:

So, since we're talking keywords, one of my competitors is Amazon's Choice for 16 keywords with a total search volume of about 72,000. That seems like excessive favoritism. Will they ever level the playing field? Well, I mean, first of all, like Amazon's Choice is always changing. Like they're doing tests now where instead of Amazon's Choice it'll say overall pick. Like maybe you guys have seen that sometimes. I don't think it's favoritism at all. Like they, amazon definitely has a formula. How that formula works nobody can tell you because sometimes it makes zero sense, right. Like I've seen an Amazon's Choice in the coffin shelf be one that I know is not even getting sales for coffin shelf. Literally it's not getting sales for coffin shelf. Even the Amazon data will say it and somehow it gets Amazon's Choice. So I don't think anybody knows what the formula is, but they do have a formula and I don't think it's favoritism necessarily. That's actually why Amazon has been doing some of those changes they've been doing because they're trying to not show favoritism. They've been trying to show the reviews in a different way so that maybe some of the older sellers who have tens of thousands of reviews they don't have as much advantage. The older sellers, they hate that new way that reviews are showing sometimes because it takes away their advantage, right. So Amazon's trying different things but I don't think Amazon's showing favoritism per se.

Bradley Sutton:

Ryan says Helium 10 Sell and Scale was epic. Any plans for another? Oh, yeah, for sure. We wanna do something with Sell-In Scale. We couldn't do one this year or around this time because, as you saw, amazon did Amazon Accelerate this month and they've got Unboxed right after that and like there was like a million events around this time, which is when we had done Sell-In Scale last year massively successful, and we definitely wanna do something for Sell-In Scale soon, potentially maybe some different continent We'll have to see about that, you know might take the Sell-In Scale show on the road, as it were.

Bradley Sutton:

Another user says "'How can you submit suggestions to Helium 10?” Great question. Let me show you exactly how to do that. Go to the top, and where is it". I think it's right. Oh yeah, right up here. This button here. Okay, first of all, guys, this is something that you might not have seen before. This is powered by AI. Instead of always looking at the, instead of always opening up a chat down here, hit this button and you can ask questions like like, watch this. I don't even know if this is gonna work, because this is brand new. I'm gonna say how can I check what keywords my competitors are ranking for? Let's see if that even works. All right, and if I do that, what's gonna come up? Let's see. Watch this fail on me just because AI doesn't like me, cause I always bad mouth AI. Oh no, there, it is right there. Look at that. To check what keywords your competitors are ranking for.

Bradley Sutton:

Use Helium 10 Cerebro. Here are the steps. So, guys, yeah, this is pretty cool, but anyways, right here at the top, before you hit AI or before you ask AI a question, this comes up and one of the options says I have an idea I want to share with Healing10. That's what you guys click. And then, hey, I want to have the KSA marketplace. Hey, I want to have API, like you guys said. Hey, I wanna have sponsored ads faster and in Insights Dashboard, whatever you guys want, hit that button. So again, just to show you where it was, on the very top of your screen, right to the right of what's new, there is this like kind of like a magnifying glass, or I don't know. This is not a magnifying glass, it's kind of like it has stars on it, mixed with a magnifying glass.

Bradley Sutton:

Just hit that and then that's how you can find that button. All right, question from YouTube. I don't know why this is turning into an Amazon or a Helium 10 suggestion. It's not me. You guys should be doing this to you. You should be submitting it over there, but we'll discuss it here. Modar says I'm tracking competitors on X or in a daily basis for changes and reviews BSR active sellers and I have a dream that, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Modar, you can do this. Modar says again let me read the question for the people listening to this and who can't see it I'm tracking competitors on a daily basis for changes and reviews BSR active sellers and I have a dream that one day, Helium 10 can do this for me. I'm gonna bring Josh back up to this stage. I'm gonna give him a quick quiz here. All right, Josh, you're a power of Helium 10 user. Did you or did you not know that Modar can actually do this already?

Josh:

You can do it using markets.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, Market Tracker is definitely one, but there's a easier way. Even Do you know about that one? But yeah, you mentioned something I didn't. I wasn't even thinking about it Like Modar, you should definitely do that. On Market Tracker, you add your competitors to your market. You can definitely see their BSR changes and things of that. Josh is thinking all right, all right, josh and Modar are gonna learn something right now. Here we go, guys. All right, let's go to the Insights Dashboard Once you're tracking your competitors, which is what I showed you, guys, how to do today. It's not just for the keywords. All right, guys, we are going to show you what is all of these things. If something changes, not only if their BSR changes, but if their monthly sales, like, drastically change, get this. If all of a sudden, they add a coupon like some of us like to check our competitors like oh man, my competitor added a 10% coupon, I better go ahead and add a 10% coupon too. We're gonna let you know. So if you are tracking competitors in your Insights Dashboard, Modar, all you have to do is set up your insight and you will know if any of those things have changed and you no longer have to track that next, right, like you're saying every day.

Bradley Sutton:

And then Jake here mentioned another tool. So Josh Menzin, Market Tracker. Jake mentioned Listing Analyzer. Yes, listening analyzer too. You can track that, but still you have to like click stuff right With Insights Dashboard. You just set it up. That's the beauty about Insights Dashboard. It's about automation right, instead of you having to click stuff and you do the heavy work. We live in 2023. So heavy work is considered three clicks of a mouse. That's heavy work for a lot of people. I understand. Time is money, but instead of you having to do that heavy work, we're doing that work for you. And look at this Modar says can you believe that I used to do this tracking for over 40 ASINs? This is a lifesaver. All right, I'm gonna bring back Josh for one more quiz or one more question. All right, Josh, instead of saying wow, can you believe that, I would say how cool is that? And then you would say

Josh:

I don't know where you went, but pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

There we go. Josh got that. I know he's a podcast listener. All right, so, Modar, instead of saying wow, can you believe that? The phrase goes how cool? Is that? Pretty cool, I think. All right, cool. Any last questions for the day, guys, again, just to recap, we went over adding competitors to your Insights Dashboard and setting up the setting so that you can get insights which are coming next week on the key actions that are happening on your keywords, so that you no longer have to run Cerebro once every week or once every two weeks. You no longer have to check Cerebro on your own product to see if you're ranking for new keywords that you didn't realize. We're doing all of that work for you, unparalleled in this industry where you have that kind of automation. So really great that the team added that and I hope you guys get a lot of benefit from that and all right. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining us.

Bradley Sutton:

Again, if you are a Serious Sellers Club member, look out for your email. You get invited every week. Or if you're an elite member, elite members and Serious Sellers Club members get access to this. If you're wondering how you become a Serious Sellers Club member, you are automatically a Serious Sellers Club member if you have had over $500,000 worth of sales in the last year and you are on a Helium 10 account that's connected to your Amazon account. If you're not getting these emails, make sure to reach out to support and they'll hook you up with the private Facebook group that we have for it and then get you in there right away. We do this every single week, usually on Mondays, and then once a month, like this time, we do an extra one that goes out on the podcast. So thank everybody for tuning in and we will see you, Serious Sellers Club members, next week and the rest of you guys at the end of October. Have a great rest of your week. Bye-bye now.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from, and provide a training tip for the week.

Five takeaways from America’s landmark lawsuit against Amazon
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/28/tech/amazon-ftc-lawsuit-takeaways/index.html

The FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon would lead to higher prices and slower deliveries for consumers—and hurt businesses
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ftc-antitrust-lawsuit-full-response

Walmart Marketplace Increases Third-Party Seller Activity
https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2023/09/27/walmart-marketplace-increases-third-party-seller-activity/

Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media in major blow to TikTok
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/27/tech/indonesia-tiktok-ecommerce-ban-hnk-intl/index.html

Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/25/amazon-to-invest-up-to-4-billion-in-ai-startup-anthropic/

Walmart Deals Holiday Kickoff sales event will coincide with Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days
https://www.wvtm13.com/article/walmart-deals-holiday-kickoff-october/45318835#

An update on Prime Video
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/prime-video-update-announces-limited-ads

Up to tenth of Amazon shoppers in Great Britain ‘bribed’ by sellers to offer good review, poll finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/28/up-to-tenth-of-amazon-shoppers-in-great-britain-bribed-by-sellers-to-offer-good-review-poll-finds

Amazon’s biggest competitor gets bad grade from the BBB
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/amazons-biggest-competitor-gets-bad-grade-bbb/QAGKNI77WZDWTOXMEHSNEDGVUQ/

Shopify invests in wholesale platform Faire
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shopify-invests-wholesale-platform-faire-2023-09-27/

Eligible Walmart Marketplace sellers can use Walmart’s Self-Serve Marketing portal in Seller Center to invest in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and promote their products in Google search results through Shopping Ads.
https://sellerhelp.walmart.com/s/guide?language=en_US&article=000011195

We aren't stopping at that! Don't miss our spotlight discussion on how you can unlock more profits with Helium 10’s Managed Refund Service. This new service aims to recover funds for sellers from Amazon errors by identifying and submitting recovery claims on behalf of the sellers.

Lastly, Carrie Miller gives us the training tip of the week about how to see which ASINs are the most clicked and bought from Amazon Brand Analytics data but inside Helium 10. It's a packed episode, so buckle up!

n this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:51 - Amazon FTC Lawsuit
03:25 - Walmart Marketplace Increases
03:51 - Amazon Holiday Inventory
04:18 - Seller Fulfilled Prime
05:21 - TikTok Shop Trouble
06:20 - Manage Experiments Update
06:55 - Amazon AI Move
07:45 - Walmart Holiday Deals
08:27 - Prime Video Ads
09:45 - Incentivized Reviews Rampant
11:06 - Temu Trouble
11:45 - Shopify Wholesale
12:57 - Walmart Google Ads
14:15 - Try Helium 10's New Managed Refund Service
15:30 - ProTraining Tip: How To See Brand Analytics Data Inside Helium 10

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Amazon replies to the FTC lawsuit. Walmart marketplaces on the rise. Tiktok shop is having trouble in Southeast Asia, manager experiments gets an update. Walmart holiday deals coming. Incentivize reviews are going crazy in the UK. These stories and much more on today's episode of the Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, bradley Sutton, and this is a show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown on all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, walmart, e-commerce world and we also give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. All right, tons of articles out today, so let's go ahead and hop right into it. The first article here is actually from CNN Business and it was a five entitled five takeaways from Amazon's landmark lawsuit, or America's landmark lawsuit against Amazon, and you know, they weren't too far off in this article.

Bradley Sutton:

I remember last week I talked about how ridiculous some of these articles were, like just people not understanding even what was going on in the Amazon. And basically it's you know. They're kind of summarizing and saying that, hey, this landmark case targets Amazon's retail platform, alleging that it's harm shoppers and sellers alike at a massive scale. All right Quote. It has a self-reinforcing cycle of dominance and harm. The plaintiffs claim oh, my goodness gracious, and it has. Amazon is running an illegal monopoly in ways that are paying off for Amazon, but at a great cost to tens of millions of Americans of households and hundreds of thousands of sellers. All right now Amazon, you know, check out the CNN article. It talks about the you know five takeaways you know from it. But Amazon replied in another article that we also have linked in the comments and entitled the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon would lead to higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and hurt businesses. Hmm, if we only didn't say that, like weeks ago, like anybody who actually knows anything could have told you this that there's nothing good that's gonna come out of this for Amazon sellers nor Amazon buyers. And this article that Amazon releases, kind of like in reply to this FTC lawsuit kind of, you know, talks about that how, yeah, if this goes through, it's gonna make Prime more expensive, it's gonna have more shipping fees or more fees for sellers, et cetera. And it's kind of funny, like some of the things that you know I talked about was how Amazon kind of like I guess you can say, punishes sellers for having lower prices on other marketplaces. Some sellers don't like I mean to me, like it is what it is, you know, like we should be having, you know, same, similar prices, you know across the board. But even, let's say, an Amazon seller thought that was a bad thing. You know, if this FTC lawsuit is for the public, like Amazon is making sure that people, you know, don't gouge customers on the platform. You know, like sellers like like no, hey, if it's cheaper outs outside there, you should have a cheap price on Amazon. But how is that harming the consumers? You know, maybe, maybe could be considered harming the sellers, but you know the millions and millions of prime members now get the benefit of having low prices. So it's like Amazon, or the FTC, is like talking out of like two sides of its, of its mouth there. So it's kind of interesting.

Bradley Sutton:

So the next article actually switching to Walmart is from Forbes and says Walmart marketplace in increases third-party Seller activity. Not many stats and figures from here, just the writer here is talking about how there's a lot more investment in advertising in this Q4. He expects sellers to have a lot more sales on Walmart Compared to the past, as Walmart's really been expanding their focus on third-party marketplace. Next article here this is from seller central dashboard, just as a reminder to send in FBA and MCF inventory by October 26 before a holiday deal events. So there's less than five weeks left. So like, if you're trying to to have something you know, go for black Friday, cyber Monday deals you actually need to have your inventory in by October 26th. So that's. That's actually not that that far away, so well in advance.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is a reminder that seller fulfilled prime is coming back. All right, so seller fulfilled prime, it's gonna be without that 2% fee that we talked about earlier before. We're gonna have a blog later today or tomorrow You'll see at Helium 10 comm forward slash blog that talks about how to enroll in seller fulfilled prime. Me I'm not gonna roll it like I have. You know I don't ship too much stuff. So like there's no way. I'm not gonna use Amazon FBA you know like for to try and get the prime back. Remember to do prime badge for seller fulfilled prime. You've got to have a way to ship to like same day, next day or two-day delivery, including weekend delivery. Obviously, I can't. You know most of us can't, can't do that, but some of you bigger sellers out there who have, you know really good, you know shipping agreements with companies. You might want to take advantage of this and then for your fulfill by merchant you can actually get a prime badge now. So just look out for that announcement or that blog and it's actually gonna be officially announced by Amazon In a couple of days. You'll see some big comms coming out of Amazon about seller fulfilled prime, but you'll be able to get that blog before the Amazon announcement on our blog later today or tomorrow.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article today we're gonna talk about is actually coming out of Indonesia, all right, and it says Indonesia bans e-commerce transactions on social media in a major blow to tick tock. So Indonesia is actually the biggest you know platform for tick tock in Southeast Asia. I believe. It has something like a hundred and twenty, a hundred and twenty five million monthly active Users and tick tock shop has, you know, released worldwide. But now the government is saying no, you can't have e-commerce and social media together. So you're gonna have to, you know, within the next week or so I forgot when the deadline is you're gonna have to, like, take tick tock shop out and make it a separate app. So this will be interesting to follow, like if something like this happens in other marketplaces and that's gonna be obviously a big blow to tick tock shop. I don't foresee that happening here in in America, but you know kind of is gonna hurt tick tock shop for those who are trying to sell Products in Indonesia.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article here was also from seller central. It says expand single asin AB test to multiple stores. So now, with manage your experiments, you're gonna be able to run separate AB tests on your asins across multiple stores, all right. So, like to different marketplaces in different regions, you can kind of see how how imagery works, you know, between you know, like Amazon Canada, amazon USA, etc. And you can add, like, for example, it says a brand logo to your a plus content to see performs performs differently in different countries, to pay on how well Established your brand is.

Bradley Sutton:

A next article here is from tech crunch entitled Amazon to invest up to four billion in AI start startup and Anthropic all right, so this you know a anthropic is this startup who's kind of making waves in the industry. You know that I've heard about them a while back, but you know the interesting thing here. You know we've been talking for a long time that that it's gonna AI Generative AI is gonna definitely change the the shopping experience and that's gonna affect sellers. Andy Jassy, amazon's CEO, says Amazon believes this deal can improve many customers experiences short and long term through our deeper Collaboration with Anthropic. So, again, improve many customer experiences All right. So again, ais. That's gonna change the way people shop eventually on Amazon and that means it's eventually gonna change the way that you know we sell or sell on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is just from a local TV station, but we talked about this before. It's kind of funny that you know every time Amazon does something, you know Walmart might reply and do something similar or vice versa. You know we're in a competitive matchup here, so this article is entitled Walmart Deals Holiday Kickoff Sales Event Will Coincide with Amazon's Bing Prime Day deals All right. So it's not you know big or Amazon's big deal days, All right. It's Walmart deals holiday, all right. So this is actually happening a little bit earlier than big, big deal days. It's coming on the end from the ninth to the 12th and it's available even to non-Walmart Plus sellers or what non-Walmart Plus buyers? It'll be available to.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article from Amazon, an update on Prime Video. So you know, prime Video has a lot of like you know, tv shows and and and movies and different things, and so they they talked about some of their, their. You know what they've achieved lately with Amazon Prime Video. But the key is that in early 2024, amazon Prime Video shows and movies will include limited advertisements. All right, and there's going to be a people are going to have to pay $2.99 a month if they don't want to see these ads. But again, you know, anytime we talk about you know advertisements coming on Amazon. You know properties, whether it's in store or other ways. It's eventually another way to get your products in front of of buyers. All right, it's new ways.

Bradley Sutton:

You know a lot of people are watching Amazon Prime Video. What was that? It's like a, not Game of Thrones, but it's like a Lord of the Rings prequel or something like that. I think was on Prime Video. But you know millions of people watch that. Imagine, you know, somehow for the people who aren't paying that $2.99, you know they're seeing an ad for a coffin shelf on there. I don't think you know we are big enough to advertise on Game of Thrones or or Lord of the Rings or anything like that, but just shows you an example of what could be possible in the future. You know, if you are a big enough seller you could start having your ads potentially on some of these big TV shows from Amazon Prime Video.

Bradley Sutton:

Now an interesting article from the Guardian in the UK. It says up to a 10th you know, 10% of Amazon shoppers in Great Britain were found to have been bribed by sellers to offer a good review. So they pulled 1500 adults who had bought from Amazon in the UK in the past 12 months and they all got like like gift card offers or free products or refunds in order to cheat the system. This article said all right. So you know Amazon obviously does not want anybody having, you know, any kind of incentivized reviews you know happening. So there's a lot of sellers who are breaking the rules. They're probably going to get caught. You know a lot of them. Some of them. Don't get caught. But don't don't try this, guys, all right. So it also said that 4% of those polls said that they were offered a reward for changing a negative review to a positive one. All right. So, like, how did they even get a hold of that that customer? It's kind of a interesting All right. So you know UK government is looking into how to tackle this a little bit more, but it'd be curious to see what you know how this is in the US. You know, I just ordered a ring light or something and I got like a little gift card saying, hey, you know, try to or not a gift card, but a little card, insert card offering a gift card to to like, have a positive review. So this kind of stuff still happens. But, guys, don't do it. Don't do it, not worth it, not worth it.

Bradley Sutton:

Our next article here is from Kiro7. It was just about a Temu, all right. So it says Amazon's biggest competitor gets bad grade from the BBB. Temu is not Amazon's biggest competitor, first of all, but not a thousand. You know it's the number one app on on Google and Apple, yeah, okay. So in that sense, maybe it's it's an Amazon competitor, but you know, Temu sales are very low compared to Amazon, but according to the Better Business Bureau, they've received a thousand recent you know complaints about the service. But you know, like what do you expect when you're getting like a $2 address or something like that? But it's probably one of the many reasons why nobody you know Amazon sellers. Amazon itself isn't really concerned with Temu being too much of a threat.

Bradley Sutton:

Switching platforms. Now Shopify invested this week into a wholesale platform called Fair. You know, a lot of people knew about Fair, a place where people can get wholesale products but now Shopify is investing there and it wants to see this startup adopt Shopify technology for its clients. All right, so. Fair was founded in 2017. It's valued at $12 billion. That's a pretty big company. It's now going to become the recommended wholesale marketplace for Shopify merchants. All right, so this is going to make it easy for Shopify merchants to find wholesale buyers and also enable retailers to source from Fair's network of brands. It's kind of interesting because, for example, fair said the most popular search filter on its platform is not on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

All right so you know hey if they're going to find some stuff for Shopify that's only on Shopify and not on Amazon. You know this. This kind of like a match seems to be made in heaven. It'll be interesting to see if you know how this changes, how Shopify sellers sell. You know, let me know in the comments below if you are selling on Shopify and you know this is good, if you're going to start, you know, perhaps maybe selling your products on the Fair platform. A last news article was from Walmart seller help. It's actually interesting. They have a. They're launching self-service search engine marketing. Say that three times fast. All right Now, basically, eligible Walmart marketplace sellers can use this portal in Seller Center to invest in search engine marketing.

Bradley Sutton:

So you're going to be able to do Google shopping ads. Now, I don't know too much about this stuff, but I could be wrong. But I believe that this is like. These are like those. You know, when you search a keyword in Amazon or in Google, at the very top right there would be those ads where you can like, click directly into the results and it'll go directly to the storefront you can buy the product. I don't believe Amazon is available for this. So this is another potential advantage you can have of, of doing Google ads, where it can go directly to your store, right there in the shop, the shopping ad section of Google. So you know, if you're a Walmart seller, go into a Seller Central, you can create campaigns right now. You can even bulk create it and then we have the article here linked in the comments below if you want to get more information on this.

Bradley Sutton:

So, whoo, a lot of articles today, a lot going on in the ecommerce world. Quick, quick note. You know, if you missed it, last week Helium 10 launched a reimbursement service. So a lot of you guys are ready to use refund genie where you can, you know, download reports for your loss and damage things from Amazon, things that Amazon might owe you money on, and you're able to go ahead and, and you know, file your own claims and get your money back. But now we have a service that is designed to where we're going to do the work for you, you know, for a percentage of it, and we'll also find other money that you know, refund genie, you know it's not looking for. So if you want to find out more information about this, the service is actually free, you know, to use. We only can get money if we get money for you, and some sellers are getting thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars back by using it. So if you'd like a free demo of it or to get more information, go to h10.me/mrs h10.me/mrs to be able to sign up for a free demo. Alright, now let's go into a quick training tip of the week from Kerry, talking about how you can see who's getting the most clicks and the most purchases from brand analytics. But right inside of Helium 10 Cerebeo, Carrie, take it away.

Carrie Miller:

Did you know that you can see click share and conversion share within Cerebro? That's right. If you have your Helium 10 account connected to seller central and you have a diamond and above, you can actually see this click share. So it's a really great tool when you're doing your keyword research. So the first thing you want to do is you want to log into Cerebro. So I've done a multi search here. It doesn't matter really the position for this particular strategy, but usually I always like to make sure my own, mason, is first, so I can compare it to all others. But if you scroll down here, you can actually see that we have a whole entire column for ABA, total click share and then conversion share. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna actually drill into this a little bit more and if you go to let's see here a wooden egg holder, we can click on this graph and get a little bit more details. Now I will say not all of these keywords have information. It really just depends on what is provided in brand analytics, and if it's in brand analytics, we can pull it in here. So it has to have, you know, a good amount of search volume in order to get this information. So let's take a look at wooden egg holder. So if we click on this, we can actually see the last few months or six months or so of click share and conversion share, and you can actually, you know see this this most recent month we're in September right now. We can actually go back to see August and you can click along on this graph and hover along this graph and you can actually see at the bottom there which were the top three Clicked and converted on. So when we take a look at this, you can actually see, okay, this one has an 18% click share and a 19% conversion share. So that's, they're doing something right. That means you know a lot of people are actually purchasing when they do actually click on their listing. This one is, you know, 8% and a conversion share of 6.5 you know they're doing pretty well as well and then 7% and 9.1. So now, if you see, you know a really large click share and pretty much no conversion share, that probably means people are clicking on it, thinking it's something, but they're not seeing what they actually want to buy. So one really cool thing that you can actually do if you want to, you know, see what maybe one of these competitors are doing that has the most click share and conversion share. You can see what they're actually doing by running listing analyzer. Now you can actually go ahead and see it in here and when you click on run listing analyzer or you can go straight to listing analyzer and add things in yourself.

Carrie Miller:

I'm just going to click on run listing analyzer. Let's see what we have here. Are these the top ones? Yes, these are the ones I want to look at. So I'm going to click on run listing analyzer and I'm going to be able to see all of the information for all three of these listings and includes price. It'll include the images and everything that we really need to know, kind of stacked on top of each other. All right, so all of this data is is now uploaded into listing analyzer from that click share, conversion share, so we can see, maybe, the difference. Okay, so this top one was the topped clicked and we can look at the price. Now it has a pretty good price. It's not the lowest price. This one is actually the lowest price, but you know, between these two especially that does have a lower price, so $20 might be the best. And then another thing you can do is you can take a look at the images and see if there's something that this Particular listing has done that this one didn't. Maybe they did. You know better close-up images here. These one, these have a little bit better lifestyle images.

Carrie Miller:

So it's kind of a mystery there as to why the first one would get the the most clicks. But usually what you can do is kind of drill down a little bit more into the details and you can see, you know, what people are looking for. Potentially it has to do with the actual structure of the product. This one has a little bit more sturdy look. This one looks a little bit more Shaky and it has a lot more eggs on it. So this one probably fits better into your, into your refrigerator. So there's a lot of different components that can go into that. But you can kind of see it a little bit better when you take a look at the media all stacked on top of each other and then also the pricing. So that is just basics click share and conversion share and ways you can kind of analyze that to see if there are ways that you can improve your listing to get some more click share and conversion share. So check it out and let us know what you think.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, thank you very much, Carrie, for that training tip. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We'll see you guys next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Get ready to unlock the secrets of Amazon-selling success as we welcome back, Stephen Diaz of the Rainmaker Family. Together with his wife, they have woven a thriving community of dedicated e-commerce sellers. Today's deep-dive episode is crammed with innovative strategies, specially designed for those venturing into Amazon's realm for the first time. Prepare to learn how to rake in thousands of dollars per month by creating videos for other people's products, and finding good products to promote with the help of tools such as the Helium 10 Chrome extension Demand Analyzer. We also walk you through the Amazon influencer program and how you can be a part of it without having to be the 'face' of video content.

Buckle up as we guide you through the entire process of recording, uploading, and creating eye-catching thumbnails for your videos. Be ready to learn how to craft compelling titles and get a handful of tips to produce successful video reviews. We also brainstorm creative ideas for video reviews that go beyond the confines of your home. Stephen sheds light on his experiences and the advantages of participating in high-ticket mastermind events, highlighting how investing in yourself can dramatically influence your success in the e-commerce world.

In our journey through this episode, Stephen imparts priceless insights into the keys to entrepreneurial success. We touch on the importance of focus, mindset, and budgeting in e-commerce. In the end, we delve into the strategies that work best for family-oriented businesses on Amazon, like how to utilize Amazon Associates and affiliate links to connect to other products in your shop. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned seller, this episode promises you strategies and insights to skyrocket your business to new heights. Tune in, and get ready to get some creative ideas on how you can build capital for Amazon FBA selling.

In episode 495 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Stephen discuss:

01:57 - The Maldives Honeymoon Strategy Helped The Rainmaker Community
03:51 - How To Build Capital For An Amazon FBA Business
07:14 - Making 6-Figures As An Amazon Affiliate
08:43 - Difference Between Amazon Associates And Affiliates
11:17 - Different Kinds Of Videos You Can Make
17:15 - Why Joining Masterminds Are Important
21:18 - Inspiring Stories From Stephen’s Community
31:18 - What Does It Take To Succeed In This Business?
36:49 - How To Get More Information Of Stephen’s Community
40:20 - Stephen’s 60-Second Tip

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/video

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Today we've got somebody back on the show who's got one of the most successful communities out there in the Amazon world and he's going to talk about what's been working for them, including how some can make thousands of dollars a month on doing videos for other people's products. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you browsing a Shopify Walmart, Etsy, alibaba or Pintu? Are you browsing a Shopify Walmart, Etsy, Alibaba or Pinterest page and maybe you see a cool product that you want to get some more data on? Well, while you're on those pages, you can actually use the Helium 10 Chrome extension Demand Analyzer to get instant data about what's happening on Amazon for those keywords on these other websites. Or maybe you want to then follow up and get an actual supplier quote from a company on Alibaba.com in order to see if you can get this product produced. You can do that also with the Helium 10 Demand Analyzer. Both of these are part of the Helium 10 Chrome extension, which you can download for free at h10.me forward slash extension.

Bradley Sutton:

Stephen:

What's up, Bradley man? Anytime I get to hang out with you is awesome. I know Chelsea's usually sitting right by my side, but today she's 100% mom. So she's being 100% mom, today I'm being 100% podcaster Love it. And that's how we do it.

Bradley Sutton:

And in your honor, you know, I'm actually wearing the shirt that you guys gave me the Maldives shirt. I believe this came from Merch by Amazon, like what? Two, three years ago. I think, you guys, it might have been either during the pandemic or before the pandemic. That's how long.

Stephen:

I've had this shirt. Well, the Maldives strategy impacted our community so much that I was like we got to give back and I didn't know Bradley's T-shirt size, so I think I sent you like six Amazon merch shirts.

Bradley Sutton:

It was great. I gave one to each of my family who were all those sizes, and then I took the biggest one for myself.

Stephen:

Perfect man, that's good. Well, that's that that technique is still making ripples, man Like it's. It's very cool. And title density, all that stuff we love it in Rainmaker. So yeah, I'm excited.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of which, it is now two 10pm on Wednesday, in 28 hours I'm hopping on the plane to go to Maldives. To record episode 500. So the latest iteration of it.

Stephen:

There we go. Dang man, I need to get out to the Maldives now. Like I was every time they're out there. Yeah, they got a great kids club, you know so so you know, do you go to the same place every time?

Bradley Sutton:

I either go to the Waldorf Astoria or the Conrad. They're both Hillson properties, so I can use my points for it for either one, but I don't know if you're a Hilton or a Marriott person, but they got good Marriott properties out there too, okay, Anyways, let's get into some strategy. Let's just start. You know like we usually say this at the end, but we'll, we'll go and do some strategies at the end, but every time you've been on the show you've always, you know, come with some like kind of unique, uh, unique stuff. So like back in. By the way, guys, if you want to get their full backstory uh, I wrote down here or I didn't write down, I don't do much of work here. Mel, my assistant, is one who does the work here. He put in a episode of 198 guys. So episode all the way back in 198, we're about to film 500. That just shows you where, how far we've come. But 198 was their first time you can get their their backstory there. And then they came back in episode 318. So way back in episode 198, they were talking about uh doing sales on Facebook, uh market places, and then they gave some updates on that in episode uh 318 and talking about Facebook groups. And so I think the latest thing that you guys have been doing you know, especially for those who at the beginning might not be able to have enough money to to, to, to start private label, to invest, uh talk about what is one of the ways that people can can build some capital or what, what, what your community has been doing, yeah, I mean we see all different levels, you know, and and, and we really do specialize, you know, in the Rainmaker family, helping moms, and so a lot of moms like they are just like, uh, honestly, they've tried a lot of other stuff, you know, and so they're hesitant to go go big on Amazon at the first.

Stephen:

So so helping them create the money to do the thing is definitely something that's in our specialty. So I would say, lately, there's a handful of strategies. Right now we definitely have a subset of our community doing the influencer strategy on Amazon. Um, and when you hear that word, I think people think, like you know, I don't know, taking pictures of your coffee at the coffee shop and like having your face all over social media, um, but the Amazon influencer program, anyone can do and you can actually do it without putting your face in the videos, which is kind of nice. And so, honestly, like, uh, this opportunity was brought to me by a guy, john, he was doing it and he kind of came to our community. I was like, hey, I'll do this for you guys. Like he was just looking for more products to review. But if any of your listeners are unfamiliar with it, basically how it works is when you go to the Amazon listing right, you see the photos. There's always like these, like videos related to the item or sometimes there. If you have a video, it'll be like the second video that plays after your video, and those are like these Amazon influencer videos and if someone watches that video and then buys the product, that influencer will get a commission on the sale, which is really crazy. So, um, you know, you've probably heard of the Amazon associate program or affiliate program where I signed up for that.

Bradley Sutton:

Just, I was trying to let you just check if I can get some, um, you know, see some different data points. I was curious if, like Amazon, affiliates have different data points. So I signed up and I was just like I already shoot me or my family is going to get some of them. I might as well just make a link and and get some. You know, get some stuff. But yeah, I signed up for that one, but not the influencer. So what's the difference between the two?

Stephen:

So, yeah, you have to sign up as a Amazon associate or affiliate first, and then you can apply for the influencer program. So it is an application only, uh, to get into it. But, um, uh, it's fairly easy to get in. You just need to have an audience somewhere of some sort, and then you can use TikTok, instagram, facebook. I mean, we have people even just use a Facebook page and they'll they'll run ads to the page for a little bit to just gain some audience. Uh and then they'll apply right. And so the the Amazon influencer program. Once you're in, they basically allow you to like, upload videos of of products you're reviewing, but the catch is you don't have to have bought the product on Amazon, so, like it doesn't have to be your past purchases, it can be literally any product that's on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

So if they get approved for this, like, are they seeing something different on product pages or something that's like an extra button of of how they can upload or how they different?

Stephen:

just like seller central is its own thing, the influencer or the associate program has his own dashboard you can log into. Kind of KDP, like Amazon, keeps all these things separate, you think they just link them all. Yeah, um, it's like you log into your associates dashboard. You kind of click over to the influencer page and influencers. You may see people do this on Instagram where they actually have like a storefront where it's like my favorite Amazon things and it'll be like my house hacks my favorite clothes and those are like that's one way to do it. But this kind of video side of the Amazon influencer program is really the lucrative one. And the guy I heard it from, john, he was doing six figures with this. Like that was his full time business. He did have a YouTube channel. He was reviewing tech gear and things like that, but he would just like get reached out from brands at this point. He's kind of got a name for himself and I think he was doing like over 200,000 and just Amazon money.

Bradley Sutton:

Is it all on commission? Or also he'll get like a flat fee from some of the store owners to create videos.

Stephen:

Sometimes they are getting like a, like a bounty, like that, but a lot of it is just commission. Yeah, he's getting commissions through affiliates so he's doing super high volume. That's like I don't know a ton of people doing those types of numbers. Yeah, but that got us interested. You know, chelsea signed up for it and she was around the house shooting stuff. So basically, what you do is just go around your house and you just review every item in your house and like it doesn't have like again, you didn't have to buy it on Amazon, it just has to be on Amazon. Yeah, so you just be like you know, uh, hey, this, I have a Apple mouse on my desk. You're like, let me tell you about this Apple mouse and you just do a review of it. But the types of reviews that work really well are just authentic reviews. If you're super polished and like, let me tell you, it looks like too professional, people don't trust it, right. So you want to just like do it like a casual, like honestly, a lot of our reviews are cell phone, they're vertical and we're shooting away from us and just like pointing and like it's like voiceover, just like like you would like your unboxing something. Yeah, show your friend and so, yeah, you just go around your house and like review everything right and you have to submit the videos. They do have to get approved by Amazon, but once they're approved, they live on that page. You know of the Amazon listing and a percentage of people will click on them, watch them and you'll get commissions and sometimes they actually go up in the carousel too.

Bradley Sutton:

I think you know Norm Ferrari was showing you this.

Stephen:

Videos will go up in the carousel.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah.

Stephen:

Huh, it's crazy. So and then if?

Bradley Sutton:

they click it in the carousel and buy it, they still get credit then. Yep, of course.

Stephen:

Yeah, you get a commission. Yeah, yeah, all right, I'm a how I do that.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to have to look into that. I always like it's fun, man, it's fun.

Stephen:

It's fun thinking about like, okay, what's the most expensive thing in my house, because again, you're making such a small percentage, right? Yeah, you either want super high volume or you want expensive and helium 10 super helpful because you can go. Okay, how much volume is this product doing? Right, so if you have, like I remember we were reviewing stash your bags. They're like those ziploc bag alternatives, like they're like made of silicone oh, reusable ziploc bags basically. But there's like a thousand stash your bag listings, right, because it's like a wholesale product that'll up your wholesale. So I use helium 10 to figure out which one has the most sales because, like you can't tell which blue stash your bag I bought it could be on any of these listings, right? Yeah, I use helium 10 to figure out which listing has the highest volume, right, but also has the least amount of influencers hopping on there and making videos. So that increases the chances and that that one video would make it's like 10 to $15 a day. You know it's not like crazy, but imagine you have a hundred videos, a thousand videos, you know, that are that are doing those types of numbers Like it's. It's incredible.

Bradley Sutton:

So, yeah, and so you record it with your phone and then what you? You upload it with the or you send it to your computer and then you upload it in that.

Stephen:

Yeah you can upload it. Yeah, I always send to my computer, upload it. You can do a thumbnail. So if you're, you know you know anything about internet, you know you gotta have a catchy thumbnail sometimes. But I was super lazy about it because Chelsea would reshoot them and I would upload them. So I'd do the catchy title and the thumbnail. Oh, that was my specialty. So the key thing with the titles, you don't really want to tell people if you like the product or not. You want to be like five things. I wish I knew before I bought this. Right, there's like no idea.

Bradley Sutton:

You have no idea if, like, do you have any that that you could like tell me you'll look at right now, and then I could like show people how it looks, or just an example of one.

Stephen:

I'll shout out a friend's brand, kingsloo. Yeah, he sells a slim fit wallet and we did a video on that one and yeah, it's just a super simple video.

Bradley Sutton:

$109 for a wallet.

Stephen:

Good grief, I know Gucci. Yeah, he sells mostly off Amazon. He's more of a DTC but we've helped him get on Amazon and oh five videos here. I bet a bunch of our Rainmakers have done it now, and then I think you click on that like five videos underneath there and you should see like Heather's on there and Chelsea's on there. Yeah, there you go.

Bradley Sutton:

Wait, well, that's, that's their video. Yeah.

Stephen:

So click on, here we go, honest, awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

So so when you said the, the, the thumbnail like this is the thumbnail that they chose. They just chose a random part of it. Oh, I did that. So like oh, you did this.

Stephen:

Honestly like I was super lazy. So I would just screenshot and make an arrow, like I put an arrow and like it kind of like makes you think I'm talking about some specific thing, but it's just a catchy way to kind of. And then you just make it vertical, just like this. Wait, here's I didn't know it wasn't.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh yeah, hear your voice in this thing. There, there we go. Okay, wow, I think. Yeah, this is one of those. I was one of the good ones.

Stephen:

Heather did this one.

Bradley Sutton:

She's in our community.

Stephen:

She's really helped us pioneer this kind of influencer thing. She created a mini course on it. Yeah, super casual, right, like it's not like really polished. Of course, if you're doing like a DSLR camera or like the new iPhone, people want like the Marcus Brown. You know they want the Polish video, right, but we're just all the stuff around your house you can just pick, hey, you know, you can just go and get a bunch of stuff, all the stuff around your house, you can just pick. Hey, this is my honest opinion on this thing.

Bradley Sutton:

And you just don't know what account could be multiple people Like. Could I have my kids do videos on my account and stuff too?

Stephen:

Yeah, I'm just not like the kids, so like if you're going to have a kid, you got to have you in it as well.

Bradley Sutton:

like a minor or they have to be 18. My kids are over 18.

Stephen:

So yeah okay, then they could do it. Yeah, I mean one of the best side hustles, I feel like for a college kid like so so easy to do. You just need a cell phone, you just need time Maybe. I mean, we would batch like four or five videos a day and Chelsea would do some, I would do some, and we named our account like like family. So it was kind of like both of us, um and man, you can stack. I mean we, we did. Well, our goal was like to do 30, 30 videos. You know, just to get it started, I would say if someone's listening to this, they want to do this. I would commit to doing like 30 or a hundred videos to really see the effect of it. And then you can chill out and kind of just let that passive income come in and then just grow it as you want. And uh, I mentioned this before the call. But eventually you will run out of stuff to review right In your house and that's a good problem to have. Yeah, then you can start going to friends houses. You can start. You know, I mean you could even book an Airbnb and review everything in that house. I mean I've even this is really funny, but like I even reviewed something at a park one time, like that's someone else had like a stroller Cause like strollers are expensive and so like I just took a video of a stroller from far away. If someone else is trying, I wasn't showing their kids or anything like that, but I was like zooming in on my phone and I did a voiceover over it later, just talking through some of the benefits and things I was just reading on the listing, you know. So again it can get really creative with it. Um, of course we're not trying to manipulate sales or anything like that. Uh, like not trying to say something, that's not true. But I always go to the listing and I look at the reviews. Use helium 10 and you can analyze all the reviews and figure out what are the big questions people have. What are making what's, what are they loving about the product, what are they wanting to buy or what is what's drawing them to buying this product, that type of thing, and you can hit some of those things. Um, you can even throw all that into chat GPT and be like hey, write me a 30 second video review script and just literally read it.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to. I'm going to try this, but but not not to throw water on the fire here. But this is something that later on, I predict Amazon is going to change, because, just knowing the way Amazon operates because, yeah, somebody's going to do a lawsuit or something, because theoretically, nobody's going to do a video, that's going to talk bad about it because that.

Stephen:

You know, like the whole purpose.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, if you're an Amazon influence, you're trying to make money. You know, unless Amazon puts something in there where if you do a negative video but that's still real that somehow you still get some kickbacks, somebody's, somebody somewhere is going to do some kind of lawsuit just because this is such a country.

Stephen:

I do in a million videos or something like that.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, but either way, guys, that's why you got to get on this now. Yeah, what they are doing, which is nice, now you can include two products in the video.

Stephen:

I wouldn't recommend it when your first game started, but you can do comparison videos, which I do like where you're like. Hey, are you thinking about buying this?

Bradley Sutton:

or this.

Stephen:

That's good. Let me tell you about the pros and cons.

Bradley Sutton:

And in the video. Does the video show up on both listing? It shows up on both, yeah.

Stephen:

You can tag two products in the video. But if you do it right at the beginning, amazon typically won't approve it and they are getting stricter on who gets approved into the program and you have to submit three videos when you first start and they approve or deny those and so if they deny them you can try again, like I think it's three times. If you deny it three times, then it's kind of like you got to try open up a new account or something.

Bradley Sutton:

Basically, yeah, Now, are you also? Is this the only thing you're doing under your influencers account? Or are you also maintaining, like a YouTube or Instagram where you're sending deals to? We actually are doing that.

Stephen:

You know, like we've had an Amazon Associated Account for I mean since probably 20, probably before I was even an Amazon seller. So we, you know I'm always recommending stuff, even when we are back when we were wedding photographers. People are always like what camera are you using? So we have an Associated Account. And then Chelsea has, she uses the influencer page for her Instagram. So she has like her favorite things on there. You know, here's the kids toys we love, and you know that type of thing. So you definitely like Amazon wants you to be legit, like they don't want you just like do it just for the influence of videos. So and that's a better long-term strategy to is like, have a YouTube channel, have a Instagram, make a tick tock that's like you know Favorite mom finds or something like that and just like, post your videos cross, post them when you're I mean you already recorded, I'm right, yeah, post them on Facebook, post them on tick tock as well, and that's gonna not only drive more traffic to Amazon but it's gonna make you look more legit, you know. So, yeah, you could really make this a business model again. Amazon could change things. Sure, it is a new wear program, but you could definitely ride this thing for the next year or two, I bet, and it makes some good cash from it.

Bradley Sutton:

Nice, all right, let's switch gears a little bit, come something completely different. Um sure, I noticed that sometimes you go to like these, you know, like masterminds for, like entrepreneurs, and, and you know you met like Saddam and and come off from a yeah, that's right, he went up there and stuff yeah and and I, I I haven't been to one, but but a lot of these you know, if I'm not mistaken, you know Some of them cost thousands, some of them tens of thousands of dollars to go to. And then so somebody you know, like me, on the outside Looking in might be like, you know, like hey, we all know about, hey, invest in yourself and this and that, but what is it about events that that has people coming out of these things and say you know what? It was worth $1000, like, like. Are you really getting that kind of value out of like these, these, these mastermind kind of events that you go to?

Stephen:

Yeah, I mean, I'll use that example. You know, amz, one step. I met those guys through mastermind and I mean for us, like I would say, you want to get in a mastermind of people? Like there's different masterminds for different reasons, right? So oftentimes that mastermind was going to was probably less for the Amazon business and more for the coaching business, right? Yeah, so we teach people how to do Amazon and so meeting people at those masterminds, like those guys, that was awesome, because I was like, hey, we got a big launch coming up like what do you want to throw in, you know? And so they threw in like an awesome bonus for our people that, like people can only get through our work, like for being in Our world, and if that helps.

Bradley Sutton:

I use them, by the way, too, for a lot of my photography, and oh man.

Stephen:

Yeah, so like if that helps a handful more people come in our program, like that, that so the networking itself.

Bradley Sutton:

Like like that you know they weren't the organizers of the event. But the people you meet can give you invaluable thing.

Stephen:

Okay, yeah yeah, like we met another guy who does like LLC creation and all like the legal entity stuff which, like our people need all the time, you know. So not one relationship basically paid for the match.

Bradley Sutton:

And that's a good point, because now it's like you know, it's not like you couldn't Google to find companies that do this kind of stuff, but but you know, you don't know if how legit they are, but you know somebody who is Gonna invest in themselves and pay a huge money to actually be at that place. It's almost like pre vetting them. Yeah, yeah, a little bit in itself.

Stephen:

I'm gonna do a lot of conferences, right, and like conferences you get a lot of gold out of, but it's like usually a lot of time frame, right, like are there three, four days, and then there might be like one or two. Like man, that nugget Added six figures, added a million dollars on the business, like that. One thing I found in these higher ticket masterminds like we're in, we're in a 50k mastermind or 60k mastermind, like it's just like it's so much more compressed because of who's in the room and like who's paying to be in the room, that like you're in the lunch line, you know, like to get your like potato salad and someone drops an idea on you. That's like, oh my god, that's like that was a million dollar idea, you know. So, and I think it's the connections of like everyone who's paying there like to be in the room. They have a lot of awesome connections to you know. So that network effect. I think like, yeah, like sometimes masterminds are more teaching and training and like you know, but, but the best ones I've been in are more relational and it's just like how can we build partnerships? How can we leverage each other's resources? How can we work together? How to serve our people at a higher level. So that's where I found the value. And just there's something about getting in person with people. You know you do it all the time, you know. It's just like it's different than zoom, right yeah.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah for sure, all right guys. So that's something you know. Regardless of what field you're in, you know there's always different masterminds that that can help you, you know, grow as a person, as a you know there's inspirational stuff and or or as a business, if you're entrepreneur, I mean even a helium tent as a mastermind. So so you know the helium 10 elite program. You know people can meet. You know can meet other high-level sellers. So if you think that some of you guys want to look into, look at h10.me forward slash elite. But on the other hand, I think there's a couple masterminds like non-amazon masterminds I was thinking of mainly for me might want to. You know, look into, maybe I can see if helium 10 can help me out with the With the bill because some of these are pretty expensive, but that's interesting. Always bet on yourself, always improve yourself and sometimes it takes takes money to do that. Going back to the your community now, any cool stories. You know, every year there's always cool stories coming out your community. I remember the one Person who I was doing some demo a couple years ago about it's right football product or something, and then I was just like making a joke, like man, if I this would probably be totally something that I would, I would sell and then she ended up selling it made you know thousands of dollars on it. But any other cool like rags to riches stories or just just something inspiring that you could share with audience man it's.

Stephen:

I love our community because we've really like Encourages, community of celebration. I think like it's really easy and like even the Amazon space or really any entrepreneur space, to get in a Competitive mode where it's like, oh, other people winning means like I'm not right and kind of like you think about yourself and you. You either try to like one up somebody you know or you try to like kind of Downgrade their success or like I don't know makes it. People can like oftentimes in the early days of their entrepreneurship journey, go to kind of like almost like I'm not enough, thinking Like I was, like oh, like dang, like it's like you can get in just lack mindset. So we've really tried to overcome that because really when we're helping people in our program, we're helping bring them out of poverty mindset right Into abundant thinking, and not just financially but in all the areas. So when they do have the money, when they are making the money, they don't just let those old mindsets hold them back still, you know. And so we found the way you celebrate other people really shows a lot about that mindset you developed. And so we just like kind of our community is just a thing, like when someone is winning big or small, they post it in the group and like everyone just goes crazy over it. You know, and it's just a really cool like contagious momentum and we had one the other day that I just I loved because she said, like she was posting, I think she had done like her first like $3,000 day on Amazon. She had, you know, was doing about $10,000 weeks at that point in her business. But she said, like you know, when she started the program she was in product research for like so long. You know, like you kind of get stuck in that analysis, paralysis, and she was just getting discouraged and she said she'd always come to the group and just look at the wins every night and she would just like when she was feeling discouraged she'd go look at everyone else's wins and she just be like this is gonna be me, this is gonna be me, this is gonna be me. So it's so cool to see her, like it was probably a year after she started posting the screenshot and being like now I get to be the person you know that like encourages you and like if you're in the dumps, right now and you're feeling discouraged, like here.

Bradley Sutton:

It is, you know, and like, which I think is the reason why, yeah, you should be part of a community. You know, sometimes like if that person was trying on their own, I would say odds are they might have just given up because they weren't getting that inspiration. You know from other people. You know nine out of 10 times that person who's stuck in the analysis paralysis they just go ahead and give up. You know perhaps, but being part of a community you could see, you know other people succeed and it inspires you to move on. So I think that's important.

Stephen:

Yeah, it's incredible man and I. That's what gets me fired up. I mean, yes, it's cool when we have a student make $40,000 in a day on it. Like we've had these crazy like people like crush huge numbers. Again, it's not the normal, sure. But what gets me more excited is the people that, like you know, we got flowers in the mail from someone who said, like I was depressed, I was suicidal, like I was, I had no hope in life, and then I found this, you know, and this community, plus the training, plus the mindset, like it gave me hope again. Like that, yeah, that's like beyond the money. So we kind of sometimes joke, we're kind of like you know, amazon's kind of the front, you know it's like, yes, we're teaching Amazon, but like entrepreneurship in general, I think is one of the biggest transformational, like vehicles that you can ever like go on. It's like it's like a roller coaster ride that like changes your life right, yeah, and I love it for that. That it's like who it makes you in the process. It's so powerful. So we love celebrating those. We call those the bubble over benefits. Like it's cool when people hit the numbers and make the money, but the bubble over benefits of like I retired my husband or you know, I was able to quit this job. That was soul sucking. Or I got hope again Like that is so crazy, so Right.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you know we can talk Amazon strategy all day long and stuff. But you know somebody like you who's dealt with so many sellers. You know and you help people, not just on the Amazon strategy but like you know mindset and you already handle a lot of that with a community and helping people. When we talked about the benefits of community, but what? are some other things that you see is is like the difference between those who succeed, and again, success doesn't mean a certain revenue figure. You know success is very subjective, but from those who succeed to those who you know end up, you know failing and giving up, because all the people in your community. They're given the same resources. You know they all have helium 10, you know they all, they all have you guys, they all have the same. You know training and stuff, but you know not. The fact of the matter is no program or no, anybody has a hundred percent success rate. So what are some of the things that that success or that not success? What are some of the things that differentiate the successes from the failures?

Stephen:

Totally. Yeah, we try to reverse engineer this because we basically have this thing called the 10K payday guarantee, and so to claim the 10K payday guarantee, which basically the short statement is, if you don't make $10,000, we'll pay you $10,000. But there's a ton of terms and conditions. So it's an action-based guarantee and we basically took our most successful students and we reverse engineer what they did and we put it in the guarantee. So, if you want to qualify for the guarantee, do this, this, this, this, and it's just like a checklist of all the stuff you got to do. And so I'd say the biggest thing is focus. Focus is a big one, especially for mom, especially for parents. Like you only have so many, so much time, right, and so we call this nutrients. Like you only have so much nutrients to put into your garden. If you're trying to do Amazon, you're also trying to day trade. You're also trying to, like, do this other Airbnb side, hustle over here. You're putting in just a tiny bit of nutrients. You're gonna grow like a lot of tiny pumpkins, right. But if you cut off a lot of pumpkins and you put all the nutrients into one, you're gonna grow like the award-winning pumpkin, right? There's a book called, I think, the Pumpkin, the Pumpkin I don't know something about pumpkins, where that came from and it's written by the guy who wrote profit first. But he talks about just like you just focus, right, and so that's a big one. We see, just I mean, they're like you know, bradley, like there's a thousand ways to make money on the internet, right, and so we really train people on like put blinders on for like nine months, like a year, like just give this thing your all for that amount of time. And whatever Facebook ad you see, don't click it. You know, just like do this thing. So I think that's a big one. We see people try to do too much and then they just go slower because of that or they get derailed into something else. The second thing I'd see we see a lot is really and we had a PhD neuropsychologist come into our group and really start training on this because she was talking about she works with like six and seven figure entrepreneurs on mindset and just the science behind like training your mind to go beyond where you're comfortable. And you know our body I'm gonna like not say this as sciencey as she would, but like you know, our body is like running a thousand automations at once, like I'm moving my hands, I'm breathing, I'm talking, I'm looking at you, I'm blinking. Like our body is designed, our brain is designed to automate those things because, like, if we had to think about all that, it would like destroy us, right? And so anytime you're doing something, really frequently your brain goes into really an automation and it's to keep you, come to us, keep you safe, just keep you. You know all these things. So when we stretch people into entrepreneurship or like hey, go spend $5,000 on inventory, right, like it's something that is like way beyond their current thinking sometimes. And so the brain will go whoa, chill, stop, slow down. Like hold on, I'm stuck. Like I'm stuck, I'm overwhelmed. These are actually, like we reframe them, as green flags that you're actually on the right track, cause we see people posting the group. I'm overwhelmed, I'm stuck. Right, we're like, oh, this is awesome. This means that we're stretching you this way, right, cause your brain is trying to keep you here, but that same thinking will keep you there. If you want to go here and have this amazing business, you gotta stretch and take this step here, you know. So we've kind of helped reframe the mindset thing. So when people are getting stuck. They know that it's a green flag and then they also know to reach out, cause we have a lot of different ways to support people. So that's the thing we see is people get stuck and then they don't reach out. They ghost us, you know, like we can't show up at their house and do that type of thing, yeah, and then I would say, so I said, focus getting stuck and not reaching out. And then I would say, like I would say PBC definitely has gotten way harder in this last season. And so I think, not having not going after, like I would say, either going after two low search volume products because they are on a kind of tight budget so they're going to have to really low search volume products, or going for, like way too high search volume products and not anticipating how much budget it takes to really rank and maintain rank on those search terms, you know. So it's like finding that middle ground, and so we've started to more train on that like kind of even budget training, of like hey, if you have this much devoted for your business, like spend this much on inventory, right, and leave this much for buffer room and leave this much for something you don't even know about yet, you know, because what we find is sometimes people stretch their budget on the first product so far, like you got 10,000, they spend all of it on inventory and then they have no buffer room to like keep it going, and then they got it, and then, if it is going, they got a reorder and then they're stuck right. So, training on that buffer. So just for people listening, if you're like I'm doing Amazon, I got this type of budget going in. I think, padding that budget right After you're not going all in on your inventory, you have budget room. I mean, you did this with that project. You launched a ton of products for like was it $5,000?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, so I don't know. 12 products for 5,000 project 5K. Do you have any?

Stephen:

budgeting rules. I'm just curious, selfishly, because we've been kind of developing it, but like even for that, did you have any budgeting rules, like how much of that budget you'd spend on one product?

Bradley Sutton:

No, like I just wanted to see how many. My budget was 5K total, like including, you know, launching and stuff. I was like, all right, what in the world can I do with? This was my challenge. And then I was like all right, a lot of them were like straws and then I launched a brand around that like stuff that had to even do with like straws and parties and stuff.

Stephen:

Is there just low cost to?

Bradley Sutton:

make. Was that what it was? Yeah, just low cost to make. It kind of sucks that now that there's no Amazon, small and light. So actually I started losing some money on those products in the last few weeks that Amazon took away that program, but I mean, my goodness, like I discontinued some of them. They weren't all home runs, you can't be 12 out of 12. But still, like there are some products. I think I started that thing like four, three, four, five years, no, four years ago, and I'm still selling, you know, some. Like you know, I'm even bringing back one I'm going to do a little case study on it that it was really popular around Christmas time and I haven't sold it in, like you know, two years and so it's been dead. And I just ordered, you know, some new ones to see if I can get some traction. But yeah, the budget is. It was definitely critical. But you know, I tell people like, just because, like you can do it, this is not advisable because you know nobody can make a living off of products that are retailing for like $7, $8, which is what you have to do when you're trying to get products that your cost is less than a dollar, which it was for unit, yeah, so, yeah, yeah.

Stephen:

So we're encouraging people, like we kind of we kind of ask them what their budget is and then we kind of encourage them to stretch it a little bit and whether you're leveraging financing or, honestly, like we've seen a handful of people do partnerships, where you just are getting an inventory investor and that sounds fancy, but I mean that means like a friend or a family member who has heard about Amazon but doesn't really want to do the work, and so we found a lot of people doing that and, honestly, I would, I would. One of the easiest things to do is go to go to someone who has an audience too, like, if you can go to someone like you know, you're listening to the show, you have that one friend who has like an Instagram following. Go to her and go hey, I'm learning about e-commerce, I'm launching this product. Would you ever have interest in launching a product for your audience, you know, and then like, develop it with them, and then, basically, you do all the work, you do all the sourcing and then you get a percentage of the sales you know and that that's a no risk way to get into it. Or someone else is fronting the money for the inventory. They already have the audience, not only the Amazon data of the traffic there, but they already are going to promote it and that audience loves them. Buy anything they shall, you know, talk about. So that's another way we've seen people do it, where they are basically making it rain for someone else and then they're making a percentage of that and that's making their own pot and now they have their own money. Actually, that that that wallet brand Kingsloo, one of our Rainmakers, went through our challenge and she got hired by that company, oh wow, and she built their Amazon brand. I mean, they were, they were doing about eight figures like 10 to 12 million on just Shopify with that product. You know, just Facebook had to Shopify and they weren't even on Amazon. But when we looked at the helium 10 data, it was like people searching their brand on Amazon right, yeah, you'll see the Facebook guy and come over, and so she built it out and like, built a I mean they did a million dollars on just like the Amazon channel. And then we recently worked with them because I'm a good good friends with Josh and we re-did his listing cause he was just ranked on his brand keywords, like you know, but he wasn't on slim wallet for men or any of these like big keywords, and so we reworked it. Maldives launched it again and it like basically I don't know exactly but it it almost doubled or tripled his Amazon sales Like he was doing. He was doing. I remember him saying me screenshots of like right after the launch and it was like he's doing. He was doing I think 8,000 or something like that a day and he went up to like 25,000, 30,000. And this was like Q4 last year. So I don't know what his numbers are now, but it's crazy Like there's so many Shopify owners should just like they're cranking on Shopify but they have no idea about Amazon or they have false beliefs about Amazon. That's a whole nother market. If you're trying to get into Amazon, be an Amazon account manager for people on Shopify. When you have those Shopify ads for, like those DTC products, go look on Amazon. If they're not on Amazon or they're on Amazon and their listing is terrible, like there's an opportunity there and it's hard to like work that type of deal sometimes, but if you can like, that's incredible.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah. So your program, you know, before we get to the last couple of strategies you might have, I was just looking at your website. It says you've had over 12,000 moms go through the program there. So if somebody is interested in it, is that like a prerequisite? They need to be a stay at home or working mom or what kind of a requirements do they have?

Stephen:

You know you just need to be motherly. No, that can be anybody. When we started, like you know, this is definitely a strategy for Amazon too. Like you want to have a niche, you know you want to, like, really focus on one person. So we, when we looked at our top case studies with our training, it was moms, and so we really made the program for moms when we first started. And when we first started was a lot of stay at home moms. Now it's a lot of working moms, a lot of corporate moms and it's a lot of non moms as well. So really we're just family first and so we're not going to tell you to just hustle your life away or going to tell you like, hey, build this business, but do in a way that protects your family, protects your marriage and all those things. So if you have a family mindset, you can definitely check us out. Yeah, and how can they do that? I'd say go to the. Go to rainmakerfamily.com. Rainmakerfamilycom that's like our, our branded website. You can find our social media there. We have a challenge, seven day challenge. You can get to there. That's what I was talking about. Like we've had people go through that and even just that launch, launch products, and you'll see, you'll see Bradley in there on a bonus day.

Bradley Sutton:

If you make it like this is one of the few. Actually no, this is the only community that almost every other week I do a, I do a call with them because you know your community is one of the best out there and so I wanted to make sure that you know I give back because you guys are doing some great stuff and really great community. Like I was just set the Amazon. Accelerate in Seattle and met some Rainmakers that came up took some pictures so that was. that was cool too, so all right so yeah, rainmakerfamily.com. Guys, if you want to, you know, check out the program Now. What's a couple of you know could be Amazon, anything else, e-commerce or some strategies you can leave us with today.

Stephen:

Man, I feel like I'm trying to remember the ones I said last time, you know. So, like, I think the one we've been geeking out on again we're still testing this but really is, how can we increase the average cart value on Amazon? Right On Shopify? Like you can have upsells, downsells, cross-sells, like you, you know you can have that funnel, but on Amazon it's just harder to do that. And I feel like I saw Amazon testing this for a season, like they had like a way you could like, oh, add this other thing on there, but I haven't seen it recently. And so what we've been doing is using inserts, basically upsell because, like again, not everyone's going to take an upsell on that, but if you make it really attractive and in alignment with your product, a percentage of people will click through on that thing and a percentage of those people will buy. And so the best way to do this with Amazon, honestly, is like doing a high ticket upsell of some sort. So imagine you're selling, like I don't know, a dog whistle for training, right? Like having an insert that says, like you know, get our free guide on blah, blah, blah, and that free guide leads to a dog training course that's $297. So, like I love pairing information products with physical products because you've already kind of like, spent money to acquire that customer, so to say, right, you pay the PVC, you got them, you know you, you sold them a $15 whistle. If you could Not even make money there, but then a percentage of people buy the $297 course right on the back end, then it increases your margins like crazy and you can spend more than anyone else on that product because you don't need to make money on the product. Actually, you know money in the back end from a percentage of the people that come through. So the tricky part is figuring out, like what's really in alignment with that product, that's that solves problems that that person is buying the product for, right. So yeah, every product Usually solves some sort of problem, right? It's like I, my kid is biting the rail on the crib. We, I, so like he, buy the crib rail bumper, right, like that was one of our, am our Rainmaker products. So like, what other problems does that parent? Half right as it with a two-year-old? So you just start thinking like how could I serve that person at the highest level? How could I? How could I give more value than anyone else in this industry? Right, and yet you could do other physical products, but those take time and and the best thing I would honestly do is give them something for free that you're gonna get, sir, contact information, and then you can ask more question about it, and then you can develop something for them that serves them at a high level, or you can develop future products for them, you know. So I know a lot of people take people from an insert to like a free download or something like that. But I'm kind of thinking through, like, how can we take them to Something that is actually an offer? Right, it's like it may be a free thing at first, it has to be catch it, don't? You can't just say, like, buy my thousand dollar course yeah, no, I mean her and have people click it. Like it has to be like something that truly is like oh wow, I'm gonna scan this QR code or click this link or whatever. And so, yeah, we, we another thing, our Rainmakers doing just like if you know, we're talking about Amazon Associates, as they will link to their other Products in their shop using affiliate links on the insert. So like, and they will even do this for other people's products in our community. So this is really cool. Like, oh, Rainmakers, if, like, they have a baby product, they'll go post in our group who else has baby products? And they'll find like three or four other products and they'll say basically, like, check out, check out our you know, check out our friends, and it's like three other products, but they're using affiliate links. So even if you're just making a couple dollars on that, it's increasing. I mean, you might spend a couple dollars to get the customer on PPC. So it's just this idea of like how could we steward those sales more? Um, Alex Hermosi said like if you could get one more sale ever and it had to lead to like every other sale in your business, like how would you change the customer experience you know, and like what, what does that delivery look like? Right, if you start thinking that way, like how could this one sale lead to every sale, it starts making you think a little differently of like how can you Serve someone out of Super High Level and invite them into kind of a deeper relationship with your business?

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, you know so yeah, interesting, all right, well, that's, that's a. That's a good one. I'm I know my memories bad, but I'm almost 99% sure we did not talk about that before, so that's new stuff, all right, well, steven, thank you so much for joining us again. Again, congratulations on all the success and and look forward to you know, always, you know being around there for your, your community, more and and hopefully we get to a link up. It's been a while since we've seen each other in person, so hopefully we get to link up at one of these events coming up. You know you need to make your own like, like big, like kind of like get away or event.

Stephen:

We're gonna go to Cancun. You want to come? I'm down, I'm down. Yeah, I'll send you down. I'll send you to work.

Bradley Sutton:

Put me to work, I'll, I'll serve, I'll serve, I'll serve the meals there. I'll do whatever you want, I just want to hang out with your communities.

Stephen:

I love that. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Bradley Sutton:

Please get give my regards to the family, and we'll be seeing you soon, all right.

View Details

On this episode, we're excited to have Liran Hirschkorn from Incrementum Digital sharing his expertise on Amazon advertising. He helps us unpack the complex Amazon Marketing Cloud and how it anonymizes data for privacy reasons while still offering a comprehensive understanding of the customer's journey to conversion. We further examine how the platform aids brands in measuring incrementality, particularly those utilizing Amazon DSP ads. Don't miss out as we delve into the Amazon PPC techniques for reaching new customers through upper funnel-type marketing and showing ads to lifestyle markets and demographics.

We continue the conversation by discussing strategies to optimize Amazon ads campaigns. This includes the merits of creating separate campaigns for each target and employing auto campaigns for discovery. We also weigh the pros and cons of negating keywords in both auto and manual campaigns. Pay attention as we explain the potential benefits of lowering bids to secure better placements and possibly more conversions.

As we wrap up the episode, we shift our focus to optimizing sales and advertising on Amazon. Here, we discuss tactics such as increasing prices to slow sales and avoid running out of stock to boost keyword ranks. We look into managing auto campaigns differently and using modifiers to safeguard against broad and exact match keywords. Listen in as we discuss the importance of making incremental changes and evaluating clicks and actual spend data, instead of just impressions, when optimizing campaigns. Liran also offers valuable insights into sponsored display campaigns and other strategies to ensure high conversion rates for keyword ranking. Don't miss this vital conversation and Q&A on Amazon PPC and Marketing Cloud!

In episode 494 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Liran discuss:

00:50 - Catch Liran At The Helium 10 Elite Workshop In New York
01:49 - What Is The Amazon Marketing Cloud?
09:08 - An Advice If You’re Using Amazon DSP
11:29 - Auto Campaign Optimization
12:12 - ACoS Targets And Examples
15:03 - Optimizing For Target ACoS
23:53 - Keywords and Budget Per Campaign
25:22 - PPC Strategy When Running Out Of Stock
26:35 - Using Modifiers For Amazon PPC
27:23 - Best Time To Start Optimizing Campaigns
33:41 - Amazon Launch PPC Strategy
36:28 - More Effective PPC Strategies From Liran
41:43 - How To Reach Liran Hirschkorn And Incrementum Digital

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TranscriptBradley Sutton:

Today is TACoS Tuesday, so we're bringing on another advertising expert to answer all of your Amazon PPC questions, including the latest on product launches and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to keep up to date with trending topics in the e-commerce world? Make sure to subscribe to our blog. We regularly release articles that talk about things such as shipping and logistics, e-commerce and other countries, the latest changes to Amazon Seller Central, how to get set up on new platforms like New Egg, how to write and publish a book on Amazon KDP and much, much more. Check these articles out at h10.me forward slash blog.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly TACoS Tuesday program, where we bring a special guest every single month and we talk about anything and everything Amazon and Walmart PPC related. And so you guys hopefully you've been getting some of your questions ready. I've been getting some questions ready that I'm going to be giving to our guest, and let's get them all answered. So, without any further ado, let's go ahead and bring on our guest, loran Hirschkorn from Incrementum Digital. Liran in the house. How's it going, man?

Liran:

It's going great. Thanks so much for having me on. I'm excited to be here Awesome.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, now you're still in New York. Is that where you're based on? I'm in New York, yes, okay, I was just there a few weeks ago, took the family out there, be going one or two times again in October, and one of the times is I'm going to be seeing you. You're going to be our guest speaker at our Helium 10 Elite workshop. Do you know yet what you're going to be talking about there? Can we give anybody a sneak peek?

Liran:

all Possibly Amazon Marketing Cloud is what's been on my mind, but we'll see, I guess, if that stays the topic or maybe we want to get some feedback from the audience. There's a lot of very interesting things happening with the Amazon Marketing Cloud. We could talk a little bit about that here as well, let's just start with that real quick.

Bradley Sutton:

I think there's a lot of people in our audience who don't even know what Amazon Marketing Cloud is. Can you explain that a little bit?

Liran:

Yes, so the Amazon Marketing Cloud is essentially what's called a clean data room. Essentially, it's just a think about it as a place that hosts a lot of data and through AWS, and what it allows brands to accomplish now that you couldn't do before is understand the. I would say two main things One, understand the full customer path to conversion and to create audiences that you couldn't before. Let's tackle each one of those. When we say understand the full customer path to conversion, today we think we understand how a customer buys your product, but you don't really understand it Meaning if a customer searches your brand, clicks on a sponsored brand ad, then comes back, clicks on a sponsored product ad and they buy, the only thing, the only area where you're going to see the attribution of the sale is to sponsored product, because that was the last click and advertising works on the last click attribution. What the Amazon Marketing Cloud does is it stores all that information and it anonymizes the data for privacy reasons. So you don't have the specific customer information, but what the Amazon Marketing Cloud will show you is that you had this month, for this particular product, you had 100 customers that their path to conversion was branded search click sponsored product ad click sponsored display buy or see a DSP ad awareness ad search to brand name click sponsored product purchase. Because of this, what's happened historically is especially for those people that have done DSP in trying to understand whether or not DSP has incremental benefit on the sales Incremental. I see what you did there. Yeah, somebody told me that it was a very smart name to create a few years ago because really that is kind of what's being measured here. Incrementality is being measured with the Amazon Marketing Cloud because in the past if you did a DSP ad and you would be hard to understand if you actually drove more sales as a result of DSP, this will help that a little bit because it will show you how many customers you had this month that purchased when they just saw both, let's say, dsp and sponsored products together and how many customers you had that only saw sponsored products, for example. So you'll get a better understanding.

Liran:

Even though the way attribution works is it only goes to the last click, I always thought Amazon should have an assist kind of metric where if you had an ad that assisted as part of the process, it should kind of get something. But that's just not how ads work and Amazon Marketing Cloud aims to solve that. And the more you do DSP, especially with upper funnel type marketing, the less you see the attribution there. So when I say upper funnel type marketing, that means upper funnel means not somebody that is immediately looking to buy. So bottom funnel. We have people that are searching for a keyword. They're ready to buy. People that you are retargeting, who have visited your listing they're at the bottom, they're ready to buy. As we move up the funnel you have people that have viewed competitors but not your product. And then you have what's called awareness. We can, as brands grow and they want to scale and they've already sort of maxed out based on, like, the amount of sales they can have, just based on people who are searching for a keyword. They want to look towards brand awareness.

Liran:

But now you're running ads to audiences on Amazon or lifestyle. You have different markets and demographics that you can show ads to. What happens is when you run an awareness ad, that person is not going to immediately see that ad and go by. They might need to see your ad over three, four months and then, when they are actually in the market for that product, they now remember your name and when they go search on Amazon, they see that sponsored product ad. They're going to click on it and buy it because they recognize the brand name and they've seen the ad before. The problem is that again, it'll usually end up being something else sponsored products or retargeting that is the last view they have. Or click before the sale. And you have been running these awareness ads but you don't know if they're being impactful. Well, now, with Amazon Marketing Cloud, you'll see that that person actually started out with the Amazon Marketing Cloud.

Liran:

And I would urge people if you're running DSP, have whoever's running DSP free, whether that's Amazon, whether that's an agency ask them to create an AMC instance for you. And the reason is because, whether or not you're going to use AMC now or not, once you create that instance, you can go back a year. You have a year's worth of data since you started creating it. So that means if in six months from now or nine months from now, you want to go back and you want to see the path to conversion, et cetera, you will have already created that instance. And then the other area where AMC is very helpful is you can now create audiences that you cannot create before because you are tracking this data. So in DSP, historically before we couldn't target people who we couldn't differentiate between people who have visited your listing or added your product to cart. Now you'll be able to retarget people who have added your product to cart. You'll be able to retarget people who have added your product to wishlist, who have searched your brand name. So lots of different audiences.

Liran:

There's something with AMC that is called Paid Insights, where you actually pay Amazon for additional information. With that you can see on average how many buys it takes somebody to become a subscribe and save customer. So you can learn that on average it's three purchases before somebody signs up. Because typically on our first purchase we don't typically sign up for subscribe and save unless we know we like the product. And sometimes it could take your second or third purchase where, like, why am I not just saving and just adding this to subscribe and save? So now you'll be able to understand that and you'll be able to actually create a custom creative and show and add to people after two purchases that says subscribe and save right, because you know that's the typical time where people do that and you're able to create those creatives. So there's a lot that you could do with this.

Liran:

It's very powerful, but I would say it's still early and people understanding it. I would say a year from now, like today, you're an early adopter If you use it. A year from now you won't be an early adopter if you use it. And also a year from now, I think it will apply more whether you're doing DSP or not doing DSP. More software tools will incorporate some data from it and you'll find that there is sort of this freemium model that if you're using software, certain tools will give you the certain templates of different audiences and different path to conversion. That is included with the software and certain tools will say okay, now if you wanna get crazy and customized because you can customize almost anything within this data you'll have fees around extracting that data. But I'm sure companies probably like Pacvue et cetera the Pacvue is, I'm sure, already incorporated AMC and are working on incorporating more and more of it and you'll see those tools continue to add those things and if you're using those software tools, you'll be able to access that data and it will become more prominent.

Liran:

So it is very exciting. Today it applies more so if you're using DSP, but I think that's going to change down the line. So it's. I think it's important that brands understand this and it will kind of change the way we look at our metrics from being focused just on ROAS to being more to having an understanding of also customer journey as well as ROAS , because again you're gonna have that sponsored brand ad that's not gonna show the ROAS attribution but you'll say, hey, I know, when I do this sponsored brand ad together with this sponsored product ad, the purchase rate is higher, and so now you're gonna be looking at these combinations and customer journey more so than just ROAS , and those that do will have an advantage because they'll be able to understand that sometimes that spending more without seeing the RoAS still equals ROAS actually on your ad spend. So it's pretty cool and I think you'll hear more and more about it over the next year or so.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, cool. So we're gonna be talking about that, perhaps at our elite workshops, so elite members can go to that one. We'll have tickets for non-elite members, if anybody's gonna be there in town. The reason why we're having it in New York is it's Amazon Unbox, which is a cool conference. I haven't been to it. This could be my first one. It was my first Amazon Accelerate last week, so that was super cool. All right. Now, switching back to advertising, I wanna ask my questions first here. So I got a list of stuff I've been waiting for to ask Leeran. But one that I've been getting a lot in I thought it was a good thing to bring out is auto campaign optimization. So you know, with auto campaigns, obviously this, almost more than any other you know, can get super out of control if Amazon is showing you for a bunch of random stuff. But I'm wondering, how do you, how do you optimize for ACoS on Campaigns?

Bradley Sutton:

Because you can get to a point where I mean I mean obviously the no-brainer thing is alright. Hey, if you should have rules in place where they're using atomic or whatever software, using is, you know, if you get, like you know, 15, 20 clicks or whatever magic number you guys pick without a sale, you know, might start negative matching. That that's that. That goes without saying, right. But the other thing you know that people can do is maybe they see some of their, their targets Not performing well, like the loose match, the close match, and they could start, you know, adjusting on an individual basis those targets.

Bradley Sutton:

Right, but if you, even if you're doing that, I've seen sometimes you can get to the point where now you're almost all the way down to like a 10 cent. You know target and just, and now you know the quality of keywords at 10 cents. You're just not doing well, but you almost got to that point because, right, so so I, what, what do you do at that point? Should you just you know what I'm gonna go back from 10 cents to a dollar just so I can get some new keywords? But like, where do you draw that balance?

Liran:

Right. So the first thing is you can also create four separate campaigns where you literally turn off Three and keep one on, so you have a set budget. So your budget is not mixed together within those, within each of those areas, because, because you might have, you know, similar products that do very well, but you might have a loose match that doesn't do well, right. So that's something you could do is separate out those four, turn one off on each campaign and then you have a dedicated budget for each one and if something is working well, you can increase the budget. If something's not working well, you can also decrease the budget. And, yes, the first thing, first thing also to recognize, is that auto, mainly, should be there for discovery, discovery tool. So, number one, you may want to allow your auto campaigns to go add a little bit of a higher ACoS, what you want overall, because you want it to be there as a discovery tool. And, yes, you want to Ultimately add negative keywords and you also want to harvest. So that means the Search terms that are converting, the aces that are converting, whatever your rule is whether it's to converge one conversion to conversion, three conversions. You want to move them over into the manual campaign. Now you can also choose to another, like personal decision, if you're going to negate that keyword in the auto campaign or not.

Liran:

Negate their pros and cons to both. If you negate it in the auto, you have full control in the manual. What if in the manual it doesn't get as much traction as it did in the auto? Right, and you're already. Now you negated in the auto and it doesn't get traction in the manual. That would be a reason not to negate in the auto campaign, but still you would ultimately have a higher bid and a more targeted bid in your manual campaign, where it should be getting traction there and not so much in the auto. Anymore, I would say the point is, don't let auto be too much a percentage of your overall spent and Maybe allow it to be somewhat of a higher ACoS because you recognize that it's a broad discovery type of tool.

Bradley Sutton:

Another situation. Let's say I've got a target, ACoS for a campaign just you know Doesn't have to be auto but my target ACoS is 40%. So you know I want my targets For also, you know, at the target level to be 40%. But on one target let's go ahead and say it's a broad, it's a broad match target. I'm at 77% now my cost per click on it is. Or my target that I had, you know the current bid was 291. Let's just say $2.91. Let's just say close call, $3. I'm looking at an exact example now. Let's say it's $3. If my cost per click is 250, right. So I'm obviously not maxing out my target. If my target is $3, right. But at this this to at this 250, I'm still at 70%. I mean right, why my target was at $3 in the first place. Let's just forget about that. I don't know what I was doing there right, but, obviously I have to go down a lot, you know you have to go down to 250 to make a difference.

Bradley:

Yeah, definitely below, below 250. But but is there, like you know, if 250 already is 77%, you know, should I already try and get or put the target at whatever, whatever 40% is gonna be, or is there value in just going down incrementally, like if I just go 250, technically it still couldn't now I was already getting 250. Right, right, I'm still gonna be at 70% or 77% ACoS. Should I just go down more and say, hey, I'm gonna go down to $2 because that's gonna get me closer to 40%, or do I start? Is there any value in? All, right, I'm gonna go to 250 and then let me go to 240 and 230. What is your thoughts there?

Liran:

There can be value in going to 230, let's say and I'll tell you what the value is the value is that the placement that you get may be better than the placement that you get at $2 and that placement can influence the conversion. So, for example, at 230, you may be at the bottom of page one at $1.70, you may be only on product pages, for example, and your conversion rate may be much less on those product pages. So there is a benefit in going incrementally and not going too fast. I would say it depends on how much it's spending and how important it is for you to cut ACoS. I would also say it's important to understand the relevancy of the keyword. If it's not such a relevant keyword and my feeling is well, it may not work. Or it's not highly relevant, it may not work. My feeling is it's not gonna work so well, probably at 240 either. Then I may just bring it down further.

Liran:

But if it's an important keyword, if I'm maintaining ranking, I would try to understand what's happening. Is it ACoS per click issue or is it a conversion issue? It could be ACoS per click issue. It could be that, yeah, three bucks 250 is expensive and it's a $12 product and my conversion rate is good. It's just ACoS per click issue. If so, I would try to bring it down more incrementally and to see what I'm comfortable with. Maybe I'm okay allowing that keyword to be at 50% ACoS ultimately. So I think it depends on the keyword, the importance of the keyword and how much I'm focused around like TACoS versus growth in sales. But the benefit you have in the incrementality is the placement is that your conversion rate may be better at a. You may just end up being on like product pages at a certain point and if you are, your visibility or clicks your conversions are gonna be a lot less, maybe based on the product than in the search results.

Bradley Sutton:

And then when you say, when you end up on product pages, it's like somebody searched that target keyword, they clicked on another product and then now you're showing up on the product page, correct, exactly because placements even when you're targeting keywords, placements are happening on search results and product pages.

Liran:

So I would say, generally speaking, with PPC you're better off making smaller, faster incremental changes and looking at data than making vast, big changes quickly.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Next thing is the flip side. Let's say my target ACoS is 40%. With what I'm getting right now, though, it's only 10%. Would it be 10 out of 10, 100% of the situations? I should always and I'm maxing out my target Should I always increase my bid Because, theoretically, I could be leaving money on the table, depending on where my placement is? Or is there a situation where I would, hey, let's just keep that 10%?

Liran:

You know I wouldn't say no. I mean I wouldn't say all the time, I would just say Because, again, it could be just helping you be more profitable. One report that you could look at is the search term impression report, because that report would give you an idea of how you rank compared to other brands in terms of impressions for that particular keyword. So, for example, you could be getting the most impressions out of any other brand and getting 60 or 70% of all the impressions. Probably not in that case, because you're maxing out the cost per click, but you want to see kind of where you are and how much more room is there to get impressions. Now, generally, I would say yes. For me, most of the time I would want to increase the bid for that particular keyword and I would want to get more market share on that keyword. But if you're very focused on profitability and this is helping your TACoS be at the target then maybe not. But what I would say, though, in that case you may want to consider let's say you don't want to increase your budgets anymore you may want to consider shifting budget. Find the stuff that's not working as well, where you can reduce the bids, and then maybe allocate it to this keyword. Generally speaking, I would say I would be likely to increase the bids on that keyword.

Liran:

If I was under my overall, I would look at it on a kind of a campaign level, not on a particular keyword level. So if my goal for that campaign is a 40% ACOS and because of this keyword on my 30, then I would definitely increase. Now if I'm at 40 still because there's other keywords that are 50 or 60, I would see maybe I need to move budget from those keywords and I should give it to this one. So I'm not increased my budget, but I'm a lot more efficient and I'm getting better sales. I would also see where's my ranking for the keyword. If I'm ranked number one, maybe I don't increase. There's no sense to increase, right. Or if I'm ranked number one, two, three, right, maybe I don't increase because I might just be cannibalizing my organic sales. But again, if I'm number 17, I'm definitely pushing on this keyword and probably what I'm doing is, if it has enough volume, I'm moving into its own campaign. I'm adding a top of search multiplier on that keyword.

Bradley Sutton:

All right Question from Jonathan. Keywords per campaign. You go from one spectrum where there's people who do single keyword campaigns. You go to another spectrum. Some people have like 50 targets. Let's just start with that part of his question first.

Liran:

So I would say we're somewhere in between, meaning your highest search volume keywords, most important keywords, we isolate really into their own campaigns and then from there, based on search volume and performance, we'll group keywords together. I would say probably up to 30 to 50 keywords is max of what I would go per campaign. If you have a lot of long tail lower volume keywords, I think that's okay. But definitely the highest search volume keywords or keywords that have sort of medium volume, I might group into groups of five to 10, for example. As far as budget per campaign, that's very dependent on what is your overall budget? What is the performance like? Right, I'm generally going to be shifting my budgets. I'm not going to just put a budget. I'm going to be shifting my budget to the best performing budget campaigns and I'm going to be maybe taking budget away from my poorest performing campaigns. So I think the budget needs to be dynamic.

Liran:

I think when your question more budget or discovery or scaling, I think in the beginning you're going to probably have more budget on your broad and phrase than on your exact match. As you uncover those best performing search terms, you're going to move more into exact and have probably more budget there. But it's very common that we find phrase match be the best performing keyword type and you'll have most of our budget on that match type. It's sort of in between discovery and very narrow targeted. But I think over time you're going to put more budget on your scaling campaigns. In the beginning you're going to put more budget on your discovery campaigns Because your scaling really should be your best performing keywords. So that's where you're going to allocate more budget to and less so on discovery, because you've already discovered a lot of what's out there initially.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, Kind of a universal. This question has been around for years. People have different opinions on this. Hey, you're doing great on sales, about to run out of stock. Do you slow sales by raising price and turning off ads and then that hurts your potentially keyword ranks before? Or do you just go hard and heavy, run out of stock and then just get back in and hopefully you still have your keyword ranks when you come back in the stock in a couple of weeks?

Liran:

I think, from a ranking perspective, it's better to run out of stock at a better BSR. I agree. I think that's the better way to go. Sometimes you're going to make a decision that, hey, I just want the profits Right, because that's what's more important to me at this point in my business. I'm going to focus more on the profits now, I'm going to reduce, I'm going to raise the price. Or sometimes you may be able to raise the price and there's so much demand that you're still driving pretty good sales and you can still raise the price someone and there's a happy medium. But I would say, from a ranking perspective and coming back in stock at a better rank, it's better to go out of stock with great sales than to slow down your sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Speaking of auto campaigns, exact campaigns, it's in my opinion I don't know if Amazon announced anything, but just in my opinion I've seen other people say the same thing where what used to be broad and what used to be exact is not like three years ago, is not the same now, where now you have an exact campaign and sometimes you're even shown for what you would have thought would have been a phrase match or even broad matching in some situations. Because of this, are you managing things differently at all, like using modifiers or things like that?

Liran:

Yeah, I would say use modifiers. Modifiers will help protected because if you use a modifier then it forces it to be a true exact modifier before each word in your keyword. But even with that, sometimes there are certain synonyms that Amazon considers the same. You just need to manage it with search terms and negative keywords and bids. But yeah, amazon is definitely trying to find ways to increase their advertising revenue. As a result, they're being more generous in what they are considering your keyword and using synonyms. So use of modifiers will help protect against that Used to be. They started doing it just in sponsor brands and then we've seen this year Amazon doing it with sponsored products also.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Another question let's say I'm trying to optimize for my target A-cost and so I make a change, because I'm trying something similar to what we were talking about. Like I'm at 70%, I'm trying to get to 40%, so I lower my bid a little bit. Now how often are you going back to that and seeing all right now I need to further because you talk about doing some incrementality in order to further adjust that. Like, is it time-based because of that attribution window where you can kind of take a look at it, or is it like maybe I just get another? I can see that in one day I got 500 impressions just because this is maybe some super high search volume keyword? Is that enough data where even a day later I'm further making changes, or once you make a change? Basically, my question is what are you looking at as far as when it's time to go ahead and optimize further? Is it impression-based or time-based?

Liran:

It's based on the data and so I would say one it depends on your budget, right? Because the more budget you have, the more data you're going to have that's coming in faster. I still wouldn't make change from one day to the next because you don't have the full attribution coming in. Even if you see, ultimately, that maybe you didn't have any sales at all, like you know right, like you just know that you didn't have orders from it, I still wouldn't make change from one day to the next. I would wait a few days. So, generally speaking, I would say it's good to be in your account two or three max times, probably a couple times a week to optimize. I think is good, because the one thing you don't want to do is make changes too often where you're just messing yourself up, and this is something we see also with sellers. They're impatient, right, because you don't want to spend money you don't need to spend, and I think everyone gets emotional when it comes to your money. But I would say two days a week is good to go in and make those optimizations. So if you did it on a Tuesday, go back in on a Saturday, or find two days a week that you go in and you're making those changes Now. Again, if you have a ton of data, a lot of spend, maybe make those two days a little closer, like Monday and Friday, or a little closer to each other. But you want to give it enough time also to get the attribution, because there will be people that and impressions. I would look at clicks and actual data of spend, not just the impressions. But people do come back and buy also, right? So if somebody you could have gotten 10 clicks today and if one or two of those become sales, maybe the costs will be fine and you have people that come back three days later. So you do really want to give some time and the attribution window to be in place. I would say most products on Amazon people do buy the same day. They're not very high-priced products, but it does also happen.

Liran:

So give yourself a few days in between changes and even if you're using software that even has rule-based things, then you can give the software days like look on Monday, look on Saturday, look on Friday and also when we do give software rules, you want to make sure when you're decreasing bids one of the things you want to make sure that you're doing just like an example that you said. The rules that we give it is lower OK, if keyword is above target ACoS, lower cost per click by 5%, let's say right, because if you lower bid you may not be reaching the cost per click like you said. So you want to make sure that if you're using a rule-based tool, that you're looking at the cost per click when you're lowering and that you give it, because a lot of times softwares will have both the ability to lower your bid or your cost per click that you lower your cost per click and yeah, we like to do it incrementally. I wouldn't want to go in and say lower by 20%, just lower the bid too much, lower 5% below, then let's see. And then the software will be doing this twice a week.

Liran:

So over a couple of weeks you are going to be significantly lowering your bid where it should be enough of a change. But I would say it's better to go a little slower than make drastic changes. Usually drastic changes are emotional and in business you want to separate yourself from some of that, which is why rule-based is good. But even if you're not using rule-based software, set up rules for yourself on how you're going to manage this based on the different circumstances. It's not a bad idea to write down for yourself what are the rules that I'm going to use to manage, if I'm managing manually as if I'm software, and what days am I going in. How much am I lowering and maybe take some of the emotion out of the management.

Bradley Sutton:

Another question, now that you know, obviously for a couple of years now, you know things like two step URLs search, find by are explicitly against Amazon terms of service. Me personally, 100% of my launch strategy is, you know, ppc. You know, and it's almost I'm almost giving it the same thing as when it was searched fine by. It's still kind of search fine by right. It's just not. You're not. You're not just trying to tell people to randomly search and stuff, which is what Amazon frowns on. But you know, I lower my price by a lot in the beginning. You know big sale price or big coupon, and then I try and do a super high top of search and then it's basically I'm trying to get people to search fine, to buy it. You know, even though I have no reviews where they're like, hey, this is a this price. You know, like, just, you know, I can't you know I can't let this go. So that's my 100% launch strategy. Now, other people I hear you know sometimes they couple it with, maybe like press releases or or perhaps even Google advertising. Right, you know as well. What about you, for you and your clients, for launch, when you're trying to launch on a certain keyword, right, are you strictly doing Amazon PPC? Are you using other techniques? If so, what?

Liran:

we're strictly doing Amazon, and we do it exactly the way you do it, meaning, first of all, the keywords that were focused on ranking. We will give them their own campaign, we will utilize top of search placement, we will recommend to our client to come with an aggressive price coupon, and we do it exactly that. The one thing we really watch for is the conversion rate. Okay, because if the conversion rate is poor, we're not going to get the ranking, and so what we focus on, once we start getting the data in, is the keywords that we're not getting that conversion rate. If it's across the board, then something on the listing side, the price or you know, we need some more reviews to come in. But if we see some keywords performing very well with a conversion rate and some not, we will pull back on those, on those that are not getting the conversion rate, and that really should be. That should very much be your focus when you're launching with those keywords are you converting? If you're converting, then you should you know you should start seeing the rankings coming in. We had a call with a client today and he said, hey, I'm not seeing the ranking. And I said to him that's because we're, that's because your conversion rates are too low and he actually just lowered the price on a product today and we're going to see if that makes an improvement. But you should be very focused on conversion rate and we've seen the ability to be able to rank, especially when you have a new product and you have this honeymoon period, just with PBC. I don't. I don't think you you have to do Google or outside traffic or anything crazy. Amazon will reward you if you are getting sales velocity plus conversion rates on those keywords.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, now for the last, you know five minutes or something. Just you know some some quick hitting strategies either on Walmart advertising, Amazon advertising, some things that that you know people you think should be definitely doing out there.

Liran:

So I would say I would say a few things. Talk about two things. Number one one thing I see that is a problem we do a lot of audits is sponsored display, vcpm campaigns. I would encourage you to relook at how much money you're spending on those campaigns. Sometimes Amazon will encourage you to have more of those campaigns. So on account recently that you had, like I don't know, 30 or 40% of their sales coming from VCPM campaigns, and I could tell you without a doubt that probably the majority of that was cannibalized organic sales that are coming from those campaigns, I would say, if you're unsure, don't run those campaigns.

Liran:

The sponsored display campaigns that I like to run are cost per click campaigns and product targeting. You can run retargeting with sponsored display on ACoS per click basis. So that's what I would do. I would not run impression based and just the explanation is the reason is impression based campaigns. Somebody can just scroll by, view it, go back to the listing and buy from a retargeting ad and it gets attributed to the retargeting ad when we don't know, since they just pass by it. We don't know if that influenced them to buy or not, since they didn't click. So I would focus on your sponsored display campaigns with cost per click.

Liran:

The other thing I would say is to the more granular you can go, the better. Separate out your branded and unbranded campaigns, separate out your exact phrase broad campaigns. Take your high volume keywords and put them in their own campaigns. The more granular you go, the more control you have. And that's, I think, one of the keys. And I do think it's important today to also use software, because more and more things will be coming out with software. You see, like the Amazon marketing stream. So if you don't have that, you should be using software that has the Amazon marketing stream, because you can see hourly data on how you are getting sales. One thing we've seen with that is generally, if you're again, if you're unsure, if you have limited budget, I would encourage you to day part and stop targeting from 12 Pacific to 5am. That's usually when everyone's budgets reset and you're going to have a higher cost per click and not any better conversion rates usually worse conversion rates at night. So that's another strategy to help you save.

Liran:

And I would say, at the end of the day, if you're managing it and you pay close attention, it's not rocket science managing ads, it's taking a look at your search term reports, taking a look at your conversion rates, managing bids, adding negative keywords. It's complex because you need to give it time and you need to pull the right reports and data, and also that sometimes people think their product, their problem, is an advertising problem. When it's not an advertising problem, it's a product problem, and that's also something we see very often. I spoke to somebody today. They sell, like a shopping cart, one of those laundry things you carry around, and they said, hey, how come it's not selling as well? Their product has about 100 something reviews. It's selling okay, but there's competitors right next to you at same or lower price with 5,000 reviews, and so, again, it's not an advertising problem, it's going to be a product problem.

Liran:

How can you differentiate your listing more from the competitors? They do actually have a great listing and I think it's actually one of the reasons why I think they're selling. They are selling fairly well with a lower review count. But also, their problem is not an advertising problem, it's a product slash, competitor review problem, and that's why the ability to reverse engineer your competitors with tools like Helium can really help you understand where your competitors are getting sales from. Also, whenever people look at their competitors. They're assuming their competitors are, even though you may not be. The competitors are profitable and selling at great margin, and that's also not always the case. People are looking to get market shares. So I think just go very granular and give ads attention. If not, maybe consider outsourcing it. But if you give it the attention and the optimization, you learn to understand it. It's very much a data driven game.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. If people want to reach out to you to get some more help with PPC or to ask you some follow up questions, how can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Liran:

Sure, thank you. You can go to incrementumdigital.com. You can also sign up for a newsletter there. You'll get our weekly newsletter. We're sharing updates, we do webinars, so you can also just sign up for the email list there just to stay up to date. And obviously you can contact us through the website. You can also follow me and Incementum Digital and myself on social media LinkedIn, Facebook and you can DM me if you have any questions.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Well, Liran, thank you so much for joining us. It'll be nice to see you again in your home stomping grounds there in New York soon and wish you all the best of success with you and your team. Please say hi to Mansour. He's been on this show before.

Liran:

Yes, thank you and the rest of your team. Thank you so much.

View Details

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week.

Amazon Sales Trends / Sales Estimates New Feature
https://www.helium10.com/blog/amazon-sales-trends-sales-estimates/

TikTok Shop to rival Amazon with early Black Friday deals
https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/tiktok-shop-to-rival-amazon-with-early-black-friday-deals-2302091/

Amazon brings generative AI to Alexa
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/20/amazon-brings-generative-ai-to-alexa/

Amazon is hiring 250,000 employees for the holidays, and making its largest ever annual investment in U.S. hourly wages
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-hiring-seasonal-holiday-employees

Amazon drops planned merchant fee as FTC lawsuit looms
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-drops-planned-merchant-fee-202022592.html

Lastly, Carrie Miller shares the training tip of the week on how you can use the BlackBox Product Targeting tab to get new keywords and PPC. Listen in as we share these crucial news, updates, and training that will surely impact your Amazon-selling and E-commerce journey.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley talks about:

00:50 - Amazon Sales Trends Tool
02:48 - Prime Big Deal Days
03:48 - TikTok Shop Black Friday
04:32 - Alexa Generative AI
05:51 - Amazon Hiring 250K
07:00 - 2% Fee Cancelled
08:48 - Listing Attributes
09:30 - Helium 10 On Twitch And Twitter
10:10 - Pro Training Tip: BlackBox Product Targeting Tab
12:27 - Catch Bradley On These Conferences

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptBradley Sutton:

New Amazon tool for sales estimates makes Helium 10 Chrome extension unnecessary. Prime big deal days is coming. Tiktok shop is starting Black Friday early. A 2% fee going away at Amazon. These new stories and much more on this edition of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz. We give you a rundown of the new stories that are going on the Amazon, wall art and e-commerce world and we give you training tips the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. All right, we got a lot of new stories. Let's go ahead and hop right into it.

Bradley Sutton:

To the first one here that is actually from seller central. You might have seen it in your seller central news section and it's entitled. Customers will now see sales trend For your eligible listings, as product listings for certain categories, including health and personal care, home and sports, will display a sales trend and Basically it's kind of like in the format of 10k plus bought in the last month. In case you guys haven't seen it. You know it's been. They've been doing tests on this a lot. You'll see right here It'll say like 50 plus bought in the past month or a hundred plus. You know the bigger listings will say 10,000 plus and there's been different tests going on Amazon where you might have seen it was weekly. Sometimes it'll show views. But this is now official. This is no longer a test. Amazon is rolling this out. Does that make the helium-tent chrome extension unnecessary for sales estimates? No, it's interesting to note that this is not even a sales estimate. What it is the number of customers that have purchased this product in the last 30 days. So that's just interesting itself.

Bradley Sutton:

If you want a, if you're a mathematical person or you just want to dive a little bit more into All of the frequently asked questions like is it at a child level? Is it at a variation level? Is it the last 30 days? Is it the last calendar month? You know what does this mean for customers? How come my listing doesn't see it? I do a super deep dive. That's like six in the morning right now when I'm recording this.

Bradley Sutton:

I stayed up the whole night actually doing this blog. I haven't even slept yet, but if you guys please reward me for my hard work. The data science team did a good job. You know getting me some data and I put together this blog. Go to helium10.com/blog and it should be probably at the top of the search results there, helium10.com/blog. Click on the one about the search or sales trend data and You'll get everything you needed to know and a whole bunch of stuff. You didn't even want to know about this new thing, but it's actually very interesting. I think it could be cool for customers, could be cool for sellers as well.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, the next news article today is you know, we talked about this a little bit earlier this week, uh, on our Tuesday podcast. By the way, guys make sure to check out that Tuesday podcast. It was a breakdown of the entirety of Amazon Accelerate. Uh, you can catch that episode at h10.me forward slash 493, uh, where we talk about Amazon Accelerate. But anyways, in that podcast I said, hey, prime big deal days is coming. It's going to be October 10th to 11th. It's kind of like you know different kind of prime day. Amazon, you know, says here in the news that you know the, the, the FBA inventory date for prime big deal days has passed. So if you try and get some inventory and now it might not make it, but you can still participate in prime exclusive discounts, uh, coupons. Obviously you know sponsored ads. So I'm just curious what? What are you guys going to be doing for, uh, prime big deal days? Uh, are you doing any lightning deals? You just doing some coupons, heavy PPC. You know it's kind of something newish. You know it's not the regular prime day, so a little bit of uncharted territories, but probably similar to that second prime day that we had last year. All right, uh.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article up here is from dexterto.com, I don't think I've ever quoted this uh news source before, but their article was entitled tick tock shop to rival Amazon with early black Friday day deals, all right. So this is interesting because they're actually going to be starting a black Friday deals as early as October 27 and they're trying to move $20 billion. Uh, it said this holiday season. You know, the tick tock shop debuted in the U? S earlier this September. We kind of talked about that on this show and, uh, be interesting to see what's going to happen. You know how many, how many of you are selling on tick tock uh shop out there and are you guys doing anything special for Black Friday?

Bradley Sutton:

Another uh, there's a lot of Amazon announcements going on um, at some kind of like release event and, anyways, this news article is from tech crunch and it's entitled Amazon brings generative AI to Alexa. Now, this article has nothing to do with Amazon. You know FBA or prime or anything. So you might be wondering why in the world am I linking to this article? Well, this is something I've been talking about for I don't know maybe a year or so, where my, my theory has been that once. I mean that's not my theory, I mean it was Amazon said they're bringing generative AI to Alexa. The part that was my theory was that, hey, once that starts happening, as it starts developing, the shopping experience is going to become exponentially more robust on Alexa. Like, the shopping experience for me right now in my Lexus is like sucks, like it's impossible to buy stuff, and so I don't think a lot of Amazon sellers are optimizing enough for Alexa. Like you probably should, but if you're not, you're probably okay, all right Cause, not that many sales are coming from Alexa. But now, with generative AI perhaps giving Alexa a boost, I would say that you know, this year we are going to start seeing some, some, some more people shop on Alexa and you're going to have to start thinking about, you know, optimizing your listings a little bit more for the Alexa experience, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article up here is actually from Amazon and it says Amazon is hiring 250,000 employees for the holidays, making it the largest annual investment in US hourly wages. Now it's interesting this is not the most they've hired, right? They say the largest annual investment in hourly wages. That's because minimum wage is ridiculous these days. I think this article talks about how they are actually the average hourly pay for these seasonal workers $20.50. That's crazy. $20 used to be like you've got a really good job and can support your family, like 10 years ago. Now $20 is like the grunt work in a warehouse kind of insane. But anyways, I always like looking at how many employees Amazon hires for the winter because it kind of like shows what their projects and are going to be Like when they don't hire hardly anybody. It's like uh-oh, there might be seen some signals where sales aren't going to be that much during the holiday. $250,000 is a pretty robust, hefty number there, so it'd be a good sign. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Next article is from Yahoo Finance and it's like it's kind of like fake news If you can hear in my voice, guys, if you're listening to this on your car or something, if you're watching this, you obviously can see my face. This is ridiculous. This irritates me about news. It says Amazon drops planned merchant fee as FTC lawsuit looms. So right off the bat. The title is like trying to paint this as something like Amazon is running away with their tail between its legs because of this FTC thing. But it has, in my opinion, literally nothing to do with each other. Right, and it's not even that big of a deal, that whole FTC thing. But that's a side topic. We've already talked a lot about that. But in this article listen to this, guys it says effective October 1st, amazon was planning to impose a 2% fee on every sale by third party sellers that ship their products themselves. Guys, that is 100% incorrect. Yahoo, you know you're not some blogger. I mean, get your stuff together. This is not right. This 2% fee was only for those sellers opting into seller fulfilled prime. Seller fulfilled prime is where you get the prime badge on your listing. As long as you're able to deliver to a customer within a few hours or within a day, or within two days and hit the the certain metrics, all right. This was not for all people doing fulfilled by merchant, like this stupid article is saying. And the rest of the article goes in this tie in the FTC thing like it has anything to do with that. So it doesn't. But the bottom line is that if you were planning to enroll in seller fulfilled prime, you don't have to pay the 2% fee, as Amazon had announced. And Amazon did announce that the reason why they're taking away the fee had nothing to do with FTC. But they're like hey, you know, we want this program to succeed, so we want to go ahead and take away that fee to get some more people involved in the program. Our next article is from seller central, or actually the last article of the day, and this is just something simple. We've been talking about this for a couple of months now. How? October 3rd, there's going to be new listing attributes, so this, this go around, has a 213 product types are going to require it. So if you just if you want to check if this is going to affect you, just going to your seller central dashboard, there will be a link to this article in your seller central dashboard and then you'll be able to see which product types you might have to take care of. So that's it for the news today.

Bradley Sutton:

You guys have been asking for us to get on different platforms that we weren't on with some of our videos and lives and content. So one thing just keep in mind, guys we are now on Twitch, all right. So if you guys have Twitch, we're going to stream our first training next week on twitch.tv. But you know, you guys probably use Twitch on some kind of app. I just look for @helium10software on Twitch. @helium10software.

Bradley Sutton:

We're doing a live broadcast next week about a new tool, new features that that helium 10 is coming out with. And also, if you guys are on Twitter we're not doing too much on Twitter, but right now I'm going to start, you know, maybe tweeting a little bit more. Find us at @H10Software all right, @H10Software on Twitter. We're also going to be doing live broadcast from there as well. All right, now for our training tip of the week. If you're wondering how to do product line extensions or perhaps find new ASINs that you can target in your product targeting ads, there's a certain tool that you can use in Helium 10. Carrie's going to show you how to use it in 60 seconds.

Carrie Miller:

Today I want to share with you a little strategy on how to find some good products to target with your pay-per-click advertising. It's actually using our BlackBox tool, which is kind of the last tool that you probably would think about, but I'm going to show you how to do this. The first thing you want to do is you want to log into your Helium 10 account and go to black box and then, under black box, you're going to click on product targeting okay. So once you're in product targeting, then you're going to take whatever ascent it is that you are going to try to, you know, boost your PPC. So this is your product I'm putting in our coffin shelf right here, and what we're going to do is we're going to click on search, okay, and this is going to actually come up with a bunch of similar products, and the idea behind this is that once you find a lot of these similar products, kind of in the same niche, you could potentially advertise on these and they could be kind of compatible products.

Carrie Miller:

So, if we look, we've got, you know, like a web floating shelf, which would be a great way to, you know, advertise on that. We have a bat shelf, we've got some mirrors that you know could potentially be a good target audience. So there's a lot of options in here that you can utilize to test this out and, you know, see which one of these is a really good idea for product targeting. In addition, as you can see, there's a lot of really cool product ideas. So if you did actually want to take your ascent and put it into BlackBox, under Product Targeting you can actually see similar items so that you can actually expand your brand and, you know, reach your the same customers that you have within your own brand. So basically, for our coffin shelf, something like a you know 3D large school ice cubes is definitely the same target market. So it's in a really simple tool, the product targeting, but it's so great for optimizing your pay per click advertising when you're doing the ascent targeting and you can also find some new products that you could potentially start selling on Amazon. So check out product targeting in BlackBox and let us know what you think.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, thank you very much, Carrie, for that tip. How many of you guys out there are using the product targeting tab in black box? I hope you are and if you haven't been, hopefully you start using it today going forward. One last thing I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling. Probably, as this is airing, I'm about to take off to go to Istanbul for Friday. We might do a little mini meetup Friday night. So reply to this If you are in the Istanbul area.

Bradley Sutton:

I'll be in Maldives this weekend recording episode 500 of the podcast. On October 17th and 19th I'll be in Vietnam, both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, at an Amazon conference. Just go to h10.me/vietnam If you're interested in tickets there, and then directly from there. On the 19th to the 23rd I'll be in Seoul, Korea, Amazon Seller Kingdom Conference. You can find more information on that h10.me/kconference for that one, and then I'm flying directly from there to New York, amazon unbox. It is now officially sold out for in person tickets, but if you just search for Amazon unboxed New York, you'll be able to get virtual tickets to that event. And if you're in the area on the 23rd we will be doing a Helium 10 Elite workshop for Elite members, but if there's not enough Elite members who go, I might open up some scholarship spots for some of you out there. Anyways, guys, that's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the news. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

View Details

In this episode, we've got all the inside scoop on Amazon Accelerate 2023 that you might have missed! Our host, Bradley Sutton, dives deep into the exciting announcements and their implications for Amazon FBA sellers. From the eagerly awaited dates for the next Prime Deal Days to cutting-edge AI features like Generative AI for building your listings inside Amazon and the AI-backed Seller Messaging Assistant, we've got you covered. Plus, we explore game-changing updates, new tools, and features like the Amazon Shipping ground package delivery service, Amazon Supply Chain updates with inventory management, customer loyalty analytics dashboard, and sustainability solutions that are set to reshape the Amazon seller landscape. We also talked about the Buy with Prime integration inside Shopify and shared relevant numbers on how D2C E-commerce businesses are crushing it with this new feature. Tune in to discover how these developments could impact your Amazon business and stay ahead of your competitors. It's a must-listen episode for anyone in the world of Amazon selling and don't forget to let us know what you think of these announcements!

Also, don't forget to catch Bradley, Helium 10, and Pacvue in the Amazon unBoxed Event in New York this October 24th to up-level and up-skill your Amazon advertising knowledge.

In episode 493 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about:

02:05 - Dates For The Next Prime Deal Days Released!
02:40 - Featuring A Seller Success Story From A Helium 10 User
03:45 - Enterprise Solutions Integrated In Partner Seller App
04:09 - Emerald Notifications
05:23 - AI-backed Seller Messaging Assistant
06:35 - Generative AI For Listing Building
07:54 - Bradley’s Feedback On This AI Feature After Tests
13:22 - A New Seller Homepage
13:40 - One Page Listing Management Page
14:23 - Buyer Abuse Protection
16:05 - Veeqo Multi-Channel Shipping
17:01 - Amazon Shipping Ground Package Delivery Service
18:44 - Supply Chain By Amazon (More Than Amazon Global Logistics)
20:54 - Automatic Inventory Replenishment with FBA
23:48 - Let’s Get Into Day 2 Announcements
24:43 - Customer Loyalty Analytics Dashboard
26:26 - Fit Insights Tool
28:45 - Voice Of The Customer Dashboard
30:16 - Two-Tap Ratings
31:50 - New Seller Wallets
32:10 - Buy with Prime with Shopify
33:28 - Interesting Stats From Buy with Prime integration with Shopify
35:18 - Potential Sales Lift
37:16 - View In Your Room Feature Improvements
38:42 - Ships On Product Packaging Program
40:46 - Sustainability Solutions Hub
41:24 - What Do You Think Of All These Announcements?
42:29 - Catch Bradley, Helium 10, and Pacvue In The Amazon Unboxed Event

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Did you miss Amazon Accelerate? Don't worry. In this episode I'm giving you guys everything that you missed out on all the announcements and how it affects US sellers. How cool is that? Pretty cool. I think. We know that getting to page one on keyword search results is one of the most important goals that an Amazon seller might have. So track your progress on the way to page one and even get historical keyword ranking information and even see sponsored ad rank placement with keyword tracker by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash keyword tracker.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am Your host Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and I'm going to be going over everything that happened at Amazon Accelerate. Well, maybe not everything, but all the key points. There might be a couple things I missed, but there's a lot of interesting things that were announced at Amazon Accelerate. I'm going to keep it real. Like I say, this is BS free. No, there might be a couple things I think is not that exciting. I'm going to keep it real. Let you guys know, it's just my opinions here. So I wanted to give you guys kind of like a rundown of all the like I don't know Like 25 different announcements or 30, or even more than that. As you notice, I'm wearing my old school Helium 10 shirt here and the reason is because back when Helium 10 used to use this logo, you never would have gotten me to say, like in a million years, that Amazon would be announcing the kind of things that they have been at Amazon Accelerate the last couple years. I mean like the things that they're dropping, that I'm going to talk about today, and the things that they talked about last year. It was, you know, I would have bet a million dollars if I was a betting person that no, the Amazon would never give this kind of analytics or Amazon would never do this or that. But, man, you know, hats off to Amazon because they're really trying to come through for the sellers.

Bradley Sutton:

So before I get started here, real quick kind of breaking news. If you didn't, you know here last week it's not Amazon Prime Day, but what is it called like? Prime Deal, that Prime Deal days prime something or other? Anyways, the second Prime Day, what a lot of people are calling the second Prime Day. They dropped the dates, for it's actually going to be October 10th and 11th. So mark your calendars. If you guys were preparing for deals or things like that, October 10th and 11th is, I think it's called deal day, something like that. So you know, normally I drop that in the weekly buzz, but I'll give you guys that information a couple days early.

Bradley Sutton:

Alright, let's go ahead and hop into Amazon Accelerate. I was there. It was my first time at Amazon Accelerate and it was actually cool. They actually started off with like the whole entire event was started off with a Helium 10 customer. Alright, so Hemlock Park is a customer that you know we've talked about. He's actually been on the podcast Mikey from there and they did this like full profile in front of everybody about how his business is and you know how he makes these candles and you know, really, really cool to see you know Helium 10 customer front and center, like that. But you know, let me know what do you guys think? Like what if Amazon would ask you to, like you know, show your brand, you know, would you be down to do that? You know, so many sellers, I think, are afraid of showing their brand to the whole entire world, literally like now, everybody knows what, what Mikey's products are, right. So just something to think about. You know what? Would you take the publicity that you know coming on full stage from Amazon, or would you be like now, I'm good, amazon, you go pick somebody else, alright?

Bradley Sutton:

First, couple of announcements you know wanted to talk about for Accelerate nothing that exciting. One of them is was Enterprise Solutions. They announced that they had 15 more software companies and solutions that are integrated into their seller partner App Store. That the seller partner App Store is like what Helium 10 and other tools like it are connected to you, but now they're connecting with like enterprise level, you know once, like QuickBooks even so, if you use QuickBooks for accounting, that's actually now integrated into the seller partner App Store. Another announcement was Emerald Notifications. Alright, so Emerald is this beta program that are doing, where some of these seller apps like you know Helium 10 can deliver notifications about things that are happening in our software in your seller central dashboard. Some of you guys might have gotten an email about that a little while ago and you guys thought it was spam or something like that. So it's real. You know Helium 10 is part of that program amongst many others.

Bradley Sutton:

That's what they announced at Amazon Accelerate, and basically the way that they described is they said hey, we're trying to make it easier for you to manage and act on key business updates from your third party apps. That was word for word, verbatim from their announcement. Now, if you're wondering how do you activate it in your account, let me just show you how. Go to your seller central account and then you are going to want to go to apps and services and then manage your apps. Alright, once you do that, you're going to get to the other page here and it'll have all your you know software that you're connected with, and you're going to have to find Helium 10 and hit reauthorize alright. So you're going to want to hit reauthorize after doing that or whatever other apps that you have that you can connect to, and then what's going to happen is you'll now start being eligible for those notifications, alright.

Bradley Sutton:

The next announcement was an AI back seller messaging assistant, and what this is is for customer service. Basically, you know how customers, if they have a question about their shipping or a question about the product you know those kind of questions go directly to Amazon. That's not anything new. That's always been the case, one of the advantages of Amazon. You don't have to take care of a lot of your customer service, like hey, where's my shipment? Like I don't know, amazon's one who shipped it right, you don't have to worry about those kind of things. But anyways, amazon is integrating AI into there in order to save even more of the questions and so, like now, it's going to be almost instantaneous, like somebody says, hey, where's my shipment? And AI is instantly answering them, saying, hey, here's the shipping and here's where it's going to go, or here's, you know, if you're eligible for a refund, all kinds of generic questions they are. Now have an AI that powers, instead of having to wait for a person you know might take some time to answer the questions and you know, theoretically speaking, this might help because you know, maybe in that time that a buyer is having to wait for the answer. Maybe they just decided to cancel their order or like it right. So hopefully, hopefully, this will, you know, kind of lessen those.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the first big announcement of the day that got, you know, people kind of excited was about AI and listing billing. It was kind of funny when they first were announcing that they were going to announce that they were bringing it on the stage. And I won't forget, like they had the like the product manager for there. It's like this Amazonian, like his 50s and 60s, and he's like running out there like he's you saying, bolt to the stage. And he was like super excited. Like I was sitting there in the front row, I thought he was going to do like a crowd dive or something he was running so fast, but hey, he was excited. The crowd got excited because they really hyped up this AI tool that you know we talked about on the weekly buzz a while back.

Bradley Sutton:

So what does this consist of? This announcement of their AI listing builder tool? Well, they announced a press release also. It says Amazon launches generative AI to help sellers write product descriptions. And so, basically, it's going to, you know, very similar to what, you know, helium 10 has has had for a while in listing builder. Basically, what they're saying is hey, right here, word for word, says to get started, sellers only need to provide a brief description of their product, in a few words or sentences, and then Amazon will generate high quality content for the review. Sellers can refine these if they want to, or they can directly submit the automatically generated content to the Amazon catalog.

Bradley Sutton:

Now you know, I'm going to raise my Bradley Sutton flag, my BS flag, a little bit here, especially when they say you know, really high quality. I don't think it's there yet. I'm not trying to throw Amazon under the bus. I have very strong faith that it's going to get there. You know, remember, this is not Amazon like creating their own. You know their own. You know magic system here they're probably using. You know AI tools out there, just like you know helium 10 uses. You know chat, gpt.

Bradley Sutton:

But they tried to make it seem like, you know, for example, they gave a, an example here where you can just enter mouse pad with gel wrist right and then you'd be able to get like this, full, full listing. No, that's not the case Now. I tested it like we had this custom or this, this kind of case study I'm doing where I've made at least coffin shaped bath tray and I actually just, you know, actually threw in, you know, a description that was not just like five or six words, you know, just about four or five sentences and the output that it gave me. It just copied the input that I said in the description and that was the product description and then it copied it again and that was the bullet point number one and there was only one more bullet point and then there was no more bullet points in the title. Let me see if I could show it to you guys here. In the title it called it 32 inch black plastic coffin bathtub tray. All right, now the cool thing is hey, it adds spooky decor. I actually know that that is one of the main keywords here, spooky decor, but it called it plastic. I didn't say it was plastic. And then, even though that was the title, when you go to the description, the second bullet point or the first bullet point somewhere here it says hey, this is made with wood, so you got it right once. But in the title.

Bradley Sutton:

So, guys, this is not, do not expect this yet yet to be. You know some all encompassing thing that's going to. You know, allow you to just snap your fingers and create listings. It obviously needs a lot of work If you're interested in using AI. For now I would stick with listing builder. You know that exact same listing of a test for the coffin tray. I actually created it in listing builder and I put that. You know, very similar, prompt. But obviously the difference is, you know, in listing builder I can add all of my keywords that I had found from Cerebro you know that are relevant to that niche, and then you know, listing builders try to incorporate those keywords, which is still very important. You know, for the Amazon algorithm that you, so you can get searchable. So I'm curious, you know, maybe the reason why it made such a terrible listing is because there's not that much data, you know, on coffin bath trays, and so it was kind of struggling. But maybe if I tried to do like collagen peptides, who knows, maybe I could just write collagen powder and it would make this amazing, amazing listing for me. Now, that being said, that tool might not be at its peak yet.

Bradley Sutton:

However, they were giving a sneak peek at some pretty exciting announcements. They said coming soon, sellers are going to be able to submit a URL or a photo of a product and then the AI can generate reviews somehow. So you know, in my mind they were kind of saying, without really saying it maybe you have a dot com business and you've got this Shopify listing or maybe even, who knows, maybe a listing on another website like Walmart. You enter that in and then it could create an actual Amazon listing. You know that'd be pretty cool If that happened, even just like an image of a product and it would create a listing. That is pretty cool. And another thing that they said is is it's going to be available for existing listings to edit it. You know, right now it's if you want to test this out. It's only available to be done with a brand new listing if you're going to start it. But they do say that it's going to come in the future.

Bradley Sutton:

Now this is something that had me a little bit worried. All right, let me read this next announcement that they said. They said hey, we'll also enrich your existing listings to ensure your products have all the details that customers want to help you drive more sales. We'll use AI to automatically generate missing attributes. First of all, that's excellent. I'm not worried about that at all. You know like that would be great for those attributes. You know, sometimes we don't know all the attributes that are needed in the back end and then we have the missing and we could be suppressed and stuff. So if Amazon AI can do that, beautiful, we'd love. We'd love to see that. But here, check this out.

Bradley Sutton:

The second part We'll also use AI to automatically generate and improve titles, bullet points and descriptions based on data in Amazon's catalog. You'll be able to review any changes and make edits if desired. Now, that part has me worried because we all know that. You know, sometimes when Amazon kind of changes your title, it's not always great and you got you know like what if, all of a sudden, for my product, amazon use that AI thing that I just showed you guys and it wants to call my coffin bath tray, which is made of wood, a plastic coffin tray? And just terrible listing. So hopefully these things are not going to happen until their AI is a little bit more robust, which I'm sure it is, you know. But the second part is I definitely want to be able to click a button that says no, I do not want to implement those changes because you know all you helium 10 users out there, 99% of you are going to be better at making the listing than any AI. I'll just tell you that right now, ai, as far as if you're talking about optimizing your listing, for you know the algorithm and things like that All right, like, like you know, you've got all the data. You know even more data than the AI is going to have. You know, I know that sounds kind of like a audacious thing to say, but you know, those of you guys who know, know, know what's up. You know, like you guys can, can, you know, look across different categories of different keywords? And I think the technology for AI to do that is still too far off yet. But anyways, hopefully they're not going to be automatically just changing our listings without letting us know. I don't think they're going to do that.

Bradley Sutton:

Another minor announcement that they did was about the seller homepage. You know most of you guys were opted into that new seller homepage and one of the benefits they said of this new homepage is that you can take away those widgets. You know, sometimes the seller central homepage had all kinds of like little things that you know just cluttered the screen. But now you can, you can hide those. So they talked about that in case you guys didn't know. Another thing that kind of teased it's not ready yet they talked about how you know we have all kinds of different listing dashboards in order to. You know, there's one for fixing inactive listings, there's one for managing listings. There's a dashboard to improve your listing. So what they're working on is a new one page, you know, catch all everything that has to do with your listings in seller central and it's going to have the actions that you need to take and everything's basically beyond that page. And I guess they have the beta program going right now and it said that, you know, with this beta group, sellers are being able to take actions 40% faster than the current way of having to go to all these different listing management pages.

Bradley Sutton:

Another announcement they made was buyer abuse protections. You know we definitely like that. We know, although we always know that there's there's some bad players out there on the customer side and so they're implementing AI and other things in order to help kind of detect that. They quote seller selling partners can leverage Amazon's machine learning based buyer risk evaluations and specialized abuse risk investigations to protect your business. All right, so that's a bunch of fancy. You know press release kind of words there. But in a nutshell, the way they explained it is this is gonna help protect you against fraudulent orders, fraudulent claims. It says it's gonna potentially save millions of dollars on refunds and actually probably the point that I think got some applause from people, that says they announced that to address the issue of reviews, amazon has worked to automate and sanitize the sanitize I love that word, that's literally their word, that they said on stage to sanitize the process of suppressing reviews for abusive accounts in real time. All right, so we don't know exactly in the past how the Amazon kind of policed reviews, but you could see it happening, like, if you're using the Helium 10 Chrome extension, you ever look at the review history of a product and then you'll notice that all of a sudden 3,000 reviews got lost and then 2,000 reviews got added back. You probably seen that and were thinking that was a Helium 10 mistake or something. No, what was happening was Amazon would just like quarantine thousands of reviews or hundreds of reviews at a time and I guess, like you know, do some kind of audit on it and then just put back the ones that were okay. So if this, if I'm understanding this correctly, that process in the future might be now in kind of like a real time.

Bradley Sutton:

Another announcement that you know may not affect a lot of you guys there's this Amazon company called I think it's called VCO, v-e-e-q-o and it's like a multi-channel shipping software. So kind of like you know me, I don't use that, I use like Snapscom, but it's very similar to that where it integrates with your seller central and then you could, you know, print shipping labels and things like that. And so they made an announcement that you know they've negotiated the cheapest shipping rates in the business and usually you can only get like the same price, no matter, you know, if I use Snapscom or if I'm using I don't know like ShipStation or something like that. Right, it's almost always the same exact price, like even my Snapscom price is the same as if I buy postage or UPS ground from Amazon. But if you use VCO, you can actually save an additional 5% off by getting credit. So that's like another announcement that they made. So if you use VCO or if you're interested in that, make sure to check that out.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the next big announcement was a launch of Amazon shipping. All right, so Amazon shipping is basically a new program where they're kind of gonna be be, you know, competing with FedEx and UPS. Now this I found very interesting because you know it's been, it's been rumored to happen for a long time and now it is happening. You know, in some cities there's only like 15 cities and basically this is gonna be just just what you think is a UPS and FedEx. You know like it's a package delivery service to to fulfill not only just your Amazon like fulfilled by merchant orders, but you can technically fulfill anything. You know like you've got a dot com website and you wanna have Amazon actually pick up the shipment and then deliver it in like two to five days, including Saturdays and Sundays, at a low cost and then no extra fees for residential or weekend delivery. You wanna be able to track the packages in real time, get photo on delivery when the order is delivered. This is now coming. You know you're gonna be able to do that. So again, you don't even have to like be a you know Amazon Prime seller, fba seller to take advantage of this.

Bradley Sutton:

Now a couple of things I'm wondering about is you know how you can't do like drop shipping or shipping from Amazon for Walmart? You know I used to. I used to make oh my goodness, I made hundreds of thousands of dollars drop shipping like Walmart to Amazon and vice versa. I mean it's curious, like would you be able to use Amazon shipping as a shipper and fulfill stuff you're selling Walmart? I would assume. No, I would assume Walmart would not want that. But anyways, you know if you sell on other platforms. You know this could be something that you can use.

Bradley Sutton:

Another big announcement was Amazon supply chain, or they called it supply chain by Amazon, and automated solution to help so it was quickly and reliably ship products around the world. So this is kind of like they were talked about this as being an end to end system of shipping where it goes all the way from your you know factory you know picking up at the factory, you know getting it out of the country wherever it's gonna be importing through customs, you know all the way to Amazon and it takes it to another level. This is like more. We're talking about more than just through what Amazon global logistics was. Some of the things that they talked about in their press release was that these new prices for this new system are gonna reflect this counts of up to 25% on cross-border transportation that it said. You're also gonna have a streamlined domestic inbound transportation to AWD. All right.

Bradley Sutton:

Awd is the Amazon warehousing they're through with their partnered carrier program. All right, so you can be able to save 25% on the already lower cost that you might have been having. So you're gonna have an expanded AWD offering with reduced prices. Those of you who are already using it, the AWD rates are gonna be now 80% lower than FBA storage fee, so that AWD is kind of like using Amazon as a 3PL, if I were to try and oversimplify it. But if you're doing AWD, compared to maybe you were just storing things in FBA and getting long-term fees, you're gonna save 80%, which is kind of a pretty impressive right.

Bradley Sutton:

They're gonna have new multi-channel distribution capability and what that means is that Amazon selling partners will sell across multiple who sell across multiple sales channels, including online and brick and mortar. Keeping everything in stock is a challenge, so this is going to be able to move your inventory in bulk from AWD Amazon's warehousing to any sales channel so that you can replenish across the board, not just Amazon. So that's gonna be something coming. And something that I found interesting was automatic inventory replenishment with FBA all right. So if you're using this whole supply chain system, they're gonna be like replenishing inventory into the fulfillment centers, like from AWD, without you having to forecast.

Bradley Sutton:

So, again, color me skeptical at first, just because I'm like, hey, I've seen some of Amazon's inventory forecasting recommendations and in the past it's been kind of trash in my opinion. Sorry, you know Amazon, but Amazon's definitely improving in that and so. But this would be interesting. Like I'd be curious as to what the algorithm that they're gonna use, how it's gonna work. But imagine a world where you don't even have to like worry about sending your inventory to Amazon Prime. You used to have like, hey, I'm ordering 10,000 units from my factory in China. It's going to Amazon's warehouses and I can just gonna trust Amazon to put them into FBA. You don't fulfill your orders from. You don't fulfill your orders directly from AWD to the customer. It has to go to FBA warehouses first. But imagine a world where you're not going to have to worry about that anymore. So that would be kind of interesting as well.

Bradley Sutton:

So there's another you know interesting announcement that happened on day one. I mean, I can't believe we're still on day one here. Couple other things from day one. There was escalate. My case was something that was in beta where you know there's gonna be like a button in seller essential where you can like escalate if you're having trouble with support. That's coming soon and that includes talking to a live support agent. It's something funny.

Bradley Sutton:

Seller poll you guys ever see those seller polls in your seller essential dashboard? Well, you know, they ask it. Hey, guys, please keep providing feedback. Now I'll keep it real here. Most of those polls have been pretty, pretty good lately, but sometimes we get a kick out of the ones Like I actually saved one of my all time favorites.

Bradley Sutton:

This was, you know, a while back. It says my account is safe from being suspended unexpectedly. Strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree. So, like you know, we all made fun of some of these polls like this that people would get back in a day because I don't think any of us thought that we were safe from being suspended. But you know, honestly, if I were to be honest, I have been suspended unexpectedly. That was like a good four or five years ago. I think was the last time that happened. You know, if I were to get my sentiment here, you know I put probably strongly disagree. You know three years ago when I took this screenshot, but maybe now I'd be like I neither agree or disagree, like I still see. You know horror stories out there, but you know I haven't been suspended in a while and now Amazon has new systems in place that actually, where they would call you before they suspend you. So that didn't exist three or four years ago. So you know they're getting better. But anyways, the point being, don't just laugh at these polls. These are important. Most of them are important for you to get some to give Amazon your feedback.

Bradley Sutton:

All right now, going to day two, a couple again minor announcements that I'm not sure affect much of you. One was called flexible customer financing, aka FCF program. You're gonna be able to enable your customers to purchase your eligible product's interest fee using installment options. So, like you know, maybe like you got a $200 product or $300 product, you can. It sounds like you're gonna be able to activate this like, hey, buy now, pay later, kind of thing sounds like. But the important part of this is that if customers opt into that, they don't have to pay right away. But guess what? You get the funds right away, if I understand this correctly. So that would be pretty cool, you know, because that would kind of suck if, yeah, let people buy this $1,000 thing and paid off over six months and you're getting, like, payments for it over six months. That would not fly right. So that would be kind of cool if this can help your sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Another announcement is that there's now a customer loyalty analytics, or there's going to be a customer loyalty analytics dashboard, so it allows you to segment customers based on loyalty and analyze, segment purchase patterns and perform targeted engagement to increase your overall lifetime customer value. So they put out a press release on this and it's pretty interesting because it says, hey, new features will give sellers a comprehensive understanding of the customer sentiment for existing products from reviews and also returns. And it gave an example like hey, there's an outdoor recreation brand, they're trying to design a new tent. They'll easily be able to understand what drives customer complaints and satisfaction with the tents today. Like so it might give you like a niche kind of analysis. And it says upcoming enhancement to the tool will provide the ability to select different time periods, analyze trends over time, benchmark customer sentiment against best sellers in the category. You know that benchmarking thing sounds pretty cool and so this is something to look out for that's going to be available later this year in the US, uk, germany, france, italy and Spain, and then Japan to follow, and, instead of localized insights, will also provide a deeper understanding of customer preferences in the country. So it's not just like looking at, you know a category across all of Amazon, but you're looking at a country basis. So again, something interesting, cool announcement to look forward to.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing that Amazon release is something called fit insights tool. It's going to be backed by AI and this is for those of you who are mainly like in the apparel category, you know, which is historically one of the, you know, the one that has the most returns and issues and with reviews and things like that. But it's going to be analyzing the reviews and the size charts and kind of like how people identify themselves as what size they are and then compare it to like what size you're saying the product is, or, yeah, your shirt or socks or whatever, and then it's going to give you like suggestions, like you know what you know you probably should move your size tier up a little bit, because people who say that they're waist 38, you know they're complaining about your product because they say it's too big. So you might want to, you know, put it, call this a size 36 instead of a 38 or whatever the case may be. So you know I don't sell in the apparel, so this doesn't affect me at all. But what about you? You know you guys who are selling leggings or shirts or pants or things like that. You know, I'm sure you guys have all kinds of crazy horror stories about return. So if AI can help with that process you know it's called again, it's called fit insights. It's going to be available a beginning in October. Look out for more announcement on that. We'll probably have that in the weekly buzz.

Bradley Sutton:

Another minor announcement that has to do with Amazon warehouses, called computer vision based detection. All right, so they gave this demo where they're showing like vision technology where things are going on the conveyor belts, going to you know orders and stuff, and then this AI is going to like see if there's a problem with, like, an expiration date, somehow, like on the package, or maybe the box is damaged, right, and then it's going to stop it from going to the customer. So I have, you know, face value seems okay. I'm just not fully convinced this is going to make a huge impact. I think the thing that all of us are more concerned about is when products go back to Amazon. You know it's like can we please take a look at these boxes and obviously realize that the customer didn't put the pack back in the box or it's used or things like that. Please don't put it back in inventory. This is a start. This is a start, though, you know, because you know, sometimes maybe like a forklift runs over a package, but it's still somehow it gets on the conveyor belt and then gets to the customer and they get upset because they get a super damaged box and then they return it. So in that situation, this will probably kind of like help, help with that, with that kind of stuff, and then, starting in 2024, you'll actually get a report on all the packages that Amazon kind of like stopped, you know, thanks to this new robotic vision thing that it has.

Bradley Sutton:

Voice of the customer dashboard was their next announcement. That's actually something that exists now, but it talked about what is coming to this dashboard. Basically, they said they're going to launch three new, improved features that will give you more insights into what's going on to help you build customer loyalty, and these include key phrases from customer feedback. I'm not sure if that means reviews, because you know customer feedback is something different than reviews, so I'm not completely sure about that. Number two, category benchmarking and trend analysis to give you the tools to compare your performance against similar products. And then, number three, deeper key performance metrics broken down by customer feedback score. Quote unquote was part of their announcement for that. So if you're using that VOC, or voice of the customer dashboard. Look out for those three enhancements soon.

Bradley Sutton:

Add to cart seller profile pages. That was another announcement. You guys know what the seller profile page is. That's where you click on the storefront, you know from a listing, and then it takes you to the page where the feedback is and the address of the seller and stuff. Well, there's nothing that allow you to necessarily buy the product before, but now, as you can see, they have an add to cart button Now for the product that maybe they were clicking on. So that's something that's already new. And then they talked about potentially, you know, maybe even having some other cross-selling where it has other products right there on this page that somebody could add to cart.

Bradley Sutton:

Another announcement I really didn't understand. I wish I could have followed up on this, but it was called two tap ratings and in this session or not session, but in this announcement they were talking about how two tap ratings simplifies the seller rating process and customers have indicated that seller ratings are a critical data point in their shopping journey. So two tap ratings eliminates the written feedback requirement, simplifying the end to end review experience. So that's what the announcement was, but I'm like, wait a minute. Hasn't there just been this two tap rating for like a couple of years now, which is why the number of ratings is so much higher than the number of written reviews?

Bradley Sutton:

So I'm not exactly sure what this announcement was. Maybe it's about from the actual write a customer review button on orders, like if you were to open up your mobile app right now, your Amazon buyer app, and then you know, hit an order and says write a review, you kind of do there have to leave a written review, I think. So maybe that part is gonna be changed. But I know there's like a page where you can go where Amazon just gives you these messages like hey, rate this product, you don't have to write nothing, you just like click the rating right there and that's it. So I'm not exactly sure what this announcement is, but my speculation is that from the write a review button there, you can just start leaving ratings there, but this might increase the number of ratings you know you get, which is, you know, for some customers or for some of you guys. You guys would love that. Some others were like man, this kind of sucks, I barely get any written reviews now and I really want written reviews. So maybe some of you think that's a negative. Another day.

Bradley Sutton:

Two announcement was that a seller wallet where it's this is coming, where you can take your funds you know, your before you get, actually get dispersed and then you can use it to, like you know, make a wire transfer to your, to your vendors or your suppliers, things like that. You know we've had that with a group Alta, helium, 10, alta for a while, but now it's coming to a seller central. Next announcement was a little bit bigger, so it was kind of like there's a little bit of thunder being stolen because they announced it, the, you know, a couple of weeks ago about the Shopify and buy with Prime. But they talked a lot about buy with Prime. The thing that was like shock, shocking was they actually brought out the VP, or a VP of Shopify to the Amazon accelerate stage. So he actually came right on stage and even the, even the Amazonian who introduced him, was like hey, you know, a year ago I wouldn't probably not have imagined bringing this person on stage. And that was because, as we've talked about in the weekly buzz before, they had all kinds of beef. You know, in the old days, you know, shopify wanted all that smoke. They were. They were like saying, hey, if you use buy with prime on Shopify, you're against our terms of service and this and that. So, yeah, that's kind of like nobody would have ever guessed that a VP of Shopify would be on stage at Amazon accelerate, but they were talking about buy with prime. And so, in general, you know, regardless of it was Shopify or not, buy with prime has been out, you know, for a year now. They talked about how some of the stats for buy with prime, you know what kind of stats it's had for for sellers. For example, one brand said that nine out of every 10 buy with prime orders were from customers new to their brand. A newer feature was buy with prime cart is starting to see early success. So before it was kind of like if you had buy with prime, it was just for one product. But now they're rolling this out where you can, like you know, have multiple Amazon or, you know, fba supplied products and then you can actually add them to the cart and then the customer on Shopify or whatever, woocommerce or whatever, can go ahead and check out instead of just having to buy them one by one and the this, this, this feature the merchants who use it say that they increased a 15% increase in buy with prime units per order. Another announcement from the buy with prime is that they introduced you know, or they talked how they introduced reviews from Amazon so that you can display your Amazon reviews on your website at no additional costs, and they said that early results show that merchants who who added the Amazon reviews to their website have 38% increase in shopper conversion. So this is especially probably for those who are newer, have new websites and have zero reviews on there. And then another thing that they announced was buy with prime assist, which gives merchants the option to offer 24, seven cost post order customer service through Amazon at no additional costs, using a real time chat feature. So, yeah, this was definitely interesting to see.

Bradley Sutton:

You know, I've never used by with prime and never even had a my own. I mean like not in like 20 years I haven't had my own website as far as my Amazon, my Amazon products go. So what about the rest of you? Has anybody of you guys out there use by with primer ready for, like, maybe WooCommerce or another website? Be curious to see. You know what you guys, you know how that's worked out for you.

Bradley Sutton:

Another couple announcements, just really quick. Let me just speed through these last few ones here. There's the potential sales lift. You guys ever seen that from the dashboard? It's like where, where Amazon will tell you hey, you know, if you use a plus content, you know you can make a gazillion dollars. You know, I kind of like make light of that. But yeah, I think a lot of us were like this is such nonsense. You know, like I remember one time it was something yeah, put a plus content in your pink coffin shelf and you'll increase sales by $2,000 a month. I'm like, what are you talking about, bro? Like there's, there's not even $2,000 of pink coffin shelves sold in a year. That's like wrong. So that's probably why a lot of us wanted to even hide some of those widgets on the seller central dashboard back in the day, which is what they you know they we talked about earlier today.

Bradley Sutton:

But let me tell you guys it's improved. You know I'm not. I'm not again, I'm not trying to throw Amazon on the bus. I just want to show you guys that Amazon actually gets better. I actually haven't looked at those in a long time and I'm looking at it live right now where it says under growth opportunities. Hey, this coffin egg tray says if you increase improved conversion by create, creating a plus content, you could have an $88 sales lift over 90 days. That sounds reasonable. That's like four egg trays. You know, if I put a plus content could I increase sales by four, eight trays. That sounds very reasonable, but then again it's not fully completely working. That coffin bath tray test I said if I put a plus content I'm going to get an $8 and 66 cents sales lift. I'm like this is a $4 product. How am I going to get an $8 sales lift? It's not perfect, but, guys, it is getting better. Don't just overlook it. If you're like me, who are just like, oh, I'm just going to ignore all of those because they're so far off, I think their algorithms that they have working on it is definitely a lot better. So so make sure to check that out. And anyways, the announcement that they had was this potential sales lift is going to be available for a lot other kind of things like manager experiments and 20 other catalog attributes. So 20 other things they're going to be. They're going to give you a little thing that says, hey, if you do this to each of those 20 things, you could get this kind of sales lift.

Bradley Sutton:

Another cool feature they talked about was view in your room table top. So you guys ever seen the helium 10 coffin shelf or other products like furniture? And then it has a button where it says view in your room, but it puts it on the floor right, like it's mainly for like chairs and tables and stuff, and then you can kind of it's using augmented reality for your product and then you can just kind of like with your mobile app see how that product looks in the room. Well, now they said, hey, this is going to, we're rolling out the room table top feature. So instead of just looking how it would look on the floor, you're like who's going to put a coffin shelf on the floor? You know it's going to be like hey, put it on this countertop or this egg tray, how does it look in your kitchen island, and things like that. So this is coming soon.

Bradley Sutton:

So in the past it wasn't something you opted into or or could ask Amazon to give you, like the helium 10 coffin shelf. We didn't do anything special. It just all of a sudden started showing up with that augmented reality. So I have a feeling based on what they were saying at Accelerate that there's now going to be some kind of controllability you're going to have where you can potentially opt into the program or send them like 3D images or something and get into there. So we actually have some follow up meetings with that department to try and see, you know, how maybe helium 10 can can help in this. But that would be pretty cool for those of you who have products that go on table tops or counter tops or things like that, being able to integrate augmented reality for your customers who have the mobile app.

Bradley Sutton:

Another thing honestly I was not excited about it all, it's actually kind of scared a little bit was ships in product packaging program. All right, so it's allowing you the opportunity, it says, to ship customer orders in your own custom branded packaging without additional Amazon boxes. All right, now this could go both ways. Already, this happens sometimes and actually, you know, some of us are kind of upset when it might happen, like if you guys have like some super fancy gift box or like some nice, really nice packaging, you don't want Amazon just taking that and then slapping all their logos and and or their logos, but they're they're, you know, slapping their shipping labels and stuff on it and then having that really nice package getting all scuffed up and then it's like all torn up by the time it gets the customer. And so you know like right now I'm actually doing a brand new coffin shelf package where it's like a box, shape like a coffin and it's going to be like a super nice giftable thing. But if Amazon ships in that box, you know that kind of sucks. Now, where this is better is you know Amazon might be charging you extra shipping because it has to use extra packaging.

Bradley Sutton:

So this, this article or this announcement where they talk about how, because of the ability now to ship in your own packaging in the future, maybe it's going to save you in the fulfillment costs. But I don't know for me. I most of my products. I don't want that. There's a couple of products I have that that I don't really care about the packaging much, and you know they could go ahead and slap a shipping label on there. I don't care, especially if it's safe. Saves me some money. But I'm I'm curious what you, which boat are you guys in? You know would you say, yes, I want to save, you know, a few cents on packaging and you know it also saves the environment too, you know, because you're not having to to have all this cardboard you know around, or are you like, do you have fancy packaging and you and you want that put into an outside box? Anyways, this new feature is going to have enrollment in January of 2024. So you got a couple of months to think about which which boat you would be in. They also announced the sustainability solutions hub. You can look up there. You know, on seller central, if you want more news I'm running out of time here and the last one that they announced, again that you can check in seller central, was a climate some new climate pledge friendly badges that are coming, and it's interesting. Their data shows that if you have that climate pledge friendly badge, it actually drives 10% more page views than if you didn't have it. So it might be something you might want to get onto your listing, and they're going to have three new ways in order to, you know, to have that. So there you have it, guys.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm sure I missed a couple of things here, but but that was probably the majority of what they talked about that this year's Amazon Accelerate it was my first time there had a blast. I couldn't even go to all the parties because I was working in the nights. I had a whole bunch of like webinars I was doing in China and things like that. So I got I missed all the parties but I heard it was really great. There was like two, 3000 people, you know, really high quality. They had the DJ from the Beastie Boys was like the DJ for the events and and they had Tracy Ross there as a celebrity, you know speaker. Really really cool event, really well organized. You know what, what you would expect from Amazon. So, guys, next year I'm sure it's going to be back again Highly, highly, highly recommend going there because you know Amazon, there's nothing like it, you know where. I mean, I didn't even do all of it and I probably would drop 30 different news items there that they launched. So it's a one set, once a year event and definitely go.

Bradley Sutton:

It's not the only event that Amazon does. Amazon does a little bit higher end kind of more advertising. So it's really the event that's happening in October, october 20, I want to say 25th and 26th or 24th to 26th in New York City. It's called Amazon Unboxed. So you want a similar event but more focused maybe on on advertising and if you're you know bigger sellers, make sure to register for that one. Amazon Unboxed, ilium 10 and Pacview definitely will have teams there, so be great to to meet you guys in person at that one. I hope you enjoyed this recap. If you guys want follow-ups for me to talk about any of these announcements a little bit more in depth, make sure to reach out. Don't forget to follow on Instagram Sirius Sellers podcast. See you guys in the next episode.

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Ready to catapult your Walmart selling journey to a whole new level of success? For today's special Walmart Wednesday episode, buckle up for an exciting chat where our host, Carrie Miller, sheds light on the latest developments that were revealed during the recent Walmart conference. You'll discover how the launch of new international marketplaces like Chile, same-day pickup, brand stores, and more, could potentially revolutionize your E-commerce business in Walmart.com. Additionally, we'll tackle the complexities of COMP errors, and most importantly, how to fix them - a game-changer for every Walmart seller!

Shifting gears, we delve into the art of optimizing pay-per-click advertising on Walmart. Strategies revolve around using Helium 10's Cerebro for Walmart, listing optimization, grouping keywords into campaigns, and using attributes effectively. Can't wrap your head around it? Don't worry, we've got you covered!

Listen in as we break down these concepts and tips on finding the right keywords, and using Cerebro to save on advertising costs. These concepts are helpful if you're selling on Walmart.com and if you're brand is on Walmart WFS. Now is the time to sell on Walmart.com! Are you ready to take your selling journey to dizzying new heights? Let's get started!

In episode 492 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about:

01:14 - Updates From The First-Ever Walmart Conference
01:57 - New International Walmart Marketplaces
02:08 - Walmart Brand Stores
02:42 - Same-Day Pick up
04:21 - Add Credit Or Debit Cards For Walmart Ads Payment
05:10 - Common Issues On Walmart.com Right Now
05:23 - Navigating Through Walmart’s COMP Errors
11:19 - Finding Keywords For Your Walmart PPC Campaigns
16:20 - PPC Ads In Walmart Is Important

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptCarrie Miller:

Today we're going to be discussing all the updates that were given at the recent Walmart conference. We'll also be talking about a new payment method option that you have on the Walmart marketplace and I'll show you some techniques and strategies for your pay-per-click advertising on Walmart.

Bradley Sutton:

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Want to enter in an Amazon keyword and then within seconds get up to thousands of potentially related keywords that you could research? Then you need Magnet by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me/magnet. Magnet works in most Amazon marketplaces, including USA, Mexico, Australia, Germany, UK, India and much more.

Carrie Miller:

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm going to be your host today. My name is Carrie Miller and this is our Walmart Wednesday, where we talk about all things Walmart. I answer questions we have. Sometimes we have guests, we do demos about how to utilize Walmart and how to sell on Walmart. Let's go ahead and get into it. I'm going to go ahead and get into some interesting information.

Carrie Miller:

Today I actually went to the Walmart conference. I think it was about two weeks ago. There were some interesting updates there and I wanted to share them with you, just in case you weren't there. There were about 1,500 sellers there. It wasn't invite only, but hopefully in the future it'll be open to more sellers, because that would be, I think it's a really great opportunity not only to learn from Walmart, but also to meet other Walmart sellers and get encouraged and see how everyone else is doing.

Carrie Miller:

The first thing that I want to talk about is that they're actually opening another marketplace, which is really exciting, because that means more opportunity for sellers. The first marketplace is obviously the US. We also have Canada, Mexico and now Chile. If you ever had any interest in selling in South America, they are opening a marketplace up in Chile. That's a great opportunity there if you're able to do that. Another thing I wanted to share is that they actually mentioned that they are still rolling out brand stores. If you haven't gotten access to it, don't fret, because they should be giving access to everyone soon. They're slowly rolling it out, just like they did with WFS, and they slowly just added people to those. Just keep an eye on that so that you can start creating your store just like they have on Amazon. You can put all of your products in there and showcase your brand. All they have to do customer has to do is click on your brand name on your actual listings.

Carrie Miller:

The next thing that I have on my agenda here is that they also mentioned that they are going to allow same day pickup. The same day pickup basically means for anyone who is a local store owner, If you have a brick and mortar store, that means that you can actually offer your products for pickup and people can actually come to your store and pick it up. Or if somebody wants same day delivery, then Walmart has a last mile pickup service that you can utilize to get same day delivery. That's pretty cool for anyone who owns a brick and mortar store in any location. It would be mostly for wherever people are local to that brick and mortar, but a really good opportunity for anyone who is local with a brick and mortar.

Carrie Miller:

Another thing is that large items are now available to be fulfilled through WFS. Before it was only up to 150 pounds, but now you can actually ship big things like multi-boxes, like maybe a patio set or trampolines or canoes or anything like that. Very exciting, especially because you get a lot more visibility and it helps your ranking when you're utilizing WFS. Now you can use WFS if you have big products. Another thing is that and I actually posted this in our winning with Walmart group Side note, if you're not in our winning with Walmart group by helium 10, go ahead and join that so that you can get access to other sellers and ask questions and we can answer them for you. Video ads are now available if you're a brand registered owner. If you are brand registered on Walmart, go ahead and check it out. You should be able to get access on ads because you have brand registry, but if not, you would probably want to open up a ticket. If you can't find access to that, Then this is one of my favorite updates and I actually got an email about this, I think, two days ago and that is that you can actually put a credit card or a debit card on your ads now, before it.

Carrie Miller:

Just they basically Always take out the amount out of your total sales, but I like using a credit card because I like to use travel points and so. On Amazon, I use you know, you know those travel credit cards to get a bunch of points and by the end of the year I have, you know, tons of points. I know a lot of other sellers like to do that too, but it was such a bummer that you couldn't do it on. On Walmart, too, but now you can actually add a credit card on there or a debit card so you can pay for your ads that way, which is really awesome. So that's something, to you know, look forward to if you are one of those people who likes to take advantage of the opportunity for travel points, All right.

Carrie Miller:

So I'm gonna go and get some into some discussion about just some issues that people have had. I have been looking in the group and I noticed a lot of people talking about so different situations and one of the things is comp errors. So comp errors are Basically kind of like the pesticide errors that you get on that you get on on Amazon. So if you ever get those pesticide notices where you get your product taken down, Comp error is similar but they don't really actually tell you. Usually when you get a comp error it just says comp error and your listing is seen down. You've no idea how to fix it. But usually it's because you use a product, a word that is, you know, forbidden. So what I would recommend is kind of going through those words that you know you can't use on Amazon. If you used any of them, a Walmart, delete them from your listing. A lot of times your listing will literally just come Pop back up within 15 minutes. So I think that's a really good, you know, A good thing to just try if you have the comp errors, and so I mean I've been seeing a lot of these comp errors. So that is something to take a look at and you know kind of refine that if you really have to delete the whole thing and start from scratch, I would recommend doing that too.

Carrie Miller:

Another question that somebody had is that they wanted to know why they weren't, you know, seeing any spend their ads and they had budget in there and they've set it up. And I have a few thoughts about this. Number one is that you're probably not targeting the right keywords and maybe your bids aren't high enough because you need to get those impressions. So I'm gonna actually, towards the end, I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about Cerebro and how you can do some exact campaigns for your PPC. But it's really important to make sure that you do keyword research and helium 10. We do have our Cerebro tool, which is literally the best keyword research tool. There's nothing else like it for Walmart and you can find, you know, all the best keywords by using Cerebro. So how they recommend doing that.

Carrie Miller:

And then another question that people have been asking is that if they Add an ace, if they should add an ace in on their product when they're actually uploading a product. So when you upload your product, you know it'll say you know what is your Amazon ace in? I don't recommend putting it there. I don't see why you would want to do it. I know there's one way to upload where you can literally just connect all of your Accounts, like you can just upload to Walmart via Amazon or Target or Etsy or eBay. I really don't recommend that method. My best suggestion for you to get your products and listings up properly is to use the flat file or bulk Uploads. Okay, it's a little bit harder, but once you learn the flat files, you have more control, the update faster, you can add variations in there, you just have a lot more control over your listing in there. So I highly recommend just uploading your listing with the flat file instead of these other ways, and you do not need to add an ace in there. There's really no reason for that. So I would suggest not doing that.

Carrie Miller:

I have a question. You said someone said I have nothing on Amazon. I still have comp errors. Okay, so somebody has saying they've compared. So what I would suggest doing is maybe kind of looking through your listing and seeing if there are any kind of Comp errors type errors maybe something like maybe you use antibacterial. There's lists on some forums about Amazon words. That's kind of what I have looked at is those words that are forbidden on Amazon and just kind of see if you have any of those. Or you could delete your listing completely and see if you can start over and just kind of slowly see if there are some trigger words in there. Another thing is I definitely recommend, you know, opening up a case for that If you still have issues. SellCord they've actually been on our podcast and Jake was on last month, sellcord.co if you contact them they always are able to help with. You know, account deactivations and compares. So if you really can't solve it on your own, I would just contacting them because they can help you expedite that whole scenario.

Carrie Miller:

Okay, and then another thing you know with all of that is it just has Matt in general. So I've kind of run into this issue. I was doing some, you know work on getting up a hemp cream and it was very difficult experience. You need to. You know, for any liquids you always have to submit a safety data sheet if you want to get your product in WFS. So if you're selling like a shampoo or a lotion or something like that, you always need to do that and submit that. When I first uploaded the hemp cream, it was denied, denied, denied, and then I got it approved. So I had, you know, the product up enlisted because there are other hemp products on Wal-Mart. However, apparently it's actually not. You're not really supposed to sell this product, even though there are some on Walmart and it's for sure forbidden from WFS. So some kind of has Matt type products you can sell on Walmart but you have to ship them yourself. So just keep that in mind. If you sell anything like hemp or you know any liquid issue products, you could have these kinds of issues and you might have to ship them yourself. It's kind of a stressful thing, but you know, I think it'll change in the future where you can send these things in, but for now you can still get on there for the most part and do F fulfilled by merchant. So that is what I recommend on that.

Carrie Miller:

So let's go ahead and get into what I wanted to talk about. To show you just I get a lot of PPC questions and so I wanted to share with you some strategies about just PPC in general. So we have a reverse product ID lookup on cerebral for Wal-Mart. So when you go into helium 10, you're going to want to go over to Cerebro and what you'll do is you will put in product ID. So the product ID is actually in the URL. So if you go to a product so I actually looked at men's genes as an example here and let's just go with the George. Okay. So George Sheens, and what you do is you basically find the product ID up in the URL or, if you have the X-ray extension, you actually can pull up the X-ray extension and then oh, I'm having issues there you can actually pull up the product ID there and just copy it straight from the extension. So that is one way to find it. So this is what we have here and we're just doing a reverse product ID and just to see what that product is ranking for.

Carrie Miller:

So this particular product is ranking for quite a few things sponsored and organic. You can sort by sponsored ranks so you can see, when you put these things in, if they are even advertising. It looks like this person isn't or this brand isn't even advertising. But you can also sort by search volume and look through things. So a lot of people like to go for these main keywords, but I recommend kind of looking for the lower search volume as well, and I don't necessarily think you should look at brand names. But you can find a lot of keywords in here. That would be very profitable, but maybe they're only 1,000.

Carrie Miller:

Let's see big and tall. If you have big and tall jeans that's a good one to kind of look for. Men's Baggy jeans is only 94. I have some literal keywords that have only 17, such as a month, and I've made multiple sales on those. The more relevant keywords, the better Work. Jeans for men it's only 200 search volume, but again, if you have really good work jeans, then you can use this and what you can do is find a bunch of these little search volume keywords and they actually add up to a lot. So what I would suggest doing is putting five to 10 keywords in campaign of the lower search volume. If you have higher search volume keywords, you really should put those in their own campaign. I recommend doing exact sponsored product ads because I've really had a hard time making sure that I'm staying profitable.

Carrie Miller:

Maybe some of you are different, but the broadened phrase I've not been able to get control of as much. So what I've been doing is I've been going to Cerebro often and I'm looking for keywords and what I do is I find those keywords and I kind of group them into the lower search volume together, the high search volume. They're gonna be in their own campaign and that's how you're gonna do this. Okay, so that is what I recommend for your PPC and because we have access to these keywords, you actually can sort through, like, if you wanted to find phrases containing genes, you can find anything that has something to do with genes. So all of these keywords are genes related, but they're just kind of iterations of the phrases that you can find all kinds of great potential keywords to target if you're selling something like that. So what I would say is kind of go around bigger keywords as well. Make sure that you're also capitalizing on those smaller keywords.

Carrie Miller:

Another thing is attributes. So in your actual listing there are places where you need to put color and size. Put the color and size into your actual title where they say it Usually, if it says men's jeans, is there a certain color? Are they black denim or regular denim? And put that in the actual title so that people can find you. Put it in the back end on the attributes. Put all the colors, all the sizing, everything that you can possibly do, so that you will show up in these searches. So that's what I would recommend Make sure that you have everything fully optimized and look for a bunch of these keywords to target. Now you can do the video ads. If you're brand registered, you can do the headline ads. So it's really, really a great time to utilize this feature.

Carrie Miller:

If you're not doing pay-per-click advertising, you're definitely leaving money on the table. So pay-per-click advertising is the best thing that you need to do to start on Walmart, other than optimizing your listings. I actually talked to a lot of people that they basically they say I'm not having much success on Walmart and I asked did you optimize your listing? Well, I just copied it over from Amazon. That's no, no, number one. You should definitely not just copy over from Amazon, because Walmart does not like that. They will suppress your listing and not put you in the search. And then also then I'll ask hey, have you started doing advertising? And people will say, no, I have not done any advertising. So if you haven't started advertising, that's really, really important to get some exposure for your products, get some ranking for your products. So if you haven't done that, I mean I don't actually don't know one seller who would say, oh, I launched a new product on Amazon, but I didn't optimize it and I didn't do any ads. It just unheard of.

Carrie Miller:

So think, keep the same energy that you have for Amazon from Walmart, so that you can, you know, just be successful. I talked to a lot of people at the Walmart conference and there were a lot of very successful Walmart sellers. I think the top was, you know they were doing about 700,000 a day in sales a day. So there is a lot of opportunity and a lot of possibility for Walmart. You just have to really push through and figure it out and just put that effort in to you know, making sure you optimize your listing and start the PPC campaigns. If you don't have, you know something to help you manage your campaigns. We do have Adtomic for Walmart. We also have a sister company, Pacvue. That is also has some Walmart advertising tools. So lots of great you know opportunities to find, you know software to help support you in the PPC journey.

Carrie Miller:

So I highly, you know, encourage you to go ahead. Make sure you start advertising. If you haven't started advertising, get your ads going. If you need help, you can always go into the Walmart winning with Walmart group and just get some assistance there. And also make sure you use Cerebro to find the keywords that I you're going to save so much money by finding these exact words. I did some auto campaigns at first and it was just out of control, not even helping me at all. So once I started using Cerebro I started becoming very profitable, so highly recommend doing that and good luck with everything. Let me know if you have any issues with anything and in the Walmart group, and I'd be happy to answer any questions. But hope you all have a great rest of the day and happy selling. Bye.

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Amazon Accelerate Releases
https://event.amazonaccelerate.com/general-information/?page=marquee-announcements

SmartKargo, a leader in providing technology and logistics solutions to airlines globally, announced it is teaming up with Walmart GoLocal, Walmart’s white-label, delivery-as-a-service platform, to expand next- and two-day delivery offerings for retailers and e-commerce companies.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230913979238/en/SmartKargo-Expands-Next--and-Two-Day-Delivery-Offerings-with-Walmart-GoLocal

Etsy seeks to drive more organic traffic through “Share & Save” program
https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/etsy-seeks-to-drive-more-organic-traffic-through-share-save-program/

Amazon Marketing Stream is expanding to include new Amazon DSP campaign datasets. This includes information on Amazon DSP campaigns, flights, ad groups, and ad group targets.
https://advertising.amazon.com/API/docs/en-us/release-notes/index#original-video-download-is-now-available-on-sponsored-brands-media-api

Around the Clock Convenience: Walmart Now Offers Customers Late-Night Delivery
https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2023/09/12/around-the-clock-convenience-walmart-now-offers-customers-late-night-delivery

Flowspace, the software platform and distribution network powering independent fulfillment, announced today that it has partnered with TikTok to provide fulfillment services for TikTok Shop sellers in the U.S.
https://www.retaildive.com/press-release/20230912-flowspace-powers-us-fulfillment-for-tiktok-shop/

We wrap up with a must-hear insight from our brand evangelist, Carrie Miller, on how to use Helium 10’s Audience tool to gather real data about your product. Join us for this engaging episode with crucial e-commerce updates and strategies.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Shivali covers:

00:41 - Amazon Accelerate Releases
03:30 - Walmart GoLocal
04:08 - Etsy Share & Save
05:23 - Stream For Amazon DSP
05:50 - Walmart Late Delivery
06:55 - TikTok Shop Fulfillment
08:11 - Look Out For This Saturday's SSP Episode!
08:25 - Follow Bradley And Helium 10 On LinkedIn
09:15 - Pro Training Tip: Split Testing Using Helium 10 Audience

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

TranscriptShivali Patel

Amazon Accelerate announcements, TikTok shop fulfillment, Walmart shipping expansion and Etsy promotions for sellers. This and more on this week's Weekly Buzz.

Bradley Sutton

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Shivali Patel

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Shivali Patel, and this is the show that is our Weekly Buzz, where we give you all the latest news in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce space. We also provide you with a training tip of the week where you get insights into serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week. So the first article we really have is from Amazon Accelerate. It's hot off the press and it's happening right now. So Bradley on Saturday is going to give you a full rundown of all the announcements that happen, but for now, let's just talk a little bit about what's happening on day one. So we have a little bit about some new enterprise solutions. We have emerald notifications, which makes it easier for you to just act on your business updates. In fact, helium 10 is one of those included notifications, so make sure that you have this on. We also have the AI backed seller messaging assistant, which is just telling you that basically any time a customer messages, you might end up having artificial intelligence responding to them on either that order status or shipping information, returns, refunds, that kind of thing, which is great because artificial intelligence is all the way right now. You also have quick list, and this is referencing the generative AI which can help you simplify your listing creation process. Now, if you are a Helium 10 user, then you know that we already have some of this incorporated into our listing builder. If you have access to a diamond plan, then maybe you're already utilizing a version of this, but now it's there for Amazon directly there as well. Then you have some regulatory compliance information, and we did also have an announcement about the Smarter Seller Central homepage for sellers worldwide. So this is talking about the dashboard itself. There was some announcements on the simplified listing management. And then you have enhanced buyer abuse protections, which actually got some applause at Amazon Accelerate.

Shivali Patel

You have Veeco, which, if you don't know, that's a company for printing shipping labels and they had some announcements for reducing rates. You have Amazon's shipping service. Now this is particularly cool because it's just telling you a little bit about what new changes are coming to the actual logistics side of things. Now, if you don't know about Veeco, Veeco is just a company for printing shipping labels, so they had some announcements. Then you have Amazon shipping services, so you can actually end up shipping non Amazon orders. With Amazon it's sort of a rival to UPS or FedEx you can kind of think of it like that but it's really helpful for the logistics side of things. And then you also have supply chain by Amazon integrated and that's really cool because it offers you the end to end fully automated, basically logistics for supply chain. So picking up your product from your actual manufacturing factories, getting it over through customs all the way to the warehouses. It just helps simplify the process. Of course, with FBA they were already kind of doing that with helping with picking, packing and shipping out that product. But now, when you really have to get out new orders or a new batch of inventory, now they can help you with actually picking up those products and then getting it all the way into the warehouses.

Shivali Patel

Let's jump into the next news article, which is smart cargo expands next and two day delivery offerings with Walmart go local. Now this comes hot from the business wire and as we go down you can end up seeing that this is sort of similar to what Amazon announced actually today. So if this is a coincidence or not, you let us know in the chat. But as you can see here, they're just working with some airlines to enable an alternative delivery network to establish carriers. So, again, you can end up shipping out non Walmart orders with Walmart.

Shivali Patel

Okay, let's jump over to Etsy. So, from modern retail, etsy seeks to drive more organic traffic through their share and save program. So if you are someone who sells on Etsy, then you might have been dealing with about a 6.5% transaction fee, but now you can kind of be your own affiliate and it's going to reward you for that work that you are already doing, ending up to a 4% of the order total off of that bill. So maybe you are one of those sellers who has been trying to hike your prices a little bit to kind of combat with the inflation and make up for any costs that you have, but this can be one of those things that might be something that will add value to your business. Now, something to be mindful of here is Etsy does have some rules, and one of those rules is you are prohibited from directly linking pay-per-click activities to Etsy. So this implies that you might need to actually end up investing and advertising in maybe creating a landing page and then driving those users to your product through that method. But again, if you are selling on Etsy, then this is something that you might want to consider utilizing in your own business.

Shivali Patel

Next up, we have Amazon DSP campaign signals now available on Amazon Marketing Stream. This is directly from advertising with Amazon, so Amazon Marketing Stream is something that helps us have hourly information for PPC, even with Atomic at Helium 10. And now it's expanding to DSP campaign data sets, so this is super cool. If you are somebody who does utilize DSP, then make sure that this is something you look into. Next up, we have around the clock convenience. Now, this is one of the things I'm really excited to share because I find that there's a little bit of a funny component to it, but Walmart does offer customers late night delivery. So, if you are, this is a little bit more on the consumer side of things, the storefront side of things, but I'm sure that this will end up, long-term, be something that can help the three P sellers as well. A couple of weeks ago, Bradley mentioned that you can now end up delivering into the garage for Amazon, while Walmart said let me raise you one, because they now end up having an option right here, but you can have items delivered directly to your fridge, you guys, or your countertop. So if you are someone who you feel like coming home to something from Walmart is gonna make you happy if it's directly on your countertop, you now have that option. So, just so you know, this is now something that Walmart Plus members have the capability of making use of.

Shivali Patel

Then you have FlowSpace. This comes from RetailDive, and FlowSpace is the software platform and distribution network which is actually partnering with TikTok Shop. Now TikTok Shop has had all the hype in recent weeks. A lot of Amazon sellers have expanded into TikTok Shop just to use the external traffic with Amazon attribution links to generate even more revenue. We've had conversations with some Helium 10 elite members as well who end up using fulfillment by TikTok and, though I'm not sure if they're using FlowSpace. Flowspace is something that is directly integrated with TikTok Shop. So if you are a TikTok user, maybe you've been going through and you've noticed that there's some videos coming up with content creators maybe pitching a product, and you'll have a little bit of a shopping cart that you can click on and directly purchase. So not only are they now picking up on trends and popularizing different items, you can also enable those sales directly from the platform itself, which is super, super cool.

Shivali Patel

So, with that, those are our news pieces for this week. If you want more information about any of these announcements, or you're super excited about some of them, make sure you tune into this Saturday's Serious Sellers podcast episode, where Bradley will discuss not only these updates, but also updates from day two of Amazon Accelerate, and, trust me, you don't want to miss out. So, after we've talked about news, what's next? Well, before I get to what's next, make sure that you are following our LinkedIn, because not only is Bradley gonna be sharing those details on our podcast episode, but if you are more of a reader or you are active on LinkedIn, you won't want to miss those updates there as well. So make sure you're following our LinkedIn page. Just go to Helium 10 and you'll be able to click, follow and get all of our updates that we post.

Shivali Patel

Next we have Carrie Miller, our brand evangelist, who is going to talk to you about audiences. Now, audience is great for just pulling real people about your product. So, as opposed to maybe split testing directly on your Amazon listings and having potential headaches of underperforming variance, you can now go directly to audience and get real data on understanding what will work better. But I'm not going to get too deep into it. I'm going to pass it over to Kerry and let her show you Today.

Carrie Miller

I want to talk with you a little bit about split testing. Now, most of the time when you're doing split testing, you're actually split testing things like your title or your images on Amazon. But we actually have a way that you can do some split testing with your target audience before you even listen to anything on Amazon, and there's actually a lot of other capabilities of this tool. So I want to go ahead and show you how to do this. So the first thing you're going to want to do is you want to log into Helium 10 and you're going to go up to the tools menu and you're going to click on this audience tool, and this is where you're going to be able to create a poll of your target audience. So you get feedback on a variety of different things. So the first thing you want to do is click on create poll, okay. So once you click on create poll, it's going to actually ask you what type of poll you want to do, okay, so in this situation, maybe I want to do, you know, a main image, but you can also do like a general idea of listing, title or really anything that you want. A lot of times I use kind of general idea for just kind of like product ideas and things like that, maybe different colors and things like that. So once you choose that I'm going to just choose main image and you go to the next step. You are going to be able to write a question. So you could either choose one of these questions like how does this image make you feel? Which product would you rather buy? Based on the image, which product would you rather buy? I'll probably choose something like that. Then you're going to go to the next step and this is where you're going to actually add your images. So if you have, for example, our coffin shelves, maybe we want to know what is the best coffin shelf main image. You can put upload up to eight options here, but I'm going to skip that just to show you all the rest.

Carrie Miller

Here you can choose a general audience or you can do a custom audience. Now, it is a little bit more of a charge to do one of these polls. It's about $50 because you're going to pull 50 different people. But you can actually choose an age range specifically. If your product is specific age range, you can do a different target audience in general. Are they a prime member? There's a lot of different options in here so you can really personalize this and hone down into your target audience and get the best feedback possible for your product. So highly recommend utilizing these. It's a really good investment to get that really targeted feedback from your exact target audience.

Carrie Miller

Then you're going to choose your audience size and I just I'm going to leave it at the 50 here, and then you can also, you know, know more about who is responding, so you can, you know, find out their personal or all this different information about them. You can check whatever it is that you want and then you can confirm your poll and that is what is going to generate your poll and within you know, 24 hours you should see all of your results. Now, this is what it looks like when you do have results. So you can see.

Carrie Miller

On our poll we were looking for a main image and so we asked you know we have a coffin shaped egg tray. If you saw this in the search results, which picture would you would make you want to click on the most? So the winner here was this B image and if you go down here, you can actually see an explanation of why that person chose this particular image. So it's really, really helpful feedback because it's not just you know a poll, but it's actually you know, qualitative information that really can help you in deciding which image to go with and why. And then it gives you some more insights into your actual audience, that is, you know that you're pulling.

Carrie Miller

You can also see their demographics here, their education level, their gender identity all this great information about who you polled so that you can make a better informed decision about whatever it is that you're testing on Amazon whether it's your main images copy, maybe you're testing a new product all those different options you have there. It is an incredible tool, a really good investment, especially during product research. I love using this to you know, decide colors and also just design in general. Like which design do you like best? If you are having a problem, you know asking your family members. This is actually a better way to do it because you can target your specific audience and get some really great feedback. So if you haven't checked out our audience's tool, go ahead and check it out and you will be happy that you did.

Shivali Patel

All right, thank you so much, Carrie. That was fantastic. So I hope you don't just listen to this. You also implement. So make sure you go check out audience. If you are somebody who needs to split test, who should be split testing, or you want to optimize that listing, then this is great for you. So that is it for this week. I hope you learned something and we'll catch you next time to see what's buzzing.

View Details

Today, we're privileged to have an enlightening and engaging conversation with the one and only Kevin King. Before Amazon FBA and E-commerce, Kevin takes us back to his early days as a collector of sports cards, which eventually transformed into a lucrative venture during his college years. In a unique twist to the collectibles market, Kevin began featuring pretty girls on baseball cards. A fascinating story that takes us back to that era and Kevin's unique business strategy ties into the Amazon-selling industry today.

Get ready to take notes as Kevin King, opens his treasure trove of Amazon seller hacks and wisdom from his vast experience in the business world. From unveiling the concept of intuitive eating that helped him lose a remarkable 70 pounds without dieting, to sharing insightful hacks, strategies, and resources for Amazon sellers, Kevin covers it all. He even takes us behind the scenes of his recently launched an Amazon newsletter and its intriguing and engaging content. Gear up as we switch gears to advanced Amazon seller strategies and explore the unfair advantages and perks you can get by being a Helium 10 Elite member!

As we dive further into the conversation, you'll hear tales of success from Elite members and how their monthly training and networking calls help them gain insights from some of the top Amazon and Walmart in the space. Rounding off the episode, we anticipate the forthcoming Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Level Up event. So, whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an established business owner, or simply someone with a penchant for compelling stories, this episode is guaranteed to leave you inspired and filled with actionable advice. Don't miss out!

In episode 491 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss:

00:00 - Kevin King's Amazon Seller Hacks and Journey
03:59 - Collectible Baseball Cards and Strip Clubs
10:16 - Kevin’s Weight Loss Journey and Health Tips
24:05 - A Different Amazon Newsletter
27:40 - Increasing Engagement Through Opt-in System
40:00 - Benefits of Joining the Helium 10 Elite Program
42:52 - Catch The Next Billion Dollar Seller Summit
48:30 - 60-Second Tip: Automated Tool for Boosting Amazon Sales

► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast

► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension

► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life)

► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft

► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Transcript

Bradley Sutton

Kevin King is back on the podcast and, in addition to some cool seller hacks that he always has for us, he's gonna talk about a whole variety of topics like how he used to be a collectible card Manufacture and how he's lost 70 pounds in the last couple of years without even dieting. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you a six, seven or eight figure seller and want to network in a private mastermind group with other experienced sellers? Or Maybe you want to take advantage of monthly advanced training sessions with Kevin King, an expert guest? Do you want to come to our quarterly in-person all-day trainings at Helium 10 headquarters? Or do you want the widest access to the Helium 10 set of tools? For all of these things, the elite program might be for you.

For more information on Helium 10 elite, go to h10.me/elite. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic Conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got the most serious sellers of them all, Kevin King, back on the show. Kevin, how's it going?

Kevin King

It's going. I don't know if I'm serious, though I'm more a I'm a seller, but I'm, yes.

Bradley Sutton

Some people might say you know as like they read my news I would say what is serious, like how serious is this guy? Yeah, yeah, the newsletter. We're gonna talk about that you know. There's definitely been some some things that people are saying that this isn't, this can't be serious, but we'll get it. We'll get into that.

Kevin King

A little bit depends on the total point of view, what you see, what's coming, yeah, oh my goodness, I can't wait, I want to talk right off the bat though, before I forget.

Bradley Sutton

You know, I don't think we've talked about this on the podcast before, or maybe you've alluded to it. I've heard you talk about it, but I've never actually dug deep like right now. Hold on, let me just pull something from my back wall here. I just hit it behind. I was sorting some some baseball cards and I'm actually flying to Japan on my own time personal time off and I'm setting up at a card show over there because my dad's had a business there. But I've heard you mentioned before that that you've dabbled in in the old days, in the, in the like sports cards or comics or what was it exactly in that industry.

Kevin King

Yes, I as a child back in the 80s, 70s and 80s, I collected the basketball cards, back when the I think it was tops they were big, they're like four, four by six size or something like that very Huge, and I collect I don't know. So I don't know when I started second, third grade. So I'm like that and I collected those, collected baseball cards, collected football cards and I was big into them and then I just kind of I grew out of it. I guess maybe I don't know, sophomore year, high school or something, just that was a little kid stuff threw everything in a box or actually put everything in a. I think I was going to throw it away. My mom's like no, no, no, no, don't throw all that stuff away. So she's threw it into about my mom's a hoarder anyway, but she threw it into a box.

And then my senior year of high school, like seven years late, sorry, of college, like seven years later, yeah, I was like I damn, I need some money, man, I need a, I need a little extra cash. I was like what, how can I make some cash? I was like, wait a second. My mom, I think baseball cards now people are actually starting to pay real money for these things. I might actually have, you know, some crazy rookie card for Roger Clemens or something, I don't know. I called her up. You still got that box of stuff I was going to throw away. She's like, yeah, I was like I'm coming up to see you, um, you know, from mother's day or something, I'm gonna grab it from you. So I grabbed it and I went on and I sold to Sold a bunch of those. I had some rare stuff in there, made thousands of dollars just taking them into a hobby shop, you know, a comic book store or whatever, and trading them in. And you got some extra beer, money and cash that I needed when I was, you know, not doing so well, when I was 21, 22 and so that evolved, though into time and, uh, the earth was.

When was this? Like 92, 93, so about three years after college, um, I was doing stuff, mark and I, you know, mark, from billion dollar stars on, we were doing, um, I'd started a magazine, uh, that dealt with strip clubs, actually, and it wasn't. There's no nudity or anything. This is the business side of it. It was, you know the business side of it. And and doing that, these, for some reason baseball cards have become hot to put strippers on. So it was everything from you know the cabaret, royal and Dallas to the dollhouse in Orlando, to playboy magazine was doing it, penthouse, all the anybody you know bikini, hawaiian, tropic bikini girls were doing it. It became a thing to put Put pretty girls on on baseball cards and these were being sold through traditional comic stars. This wasn't like in the adult shops and like the on the other side of the internet. These were like.

Diamond comics was a big distributor back then in capital city comics Too, huge distributors that distributed all the comic book stores. You know they will have big boost at comic con in san diego. Um, they would put these things out and you will put them in packs. It became a huge, freaking business.

Bradley Sutton

We're selling cases of these and that's one of my first so you were the, you were the one who made them, or you were we made. I was one of the.

Kevin King

I was both. I was one of the companies, I was making them. Um, originally we had deals because I knew some of these club owners. So they're like yeah, do go ahead and do ours. You know that's good promotion for us and we'll do it. So I was doing them, I go to them. We would either shoot it or they give us stuff that we would. Actually I would design it. What's the back of the cards have?

you know, in baseball cars I would have the stats and he had had susie, susie smith, stage name, candy, candy dropper, whatever, uh, five, six, 34, 24, 34, um, originally from san diego, likes men with uh, a short hair or whatever, um, you know, it would be something like that and I was like I need a better way to actually sell these. So a lot of people it goes back to what we do today. They're putting insert, insert cards, you know, register your warranty or get on our, join our vip club or something as one of the like the 11th card in a pack of 10, and they were sending it into the company stew physical mail. There's no internet back then and these companies were not doing anything. They're like the, the business cards in a fishbowl at the gym. You know, they just accumulate.

And so I called up all these companies so what are you doing with your, with your, uh, your inserts? And I got there sitting there, said send it to me, I'll get them all typed in. I hired some company in Jamaica that would type these in for Four cents a piece or something, some crazy load number ended up building a mailing list of like 13 000 people off of this that had filled up for like a hundred different companies that were doing this and then as part of the deal I said well, I want to be able to you, I'll send you the list. I knew these guys wouldn't do anything with it most of them and I want to be able to have the right to mail it and I'm going to buy your cards from you wholesale and I'm going to create a catalog, a glossy color catalog that was sent in the mail, and Send these out and sell mine and yours.

That became a huge freaking business that blew up and, um that we were able to ride that wave, uh, for quite some time and we were doing all kinds of really cool. Sometimes I have to show you. If I would know and you're gonna talk about this, I could have showed you some here but we did 24 karat gold signatures, like an ink with 20 raised 24 karat gold. We did and put them in like those, those crystal cases with screws on all sides. I mean this was like Serious, serious stuff.

Bradley Sutton

I mean people ahead of the time, because that, that's like what the industry has moved to is like these, you know, like one of ones, and like, hey, this is a uh, you know there's only 10 that have this signature. And now there's these companies that have them, where they actually come out Like every single one, like national treasures and stuff, where every single you know card in the set it comes in like this case, and it's all encapsulated in these plastic or these, these hard holders, and You're like doing this stuff. Yeah, it's 25 years before we were doing stuff for puzzles.

Kevin King

So at the back of the card we might do a set of, a subset of nine, so maybe this sets a hundred, but nine of them on the back is a puzzle piece. So you had to collect all nine, flip the cards over and put them in the right order to get another picture as a, you know, as a puzzle piece, like like a tic-tac-toe board. But you put them on the right order it makes another picture. Uh, we, yeah, we're doing all kind and but because of the nature of the products we were, basically I was limited in my marketing, and so it's where I cut my teeth, because I had to get super creative and super innovative on marketing. Because you know, you weren't allowed to. You know, if there was a facebook back there wasn't facebook back then, but there was they would not allow you to advertise it. So it caused us to be very creative in the way we did marketing.

Um, we did a huge events. You talking about going to japan at the block blotch Blotch not beloggio, that's vegas, but the Belaj hotel in west hollywood on the sunset strip over there by the viper room and maybe some different name now, but there's a fancy hotel. In 1997 we brought in a bunch of the models Put out a thing and said you know, it's 500 bucks to come, and we had all these guys come like 300 guys, 400 guys, come to get, stand in line, get autographs from the girls on their cards, on 8 by 10s, and we did a party afterwards. It was it was different world.

Bradley Sutton

Interesting. Well, hey guys, you heard it first.

Kevin King

I never talked about it. It's not okay.

Bradley Sutton

I guess, heard, like you know Briefly, you're into collectible cards, you know, and I was like you know what? That's kind of up my alley. Let me ask him about that. So you heard it first here. Now, guys.

Kevin King

We had binders, you know, with the sleeves, and you put special, special binders. You would collect and, yeah, it was like it was full on full on Wow, interesting, interesting stuff.

Bradley Sutton

So, guys, we're doing this podcast a little bit differently. I'm doing everything backwards. You know, Kevin is known for his strategies and and Amazon. You know seller hacks and stuff like that. Well, we'll definitely get to that, but instead of doing at the beginning, we're gonna do that towards the end. If you guys have been listening to this podcast for a while, I've actually, you know, usually at the end of podcast, start asking people about their health regimen and diets and exercise and things like that, because 2023 is my year of health, where I'm asking, talking to guests. But we're gonna, we're gonna flip the script a little bit. Say to the end for the Amazon strategy. Now, Kevin, you yourself, wait, wait, can you look to your left really quick? Look to the side, Kevin. Where'd you go? Kevin? Where, oh? You disappear. You're so skinny now. You just disappeared when you, when you turn to the side there. How much weight have you lost this year?

Kevin King

I Don't know what the number is this year but in the last couple years about 70, 70, some odd pounds. I still got a ways. Still got a ways to go. But I'm probably another 50 or 60 and I'll be happy, but that'll probably take.

Bradley Sutton

That's impressive. Take me a few more years. Once you, I've noticed, you know, once you hit 40. It's like hard to lose weight, so you hit a number like that. That's pretty impressive. So let's talk about that a little bit. You know I Mean are. What are you doing? You're not, you know, starving yourself. You told me that before. It's not about, it's not about like starving yourself or necessarily counting calories or or working out seven hours a day or anything like that. But but how have you been able to, to steadily get to that when you're at now?

Kevin King

I've been. I've had an issue with my weight all my life. I've been up and down all my life and sometimes it's gotten a lot worse than what it what it is now. You know, right now about 260. I've been as high as like 360 in the past.

In high school I was right around 200 when I most of my weight gain started when I left the house to go to college, to start drinking beer, eating pizza and just kind of kind of put it on and Didn't really care Too much. But then it, you know, as you age and I've been lucky, knock on wood, that I haven't had a lot of issues, not other than a type 2 diabetes, but no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, none of that kind of stuff that you would expect. I've been pretty good shape, even though been a bigger, bigger guy comparatively, and but I got to a point where it's actually my, my ex-wife, her. She always used to say if you can't take care of yourself, how can you take care of me? Which was a good little slogan and it's true, and so that kind of motivated me a little bit to To kind of in. So I tried every diet in the book. You know, everything from carnivore diet to Atkins diet, to Weight Watchers, to.

Bradley Sutton

Manny, get you on that carnivore at one point. Yeah, they're all stupid, he's, I know he's big on that.

Kevin King

Every one of those diets is stupid. I'm sorry if someone's out there's listening and thinks they're great. They're stupid. Every single one they do. They work, yes, they work short term. But how many times have you done the carnivore and you're right back to where you started it. But the key and I kind of learned this from my dad in a way, because he lost a lot of weight and kept it off for like 50 years he's skinny, I mean, he's like 130 pounds or something, but it's mindset, it's psychology.

Eating is psychology. It's the people that you look at, all the people that go when they work out. They go when they work out and work their ass off and what they do after that. They go get a Starbucks and they just undo the entire workout. They just did by getting Starbucks with all the cream and all the whatever in it. I'm not coffee drinkers, I don't know all the terminology, but and they just completely undo it. But they feel good about themselves. I worked out and I had a supposedly a good coffee. It you've got to be conscious of what's in your mouth.

So my, my ex-wife had found this woman. She's from Venezuela originally. She was listening to these, this podcast in Spanish, and she was a guest and she's talking about something called intuitive eating. You can look at, you can Google it. Google it intuitive eating. And she was talking about how this works. And so my wife At the time was like, let me, I want to do this. And so she called her up, started doing like launch. This woman lives in Miami doing long-distance consultations. And Then she said, Kevin, I think you'll really like her, she's really really good, you should try it. So, and to during COVID 20, was it? I'm into 2020 on Christmas time, 2020. I had my first call with her and started really in January 2021 and what she does is she doesn't believe in diets and she's like the head of the gastric that people of Miami I don't know what the damn thing is called, but something Uh, but she's like the top person of it, gmm. She's skinny, she's a Attractive you know, vince, a willing girl, but she's headed.

This whole thing and her whole thing is, is intuitive eating. It's the psychology of eating. It's not about, you know, weight losses is about 80% what you put in your mouth and 20% everything else, and being conscious of what you eat, and so it. She's like Kevin promised me, you'll never go on another diet in your life. It's like done check mark. She's like if and if you get bad. If you get bad, if you go off rails on something Like you know, you go out and you you eat a gallon of ice cream one night because you're depressed or something. Don't think, well, shoot, I just ruined everything. I'm working at Might as well, eat another one the next day and I'll start a diet on Monday. Everybody always starts a diet on Monday or the first of the month. Okay on, on September, on August 1st, I'm gonna start. She said that's absolutely the wrong way to do it. She's like eat what you want. If you want a freaking Pizza, eat the pizza, but it needs to be. You want the pizza needs not be a five or six out of habit, but like a nine or a ten and go get the pizza, but be conscious of what you're eating. Maybe get a small instead of a large or whatever.

And I had a habit. I had a bad habit like every night to relax, I would watch TV Just to, you know, unwind my brain and everything and spin an hour just watching mindless TV. You know, america's Got Talent or some stupid reality show or just whatever, just to kind of just wind down. And I would eat a box of milk guts. You know one of those, can those? I love milk guys because you could put three or four of them in your mouth, suck on them. You know, you put three or four in your mouth, they kind of meld together because they're caramel and so you're just sucking on it like you would a you know a butterscotch or something, and then, as it gets lower, you put a couple more in your mouth and they meld together so you can make a box last like an hour and a half. But that's 600 calories on a lot of sugar. I just I was in this habit of doing it every single night. She broke me of that. Now I have that maybe once a month.

But she got me the thinking about things and she finds substitutes. Why do you like those milk duds? Is it the texture? Is it the carmel? Is it the way it taste on your tongue? There's something about it. Why do you drink so much soda? Is because you like the carbonation, that is, a specific carbonation. How about switching to this drink, not a period, not this, but this specific one, and it works. So you're, you're tricking your mind psychologically to still, because you have those cravings in those desires or those habits, and as you break in those you swap it.

So she's told me, like Most dieticians would say, if you're drinking a coke, zero, you need to cut that out. You need to go to water. You know, hundred twenty eight gallons a day, or ounces a day I mean I got too much, that's a whale size. But a hundred twenty eight ounces a day, and and and, quit, cut, cut those out immediately. She's like no, if you're drinking six a day, just swap one of them out for a water In this, you know, and then have five and let's see where that goes.

And but over time you start consciously eating things differently. You start looking at stuff. Am I eating because I'm hungry or am I eating because it's a habit? And now I'm at the point now where I have a private chef that comes once a week and cooks for me, and he used to make my lunches and my dinners. Now I'm just telling me one meal a day because that's all I want.

So, and I'm not, I'm not eating half of it anyway. I eat, you know, a little bit of breakfast, protein shake, maybe a little cereal or piece of bread or something. But if I want a candy I buy. If I want an ice cream I get it, but I used to eat a lot of ice cream. Bluebell is my favorite to Texas company and you get across the south it's not everywhere but it's my favorite so I would have those little pints. I buy those little half gallon things or whatever they are last a couple days. I've had one right now in my fridge for two months and I haven't even opened it. It's a change in psychology or what I've done is like, okay, if I want that taste, I want that ice cream taste. I love that taste. It gets the hormones In me, it gets the things that satisfaction, those triggers that are in your body. I'll buy those small size cups. They're like for birthday parties for kids. You know there are 160 calories and I'll eat one of those and she's like, do you go back for a second, go back for a third? Like, no, I just, I just eat one. So it's it's some of its discipline, some of its mind over matter, just being conscious of everything that you eat. And that's the biggest thing in.

The second is sleep is so important in in health and a lot of people especially. I mean you're a perfect example. You're working your ass off and sleeping wherever you could grab a nap here or there's a couple hours at night at one point. I know you're better about it now, but but most people dismiss how important sleep is for your overall health. And what woke me up to it is is a few years ago I was going to get life insurance and I didn't have life insurance before. But I got Marius, I better get some life insurance. And talking to the agent, they're like OK, there's, there's a what's your sleep apnea score? And I'm like. I just did a test and it was like 19, I had 19. Mild things or whatever it was, in a, in a period of whatever the measuring period is, that's OK, that's mild and what? What this insurance company told me is that you're at 19 times, maybe it's 19 times per hour. You sub, get subconscious, you don't realize it, but if it messes with your body and they said, if you're you get to 20, you're uninsurable on life insurance. I'm like what? And so I went immediately.

I had my wife used to say I would snore. I would snore like a sound, like a Mack truck Coming down the street. So I went. I had a. There's a guy here in Austin that does a balloon, sonia plastic, so they go into your. I had a 70% blockage. I didn't know what, I just get used to it as you're living, you only realize it. But I had trouble in my nose. So you know, man, he just did it. I did a Marcus done a bunch of people done it. He has this technology is like these. One is doogie how's your guys that became an MD when he was 14 or something. So you know this technique. So it doesn't require the major surgery that and still get knocked out for like 15 minutes because and uses balloon and blows it up and opens all that up. That made a huge difference on my story.

In my sleep Plus, I started using a sleep mask and I changed. You know, sometimes in your bed If it's hot or cold, temperatures are right, you're tossing and turning, you're not getting as much sleep, you wake up in this little bit of sweats or whatever. But there's something called the eight sleep mattress. Is the number eight sleep. That's freaking amazing. It's a mattress topper and you it's about two grand.

It's not cheap, but you put it on top of your bed and then it you can set settings are you cold sleep or warm sleep? And you can do splits, so if your wife and you on one side, your partner new Can be off different. And then it measures you throughout the night and it ring and fit, that fits and stuff. Do this, but give you like your pulse rate and use some measurements during the night. But this like measures your whole body and like how often do you wake up, how, what kind of quality of sleep did you get? What was your heart rate, your hrv through the night, all this stuff and it Adjust after a week of testing. It figures out where what temperature is optimal for you. It's a way to just you can manually write it but adjust up and down either cold or hot, the temperature of the mattress.

And this thing is so thin, it's super thin. It goes on top of the bed, has a little pump that you hide behind your bed with a little bit of water in it and it's brilliant. I mean I have a. I have a sleep number bed that has Like seven thousand dollars sleep number bed that has something similar built in that sucks compared to this Eight sleep. It's awesome. So things like that plus you got. You got to watch as a man. You got to watch your testosterone. So, as men, the number one thing is sleep, sleep apnea or sleep To stop, strong level in your diabetes level. Those three things play more in your health Then anything else. If you get on top of those, your chances of Of Having a long fruitful life and being there for your kids and your wife and when To enjoy your retirement or much, much higher intriguing stuff.

Bradley Sutton

Alright, so let's let's give somebody a quick tease. We're gonna talk about your newsletter you just started, why you started it and some of the stuff, but what's one of the either one that's come out already or something that's coming one of the strategies that you can share with our listeners who maybe haven't gotten a chance to read the newsletter? What's something you brought out in one of your newsletters that can write off the bad help sellers listening.

Kevin King

Yeah, I mean I just started April, august 14th. It's twice a week, it's Mondays and Thursdays. When I say newsletter, a lot of people roll their eyes but and cause I'm like, oh yeah, I get a newsletter from Helium Town, I get a newsletter from this software, and every time I get my email I get the company newsletter. Those are not newsletters, those are promotional emails for the most part. Go read our blog, go read this. A newsletter to me is more like a. What I'm doing is more like a magazine in a newsletter format. So it's action packed. Yes, there's a couple of ads and stuff in there from people that are paying for those, but it's action packed, actionable stuff. It's totally free. So, like, we just did a big one that's really resilient. The one that came out on August 28th talked about the A9 algorithm and so you know, Danny McMillan over at Seller Sessions did a big, big like document on it and we analyzed that and like, while that's good, that's not really there's more to it than that. So we took a look at Amazon Science, a big paper that came out and a couple of other things analyzed that and we talked about that and I've gotten so many people saying this is like the most amazing. It was written in a way that we can understand it. Sometimes this stuff gets too technical, plus some of the tips and tools that we put in there. We had a really cool resource for like getting.

Sometimes, when you're trying to create your A plus content, your brand story, your brand pages, you're like what should I do? How should I tell my designer, a graphics person, to do and maybe you saw a couple here their ideas, or you give them some basic idea. But there's guys who listen. There's a guy in George. That's a similar library of 25,000 A plus pages and you can filter by it. I'm in the pet space, I'm in the space, I'm in the. It's got it all keyworded so you can search and get like, wow, that's a cool one, that's a cool one. I want my designer to do something like that or combine these two together. So I wish there were resources like that.

I have something called the Dream 100. As you know, there's a lot of BS not Bradley Sutton's, but BS in this industry that with fake gurus and stuff. So I have every Thursday I come up, I put someone in the Dream 100, and I announced this is a legit person, you should follow them, trust what they say. So that'll get up to 100 people. It's only three right now, but that'll get up to 100 people over time. We do.

I add a little bit of humor to it, so there's like I'll either call somebody out you know that's basically a fake guru or we'll put some crazy listing like hey, can you believe that this product is selling 100 grand a month on X-ray on Amazon? You look at it like holy cow. That's the craziest thing I ever saw. We do some of that, so it's a mix. And then I tell a personal story and each one's called a six second story. So when someone opens the news there, you gotta hook them right away and you gotta get them reading and engaged. And so I do. I personalize it and then I tie it to whatever we're talking about that day.

Bradley Sutton

So I'll personalize and reason. One kind of causes stir about some naked people, some balconies.

Kevin King

Yeah, but I do that. I want to. You know, I always say if you're not pissing someone off, you're not doing a good job. If you try to please everybody, you please nobody, and so I'm feeding my audience and so if that bothers you and it's gonna bother some people that might be religious or you know, depending that's okay. You can go find your information somewhere else. I'm fine with that.

But the overwhelming response to that has been like holy cow, this is the best thing ever. This is don't stop. Can you do this every day? I can't believe it. One guy who sent me a message today is like this is so good I can't even take it all in.

I just got three of my team members start reading this and we're dividing up sections of what to do, and so that's.

There's so much out there. You know we do the helium-10 elite every month and we've been doing that since 2017 at helium-10, which is advanced level stuff, and in that I do seven ninja hacks every month and share those with the audience, and then, once those have become a little bit older, sometimes I share those other places, but the helium-10 elite people always get them first. Right now, I write everything on the current newsletter, but it's going to get to. I'll hire a staff, but I need to get to set the tone, figure out what works, what people like, what they don't like, and then I can feed everything I've written. For if I do this for three months, let's say, I can feed that all into an AI and then say have the AI write in the style of Kevin of the newsletters they don't know the exact style, the exact everything. So these are not AI newsletters, these are. We use AI as a tool, but AI is not writing these.

Bradley Sutton

So if somebody wants to go ahead and sign up, it's free right now. How can they do that?

Kevin King

Well, it's always going to be free. It's billiondollarsellers.com with an S, billiondollarsellers.com with an S. It's growing pretty quickly. So I think hopefully by this time next year there'll be maybe 50 to 100,000 people getting that twice a week and actually reading it that one. So my email list from all the stuff I do is big not as big as helium-10s or something, but so I could just blast this out to everybody.

But I don't want to do that. I want people to actually want it and I have people now already saying I didn't get it, I didn't see it in my spam or what happened to it, and they're getting upset that they didn't get it. That's what I want. Is it to become habit-forming and become something people look forward to? When they see that Kevin King, BDSS, they're like, oh, this is something I got to read. If I can't read it right now, I'll save it until tonight or the plane ride tomorrow or whatever. That's where I want it to be.

So it doesn't have to be. It's not a blast on my whole email list. You've got to double opt in. You can't just sign up and get it. You actually sign up and you got to click something else to say you really want to sign up and then you're in and that's on purpose and it keeps the open rates high, the engagement high, it's good for the advertisers that come into it, that support it with a little bit of advertising, and it's just good for everybody. It's people that want it.

Bradley Sutton

All right. So guys, make sure to sign up. It's one of the. I personally don't even read newsletters. This is like the first one. I actually just sit there and read and, just like Kevin said, sometimes he starts with a funny story, but it works. It like hooks you up and like laughing, sitting there, laughing like all right, I want to read more. I'm hooked in and from start to finish. It's long, it's like you're doing a lot of scrolling. Sometimes people say, oh, when you write an email, you don't want them to scroll, and they're like I got no problem scrolling, but it's written short.

Kevin King

It's written in a format so that you can skim it, but you'll see that it's using every trick in the book. There's no paragraphs more than two or three sentences. There's no. It's not long, and usually when I write it I have to go back and cut half of what I've written wrote out and it's straight into the point and we use a sense of humor. It's not just that opening story, but it's like we did something about in a recent one. So there's no such thing as the A10 algorithm. It's always the A9. There is no such thing, and the A9 of all is just like you did during puberty, but it's still named the A9. So we'll do stuff like that. It's not necessarily business-like or corporate-like, but screw that, put a personality to it and people love that and then as a reading they have a little smile or like I get it, or that's relatable. It doesn't sound like corporate speak or boring stuff. That's all on purpose.

Bradley Sutton

All right. Now you referenced Elite and how you saved the best hacks for there. Do you have any? Just for a sample, you can give some of the cool one or two of the cool hacks that you've given out on your seven ninja hacks that you do monthly in the Elite group.

Kevin King

Yeah, sure, what's a good reason? We do this every single month. We talk about some of its tools, like CASPA AI, which is a really cool tool where you can shoot your product on your iPhone, just basic picture, upload it and then put it into any scene you want. So you're like, hey, I want my water bottle to be held by an Asian guy standing in the gym with some barbells behind him and he's holding it facing the logo out. It'll make a cool picture instantly using AI with that which you could use in your Amazon post or you could use in your maybe in your listing. You could use a lot of places. So we'll do cool tools like that. Or Melio payments, where you can use credit cards to actually finance your purchase, orders and stuff. We do things like.

A recent one was about how to Get that there's a newer version of this item available. You know we covered that there's a new version of this item available. Like people like see that, how do I get my? You know if I you got a calendar or you got you just updated your product, how can you Link that to the old inventory so that people see there's a newer version available? We showed people how to do that. We showed people how to do the back-end stuff before anybody knew how to do the back-end and get a complete dump of your competitors Listings like all their attributes and everything before. That was really public information. Well, I was like a couple years before yeah, main stream.

Yeah, we stuff like how to use a Hexa. Hexa, it's a beta program most people don't know about to create 360 degree pictures for Amazon listing. They'll do it for you for free and I think that's really really, really, really cool. We've done stuff like how to make money fall from the sky on your landing pages. You know you, someone hits on one your landing pages or one of your blog sites and they don't let's say they don't sign up. But you want to know who they are. There's tools out there that will actually Use IP and geo location to actually figure out, in about 50 to 60% of cases, who these people are, based on public data In the United States, Europe, you might have a few more issues with privacy, but yes, we don't care about privacy.

So, unless it's medical, and so we, we can figure out that. I just went to Bradley's blog talking about the honeymoon and he's a no, I went there. You know, as he got a hit or his metrics, that there's a visitor session, but he doesn't know who they are. If he puts this little bit of code, then we can we put, we can figure out that. Oh, this was Kevin King because he was using this IP address of this computer and there's reverse matching. That knows that, oh, Kevin King went to this gaming side or went to somewhere else in the past 10 years From that same place. It must be Kevin King. Let's match it up again to this other database. So his, his email address is blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Puts that into a database. Then you can either email those people which I don't always recommend if you're gonna do that, you should use something like zero bounce to make sure the emails are valid or you can put them into custom audiences if you're running Facebook ads or any kinds things like that and you can retarget these people.

You ever wonder how sometimes you went to a site and You're all of a sudden now I'm seeing this stuff all over my feed. Some of that's retargeting pixels, which is more private. But if you're wondering, how do they get me onto an email list? Or how did they get me from this this not a meta property into an X or Twitter property? Those two aren't the same company not sharing the same pixel. How do they do that? And this is some of the ways they're doing it. We also talked about you know, Howard. You've had Howard on the how tie on the on the podcast and he's got a little group called elites I'll forget the name of elites seller society or something like that and he's had every Thursday he has someone come on and talk about stuff and one of the things that just recently he had David, who's spoken at the billion dollar sauce on. You remember David from a, the ghost story.

Bradley Sutton

Back in 2019 he came on and he did some translating for him. One year at the billion dollars.

Kevin King

He came on and talked about you know what, what? How are things changing with the Chinese sellers? You know, Howard, he's like you know, ai is level the playing field as far as creating listings and stuff now for everybody. And If you someone's like a word that, how are they ranking? How are they getting reviews? What are they doing? He's like the number one way that Chinese sellers are getting Ranking. Right now they're using postcards, postcards through the mail and he's like, thanks to Kevin King, I'm like what he's like? Oh yeah, I did talk about that in 2019 when I did me and Brandon young went over there and spoke to a huge group in Shenzhen. Well, they took that and now he said that's the number one way that they're getting Review, ranking products and getting reviews. And and so I was like you know what? I think I actually did that In the US too. It wasn't. I just didn't give that to the Chinese sellers.

And so I look back and I share that to the helium-ten elite. First way back, and I don't remember exact time, in 2018, some point, I did a presentation on postcards and it was cutting edge. Virtually nobody did it, everybody, you know. They looked at like, yeah, Kevin, that's like I I never heard of. I don't even check my mailbox. I don't know. I'm a millennial Nah who reads the mail like dude, you're missing it. And so nobody in the hardly anybody in the US did it, but the Chinese like, oh, this, this looks good. They did it and look what it's doing for him four years later. So that's the kind of stuff we do in helium-ten elite.

If you freakin pay attention and implement Not only what I'm teaching but what we bring on Really good guests. You know I look for diversity, from PPC people to shipping people to you name it. You know sometimes you get a speaker. That's yeah, okay, but we get some really good people as three speakers, plus myself, on Every single one of the helium-ten elite, that's. You know, there's a lot of groups out there that that have trainings, but I think this might be the longest last, the oldest one period. It's continuous. There's others that have started and come and gone, but that and but I think since we started February at 2017, when it's called Illuminati, changed the name in 2019 to helium-ten elite, but it's been continuous, never missed a month since February 2017. So that's six and a half years. I don't know if there's any other Group. That has lasted that long at this point and guys.

Bradley Sutton

You know I told people this before. This is One of the secrets not the main secret to my success is Before I ever sold on Amazon, you know, before I even became a consultant. You know people thought I was crazy because it's mulling. I mean, like seven, eight, nine figure sellers going and paying 400 bucks to get in this Illuminati mastermind. I, I could see the value in it. I saw a webinar for something first of you and Manny, you know, way before I worked at helium-ten Year, more than a year probably before and and I actually joined Illuminati Just as a regular person who wasn't even selling yet and within like three, four months I had enough knowledge just from the Illuminati stuff and you know a couple other. You know courses I was taking, but mainly from the Illuminati, where I became like a pretty top-level consultant and and was, you know, launched my Amazon consulting career. You know which was my career before helium-ten, without even selling on Amazon, just because I was able to ramp up my knowledge super fast by being part of that Illuminati mastermind.

Kevin King

So and it's not just the guys exactly training- that's what we had, but more recently Helium 10’s added a weekly call with all the people that want to participate. So I do one a month. I jump on once a month and then the other three weeks Bradley and Carrie and Shivali host them and we'll have anywhere from 20 to 40 50 people in there that are members of helium-10 elite. There's a lot more members in that, but you know some people are busy and for a couple hours Typically an hour or two hours everybody's on there on a zoom call, all on the screen. There's no agenda, no presentations Like what do you got a problem with?

Oh, you know Amazon's blocking me from shipping this and anybody else ever dealt with this. And usually there's someone else like, oh, yeah, I've a. You know, maybe we me or Bradley or somebody knows the answer begin help them. But usually there's somebody else like, oh, have you ever tried this? Or this happened to me two years ago and I did this and you have this interactive conversation that you're not gonna get in a Facebook group. You're not gonna get anywhere else other than maybe an in-person event, which there's four of those a year to for helium-10 elite. Did you get to come to for free? That are that value right there. Sometimes I learned stuff in there, you know, I didn't know from somebody else that right there, connecting with other high-level sellers and being able to share is as valuable as the presentations, if not even more valuable in some cases, and I'm so. There's things like that, that that you're not gonna get anywhere else.

Bradley Sutton

Just last week I don't know if it was on your call or on one of the regular weekly one that you're not on there, it was before you. Either way was before you came on the call there was Elizabeth, who's an elite, elite member, and she was talking about how she's done like something like a two million dollars on TikTok shop Some crazy, some crazy number like that and so she was just like people were dazzled with what she was saying Just ran, you know, just like just randomly got on there. She was just one of their participants and was talking about that. Now we're actually gonna do a train. She's gonna do a training in October in the elite in-person workshop in New York where she's gonna show people I'll kind of like reverse engineer how she was able to get to this level of success that she's had on on TikTok shop, which is definitely a hot topic.

Kevin King

So that's hot, that's. That's big right now. That's big. If you're not paying attention to that, that's big. You know I had Perry Belcher.

This will be coming out on the AM PM podcast in October. So be sure, but Perry Belcher if you don't know who he is, he's one of the top marketers in the space right now. He started digital marketer. Yeah, the big expo with 7,000 people I mean sorry, traffic and conversion is. He was one of the founders of that. He started digital marketer. He's really big in the marketing space and old-school marketing guy.

One of the things he actually said on that podcast, among a bunch of other cool stuff, is that he's like if you're going from Amazon to Shopify, it's a mistake. You should not be doing anything on Shopify. He said we're finding far better success by setting up funnels with click funnels or high level or one of the other, and doing single product drives it. The conversions are way higher, the Sales are way higher than driving someone to a Shopify site where it's there's too many confusing things that can distract them and he's like that's where these Amazon sellers because I asked him for one of the mistakes people are making said that's one of the mistakes a lot of sellers. Amazon sellers are making right now, as they should be focused more on driving stuff to single products with upsells Rather than driving to a Shopify store.

Bradley Sutton

Here's all my 20 things my, my company sells, but yeah, yeah, I mean the tick-tock shop that there's, just whatever is cutting edge. You know we talk about an elite, so so it's actually the longest in history and that you know. Kevin just said it started in in 2017. So it's we're talking over six years, almost seven years. It's been closed for the longest time in history. I think the last time it was open was in March of this year I'm not sure by the time you guys are listening to this episode of its open, but sometime in in September, October, we're gonna open it up for a couple weeks or so. So this is the time to sign up. Guys write this down h10.me forward slash elite. H10.me forward slash elite. And even if it's not open right now, there's a button on there where you can join the waiting list so you can make sure that when it does open for the short window that it does, that, you guys can get in.

But but you know the benefits are this is like the only way to really talk to Kevin. You know people Want to ask kept. You know want to hire Kevin as a consultant all the time. Kevin doesn't have the the bandwidth do that, but once a month he'll go on there and just live, you know, just in a regular zoom call. You can ask him anything you want. You can ask other people anything you want in the Facebook group.

Or we have two weekly zoom calls now one at In the afternoon on Friday us time and then one that I actually hop on at midnight because it's 8 am UK time Every Friday and and we hit the, we hit the Europe. You know, all the European sellers and people in Asia, you know, can hop on a call and network with each other. We have four quarterly workshops. The next one's coming up in October, the fourth one of the year. We had one in, you know, during Amazon accelerate, September 11th, and now October, right during unboxed, we're gonna have one where we're gonna be talking about, like I said, tick tock shop, and also we're gonna have a PPC Expert and there's a whole bunch of other Advances of being on the elite program. So if you guys are interested to add this to your helium tenant count again, go to h10.me forward slash elite and Either sign up right there if it's open, take advantage or if it's closed, just just join the waiting list so you can hook up with Kevin that way.

Kevin King

There's some software tools to that. They get extra tools or extra capacity or something right.

Bradley Sutton

Yeah, elite members usually get access to tools like way before, like we just launched Some historical Cerebro. Elite members have had that for like a year and a half, you know, but now barely diamond members are getting it. Like a year and a half Later there's some tools like our elite analytics so that Kevin actually developed himself he gave the the kind of blueprint for it. That's still only elite members can can access that diamond members don't have access. Then that's been around for like two years. So lots of advantages, including networking and training that elite has.

You know, back in the day, like I said, when I was an elite Illuminati member, it was only the. You know there's a I think there was a Facebook group Maybe at that time or something, but it was mainly just one of those training calls a month and that was enough value For me and now it's just like all you know tons, tons of other value. So guys, make sure to check it out. Another thing you know I'm wearing my my OG Billion Dollar Seller Summit shirt today from the very first one, from the very first one and the next one time and place In 2024 for the next billion dollars.

Kevin King

There's actually two. Come with the next Billion Dollar Seller Summit, May 18th to the 23rd in Kauai, Hawaii, which is gonna be amazing, and then right after that one from the 23rd to the 26th, I have a second event called level up, where we're? So the first, the billion dollar seller summits, mostly for Amazon sellers and all the traditional things that you're You're used to like you are Bradley from a billionaire, saw something, the level up, or switching resorts, take it, everybody that's staying, that chooses to stay, and they're going to the Waimea Canyon, which is the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It's like a little Grand Canyon that you in Hawaii that then we're taking them on the Nepali Coast on a dinner cruise. The pop for the poly coast is where these mountains, these beautiful mountains, come right up to the edge of the water. It's just stunning Dolphins jumping everywhere, and so that's gonna be cool. And then we're switching to Hanalei Bay, to the one the chain, the ones 300 million dollar resort that just had a overhaul and it's like 14, $1500 a night to stay there, but we got a rate that's like way less than half of that For people coming to the event. And then we're doing it's called level up, so it's six speakers, only ones Amazon, the other five, or you know, like Perry Belcher just said, he's probably gonna speak at it, jason Flatlin is someone that's maybe speak at us, a couple other Molly Mahoney, it's probably gonna speak at it, and some some other, and then we're mixing that in with Some mind and body stuff, like we talked about earlier, because that's important for our engineers. So there's gonna be cryo therapy, there's gonna be a sound therapy lab where you listen to the bowls and it helps reset your mind. We're doing hot yoga, a bonfire on the beach, and so it's. It's gonna be pretty cool.

We're doing a race. You know we did that race here in Austin. You were in that's that scavenger hunt we did a couple years ago here in Austin. People love that. So Probably problem one of the problems when you go to an event you don't get to see the place. You're like you see the hotel and maybe you see a bar or something with a restaurant. So we're doing we've got 25 Avis rental cars thing or 30 Avis rental cars all lined up and you're gonna broken the teams of four and you're gonna do an amazing race across the islands one day. So you're gonna see, then you're gonna be able to see the entire islands and experience the island. Quiet is a place where you're not gonna want to be sleeping aping in the back. You know you're gonna be like looking out the window after every turn going Holy Callis is beautiful. I've never seen something so beautiful my life. It's a drastic Park Island and so you're gonna, but you're gonna be able to see some cool stuff all in some back places that you wouldn't know they're not on the tours map. We're gonna take you to this one cool beach as part of the race. You're like, holy cow, I'm coming back here because nobody's here, nobody knows about this place. It's like a secret little beach. So that's. That's gonna be cool too.

If it's your third or more trip, you're gonna get like a drastic park experience in a helicopter ride Over the island and stuff. So, like Bradley, if you're out there, you get. You get that for free, as, since you're a regular, since you've been to three, this is your third or more we're gonna take a helicopter around the island as a tour is amazing fly up to the inside. This 10,000 foot waterfall and a helicopter in land and this, this drastic park kind of vehicles gonna pick you up and take you through this Amazing like plantation kind of thing and to a VIP dinner that night. It's gonna be really, really cool. So, yeah, that's a billion dollar seller summit calm.

If you want information on that, then in October I'm doing the billion dollar exit summit so the billion dollar exit summer, doing this with Scott Deets so somebody may know he's got the, the exit ticket or whatever it's called him and he them to Probably the top guy and helping people exit. He helped manning Guillermo exit Helium 10 help who's involved in that Done over a half a billion dollars worth of exits for Amazon sellers. So and you may be like, yeah, but right now I'm not thinking about exiting, but you, you might be in a year or two years and now's the time to actually start working on it now To maximize and add a couple extra million dollars to your exit. By working now, rather than waking up one day and say I want to exit, I want to be out of here in three months, you're gonna be shooting yourself in the foot. So we're doing a.

It's very small 25 to 30 people in Austin, October 10th to the 13th called the Billion Dollar Exit Summit and it's hands-on. So he's bringing his whole team, so it's want some a lot of one-on-one stuff. It's not a bunch of presentations from all these random people. You're gonna walk out there with a plan like, okay, this is what I need to do specific to your business. So that's, that's happening in October.

Bradley Sutton

Awesome, awesome, alright. So, guys, billiondollarsellersummit.com to get more information on it. Alright, like always, let's go ahead and close this out with your 30 or 60 second tip that you can leave for the sellers out there, do you haven't checked out Levonta.

Kevin King

That would be a really good tip. I leave a NTA, I think calm, I think is the is the URL. But especially for the fourth quarter coming up. You know, offside Amazon traffic is huge for ranking. You know you get the 10% referral bonus if you're brand registered and it just helps you in your rank Even if they don't buy. If you're sending traffic from outside social media or outside media, blogs, whatever, even if they don't buy, it helps you on your rank.

But these guys you know that's, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to go set all that stuff up. You got to find people on TikTok or you got to find blogs or you got to find these affiliates and like coordinate everything one-on-one, one by one, by one. These guys have got over a thousand of the top affiliates, from TikTok people to people who are in the affiliate business. That's what they do to blogs like USA Today. USA Today will do a holiday gift guide for pet products this year. If you have a pet product, you want to be in that gift guide in USA Today with two million people reading it online. You, these guys, can facilitate that in the way. It's seamless, the way it works is you just connect your Amazon account to their system and it automatically imports all your products.

Once your products are in there, you can go in and cherry pick them like I only want to promote these three. I'm willing to give a 20% commission for you know this dog bowl and then that goes into their database, these thousand affiliates. When they're writing their stories and looking for things they can search that database. Oh, I want, I want to promote this dog. Well, he's given 20% Off. They just automatically pick up the code, the, everything. It's all done for them. They put it into their blog or their, their post or whatever, and it's all automated or you can go in there.

I think they let you do 50 a day. You can reach out to people and they're growing really, really fast and they just had people on prime day the last, the July prime day. Do over a million dollars just off of outside traffic, off of this program on prime day, and just imagine what that does to your listing on Amazon and the internal Amazon stuff, how that's gonna get that file flywheel going. So that's that would probably be a tip of there under the radar. And you know a mission is here. They don't give me a kickback or anything for this, but that's a tool that I think any Amazon serious Amazon seller is a fool to not use. I'm an absolute fool to not actually take a look at that, especially for this fourth quarter, and get a strong competitive edge Over your competition get more like that.

Bradley Sutton

Guys in Helium 10 Elite. h10.me/elite. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us. I know you're traveling a lot more than you were in the previous years. I'll probably hopefully see you at one of these upcoming events and then, for sure, at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit next year. So Keep on. By the time I see you next time, you know I might not even recognize you're losing so much. Wait, hopefully you won't recognize me, because I need to. I need to get on the path.

Kevin King

Yeah, it's slow but by. Yeah. If we go along in a period of time, you know I've lost a bunch.

Bradley Sutton

I'm not trying to do it quick. All right, we'll see it. We'll see you next time you.

View Details

Ever wondered what it takes to breathe new life into a product whose sales have hit rock bottom? Well, we're about to pull back the curtain on the process. Kickstarting the journey to redemption, we delve into the realm of listing optimization, cross-examining ASINs, and pinpointing top keywords for single or group listings. In this highly practical session, we use our Project X egg rack product as a case study to illustrate the steps to revitalizing sales, from initial setup to shifts in market trends.

Then, we navigate the rough seas of competition research, undertaking a meticulous analysis of competitors' pricing, product dimensions, FBA fees, and reviews. We reveal how powerful tools like Helium 10’s Market Tracker can unlock a comprehensive understanding of the market share held by various competitors. Wrapping up this segment, we ponder the implications of our competitors' profitability on our pricing strategies, equipping you with the knowledge to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve.

Lastly, we dissect sales and keyword performance, shedding light on the art of effectively monitoring them. Discover how Helium 10's Keyword Tracker, Cerebro, and Adtomic can unravel the mystery behind your listing losing rank and sales. We also discuss how subtle tweaks in prices and keyword targeting can help reclaim your competitive edge. Rounding up, we explore the process of competitor analysis on Amazon, offering a wealth of insights on identifying keywords your competitors are ranking for, and assessing your own keyword performance. This is a must-listen for anyone keen to understand when to pull the plug on an unprofitable product and how to give it a fighting chance at survival. Tune in to gain a wealth of knowledge and strategies that could just save your product from the brink of extinction.

In episode 490 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley discusses:

01:13 - Project X Is Back?!
03:42 - Revitalizing Amazon Sales With Project X
06:31 - Analyzing Competitor Pricing and Profitability
07:29 - How To Leverage Helium 10’s Market Tracker Tool
16:01 - Amazon’s Test On Hiding The Bullet Points
16:08 - Results After Emma Helped Improve Our Listings
18:13 - Analyzing Sales and Keyword Performance
24:27 - Analyzing Keyword Rankings and Sales
26:54 - The Power Of The Cerebro “Time Machine”
30:48 - Competitor Analysis Process in Amazon
39:22 - Revitalizing Old Products & Introducing New Projects

Bradley Sutton:

Today's episode marks the return of one of our most popular series ever Project X. We're going to talk about the steps that any Amazon seller should take If they have a product that has tanked in sales. Can we revitalize it? How cool is that? Pretty cool I think. Do you want to see how your listing or maybe competitor's listing rates as to best practices for listing optimization? Or maybe you want to compare a group of ASINs or Amazon products to see how they compare to each other? Maybe you want to see within seconds the top keywords for a single listing or a group of listings? You can do that and more with the Helium 10 tool Listing Analyzer. For more information, go to h10.me/listinganalyzer.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. In this episode we are bringing back Project X. Maybe once a month or every other month I'm going to start doing some Project X follow-up episodes. There's a lot coming. We actually started recording season two last year and we got some great footage and some products are actually coming into stock. That was from those recordings. We're going to follow up on some of the original Project X products, if you'd like. What in the world is this Project X that Bradley's talking about here?

Bradley Sutton:

A few years ago, we did this case study. It was mainly on YouTube and you can go back and watch it, but it was all about trying to take some products from zero to hero. We did this reality TV show, vibe program, where we showed you every step of the way how we were able to find products, get them launched, optimize them and then scale them up in the feature. Ever since that show maybe three years ago, four years ago now we did that We've been maintaining those products, not doing that great of a job because we're not full-time Amazon sellers here. I try and run this in my spare time. That's part of what we're going to be talking about today is I've been neglecting some of these products and sales have gone way down. That's what we're going to be talking about today is do you have a product that maybe you've neglected, maybe you haven't been neglecting it, but sales are way down? It's a product that's one or two years old and you're just not doing as well as you did in the past. What are the steps that you can try to take in order to revitalize it or in order to try and get those sales back up and see if you can salvage all the time and effort that you put in a product? Now, what we're going to do today, guys, I'm doing 100% live. I'm not going to prepare this or try to pre-do some research here. I'm going to air this episode right after I film it, a few days after I film it. We're not even going to have time to see the effects. It's going to take maybe a month or two to see, or I did the things that we do actually have an effect. I started noticing this product going down a few months ago. We've already done a little bit of work. We've actually talked about it on this show, where we had Emma from Marketing by Emma come in and revitalize a little bit some of the images and also some of the copy. Now it's like, hey, let's see how that did and what more needs to be done.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me give you some background first on this product. This product wasn't one of the original Project X products. This is something we were doing when we expanded the brand, we made this brand called Gui’s Chicken Coop and then it was an original in Egg tray. We still have that product. But then we're like, hey, along those same lines, we found that there were these stackable egg racks that were trending on Etsy and Pinterest. The same way, we found the original Project X products. We're like, hey, let's be the first person to make these.

Bradley Sutton:

On Amazon, which we were and we were just dominating, we had some really, really great sales. Let's actually go in and take a look at some of the sales here I am on our Insights dashboard and I knew that even I put here last year and it was one of the top five products. You could see that towards the end of last year we were doing well. We were doing, I mean, for Project X. It was doing about $5,000, $6,000 a month. Profit was decent. Let's take a look at what the profit was towards last year Over $6,000 worth of profit. So it was decent. It actually overtook some of the original Project X in sales.

Bradley Sutton:

But let me show you what happened since the end of last year. We started off with a bang, but then some competitors started coming to the marketplace. We were the first ones and they're like hey look, how good these Project X guys are doing, we're going to try and undercut them a little bit. Let me show you what happened to our sales because of that. All right, I'm going to go ahead and show you this year's worth of sales. You can see, at the beginning of the year we were still doing about $6,500 a month, but then sales just took a nosedive. It halved in March down to $3,000. April it was only $1,000, and then it's been hovering between like $1,000 and $2,000. First of all, you got to understand what happened. Now. Unfortunately, I wasn't running Market Tracker on this the whole time. Otherwise I could show you guys exactly when people started getting into the market. Maybe you're like me and you weren't running Market Tracker the way you should have. I am now and I'm going to show you guys what I can see in the last couple of months on Market Tracker. But let's go ahead and go to Amazon and take a look at what the competition has been doing. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and enter a stackable egg rack here on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's just take a look at a couple of these big players. Some of them have been around for a while, but this guy here, this Kinlin, has been just crushing. Now, first of all, take a look at this price point $20.95. Let me tell you I was actually selling this product for $38. We were the only ones and we couldn't even keep them on the shelves Right off the bat.

Bradley Sutton:

You can see an issue here $20.95. Well, let's just take a look at the Helium 10 BSR chart here to see has he been doing this price the whole time? First of all, let's take a look at when he started getting serious. You guys notice anything here. It was right exactly in March of this year. You can totally tell that by looking at this BSR chart, where it looks like he maybe was experimenting with some units here and there, but he really wasn't selling that consistently. Then all of a sudden, come March of this year, he just starts going bonkers. His price point has actually always been looks like $20.95. He stayed pretty consistent on his price, but literally almost half the price of our product. That's one of the issues right there. His sales are like you know maybe five, six, x what our sales are. So it wasn't just him, though there's other people who have jumped in the market.

Bradley Sutton:

Let me actually show you I actually set up market tracker a couple of months ago. This is not market tracker 360 that you have to pay a lot of money for, that's for like huge, like five, $10 million brands and agencies, but the regular market tracker that all you helium 10 users have. I created the market to kind of like track who are the players, who are my direct competitors for the stackable egg rack market? And, as you can see here, I picked about 17. Now, keep in mind, for almost a year we were the only sellers of this product. Like like nobody had anything that was like ours, where you can just buy these extra levels of this egg rack and then stack them up. Now there's 17 players that have come in and take a look at a lot of their price points $20, $30, $22. Here's one for 38, but it has four racks, all right, mine only has two, um $27. Uh, here's another one that's like $15, $28. So everybody's coming in at this cheap price point.

Bradley Sutton:

Uh, you can take a look at my market share. My market share used to be a hundred percent, right, my market share used to be a hundred percent. Now it is 11.2%. That product that came in in March, is crushing it. They have 50% of the market right now, and so that's obviously a problem, right Like that's why my sales have gone down. So the question is what can I do about it? Can I just lower my price? And can you guys lower your price almost by half and still be profitable? Probably not.

Bradley Sutton:

I actually did some research and that was one of the first things. I look at my dude like like I might have to discontinue this product. Let me look at what the numbers are. So actually, let me take you through what I did. Uh, I went and checked my product price. I forgot I think I was paying too much for this, but you know I was the only seller. I was making a ridiculous profit. It was like probably like more than 30, 35% or so, and so I didn't. I didn't care really what price I was paying. So I was just curious. I was like how in the world can this product sell so cheap?

Bradley Sutton:

So I first looked at their at their page. I was like, okay, are, are, is their dimensions a little bit different? Let me actually go ahead and open up my product in another window here. Okay, here we go. I've got my product open. So now you guys are going to kind of see the comparison.

Bradley Sutton:

So the first thing I was just wondering was what's going on with, like, their FBA fee? Now, look at this. Their FBA fee is only $8.83. I'm like what in the world? Like how is that possible? All right. So I look at the size of their package and it's 14 by six and a half by two. All right, now compare that to mine. I've got $12.43 FBA fee, okay, and my product size is 15, seven by four. So, right off the bat, it's like how in the world can they do this product in half of the width of my product? Because I'm like, wait a minute, you know it's the same exact product, right? So I actually ordered one of theirs. You can actually see it here in my Amazon window when I go to their page and says, hey, you purchased this, you know, back in July and it's interesting. Their product first of all. They make it like almost like an IKEA package. You actually have to put this together. It's in pieces Now to me.

Bradley Sutton:

I would have thought they would got some bad reviews for this because they don't say that in the listing. You know my product. It already comes all assembled. You're good to go. Go ahead and put your Huebles in there, your eggs, right? But no, they don't have any bad reviews.

Bradley Sutton:

But, like me, if I bought that, I literally would have left a bad review even if they weren't my competitor because I'm like I think I'm not time for this. I buy from Amazon for convenience and now all of a sudden I have this two layer egg rack that literally comes in one, two, three, four, five, six pieces and I got to like screw it together and do like Lego and stuff and try and figure out how it works. I'm like, no, I didn't get time for this. So, just, it was just shocking to me. How can people not complain? I guess maybe because the price is so low or something. But I was like, okay, well, there's one thing I'm not going to do, right, so if they're saving a couple or four bucks on their, on their FBA fee, so I'm like there's an advantage that they have right off the bat.

Bradley Sutton:

But even besides that, what I did was I was like, well, what kind of profitability might they be having? So I actually ran the profitability calculator and then if they, if this is their price, and let's say they're doing, you know, they're doing some um PPC, that maybe they have 10% tacos on there. So if they're doing 20% profit even with this lower uh you know shipping price that Amazon is charging them, that means that their product manufacturing costs is got to be like around $4. And mine is like seven or eight or something. Uh, something like that was what mine was.

Bradley Sutton:

And so then I went into, you know to, to my listing. I'm like, well, this, this kind of sucks, how can I, how can I compete? Now, remember before I was like at 38, 97, and I think my manufacturing cost was like, let's just say it's $8, right? And then if I had 10% tacos, all right, uh, in order, you know I was doing. Third, like I said, I was doing like about 30% profit here.

Bradley Sutton:

But then I'm like okay, what if I were to have to lower my price like $21? Well, what's going to happen? Look at this my profit is negative, 2.85. So you know I wouldn't have lowered the. You know I don't like race to the bottom anyways, but rather about my. Okay, obviously I'm not going to lower my price. But what if I lower my price to like $30, or let's just say 33. If I'm at $33, what kind of profit? Can I make 20%? Maybe it's okay, you know.

Bradley Sutton:

So I actually did that. I lowered the price temporarily just a little bit ago to $33. But knowing that, hey, I've got to go to my factory because $30 is $33 probably isn't going to cut it. I need to get a discount. So if I can go to my factory and lower my manufacturing costs from like, let's just say, $8 to $30, let's go with $6, for example, now, all of a sudden, if I lower my price to like $28 or $29, right, I can still maintain that 20% margin. So I might even try and get a little bit more aggressive on this and actually get a little bit aggressive on the box size to see what's going on.

Bradley Sutton:

So here's the first part. You know, without even worrying about, you know, conversion rate or how's my listing, optimization or what keywords I'm on, I'm looking at just like the kind of logistics of everything, right, so here's their. I bought their product, here's their box. Now I see what they're doing. You know, let me see what I can do. Now I'm considering a little bit, like, is there a way to still do this kind of stackable thing that they're doing without screws and without so many pieces. You know I'm still considering it, but at least I know that if I want to lower my price to under $30, it's still doable. But I've got to, you know, take down my costs by a couple of dollars. But in the meantime, I just started doing experiments. I was like, let me just lower the price and so you can see. If you look at this product right now on Amazon, I put it down to $33.97 and because it's the lowest price in 30 days I had this nice big red sticker that comes up in the search results and it actually comes up right here on the page. So I'm like, who knows, maybe that will, maybe that will help me out. You know, just a little bit.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, so, as I said, I, ready a couple of months ago, started trying to say, hey, we need to get Emma in here, and let's do some some of the images a little bit different and let's see how it, how it performs. So she came in, she, she gave like you know new title. She had Chevali do some new images here. So Shivali actually took a lot of these images by herself and so we kind of revamped what we were doing here with these images. I actually told Shivali, hey, I need you to change this image. But she didn't do it. I'm gonna have to remind her. Now I'm looking at this. I didn't like this last image because it needs to not get multiple sets to have all the storage like it needs to be. Hey, get more top racks in order to get all the storage you want. So I got to get what Shivali to change that.

Bradley Sutton:

But anyways, Emma went in and did a lot of updating. By the way, I hate this test that amazon is doing right now where they Hide the bullet points. All right, because, like, for example, when I saw that that competitor had Um, you had to like assemble it in order to Make it. I made that my first bullet point. I said no assembly was required, unlike the others. You see out there, this comes ready to use out of the box no screws, no multiple pieces. But of course, after I did that, amazon is like doing this experiment for the last month or so where they're hiding the bullet points, so annoying.

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, as you can see here, Emma put in some A plus content. We never had a plus content, uh, in the past, and so first thing I wanted to see was wait. First of all, when did I change this Um, and then how were the results? As far as like conversion rate at the very least? So I had forgot when I changed it. So, um, what?

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and take a look here on my insights dashboard. When you do things to your listing It'll you'll get an alert, but then also I can put my own notes. So I'm pretty sure it was May. Let me just put my mouse over here. All right, view all, and sure enough, all right. Here we go.

Bradley Sutton:

Um, I put an updated Listing and a plus content looks like May 16th. So I put a note here, I uploaded the listing and and did a plus content at that time. All right, all right. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to check what the Conversion rate was like, kind of like the few weeks, or actually a couple months leading up to that. A plus content and listing content change and let's just see how it was after.

Bradley Sutton:

So let's go ahead and hop back into the insights dashboard. As you can see here, I've got for one April 1 to May 15, and of course, you can do this in your Seller central as well, but obviously just easier, do it here in your insights dashboard. You don't have to go into Seller Central or try and Find where it's at. Uh, here's the egg rack, and then I'm here under listing so I can see here All right, we've got a conversion rate of 3%. Okay, unit session percentage of 4%, right. So let's go ahead and take a look at what it was After the change. Let's go ahead and go from like may 18th To the end of june and we're going to look at the same number, looking for the conversion rate for Egg rack, and look at this Wow, 8% almost, and 6% conversion rate. All right, so definite increase. So you, you could see like, hey, maybe the sales would have even been worse if we didn't make that change. We were able to to not quite double, but you know pretty, pretty nicely increase our unit session percentage and conversion rate.

Bradley Sutton:

So now, what else can we do? Because it's probably Not just about the price. Price is probably the big thing. What you want to do, guys, if you have a listing that has lost a lot of sales, is you want to see like, have you lost, you know, keyword rank? So let me first let's go outside of helium 10 and let's hop in a search query performance and see if we can go ahead and do some Diagnostics there. All right, so I just started search query performance here. I'm going to look at ASIN view. All right, let me go ahead and look at my double rack. Here it is.

Bradley Sutton:

And let's go ahead and look at one of the months where we were just kind of crushing it, like like we were doing really well In January of this year, right? So let's take a look at some of the top keywords here and then let's go ahead and open up in another tab this same report and let's take a look, let's see if there's any information for August. You know, August we had probably like only One-third the number of sales. So let's go ahead and compare. Looks like they don't have information for August yet. Uh, here in search query performance. So let's go ahead and look at july. All right, let's compare.

Bradley Sutton:

So in January, uh, the number one keyword for us was egg holder countertop. We got eight sales from it. You know, 48 cart ads. Wow, 48 cart ads. So there's probably even more sales. That happened after there for the egg holder countertop. All right, let's go switch over here to july. An egg holder countertop brought us Zero sales, wow, okay. So where, where in the funnel, did we leave? So this is the beauty of search query performance in In January there was 25,000 searches and we had 13,000 impressions.

Bradley Sutton:

All right, all right, let's go ahead and take a look. All right, July 13,000 search volume, so a lot less search volume, first of all, all right, 25,000 versus 13,000, okay, so search volume, you know, just overall, might be down, but then the impressions was 3,000, all right. So you guys remember we had a Search Query Performance team on this call. What does that mean? If there was 13,000 searches and I only had 3,000 impressions? It means that my organic and sponsored rank most of the time was in the top of the page. So at this point, at this point, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go back to Helium 10 and this time I'm gonna open up Keyword Tracker and let's just see what's going on with my keyword ranks for Egg Holder Countertop. All right, so let's go ahead and do that together. All right, so I got Keyword Tracker open. I was tracking all items and the variation here is the Egg Holder Countertop.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and look at the history of Egg Holder Countertop for the organic rank and specifically, I wanna take a look at what was going on in most of January, all right. So you could see here in January I was towards the top of the page a lot of time, like in the top 15 results. Look at that Top 15 results almost across the board for organic. Let's take a look at what my sponsor was. Was I even advertising for this keyword at that time? Okay, now I'm looking at sponsored and what. This is kind of weird. So it looks like I've never advertised for this keyword. So that's kind of strange. So, like I definitely wanna check my Adtomic. But that's interesting. That means most of my.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's go ahead and look back at Search Query Performance. Okay, it makes sense. My search volume was 25,000. I only had 13,000 impressions. That was 100% organic. So that right there is like a miss. I don't know what was going on or why I wasn't advertising against my number one keyword. So there's potential right there, where I have a history of converting for this keyword. Maybe I need to start go ahead and put that in my sponsor as a matter of fact. I'm gonna go ahead and do that right now. All right, so here I am in Adtomic. Let's go ahead and open up one of my performance campaigns. That means that's what I put my exact manual. I'm just gonna go ahead and add this as a target. Here we go, let's go ahead and add target and let's enter a new keyword, exact match, and we'll call this egg holder counter top. And there we go. All right, there we go. So we just made one potential move. Again, now it's from search crew performance. So the rest of what I would need to do is I need to go through and take a look at these other keywords that I was getting sales from, like.

Bradley Sutton:

Here's the second one, just an egg holder. I was able to get three orders from back in January. Here I got six orders. From what keyword is this? Wooden egg holder, all right, wooden egg holder got me six purchases and I actually had 184 clicks on 4,000 impressions. So that's pretty impressive.

Bradley Sutton:

Now Wooden egg holder is still my number one keyword. Only 2,000 impressions, 29 clicks. Wow, guys, that is pretty crazy. My click share is only 3%. So I had 29 clicks out of 2,000 search volume or impressions.

Bradley Sutton:

But before egg holder countertop or a wooden egg holder, I had 184 clicks with only double. So that just shows me that's gotta be price, guys. All right, that's the price effect right there, if nobody even clicks it. You know, and I have a similar image that means people are like why am I gonna click on this 33 or $38 product when we've got these $20, $22 ones, all right. So in this case, you know what I already lowered the price of 33. I wanna do a test on if I can go further and I wanna get that. Since I have that lowest price in 30 days, let me double up on the badging and let me go ahead and throw a coupon in there at the same time. So I got that red lowest price in 30 days badge and I've got one of those green coupons, so I'm just gonna go ahead and hop in and throw one of those coupons, all right.

Bradley Sutton:

So for those who haven't done coupons before, you just go to Seller Central. You go to advertising and then hit coupons, all right. And then let's go ahead and create a new coupon, all right. Next step is you're gonna hit, search your catalog and let's go ahead and put the ace in in here. Here's the product. Let's go ahead and select it and hit continue.

Bradley Sutton:

Next step you're gonna do is set the start and conclusion date. Let's go ahead and start this like on September and let's have it run all the way to the end of September. Let's make it a percentage off. I'm just gonna go. Let's go with 10% off, a double-digit number there, limit redemption to one per customer and let me make a just a budget of a hundred bucks on this. Let's just test it out. Next thing you gotta do is you gotta fill out this coupon title and targeting. I'll do that off-camera. Okay, so I got my coupon set up. That's gonna go active in a few days.

Bradley Sutton:

We're gonna come back in October and then take a look at all right, how much did that increase? You know, click-through rate, because I'm never even gonna get to the add to cart, I'm not even gonna get to the purchase If I can't even get them to click the listing in the search results. I might even have to go to a deeper price based on what these competitors are doing. So we just covered search, create performance and how I can go dive in there and look at all the keywords that were working for me before, and then look at all the ones in search, create a performance at least, and then look at all the ones that is happening now. Now, remember I was selling crazy units a day like five 10 units a day. Back in January, if you look at a search create performance report, it only showed like about 15, 20 sales for the entire month. And remember that's because Search Query Performance doesn't cover a lot of the other scenarios of how people purchase.

Bradley Sutton:

So looking at where I was ranking as a whole is important, and let me show you how I can do that. I can look at a holistic look at where I was ranking organically and sponsored and then do that comparison. It's gonna give me a lot more keywords to look at. Let me show you how. So what I wanna do is I wanna go back into my listening. I'm just gonna run Cerebro on my own listening, so I just have to go ahead and hit this keywords button. If I'm in the listening, I scroll down to the Healing 10 Chrome extension here, just hit the keywords button, or I can just enter my ACE into Cerebro and get it All right. Here's all the keywords I'm ranking for now.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, same thing that I was doing in Search Query Performance. I'm actually gonna keep another tab open here and I wanna run another instance of Cerebro, and the reason is is because I'm going to compare what's going on right now to what was going on in January, which was like the most recent killer month that I was having. So how I can do that is when I'm in Cerebro I'm gonna hit this show historical trend button and I'm gonna go ahead and check what was going on in January. You can see I was organically ranking for a decent amount of keywords. Let's go ahead and apply the filters and now let's see what I was ranking Like, let's say, organically, in the top 10. So what I'm looking at now, guys, I'm like taking a time machine. That's why it's called historical trends, but I call this Cerebro time machine because I'm just literally taking a time machine back to January of this year and I'm running Cerebro as if it was still January and let me see where I was ranking on average for that month. So to see what you know decent search form keywords I'm gonna go ahead and enter a minimum of 500 search volume and let's go one to 10 on the organic rank and let's take a look at some of these keywords. And, sure enough, I'm definitely gonna expand it out to more than just one to 10, because I get sales from other parts of the page too.

Bradley Sutton:

But take a look, there are those keywords that were right from search through performance. That's why you know I could have just skipped that search through performance and got the data here as well. But here we got wooden egg holder, egg holder tower top and there are a few other keywords. Now let's actually switch to right now. Let's take a look at where I'm ranking for on some of these keywords. So what I wanna do is I actually wanna check on these top 10 keywords. Where am I ranking now?

Bradley Sutton:

So let me take this a wooden egg holder, for example, keyword and then let's look at Cerebro. What is going on right now for this keyword? All right, so here I just did a filter for a wooden egg holder in July, and look at this my organic rank is 25. So there's there's definite drop in sales. I went from organic rank two, to sponsored rank one, and then now it is sponsored rank five, organic rank 25. So there's a big fail. I need to kind of, you know, improve on what was the highest search volume keyword at the time Egg holder countertop. We already looked at that one. Another one here is a chicken egg holder, all right. So let's look at chicken egg holder and then go ahead and look up where I was ranking in last month for this chicken egg holder organic rank 53, sponsored rank nothing. In other words I wasn't sponsored at all. But back in January, I was organic rank seven, and sponsored rank five. So there's another kind of plus there, guys, where for whatever reason I let some keywords fall off and I'm not even advertising for them anymore.

Bradley Sutton:

Now the interesting thing here is is back in January I was not really getting play for very specific keywords to my product. And when I say very specific, that would mean, like this is a specifically a stackable egg holder or a stackable egg tray or a multi-tier wooden egg tray. You know, those are very specific to what this functionality was. It's interesting because since my product was kind of like the first to this niche, people weren't really searching for those keywords because they didn't even know it existed. But now I bet, if we would look at it, you know, there's some other sellers probably getting some play for those keywords. That that I'm probably not right now, because we almost, like, created a niche. That's why there's so many different coffin shelves and things like that. We were the first to really, you know, go hard with that kind of product and now there's just a million coffin shelves. But anyways, as you can see there, even just comparing myself to myself, I took my foot off the gas off of some keywords for whatever reason, and that definitely, regardless of price, is probably playing a role in my drop in sales.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's now take a look. You know, instead of comparing myself to myself, which is what we're doing in search, career performance, and cerebral, let's compare what's happening now myself, my product, compared to some of those competitors who have overtaken me in sales. Are they getting sales from keywords that maybe I don't even have in my listing? Let's hop in and let me show you how to find that. All right, so I'm here in the search results for stackable egg rack, and now what I want to do is or what you guys want to do, you know, I hope, if you're following along, do this in your own product. What you need to do is go to Amazon and go to the search results of, like your main keyword or main page. You can also do this inside of Helium 10.

Bradley Sutton:

If you're, if you're tracking your competitors, I like doing it from Xray, just because it's a nice visual experience and the first product that you click on in Xray. Now again, I know this is kind of harder for you guys who are driving around or running around or riding a bicycle and trying to picture what I'm doing. Make sure to go to YouTube to watch the version of this episode to really get the full feel. But hopefully, I'm describing this, you know, decent enough for you. All right, so the first thing you want to do, since you're comparing your product versus your competitors, you go into Xray and you choose your product first. So I'm looking for Ghee's Chicken Coop here. It is right here.

Bradley Sutton:

And then now you pick like four or five of who are the best sellers right now. And you know, sometimes I sort it by sales. This category sometimes trips out and, and you know people switch categories. So I'm actually going to sort it by BSR and let me pick the closest ones to my product that have the lowest BSR, the ones that have a better BSR than me, meaning that at least for the last few hours or today, they were selling better.

Bradley Sutton:

And here's that number one product, kinglin. Here they're the ones I want A hot look at. This Kinglin product has sales of 666. You see, I knew there was something. There was something weird going on with this product why he could sell so much. You know, deal with the devil. I see how it goes, okay?

Bradley Sutton:

Anyways, seriously speaking, though, let's go ahead and select him. We definitely want to know what keywords he's doing, and I'm only choosing the products that are very similar in function to my products, like here's a quail pigeon egg holder. You know, mine is not for quail pigeons, so I'm not going to pick that one. All right, there we go. I was able to pick a few products, and now we're just going to go ahead and run Cerebro.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, the first thing that you want to do is you want to see if are there keywords that they're getting sales from that I am not even ranking for, let alone not on page one. For all right, let me show you how to do that. I have their products compared to mine. I'm going to say position rank that's my, my product zero, minimum, zero, maximum. All right, I'm going to go ahead and put a minimum search volume of 300. And then the next thing I'm going to do is I am going to do advanced rank filter minimum one. All right. Advanced rank filter number one, minimum one. That means I'm looking for a keyword that at least one of the these other competitors is ranking in the top 10 that I am not ranking for at all. And to do that, I go to advanced rank filter, number two, and I put minimum one, maximum 10. All right, there you go. I mean, as a goal, you want no keywords to come up here, and sure enough, there are no keywords that came up for mine, thank goodness, all right. So that means that hope you guys understood what I just did. I was checking are there any keywords that I am not ranked for at all but at least one of my competitors is in the top 10? The answer to that is no. You guys want that to be no as well for yourselves, all right. Step two All right, I know there's not one that I'm not ranking on, but what? Are there any keywords where I'm ranking like between like 15 and 306, but at least one of my competitors is ranked in the top 10.? And I would assume that there's a number of them. And sure enough, look at all these keywords here. All right, so wooden egg holder is one.

Bradley Sutton:

Let's take a look at what's going on here. Wow, look at this. There are a couple competitors ranked for and ranked five, and yet my position is 25. So there's a keyword that potentially I can try and increase on my sponsored rank to get some, you know, to start competing with those other two products. Here's another keyword here. Look at this, this counter egg storage. You've got one competitor at position seven, another one in the first 20, but or two more in the top 20 organic positions. And me, where am I ranked? 91. There are a total of 50, 17, sorry, 17 keywords on this list or at least one of my competitors is most likely getting sales from because they're in the top 10 positions in the organic results. And yet I'm like anywhere from 25, and here's one keyword that's, I'm all the way at 220. So there still is some low-hanging fruit. So there's a lot more stuff I'm going to go into.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to go look at my Adtomic. If you guys don't use Adtomic, you're not going to be able to do what I do, because I'm going to be able to go in and look at my history on what keywords I was crushing it on back in January and February and see what's going on with those keywords Now, like, did I accidentally pause it? Or did one of the healing 10 employees who keeps screwing with my account because they're trying to run test, accidentally archive something. The reason I say if you don't have Adtomic, you can't do that is the only way you would be able to look at that is if you were downloading your search term reports from Amazon during that time because Amazon only lets you see I think it's like two or three months worth of data, and that was January February. With Adtomic I can go back like two years, so I have no problem. So that's my next step.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to do I already did, you know some listing optimization, but I'm also going to do some next level list optimization. Once I take a look at all these keywords and look at the keywords I'm not doing great in, I'm going to check in Listening Builder. Do I have them in phrase form? Or maybe that's why I'm not doing so great for it is because I'm just indexed for it, but I don't have the full phrase in there and that will help. That could help my relevancy. So I'm definitely going to optimize that.

Bradley Sutton:

I told you I'm going to go into those images and I need to kind of like make people understand that they can buy extra racks, to kind of like stack it up. That's another thing I'm going to do. Another thing I'm probably going to do is I'm probably going to go to azrank.com and do some customer testing, like have some customers search for some of these keywords and then let them give me a report on what they think of my listing versus these other ones and which ones, like, would they pick first, second and third, and which one last and then, and then I might get some insights there from, like, real customers on. Is it really just the price that people are kind of tripping on? I'm going to go ahead and hop in and use Helium 10 Audience, which is powered by pick food.

Bradley Sutton:

I'm going to run some split tests. You know, like I just told you that we changed the images right, but was that the right move? I'm going to? I think that the A plus content definitely was the right move because you know it helped our conversion rate, but that main image we actually didn't change. So I'm going to check. Did they take any more pictures that maybe I could split test on? I might not want to split test this on a live listing because you know it could hurt my conversion rate, but let me go ahead and run a Helium 10 audience so that I can, you know, pull 50 Amazon buyers and then see, see what they think.

Bradley Sutton:

And then, like I said, for my next order, I got to get a price that's at least like 20% cheaper, if I can, from my factory, and I might even look into changing a little bit of the dimensions. Actually, matter of fact, you know what this is important. So let's go ahead and hop in here and see what we can do. Let me show you something cool, alright, so let's just go hop into my listing and let me show you how I can kind of like play around with the pricing here. Let's go ahead and run the profitability calculator once it comes up and let's see if I can like maybe shave a couple of inches off of this. What might happen? Let's take a look. Alright, so if I can get my manufacturing cost down to like $6, and still with a 10% ACoS, and if my price I want to put this at like $28 more or less, what would happen if I can shave just maybe an inch off of the length?

Bradley Sutton:

So let's go 14.12. It was at 17% profit. That brings me to 18% profit, so not much. What about this width? Let's bring this down to seven. Wait a minute. Wow, did you guys just see that? I just took the other width or the height, from 7.28 inches. I just took off a quarter of an inch and it increased my margin by over 4%. That's kind of crazy. Let's try that again 7.28. Yeah, it was 18%, large standard size, but then I take it down to seven and it drops me under three pounds outbound shipping weight. So that might be an easier win to just shave off a quarter of an inch from the height and I get 4 percentage points back on my profit margins.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, that is definitely doable. You see, you see guys, like, like how you just got to like, dive in there and start playing with this. You never know what might happen. I think it's because I was right on the cusp of that dimensional weight for three pounds and it put me at 2.99 pounds just by changing 0.28 of an inch. On one side of the product, I say 4 percentage points.

Bradley Sutton:

So these are the kind of things that you guys need to do and at the end of the day, let's just say I do all of this stuff and I start losing money on PPC because I have to spend so much and I just can't, I can't compete, I can't stay profitable. Yeah, you got to be able to pull the plug. You shouldn't have complete emotional connections to your products, guys. You got to be able to pull the plug sometimes. But, anyways, these are the steps I want you guys to take.

Bradley Sutton:

If you have a product that's been out for a couple of years and you're like man, can it be revitalized? Don't just give up without even trying these things. There are things that you can do to maybe get some traction back. So again, this is one of the Project X products. We're going to have some more Project X episodes coming out on some of the products you know and some of the launches of some brand-new projects. These are brand new products that we've been doing in our Project X that you guys haven't even heard about yet. So look forward to that in the next episode. I'll see you guys there.

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We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from, and provide a training tip for the week.

FTC reportedly may sue Amazon later this month after talks break down
https://nypost.com/2023/09/05/amazon-facing-ftc-antitrust-lawsuit-later-this-month-report/

TikTok is ending its support for Shopify‘s storefronts on September 12, but the ecommerce brand has found a new way to operate on the ByteDance-owned app. According to The Information, Shopify will integrate its vending platform into the TikTok Shop hub.
https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/09/01/tiktok-shop-ecommerce-merch-shopify-storefront-integration/

Amazon doesn't name Temu, Shein, or AliExpress as potential threats in any of its latest SEC filings. However, according to the latest app store rankings on Data.ai, Temu and Shein are currently the two most downloaded shopping apps in the U.S. on iOS and Android.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/09/05/meta-platforms-growth-chinese-amazon/

New York-based eCommerce company Benitago has reportedly filed for bankruptcy. The firm is seeking protection from creditors two years after raising $325 million in funding, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. It listed both assets and liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million.
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2023/report-ecommerce-company-benitago-files-for-bankruptcy/

For this week’s training tip, Shivali Patel shows us how to create your own QR codes and design your product inserts inside Helium 10’s Portals tool. Lastly, Carrie invites you to join Helium 10’s Winning with Walmart Facebook group to connect, network, and ask questions to a community that is selling on the Walmart.com platform.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie talks about:

00:45 - Amazon / FTC Update
01:30 - TikTok Shop / Shopify
03:19 - Most Downloaded Apps
05:22 - Aggregator Benitago Bankrupt
07:22 - Amazon Price Tracker
09:00 - Pro Training Tip: Create QR Codes And Product Inserts Inside Helium 10
14:09 - Join Our Walmart-Selling Facebook Group

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In this episode, we welcome back a successful Amazon and Walmart seller to talk about business updates, taking your hobby into a profitable income stream, and his experience launching his products in TikTok Shop.

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In this episode, we welcome back Lailama Hasan to talk about the results of her recent listing optimization and buyer journey case studies. Listen and learn how these findings help you improve your listings in 2023!

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In this episode, Bradley answers questions that the community has submitted about listing optimization, keyword research, Helium 10 tools, and other Amazon strategies.

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In this episode, let’s talk about how Walmart sends online traffic to your listings so that you can get more sales and our host, Carrie Miller, answers all your questions about Walmart.

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Today, we've got some former guests back on the show to talk about PPC tips, inspiring stories, and how her clothing brand got featured along the likes of Louis Vuitton.

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In this episode, let's dive into Norm's experience of being an Amazon Live influencer. We'll learn strategies and how the system works on a level that you've never heard of before!

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Today, we have part 1 of a 2-part series with Norm Farrar. We talked about how to get your Amazon brand into retail, the latest strategies on Google business profile, and more!

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In this episode, we welcome back Steve Simonson to talk about AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and more on how to leverage them to skyrocket your Amazon business.

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In this episode, we welcome two sellers from opposite sides of the world who both have sold multiple millions of dollars online but in completely different ways.

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Today’s expert guest shares the latest trends, insights, and tips in the ever-evolving world of freight forwarding, warehousing, and shipping! Learn strategies that can save you a lot of money.

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Today is our special Walmart Wednesday episode, where Bradley and our special guest breakdown live listings, keyword research, and other secret hacks!

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In this episode, serious sellers share amazing stories of success. One turned $3K into a near 7-figure exit, while another had their brand featured on UK's version of Shark Tank.

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In this episode, one of the top Amazon Agencies in the space talk about a wide variety of topics including Amazon A+ Content, Brand Story, and More!

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In this episode, we interview two 7 figure Amazon sellers who share their strategies

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In this episode, an Amazon PPC Expert joins us to answer 20 of your Amazon Advertising questions, on topics ranging from launch to maintenance!

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In this episode, an Amazon Algorithm expert explains how its fake news to say there is a such thing as the A10 algorithm, and gives us great advice on listing optimization

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In this episode, Bradley talks about Alexa AI Update, Pinterest / Amazon Collaboration and Amazon Search Glitch.

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In this episode, we've got a seller who is still working his full-time job, and on the side, he was able to grow his Amazon and retail brand to over $4 million in revenue.

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We're back with another seller strategy masterclass episode and today, we'll dive deep into Amazon advertising, dayparting, and how to automate your request to review.

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In this episode, we have an 8-figure seller who shares his Amazon brand and allowed us to tear apart his listings, storefront, and all of his activities so we can learn from him.

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Learn the attributes of a high-quality Walmart listing and how to streamline the content writing process using GPT with our expert guest Ryan King.

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Today's episode features a husband and wife's journey from startup to a 7-figure Amazon FBA business. Learn their tips, strategies, and how they overcame obstacles along the way.

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Let's see what’s buzzing this week with Bradley - while on his Japan trip, brings us the latest news in the Amazon space. We also share training resources for you and a keyword research strategy using Xray keywords.

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Join us as we bring someone from Amazon and a successful seller to the show to talk about tips, share stories, and programs that can massively benefit your current business.

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Today, we will cover the latest news in our industry. From Amazon fee increases, Etsy payment delays, Prosper Show recap, and how to improve your listing optimization process. Let’s see what’s buzzing this week!

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In this episode, we sit down and talk with Mansour Norouzi of Incrementum Digital to get the latest tips, trends, and strategies on Amazon advertising.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, and the E-commerce world. Plus, learn some PPC strategies and how a free Helium 10 tool can add value to your business.

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We're back with part 2 of this series. Join us as we chat with a diverse group of Amazon sellers, each with their own unique journey and success story to share.

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Join us for this episode where we invited Amazon sellers from different levels and unique backgrounds. Regular people sharing their inspiring stories and strategies.

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Unlock the full potential of your Amazon business with ChatGPT! In this episode, let's learn how to leverage AI for your brand story, listing optimization, and more!

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Are you interested in selling on Amazon Japan? Today, we welcome two experts to share why it’s a big opportunity and their tips and strategies on how to succeed in this marketplace.

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Are you an Amazon brand owner looking for a way to exit your business without completely walking away? Tune in to this episode as Paul Miller breaks it all down.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space. We also share cool resources to find search glitches and training to help you manage your PPC campaigns.

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Join us for this exciting episode as we sit down with Amazon PPC expert Destaney Wishon, who answers all your burning questions about Amazon and Walmart PPC.

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Today, we are back for part 2 of this series, and we are going to talk about strategies that will help you with keyword research, product research, and how to finds signs of review manipulation.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news in the Amazon and E-commerce space. Amazon’s 4th quarter reports, new features inside the sponsored brands creative builder, and the state of the aggregator space in 2023.

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In part one of this two-part episode series, we’ll tackle 20 quick-hitting strategies you can add to your Amazon-selling arsenal to help you level up your business this 2023.

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In this episode, we talk to two people who come from crazy backgrounds but now help Amazon sellers get to the next level. Let’s tune in to the valuable strategies that they have to share!

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In this Weekly Buzz episode, Bradley covers the latest news in Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space. Tune in for our exclusive interview with Shawn Hart and training tip on how to create Amazon attribution links inside Helium 10!

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In this episode, Bradley shares 18 strategies that you need to implement in your Amazon business to get a competitive edge and crush it this 2023.

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In this episode, Kevin is back on the show to talk about health and how your Amazon business can gain a competitive advantage through new technology like NFTs and Artificial Intelligence.

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Today, we are going to have our first Walmart Wednesday episode of the year with expert guest Michal Chapnik, who answers all of your questions about selling on the Walmart marketplace.

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We’re back for part 2 of this series, and in this episode, Bradley’s going to talk about search volume and how the Amazon algorithm calculates it. Plus, more results of his case studies!

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In this episode, Bradley shares some information that you haven’t heard about before and takes a deep dive into the state of search volume data from Amazon, Helium 10, and other tools.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news about Amazon’s new FBA capacity management system, how to buy pink sauce at Walmart stores, and a refund experience from an Etsy store that went viral.

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In this episode, we speak with two veteran Amazon sellers, Chris Thomas and Regina Peterburgsky, on how to stay competitive this 2023. Plus, travel tips, investments, and more!

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In this episode, we speak with an Amazon and Walmart advertising expert to answer all your frequently asked questions and learn unique strategies to crush it on your Amazon PPC.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news on Amazon and Etsy. Advertising glitches, buy with Prime stats, award-winning ninja PPC hacks, and how to increase your review velocity.

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Today’s episode is another installment of our Sellers Strategy Masterclass series, where Bradley talks about all the best tips to level up your Amazon listing optimization game.

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In this episode, we bring back Kian Golzari to the show to share strategies on Amazon product sourcing in China, both in-person and online. Plus travel hacks, Canton Fair tips, and more!

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, Shopify, and the top e-Commerce trends globally. We also learn about Etsy listings compared to Amazon listings and how to use Xray Keywords.

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In this episode, we welcome two sellers to learn about their stories and the unique selling strategies that helped them crush it on Amazon.

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In this episode, we compiled all the best strategies that we’ve had for the entire year of 2022. Get ready cause this will be a fun-filled strategy fest!

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This episode is part 2 of our special interview with Brandon Young, and we’re going to talk about more Amazon-selling strategies and other updates in the industry.

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This is part 1 of 2 in this crazy strategy-filled episode with one of the top Amazon strategists in the game, Brandon Young. We talk about how to scale your team, relevancy strategies, and more!

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In this episode, we are going over a lot of strategies that are bound to help you crush it in 2023 if you’re an Amazon or Walmart seller.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, interesting updates worldwide, and an excellent tip on how to automate your review requests.

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In this episode, we talk to an Amazon product ranking specialist about the latest strategies, updates, and emerging trends that can impact your ranking on Amazon.

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In this episode, we speak with PPC expert, Gefen Laredo of Vendo, to go over all our listeners' top questions on everything related to Amazon and Walmart advertising.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news in the Amazon space, an FBA inventory issue Bradley experienced, and tips on PPC & keyword research for 2023.

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In this episode, we’re gonna talk with two podcast hosts to talk about cool strategies and stories that they’ve learned from their guests over the past year.

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In this episode, we talk to Anthony Cofrancesco and Ian Sells about strategies for user-generated content and how to optimize your Amazon listings for better conversions.

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In this episode, we talk about what’s buzzing in the Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy spaces. We also learn how to check if your Amazon products are being sold in other marketplaces.

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In this episode, we go over the top product and niche research techniques that will help you beat the competition when it comes to finding new products to sell on Amazon.

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In this episode, we got Janelle Page back on the show to talk about Kickstarter launches, Shopify pre-sales, how to build a brand in 2023, and what Amazon seller skills can give an edge over the competition.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, a special webinar with Neil Patel, and how to use the Adtomic Schedules feature.

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Bradley is back with another Maldives Honeymoon episode. For this episode, we’re not only talking about launching methods but also some next-level hacks for you to get ahead.

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Today we have two guests, one has sold tens of millions of dollars on Amazon, and the other has helped sellers get tens of millions of dollars reimbursed by Amazon.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon and Shopify. Learn a tip you can use for Black Friday sales, what’s trending in Amazon ads, and how to improve your product research.

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In this episode, we review the latest updates we recently launched, including a new game-changing feature for your historical keyword research.

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In this episode, we talk to two Amazon sellers on opposite sides of the spectrum, and both are achieving different levels of success in their respective journeys.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news about Amazon, E-commerce marketplaces inside TikTok and YouTube, and learn how to use the search expander tool.

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In this episode, Bradley goes over some of his favorite serious strategies for Amazon and Walmart sellers from the one and only Kevin King!

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In this episode, we speak with Scott and Danielle of Northbound about Amazon exits, the blueprint for a successful premium brand exit, and how you can learn all these inside Helium 10’s new series.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon and Walmart, get actionable tips from a Serious Sellers Club member, and learn why there are no sales estimates for certain products.

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In this episode, Bradley is back with another strategy masterclass to show you underutilized features inside two Helium 10 tools you may not know about.

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In this episode, we talk to Cameron Berlin-Day of Pacvue about general PPC tactics, discuss features inside Amazon ads like the Marketing Stream and Marketing Cloud, and more!

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, learn how to utilize brand analytics features inside Magnet and Cerebro, and his best free Amazon-selling strategies for Helium 10 subscribers.

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In this episode, we welcome back Selene Dior to talk about the latest on social media and how her strategies helped propel her E-commerce brand to make 7-figures in 2021.

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In this episode, Bradley goes over all the latest updates with Helium 10 and how you can use it to make you or save you thousands of dollars on Amazon. How cool is that?

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In this episode, Bradley covers the latest news on Amazon and reviews all the latest updates from the Amazon unBoxed conference in New York City.

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In this episode, we talk to Yoni Kozminski about one of the favorite topics at the Sell and Scale Summit, how to get started on building SOPs and systems for your E-commerce business.

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In this episode, Bradley speaks with Leo Sgovio about his top Google ads strategies and how the ad platform may play a more significant role for Amazon sellers in the future.

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In this episode, we talk about Amazon’s new marketplace in Europe, Walmart’s new program for content creators and influencers, and cool tips for your listings and deals for the holiday season.

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Today we welcome back one of your favorite guests, Anne Ferris, to talk about updates on her Amazon business, plus some strategies on product packaging, lifestyle images, and breathing techniques.

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In this episode, we talk to Josh Hadley to share his story, from making custom wedding invitations to selling $10 million a year on Amazon.

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In this episode, we discuss the latest news in Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce. Discuss the latest tips and features of Helium 10 tools to help your business crush it.

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In this episode, our guest talks about how they have helped hundreds of sellers increase their E-commerce sales with the help of influencer and affiliate marketing.

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In this episode, we welcome three guests to talk about Amazon Singapore, the pros and cons of sourcing in Vietnam, and how to meet Bradley on his trip to Asia.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, tips from a Serious Sellers Club member, How to analyze your competitor’s images inside Helium 10, and check out a new module inside Freedom Ticket.

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For today’s show, we continue where we left off in the last episode to share 15 more keyword research tips and strategies using Cerebro.

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In this episode, Bradley introduces a new series to the show where he will focus on top strategies you can use to increase your sales on Amazon.

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In this episode, we break down the latest news on Amazon and Walmart. We also discuss Indexing Glitches that might affect your listings and how our tools can help.

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In this episode, we’re going to go over all the latest Helium 10 features and why all sellers should take advantage of these to level up their E-commerce game.

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What’s now possible now that Amazon is giving hourly data on PPC? Are we able to create Google ads inside Helium 10? We break this all down with resident PPC expert Vince Montero.

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In this episode, Bradley recaps all the latest announcements at the Amazon Accelerate 2022 event and what big shifts that you should keep an eye on as a seller on the platform.

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In this episode, we interview two E-commerce sellers. They share their stories and strategies on how they were able to grow their business from zero to seven figures.

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In this episode, we talk to 8-figure seller Benjamin Webber about his unique product marketing strategies and his best tips on how to build the best E-commerce team.

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In this episode, we talk about a big announcement from Amazon and cover the latest news about E-commerce. Plus, tips and information on NetSuite, PPC, and more!

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In this episode, we welcome Cara Sayer back and talk about how her sales are now bouncing back after the pandemic, and we learn strategies to connect with your customers better.

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In this episode, we speak with a 7-figure seller from Brazil, Antonio Bindi, to talk about his Amazon journey and his unique strategies on product launches, Amazon Posts, and virtual bundles.

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In this special episode of the Helium 10 Weekly Buzz episode, Bradley breaks down the newest updates inside the Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on the Amazon and Shopify space. Learn about product licensing and 5 Helium 10 features that most don’t know about!

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In this episode, we talk to two sellers who live in Dubai to talk about selling on Amazon markets in the gulf region and how one seller scaled up to $250,000 sales without software.

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In this episode, Bradley shares his top 30 travel hacks that Amazon and e-Commerce entrepreneurs should be using.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon. We learn more about Walmart Fulfillment Services, Market Tracker 360, and a cool hack for frequently bought together.

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In this episode, we welcome back Justin Chen of PickFu to talk about how you can create epic listings with the help of crowd-sourced insights and data.

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In this special episode, we talk about what’s working for Amazon PPC, how to get the most out of networking events, and a glimpse into new Korean marketplaces.

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In today’s episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon and Walmart. Interview a doctor turned Amazon specialist. Tips about the honeymoon period, Xray keywords tool, and more!

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On today’s show, we’ve got a strategy-packed episode from your favorite Amazon experts, and Bradley talks about the latest updates and features for Helium 10.

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We speak with two Amazon experts, Mike Jackness and Mina Elias, to share all their latest hacks and strategies that have helped them and others to sell millions on Amazon.

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Today, we bring you the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, and more details on the Yiwu lockdown. Plus, we give out massive bonuses for Sell and Scale Summit registrants.

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Today, we speak with podcast veterans Chris Lyell and Kian Golzari to share what’s new in the shipping and sourcing space and how to protect your listings against the bad players.

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In this episode, Bradley welcomes back Wilfried Ligthart to find out what’s trending in digital marketing, why you should be consistent in social media, and more!

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In this episode, we cover the latest on Amazon and its advertising platform. We also talk about valuable tips on exiting your brand and how to use our Inventory Management tool.

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In this episode, we speak with Emma Schermer Tamir and Rich Goldstein about intellectual property, trademarks, listing optimization, and how to get the most out of Amazon seller events.

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In this episode, we speak with Dana Oren of 8fig about business funding, Fintech solutions, and how their growth platform helped eCommerce sellers 10x their revenue.

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In this jam-packed episode, we cover all the latest news on Amazon and talk about strategies for Amazon PPC, keyword research, and brand analytics.

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Today, we got two podcasts in one. We’ll talk about two different subjects affecting Amazon sellers, which are product compliance and hiring tips for your virtual assistants.

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Today, we take a look back on all of the newest tools, updates, and features that Helium 10 has launched for the month of July.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news on Amazon. Plus some tips on how to differentiate your product and go over one of Magnet’s features.

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For the first time in two years, Tomer is back on the show to share his hard-hitting tactics and strategies that helped him and his clients sell millions on Amazon.

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In this episode, we talked to Matt Altman to share all the strategies he uses from managing Amazon brands with over $250 million of yearly revenue.

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In this jam-packed episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Shopify. Learn about product inserts, an Elite seller’s story, and how to do product research on the go!

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Today, we are going to speak to two sellers from opposite sides of the world who have sold millions of dollars on Amazon to share their journeys and strategies.

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In this episode, we talk to Shawn Hart about his story and the unique marketing principles that helped him reach $153 million in total Amazon sales.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart. Talk about retail arbitrage, Amazon posts, how to find the best-selling variation, and a business assistance fund program for Amazon sellers.

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In this episode, we speak with Gracey Ryback of Deal Cheats about her story, Amazon influencer marketing, TikTok promotions, Amazon Live, and Amazon Affiliates.

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Today we welcome back Matt Remuzzi and Melanie Shabangu to talk about Amazon accounting, exits, and new regulations for the European Market.

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In this episode, we talk about the latest news on Amazon, learn how to name PPC campaigns, and a tip on how to utilize Black Box for frequently bought together.

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Today, we welcome Carrie and Michael Lebhar to talk about some exciting things happening to the Walmart platform, some new Amazon launch strategies and more!

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In this episode, we speak with Michelle Covey of GS1 US to talk everything about barcodes and answer all your frequently asked questions about them.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, speak with an Elite seller about his journey and tips, and a training tip on how to check if your sales are down.

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Today, we welcome the Amazon influencer dynamic duo, Jana Krekic and Lazar Zepinic, to give us a preview of their Sell and Scale Summit topics.

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In this episode, we recap all the latest updates, new tools, and features from June’s Bigger Better Launch program.

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Today, we cover the latest news about Amazon. Talk about the current state of the supply chain, and share a pro-tip on how to use the Listing Analyzer tool.

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The King is back on the show to talk about NFTs, product launches, listing hacks, & how he’s the new host of the podcast that introduced him to the Amazon world.

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Today, we speak with Matthew Smith from Walmart to talk about how to get started on the platform, answer your FAQs, and a special announcement that you don’t want to miss!

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In this episode, we cover the latest news about Amazon, answer your frequently asked questions, and show you around the Listing Analyzer tool.

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In this episode, Bradley talks about everything we don’t like about Amazon, but let’s also review the reasons why we love selling on the platform.

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Today, Bradley speaks with Crystal Ren. After years of education started an Amazon business, and within two years, she exited her 7-figure per year company.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Walmart, Amazon, and Etsy. We also talk about exciting updates for the Sell and Scale Summit.

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In this episode, Bradley is back in the Maldives to talk about his new launch strategies and the latest updates to all his case studies.

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Today, we’re gonna speak with one of the experts in the industry about strategies for Amazon PPC, data points, business reports, and more!

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In this week’s episode, we bring you the latest news on Amazon and Q&A with Chinese suppliers about the current state of sourcing and the supply chain.

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In this episode, we welcome back Chris Green to talk about everything you need to know on Amazon KDP and tips on using it for creative marketing and branding.

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In this episode, let’s talk about the latest news on Amazon and Walmart. Take a sneak peek at a new Freedom Ticket training content and the new Cerebro one-click filters.

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Today, we’re gonna talk about all the latest updates to Helium 10 like new ways to find your top keywords, how to analyze your competitor’s listings, and more!

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In this episode, we bring to you the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. Plus exciting news as Helium 10 celebrates its 6th birthday this week and more!

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In this episode, Bradley goes over all the operations and analytics tools that you need to use inside Amazon seller central and Helium 10 to help you crush it.

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Today, we cover the latest news from Amazon & Shopify. Share new updates on Black Box, how to use the Pinterest Trend Finder, plus an exciting announcement!

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Today, we speak with social media influencer and 7-figure seller Trevin about his businesses and tips on finding your next winning product, launches, and more!

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In this episode, we’ll cover the latest news on Amazon and Walmart. We answer your questions and share a tip on how to analyze your competitor’s listing.

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Podcast favorites Schrone Hardeman and Shan Shan Fu are back for updates on their business and new strategies if you’re selling in multiple eCommerce platforms.

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Today, we welcome back four teenage eCommerce sellers from SSP #222 to follow up and see what are they up to. Business exits, hiring employees, and education.

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Today, we talk about Amazon’s updates on its dangerous goods policy, Buy with Prime, Walmart’s annual report, selling tips, and using PPC for your launches.

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Today’s episode welcomes Joseph Wang to talk everything about Amazon strategy, teddy bears, cryptocurrency, dating advice, lifehacks, networking, and more!

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In this episode, we speak with Lailama Hasan and Lem Turner about selling tips and introduce two brand new shows that will help you level up your Amazon game.

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In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon fees and storage. We talk about product liability insurance, and how to create QR codes for your business.

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In this episode, Bradley welcomes back Mina Elias to talk about the latest strategies in Amazon PPC and product launches.

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What's the difference between Helium 10 search volume compared to Amazon's search volume tools? In this episode, Bradley dives into this topic and more!

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In this episode, we cover the latest on Walmart, Etsy, and Amazon. We’ll also introduce a new tool and share a pro training tip about product inserts.

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Today, we talk to Mark Casey, a specialist in setting up Amazon listings. He shares his best tips on image selection, A+ content, outside traffic, and more!

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Bradley dives deeper into his backstory and shares valuable lessons from his career and life’s success and failures.

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This episode covers the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy this week. We also welcome experts in ranking and sourcing to share their insights and tips.

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Do you think retail or online arbitrage is a thing of the past? Today, we speak with Garry Ray on how he made $2.6 million on arbitrage alone last year.

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Elite sellers Jake Paulsen and Ryan Ebel are back with updates and business strategies. Plus tips on applying for home loans and insurance as an Amazon seller.

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In this episode, we cover the latest on Amazon and Etsy. Interview a multi-figure Amazon entrepreneur, and show you how to create custom barcode labels.

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In this episode, we’re going to get some cool tips and strategies from sellers that we have interviewed live on the recent Prosper Show in Las Vegas.

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Did you know that you can easily find a TikTok influencer that’s perfect for your Amazon brand? Today’s expert guest shows you how plus more strategies.

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This week, we cover the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. Interview an Elite seller with a unique story and a pro-tip when using our Magnet tool.

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TikTok is the hottest social media platform right now. Learn how to utilize it to grow your Amazon business through organic posts and paid ads.

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In this episode, we welcome back Meghla Bhardwaj to talk about the latest on selling and sourcing your products in India.

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We’re back to cover the latest news on Amazon, Walmart, & Shopify. We talk with an Amazon PPC expert about his strategies to improve your campaigns and more!

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Do you still have a day job and aren’t sure how you’ll be able to transition to full-time on Amazon? Today’s guests share their stories.

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In this episode, Bradley picks up where he left off and shares his latest tips on how to improve your Amazon listings for better conversions and sales this 2022

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In this special episode, we will be dropping some Major News about the biggest upcoming Amazon Seller event this year. You don't want to miss it!

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In this episode, we are going to go over the latest and greatest strategies for optimizing your Amazon listings for 2022.

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Norm Farrar is back on the show to share his knowledge about selling on Walmart, updates on his pre-launch strategies, and more!

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Today, we cover the latest news on Walmart+, Etsy, and new features for Amazon Canada. We also share resources for our Spanish-speaking community and more!

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How do you pivot your strategies when Amazon’s TOS changes? Is there value in involving your customers in building your next product? Our guest shares her ideas

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Today, we speak with Rael Lowenthal about product compliance, importing, taxes, and logistics for when you’re ready to expand your business internationally.

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This episode covers the latest on the Amazon marketplace, Elite seller’s advice to new sellers, Follow-Up’s new product rating tracker feature, and more!

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Today's guest gives us the rundown on what's going on with the shipping costs and transit situations now that March 2022 is approaching.

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In this episode, we talk to Saddam and Kamal of AMZ One Step on what strategies are currently working to improve your conversion rates this 2022.

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This episode talks about the latest on Walmart+, new Amazon features, how to get the best results for your listings, introducing a new tool, and more!

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Today, we’ll talk to someone who worked at Amazon for ten years before starting what many consider the “Ferrari” of all Amazon advertising software platforms.

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In this episode, we’ll talk about how you can take your Amazon products and start selling them on Walmart.com, plus a new program that can help you do that!

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This week’s episode features the latest on Amazon’s massive gains, Walmart’s open call, an AMA segment, and how to find the top keywords driving organic sales.

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Today, Bradley talks with a seller who is crushing it on Amazon by learning and executing Freedom Ticket and Project X strategies.

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Bradley welcomes to show two brothers who have found success on their very first Amazon FBA product. Combined, they have now grossed over $2.5 million a year.

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In this episode of the Weekly Buzz, we cover the latest news about the Sold by Amazon shut down, Walmart’s cryptocurrency, 2022 supply chain updates, and more!

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The Rainmaker Family is back on the show to talk about unique selling strategies, mindset hacks, and how they motivate their community through challenges.

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Today, we're going to bring back two sellers to share their journey on how they scaled their business from $1.7M in 2020 to $6.4M in 2021.

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In this episode, we bring the latest news about the Lunar New Year, new FBA fee changes, updates from our product manager, and the Keyword Tracker for Walmart

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Today, we’ll be talking about information overload. How can you really focus on what helps your business with all these content, training, and events?

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Saqib Azhar, owner of the world's largest Amazon Facebook group, is back to talk about hiring virtual assistants and a new launch method that his group uses.

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In this episode, we tackle the latest news on Amazon’s call me now feature, FBA shipment policy changes, and a summary of the supply chain in 2021.

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Lem Turner joins us today to talk about the latest updates on Amazon, Walmart, and Helium that can help you crush it this 2022.

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Today, we're going to talk about everything you want to know about Amazon images, product photography, and even 3D imaging.

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In this episode, we talk about shipping rates increase, how to acquire more capital for your FBA business, and introducing the new Pinterest trends finder.

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In part 2, we continue on where we left off to listen to four and a half more inspiring seller stories on how they overcame obstacles to crush it on Amazon.

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Today, we will hear four inspiring stories of sellers from all walks of life. Perhaps, someone, you can relate to on how they are crushing it on Amazon

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Today, we talk about record-breaking sales on the holidays, Amazon restock limits, an elite seller’s story, and how you can automate your review requests.

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In this episode, Bradley takes a look back at the best thirty-second tips and strategies from 2021.

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Kian Golzari is back with some updates and insights on the current situation regarding sourcing and shipping. He also shares his top strategies for 2022.

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This week covers the latest news about Amazon showrooms, an Amazon driver's bravery, two new podcasts in other languages, product research tips, and more!

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In today’s show, Bradley introduces Adriana Rangel and Marcus Mokros. They are the newest international brand evangelists for our Spanish and German speaking audiences. Both being experienced Amazon sellers, they will share their journey and their top strategies in selling.

This episode also features 2022 plans for our Spanish and German speaking community and two new podcasts that will help serious sellers of any level, so make sure to listen to the very end.

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Destany is back on the show with another jam-packed PPC strategy session from Amazon all the way to Walmart advertising and much more!

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This week, we'll cover news around Etsy, Amazon Grocery, your favorite keyword research tools, and how to use Listing Builder for competitor research.

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Today, we speak with a multi-figure seller on two of the largest marketplaces. Listen to his story of success and strategies to help you on your journey.

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Today, we welcome back two elite sellers on the show. Listen as they share the lessons and strategies they used to achieve over $20,000,000 in annual sales

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This week, we cover Amazon's newest programs to help in logistics, a new segment that answers your questions, and Helium 10's new Amazon Anomaly Tracker

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In today’s episode, we will talk about the fastest rising Amazon marketplaces in the Middle East, why there’s tons of opportunity there, and more!

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In today’s episode, we speak with a cash flow management expert about strategies that e-commerce sellers can use to keep their profit first.

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Helium 10 Buzz is a weekly show that delivers breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space. Plus expert interviews and the training tip for the week.

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Today, we welcome back an Amazon seller who has exited two multi-million dollar brands. Listen as she shares her updates, approach, and unique strategies.

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Helium 10 Buzz is a weekly show that delivers breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space. Plus expert interviews and the training tip for the week.

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In part 2, Bradley shares his thoughts on the latest Amazon TOS updates, more Project X and 5K case study updates, and the latest launch strategies he uses.

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Bradley returned to the Maldives to share his new updates on the “Maldives honeymoon strategy” and his different case studies.

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In part 2 of this series, our speakers will dive into more product research strategies that will make the biggest impact in 2022.

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Helium 10 Buzz is a weekly show that brings us the latest Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce news. Plus more interviews and the ProTraining tip of the week!

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In this 2-part series, Bradley and Helium 10’s brand evangelists share their best product research strategies to help your 2022 blow 2021 out of the water.

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Today, we speak with Helium 10’s VP of strategy Adam Shahbaz about Amazon trends, the trusted partner directory, and a big event for sellers next year.

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Amazon product sourcing expert Jalona Falkner shares her top strategies which include sourcing from a website that many have never heard of before.

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Did you know that more than 50% of the money you ever put in your pocket is going to come when you exit your business? Today's guest explains why.

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Today, we speak to a seller whose company has sold over 200 hundred million dollars on Amazon. She also shares the strategies she used to achieve that.

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Today, we speak with Helium 10's CEO, Bojan Gajic, about data security, the tool's accuracy, and some leadership tips that you can apply to your business.

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Wondering how you can increase your Amazon product's conversion rate? Our expert guest shares his serious listing optimization and image strategies.

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Today we're discovering the best strategies on how to use social media and influencer marketing to build a huge following for your Amazon brand or product.

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In this episode, Manuel Suarez is here to share his serious Facebook marketing strategies to help grow your Amazon brand.

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Vince Montero is back to share new updates inside Helium 10’s Adtomic and Amazon Advertising that have recently been released.

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In this episode, Lisett Lees talks goes A to Z on how to use Amazon Posts and why it is important for brand promotion and discovery.

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Matt Remuzzi of CapForge shares his best tips and practices on bookkeeping and accounting for e-commerce sellers.

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Izabella Rittz is back and brought along her husband and daughter to discuss the dynamics of an entrepreneur's "family life" and tips for your Amazon selling business.

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In this episode, Bradley shares his unique experiences on his recent trip to Pakistan. We also hear from 3 serious Pakistani sellers with serious selling strategies.

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In part 2 of the keyword research masterclass, Bradley dives into the Amazon keyword strategies that will make the biggest impact in 2022.

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Bradley is back with 22 Amazon keyword research strategies to help your 2022 blow 2021 out of the water. Welcome to the keyword research masterclass.

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Success on Amazon is great, but it won’t always be enough. In this episode of the SSP, we speak to Michael Lebhar about big opportunities in the Walmart marketplace.

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Kevin King is back with some words of wisdom on new Amazon product opportunities and some exciting upgrades coming to the tools you already love.

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Building your brand on Amazon requires a deep understanding of the tools at your disposal. We’ve assembled the easiest wins for small brands to win big!

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In this episode with guest Alexandra Ramirez, we find out how you can get your Amazon proceeds every day instead of biweekly, as well as other money-saving techniques.

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E-commerce has become extremely lucrative. It can also be confusing. An expert helps us navigate compliance with Amazon’s rules and regulations.

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If you want to catch up with all the latest e-commerce news, this might be the best way. Here’s the most recent “Best of Everything” from Helium 10.

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There really isn’t such a thing as a typical Amazon seller. Two entrepreneurs from opposite ends of the spectrum about e-commerce in 2021.

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Are you looking to build your e-commerce brand? Here’s a trademark expert with the latest A to Z tips to help you do it!

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This big-box store has always had an enormous influence on business, but now it’s taken steps to match Amazon’s online growth. Here’s the latest!

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It’s 2021 and an entrepreneur’s ability to face challenges has never been as crucial. A podcast favorite talks about how she’s coaching others to bounce back.

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What’s the easiest way to ask your Amazon Customers for a review? Curious about the kind of links to use with your inserts? Here’s the latest!

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There are so many ways to be successful selling on Amazon. This young entrepreneur made his first million dollars with wholesale before he turned 18!

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Want to quickly reach a very committed audience? In addition to the latest PPC strategies, here’s why TikTok is trending with e-commerce advertisers.

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Lately, alternative shipping options have proven invaluable. Here’s a 3PL warehouse pro with an update as well as a Walmart and Amazon comparison.

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Episode 268 of the Serious Sellers Podcast digs into some of the most powerful Helium 10 tool strategies most sellers aren’t even aware of!

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The Maldives Honeymoon strategy is powerful, but it’s not magic. Here’s how to make sure the rest of your Amazon launch checklist is squared away.

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Wondering what TikTok has to do with Amazon or e-commerce? Here’s an expert (with 2 million followers) offering top social media strategies for you!

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Our three new Amazon sellers are back a year later with stories (and lessons) from the front lines of e-commerce. There’s something here for everyone!

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Together with the Elevate Docu-Series and a Trusted Partner Directory, we’re celebrating e-commerce wins, inspiring sellers, and creating community.

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Hoping that Amazon sellers won’t take advantage of your good ideas isn’t enough. This IP expert has advice from the front lines of e-commerce!

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Are shipping and transit times going through the roof for you? For e-commerce sellers, the last year has been a wild ride. Here’s the latest info!

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Want to crush it on Amazon? Tune in for keyword rank tests, our new CPR 3.0, and how to identify sold products that came from customer searches.

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After starting with $5000, in Q2, Bradley Sutton’s initial Amazon product launch has resulted in 300K in sales. Find out how he did it!

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Want to live the laptop lifestyle? Sometimes we forget that it’s often the less sexy aspects of the e-commerce business that make us profitable.

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Episode 258 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features another “Best of” edition with fresh commentary on some of our most popular written blogposts.

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Selling on Amazon? Split testing is the best way to make sure that your message is both powerful and pointed at the right people. Here’s the latest!

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After moving to the US from Ukraine, this Amazon seller learned both the easy way and the hard way, what it takes to run a successful matcha tea brand.

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If you’re like a lot of e-commerce sellers, Amazon DSP is a mystery. Here’s an A-to-Z summary of how to succeed with demand-side platform advertising.

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New Amazon PPC campaigns, amateur product photography tips, and special advice for sellers who want to start coaching. The third time is certainly a charm with Tamara Tee!

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E-commerce doesn’t stand still and neither do we. In this webinar recap, Bradley details the recent changes (and additions) to our suite of tools

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PPC strategies for a first product launch, the art of product targeting, and cross-country bike trips… this episode of the SSP has it all.

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Building an online following is more than just posting content to social media regularly. This marketing expert is giving away all his secrets!

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Looking for a great way to rank higher with fewer giveaways? How about combining the Maldives Honeymoon Amazon launch strategy with a new CPR 3.0?

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Are you thinking of building an Amazon Brand to sell or expanding to other e-commerce marketplaces? If so, this Shopify pro has some great advice.

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Listen in to get fresh strategies from an Amazon expert and you’ll also hear about his office in China and why he’s started investing in sports cards.

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Interested in selling on Amazon’s huge online marketplace? These two 7-figure sellers will take you through the e-commerce experience from A to Z.

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Want to keep up to date with the latest e-commerce tactics? Here’s a UK Based Amazon pro with clever tips you need to continue growing your business!

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The two e-commerce pros behind Project X team up to offer the latest tips and strategies for Amazon sellers looking to scale up their business.

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Here’s an opportunity to find out the latest on a new Amazon marketplace from an e-commerce veteran who first reached 7 figures way back in 2015.

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Here’s an opportunity to learn new strategies from an Amazon trailblazer, e-commerce software pioneer, and recent addition to the Thrasio team.

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Want to make sure that your Amazon product gets noticed? That’s where Helium 10’s new PPC tool, Adtomic comes in. Here’s the latest news!

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Can’t decide what you’d like to learn about? Here’s a smorgasbord of e-commerce topics that will help keep Amazon sellers up to date!

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E-commerce is expanding around the globe. It’s changing lives, bringing new opportunities, and introducing similar challenges to selling communities.

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Researching an Amazon product? The key is to be able to understand buyer intent and identify sufficient product demand. Here’s how to do both!

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Amazon sellers know that brand matters. Level up with this branding workshop from one of the best in the game, Brandon Armstrong AKA @BdotAdot5.

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It’s hard to know what your e-commerce path will look like. Two friends with completely different entrepreneurial journeys talk about finding success.

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Here’s an opportunity to revisit content you’ve missed. We take a fresh look at last month’s most popular Helium 10 podcasts, videos, and blog posts.

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Thinking about selling on Amazon? It can be a bumpy road. Here’s a brand expert with tips to help smooth out your online business experience.

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The e-commerce world is filled with inspirational journeys. Here’s Shan Shan Fu telling how she found online success with the “Ferrari of face masks.”

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Selling on Amazon has the potential to change lives. Here’s a story about how an entrepreneur used his success to take a 365-day working vacation.

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Thinking about getting into drop shipping? Here’s Bradley Sutton with a close look at what’s involved in getting set up, and how Helium 10 can help!

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Amazon seller, Schrone Hardeman is back on the podcast to talk about how he has navigated the COVID pandemic. He’s a favorite guest for a reason!

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Are you looking for a way to build your Amazon brand? Chatbot pro Leo Sgovio offers tips on Facebook, ManyChat, and managing your buyer reviews.

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The influence of e-commerce is world-wide. Amazon has expanded its reach, and the ability to communicate is crucial. A skilled translator is the answer!

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This Amazon seller achieved what’s become the dream of many. He sold his e-com business, and now he’s jumped into the red-hot trading card arena!

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Home insurance, health insurance, but Amazon seller’s insurance? This episode features two e-com insurance pros who’ll tell you why it’s so important.

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When it comes to selling on Amazon, the secret to success lies in the details. In this episode, Bradley Sutton shows you how to track your analytics.

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The Wholesale Formula’s Dan Meadors brings us his latest strategies and accolades for a Helium 10 tool designed specifically for wholesale sellers.

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Want to know how to manage your Amazon business and brand? Here are the latest strategies from Steven Pope, a top e-commerce and marketing pro!

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After starting with $5000, in the last four months, Bradley Sutton’s initial Amazon product launch has resulted in 150K in sales. How cool is that?

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Amazon sellers never know where great e-commerce advice might come from. It really helps show that success doesn’t care how old (or young) you are!

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PPC has quickly become a main topic of conversation for Amazon sellers. Here are strategies, updates, and exciting additions to Helium 10 ADS toolbox.

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Looking for a cash stream? Find out more from these childhood friends and e-commerce partners, thriving on platforms like Poshmark and Makari.

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Here’s an opportunity to revisit content you’ve missed. We take a fresh look at the last month’s most popular podcasts, videos, and blog posts.

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Finding the best product to sell on Amazon may be a lot less complicated than you think. Today’s guest walks us through her social media success.

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Don’t have time to get all your e-commerce business done? Maybe it’s time to put chatbots to work for you. This specialist is here to tell you how.

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Kevin King is an e-commerce legend. He’s here with top tips and strategies for Amazon sellers and shares stories from a year filled with challenges.

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Curious about where Helium 10 is headed in the future? Want to know what we have planned? Our VP of Product is here with a sneak peek.

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This is big news! The combined strength of Helium 10 and Alibaba.com will streamline the product sourcing process and save you valuable time.

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Have you ever considered using TikTok as an Amazon product research tool? This 7-figure e-commerce seller and coach tells you how to do it!

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These two e-commerce sellers used tactics like sourcing in Vietnam and sales to brick-and-mortar stores to achieve 7, and 8 figures on Amazon.

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Want to know what’s happening on Amazon? This 8-figure seller brings us strategies using Amazon Posts, press releases, and Google’s My Business.

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When Amazon sellers begin searching for their products, they start with China. Here’s why two sourcing experts think that India could be a better option.

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These two e-commerce veterans were 7 figure Shopify sellers. Now, they’re on Amazon and are crushing it. Find out how they made the transition!

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E-commerce has absolutely exploded in the last year. These stories from everyday Amazon sellers show the many paths to success.

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Today’s PPC Talk features campaign strategies for both launch and maintenance. We also discover why this pro uses 1000 campaigns for just three SKUs!

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These two best friends are nearing 7 figures on Amazon, making in one day what they used to make in a month. This is their Amazon seller’s story.

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Facebook Marketplace strategies, PR tips for the TikTok era, a flight attendant crushing it on Amazon, the “Maldives Honeymoon,” and much more.

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30K for a couple of weeks of work? Today’s guest offers tips on using arbitrage and off-Amazon warehouses to level up your e-commerce game!

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A new potential policy will block sellers from leaving comments on customer reviews. Search term impressions share report reveals two new metrics for Sponsored Ads. Weekly News 2020 Wrap-Up. This and more in this week's top stories.

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If you want to be successful on Amazon, you need a good product. Bradley Sutton’s yearly deep-dive product research episode should be your first step!

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The world’s largest Facebook group is based in Pakistan. The creator, Saqib Azhar is with us to talk about his country’s rapid e-commerce growth.

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Sellers are reporting decreased inventory capacity when trying to replenish FBA stock, Wish IPO hopes to reposition itself as a cheaper alternative to Amazon Prime, Big changes to VAT Rules on sales to UK customers go into effect January 1st. This and more in this week's top stories.

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Selene Dior became a 7-figure e-commerce superstar without selling a penny on Amazon. She’s back with more Instagram strategies and influencer tips.

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Why did Helium 10’s Bradley Sutton fly 30 hours for a solitary one day “Maldives Honeymoon?” A new, cutting-edge Amazon launch strategy. That’s why!

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A record breaking Black Friday surpassed $4.8 Billion in worldwide sales. Walmart+ drops its shopping minimum for free home delivery. Episode 200 of the Serious Sellers Podcast drops this Saturday. This and more in this week's top stories.

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Amazon is a world-wide affair. These two top Australian sellers offer strategies and give us a close look at what e-commerce is like down under.

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The e-commerce ecosystem is made up of many different communities. This couple helps theirs with a cool Amazon Facebook Marketplace strategy.

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Amazon advertising unveils new features. Amazon Garage provides Amazon shoppers the ability to get their cars worked on at local installation sites. Get a steal on Helium 10's Black Friday Diamond Deal with 3 FREE months plus over $1000 in bonuses. This and more in this week's top stories.

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Today, we are talking about a form of marketing for Amazon sellers that has a 99% open rate and a 20% click through rate: text messages!

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Are you curious about selling your Amazon business? Find out what’s involved and possibly achieve your biggest e-commerce payday yet!

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Most Amazon sellers are sourcing products from the other side of the world. This expert tells how inspections can save you thousands of dollars.

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Powerful Amazon advertising software company, Prestozon is now part of Helium 10. Here’s Prestozon’s (Helium 10’s) Ben Aldern with expert PPC advice.

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New report reveals 1 in 3 US households shopped on Amazon Prime Day. Amazon expected to take in the bulk of online sales this holiday shopping season. This and more in this week's top stories.

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How to use Alibaba to find suppliers, Newegg as a sales channel, the latest on Merch by Amazon, infographics, and a new seller spotlight interview.

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Thinking about selling internationally on Amazon? Wondering what the heck is a VAT? These accounting pros will tell you what you need to know.

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Amazon has opened up in new marketplaces such as Sweden, plus Helium 10 Follow Up has a lot of new updates to stay in compliance with Amazons new communication guidelines. This and more in this week's top stories.

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Amazon seller groups offer great opportunities to share e-commerce strategies. They’ve helped these two Helium 10 Elite members make millions.

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This recap of Helium 10’s eight-hour mega-webinar offers cutting edge tips for the upcoming Q4 selling season from 13 different Amazon pros.

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This former sponsored athlete and gym owner became a skilled financial advisor to entrepreneurs. She’s here today with important tips for sellers.

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Here’s a wild story of a multi-million-dollar Amazon seller who found success after starting with just one dime.

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Bloomberg reports fake reviews surge to shopping season levels during pandemic. Amazon launches a new third party opt-in panel to gather customer insight and feedback. Many sellers have noticed delayed check in times for getting their products into Amazon. This and more in this week's top stories.

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This Prime Day promises to be the biggest yet. A new report from Bloomberg reveals Google's plans on making YouTube "A Major Shopping Destination" for e-Commerce. This and more in this week's top stories.

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Since 2001, Newegg has been fulfilling orders for some of e-commerce's rising stars. Now they're giving Amazon sellers yet another way to diversify!

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An update to Bradley’s "Project 5K" case study launched last year, plus two new projected 6 figure yearly products built from a 5K investment.

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This Amazon seller left medical school and professional modeling for e-commerce. By focusing and the basics, she’s thriving. Here’s how she did it!

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Amazon Explore is a new way to make money on Amazon without physical products. If youre interested in Brand Registry, there are new rules. This and more in this week's top stories.

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A veteran Merch by Amazon seller offers the latest information on outsourcing creative work, intellectual rights, sponsored ads and PPC for Merch.

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The “Best of Everything - Amazon Handmade, next-level keyword research, Helium 10 for India and why moms are thriving on Amazon.

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Amazon Weekly News brings us virtual bundling, final Prime Day dates, a Webinar, and Helium 10's acquisition of PPC software company, Prestozon.

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This PPC Talk episode features the importance of ad campaign history, when to use negative matching, ad spend tactics and the latest on Amazon DSP.

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Academy helps you become a certified Helium 10 user by giving you the hands-on, technical skills to master our tools.

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Amazon Weekly News brings us the latest Amazon Prime Day rumors, videos now available in listings for more sellers, and information on a new webinar.

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Kian Golzari, one of the world’s leading product development and sourcing experts speaks about using micro-influencers and Alibaba sourcing tactics.

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Helium 10’s Weekly News brings us the latest on an Amazon hiring explosion, customer messaging best practices, and Inventory Management

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This Amazon seller went to Japan after university and now is selling over 500K in Japan alone. Here’s a behind the scenes look at his tactics.

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In this episode, two new, UK based Amazon sellers talk about what’s involved in creating e-commerce success in the European marketplace.

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This episode features the latest on Helium 10’s new Inventory Management Tool and inventory strategies that can save you thousands of dollars.

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Episode 175 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon seller who’s found success with a foundation of e-commerce skills and Helium 10’s tools.

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Episode 174 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an e-com advertising expert with the latest on Amazon’s views on chat flows and review velocity.

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Episode 173 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Helium 10’s Bradley Sutton with a next-level keyword research masterclass for Amazon sellers.

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Episode 172 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a local expert and Amazon seller with the latest on an exploding Indian e-commerce market.

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Episode 171 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a young e-commerce pro who offers great launch strategies for Amazon, Shopify and Walmart.com.

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Episode 170 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Aleksejs Leal. He’s a multi-channel e-commence sales expert who’s done 4 million on Mercado Libre alone.

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Episode 169 of the Serious Sellers Podcast offers the “Best of Everything” from crowdfunding and sponsored display ads to the free new PPC Audit Tool.

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Episode 168 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Vince Montero, Helium 10’s Product Manager for our PPC tool, ADS to discuss exciting new updates.

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Episode 167 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s content writers on how writing good content might help expand your traffic off Amazon.

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Episode 166 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Bradley Sutton with the latest news and Helium 10 updates and releases affecting Amazon sellers.

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Episode 165 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon selling YouTube superstar speaking about diversified income and building schools in Africa.

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Episode 164 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a conversation about how Helium 10’s Alta funding for Amazon sellers will make e-commerce easier.

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Episode 163 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Helium 10’s Karyn Thomas and Bradley Sutton with an Amazon listing optimization mini-workshop.

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Episode 162 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a data scientist who started a company that uses software to monitor Amazon reviews for authenticity.

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Episode 161 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features three brand-new Amazon sellers comparing their experience with last years’ e-commerce novices.

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Episode 160 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts the founder of a consumer products company that acquires and operates Amazon FBA businesses at scale.

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Episode 159 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon wholesale bundling expert with tactics that are hijacker resistant and competitor proof.

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Episode 158 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a webinar expert who speaks about positioning your brand, marketing and Amazon’s style guides.

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Episode 157 of the Serious Sellers Podcast offers the “Best of Everything” from rock star entrepreneurs to Amazon brand registry and new Posts program.

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Episode 156 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon PPC expert with great strategies using new video and sponsored display ads.

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Episode 155 of the Serious Sellers Podcast tells of Helium 10 updates such as, Alta by Helium 10; lending for Amazon sellers, and a “learning” Academy.

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Episode 154 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a 3PL pro to talk about warehousing tactics, foreign accounts and launching products for South Korea.

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Episode 153 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a 20-year-old Amazon seller who already has a few e-commerce tricks up his sleeve.

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Episode 152 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a trademark expert who tells how to get a trademark and Amazon brand registry in just two weeks!

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Episode 151 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts former Amazonian, Chris McCabe whose risk assessment analysis company helps protect Amazon sellers.

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Episode 150 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Bradley Sutton with an e-commerce case study showing him launching 12 Amazon products for $5000.

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Episode 149 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an English expat lawyer in Dubai who after a failed first try, is launching another Amazon product.

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Episode 148 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Silas from Lego who tells how they use Helium 10’s tools and helps explain Amazon’s Vendor Central.

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Episode 147 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a Mega “Best of” episode including the future of the AM/PM Podcast, product photography and more.

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Episode 146 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Tim Jordan, Bradley’s partner in Helium 10’s Project X case study and new host of the AM/PM Podcast.

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Episode 145 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a former lawyer who left London to open a hostel and soon tripled her salary with an Amazon business.

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Episode 144 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Bradley Sutton with a case-study using Helium 10’s tools to optimize a stalled Amazon product.

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Episode 143 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts the Helium 10 Product Manager responsible for new PPC management tool ADS to talk about Amazon PPC.

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Episode 142 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a former Amazon seller who left behind $750,000 in sales to focus on building Amazon selling teams.

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Episode 141 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts two eCommerce siblings that are pros at getting your Amazon listings optimized.

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Episode 140 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts the DJ, recording artist and entrepreneur Slushii, talking about the many parallels with eCommerce.

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Episode 139 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a “Best Of” edition with a new take on some of your favorite recent podcast episodes.

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Episode 138 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a 7 Figure Amazon seller with valuable sourcing tips after a factory switch led to quality issues.

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Episode 137 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon FBA seller who used PPC strategies and a strong social media following to reach 7 figures.

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Episode 136 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10 Product Specialists who describe how our new Mobile App will assist Amazon sellers.

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Episode 135 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts the Hollywood Fitness Expert, Eric the Trainer who offers health tips for home-bound Amazon sellers.

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Episode 134 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s Products VP speaking about competitive intelligence and our new Market Tracker tool.

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Episode 133 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a Russian woman who sold her first business at 17. Now she’s a 7 figure Amazon seller and coach.

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Episode 132 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features our “Best of” series with fresh commentary on some of last month’s most popular blog posts.

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Episode 131 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an expert in training Amazon virtual assistants who offers tips on scaling your eCommerce business.

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Episode 130 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts eCommerce expert Kevin King who discusses changes to selling on Amazon and how to keep scaling up.

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Episode 129 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features four eCommerce super-stars in a round-table discussion on the Coronavirus and selling on Amazon.

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Episode 128 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts the Project Manager for Portals, Helium 10’s new landing page tool optimized for Amazon sellers.

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Episode 127 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a full-time engineer who made a 30% profit with her 180K Amazon business working only 6 hours a week.

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Episode 126 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a “Best Of” edition with a new take on some of your favorite recent podcast episodes.

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Episode 125 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Bradley Sutton with a special report about selling on Amazon and the Coronavirus outbreak.

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Episode 124 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an eCommerce marketing expert with tips on branding your business and launching your Amazon product.

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Episode 123 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an immigrant entrepreneur from Iraq who speaks about his success as an Amazon seller and coach.

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Episode 122 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an expert on Amazon keyword ranking strategies with tactics to help get your products noticed.

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Episode 121 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a shipping expert with a ground zero report on the Coronavirus’s effect on Amazon business.

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Episode 120 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Tomer Rabinovich, an eCommerce business expert who reveals a cool new product research technique.

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Episode 119 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Justin Chen, the co-founder of the PickFu split-testing platform on how Amazon sellers can benefit.

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Episode 118 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features another “Best of” edition with fresh commentary on some of our most popular written blog posts.

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Episode 117 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Cara Sayer, who in launching her brand, created a best seller on Amazon and with big box retailers.

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Episode 116 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Stephane Yelle, an NHL player and Stanley Cup winner who discusses his Amazon wholesale strategies.

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Episode 115 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Rob Burns, an eCommerce video expert with advice on using video to optimize your Amazon listings.

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Episode 114 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Lazar Zepinic, an Amazon Attribution and brand registry expert who offers tips on PPC advertising.

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Episode 113 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a “Best Of” edition with fresh commentary addressing some of our most popular podcast episodes.

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Episode 112 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts a military veteran who tells how he’s grown a Facebook audience to 17K on the way to 200K on Amazon.

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Episode 111 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts three young Amazon sellers who speak about success with private label, wholesale and drop shipping.

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Episode 110 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Karen Waksman, an expert in helping eCommerce businesses sell products through major retailers.

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Episode 109 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Bryan and Fernando, Helium 10 creatives who offer advertising tips on split testing and ad funnels.

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Episode 108 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features another “Best of” edition with fresh commentary on some of our most popular written blog posts.

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Episode 107 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Sharon Even, a wife, mother, business coach and eCommerce expert with tips on how to sell on Amazon.

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Episode 106 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Dan Meador who offers great tips for those exploring wholesale as a way of selling on Amazon.

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Episode 105 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an Amazon inventory management expert with advice to help eCommerce sellers run their businesses.

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Episode 104 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Tim Jordan who reveals Project X, Helium 10’s case study that shows a new way to crush it on Amazon.

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Episode 103 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a “Best Of” edition with fresh commentary addressing some of our most popular podcast episodes.

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Episode 102 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Stephanie, who after deciding to stop trading hours for dollars, became a six figure Amazon seller.

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Episode 101 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Samer Brax, an Amazon seller who uses an eCommerce presence to drive business to his YouTube channel.

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Episode 100 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s Manny Coats and Guillermo Puyol, who tell their eCommerce and Amazon origin stories.

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Episode 99 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Jana Krekic, the founder of YLT Translations and an expert on translating listings for Amazon sellers.

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Episode 98 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Helium 10’s “Best Of” podcast series, with questions from our Ask Me Anything YouTube channel

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Episode 97 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Helium 10’s Bradley Sutton with a mini-workshop on your Amazon account’s ongoing maintenance

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Episode 96 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Ezra Firestone, eCommerce business super-star and CEO of Smart Marketer with digital marketing tips.

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Episode 95 of the Serious Sellers Podcast is the second edition of Helium 10’s “Best Of” podcast series, this time it features our written content.

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Episode 94 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Ryan Rigney, an expert on Facebook marketing, selling on Amazon and chat bot strategies.

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Episode 93 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s Social Media Manager, Cassandra Craven with tips on using social media to rank on Amazon.

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Episode 92 of the Serious Sellers Podcast introduces the first installment of our “Best Of” Podcast Series

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Episode 91 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Ken Kubec from Thrasio, who tells how Amazon FBA business owners can get their biggest check yet.

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Episode 90 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Paul Baron, an expert in the trending field of Amazon advertising and Messenger chatbot integration.

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Episode 89 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Trevin Peterson, who after a few challenging launches, became a 7-figure Amazon eCommerce influencer.

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Episode 88 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Marcela and Emille, two Brazilian sisters telling stories about their Amazon business journey.

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Episode 87 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Jay De Souza, an Etsy expert and print on demand specialist who’s here to tell us how to sell on Etsy.

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Episode 86 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s affiliate manager team with an insider look at the business of influencers and social media.

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Episode 85 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Steve Howe, who tells Amazon seller stories of life in the product launch fast lane.

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Episode 84 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Meghla Bhardwaj, a product sourcing expert with great experience with both sides of the B2B platform.

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Episode 83 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Ryan Ebel, an 8-figure seller with tips on product bundling and creating a solid Amazon partnership.

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Episode 82 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features a mini-workshop from Bradley Sutton on Amazon listing optimization and using Helium 10’s tools.

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Episode 81 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts 5 Amazon sellers who tell different stories of their path to Freedom Ticket and Helium 10.

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Episode 80 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Norm Farrar, an 8 figure Amazon business consultant who offers eCommerce selling tips.

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Episode 79 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kristina Mertens of Sermondo with advice on connecting Amazon sellers with FBA service providers.

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Episode 78 of the Serious Sellers Podcast is another Tech Talk with Bojan Gajic, Helium 10’s Chief Technology Officer and features PPC and tool limits

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Episode 77 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Rich Goldstein, an expert on selling patented products on Amazon, who offers how-to advice for sellers

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Episode 76 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Yev Marusenko from Zontracker, a company that helps start eCommerce businesses using Facebook ad funnels

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Episode 75 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Izabela Hamilton, CEO of RankBell, a company specializing in Amazon keyword ranking.

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Episode 74 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features Helium 10’s own Bradley Sutton who talks about his own path to Amazon.

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Episode 73 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Wilfried Ligthart from Digital Blacksmiths, a Facebook marketing expert who offers social media strategies.

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Episode 72 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Andy Slamans with great tips on using Amazon retail arbitrage to scale up to private label.

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Episode 71 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Selene Dior, who has built the largest swimwear brand in Vancouver, strictly selling on Instagram.

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Episode 70 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Vince Montero, the new product manager of Helium 10’s new Amazon PPC tool, ADS.

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Episode 69 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Ian Sells, an eCommerce expert and founder of RebateKey who discusses new product launch strategies

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Episode 68 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kevin King, a recognized expert on selling on Amazon with news of the release of Freedom Ticket 2.0

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Episode 67 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Krystsina Uradzimskaya from Terramed, with multi-channel advice on using Amazon’s business model

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Episode 65 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kale and Taylor from KT Nine with expert advice on Amazon product research

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Episode 64 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Carabella Riazzo of Dolface with tips on using Amazon Fulfillment to sell on Shopify

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Episode 63 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Helium 10’s Barcus Patty who offers valuable insight on Amazon email automation and the sales follow up process

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Episode 62 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Zack Leonard from Gembah who offers product differentiation strategies about taking eCommerce product ideas to market

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Episode 61 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kian Golzari, with expert tips on how to source unique private label products from China

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Episode 60 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Melissa Simonson from Empowery, a bootstrapped business co-op supporting sellers on Amazon

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Episode 59 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kevin Pasco, an 8-Figure seller who speaks about Amazon branding strategy

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Episode 58 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features an Amazon keyword research workshop with Bradley Sutton.

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Episode 57 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Elena Saris, who after a counterfeit claim, became an expert on multi-channel eCommerce and Shopify

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Episode 56 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Chris Lyell on how to continue making money on Amazon by protecting yourself against infringement

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Episode 55 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Jeff Lieber, who gives expert advice on using Amazon video ads and giveaways in your product launches

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Episode 54 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Chris Green, a merch by Amazon expert who speaks about Amazon private label strategy side-hustle ideas

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Episode 53 of the Serious Sellers Podcast introduces Amazon Story Time with Bradley Sutton. Bradley discusses his early days selling private label on Amazon and the inherent risks of eCommerce business partnerships—which might include double-crossing the Chinese mafia

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Episode 52 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Eddie Levine, an industry leader in wholesaling on Amazon and the President and CEO of Wholesale Breakthrough, who offers advice on another way to use your Amazon Private Label skills

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Episode 51 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Karina Molostova, a former model and UC Irvine pre-med student who discusses her Amazon Seller experience and offers advice on a successful Amazon Product Launch and other tips

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Episode 50 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Paul Miller who speaks about switching careers and how product licensing helped make him a 7 figure Amazon FBA seller

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Episode 49 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Anthony Lee, an Amazon private label mastermind and Helium 10’s new Manager of Training and Content who offers tips about learning how to sell on Amazon

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Episode 48 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Jim Cockrum, author of The Silent Sales Machine and an internet marketing expert with over 20 years of experience, who offers tips on getting started selling on Amazon

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Episode 47 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts an entrepreneurial couple who share their secrets on getting started building a brand and selling private label on Amazon

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Episode 46 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts John Hadden who talks about the income tax benefits and other opportunities of life in Puerto Rico for an Amazon FBA seller

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Episode 45 of the Serious Sellers Podcast features the 3rd installment of tech talk and hosts Bojan Gajic, Chief Technology Officer of Helium 10 who brings to us Helium 10 updates

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Episode 44 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts 2 super-young aspiring generation Z entrepreneurs who offer advice in getting started on Amazon FBA.

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Episode 43 of Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Mike Zagare, a product launch expert who gives specialized advice on Amazon sponsored products and all things Amazon PPC

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In this episode, get tips on using Helium 10’s tools to help implement an Amazon sponsored products strategy and succeed with Amazon advertising.

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Know Why attending Amazon seller conferences might be the missing piece of the selling on Amazon puzzle, in this Serious Sellers Podcast episode.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon: Recent Episodes

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